Feeling Festive

Two posts so close to each other…what has gotten into me??? It’s not the eggnog. I’m back to share some gifts Adam and I bought each other and a sampling of things we bought for family.

I get the Vintage Travel Calendar by Cavallini & Co. every year for Christmas. I love this calendar with vintage travel advertisements. I could probably recycle the photos and frame them they’re so pretty. Actually, this company makes fancy wrapping paper I have framed and hung in my house.

Most of the pictures I post on the blog come from my cellphone but I hate going on vacation and using my phone for pictures. I just don’t think the quality is as good as a camera when you print the pictures. Now, if you are fine just having pictures online, a cellphone is fine.

Ugh, is it possible to buy a nice camera for less than $300? Our current camera is a Nikon Cool Pix but it was definitely time for an upgrade. I like having a small camera, I cannot see us traveling with those super nice Nikon with the super zoom attachment. So, we ended up buying a Canon Power Shot. I feel so old, I’m trying to figure out how to use it.

Adam likes fancy cocktails with bitters, syrups,  and exotic liqueurs so he asked for a barware set. I ordered him this set on Amazon at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday night and it arrived on Thursday, the very next night with free shipping. That is so crazy to me!

I really like the mid century modern look of this set. It complements some gold patterned glasses we bought at an antique store a couple years ago.

Adam also got a pair of SoundPEATS bluetooth ear buds. I asked him what is so great about them and he said he doesn’t have to have a cord attached to his phone and I said, “oh, that is pretty cool.”

I forgot to share these super cute flats I bought at J.Crew on clearance for $20. I live in black flats, they are my favorite shoe to wear. These are so cute with their little tassels.

My mom’s birthday falls right around Christmas so we sent her some wine from Early Mountain Winery in Virginia. The name may ring a bell, I shared photos from our pickup party a few posts ago. We are members of their wine club and go there every chance we get. They always have tasty small plates and make a mean cheese plate.

For Christmas my mom wanted a garden cart. She’s a master gardener and unfortunately lives in Florida so I can’t take advantage of her “services”. My sister on the other hand does live in Florida and received a landscaped yard for a Christmas gift one year. I thought I was just going to have to get my mom a gift card but I found a cart on Google Express with free shipping and literally bought with two clicks.

My mother-in-law also has a birthday close to Christmas. We sent her a box of chocolates from John & Kira’s, a chocolate shop based in Philadelphia, PA.

My sister-in-law and family just closed on a new house. I can’t imagine how stressful that is to move right around the holidays. We sent them a succulent garden as a housewarming gift and HP Sprocket Photo Printer for Christmas. A Sprocket printer can be plugged into your phone and print pictures directly from it. I thought that was pretty neat.

For some family members, they will receive gifts from our trip to Germany and Sweden. I’m hoping we can find some really unique things.

Switching gears for a moment, Adam and I just finished watching the first season of Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime. I thought it was really good; however, I feel like the character “Jack Ryan” was mis-cast. John Krasinski, plays the title role and most of you will recognize him from his role on The Office as Jim Halpert. I mean, I’m not going to stop watching the series because it is really good just wondering if anyone else feels the same way.

And finally, an update on the lot we put an offer on. The seller at first was not going to entertain our offer, she wanted a full price offer. So we told our realtor, that’s fine, if she changes her mind let us know. A few days later she came back with a counter offer and then we came back with a counter offer to her offer and we haven’t heard back from her since. Stay tuned.