The Little Things on Valentine's Day

Hello there all,


It is almost Valentine's Day, and during this time of year, we start seeing innumerable social media posts about who loves who more. Valentine's Day has become a grand display of affection which is wonderful because love is something to be celebrated. However, the truth of the matter is that so many people stress about this holiday because of the financial burden. Valentine's Day is supposed to be about celebrating love, and you shouldn't be putting a price tag on something like that. I'm not saying that buying something is bad, and if you do want to spend some money, you can use apps like Personal Capital's financial tools to determine a smart budget for special occasions. When done correctly, you should be buying something that is meaningful-not just buying something to buy something. It isn't about how much you spend but about how much YOU that you put into it. In our household, we celebrate each other and our love through the little things. If you ask me, the best things in life are the little things. You know the in between things that really add up and make something special.

The little things are what become the BIG things.

Here are some little things that the Mister and I do that any Valentine would appreciate:

1.) Gifting each other little bits and pieces of things that are beautiful- Constantly, I am surprised with gifts of beautiful rocks that the Mister found or a beautiful flower that he found on a walk earlier that day. We see something beautiful, and we want to share it with each other.

2.) Saying how you feel- Throughout the day, we are telling each other the things that we love about each other or how we care for the other person. An example of this is the "Today, I Love You Because..." board that I posted about here last year. Alternatively, we also plainly say the things that we feel when we are frustrated with the other person. It is a wonderful gift to not make someone guess on emotions and feel like they are being played with. Say what you mean (nicely) and say how you feel (nicely).

3.) Surprises!- Nothing is better than a sweet, unexpected surprise on at an unanticipated day/time. Hate getting up in the morning? This means that your loved one isn't going to expect you to get up and make them breakfast. They will also see it as such a sweet gift that you endured on to make them happy. For Valentine's Day, a great way to do this would be to give them something the day before or to show up to their work with their afternoon coffee. Another way, I love to do this is to leave little notes around the house like "You're smoking!" on the smoke detector.

4.) Acts of Service- An act of service is the concept of doing something for another person to ease their day. Examples of this are making dinner, doing the laundry, grocery shopping, etc. Everybody likes a little bit of help to make their life easier. It means even more when you know the person HATES doing it. For example, when The Mister does the dishes, it makes me swoonsy because it means that I don't have to do it, AND I know that he hates it even more than I do. However, he was willing to do that thing for me to make me happy, and it sure works :).

5.) Doing things that make them smile- Identifying the things that make them happy and committing to gifting that person those moments: watching their favorite movie together, dressing in their favorite shirt of yours, making their favorite food, etc. It shows that you pay attention to who they are, AND you want to celebrate it with them.

What are you planning to do for your Valentine this year?
-Autumn 

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 This post is done as a collaboration with Personal Capital and other bloggers around the blogosphere.
 

May The Fourth Be With You

Hello there all,

Happy May the Fourth!  Do you know whay today is?  It is Star Wars Day because of May the Fourth Be With You.  I miss the days where I was able to convince children to celebrate the holiday with me (like events at Boys and Girls Club that I put on) ,  but I still find my own ways to rock the holiday. 

For those of you that have missed it: I pretty love Star Wars.  Blame it on my brother or the Star Wars wallpaper that was up in my nursery (we were renting). I've always been doomed to love the saga. 

How will I be celebrating the holiday?

Well,  I'll be wearing this adorable little number. 

I'll be hiding these Star Wars rocks around town.  I made the rocks to have famous Star Wars quotes and with some Star Wars stickers that I had. 

Just marvel in some of my silly Star Wars decor: Darth Vader helmet,  light saber,  Star Wars lego sets,  and some action figures.  

Get excited for the new Star Wars movie and watch some of the original guys. 

May tbe Force Be With You, 

Autumn

Happy Vale-hate day

Hello there all,

In the bitterness of my solo college years, my friends and I would celebrate "Vale-hate Day" or single awareness day. I thought that finding someone would make me all mushy/sappy about the holiday, and yes, I do appreciate the holiday much more than years past. However, I feel like this holiday is such a silly thing. We shouldn't need a holiday to remind us to love each other. We should do it everyday and celebrate the feelings we have constantly. With that said, I do love a good reason to celebrate love, so the Mister and I are running away to get out of town for the holiday.

A way that the Mister and I celebrate our love daily is a "Today, I love you because..." board which I made for the mister a couple of a Christmases ago. It is something that I really appreciate because it forces us to celebrate all the little and big things about each other. I think individuals sometimes forget to celebrate that love, but this is a perfect example of integrating the celebration of your love constantly. It is also kind of fun to try to think about new things that we love about each other.

making ginger basil lemonade

Happy Vale-hate day,

Autumn

DIY: Coffee Liqueur

Hello there all,

One of the presents that I made for the holiday season was some coffee liqueur for my papa smurf. He has a love for Kahlua (who doesn't?). I've been wanting to dabble into the world of making liqueurs for awhile, and this seemed like a wonderful opportunity.

I bought this book, and I used the coffee liqueur recipe a new recipe. This recipe was absolutely freaking delicious, and if you know what is good for you, MAKE IT! The book is amazing, and it is full of other great liqueurs...plus it is CHEAP.

Here is what you need:

-4 cups of sugar

-2 cups of water

-2/3 cup of instant coffee

-10 whole coffee beans

-2-3 TBSP of vanilla extract

-a fifth of vanilla vodka

-3/4 a cup of brandy

Additional needed items:

-measuring cup

-pan

-stove

-measuring spoon

-large glass container

The steps:

1.) Take 3/4 cup of the vanilla vodka and replace that amount with 3/4 cup of brandy. You should have a fifth of alcohol when all is measured.

2.) Mix the sugar, water, and instant coffee in a pan over medium heat and bring it to a full on boil. Act fast because it will boil over fast! Remove the froth from on top of the mixture. Allow the mixture to cool completely and then pour the mixture into the large glass container.

3.) Add the vodka/brandy mix, coffee beans, and vanilla extract to the glass container with sugar/water/coffee mixture. 

4.) Cover the container and keep in a cool dark place. Store this for 2-3 weeks and then filter and serve up.

It is particularly delicious with some hazelnut milk. It makes a great gift to friends or yourself :).

-Autumn

Green Giving Guide What to Get Others

Hello there all,

it is that time of year where you are frenzy for gift ideas, and it can be stressful to buy a present for someone. However, I have some tips that might make it a little easier, and it will help you be a little bit more "green" at the same time. Double Bonus! Wait, we have a triple bonus! These items are usually the best on the wallet.

When contemplating a "green" present, there are 8 main categories.
1.) Experiences
2.) Edible goods
3.) Reused
4.) Repurposed
5.) Donation in kind
6.) Getting them what they asked for
7.) Purchasing from local companies
8.) Made from sustainable materials


Let's get into this further:

1.) Experiences- These are the gifts that don't require you to buy a material object (which reduces the material waste and it eliminates any energy waste to create/transport that object). You are not gifting a physical item, and therefore, you are decreasing the amounts of goods created. Experience gifts are things like: restaurant gift card, museum admission, etc. This is often times the gift that keeps on giving past the holidays, and it gifts one of the most precious things: time with another person. This is also the perfect present for the person that already has everything.

2.) Edible goods-The elimination of physical products is still evident in this gift. However, it is a present that the receiver doesn't have to travel to and therefore they don't need to  use fuel/ By gifting some noms to someone, you are giving them a gift that doesn't have any waste packaging, isn't another physical object to hold onto, and it is something that can be so diverse depending on the receiver. If you know that the person is a busy lady, it might be wonderful to give her one of those meals in a jar that have been circulating the interwebs like here (freeing up some of their time in the future), or you can make that delicious batch of fudge for the sweet tooth in your family.

3.) Reused- You have heard me say time and time again about my love for thrift store shopping. Although, I realize that this is not everybody's cup of tea, you can still buy items that are brand new at thrift stores that would have been thrown away from major department stores. For example, Target is constantly donating things to Goodwill that are brand new. These items were just going to be thrown away, but you saved them from the trash. Some have issues with used clothes and all that but items like picture frames have not been harmed by being hung on another person's wall, and there are so many other items in that category. These items have not been destroyed by being used once or twice from another family.

4.) Repurpose- Some items that you find at the thrift store can be given immediate new life, and if you are on the Pinterest scene, you can see how someone can make something like 2 clothespins into a car. Okay, maybe not quite that extreme, but there are loads of ideas of things to make with old/unwanted items. One thing that I do for presents is I rescue jewelry/beads from being thrown away and reuse them to make prettier pieces of jewelry. It is something so simple, but it just needs a new eye for a new use.

5.) Donation in kind- For the person that has everything, it is wonderful to give a donation to a cause the receiver cares about/is involved in. It is a personal present where you need to pay attention to what they care about, and it eliminates any excess presents/junk.

6.) Getting them what they asked for- I am guilty of not wanting to give someone the present that they asked for because I have felt like it is impersonal to just ask someone what they want. However, if you think about it, you are giving them exactly what they want instead of giving them a piece of junk that they are unhappy with, and they will still probably buy the item. They'll be stuck at home with 2 more things instead of just the original idea.

7.) Purchasing from local companies- Yes, this is great for the local economy AND for the environment. By keeping it local, you are minimizing fuel costs for everyone involved, and you are more likely to address local items made from local products instead of items made in a foreign country with foreign goods.

8.) By purchasing/making items made from sustainable materials, you are investing in another individual not using a material that is good for the environment. For example, when you buy wood toys, these can eventually biodegrade instead of toys that are made from plastic.


-Autumn

DIY: coffee filter snowflake

Hello there all,

We have an obscene amount of coffee filters in our house, and we don't actually use them at all. With the holiday season coming up, I've been looking for inexpensive, DIY holiday decorations. So, why not make snowflakes with these guys?

It is a nice way to make snowflakes without having the leftover paper from copy paper. Also, it eliminates a couple of steps of making the snowflakes because you don't have to cut off the excess.

Let's make these bad boys!

1.) Gather supplies:

• Coffee filter
• Scissors
• Spray bottle with water (optional)
• markers (optional)

You can leave it like this, but I choose to spray it with a little bit of water. If you spray it with a little bit of water, you can make the coffee filter a little bit more flat. See below.

The bottom picture of the above collage is made with markers. To do this process, you just need to take the coffee filter and draw on it with markers. Once you have completed your design, you spray on it with water. It creates a neat little tie dye effect.

I attached a couple of these guys to the string to make a garland. I'm goo goo for garlands.

A friend in high school once told me that the way that I make snowflakes is so...me. I've always wondered what exactly that meant. Any ideas?

-Autumn

Holiday Music

Hello there all,

It is that time of year (when the world is full of love...). So, I bring you my playlist of Christmas songs that I jam out to each year. Some of these are old favorites, and some are ones that I have discovered within the last couple of years.

No matter what. These are guaranteed to get you cut loose and enjoy the holidays this year.



Happy beginnings to this crazy, beautiful season!

-Autumn


https://play.spotify.com/user/liketheseason/playlist/1ul91c8muvgYXHKZISagb9