Here Comes Santa Claus

I love giving Christmas gifts. I love finding the "perfect" gift for someone, and the creativity of putting the gifts together. I think that's why I've participated in the Secret Santa Soiree for the past three years. Georgie always does such an amazing job administering the process and I've had a blast with it.

This year was no exception.

She organized it a bit differently this year. Instead of blogging about what we RECEIVED, this year we were to blog about what we GAVE. How fun! I hope my recipient enjoys what I chose for her! She should be getting it by Tuesday, if "neither rain, nor sleet, nor SNOW, nor dead of night..." well, you get the idea!

Like me, she's a lover of pink, so I decided to make pink the holiday color this year!


She's up in the northwest, so I'm sure she'll be needing so warm winter gloves, in lovely pink and white!


After a day in the cold, she'll love a hot shower with some vanilla shower gel and pink bath scrubbies!


After relaxing in the shower, who couldn't use a little chocolate pick-me-up. In this case, her fave is chocolate and peanut butter...M & M's to be specific!


When decorating for Christmas, everyone needs a little angel watching over her!


And finally, since we're so close to turning the last page on the calendar, I thought she'd like to ring in 2011 with a new year calendar!

Hope she enjoys my gift as much as I enjoyed putting it together! Thanks to Georgie for putting together another festive and fabulous Secret Santa Soiree! :)

Thank You Santa!

This is the second year that I've participated in Amy and Georgie's (aka "amyandgeorgie") Secret Santa Soiree. I received my package on Thursday and this year's Santa did just as well as last year! :)

She's apparently a crafty Miss Santa, because it had these two beautiful vinyl lettering projects. The first is a magnetic "Countdown to Christmas" board and easel stand, which Sweet Son #1 and The Manimal both love as much as I do.

It's a good thing I don't rely on them to know what day it is!


The second gift is a wooden sign which will soon find a home on one of my walls.



The final gift isn't homemade, but rather my favorite bath product scent, "Moonlight Path" from Bath & Body Works!



Now, I can't be absolutely sure who my amazing Secret Santa is, but I have to give a shout-out to the creator of the fabulous vinyl lettering projects. Just Another Cute Idea is, to my excitement, a LOCAL company! :) I'm excited to check out some great projects and may be making a few purchases myself!

Many thanks to Amyandgeorgie for arranging the Secret Santa Soiree once again!

Ten on Tuesday

I tend to procrastinate. Unfortunately, the blogosphere, whether you're a blogger or a reader, tends to encourage such behavior. With ten days before Christmas and a hundred things few things left to do, I should most definitely NOT be hanging around cyberspace.

And yet here I am.

My only consolation is that you're here too. Of course, you may be one of those people of whom I'm insanely jealous really organized types who have all of your Christmas preparation done, gifts wrapped, baking done, stockings hung...

I have to stop now before I sink into a deep depression.

Anyway, back to procrastinating...

Here are ten of my favorite timesuckers blogs (in no particular order):

1. C. Beth Blog

Beth is mom to Chickie and Zoodle, and wife to The Engineer. The kiddos are darling, Beth is a wonderful writer. Love her. She also aspires to help others love to write at One Minute Writer. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to go to OMW more than 3 times every day a few times a week next year.

2. The Glamorous Life of a Housewife

Whitney is stay-at-home-mom to Weebie and wife to Husby, the med student. She is too cute for words and loves her life as a homemaker and mom. I love reading about her life. She's just so daggone cute.

3. The Ivory Hut

A new fave of mine, I found Ivory Hut through a perennial blogging fave, The Pioneer Woman. Ivoryhut's style is much like Ree's, and I'm really enjoying getting to know her world.

4. The Pioneer Woman

What? You've never heard of The Pioneer Woman? Oh, you've been under a rock in Siberia for the last three years! Oh, okay then. You're excused.

5. Mrs. O

While I'm SO not a fan of her hubby's politics, I love Michelle Obama's fashion sense.

Mainly because I don't really have one of my own.

6. The Vegan(ish) Experiment

This is the tale of one family's quest to go macro-vegan. While I'm not really sure exactly what constitutes "macro-vegan", I love this blog for two reasons. One, I'm a foodie and love finding new, family-friendly recipes. And two, Beckiwithani, who authors this blog, is C.Beth's sister, and I love her writing style as well!

7. There's Always Room for One More

I love reading about Denise's family. Mainly because her stories make The Manimal's exploits seem almost normal. And I have this fascination and admiration for larger families.

8. Octamom

Speaking of larger families, this Octamom should not be confused with the Octomom. This Octamom has a normal life with her hubby and eight (hence the name) children. She's an awesome photographer and I love reading her kid stories (and ohmygranny she's got a lot of them).

Stories, that is. Eight kids is a lot too, but with eight kids, the stories multiply exponentially and...

Oh, nevermind.

9. Amy and Georgie

So this is a two-fer, only because I always think of these chicks in one breath. Like "amyandgeorgie". Just to be clear, though, these are two, unrelated residents of the blogosphere, who just happen to be soul sisters. I started reading them both last year when they organized the Secret Santa Soiree. They're mommy bloggers with hearts of gold.

10. $5 Dinners

Erin hails from the same part of the Buckeye State that I do, and when I procrastinate on her blog, I always feel I can justify my time because I learn a new way to save money on my groceries! She is the coupon/budget queen and actually saves more using coupons at chain groceries than I do at my beloved Aldi.

So there you have it. Go procrastinate. I won't tell!

Secret Santa Soiree

It's that time of year again. "What time?" you ask?

Ahh, dear readers, it's time for Georgie's Secret Santa Soiree!

Remember when you used to do the gift exchanges in grammar school? And your spending limit was $5? And you got all excited over a pair of multicolored toe socks?

No? Oh, okay then.

Think of this as a WAY better gift exchange. I participated last year and got some of the most FUNNEST (it's okay to say "funnest" when you're talking about fun things like mystery gift exchanges) things evah! You do need to have a blog to participate, but seriously? It's worth starting one JUST so you can! :)

"But it's too EARLY for a gift exchange!" Trust me when I say that Georgie is the absolute QUEEN of organizing the perfect gift exchange and you will SO want to be a part of this one. The price limit is $20 before shipping and you'll get some clues as to what your Secret Santa likes, so it's easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy!

Go see Georgie now. Sign up. Have fun!

Nice List

Well, I survived the big weekend at Diva U. I've been there for almost 10 years, and this is my 19th Commencement Weekend. My feet are killing me...

But I must've really been good this year, because when I got home yesterday, my Secret Santa had dropped off an early Christmas package! I participated in Georgie and Amy's Secret Santa Soiree this year, and had a blast putting together my package to send off.

While I'm not positive who had my name, I've got a sneaky suspicion because of the return address. :) Whoever was my Secret Santa did a great job!

When I opened the box, I found these fabulous gift bags...

And when I opened the gift bags, I found these cool metal star ornaments, soy candle and beautiful handmade scarf...

and these fun fuzzy pink socks, Lindor Truffles and tasty (if you're a dog) Heart Treats (see below)...

And if those weren't sweet enough, Secret Santa included gifts for The Manimal and Sweet Son #1...and Princess Poopy Puppy received a gift from the Pug Princes!

I'd've taken a picture of Princess and her Heart Shaped Liver treats, but she devours them so quickly, there was no point! :)

There were a few other wonderful little gifts, like Burt's Bees Lip Balm, fun snowman tissues, Starbuck's Gift Cards (woo-hoo!), and some tasty Buckeye candies, which, sadly, Diva Husband enjoyed all too well. My Secret Santa even thought to get me candy from my home state! :) How cool is that?!

So, Secret Santa, whomever you are, thank you SO much! And Georgie and Amy, count me in for next year! For the rest of you, make sure YOU'RE on the nice list so Santa's good to you too! :)

Stay tuned tomorrow for The Manimal's Christmas Wish. It's gonna be some good clean (well, maybe not clean) fun!