Home-grown Goodness!

Not sure if I mentioned it before, but this year, my mother-in-law helped me start a winter garden.  Since we live in FL, that's pretty much a regular garden to those of you up North.  We planted tomatoes, onions of all shapes and sizes, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, carrots, beans, lettuce, swiss chard, squash, radishes and cucumbers.  Whew!  That was quite a list!  Not everything survived...we lost the cucumbers and squash and the peppers never got big enough...maybe next year!  

Garden in late October

Anyway...I just wanted to share the progress with you!  A while back, I started harvesting the green onions. Those suckers grow fast!  The great thing about them is after you snip them, they grow back.  I also picked some lettuce a while ago and a few radishes.  Today, I picked a bunch of green onions and chives, tomatoes, and green beans!  I'm so proud of my small bounty and I just couldn't contain myself.  I am very excited to cook and eat my veggies.  

My veggies!!  Chives, green onions, green beans, tomatoes.

Just a little note to those of you who don't think you can do this kind of thing...I have the blackest of black thumbs.  Seriously...I've killed an aloe plant...who does that?  It's a freaking cactus!  Yup, I did it.  I'm shocked that I've been able to keep multiple plants alive long enough to actually grow food...so if I can do it, anyone can do it.  All I've been doing to maintain my garden is watering it every day (sometimes less depending on the rain/humidity), and Miracle Grow once a week.

Another little thing I did was mix used coffee grounds into the soil.  You can pick these up for free from your local Starbucks.  Mine has a little area outside where they will bag up 5 lbs of grounds and leave them for your garden.  If you don't see any at yours, try asking...most locations are happy to let you take their used coffee. Why coffee grounds?  Glad you asked!  Brewed grounds add nitrogen to the soil which is a valuable nutrient for growing plants.  They also help to keep away snails and slugs!

I suspect he knows the big one is his...

Well readers, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.  Our family had a great Christmas...three of them, to be exact.  We spent a day with my mom and sister on the 22nd.  We opted out of the traditional Christmas dinner in favor of steaks and twice baked potatoes followed by a trip to SeaWorld.  This being Ayden's first trip to the park, he really enjoyed Shamu and the fireworks the most.  On Christmas day, we spent the day with Aaron's family snacking on all our favorite appetizers including my 'famous' spinach and artichoke dip (recipe coming soon) and the family trivia game.  Our third and final Christmas celebration was another trip to Aaron's family's house for a lovely ham dinner with his grandmother.  We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family to spend time with.  We're really looking forward to the new year and wish you all nothing but the very best in 2013!

Last Minute Christmas

Merry Christmas, All!  I hope you're all enjoying your holiday traditions with the ones you love the most!  Now if you're like me, you probably got your shopping done early...I was finished by mid October.  What can I say, I'm not a patient person.  However, it seems like no matter how much I plan in advance, I always end up buying a gift at the last minute.  Sometimes, like today, it works to my benefit.

My two closest friends and I are all planning to get together sometime after the holidays to exchange gifts and have a 'girls day' since we all are so busy with our families.  Also, one of my friends JUST had her baby a few weeks ago.  So yeah, there was just no way we were getting together anytime soon.  Which brings me to my problem...

I had originally planned to make their gift this year.  As in, I was going to make and bring them a butt-load of cookies and candy.  I made two kinds of fudge, caramels, and a variety of cookies.  I even dipped marshmallows in chocolate for hot cocoa treats.  I spray painted all my ugly old tins a beautiful antiqued copper and dolled them up with ribbons to hold all my little confections.  And they made excellent gifts for all our other friends.  Buuuutttttt...they won't be good by the time I get to my girlfriends.  Boo :-(

So when the fiance (I just love saying that now!) asked me to go out to Old Time Pottery today to pick up a last minute gift for him (yeah...he's one of THOSE people) I figured I'd take a peek and see what I could come up with for my girls.

All of us having had babies in the last year, I figured what we all needed most was relaxation.  So I went with a spa basket.  Yes, yes, yes, these are a tad overdone but hear me out...it's all consumable stuff or at the very least USEFUL stuff.  So I'm not crowding their cabinets with a random painted wine glass or their walls with another picture frame.  And the best part is these LOOK really cute but they didn't cost me a lot!

Items included in my baskets:

• One plastic utility tote-they're small, yes, but they will work perfectly to hold bath soaps and stuff or for something else around the house.
• Two washcloths
• A long, braided loofah
• A small candle
• Apricot scrub
• A small bag of truffles- you can't have a luxurious spa day without some chocolate!
• Argon Oil shampoo and conditioner (trial sized)- I know I would never purchase these for myself because the full size is so expensive, so I thought it'd be nice in the basket
• Nivea Soft moisturizing cream- this is a multitasker since it can be used on 
• One pair of super fuzzy socks

Each basket cost me approximately $10. I could have easily cut the cost down a little more by purchasing a less expensive shampoo/conditioner set or by using tissue paper instead of the washcloths.  That's the great thing about gift baskets...you can really make a little money go far.  My best tips are to not spend a lot on packaging- if they don't have a use for the basket or tote you give them, they will probably just throw it out and there went serious $$$ out the window.  Don't stress over the size of the items you put into it.  Bigger is not always better; you can put a bunch of sample sizes in and get a good variety.  On the other hand, don't go crazy on a bunch of little things...the price can add up fast.  You could spend $1 a piece on 20 items that are tiny or you could spend $20 and get a four larger items that may look nicer in a basket.  Go with a theme...spa (and choose a color/scent), cooking (choose a cuisine or a specific meal), etc. 

One more note on the packaging:  when in doubt, go a size DOWN.  An overstuffed/overflowing basket looks way better than a sparse one.  If you found or already have a basket that you want to use but are struggling to fill it up, think inexpensive things that take up a lot of real estate...towels (you could even line a cooking themed basket with a kitchen towel or a couple cloth napkins), candies (kisses, mints, etc), or even use some paper shreds (you can find these in the gift wrap aisle).  

Christmas Gift Wrap

Ever heard the saying, "you eat with your eyes first,"?  I 100% agree with that and I like to take it a step further...  I believe when you receive a beautifully wrapped package, you instantly get excited about what's inside.  I also believe that festive gifts can really make your home look like it's ready for Christmas!

These are my first few gifts that I got to wrapping this year.  Aren't they pretty?  Here's how I made them look so nifty:

The center gift is wrapped in plain brown packing paper...not unlike a paper bag, but in a roll.  I found mine on sale at Walgreens, but you can find this stuff anywhere they sell office supplies.  I tied a ribbon around it vertically with no bow but extra give in the front allowing for the gather.  I used red curling ribbon to cinch the middle and attached two jingle bells and a glittery gold "Merry Christmas" ornament (both purchased at the dollar store...bells 9/$1 and ornaments 5/$1).  

The gift on the right is a plain red bag with two floral picks attached and a bow in the middle...all of that also from the dollar store.  

Not bad, huh?  There are lots of ways to make your gifts look extra special without spending a lot on fancy wrapping paper and big bows.  If you have some tips, please share in the comments below!