Things that Make Me Happy: A Gift Guide

The holiday season is upon us and I don’t know about you, but this time of year can be really stressful for me. I make my list and check it twice…and then I check it again and again, trying to find the perfect gift. Sometimes I need a little help finding the one true gift. When I’m stumped, I think of the things I really enjoy because I figure if I them it, chances are you will too. Here’s what makes me happy:

Things That Make Me Happy

The Beauty of Different by Karen Walrond  Karen’s photography is beautiful, but what really moves me about this book is her words. She explores all of the ways each one of us is beautiful, and reinforces to everyone that it is our unique qualities that make us beautiful, not the ways we struggle to make ourselves fit the mold of “normal” as dictated by our society. I think this book is a must-read for everyone. I display her book on my coffee table for everyone who comes over to see and ask about, I think her message is that important. In fact, my copy is so well loved that it now sports a broken spine.

Prismatic Globe Patio Lights – I recently became an RV owner. We have an annual campsite for our 5^th wheel where we spend weekends for six months out of the year. Everyone decorates their campsite with lights and fancy fire pits and furniture. These lights are awesome. I saw them at Camping World and instantly had a bad case of the wants. They come in a rainbow of colors and each globe is 6” in diameter. They are definitely big enough that I can follow them home after a few cocktails at the neighbor’s campsite, which is important. Having to make apologies in the morning for stumbling into the wrong trailer is awkward. These globe lights are not just for RV awnings, though. They would be great for a backyard patio.

VitaMix Blender – Ok, I know. $450 for a blender? But this isn’t just any old blender. I’m pretty sure I could grind up my car if I could get it in small enough chunks to fit in the container. With this blender I can make smoothies, shakes, sauces, and salsas. Oh – you can make those in your regular blender? But wait! There’s more. This blender also makes soup – hot soup! You put some broth and veggies and spices in the VitaMix, whirr it up, add a little cooked chicken, and voila! You have hot soup. It cooks with the friction of the blades. To go along with your soup, the VitaMix even mixes and kneads bread dough. I bet your Osterizer doesn’t do that!

Veronica Mars: Seasons 1 – 3 –  Spoiler alert: there are only three seasons of this smart, engaging show and that fact makes me sad. I came to this show really late. In fact, it was long off the air before I saw a single episode. It took me exactly one episode for me to be hooked. Yes, it’s about high school kids but it’s definitely not Beverly Hills 90210, the next generation. The dialog is snappy, the characters are well-developed, and the plots are engaging. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend spending quality time with Miss Veronica. Hint: it’s cheaper to buy the seasons individually than in the box set.

There you have it. Things that make me happy. I hope they make you happy too.

Featured Photo Credit ]babi]

Dear Santa, Now That’s Entertainment

I will be honest, money has been tight for me and the girls this year.  So tight, in fact, that included on the list of “things we’ll have to learn to live without” was cable television.  For about 6 months now, the girls and I have been without television, watching only DVD’s at our house.  (We get to Keep up with the Kardashians on weekends at Brian’s, so we’re not completely out of the loop). So, Santa, until I’ve lived in the new house for a few months and until I have a handle on how expensive my utilities are going to be so I can determine if I can afford cable television, please send me the following for my entertainment.  I don’t want to appear as though I live under a rock when joining in the water cooler conversations at work.

Entertaining Holiday Gifts

First, send me the Complete First Season of Glee. Glee has become a surprise hit with a Glee Club doing covers of Broadway Show Tunes, to Classic Rock. People everywhere became hooked on Glee, (proudly announcing they were in fact ‘GLEEKS’).  I will be honest, Santa, when I saw the first episode or two, I was not overly impressed.  But since hearing some of the songs on XM radio, I have to say, my interest is piqued.  If I’m going to jump on the Gleek Bandwagon, I might as well jump on from the very beginning.

The next on my list?  A little known television show that I have loved since the very beginning.  The Good Wife.  Julianna Margulies plays the wife of a State’s Attorney (Chris Noth) who has been disgraced with a sex scandal and is locked up for abusing the power of his position.  Both Julianna and Chris are amazing in this series and with the loss of my cable, I’m sort of out of the loop.

The final series on my wish list Santa, is my guilty pleasure.  I am almost ashamed to admit that I adore Carrie Bradshaw and her girlfriends.  I wish I could sit down and write like Carrie, had the unabashed c0nfidence of Samantha, the logic of Miranda and the romantic hopelessness of Charlotte.  I would love nothing more than to curl up on the sofa with mug of coffee, a warm blanket and Sex and the City in the DVD player.  Sex and the City the Complete Series, would make plenty of my Saturdays dreams come true.

For Your Smart Girlfriend: Holiday Gift Guide

Of course, we’re all smart, but your smart girlfriend doesn’t just accept information, she devours it.  Intellectual pursuit and curiosity define her.  Smart girls do like jewelry, handbags and perfume, but there are things that a smart girl just loves.  Like books, educational stuff, and Vera Wang.

As a self proclaimed “smart girl,” I’m writing this holiday gift guide to help you make, well, smart purchases for your smart friends.  So.  Here we go.

I love the library.  I do not, however, love carrying my books home every week in a reusable grocery shopping bag from WalMart.  It follows, then, that I need this Vera Bradley Tote Bag in Very Berry Paisley to carry said books.  Actually, I would pretty much accept any kind of Vera Bradley tote because I think they’re gorgeous.  This bag can be purchased directly from Vera Bradley or you could get lucky and find it on Amazon or Overstock.com, which both carry the brand from time to time.

Smart people love to be smart in several languages.  Don’t let the price discourage you, the Rosetta Stone software proves highly cost effective when compared to taking several college level courses.  Each language offered has several levels, and buyers have the option of purchasing one level at a time or an entire set.  The software can be purchased directly at the Rosetta Stone site and also at Amazon.

I type nearly all correspondence on my keyboard, but I love the idea of sending hand written notes to my friends and family.  There’s something incredibly classy about penning a “Thank You” note completely from scratch on your very own personalized stationery.

There are tons of places on the Internet you can find designs for stationery.  I really liked this one at Finestationery.com.  Mostly because it’s called “Saffron,” and because it was designed by Vera Wang.

On any given day, I might be in the process of reading up to three books at the same time.  That doesn’t mean that each of these books doesn’t need to feel special which is why I’m a bookmark junkie.  I have metal, ceramic, plastic, leather and glass ones.  While I may have lots of bookmarks, I do not have a hookmark which can be purchased at, you guessed it, Hookmarks.com.  It’s a definite bonus that this vendor mentions free gift boxes with each hookmark you purchase.

There’s probably a specific topic that whips your smart friend up into a frenzy.  Most likely, it’s something she can talk about for hours that would cause her to set aside her normally awesome social skills and cease to notice the deadened look in your eye as she goes on and on about it.

If you’ve been harassed about you’re aware of this well loved topic, head over to PBS’s site and click on “Shop PBS.” You’ll find numerous documentaries for sale, at least one of which will be entirely devoted to the thing she loves to talk about most.  While many of these titles are available on Amazon, purchasing directly from PBS ensures your money will go directly to creating more educational programming on the network.  If you can’t decide exactly what to get, they have gift certificates available, as well.

The best gifts, I think, are the ones that are both given from the heart and adequately reflect a measure of consideration for a person’s true passions in life.  Of course, if your smart friend  is really smart, she’ll like whatever you give her because she knows it’s being given with love and sincerity.

HowEVER.  If I’m your smart friend, know that my birthday is in January and this was just one big hint.  Consider yourself warned.

Happy holidays.

6 TV Series to Watch on DVD

I’ve recently developed an obsession with watching TV series on DVD.

I love that there are no commercials, which means I can watch a 30 minute show in about 20 minutes or an hour long episode in about 45 minutes.  Never mind what that says about how much programming we’re actually getting on TV these days. And I love that I don’t have to wait an entire week to see what happens next.

But mostly I love that this gives me a chance to fall in love with TV series I might have missed (probably because my DVR was already jam packed) when they first aired.  Because what I need more than anything in life is another TV obsession.  Clearly.

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