Gift Guide: Gifts for Him Under $25

Shopping for guys is HARD. 

I spend the better part of my year just trying to think of a few good gifts for Matt that he doesn't already have, would say "I don't need this", or preemptively purchases under my nose. Dang it.

These are all gifts I've gotten him in the past & I've realized would be a great gift for most dads, husbands, boyfriends or brothers. May the odds be ever in your favor.

1 - Dwell Subscription / 2 - Pocket Squares / 3 - Haiti Made Passport Case / 

4 - DSB Bitters / 5 - Leather FOB / 6 - Sphere Ice Molds

Dwell Subscription - $20
Guys love this kind of stuff. Planning out the dream home they'll be building with their own hands.

The Tie Bar Pocket Squares - $8 
Sometimes they have to dress up against their own will. These will jazz up any outfit!

Haiti Made Passport Case - $25
I made Matt a leather passport case for Christmas the first year we were married... it was a painful endeavor & I wish I found this two years ago. Plus, this employs workers for a fair wage in Haiti. Win-win.

DSB Bitters - $20
For the aspiring bar man. He likes to whip up a new cocktail every so often. These add a certain edge to any drink!

Leather Key Fob - $20
Keep those keys where we can find them. Plus the leather adds a manly touch.

Sphere Ice Molds - $11
Once again, the bartender in every man will love these ice molds. Makes every drink look badass.

Look no further for a gift for the men in your life. Happy shopping!
xoLast year's gift guide for Men

Other Gift Guides!

Gifts Guide for Her Under $25

Gifts Guide for Him Under $25

Gift Gide for Travelers Under $25

Gift Guide for 12 Stocking Stuffers Under $12

Gifts Ideas for Him

I'm sure I can't be the only one around here who has a husband I find difficult to shop for.

First of all, he's extremely practical (unless it comes to cars and motorcycles!).
He's picky.
And if he wanted it, he probably bought it for himself already!

Not to mention.... our anniversary, his birthday, and Christmas are all within a microscopic six-week window.

What's a girl to do?

I've been scouring the internet trying to find some ideas of what to get my hard-to-gift guy, and this is what i've come up with.

The Gift of Drink

Whisky Stones - $20

buy here

These little stones keep your whisky cool without watering it down. An excellent invention.

-OR-

IPA Beer Making Kit - $45

buy here

Williams-Sonoma knew what they were doing - now tempting your guy in for a cooking class won't be so hard if he knows they sell Beer Making Kits! Perfect for a guy who loves to do it himself or try new things, who also likes beer. Win-win.

The Gift of Travel Accessories

Patagonia Fuego Backpack - $89

buy here

This 32L backpack is great for hiking, a weekend trip, or a good carry on. The size is great for the price, as a lot of more technical backpacks are north of $150. This is a steal.

-OR-

Everlane's Reverse Denim Weekender Bag - $95

buy here

This bag is beautifully crafted, and is the perfect carry on size for a weekend tote. The best part about this bag (in my opinion) is that you can steal it from time to time and use as your own weekend tote! I'm particularly fond of the reverse denim, it looks so sleek and unisex.

The Gift of Technology 

iPod Nano Watch Set - $24 (Would make sense if he already has a Nano)

buy here

This is one of the most practical gifts for guys! Perfect for a traveler or a runner. The wrist band attaches perfectly to your iPod Nano and appears to be a normal watch... until you're ready to listen to music! There are many varieties of color and style. This leather one sticks out to me because it can easily go from guys night, to an important meeting, to date night with you. Matt particularly is a watch fanatic, so this invention might save me!

-OR-

Roku Streaming Device - $49

buy here

Roku is a great little device for those of us that have Nexflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime but don't have an XBOX to stream them through our TV. Roku changes all that. Simply hook up to your TV and choose your 'channels', and you're good to go! A common misconception is that you pay for a Roku subscription, and that isn't true. You only pay for the services you want (Hulu, Netflix, etc). Bonus, you can rent movies on Amazon (from a computer) and then view them from your TV as well. Goodbye expensive iTunes rentals and sifting through awful Redbox options! Who need cable, after all?

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Beer of the Month Club - $24/month

buy here

New craft beers get delivered every month. He will of course love you forever, and probably start checking the mail daily.

-OR-

Birchbox for Men - $20/month

buy here

I personally LOVE getting my Birchbox every month (confession: i'm a beauty product addict!), all of the samples are so fun. And they lead me to new products i've been missing out on! The boy-box is similar, but they actually get less product and more 'stuff'. Friends have received sunglasses, journals, wallets and more. It's a steal at $20 a month.

Do you have a hard to shop for spouse or boyfriend? I'm open to any ideas!

xo

A Little About Our Wedding

Yes... crazily enough... i am now a married woman. 7 months and 4 days of dating, 63 days of engagement. If you haven't spent time around me with Matt, you probably think we're crazy. But i think it's the right kind of crazy, because i simply adore him :)

If there's anything i've learned over the past 4 or 5 years through my own experience and through doing life with friends, it's simply this - everyone has their own story.

and i *love* ours.

If it was my decision, you'd be reading a blog about how matt and i eloped and ran away to greece!!!!!

But alas, he wanted a real wedding. And i know if it was the other way around, he would have made sure i had the perfect wedding - so i practice that compromise thing everyone is always talking about in marriage ;)

I'm writing this blog because i've had a lot of people ask me about the planning aspect of our wedding, especially with a short engagement and not spending a fortune! I've never liked spending a lot of money, unless it's on a plane ticket. Here are some of the details that went into our big day.

Our Short Little To-Do List.... :)

1 - The style

Although it's what's popular right now, i've always loved vintage stuff. All of my furniture is my grandparents, from a yard sale, or quite frankly found on the side of the road. So, all of my natural tendencies are to go for something slightly worn over something new and shiny. So i trusted my gut (and i'm SO GLAD i did!)

All of the furniture we used for the wedding was ours already or Matt built it. He built about 20 pallet benches, that we actually sold after the wedding. Otherwise, we used my dresser (gifted to me from my grandpa's house), my vintage trunk (found on the side of the road). Plus candles, candles, candles. I bought all of the pillar candles i could find, because i LOVE candles. They make everything cozy.

2 - Invitations

After going back and forth on designs, colors and everything else.... we both decided we wanted something beautiful and simple. I didn't want a flashy colorful invitation, but i wanted something that reflected our style - vintage, shabby chic. So after a great idea from Matt, we checked out stamps on Etsy. We ordered two custom stamps (one of our logo - M+R in a heart, and one of our actual invitation details), bought stock paper from the craft store, and we made the invitations.

M+R Stamp - http://www.etsy.com/listing/89481555/personalized-solid-heart-hand-carved?ref=pr_shop

Wedding Invite Stamp - http://www.etsy.com/shop/lovetocreatestamps?section_id=5677892

Total Cost: $95 + 2 hrs of creating/addressing

I absolutely loved them. Not to mention, i used the rest of the card stock and M+R Stamp to write thank you notes, and in other aspects of our wedding

Our Mad Libs - an alternative to the guest book!

Customized Vino - created by yours truly

Labels for food - it's important to know where the peanut butter cups are on the dessert tray!

3 - Flowers

This was a fall wedding, so it was hard to find the things i wanted that were in season. I wanted "dusty" colors, all very light, as that was the developing theme. 

I chose garden roses, because they are HUGE - similar to peonies (which are not a November flower). I used the purple lionium instead of lavender, which was also out of season. And the greens were sage and eucalyptus - they were both chosen because they were almost a faded green, and not super bright. My bouquet had gardenias in it - my favorite - and were the most expensive part of the entire process.

I was also lucky to have a friend volunteer her flowers arranging services. Megan did the most amazing job arranging our bouquets, boutonnieres, and misc. arrangements throughout the wedding! We ordered the flowers from Import Flowers, and they were designed by our dear friend Megan! - www.impfl.com

Our Flowers: $215 total. And we had tons left over!

5 - Cake

I wasn't set on a traditional cake. I also didn't want to do cupcakes. My friend Pam suggested a friend of hers that does cake pops! I LOVED this idea. We ended up ordering oreo (my favorite) cake pops and cheesecake (matt's favorite) as well. We also got a small, red velvet rose cake for us to cut (per matt's request!). 

They were delicious, as well as adorable.

Cake pops: 75cents each, + cake + delivery - $200 (note: we probably had 100 pops left over!)

To order from Sam (she does small and large orders!) - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sweet-Sam/338201469622230?ref=ts&fref=ts

7 - Bridal Party Wardrobe

Personally, i've never had to spend more than $50 on a dress to be in a wedding. And i think that's awesome. I feel very lucky to also have always felt comfortable in the dress i was asked to wear - bonus! So, with that in mind, we let our bridal party pick their own outfits in a color scheme.

The Inspiration

Dusty, light pinks and purples for the girls

Grey cardigans or vest for the guys... with dark jeans

The Outcome

I was pretty happy with the way it looked :)

We got the ties for the boys, and we got them from http://www.solidcolorneckties.com/ - which sounds insane. But seriously, the ties were about $6 each and had free shipping. WIN!

7 - Venue

This one was the biggest thing for us. I was dying to get married outside. Even though it was a total gamble in November (btw - we couldn't have been luckier, with a sunny, 70 degree day), but i was hell bent. I also was furious that most venues, ie a patch of grass with an electrical outlet were trying to charge upwards of $7000 for 8 hours. And it didn't include anything. This might be typical for a wedding, but i KNEW there had to be a better way.

We stayed about as local as we could - and got married on the front porch of a bed and breakfast that shares a backyard alley with matt's (now, our) home. It couldn't have been more perfect.

Afterwards, we moved the party to our backyard - which was my favorite decision we made.

We spent money re-doing the backyard and making imporvements to it, rather than renting a space. We now have a beautiful backyard for hosting friends and family! It was win-win. 

before the party started

8 - DIY Photo Booth

I have a dear friend who deserves credit for allowing me to borrow his camera set up (in exchange for me promising to take very very good care of it!). I bought a handful of dress-up items (pirate hat, feather boa) and printed out some funny phrases, as well as some celeb faces (let's be honest, i just wanted justin timberlake at my wedding) and matt and i's as well - because i thought it was funny :)

Cost: Probably like $20 on props and printing.

I should also probably mention, the most important thing on my radar was our PHOTOGRAPHER! And we made an amazing decision with Eden! The photos above are by her, and i love them :) 

www.edenfrangipane.com

Those are probably the questions we've been asked about the most. Everyone has their own style, and i felt like our wedding was ours! It was a great day, and i'm glad it turned out the way it did :)

Wanderlust Wednesday: Vegas (for real!)

I wrote on Vegas about a year ago, saying I wanted to go there.

Well guess what - I went in May! And it was just about as great as I thought it would be.

For starters, we had been invited to go months prior to the trip. We didn't think it was affordable at the time, or worth taking days off of work.

The week before the trip, we changed our minds. So Sunday night at about 10pm, we booked flights leaving on Tuesday afternoon.

Oh nothing. Just going to Vegas.

The first question everyone asked - are you guys getting married?! We promised we weren't (even though now, we ARE getting married! But not in Vegas and not until November). But we thought we needed a photo to fake everyone out...

Not just yet :)

Anyway, we had a great time. Let's put Vegas into 4 categories: Sun, food, parties and entertainment

Sun

We stayed at a time share with friends, and this was the pool. It was gorgeous and refreshing and this is what we did for at least 5 hours a day. The best part about it? Dry humidity. A totally new concept to a Florida girl. 99 degrees that only felt like the high 70's... amazing. And most of the hotel pools in Vegas are AMAZING! You can buy passes to go check them out if you're interested.

     

Food

Any kind you want. Any time of day you want it. There was a $3.99 Steak + Eggs special that our hotel ran... and it was only from 2am-5am. Perfect for the party-goer. Two of my favorite food experiences in Vegas involved sweets.

1 - The Sugar Factory
We landed on our plane and came straight here. They can make any of your dessert dreams come true. I got the S'mores Crepe and it was incredible. Actual little home made marshmallows. So delicious.

                  

   

2 - RM Seafood (inside Mandalay Bay)

They had an ice cream taste test. They make 18 different ice creams out of anything and everything in their kitchen... and you get to guess which ones are which. It was so fun, and so delicious! We were wrong on a lot of them, but it was really cool to do.

The Vegas Crew - Amos, Carly, Matt, Alexa, Matt and myself

Party

There are unlimited places in Vegas to drink, dance and enjoy yourself. I barely drank while i was there, but not to lack of options! We did go to a club inside one of the hotels (i can't remember which one at the moment) 

We got into clubs for free by posting on Twitter that we were looking for clubs in Vegas. We also got wrist bands for free drinks! An easy way to save some money and check out some cool places

Entertainment

It depends on what kind of entertainment you want..... there are comedy shows, review shows, musical performances, Cirque (4 different ones!), casinos, plays/musicals, magicians and just about anything else you could think of.

Matt and I indulged (let's be honest - he did this for me) in seeing Phantom of the Opera - i absolutely LOVE this musical, and this stage was built inside the Venetian specifically for Phantom! I've been told about it numerous times. When I found out the show was ending in September, we decided to scrap Cirque and go see Phantom. And i'm glad we did! Especially because that theater is being replaced with another Cirque du Soeil show. I can't wait to go next time!

              

There are also more casinos than you can count. I played Blackjack but gave myself a $20 limit.... so i only played for about 10 minutes (hey, sometimes it works out better than that :)

Also very entertaining, is going inside all of the hotels/casinos. Especially the newer ones - City Center is amazing, and so is New York, New York! The Strip at night is so glittery. The entire place is sensory overload... but it's awesome!

Those are just some extras from our Vegas adventure - which i'm sensing might become an annual trip.

What are your Vegas faves?

xo