...it'll last longer.

With the Hallmarkiest of Hallmark Holidays behind us, I have one thing to ask: Where are my friggin' flowers?!

But before I delve into this, let's discuss the whole concept of giving flowers. I myself have sent or delivered flowers for sympathy, for new babies, for birthdays, and because a friend didn't get the job she wanted...I've even picked a flower from a tree to bring to a boyfriend just for kicks. That last one was free, but for the most part flowers are expensive. So when you give someone flowers, are you subliminally saying: check out how much cash I dropped to make you feel good! I would hope not, and this is not the reason I myself would want flowers.

Not counting the lovely bouquet my step-dad hand delivers to me every year on my birthday, my experience with flowers from men is few and far between. The first time was a sloppy pile a couple neighborhood boys had yanked from some old lady's garden and left at my doorstep. Then there were the two roses sitting on this guy's car seat. Then two or three sets of birthday/Valentine's day flowers from my one and only long-term relationship (mostly because I insisted and bugged him). Next up, apology tulips from the same relationship. Followed by blue flowers from a rebound something-'ship on the day it ended. And finally, surprise Secret Flowers from a not-so-surprise Secret Admirer last year. In this sporadic gathering of instances, I have yet to receive flowers* from my current boyfriend of nine months.

Is there something wrong with this?

Not at all really. Flowers are beautiful, but they do die, and the more you receive, the less you probably remember about them, individually...except that you generally receive them. In other words, after awhile, they're undoubtedly expected. The trickery for me is that, while I have yet to receive flowers from my boyfriend for any occasion--whether it be a silly month anniversary, an apology, my birthday, or Valentine's day--a part of me always expects them.

I can't tell you how many times I hoped for a surprise as I skipped down the steps of my old apartment to vestibule to let him in. Or the times when he'd meet me at work for coffee or lunch. And then there's this past Sunday, I was out traversing the entire metro-area, shopping for various food items to make us a lovely little V'Day dinner at home. As I got nearer to our apartment, a curiosity swirled and bubbled in my brain: Did he leave a nice modest little bouquet for me to find when I returned? The closer to home I got, the more obsessed with the idea I became. I ran up the stairs, opened the door, and literally scampered throughout our place...finding no flowers of course. That's what I mean by expectations. But you know what's funny? I was actually a little relieved when I found nothing. At this point, the whole "not-getting-flowers" thing is so blown up in my head, that the overflowing expectation will totally downplay the day I finally DO get them.

Before I go painting my wonderful boyfriend into this shabby, dimly-lit corner, I need to add a few tibits to this story. He is most definitely not without his surprises. For example, when I came home from my 30th birthday lunch with my step-dad, I walked into our living room with the Beatles' "They Say It's Your Birthday" blaring from the stereo, champagne and a cupcake with a candle sitting on the coffee table, along with a wrapped box containing a gorgeous diamond necklace...oh and a spotless apartment because, little did I know, he was helping my mom and sister prepare for a surprise party later that night. In addition to this, there have been simple and lovely McDonald's pumpkin pie surprises at work, and Starbucks upside-down Caramel Macchiatos he brings home to me. Once he brought home some Mexican beer and cooked me yummy tacos for our month-iversary...a random seven months to boot!

*Also, I have to admit that I actually have received an interesting version of flowers from my boyfriend. As an apology for sleeping through our lunch date one day (I know right?!), he took a Polaroid of a garden next door, upon which was written "For you...No water needed." It truly was touching, the more I thought about it. The gesture absolutely captures the essence and soul of this blog: inexpensive, creative, unique, and memorable.

So with that said, perhaps I'll continue to see my sister receive bouquet upon bouquet of gorgeous roses for various red-letter days. Perhaps I'll sigh over friends' photos of their flowers on Facebook. But hopefully my boyfriend won't--after reading this--mockingly take a stance to never even give me so much as a Polaroid of flowers! Because it was sweet, and something that sets him apart. As I tend to hammer into your heads from time to time, creativity, even in its utmost simplicity, speaks volumes.

Holiday Gift #9: Memory Journal

Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa semi-belatedly! And a fabulous New Years Eve to all! Yeah yeah, I wasn't able to squeeze in all ten gifts before the celebration of gift-giving officially ended, but in my eyes it's STILL the holidays and it's never to early to plan for next year!

And speaking of next year, here's a good idea: start a holiday journal! My mom started one a billion years ago (I kid, mom)...but really, it was before my time I think (thirty long long years ago). Anyway, each year she started with Thanksgiving and worked her way through the holidays, describing events, meals, Christmassy outings, gifts, etc.

But Katie, I'm like twenty years into my marriage, what's the point of keeping track now?

A holiday journal is a pretty snazzy thing to pass down from generation to generation, I say! Just think of the time capsule-esque capabilities! "Wow, look here, in Christmas of 1994, you got all sorts of Magic the Gathering stuff...where did all that end up?!" It's always fun to remember what kinds of gifts people asked for, what sorts of odd phases they were into over the years. It's also fun to look back and laugh about the things that went wrong! Like when the family hamster escaped into the crawl space and died, but no one noticed the smell until Christmas morning when dad forgot that he had hid mom's new blender in there.

But Katie, I don't want to stop at just a holiday journal! What more can I do?!

I'm glad you asked! This year my sister undertook QUITE the endeavor for one of her boyfriend's Christmas gifts. She kept a relationship journal all year long, documenting their dates and various day-to-day moments. They started dating in September of 2008, so the entirety of 2009 was the majority of their relationship. So basically a sort of Year One memory log. Indeed, as I said, quite the endeavor. But maybe kind of a fun idea for those of you who love to write. It doesn't even have to be an every day journal, but just important dates and memorable moments. Like when he surprised you with a love note on page 189 of the medical text book that put you guys in the poor house. Or when she decoupaged a nightstand with Hitchcock posters for your birthday. The receiver of this relationship journal will get to look back on all that fun stuff and ways in which he or she really made you happy. On the other hand, you could also use the journal to discuss times when perhaps you got into an argument over where to keep the paper towel roll, but you solved the issue in a loving and appropriate manner. When you write about problems, it provides a constructive place to hash them out and often gives you more incentive to solve them too. Obviously you may not want to bash your wife on paper and then give it to her on an anniversary, but if you're constructive and positive and discuss how you solved the issue in the aforementioned loving and appropriate manner, it'll be a great tool to use for the future. Orrrrr maybe it'll just rip open old wounds, I don't know, I'm not a psychologist. Just write some stuff down, be funny, be cool, be generous with your kind words, and be grateful for the great moments you share.

Holiday Gift #8: Rad home stuff

Just when you thought it was over, I thought I'd throw more DIY craftiness at you! This time it's personalized and creative stuff for the home, like coasters, for example. Take a look at the particularly lovely situation going on at stylemepretty.com.


Plain white square ceramic tiles from somewhere like Home Depot or HOBO are super cheap. Obviously by now you're a decoupage pro, so you can make these bad boys way cool in no time at all.

And speaking of being a decoupage pro, maybe you should considering making a set of artistic glass plates! Ok it sounds sorta doilyesque, but imagine how awesome it would be to have a set of personalized skull and crossbone plates?!


Here's a pretty easy tutorial on how to really tackle this project. All you're really doing is gluing some sort of image to the back of a plate, followed by a few steps to protect it. Plain glass plates can be found in all sorts of places like craft stores, Target, and even the Dollar Store, but save-on-crafts.com is a good spot to buy in bulk. Get funky and purchase some cheap vinyl albums from Goodwill, scan in the covers, print out the images, and get your decoupage on. You've got yourself a set of Pink Floyd plates, who knew that was possible?!

How about magnets? Fun magnets can be created with pretty much anything...



and everything...


Grab an object and slap a magnet to the back. You are done my friend. But to get a little more doily about it,


check out this lovely tutorial.

This kind of stuff is like my porn, I'm telling you. So, ironically, once the holidays are over, I'd love to take a few of these projects by storm, at which point, I will pass along my own personal tips and results! I know, you're all so freaking excited, I can feel it through the binary code flowing through my fingers.

Holiday Gift #6: Planner/Calender

He'll never forget your anniversary again with this exciting gift! Ok a planner and/or calender isn't the awesomest gift ever, but as with virtually all of my suggestions thus far, when you make it your own, you make it awesome. Several years ago, I got extra crafty and made a little desk calendar for my boyfriend at the time. I bought some mini monthly calendar sheets at the scrapbook store, but you could clearly just print out some free ones, like here or here. For each month, I kinda scrapbooked it up and made it look fun. Then I put little bubble stickers on all of the important dates, with a corresponding note about what day it was, near the bottom of the calender page. Mine looked kinda like this:


...except more dude-friendly. On the one hand, my ex-boyfriend always forgot my birthday and this may or may not have been my special way of reminding him. On the other hand, it really was a thoughtful gift and I figured it would be handy. Now perhaps he did NOT put it on his desk and perhaps we broke up a couple months after I gave it to him. Don't let this deter you from what I think is a sweet little idea. Don't let the craftiness deter you either...you really don't have to get all crafty at all. You could spend some hard earned cash and get some sassy photos taken and create your own pin-up calender! Ooooh! Or just throw together some pictures of your kids and get a nice cheap Walgreens Calender...wait a minute, starting at $19.99??? What a rip! Let's go back to the craftiness for a sec:
1. Cut some cardboard into 12 even sizes.
2. Punch two holes at the top of each piece.
3. Get yourself two metal binder rings.
4. Find some old photos, magazine clipping, pages out of a novel, see decoupage, and glue them, along with your printed months, to the cardboard.
5. Thread the binder rings through the holes at the top.
Omg, so freaking easy and would NOT cost you $19.99.

Anyway, once again, dig deep for that creativity that is seriously waiting to burst out of your body, I'm telling you!

Holiday Gift #5: Scavenger Hunt

This holiday season is probably pretty tight for virtually everyone. Perhaps you feel really bad about getting your boyfriend a pair of boxers, a mix cd, and that's about it. Well it's time to turn this seemingly ho hum gift pack into a crazy little adventure!

We've definitely arrived at the "five golden rings" portion of our list because this one is truly tops. You can get as simple as you want or seriously blow it out the box with this gift. Last year I put together a little hunt for my sister's new boyfriend and it included cheese and some lip balm! And a friend of mine just put a hunt together for his girlfriend that included a walk through the gorgeous Christmas lights display in the neighborhood park and drinks 23 floors up overlooking the city.

Either way, as cliché as it sounds, it's definitely the thought that counts and any time you have to think up clever clues, c'mon that's a whole lotta thought right?! And the clues are key. Reach way down deep on this one and get your creativity on. Stay local but slightly bizarre and hide clues in places according to your girlfriend's bathroom routine. Branch out but stay classic and leave clues at all your favorite bars and restaurants. What do I always say people? All together now! "The possibilities are endless!"

So you get the picture. Obviously scavenger hunts work year round, for any occasion, for no occasion at all, and for absolutely anyone from your 3 year old niece to your 83 year old grandpa. I honestly think we don't have enough scavenger hunts in our lives, so let's all get on this thing!

Holiday Gift #4: Blurb

"What will your book be?" Blurb is a sweet little site where you can create sweet little bookstore-quality books of your own. It takes scrapbooking and photo albums to a whole new level. You can use their BookSmart® software, or your own fave designing program from which you simply upload a pdf. Long gone are the days of paying millions for a wedding album. Long gone are the days of shoving 4x6 glossies into plastic sleeves. You can use your own creativity to make a gift even more unique and personal.

But I don't take photos...I just write short stories and poems.

They print those too!

This sounds crazy expensive!

Not necessarily. The aforementioned strictly B/W text book at 20-40 page, softcover, 5"x8" book costs a mere $4.95. And a 7"x7" softcover photo book is just $12.95. It's really pretty comparable to buying a book in a bookstore, only it's a book YOU FREAKING MADE YOURSELF!!!

A photo album is practically instantaneous. I'll have to wait like two months for my book to print.

Nope, 7-10 biz days.

Omg but Christmas is like TOMORROW!! I don't have time for this!!

Oh you'll MAKE time. Pull an all-nighter, pay the pretty high shipping costs, and order your book tomorrow and you'll get it by Christmas Eve!

No, but seriously just think of the possibilities! Make a family cookbook complete with recipes and photos! Scan in your kids' drawings and keep them forever in one fabulous place! Put together a sappy story of your relationship and be sure to include "Will You Marry Me?" on the last page!

Seriously...endless. I've been eyeing up Blurb for quite some time now. I could do anything, I have so many super rad ideas! But I'm sure my first stab at it will commence the addiction.

Even after Christmas is long over, keep this one in your back pocket. It'll be absolutely perfect for those far-too-frequent moments where you sigh and shrug: "What the heck am I going to get YOU this year?!"

As Blurb so rightly states:
Best. Gift. Ever.

Holiday Gift #3: Cake Cookies Yum!

After last week's slightly complex gift (but no really, it's easy!), I give you the easiest cookie recipe of all time.

Cake Cookies

1 box cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 c. veggie oil

Roll the dough into golf sized balls.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
Done and done.

[Check at 8 and see how the bottoms are doing. If they are a golden brown, take them out! Then transfer them off of the baking sheet as soon as you can. You'll get a perfectly chewy cookie every time. Leave them in too long and they'll be good, but nowhere near the cakey consistency you really love.]

My own experience with this recipe started with Lemon Cake Cookies.


So I used lemon cake mix, but also added some lemon zest and juice 'cuz I'm fancy like that. I rolled the balls in some powdered sugar pre-baking, and dusted the cookies with more powdered sugar post-baking.

I took these cookies to an even greater level when I made a batch of Big Fat Faux'reos.

I used a dark chocolate cake mix and then whipped together the following Faux'reo Filling:

1/4 c. (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 c. Crisco
2 c. confectioners’ sugar
2 tsps vanilla extract

Beat the butter and shortening on low.
Gradually adding the sugar and vanilla.
Switch on over to high and beat for a couple minutes until frosting is fluffy and scrumptious.

Even if you don't have a piping bag thing, I spooned the frosting into a large ziplock, cut off the bottom tip, and piped the dreamy and delicious cream onto the cookies that way.

Seriously, these are like Double Stuf Oreos to the max.

So yep! The possibilities are endless! Chocolate cake cookies with peanut butter chips. Red velvet cake cookies with white chocolate chips. Get crazy and add a can of pumpkin puree to a box of spice cake mix and throw in a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg! Not only are these cheap (sometimes cake mix is a dollar, c'mon!), talk about your easy way out of Christmas cookies this year. I mean EVERYONE makes those peanut butter cookies with the Hershey kiss on top. Snore!

Holiday Gift #2: Decoupage

Decou-what now?? I thought I'd scare away all of my five readers by getting crafty in my next gift idea! So whomever is left, please pull out your pinking sheers and let's get to work! I jest, of course, you don't need pinking sheers. You don't really even need a scissors. Just some good ol' fashioned Elmer's Glue, some ripped up paper inspired by your best bud, and a wooden container or small piece of stripped furniture. Alright maybe I lost you, let's go on a craftacular journey together:

Tool on over to JoAnn or Michael's or whatever craft store floats your boat. Meander to the wood crafts aisle and you'll find plenty of possibilities from larger cabinets to small wooden or even cardboardish boxes. Let's start small. Grab that little book box guy.


Decoupage medium is equal parts glue to water, so while you're there, pick up some trusty Elmer's. If you really do want to step it up a notch, however, I've used Plaid® Royal Coat and I LIKE IT!


[I've heard not so great things about Modge Podge...but it's up to you!]
Now don't stop there, this craft store also sells little sponge brushes that will come in handy. They should be nearby and come in plenty of sizes. Get a wide one for big areas and a small one for corners and crevices and such.



These are better than a typical paint brush because they don't leave a texture behind. HOWEVER! If texture is what you're going for, by all means use any old brush you've got lying around.

Totally freaked out yet? Don't be, this is fun! Now the craft store sells special decoupage paper, but it's usually pretty old fashioned and doily-esque, so if that cool cat in your life ain't down with doilies, head to the internet for inspiration! What kinds of stuff does Awesomest Person Ever really love? Hitchcock movies? Done! Get on eBay and win yourself a few posters and cut or rip out cool elements like the creepy attack from The Birds or the man falling into the white and orange swirl from Vertigo. You don't even have to buy posters though. You can find high quality versions simply by the magic of Google > Images > LARGE! Just make sure you print this stuff out from a pretty decent printer on pretty decent paper so it doesn't look all smeary and craptastic. Hey! Why don't you take advantage of the awesome color printer at work maybe!

If you go about your decoupage via Google Images and your lovely printer, the possibilities truly are endless. You can also get fab photos from magazines and old books lying around that you'll never look at again. Maybe your chick is into all things Vampire right now. Well you can't swing a dead cat without hitting high quality photos galore of pouty disheveled Robert Pattinson.



Once you've gathered all of your papery goodness, it's time to get your collage on. You could lay everything out beforehand to get an idea of how much coverage you'll need, but you don't need to be too anal about it. The whole point of collage is to rock the random.

Once you've got a basic plan, get gluin'! Decoupage is messy, but honestly, totally simple. The directions are even on the container of Royal Coat. In a nutshell:
1. Brush some glue to the back of the scrap and place it where ever you want. (With bigger scraps, it also helps to have some kind of smoothing device to get out the bubbles and wrinkles...even just the edge of a piece of cardboard will do.)
2. Repeat with the rest.
3. Wait to dry (some 10-15 mins)
4. Brush a coat of glue over the top of the entire thing in even strokes.
5. More drying.
6. Apply as many coats as you'd like.
7. More drying.
8. Done!*
*You can also apply some kind of acrylic sealant to lock in the delicious decoupage flavor once the whole thing has dried completely.

I will leave you with a photo of my first decoupage experience. This one was for my sis last year for Christmas. Hence the aforementioned Hitchcock suggestion. Sure, this was a little on the expensive side, but you could definitely keep your own project below $10.



And with that, I leave you to your imagination! Keep it cool. Keep it unique. Keep it personal. You'll create something truly kick ass. PS! Thinking of proposing this Christmas?? Why don't you decoupage a small box to put the ring box in. KABLAMO!! Double kick ass.

'Tis the Season...

...but how the heck am I going to pay for it?! Well, cheap and/or homemade gifts don't have to be cliché and lame. If you truly put some thought into them, something that cost you $5 to put together could mean more than that shiny new PS3. Or at least Even Stevens.

Today is December 1st, and more or less the beginning of the Christian celebration of Advent. Advent has been non-religiousized over the years, however, when retail stores found they could market Advent calendars as a basic--and delicious--way to countdown to the big 25. Hanukkah and Kwanza and even the Winter Solstice are non-Christian ways to celebrate the season as well. What's my point? Well whatever your faith or nonfaith, for the next month, I'm going to celebrate a random "Ten Days of Holiday Cheer" (choosing "ten" because it rests gently between the 12 Days of Christmas and 8 Crazy Nights). In these upcoming ten posts, I'll discuss a fun, and hopefully less cliché, cheap and/or homemade holiday gift to unveil to your loved one (and again, all of these work just as well for brothers as they do boyfriends!)

I shall begin with...
Gift Number One: The Coupon Book.

Yes, this would be the lamest of the homemade gifts, but as I just suggested, it doesn't have to be if you put some personalized thought into it. Forget the coupons for backrubs, BJs, and bubble baths. Be creative! How about a free oil change?! Ok, not creative per se, but one gloomy Saturday afternoon at the next 5K mile mark, the love of your life may or may not find herself unemployed and that free oil change, while not necessarily the most romantic gesture in the world, could really help her out of a small jam. Or how about a coupon that states: "YOU make the coffee!" He's been dragging himself out of bed every morning for the past five years to make YOU coffee before work. Imagine the laughter in his eyes when you offer your coffee-making services for once!

Now here's a little secret: At the end of the day, what the Coupon Book REALLY does is influence a sense of empathy for the person you love. It allows you to, for a moment, walk a mile in his or her shoes and imagine the kinds of things that would make life a little easier. It encourages you think about ways in which you could help more--and because positives lead to more positives--vise verse. Because basically it all comes down to the little things in life. Sometimes the most seemingly unromantic gestures can totally make a person's day, week, month, or year! Whether it's doing the grocery shopping that week or offering a ride to work or school, it is kind and helpful, and that is always romantic. Coupon books can be funny little ways to say: Hey, I recognize that you do so much for me, so let me return the favor. Who knows? Maybe in time, you won't even need coupons at all ;)

The plot thickens.

You know what's free? Writing something on a piece of paper.

This isn't a cop-out. There's a reason I chose to design the above banner in such a fashion. Love letters, like letters, circle-yes-or-no letters, emails, snail-mails, texts, Facebook comments, Post-it notes, matchbooks, frosty windows, it DOESN'T MATTER! We love, love, LOVE getting stuff with stuff written on it. Ok maybe we love getting 2.61" x 6.14" pieces of paper the color of the foamy sea during a late afternoon thunderstorm, adorned with the heads of political figures and many zeros. But when those are few and far between, the back of a Chinese menu with an I, a heart, and a U may just do the trick.

Honestly though, it really goes back to middle school when we'd fold up notebook paper into the shape of tiny triangles and shove them into the slats of lockers. Didn't it, like, totally make your day? Finding those tiny triangles was like finding precious, precious gold. ESPECIALLY if it was from the hot eighth grader...sighhhh if only. Nowadays, we have our inboxes open 24/7 just in case something particularly fun and surprising comes through. The lovely late '90s romantic comedy featuring the adorable, but feisty Meg Ryan, and the hilarious, but cozy Tom Hanks hit home for a reason (you may or may not be dead inside if you don't cry when she sees Brinkley come over the hill). Its 1940 counterpart did the same thing only old school. Bring back the old school. Hand-written correspondence--particularly of the romantic variety--is something we long for day in and day out.

So I majorly digress. My question is: Would you like to make the best person in the world really really happy right now? Write something. Better yet, write something and hide it somewhere they'll find it. Cereal box, running shoe, car visor, page 189 of a novel they're reading, page 189 of the medical text book that put you guys in the poor house. It's like seriously the simplest, most awesome thing ever. Here's a story of my own: the BF went out of town for the week and asked me to water his plants and take care of his cats (guys with cats are rad by the by). I found a quarter-folded piece of paper taped to the watering can. Even just seeing "Katie" scribbled on the front of it made my heart go all wonky. See???

Ok sure, I may be super easy to please or something. But at the end of the day, less is more (ah yes!) We all love to hear we are loved, and when someone takes the extra time to be creative about it, it means that much more. So trust me on this one. Jot down something sweet and stick it in the frig-drawer full of cold cuts already!