Tag Archives: gift

Maybe I’m Too Good At Figuring Out Gifts (or At Least I Didn’t Already Buy It)

Posted on January 29, 2021 | Comments Off on Maybe I’m Too Good At Figuring Out Gifts (or At Least I Didn’t Already Buy It)

I’ve said it a few times before on here, but I love buying gifts for people. If I had more money, I would buy more gifts. I love figuring out the perfect thing to get someone. And I usually end up planning gifts almost a year in advance. I keep a running list of websites in a favorites tab of all the gifts that I want to get for people. And I get so much joy out of seeing someone’s face when I get them a gift that ends up being perfect for them.

A lot of the time, perfect gifts also end up not being the most expensive things. But I would like to be able to buy more extravagant things when I see gifts that are more expensive. But maybe because I have to work on a budget, that’s why I work so hard on finding gifts and feel so good when the recipient ends up loving them.

I tend to be better at buying gifts for people I’ve known longer, but that’s not really possible with my nephew. Then again, he’s a baby so he doesn’t have a ton of likes and dislikes. So I just have to find good baby gifts. I’m still so happy with the busy board that my dad and I built for him for his Hanukkah present. And as soon as my dad and I finished that project, I realized I needed to start working on what I was going to get him for his first birthday.

And I figured out the perfect gift right after that last visit. I wanted to get Rory a ball pit! I had seen a kiddie ball pit on someone else’s Instagram and they had posted where they bought it. I didn’t need to buy it right away, but I found the shop online and saved it to buy later.

I had told my parents what I was planning on getting for Rory and they loved the idea too. The ball pit had a bunch of color options and I discussed which ones I thought would be best and they agreed with me. I was so excited to find this gift and couldn’t wait to buy it and see his face when I gave it to him.

I was getting ready to purchase it because I knew it would take some time to get to me. I had it in my cart and ready to purchase, but I was going to finish the purchase a little later. And then I got a text from my brother and sister-in-law of Rory playing that day while it was raining outside.

They got him the exact same ball pit in the same colors that I was about to order! I couldn’t believe it! I was a little disappointed because I was so excited to Rory this gift. But also, it was so cute to see how much he was already enjoying it. And I took it as a sign that I was on the right track for what types of gifts would work well for him. But I obviously knew that I needed to work on finding a new gift for his first birthday.

I think I’ve figured out what I’m going to get Rory instead. I’m still super excited about the gift and I think it’s something that he will love. I also have been working on presents for my niece because she will be born in about a month! I’m getting my niece almost the same present that I got Rory when he was born. I’m finding some great books and also making custom bookplates. My brother and sister-in-law know that I’m getting my niece these as gifts, so my sister-in-law helped me decide on a few things for the bookplates so they match what her nursery will look like.

I think I’m going to see Rory around his first birthday, so I should be able to give him his gift in person. And hopefully he likes it as much as he enjoys the ball pit!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailFinding The Perfect Gifts (or A Gift A Year In The Making) Default ThumbnailIt’s Almost Gift Giving Time! (or Excited To Finally Give A Present) Default ThumbnailFinishing Holiday Shopping Before Halloween (or Thank Goodness For Internet Bookmarks) Default ThumbnailFirst Half Of Thanksgiving (or Hanukkah Gifts And Birthdays) Default ThumbnailI’m Officially An Aunt (or Welcome Rory!) Default ThumbnailHaving Fun With Photos (or My Brother And Nephew Are Twins!)

Comments Off on Maybe I’m Too Good At Figuring Out Gifts (or At Least I Didn’t Already Buy It)

Posted in Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged ,

Having Fun Doing Gift Shopping (or Keeping Secret Santa To My Budget)

Posted on December 11, 2020 | Comments Off on Having Fun Doing Gift Shopping (or Keeping Secret Santa To My Budget)

For the past few years, I’ve participated in different Secret Santa exchanges. Sometimes they are with big groups where I have no clue who I’m getting to buy gifts for and who is getting them for me. And sometimes they are smaller groups where I do know everyone and it’s just fun to get to shop for someone that I normally wouldn’t shop for. I love doing these and if I had the money I would participate in more of them. But I do have to be mindful of how much I spend so I do limit the ones I do.

This year, I’m doing 2 Secret Santa groups. One is through Reddit and one is through a Facebook group. With Reddit, I would be shocked if I matched with someone I knew, but I guess it could happen since I have friends who use the site. But I don’t think I’ve ever given a gift to someone I know on there or have gotten a gift from someone I know. But for the Facebook group, even though I don’t know the people in real life, we are a close-knit group online and I feel like I know the people in there.

I love buying gifts and figuring out the perfect thing to get someone. It is a little easier when I’m buying a gift for someone in my family because I know them well. But fortunately, the Secret Santa groups have us fill out forms that say what we like. So I have an idea of what to get someone and sometimes I find a really perfect thing.

I remember one year I found a book about the science of cooking for someone who said they wanted to cook but also wanted to understand the chemistry behind different cooking methods. Another year, someone said they liked cute things that looked like food and I found a set of erasers that were shaped like cookies. Both of those times, I heard back from the person I gave them to and they thanked me for getting them something they love. That’s an amazing feeling! And it’s not about how much I spend or what exactly I get them, it’s about finding the perfect thing even if it’s not something that is expensive.

I’ve completed the shopping for one of my exchanges so far and I’m hoping to do the shopping for the other this weekend. Both exchanges have a limit of about $30. I have gone over that before if I find something really perfect. The exchange this year that I found the things for already was like that. I didn’t want to just get one thing, I found 3 that I think will be perfect. But the 3 things together went about $5 over budget. But it’s worth it to me. I will hopefully find out soon what they think about the gifts.

I know that I should be saving money and not spending when I don’t have to, but doing Secret Santa exchanges are more than just about gifts to me. They make me happy. They bring a lot of joy to me and that’s something I know I need. And I need that especially this year. There haven’t been a lot of joyful things, so I want to take advantage of it any time I can. And of course, I’m excited to get presents too and I can’t wait to see what I end up getting. But for me, it’s so much more aobut being able to shop for others than it is for getting stuff back.

I’ve also made small donations to friends who are collecting for present shopping for families who need help. I didn’t feel like I could take on a family on my own, but joining together with friends will allow us to do something nice for a family in need to make sure they have a nice holiday season.

Hopefully, everyone I get presents for enjoys them. I know I’ve been enjoying shopping for them. And maybe this will make this month a little bit better for everyone involved. That’s all we can hope for right now. This is the year to spread joy however you can, and Secret Santa exhanges are the perfect way for me to do it.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailGift Shopping (or For Me, It’s That Time of the Year) Default ThumbnailIt’s Almost Gift Giving Time! (or Excited To Finally Give A Present) Default ThumbnailA Gift From A Stranger (or Positivity Online) Default ThumbnailFinishing Holiday Shopping Before Halloween (or Thank Goodness For Internet Bookmarks) Default ThumbnailFinding Little Things To Make Me Happy (or Shopping And Text Groups) Default ThumbnailFinding The Perfect Gifts (or A Gift A Year In The Making)

Comments Off on Having Fun Doing Gift Shopping (or Keeping Secret Santa To My Budget)

Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged , ,

Finishing Holiday Shopping Before Halloween (or Thank Goodness For Internet Bookmarks)

Posted on October 30, 2020 | Comments Off on Finishing Holiday Shopping Before Halloween (or Thank Goodness For Internet Bookmarks)

I take so much pride in getting people awesome gifts. I know the best gifts don’t have to cost a ton of money, and this year that’s more important than ever. I don’t have much extra money to spend (I’m still spending more than I should, but I’m working on it). But I still wanted to get Hanukkah presents for my family like I do every year. And I really like to make sure that I find presents that they will really like and might be things they wouldn’t think of getting for themselves.

Because I find presents that they might not think of on their own, I do tend to get a lot of random things for people. But they are random things that I truly think that they will love. I don’t know how long I have felt this way about gifts, but I know it’s been a long time. I know it goes back at least until I was a teenager. Back then, I would start planning out gifts maybe a month or so in advance. I know that’s more in advance than some people do, but for me, it didn’t feel like enough time. So I started planning better.

I know what gifts I will have to buy every year. I know when birthdays are happening and I know I do Hanukkah presents with my family at Thanksgiving. So planning it out is a pretty set schedule. I do still occasionally have a time crunch with figuring out gifts, but more often I am considering a few options when it’s close to the time I will be shopping. I always am seeing things online in various lists or looking through catalogs that have different types of gifts. And no matter what time of year it is, whenever I see something that I think would be right for someone, I save it in a bookmark in my web browser. I actually need to be a bit more organized with that because it’s just a single bookmark folder called “Gift Ideas” and I should organize it by person. But I have a few dozen things I’ve seen over time that I like as possible gifts for the people in my life.

I don’t always shop from the list. Sometimes I like to do some extra shopping to see if there is something else that inspires me. For example, this year for Hanukkah I got one gift for my parents and one gift for my brother and sister-in-law (Rory already got his gift early). The gift for my parents was something I saw on a list online about a year ago and I knew it would be something they could use. It’s not a big gift and it feels a bit silly, but it’s something I know they will use a lot and they wouldn’t have thought of for themselves (sorry to be vague, but my parents sometimes read this blog and I’m not spoiling their gift). But for my brother and sister-in-law, I wasn’t feeling too enthusiastic about the things I had previously saved as bookmarks for them. So I did a bit of online shopping and had a discussion with my mom about some potential gifts. And I think I figured out the perfect thing for them!

I’ll be seeing my family soon and that’s when I’ll be bringing everyone’s gifts. We are doing Thanksgiving as a small family unit before Thanksgiving this year. So exchanging gifts will be earlier too. I’m not totally sure if everyone else is planning on doing gifts then, but they all know that I will be doing it. It saves me a bit of money to not have to ship gifts later, and if I can save money doing something easy then I’m going to do it. And fortunately, I already have everyone’s gifts at my house. I just need to wrap them (since I’m not flying anywhere I can use wrapping paper again) and then bring them with me in a little over a week when I see everyone.

It’s a bit crazy that I’m done with all my holiday shopping before Halloween happened, but it’s also nice. I don’t want to stress over presents and knowing that they are done is a little bit of calm in my life right now. And that also means I can start looking at potential gifts for next year now so I’ll be ready in a year when I’ll be doing my holiday shopping again.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailIt’s Almost Gift Giving Time! (or Excited To Finally Give A Present) Default ThumbnailSpreading Some Holiday Cheer (or Finding Cheaper Ways To Make People Smile) Default ThumbnailFinding The Perfect Gifts (or A Gift A Year In The Making) Default ThumbnailGift Shopping (or For Me, It’s That Time of the Year) Default ThumbnailA Bit Over-Scheduled (or Starting To Stress Out) Default ThumbnailThe Most Impossible Shopping (or Thank Goodness For Online Stores!)

Comments Off on Finishing Holiday Shopping Before Halloween (or Thank Goodness For Internet Bookmarks)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , ,

Finding Little Things To Make Me Happy (or Shopping And Text Groups)

Posted on November 8, 2019 | Comments Off on Finding Little Things To Make Me Happy (or Shopping And Text Groups)

I have been in a bit of a down mood lately. To me, this is obvious in the posts that I have been writing. But it took me a while to be in a place where I want to work out of the funk. I know that this is probably due to a few different factors, some of which I have no power over and can’t control. And just fixing the ones I’m in control of (such as getting enough sleep) hasn’t been enough to make me feel better. I’ve had more depressive episodes before, so I knew this wasn’t anything serious. But I still don’t enjoy being in a down mood for an extended period of time.

I finally was ready to work on fixing this over the past few days. It’s not easy to get yourself out of a bad mood, but I wanted to work on it where I could. Like I said before, getting enough sleep has been a big fix I’ve been needing to work on. I still am struggling a bit with falling asleep when I should, but at least now I’m getting to bed at a more appropriate time and not staying up doing other things until very late. But since this wasn’t enough of an improvement, I’ve been working on finding other things that I know make me very happy.

Fortunately, it’s the time of year for me to do some gift shopping for my family. I bring Hanukkah presents for my family to Thanksgiving, so I only have a few weeks left to do my shopping. But because I’m a bit crazy, I had gift ideas as soon as I had bought their gifts last year. A few gifts have changed since then, but I’ve been having so much fun doing some shopping and trying to figure out the perfect gifts to get for everyone. I’m also bringing birthday presents for my parents to Thanksgiving to give them those early since I had ideas for those as well.

If I had unlimited money, I would spend so much buying presents for other people. I get so much joy out of finding the perfect gift and seeing how happy it makes someone. I do have to be careful with how much money I spend on presents, but I will always find a way to get presents for my family. I don’t have to get them expensive things if they are creative. And I seem to be good at finding unique and creative gifts. I have all the presents picked out now for my family, and I’m already so excited to give them what I got and see how much they like them. (sorry dad, if you are reading this and were hoping to get some hints of what I got you)

And while I haven’t been feeling particularly social while I’ve been down, I do still crave being social a bit. Going out isn’t always the best option when I’m in a mood, but texting can still keep me from feeling isolated. And I’ve really been enjoying different group texts that I’m a part of as well as texting with my friends individually.

One of my text groups is with my friends from Orangetheory. We have always been a bit silly in that group so that is appreciated no matter if I’m in a good mood or bad mood. We will share random GIFs and memes and joke around about the workouts. We aren’t always in the same class together (and one friend in the group doesn’t live in LA anymore), but it is nice to have workout friends to chat with even if we aren’t in class. I’ve got another texting group with other Orangetheory friends, but those aren’t as active as the main one I’m in.

I also started a text group for women in the online dating FB group I’m a part of. I created it for safety because not everyone has a friend that they can use as an online dating safety buddy as I do. The text group is for us to share the information of who we are meeting and where just as a safety measure. And we check back into the group when the date is done and we are safe. I don’t love that we have to be so cautious, but it’s necessary and I’m glad we have a safe space with no judgment. I am glad I’ve always had a friend that I can use for this and not worry about what she thinks, but I’m even more glad now that I’ve created a space for others to use when they didn’t have someone. That group is very new so we haven’t had a lot of texting yet, but we have been sharing a bit of silly stuff as well. But what makes me happy about it is that I was able to start a group like that and feel like I have done something that would benefit others.

I can still feel a bit of my down mood lingering, but I’m so glad it’s starting to lift.  I have to stay aware because if I don’t keep working on it I know that things might go back to being down again. Knowing that I have some ongoing things that are making me feel better helps, but I’m going to keep working on finding more things that will bring me joy and make things feel more normal for me again.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailSpreading Some Holiday Cheer (or Finding Cheaper Ways To Make People Smile) Default ThumbnailBuilding Upon My Monthly Challenge (or Continuing To Work On Shopping) Default ThumbnailGift Shopping (or For Me, It’s That Time of the Year) Default ThumbnailIt’s Almost Gift Giving Time! (or Excited To Finally Give A Present) Default ThumbnailA Happy Hour Celebration (or Looking Forward To Another Wedding) Default ThumbnailDriving Around For No Reason (or Finding Places That Make Me Happy)

Comments Off on Finding Little Things To Make Me Happy (or Shopping And Text Groups)

Posted in Dating, Fun Stuff, Shopping, Tough Stuff

Tagged , , , ,

Finding The Perfect Gifts (or A Gift A Year In The Making)

Posted on November 28, 2018 | 1 comment

I wrote recently about how excited I was to bring my family’s Hanukkah gifts to Thanksgiving. I love giving gifts and working on figuring out the perfect gift to get people. I don’t do a ton of gifts for the holidays, but I do get something for my parents, my brother, and sister-in-law. And I usually do one gift for my parents and one gift for my brother and sister-in-law for a few reasons. First, I do have to consider how much money I have to spend on gifts. But also, I love getting something that is more of a group gift for Hanukkah because I do something more personal for birthdays.

I take a lot of pride in finding the perfect gift for people and I have a tab on my web browser just for gift ideas. I know that I have to get gifts each year so when I see something that is perfect I save it because I know I’ll eventually buy it for someone. And the Hanukkah gifts I gave this year were something I found a year ago at Thanksgiving last year. And it’s been crazy to keep it a secret for a year because I was so excited about it!

I saw on social media that someone I follow got a custom pet portrait done and thought it was so cute! I looked at a couple of different companies online and they all seemed to be out of my budget. I was disappointed by that but determined to keep looking to see if I could figure out a way to make it happen. I ended up finding a company that was a bit out of my budget, but they usually had sales so I saved the link and was planning on ordering them in September.

I had a setback with the ordering because I placed my order and then the company wasn’t getting back to me. I was supposed to hear from them within 72 hours and gave them over a week before I reached out to them. They weren’t responding to emails or private messages on social media and I was so upset. I disputed the charges and got the money back, but then had to search again for a company to help me out (I finally heard from the original company and they said there was a glitch that caused them not to get my order or messages).

I contacted several stores on Etsy and found ZK Portraits. While the portraits I wanted to have done weren’t exactly what they usually do, they were willing to work with me and we started emailing back and forth so they could find out what I wanted. And they were even cheaper than the original company that I was going to go with!

I knew that for my brother and sister-in-law that I wanted a portrait of their cat as a doctor. But for my parents, I was on the fence with a few ideas. I knew I wanted something that was about Tahoe but I couldn’t decide if I wanted Tucker as a skier, hiker, or kayaker. As much as I wanted to keep this a surprise for my parents, I knew I needed help so I asked my dad for advice. He told me that having Tucker as a skier was the best one and he was so excited that I was going to be doing these portraits. I know that he probably would have loved to have been surprised, but I think he also enjoyed being in on the gift planning too.

Within a week of ordering the portraits, I got the proofs via email to approve. And I couldn’t have asked for anything more amazing than these!

I was smiling so much when I saw these and emailed the artist back to say they were perfect! I was getting the portraits as high-resolution digital images so I had to figure out how I wanted to present them. There are so many options for artwork like these and I didn’t know if they would want them on canvas, metal, acrylic, or photo paper nor did I know what size they would want them. So I had them printed out as 8×10 photos and figured I’d give them the full size image after they opened the gifts so they could do something different if they wanted to.

Sometimes my family does all of our gifts at the same time, but this time we ended up doing them each day. I gave my family their gifts on Wednesday even though they were going to do their gifts the next day. I just couldn’t wait any longer!

My mom opened theirs first (my dad already had seen a preview so he let her open it) and I wish I took a video of her reaction! She was so excited and shocked and was laughing so hard about how amazing the portrait was. She never would have thought of doing something like that herself and loved that I got them a portrait. My brother and sister-in-law started to ask questions about it and I told them they needed to open their present first. That clued them in that I got them something similar and I think they loved that I got a portrait of their cat like a doctor. My brother posted it on the Instagram they created for their cat right away.

The next day I got an Amazon gift card from my brother and sister-in-law and my parents got me a nice down jacket and a beanie that has a hole in the top so I can wear it when I have my hair in a ponytail or top knot! Both gifts will be put to good use (I actually wore the hat when I flew home since it was cold out) and I loved them! I’m still picking out what fun things I want to get on Amazon with the gift card since I don’t want to just use it on something boring like vitamins or printer paper.

It’s almost a joke in my family now that I always try to top the gifts I’ve done in the past, but it’s true. I really want to find the perfect thing and when I find them months before I’m going to give them that just gives me so much time to build up anticipation on how the recipient will react to it. And I’ve actually found something that I might do as Hanukkah gifts for next year, but I don’t think I can top the pet portraits for a while. It really was the perfect gift and I’m so glad they were a big hit!

You Might Also Like

Default Thumbnail3 Cities 1 Day (or My Christmas Adventure) Default ThumbnailSpreading Some Holiday Cheer (or Finding Cheaper Ways To Make People Smile) Default ThumbnailFinding Little Things To Make Me Happy (or Shopping And Text Groups) Default ThumbnailGift Shopping (or For Me, It’s That Time of the Year) Default ThumbnailMaking My Friend Try On Wedding Dresses (or I’m So Glad She Found The Perfect Dress!) Default ThumbnailFirst Half Of Thanksgiving (or Hanukkah Gifts And Birthdays)

1 Comment

Posted in Family, Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged , , ,

It’s Almost Gift Giving Time! (or Excited To Finally Give A Present)

Posted on November 15, 2018 | 1 comment

My immediate family does the standard gift giving with buying gifts for people for their birthdays and Hanukkah. Since we don’t see each other that often, it’s become easiest for us to exchange gifts during Thanksgiving when we are all together. I’m so glad that it is only a week away because the gift I got for my family is something I planned a year ago!

I only get presents for my parents, my brother, and my sister-in-law. For birthdays, obviously they all get their own gifts. But for Hanukkah, I usually combine them (so my parents get a gift and my brother and sister-in-law get a gift). It makes things a little easier for me when it comes to planning, but also it allows me to get something a bit nicer since I am combining the money I would have split for different gifts. But I know that it doesn’t always take money to find the best and most creative gifts, and I usually work hard to find the best thing I can get someone.

I take a lot of pride in finding the best gifts I can. I try to take notes throughout the year and remember them when it is time for me to buy a gift for someone. And there are some gifts that I know are remembered as some of the best. My dad is always excited to see what I get him. I got him a new gym bag a very long time ago and because the company has a lifetime warranty we joke that the bag keeps reincarnating. I think he’s had 2 or 3 different gym bags from that one gift and he likes to remind me that I got it for him. I guess there has been a theme with luggage with my dad because I’ve also gotten him a new backpack and ski bag over the years. But more recently I got my parents a sign for the house in Tahoe and other fun things like that.

And the day after I gave my family their presents last year, I found the perfect present for them! Of course, it was too late to order it then for them, but I bookmarked the website and saved it for the next time. I can’t believe this idea has been one I have had for a year, but I can’t wait to give them their gifts because I’m ready for it to not be a secret. It won’t be a complete secret because my dad does know what they are getting. I needed him to do some spy work for me to help with some of the planning, but I think hearing his reaction when I told him what the gift would be when he helped me was enough to make me happy that he is surprised.

I hate being so vague and cryptic about this all, but I haven’t given people their gifts yet. But I did finally see the final product 2 days ago and it made me even more excited to finally be able to give a gift that I planned so long ago! I can’t wait to see everyone’s reactions (even my dad’s) and I really hope that they will all love the gifts as much as I do.

I really get so much happiness out of finding the perfect present for people. If I had unlimited funds, I would probably buy my family more presents and buy gifts for more people in my life. I always see random things that I know would be good for one person or another, but I don’t have the money or they are someone who I don’t usually exchange gifts with. I don’t want to buy a gift for someone who doesn’t usually get gifts from me because I don’t want them to feel like they need to get me something in return. But my gift idea bookmark tab on my computer just keeps growing in case one day I will be getting them a present.

It does feel a bit weird to be done with all my gift purchasing before the holiday season really feels like it has started, but it’s also nice to know that I’m all done and can just enjoy holiday decorations around LA without needing to rush from store to store to try to find gifts for people. My gift giving season is almost here and over at the same time. But then I also get to spend the next year planning out the perfect gift again!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailFinding Little Things To Make Me Happy (or Shopping And Text Groups) Default ThumbnailSpreading Some Holiday Cheer (or Finding Cheaper Ways To Make People Smile) Default ThumbnailA Gift From A Stranger (or Positivity Online) Default ThumbnailScripted Jewelry (or My Mom’s Hanukkah Present) Default ThumbnailFinding The Perfect Gifts (or A Gift A Year In The Making) Default ThumbnailGift Shopping (or For Me, It’s That Time of the Year)

1 Comment

Posted in Celebrations, Shopping

Tagged , , , , ,

A Gift From A Stranger (or Positivity Online)

Posted on April 17, 2018 | Comments Off on A Gift From A Stranger (or Positivity Online)

There are so many social media and forums online that there is no way to participate in them all. I am on a few forms of social media (FB, Twitter, IG), but I’m sure there are at least a dozen other apps and sites that I’m not on. I can’t be on everything, so I pick and chose the ones that fit into my life. The same with online forums. I use FB a lot of online forum type discussions and for a long time I used the forums on IMDb to discuss tv shows and movies. But when the forums were shut down, I started looking for new places to chat with other fans of shows and movies I love.

I was never a real big user of Reddit in the past. I would look at it occasionally, but I didn’t do anything on it. And I never really thought I would use it. But after the forums on IMDb shut down, several people were saying how they were using Reddit instead so I finally signed up for an account on there and was pretty much just a lurker when I started. But I started to figure out how to use Reddit and subscribed to several subreddits for things I love (like Orangetheory!). Ironically, I don’t use Reddit for discussing tv and movies except on rare occasions but I’ve been enjoying Reddit for what I do get out of it.

There have been gift exchanges through Reddit several times a year and I participated in my first one during the holidays. It was fun buying a gift for someone who I didn’t know and they posted online about how much they loved their gifts! The gifts I got weren’t things I necessarily loved, but I put the blame for that on myself. I wasn’t that great at filling out the form to let my Secret Santa know the types of things I like. They got me things that fit what I said I liked, but not necessarily things I would use (such as t-shirts with the poster of a show I like, except I would never wear it).

So when I decided to sign up for another Reddit gift exchange, I tried to be much more specific about what I like and the types of gifts I would love to get. This exchange was to celebrate the 400th gift exchange so there wasn’t really a theme to the gifts. They did say we could send 400 of something, but it wasn’t a requirement (some of the gift exchanges are pretty specific like comic books, bookmarks, or themed for a specific hobby). I pretty much wrote in my gift preferences that I love to listen to podcasts and I love Disney. I think that pretty much sums me up!

When the matches were done, I was excited to see who I got to send a gift to. As I’m writing this, they haven’t posted on Reddit if they liked their gift or not. But they mentioned they are in dental school and love candy. So I found gummy candy teeth to send to them. They also joked that they would like $400 million as well, so I found fake $1 million bills to send to them. I didn’t send 400 fake bills, but hopefully they will get a laugh out of it.

Right after I sent off my gift, the gift I got from my Secret Santa (who isn’t the same person I sent a gift to) arrived at my door. They had given me a heads up that it was going to be in 2 shipments, but they happened to arrive at the same time so that was fun. And when I opened up the box, I was smiling so much!

While I don’t need a book on how to start a podcast, it’s going to be the perfect thing to tell others to read when they ask me about doing a podcast! And while I don’t have a trip planned yet for Disney World, I’ve been telling my friends how we need to figure out how to get to Disney World since it’s been a while since I was there and so many new things have opened at those parks!

But the book on poster art in Disney parks is the most amazing and perfect gift! I haven’t seen this book before but it is totally something that I would have seen and would have loved to buy but wouldn’t get it for myself. I’ve looked through the book a few times already and it makes me so happy to see all the incredible posters that are in each of the chapters. I love anything to do with Disney and love Disney history so this is the perfect thing for me!

I seriously love everything I got and these gifts almost make me feel bad for the person I bought gifts for because I know these gifts are so much better than what I bought. But I also can’t always compare what I gift to others to what others gift to me (this is true with Reddit gift exchanges and in normal life). This person happened to guess pretty perfectly what I would love but they had a chance that I wouldn’t love it. I’m just so grateful for what I got and have thanked them for figuring out the best gifts to get me.

I’m going to do more Reddit gift exchanges since I’ve had fun with them with the first 2 I did. I won’t do too many since I do have to spend about $20 on the gifts and then pay for shipping sometimes. If I had more money to spend I could totally see myself doing a ton of these exchanges and hopefully one day I’ll be able to do that. But for now, I’ll just have to be picky about which exchanges I’ll do. I’ll maybe pick one more to do that is fun plus the holiday time one. And there do appear to be some exchanges that are about postcards so those are less expensive to do. I’ll just have to do some investigating since these gift exchanges are still a bit new to me.

But I’m so glad that I did take the chance on doing them and that I lucked out and got someone who really did an amazing job picking out gifts for a stranger!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailSpreading Some Holiday Cheer (or Finding Cheaper Ways To Make People Smile) Default ThumbnailGift Shopping (or For Me, It’s That Time of the Year) Default ThumbnailNo Shopping September (or At Least No Online Shopping) Default ThumbnailThank You Aunt Cindy! (or The Gift That Made Me Cry) Default ThumbnailFinding The Perfect Gifts (or A Gift A Year In The Making) Default ThumbnailPositivity (or Maybe My Luck Is Changing)

Comments Off on A Gift From A Stranger (or Positivity Online)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged ,

A Little More Time In Santa Barbara (or Hanging Out With My Sister-In-Law)

Posted on January 20, 2016 | 1 comment

When I found out that Rayshell’s bridal shower was going to be in Santa Barbara, the first person I texted was my sister-in-law. The last time I was in Santa Barbara was the week before she and my brother moved there, so I had never seen their apartment. My parents had been there before and told me how cool it was, so I knew I wanted to check it out as soon as I could. So I made plans to meet up and hang out with Krystle after the shower was over.

It was a super quick 5 minute drive from Rayshell’s parent’s house to my brother and sister-in-law’s place, so I had plenty of time to hang out there before I wanted to start driving back to LA. They have a very cute apartment (I didn’t take any pictures, sorry) and it was awesome to see where they had put some of the stuff they had in their San Francisco apartment in their new place. They also had gotten some stuff from my grandparent’s when they downsized, so it was nice to see that stuff too. They also have a really great view from their deck, but it was a bit foggy and cold so we didn’t stay outside too long.

The first thing I did when I saw Krystle was give her the birthday present I got for her. Her birthday isn’t for a few more weeks, but I found the perfect gift for her about a month ago and I wanted her to have it right away. So I brought it with me and gave it to her to open right then.

Krystle runs a wedding and event planning business (if you are in Santa Barbara you totally should use her for your events!) and I wanted her to have a really professional and cute business card holder to keep in her purse. So when I saw this Kate Spade card holder, I knew it was exactly what she should have. I just didn’t have any idea that it would match her business cards perfectly!

Card Holder

I think she loved it and I think that she will look so cool when she hands out cards to prospective customers! I’m just so happy that I got to give her the gift in person and see her expression when she opened it! That’s so much better than shipping the gift when it’s actually her birthday.

After she opened her gift, we headed out to a wine bar. My brother was sleeping (he worked a late shift the day before) and we didn’t want to wake him up. I don’t remember the name of the wine bar we went to, but it was surrounded by a ton of other wine bars that all had unique looks to them. This one looked like a place that my sister-in-law would have decorated herself.

Wine Bar

She got some wine and we shared some food, but we really didn’t eat too much. We spent our time there catching up on life and discussing how much we want to do another trip together soon. We are going to do a fun day trip along with my brother and a bunch of my friends in about 2 months, but she and I are hoping to do a weekend in Las Vegas sometime soon. That’s in the works and we have to figure out when we are both free (and when I’ll have money to do it). We are also hoping to get back to New York again in the next year or two because there was so much stuff that we never got to do the last time we were there!

Before we knew it, we had to head back to the apartment because Krystle had a call with one of her clients and I wanted to get back to my car so I could start the drive home. When we got back, my brother was awake so I got to see him for a few minutes. But he had to head out to work so there wasn’t a lot of time to catch up.

Right before Krystle had to get on her call with her client, we said goodbye and I got into my car to drive back to LA. I’m so glad that they live so much closer to me now. It’s not that unreasonable to go up to Santa Barbara for the day (or for her to come down to LA for the day). It’s actually a shorter drive than when I go to San Diego, and I do that drive a lot! So I have a feeling that there will be more Santa Barbara days in my future!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailFamily Weekend (or Hanging Out With The Dog) Default ThumbnailA Bridal Shower Celebration (or My Morning In Santa Barbara) Default ThumbnailSanta Barbara Weekend (or Family and Friends Time) Default ThumbnailA Dinner Hangout (or Seeing My Sister-In-Law in LA) Default ThumbnailSpa Time (or A Relaxing Day With My Mom And Sister-In-Law) Default ThumbnailSanta Barbara Wedding (or Dancing The Night Away)

1 Comment

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged , , , , , ,

Grandpa Bears (or Our Thanksgiving Surprise)

Posted on November 27, 2015 | Comments Off on Grandpa Bears (or Our Thanksgiving Surprise)

When my grandpa passed away, my grandma immediately wanted us to remove his things from their apartment. I totally understood why she wanted us to do that and most of his things were either easy enough to get rid of or someone was going to take to their house (like his computer so we could get all important things off of it). But when we were in his closet, we weren’t 100% what we wanted to do with all of his clothes.

Some of the things we set aside for various family members to keep, but most of it was going to be donated to a charity. While I liked the idea of donating his clothes, I thought it might be nice to keep some of it for us to remember him by. My grandpa had some epic and colorful sweaters and didn’t want to donate those.

Grandpa Sweaters

Then I remembered seeing on a website at some point that people turn baby clothes into bears to have as keepsakes from when their kids were little. I figured if you could do that with baby clothes, we could do that with my grandpa’s clothes too. My mom and dad decided to help with the plan, and only my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Steve knew about it as well.

So I did some searching online and found several people who make memory bears. But the person who made the ones that looked best to me and my mom was Paula of Paula’s Bears. She totally understood that we had multiple sweaters and wanted to create mix and match patchwork bears. So everyone would have the same sweaters on their bear, but all the bears would look a little different. I also had some of my grandpa’s ties and Paula said we could use those for the hands and feet.

Paula was undertaking a big project for us, but fortunately we got her the sweaters and ties in April and we didn’t need the bears back until October. I had asked Paula if she could take pictures of the bears as they were being worked on because I knew we’d all love to see the process of making them.

Sweater PatternBuilding The Sweater

She cut each sweater into a bear and then mixed and matched the pieces. So each bear had a part of every sweater on it. Some had the same sweater in the same spot, but they were all a bit different.

Bear

Bears

Every time I got an update from Paula, I passed it on to my parents and we were all shocked and amazed at how the bears looked. We had no idea how they would look when they were in bear form, but Paula did such a great job making them all look perfect.

The bears were shipped to my parents house (my mom added various fraternity pins, boy scout things, and my grandpa’s dog tags to each bear to make them even more unique) and when they got the bears out of the box and lined up, we joked that we created a bear army.

Bear Army

We made enough bears for one for each single person or one for a couple to share (as an example, I get a bear but my parents will share a bear). I know that I will treasure this bear for forever and I hope that the rest of the family feels the same way about them.

Having Paula make these bears for us is such a nice way to remember someone by that doesn’t feel morbid or weird to keep in your house. I’m not totally sure where my bear will live in my house, but I know I’ll find the perfect spot for him.

If any of you are looking to have a memory or keepsake bear made, I highly recommend using Paula for them. She took so much care in making sure each bear was perfect and those touches really made all the difference. I know that tomorrow is Small Business Saturday and I really encourage you all to participate in that. Small businesses are sometimes just someone working out of their home and they can make the item you are buying even more special.

I know that having Paula was the perfect person to make these bears for my family and I’m so happy that I found her online. I know that for any future projects similar to the bears, I will be going back to her immediately. I’ve been wanting to tell you all about Paula and the bears for months, but I had to keep it a secret so that we could surprise the family. I’m glad that I can finally share her with you now!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailWhat I’m Thankful For (or Happy Thanksgiving!) Default ThumbnailGrandma’s Birthday Dinner (or One Of Our Thanksgiving Traditions) Default ThumbnailHappy Thanksgiving (or Hope You Are Spending Time With Those You Love) Default ThumbnailThanksgiving Meal Prep (or Hopefully Everything Tastes Great) Default ThumbnailFirst Half Of Thanksgiving (or Hanukkah Gifts And Birthdays) Default ThumbnailFocusing On The Happy (or What Will Be Good At Thanksgiving)

Comments Off on Grandpa Bears (or Our Thanksgiving Surprise)

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff, Shopping, Tough Stuff

Tagged , , , ,

Scripted Jewelry (or My Mom’s Hanukkah Present)

Posted on November 25, 2015 | Comments Off on Scripted Jewelry (or My Mom’s Hanukkah Present)

I take a lot of pride in the fact that I’m pretty good at giving gifts to people. I listen to what people say off-hand throughout the year and use that as inspiration for birthday and holiday gifts. And most of the time, the gift is a hit!

Most of my awesome gifts have been things I’ve gotten my dad. He’s much easier to shop for, so I can figure out something he’ll love pretty quickly. In the past, I’ve gotten him an iPod, a gym bag (that has a lifetime warranty and he’s had replaced twice since), a ski bag, and a chair made out of old skis. This year for Hanukkah, my dad got TRX straps from me, but I gave them to him back in April since I figured he’d want them.

My mom is much tougher to shop for. She always says that she doesn’t need anything and even when my dad does spy work for me we sometimes can’t figure out what to get her. I had an idea for a gift that didn’t end up panning out, so I was stuck a bit ago with no idea what to get my mom.

When my mom was diagnosed with cancer, I got her and I matching bracelets with the word “positivity” on them. We both have loved them, but since they are made with an elastic they have stretched out. I’ve gotten us replacements before, but I was thinking that maybe a stronger piece of jewelry would be the right Hanukkah gift.

I did lots of random searches and couldn’t find what I wanted. But I had stumbled across the ScriptedJewelry page on Etsy and realized that this could be the perfect gift. I decided to make my mom a piece of jewelry for her to remember my grandpa by.

I did need a lot of help with this project. I actually don’t have any handwriting of my grandpa’s in my house. Everything I got from him was typed or my grandma wrote it. So I initially asked my dad for help, but he wasn’t able to find any handwriting samples either. I asked my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Steve for help next, and they found a letter that my grandpa typed to them on their honeymoon, but he signed it “Dad” at the bottom. So that was perfect to start with!

I realized that I would have to get my mom involved because we knew that she had old letters of my grandpa. So I lied to her and said that I wanted to do something for Thanksgiving and needed some of my grandpa’s old letters. I’m glad she didn’t ask me too many questions about it because I have no idea what I would have told her. But she had a couple of letters that my grandpa wrote his parents during WWII and she scanned those in and sent them to me. At the bottom of one letter, he had signed it “all my love, Bob”, so I was going to take the “all my love,” part of it.

I had reached out to the woman behind ScriptedJewelry, Caroline, and she said that they could combine the two handwriting samples and make something really beautiful for my mom. Of course, I had to figure out what type of jewelry to make for her. So I told my mom that I was working on her Hanukkah present and that she was not allowed to ask me questions but had to answer questions from me. I managed to find out that she would want a teardrop necklace in gold.

A couple of weeks later, the necklace was at my house and I’m so amazed by how wonderful it looks!

Necklace

You can really see how the handwriting matches the necklace in this picture that Caroline took for me (it’s so much better than my iPhone photos!).

Necklace with Handwriting

As I’m writing this, I haven’t given my mom the necklace yet. But by the time you are reading this, she has gotten it and hopefully she loves it!

The cutoff for Christmas present for ScriptedJewelry is December 1st, so I know that it might be too late for some of you to order from her for Christmas. But I highly encourage you all to make something to remember a loved one by. She can also turn artwork from kids into jewelry if you don’t want something with handwriting on it.

I’m so lucky that my random searching online led me to ScriptedJewelry and that I was able to have my family help me in making what should be one of the best gifts I’ve gotten for my mom ever.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailFinding The Perfect Gifts (or A Gift A Year In The Making) Default ThumbnailGift Shopping (or For Me, It’s That Time of the Year) Default ThumbnailFirst Half Of Thanksgiving (or Hanukkah Gifts And Birthdays) Default ThumbnailIt’s Almost Gift Giving Time! (or Excited To Finally Give A Present) Default ThumbnailA Birthday Present For Me And My House (or Thank You Mom And Dad!) Default ThumbnailUnexpected Birthday Present (or I Love Having Technology That Works!)

Comments Off on Scripted Jewelry (or My Mom’s Hanukkah Present)

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Shopping

Tagged , , , , , ,