My father is notoriously difficult to buy gifts for because he always buys everything he wants immediately and then there's nothing left for birthdays, holidays, or special occasions. For Father's Day, he asked for tickets to a concert he wants to attend next weekend. I bought them the other day, so I'm all set ahead of schedule, but if you're still looking for the perfect gift for your father, father figure, husband (I am), or another great dad in your life, consider getting him a Man Crate. 

With a sense of humor and a masculine sensibility — a brass-knuckle meat tenderizer, supplies for increasing levels of zombie threat, and a Chuck Rodent club cover are par for the course (no pun intended) — the Man Crates fulfill a wide range of interests and tastes. More than two dozen crates are pre-arranged or you can request a custom gift. Each set comes with a crowbar so your man can pry open his own gift which comes adorned with "no bows, ribbons, or fluff."

Two or three years ago, instead of a work shirt or video game (my husband's usual requests), I bought him a bacon-related gift pack from another vendor and it was very well-received. Personalized gifts are always much better than something you might buy any other day of the year because they show much more thought as to who someone really is and what they like. If your guy is a first-timer, the Tactical Baby Bag (top) offers a survival guide and other smart supplies for added energy during the sleepless nights (note: this comes with the tactical bag, not a crate). 

Which ones suits your guy/dad? A few of these would work for my husband, but I think he is the retro gamer all the way. 

Last year, we ended up coloring eggs that were meant for a deviled egg hors d'oeuvre and I loved how it came out so much that I wanted to do it again this year.  Plus, I like deviled eggs better than plain hard-boiled eggs, so this way, we can enjoy the fun of coloring the eggs and I'm more likely to eat them after. 

Hard boil eggs and remove the shells.

Halve hard-boiled eggs lengthwise.

Remove yolks and mash them (if you have a ricer, it makes the filling smoother, but using any masher or fork will do).

For 6 eggs, use:
-1/4 cup mayonnaise
-1 teaspoon vinegar
-1 teaspoon mustard,
-and salt and pepper to taste


To fill the eggs, we put the mixture in a cookie press with an accent tip on it; it gives them a light and ruffled look, but you can also use a piping bag (or a plastic storage bag with a corner cut off).

We usually top them with paprika, but you can also garnish with parsley, chopped onions or chives, crumbled crispy bacon, or horseradish. 

The coloring process is the same as eggs still in the shell: food coloring + water + time = colored eggs. The color won't take to the eggs as uniformly as they do on the shells, but as long as you're okay with that, you should be pretty happy with the results. I haven't tried to do ombre or anything more advanced than combining two or three colors on the same egg, because it takes a while for the color to saturate into the egg white. We're actually doing another batch of eggs next week when my sister comes to town, so I might try to experiment a little. 

Over the weekend I helped my four year old make her valentines for her preschool class. Last year she was the only one that brought in handmade valentines. I know how busy everyone is, and it's certainly just easier and quicker to sign names on the pre-made cards with popular characters on them, but I'm really glad that we're still making our own, at least for now.

My daughter is really into art projects and sticker crafts. Every time I go through the craft store, I grab a pack of foam stickers so she can do her creative work. I saw this pack of foam valentines and stickers at Target for $5 and brought them home for her. 

I helped her a little, but I was really proud of how she carefully put her friends' names and the decorative stickers on each one. We had some pieces left over, which I obviously commandeered to make the valentine above.

Last year, I found card stock shaped like large cupcakes (always a cupcake theme with her) and we put each kid's name on it in white foam stickers. Then I wrote "You're sweet, happy Valentine's Day" and then she signed them. Craft stores always have paper or foam in fun shapes and most have adhesive backing so you don't even need to mess with glue if you don't want to. 

I know there are a zillion cute ideas on blogs and Pinterest, and I really do like the one that looks like your child is busting a lollipop through from the second dimension into the third, but I think sometimes attaining (or thinking that you need to attain) that styled perfection can be more stressful than inspiring. If you're not into commercialized characters (I'm not) or spending a fortune and you want to spend a little extra time doing something hands-on with your kids, here are three ideas I literally came up with this morning while fully intending to post links to other people's great ideas.

Parents of young ones probably have most of this on hand. I did not shop or pre-plan for this (which may be obvious when you see them), every last bit came from something I already had in my house. I've mentioned before I'm not super-DIY girl, so these are pretty simple. But that's the thing - these are little kids, they're not trying to reinvent the wheel. They just want to have fun: To them, punny sayings are still novel and giggle-inducing. And making something themselves gives them a sense of pride and extra practice on the motor-skills. So give yourself a break, mom and dad, and if you want to shoot for something slightly more ambitious than store-bought, try these:

We happen to have foam shapes that we use when finger painting, but if you're handy with scissors and short on shapes, you could make a heart from an old kitchen sponge. 

I used finger paint to coat the sponge, pressed down, et voila. Then I simply pasted (I actually used double stick tape, but you can glue, too) the original square I cut out onto another colored sheet of construction paper. Your child can write the 'to' and 'from' names on it and leave as is, or embellish as he or she likes. 

More construction paper and some left over lollipops here. But even if you don't have Dum Dums hanging around, they're only 10 cents each in the bulk bin, so it's really cheap. 

I cut out a 6 x 6 inch square of blue paper, a corner of a sheet of yellow paper to make the sun, and cut the cloud out of white paper. I glued the lollipops on with a bit of clear Elmer's to make it look like a balloon had escaped the bunch. I tied the yarn bow on after gluing, it was much easier than tying them first.

Insert pun about soaring hearts, and you're done!

A take on one of my favorite valentines.

This required the most work (i.e. tinkering with my printer). First I grabbed a toy train and a piece of green construction paper and wrote the message in black Sharpie. When you write your message, try to leave yourself at least a half inch border of blank space at the bottom. I propped up the train with a few small foam stickers so the wheels would look straight.

I took a picture of the train on the paper and printed it out on 4 x 6 inch photo paper (make sure you choose the borderless option). Then I glued the cotton balls on the photo paper to look like the steam from the engine. If you don't want the valentine to be 3D, you could put the cotton balls on the construction paper and then take the picture before printing, getting basically the same effect.


If you make any of these, let me know!  

My husband and I don't really do Valentine's Day. We used to, when we were young and first dating. In fact, I recall a few gifts that I certainly hope my daughters' boyfriends do not buy them when they are 16. But while we do write each other cards, we stopped exchanging gifts for minor holidays, although he does often buy me an orchid plant (my favorite flower to try to keep long-term), which I'm generally able to keep alive for about six months. Who doesn't love fresh flowers, especially in the winter? (Of course, with two little kids, we'll be lucky if we can sneak off to dinner alone together. Calling all babysitters.)

It might be snobby, but I'm not really a fan of red rose bouquets or carnations; they just feel very predictable. I'm attracted to more lush, interesting flowers like ranunculus, anemone, peonies, and of course, orchids. I love this low, tight arrangement (above) from Olive and Cocoa. The vessel is simple but lovely, and more interesting to me than any theme-y Valentine's Day vase, and something I'd definitely use again. Red's my favorite color so of course I like the shades of the blooms, especially the dark ones. What I really love are the little red mokara orchids at the top, which are the same kind as were tied onto curly willow branches that trailed down from my wedding bouquet. I like the idea of giving an arrangement rather than a bouquet, but that's my personal preference.

Also, I'm not saying that you necessarily have to go this fancy, but before defaulting to red roses, think about your partner's true favorite flower. Taking note of that and offering even a few stems is more meaningful than a big bouquet just for the sake of Valentine's Day, in my opinion. 

If your loved one isn't a fan of flowers, there are always edible treats. Chocolate is ubiquitous, but again, think of what your partner really loves. Cheryl's makes really delicious cutout cookies, as good as homemade. My dad was given an assorted box of their cookies for Christmas 2012 and we devoured that sucker. They have several gift options at a variety of price points. The "long-stemmed" cookie arrangement is kind of funny, and the best part about giving an edible treat is you'll probably get to have some, too. 

Do you go all out or keep it small to celebrate Valentine's Day? Or do you think it's a ridiculous holiday perpetuated by the industrial greeting card complex?

images via olive & cocoa, cheryl's

Xx a

Happy new year everyone!  Well, this year is definitely not starting the way we'd hoped. My youngest daughter is (hopefully) near the tail end of a bug that made her sick for several days, starting on Christmas, and she spiked a fever yesterday morning at 6am. Shortly after the clock struck midnight and 2014 began, my husband got ill and has been sick since. Today I'm trying to help them however I can while my older daughter and I are crossing our fingers that we do not get sick, too.

Needless to say, not what we were hoping to be doing today. Even though 2014 is off to an inauspicious start, I'm holding out hope for this year. 2013 wasn't a bad year, but it was a hard year. While I'm proud of starting my freelance career, working on this blog, and my family, I did not feel like myself for the majority of the year. I was (and still am) a bit homesick for my old house and for New York. I was (and still am) exhausted because my baby, at 14 months still does not sleep through the night. I'm hard on myself and onmy body, still a little heavier than I wanted to be by now. It's funny, I felt much more confident in who I was and how I looked and dressed when I was in high school and college than I do now. 

So that's what I'm hoping for this year: to find myself again. To--as much as I can with small children--do the things that make me happy, to make time for myself, to try and push myself out of my comfort zone, to get outside more, to find some energy again and to not always be so tired, to learn something new, to get a little more organized, to dress more like who I feel I am, and to accept that certain things are out of my hands and try to let them go.  

I'm not giving myself a deadline for these things, because I don't think the added pressure is necessary. These goals have been on my mind for a while, so I feel committed to them.

And that's what I wish for each of you, too: that you find what fulfills you, whether it's personally or professionally. Happy 2014!

gif via giphy.com

Xx a

We had a great weekend getting in the Christmas spirit, even though I still can't believe Christmas Eve is today. All our snow had melted over the weekend and now, like magic, it's back this morning. And it is still hard to fathom how this year went by so quickly. 

The fun part is that we get to stretch out all the celebrations: tonight we'll have dinner with my mother-in-law and her husband, then I'm taking Cupcake (my four year old) to midnight mass with me. It's at 10p and she's normally awake anyway (inherited insomnia from me, oops), so I thought she would really enjoy hearing all the beautiful music and seeing mass in a different way. I've been wanting to bring her for years; when she was first born, mass was actually at midnight, but they've backed it off to 10p.

Then tomorrow morning, my mother-in-law and her husband are coming back for brunch and to open presents. I found some really fun gifts (including the kinetic sand!) so I'm excited for the kids to open them so we can all play with them. And we'll see what Cupcake says when she sees Santa got her the pink dollhouse she's been begging for. My baby (Sunshine) is so much harder to shop for because we have so much already, but we're doing our best to make it special for her. I got her her own version of a dollhouse that I think she'll enjoy. And of course lots of books for both. It's getting exciting because, even though she isn't walking yet, Sunshine is starting to talk and "book" is one of her words. She's a really good communicator and already has opinions about what she likes and doesn't like and isn't afraid to let you know, with firm headshakes and nods and "yeah" or "nah." Love this age!

Later this week, we'll celebrate more when my brother-in-law and his family come into town, and again with my family on Saturday when my sister, aunt and uncle are in town. Lots of fun! Lots of food!

We also made our first family gingerbread house over the weekend. You probably guessed that the gingerbread house above is not ours. But I'm sure we'll tackle that next year now that we have one under our belts. 

My husband had never made a gingerbread house before and I realized I haven't made one since home ec class in eighth grade. It was fun to do together and Cupcake really liked decorating it. Though I think, for her sake, next year I might need to get my own because I was a too little anal retentive about the decorating. The decorating ideas were mostly hers, but I made her let me do a lot of the candy placement. I feel a bit guilty, but she said she had a lot of fun, so I guess this won't come up in therapy in a couple decades. (I hope.)

Before we get the kids from daycare, we're going to make buckeyes, a family favorite. Actually a favorite of almost everyone we know (except poor Cupcake, allergic to peanuts). It's actually the best buckeye recipe I've ever tasted, so in the spirit of Christmas, here it is.

As you and your families get ready to celebrate, we hope you are having fun and making lots of memories! 

Now that we're just under a week away from Christmas (what?!), the holiday cards are starting to roll in. I'm grateful I got the bulk of mine out a few days ago, but I still have a few I want to send. I enjoy receiving holiday cards, seeing the pictures of everyone and hearing how people from our past and present are doing. I like to keep the cards out during the holidays so we can enjoy them and think of the people who thought of us, but sometimes it's hard to find a nice way to display them. 

Of course, I've seen them placed along the mantel and I've seen them tied with string or ribbon and hung on a stairway bannister, or randomly pinned up everywhere, but I like something a little more put together.

So, in a throwback of sorts--for Thursday, naturally--I wanted to share this idea I've always liked from David Stark. He, being the genius event planner/producer, put this together for O at Home magazine (may it rest in peace) back in 2007 when I worked there; though much to my dismay, I did not get to work on this story.

Anyway, he took a piece of solid insulation material, which seems to be available for relatively cheap at the hardware store, and covered it in a beautiful pink dupioni silk. Then he pinned holiday cards to the board in the shape of a tree, adding ornaments, garland, and other fun elements creating something really special and festive.  

I love this and it's quite customizable because you can choose a fabric that coordinates with a certain room, or if your holiday decor has a specific theme or color scheme, you can match that, as David did here with the palette shown in this part of the story. Here, coordinating packages and ornaments on the bannister and chandelier also speak to the overall theme. I also love this scheme because it uses black, which most people don't think to use at Christmas, but I always endorse a little drama, contrast, and sophistication. My husband didn't understand when I bought black ornaments last year, but ha! If it's good enough for David Stark, it's good enough for me. 

You can copy the tree design or try a star or any other sort of pattern to hang the cards. And during the off-season, you could select a different fabric and display your children's art or other personal ephemera on it.  

Do you display your holiday cards in a special way?
  

Whenever I am putting up the ornaments on our tree, I vacillate between loving a crazy mix of ornaments collected over the years (what we have) and wanting some sort of theme or specific color scheme like the gorgeous and sophisticated ones you see in magazines. 

I'm fairly certain, though, that if I went all in on a theme or specific color, that would last for one year or two and then I'd want something new and have to start over. Anyway, I've mentioned I'm pretty nostalgic and I like the memories or feelings the ornaments we have conjure up. 

Much like with wrapping paper, I tend to stay away from super Christmas-specific ornaments like Santas, reindeer, gifts, and the like. I like quirky, I like a mix of materials. We have wood, metal, glass, porcelain, fabric, and paper ornaments. I'm pretty sure growing up in a half-Jewish household where we didn't make a huge deal of Christmas has a lot to do with it. With my own children, we do a little more than I grew up with, and we're building our own traditions. We try not to go overboard and we purchase the "big gift" and let Santa take care of the fun extras, so that the girls will always know the real point of the holiday. They're both really into the tree and Cupcake was able to help decorate again. I'm really looking forward to next year when Sunshine can help put up the unbreakable ornaments and hang the candy canes with us.

I know they look the least Christmassy of all, but I really love these totem ornaments. And a tree full of the white pine cones and white and gold mini ornaments would be stunning. The feathers and botanicals in jars are interesting (and something that you could probably DIY) and matched with the clip on butterflies and maybe some deep green and blue ornaments could make for an enchanted forest kind of tree. Also - cat ladies (and gentlemen): paper poinsettias not poisonous to felines! ;)

How do you decorate your tree?

Fun little extras to add to the stockings!