The Gift of Love

Hi Friends!
Do you all do anything exciting and romantical for Valentine's Day?  We tend to write this semi-silly holiday off however I have several friends that are extremely into Vday celebrations and I find that pretty cute as well.  Its always exciting when Vday falls in the early stages of your relationship, non?  I decided, in honor of my friends who have major vday spirit to do a fun gift-guide.  Since we don't really do much, I thought this would be a fun way to internet window-shop without it looking like I was hinting for something I'd like. (In fact, this blog is pretty much one big *hint* :)

Today, for the chickies:
I'm going to dip my toe into the blogging water today and start with something you all already know I love. That's right, Birchbox! Birchbox is great because it is literally the gift that keeps on giving.  You get a monthly package of fun makeup related goodies to try out.  They have three different gift subscriptions (3, 6 and 12 months) and your loved one is reminded monthly of your good taste!  How can it fail?

It is so very easy to snag a gift certificate to a store you know your love is fond of so that she can pick out something that will definitely suit her but its a bit impersonal, don't you think?  Instead, go with this lovely bag.

One Sydney Road  * $85

 The simple but clean style and the perfect size for work to happy hour will be appealing to all types of go-getters. It's made from a mix of sustainable organic and recycled fibers.  Plus the colors remind me of a warm summer afternoon... and who doesn't miss warm summer afternoons at this point?

Another option is to go with a piece of hand-crafted jewelry.  One of my favorite jewelry designers is Made by Sam on Etsy.  She makes lovely individualized pieces that you will definitely treasure but are still affordable. She made all the jewelry for my wedding and could not have been easier to work with.  Here's one of her newer pieces, a pendant necklace with a peacock style charm and an intial.  She will also interchange the stones for you with your lady's birthstone.

Made by SAM * $42.98

Perfect way to prove how well you know your love.  Look! I remembered your first initial *and* your birthstone!

Finally, since girls aren't all makeup, jewelry and purses (wait, what?) here is a gift that is truly awesome...

Amazon * $67

If your girl doesn't like this, hopefully she has the wherewithall to pretend she does or else she's probably a terrorist.   First of all, Ken Burns is amazing and so is the series of actors he got to narrate this bad boy.  Secondly, its about our national parks... and they are really amazing... and you actually probably have no clue just *how* amazing they are until you watch this.  Thirdly, its so beautiful and timeless, you will never get tired of watching it.  Plus, it supports PBS... and PBS rules all.  Actually, come to think of it... PBS has a ton of awesome things.  Just ignore this gift guide, go there and buy something cool and support public broadcasting! Woot!

Check in tomorrow and I'll blow your mind with gifts for humans with weiners :)

Sick of It!

Hi friends! (both of you)

Sorry for the lack of posting lately... recovering from some sort of nasty stomach flu/food poisoning awfulness. So my charcutepalooza post is going to be delayed a couple of days (obviously).  I'll try to get that post up tomorrow.  I didn't want to cut up my awesome duck breasts and then not be able to taste them!

Anyway, just wanted to post quickly about two things I absolutely love.  What's interesting here is that the first thing I love actually brought the second thing I love into my life!

The first thing is a new company called Birchbox.  This is a makeup sample delivery company started by two amazing Harvard Business School grads from which I was lucky enough to win a year long subscription.  They send a perfectly packaged box of deluxe samples to you once monthly, and then make it exceptionally easy to buy the full sized products directly from their website.

www.birchbox.com

But they don't stop at lipgloss or lotion samples.  They have tutorials and tons of extra information on makeup, beauty, health and general well-being on their website.  They also send special treats each month... little birchbox bonuses.  Which brings me to favorite thing number two!

In this month's birchbox was a little tin of tea: Coconut Chai Black Tea. Sounds delicious right?  It was.

yum.

Especially perfect since we got a nasty storm of "wintry mix" last night.  This tea is amazing.  I took one sip and ordered the larger size from their site, which couldn't have been simpler.

Birchbox always manages to pick the best selection of samples and this month was no exception.  Besides the tea, it included two different skin care samples, a huge AHAVA hand cream sample and some great hair serum.  I am seriously smitten with this company.  I will definitely continue my subscription once my year runs out, and I've already gifted a year long subscription to my sister who is also a sample maniac.   The best part is you can sign up for month to month.  OK, I'm gushing.  go try it!