The Gift Exchange

Birthdays, everyone has one. Some look forward to them, others try to avoid them at all cost. Me? I like to say that I am somewhere in the middle, but in reality I love a good party and while I truly love everyone giving me presents (What? At least I am honest about it!), the [...]

I know that some people can be intimidated by wine. There are so many choices, so many things to remember, and so many varietals to pick from that it can be hard to know where to start. I talked about common wine terms and my own personal wine journey. Now I’d like to dig a [...]

I don’t know about you, but I do not feel quite awake in the mornings until my first cup of coffee. Growing up, I remember my Mom would always make coffee and once I became a teenager, she’d let me have a cup every now and then. Of course back then, in order for it [...]

Summer is by far my favorite season. I am a sun goddess, so you won’t catch me complaining about the heat, or sitting in an air conditioned home. I am outside as much as I can, covered head-to-toe in SPF 50 of course, even during record heat waves. Besides loving the heat, I love all [...]

The big question when going to a wedding (aside from what to wear) is what sort of gift to buy the couple. We’ve all heard horror stories about the three identical toaster ovens. We want our gifts to our friends to be special, something they will actually use, and something that stands out so they [...]

Like me, you probably didn’t think there were any holidays to celebrate in August. It is true there aren’t any “traditional” holidays, but there are a handful of fun occasions that are definitely worth celebrating. In August alone there is National Watermelon Day, National S’mores Day, Left Hander’s Day, World Youth Day, Friendship Day, and [...]

Now that I have an eight-month-old daughter this 4th of July is going to be much different than in past years. I used to look forward to the large celebrations, loud booming fireworks, and staying up way later than I probably should. Now I worry about the fireworks scaring my daughter, or even worse waking [...]

A couple months ago I went on a road trip with my boyfriend. With gas prices, food and lodging, our trip was on a budget. We took the scenic route from Vancouver, WA into Nevada and ended up in San Diego before we made it back home. Our friends and family saved us several hundreds [...]

I love each season as it comes, but I really love summer. I look forward to it all year long! The long days, that big bright yellow thing in the sky comes out (if we are lucky!) and bare feet in the grass. One of my favorite summer activities is lounging in my parents backyard [...]

I grew up a total Daddy’s girl. Wherever my dad was, I wasn’t far behind. I was supposed to have been his boy, but as fate would have it, it didn’t turn out that way. That didn’t seem to change the way we interacted however, I was his lil tom-boy. We went fishing together, chopped wood [...]