Black Diamond Cats & Italian Landscape Dresses...

These are THREE THINGS I LOVE RIGHT NOW... 

...Favorite Christmas gift from the brother...

...Favorite gift from the parents...

...Favorite gift from the husband.

Hooray for gifts!

Etsy Treasury Treasures #11

'The Fall Guy' by PuppyLovePrincess

Desk caddy: The Ori... PegandAwl $70.00	Vintage 70s Men'... AstralBoutique $38.00	Groomsmen Shave Set... DirtyDeedsSoap... $160.00	4 bike pint glasses... vital $38.00
The Very Many Varie... Popchartlab $25.00	Wood Bike Basket abasketfull $69.00	Black Ship Organic ... CypressInk $20.00	Pure Genuine 16 inc... PureGoods $85.00
circa 1950 vintage ... goseek $285.00	Vintage Houndstooth... BasyaBerkman $29.00	Beer Lovers Towel S... NestaHome $23.50	the laurel bookcase matthewholdren $850.00
Tortoise Shell Eyeg... ForsythiaHill $32.00	Razor Handle - Mach... markdiller $36.99	Luxury Steampunk Cu... edmdesigns $295.00	Vintage Industrial ... ThirdShift $29.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Birds on The Wires

Did you know that the day we first met, my husband wrote a song for me using the tones from my phone number? This musician made a song using the position of birds on a wire. So cute. Just watch. And listen.

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

FREE! Snarky Valentine Card Printable

Ohmygosh, this is so funny...

Visit Mmmcrafts to print out your own (for free!)

FREE! Supercute Chocolate Bar Valentine Candy Wrapper Printables

Here's the supercutest versions I found online this year (for even more lovesy printables & whatnots, just search the Valentine's Day label link at the very bottom of this post.)



For Husbands /Menfolk:

For Sweetiepies of All Sorts:

For Girly-Girls, French Enthusiasts, and/or Snobbsy Types:

He and She: Shopping For A Doormat

He: "What about this one?"

She: "No, it says welcome on it."

He: "Why is that bad...?"

She: "Because of vampires."

He: "You're kidding, right?"

She: "Yes. No. Sort of."

He and She: Watching Dirty Harry

He: "Just give it 15 minutes, and if you really don't like it, we can watch another movie."

She: "Hey! That lady's swimsuit is so cute! It's yellow! You know, it's a shame, but you really don't see very many yellow one-pieces these days. Does this movie feature other great fashions?"

He: "I think I need to watch this with someone else."

*** DIY Make Your Own Choose Your Own ***

My husband and I agreed to make each other our Valentine gifts this year, so, after filtering through the zillion crafty ideas in my head (99.9% of which were girly), I decided to make him his own, personalized, non-girly Choose Your Own Adventure Book (please note the very non-girly karate pose, ninja eyes, spooky mask and weaponry...)

CYOA books were really a big huge deal when we were growing up in the 80s. For those of you who are too young to remember them (grr...) here's how they work: at the end of the first page of the story, the reader is given choices (ex: "if you open the door, turn to pg. 14" ... "if you choose to ignore the door, turn to pg. 52.") The story continues on different adventures based on the choices you make. You can reread the book multiple times and by making different choices, wind up with different endings. Sometimes you end up a millionaire, discover pirate treasure, or get run over by a rhino.

For my husband's book, I scanned an old CYOA book and switched out a couple of things (adding his name, and a photo of his head.) Please note how goofy it looks. Go for the goofy...that's part of the charm! Then I printed out and glued the altered cover onto a little cheap notebook with blank pages. Next came the time consuming part: actually writing the book. I used real-life main characters (his childhood friends, family, pets, ME, etc.) and of course included the requisite boy fantasy stuff (superheroes, cowboys, aliens, martial arts, and so on.) With CYOA books, cheesy is good, and since I'm naturally corny, coming up with the storylines was really pretty easy.

Besides Valentine's day, you could whip up a custom CYOA for a birthday, Christmas, or Father's Day... (you could even get your kids involved with the storylines...children are the best resource for imaginative ideas...)

Although this is a fun, silly gift for grownup 80s babies, I can also see this being a really sweet gift for children...

It could also be a creative school project for older kids. Teachers can easily tie-in whatever topics they need (4th grade example: write a CYOA about CA mission life.) In the process, kids will not only be learning about the given topic, but also writing, reading, using their imaginations, organizational abilities, & focusing on the importance of making wise choices :)

Tips:

1. Start the project way in advance. If you procrastinate, your head & hands will hurt. Ahem.
2. Add illustrations. The old books used simple line drawings. The goofier, the better.
3. Remember to be ridiculous (think yetis, Russian spies, time travel...)
4. Store your in-progress work in a big Ziploc bag (to avoid possible spill catastrophes.)
5. Have fun! This project is a great excuse be silly... embrace your inner kidlet :)

No-Sew Gnomes

I love me a squirrely little bearded gnome! Just imagine a pack of them, running through the night on those wobbly-toddler legs... creepycuteness!

The Family Fun site has lots more unique, truly easy-to-make costume ideas like this one, with a special category just for little kids. If you have a superitsybitsy at home, visit the Wondertime site for interesting infant options, too.

There's really nothing quite like a comfy, realistic-looking costume (especially those custom-ordered & made with love from Mom.) My husband still to this day speaks with pride about the Halloween he claims he "looked exactly like Crockett from Miami Vice"... and becomes dramatically sullen when recounting that, quote, "traumatizing year" he had to wear one of those flimsy drugstore outfits, referring to the ordeal as: "The PacMan Halloween..."

Me-oh-my...

Hooray for nonplastic fantastics!

Training Dogs (and Husbands, too!)

For a wonderfully campy, fun read, check out Amy Sutherland's just-released new book What Shamu Taught Me about Life, Love, and Marriage: Lessons for People from Animals and Their Trainers (special thanks to LuLu's Uncle for the referral!) The book is based on Amy's New York Times article What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage (if you have not yet read this, you MUST, it's just too amusing to pass up!)

In the original article (as well as in her recent NBC Today Show Interview) Amy talks about how she applied the positive training techniques professional trainers use on animals... on her husband. She uses the primary concepts we talk about all the time when working with dogs: focusing on desired behaviors, rewarding successes, ignoring negative behavior, redirecting, etc. In the book, she elaborates on all her goofy experiments and offers insightful facts & creative tips for working with species of all sorts.

Although some might initially find Amy's "husband training" slant rather creepy (namely...um... husbands), the premise is actually great. Whether you're interacting with puppies, dolphins, your co-workers, preschoolers (ahem), and yes, even husbands, patience & positivity seem to be the most effective (and loving!) universal motivators :)