When it comes to giving gifts at the holidays, I like to spend a lot of time planning and browsing before I do any spending. That way I can limit impulse purchases, stick to my budget, and find unique and meaningful gifts for my friends and family.
Read MoreWhen it comes to giving gifts at the holidays, I like to spend a lot of time planning and browsing before I do any spending. That way I can limit impulse purchases, stick to my budget, and find unique and meaningful gifts for my friends and family.
Read MoreOne of the goals for the month of May I mentioned in my May goals post was to host my sister-in-law's baby shower. Well, Kurt and I spent Mother's Day weekend in Pennsylvania to do just that! It was a packed weekend with lots of time spent with my family and celebrating my brother, my sister-in-law and their baby on the way.
Read MoreLast week, Kurt and I traveled to Pennsylvania to visit my family for Thanksgiving and kick off the holiday season. Because we will be with Kurt's family in Illinois for Christmas, we combined our celebrations in Pennsylvania, having our very first "Happy Merry Thanksmas"! It was definitely a different type of holiday, combining our favorite elements of Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it allowed us to celebrate and spend lots of time with my family.
Read MoreLast month on October 18, Kurt and I celebrated our first anniversary! In following the traditional anniversary gift suggestions, we decided our gifts to one another should be paper-based. I've shared in the earlier posts in this series how much I love to celebrate my relationships by giving gifts but giving this gift in particular made me just the tiniest bit nervous! I wanted it to represent not just the happiness of the first year of our marriage, but to remind us of the wedding day itself.
Read MoreI could spend hours browsing the card sections of Target or the Paper Source searching for cards to send to the people in my community. Part of this love comes from years and years of writing thank you notes as a child. My parents established early on the habit of sending handwritten notes to family and friends throughout the year. Every Christmas my brother and I received a new set of stationery with our names embossed on the cards and our addresses embossed on the flaps of the envelopes.
Read MoreAs I thought about selecting bridesmaid gifts I sought to assemble items that could be used throughout the wedding weekend as well as after it ended. I wanted to select items that reflected some of my favorite things but also were able to be enjoyed by four very different women. Having this chance to celebrate these women was extremely special. They invested their time and money to help Kurt and I start the next chapter in our relationship, so I wanted their gifts to reflect how much I appreciated that investment and how much I appreciate their presence in my life.
Read MoreWhen Kurt and I were still engaged, one of the things we read together was The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. This book outlines the five ways in which people prefer to give and receive love - through words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service and physical touch. It was fascinating for Kurt and I to learn more about what each of us prefers, and I can see how we have remained aware of these preferences more than a year later.
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I’m so glad that you are here!
I am a recovering perfectionist, an IVF momma, an avid knitter and reader, making a home in The Lenten Rose Cottage.
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