Husband Birthday Surprise

Sometimes in our busy lives there is not always time or money to have an elaborate celebration for one's brithday. For most adults birthdays seem to just come and go without a real pause to celebrate the person.  I have not met a single person who doesn't smile when their birthday is acknowledged.  I always feel however that a birthday is a time that should be filled with a few things: 1- Cake~ is a must to celebrate any birthday 2- Balloons~ I think they make any birthday special and festive 3- Favorite meal~ I think it just makes the birthday person feel that more special.  As my husband has told me I am always very thoughtful when it comes to gifts and surprises.  Sometimes its not about the amount of money you spend but that you actually took the time to put some extra thought into the gift or surprise for that person.  For my husband's brithday this year I took some ideas I saw on Pinterest.  My husband works on the weekend and his birthday fell on a Sunday this year.  I had ample time to carry out my plan.  I started the day with a breakfast he wanted rum banana waffles.  When he left for work I went to work and decorated our bedroom for his surprise!  He turned 38 so I printed 38 pictures of him and wrote on the back of each one a different reason why I loved him.  Some I attached to helium balloons, others I placed on the streamers I hung near our windows. Honestly I wanted to hang them all from balloons, but for two reasons I could not, one that would have been a lot of balloons, and two attaching more then one to the balloons weighed them down (I did try) Next I bought a bag of assorted balloons and a happy birthday sign from target and used it in my decorating.  We have a birthday hat I bought when we moved in together I keep recycling every year that always makes it way into the celebration!  And since my husband would only be home for his hour dinner break I prepared an antipasti platter as our dinner.  Something my husband loves. 

A sign on the door to announce the surprise!

His favorite meal: Antipasti

Couple Photos-

I am forever finding wonderful couple pictures on Pinterest.  These inspire me to convince my husband time and time again to pose and take milestone pictures.  We always wind up using the timer on my little canon powershot camera.  One if these days I will have to invest in a tripod so we can stop balancing the camera on furniture or tree stumps! Our first attempt at one of these photos came before we were even married, it was with our Save the Date postcards.

Our Save the Dates- all the information on the back of the postcard

First Anniversary Picture- Montauk, NY

The camera is balancing on a broken post....we also stopped a few people this day to take our picture.

We have continued with taking our own picture for our Christmas card this year. 

I will have to keep finding new ideas to commemorate special moments in our life together.  I also need to keep my fingers crossed that my husband keeps appeasing me and being a good sport about all the photos and ideas I come up with.  

Thanksgiving

As I am getting ready to host my first Thanksgiving in my small apartment I want to add simple touches to make it special.  Luckily it is a smallish gathering of about ten. One small touch that I thought would add something special to the table taking away the need for a huge centerpiece was a simple napkin fold for my place setting.  This really is not that hard to do and will great sitting in the middle of the plate!  I added the simple decorative touches of a paper leaf (found a pack of 12 for $1.99 at Michaels) and the turkey chocolates were actually an impulse buy as I stood in line at CVS. 

To fold the napkins:  Starch with a freshly ironed napkin.  Next fold in half on the diagonal.  Again press.  Fold in half again into a smaller triangle.  Once again press the creases.  Next holding the triangle fold the bottom part up again an inch.  Yup you guessed it press the crease.  Flip over and fold corners to the center so that they meet, now fold in half.  Press a little to the rounded shape as you stand it up.  Place leaf or name card or message in the folds.  This would also be a good spot to place a gratitude note.  Chocolate Turkeys optional!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Carving Pumpkins and Roasted Seeds

I absolutely love Autumn.  It is definitely a time to see and feel change all around you.  There are the beautiful colors that are bursting in the outdoors, the bright reds, oranges, and golds.  And Autumn also means all things pumpkin.  I love pumpkins from jack o'lanterns to pumpkin spice lattes.  After a recent trip to go pumpkin picking I was eager to carve my pumpkins and roast the seeds.

First wash and thoroughly dry the pumpkin.

Next cut the top off your pumpkin and remove all the insides, scraping along the walls to get all the seeds and loose bits out.  This is the slimy, sticky part of the job.

Next either print out the pattern you wish to use or lightly draw one on the pumpkin.  This pattern I found on pumpkinmasters.com in the free section.  Using a small punch tool poke holes around the area that you wish to carve this will act as a guideline when out carve.  Remove the printed paper pattern and begin to carve the pumpkin.  All tools I used came from a small pumpkin carving kit that can be found in most stores this time of year.  I used small flameless tea candles to light the pumpkin.

My finished Jack 0'Lantern....I feel like he is smirking!

Roasted Pumpkins Seeds

Now for all those leftover seeds.  Another slimy job is to separate all the seeds from the pulp and rinse them off.  Lay them in a single layer on a foil lined cookie sheet.  I let them dry for one day.  When they are dry Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.  Melt about half of stick of butter and drizzle over the seeds, sprinkle desired about salt over seeds.  Mix seeds to coat with salt and butter.  Again make sure they are in one layer on the cookie sheet.  Bake in oven for about 40 minutes turning halfway through.  Seeds to be nice and golden when finished.

1st Anniversary Gift

As my first wedding anniversary approached I was racking my brain for a gift idea that would stick to the paper theme. I had seen suggestions for photo albums, concert tickets, etc... However we just returned from a Caribbean cruise and we have concert tickets for the end if the summer. So I came up with the idea of a "date night idea book". I put together a binder with lots of different ideas for possible date nights. There are enough ideas to last for date once a week for a year. Ranging from silly nights at home to nights out on the town or full day trips. I found tons of ideas from the website http://www.thedatingdivas.com a wonderful resource for couples!

Very simply I found a nice binder to hold everything in...

Part of the collection included quiz books on how well you know your spouse good for a night in.  Also good for a nice in is the Lovers' Massage Book!  All found on Amazon.

 I added dividers so that I could group the ideas my sections were: A night out on the town, A night at home, I challenge you, Coupons, Advertisements (for me to place clippings from the paper etc..)

I am such the coupon clipper so this will help keep them organized when needed for a night out.

I hope this is helpful for a unique first anniversary "paper" gift.

For our anniversary we spent the day out east on Long Island, NY.  We drove out to Montauk Point, walked around the village, then made our way home stopping at a farmer's market in Amagansett, and stopping for a picnic at a winery or two in the Hamptons.  All in all is was a wonderful day with just the two of us! 

Teacher Summer Gift

As the end of June is here many are thinking of gifts to give their children's teacher.  As a teacher myself I have gotten my fair share of wonderful gifts and some that hmmm I enjoy the thought that the student wanted to give me a gift but I have no use for.  So I thought I would share some ideas for teacher gifts. 

List of ideas for a teacher gift:

1. At the end of the year leading into a summer why not a wrap a towel with a tube of sunscreen and a magazine.
2. Gift cards are always useful and appreciated.
3. With so many budget cuts and supplies very limited for teachers, perhaps a basket or plastic bin filled with items to get started for September. (post-its, a box of pencils/pens, box of tissues, ream of paper etc..)
4. A recent idea I saw for a male teacher is a metal tub with some grilling tools, BBQ sauces, and a tag that read "For a teacher that was on fire this year"

5. Another food treat would be a box that contains ice cream toppings, cones, waffle bowls, sprinkles, etc... with a tag that read "wishing you a cool summer".

As with any gift it is the thought that counts. It doesn't have to be over the top or expensive.   I know a simple hand written letter or note from students is always appreciated as at times we do not always hear "Thank You".

I found some other interesting ideas on the following website:

Plum Adorable

http://www.plumadorable.com/ten-teacher-gift-ideas/   

Simple Birthday Idea

Sometimes as we grow older the hoopla that goes along with birthdays sometimes fades away.  Perhaps this comes from the fear or dread of getting older.  Which is somewhat a shame since I still feel that birthdays should be honored with at the very least cake, balloons, and some silliness! Now don't think this means that one has to go over the top and spend great deals to achieve this birthday fun.  It is more about to find someway during the day to make the birthday boy or girl feel special.  The picture above shows a simple centerpiece I constructed with a bag of birthday balloons purchased at the grocery store that morning, blew up, and placed in a wooden serving tray.  The birthday hat was purchased two years ago at target and is still used to signify a birthday.  Ok so now that there are balloons and decoration a cake is needed.

Again nothing fancy being served here for the cake portion of the celebration, it was to be a quiet celebration of just my husband and myself so a small Carvel ice-cream cake was all that was needed.  My husband loved it.  To round out his birthday celebration and make it a special day for him in between dinner and cake we ventured down to the beach for an evening stroll in the sand.