Giving a little love

I really don't get into holidays much. I don't have boxes of decorations for all seasons that I unload out at the most precise times of year. Maybe now that I'm a homeowner, I'll eventually start collecting and decorating...if my husband will let me.

We had some holiday spirit at work for Valentine's Day. I'm part of the company's art department. We're creative types, so for the second year, we decided to exchange DIY Valentines.

Last year, I used porcelain pens and made personalized XOXO heart mugs for all the girls. The best part is they all use them still, some daily for their coffee or tea. So my challenge this year was to come up with a gift that was equally original and still useful. I struggled for a few days until I remembered a pin I had come across during wedding planning.

The four-day weekend (part two)

Devin and I aren't huge on the shop-til-you-drop Friday madness, but we did end up going out (really without thinking about it) that afternoon to a bookstore. We're really cool people. Really.

They had some nice deals, and we ended up getting a few books, one of which is this huge cooking textbook (seriously) that Devin couldn't leave on the shelf. I really don't blame him. I'm excited to see what new levels his cooking takes on as he makes his way through the pages.

The four-day weekend (part one)

The holiday was pretty low-key this year. Since our families' get-togethers were both scheduled on the same day, we decided driving a half hour to my family in Lincoln was more appealing than a two-hour drive to Carroll. It's so hard to split time with each family anyway, and we also wanted to have some time to do our own things around the apartment.

Not a fancy Fourth (and failing 4-H)

It was a pretty simple holiday weekend, and I liked it. The Fourth of July is probably my favorite holiday because I always have been and am still mesmerized by fireworks.

Ho-Ho-Hoping put a gift under the tree

The repetitive holiday songs and festive newspaper ads tell me it's nearly Christmas. Oy.

The season somehow snuck up on me this year. Maybe it's because my family didn't celebrate Christmas at all last year because of the 15 simultaneous blizzards. That's proving to be a good thing because everyone still has last year's gifts to give, which means saving money. I'm a fan of that.