June Foodie Pen Pal Reveal!

I had the BEST Foodie Pen Pal this month!

Anna was so sweet and thoughtful and sent me the best package!

 I love how she wrapped everything up with summer sunshine!

 I couldn't wait to open everything up, and I almost forgot to take pictures! The herb book is PERFECT! I have all of these fresh herbs growing and I cannot wait to read it at the lake this coming week, I am sure I will have all kinds of good ideas for the herbs!

 We will be using the honey this weekend up at the lake, I cannot WAIT! I love it when the food packages contain local honey, do you wonder if the bees can make different tasting honey? I am sure of it!

 This is SO awesome! A couple of years ago for my birthday, the boy took me to this restaurant, Mission, and they had a lavender creme brulee that I am going to try to re-create.

Oh delicious ice tea. I am going to try my hand at making sun tea this weekend, this is going to be the perfect addition to the tea!

Anna, thank you SO much for such a sweet and thoughtful June foodie pen pal package! I LOVED everything! Check out her blog here!

And now it's time for some details about Foodie Penpals.  In case you’re a new reader, here’s a reminder of what the program is all about:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. 

If you’re interested in participating for July, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. 

You must submit your information by July 4th as pairings will be emailed on July 5th!

*If you're from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I'll see if we get enough interest this month!

May Foodie Pen Pal Box Reveal!

I participated in  my first Foodie Pen Pal in May, it was SO much fun! I had a ton of fun putting my box together to send to Hannah in Troy, NY and then I was SO excited to get my package from Sara! 


She sent me a FABULOUS box of stuff and I just LOVED everything! 

Such adorable packaging!

She sent me a package full of things for entertaining, which is going to be PERFECT for summer entertaining!

I have been wanting pretty decorative ice cube trays, and I just LOVE these! I cannot wait to use them! I think it would be fun to even put raspberries in them!

How FUN are these dips? The bruschetta I really wanted to use and break out last night, but ultimately decided to wait for something special. The honey is awesome, I use honey in so many different things! On a good piece of cheddar with crackers, with salmon or even in a mojito! I cannot wait to try this one made from blueberries!

What an awesome package, I just LOVED everything she put into it! The dishtowels are wonderful, I use them as napkins so much during the summer! Sara, thank you SO much for such a wonderful thoughtful and well thought out package, what a wonderful Foodie Pen Pal!

Check out Sara's Blog The Imperfect Kitchen, she has some great recipes!

If you are interested in becoming a Foodie Pen Pal, here is the information!

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. 

If you’re interested in participating for June, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. 

You must submit your information by June 4th as pairings will be emailed on June 5th!

*If you're from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I'll see if we get enough interest this month!

Week in Review! And Swap Package! And a recipe!

This has been such a busy week, but I love to keep busy!

Monday we caught up on laundry, things around the house and had ribs on the grill. However, I decided to try out this recipe 5-Minute Individual Potato Gratin. I love this recipe, but for some reason mine were slightly soupy. I may have used to much cream. I highly recommend them though, we LOVED them. Sweetnicks is one of my FAVORITE blogs, she always has wonderful recipes, writes great reviews and her photos make me drool.

The rest of the week has been a blur. A volunteer shift, a wine event, which ended with a bite to eat on the beautiful patio at WA Frost on a wonderful late summer evening with old friends as well as some new.
Thursday the boy and I had the day off. We both have some time that we need to use, my mom was a vendor at the Junk Bonanza so we decided to sleep in and then head out to see what was in store this year. This was the fourth year that I attended, last year they had moved into a new space at Medina Ballroom, I thought that was big, this year they moved to Canterbury Park where the horses race and it was HUGE! We spent five hours walking around, looking at things, checking out some new ideas and just getting inspiration. I will share some photos from the show at another time, but here are some of the items that I picked up.

A pewter metal Restoration Hardware charger -$3. I am planning on doing something fun in my fall decor with this.
A silver mercury candlestick -$4 (I will also be reinventing this later on!)
This is what is called a sugar cane mold. I have been looking for one of these for a while. I found one back in the beginning of August, VERY pricey and I was still thinking my dad could make me something similar. Then I came across this one yesterday TWELVE DOLLARS, total steal and the woman that I purchased it from, turned out to not only know my friend K, of J & K from out East, but she also is a friend of my mom's. SMALL world. Anyway, I LOVE this and I cannot wait to show you what I wind up doing with it.
These are called small insulators ($2 a piece), they were used for the tops of telephone poles. You will have to wait to see what I do with these. . .
This vintage tablecloth I just love, my outdoor table is round and with the fringe and the flowers it was just to die for and for $7! Could NOT pass this up!
This great little vintage red straw purse with bamboo handles was made in Italy and for $6 it found a new home with me. While I will have to put it away until next summer, I am looking forward to finding a great little red cotton dress to go with it.
The little boy and girl planter just pulled at me at $4. I thought it would be cute in the guestroom with some color in it of some sort. When it finds it home I will take another picture!

Last but not least this great framed nursery rhyme of Jack and Jill for the guest room as well. I thought it would go perfectly with my Jack and Jill lamp and I love nursery rhymes and anything Jack and Jill. For $20, the framing alone was worth it!
I did get one other really fun item, but it is a bit bigger and the boy wants to work on it a bit, so you will have to wait for that one.

Last but not least, my SWAP partner, Preppy in Pink sent me the most fabulous and incredible SWAP packages, I just loved everything! We took part in Kappa Preps Fall Swap. SO much fun, and I have really enjoyed finding a new blog friend who I seem to have so much in common with. Just look at all of the fabulous stuff!


Preppy in Pink really seemed to take the time to find out my likes and dislikes and I just loved everything. I have been WANTING the Lilly playing cards SO badly, I was SO excited to see them! The pink journal is just supple and gorgeous and I love to have books like this to capture thoughts, dreams and ideas in. I LOVE books on CD, the boy and I listen to them on a regular basis and this one takes place in NC which we have both been saying how we really would like to get back there and soon!

Coming back from the Junk Bonanza last night, the boy and I decided we would try to take in a movie for $5 opposed to $10 since it was just before 5. We got lucky and the "Time Travelers Wife" was starting at 4:40 and it was 4:30, PERFECT. So we popped in, caught the flick, VERY good, and the headed to Maggianos for dinner, NUM!

Today, working from home, the boy is off, we are off to have lunch, get to the boys, mow his lawn and then back to get ready for a night out! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Summer Swap

Running Just as Fast as You Can is having a Preppy Summer Swap! I had so much fun with CT Charms Spring Swap, thought I might want to pass this along as well! The good thing is, I don't think I have to travel for a while now either!

Spring Swap Package!!!!!

I don't usually use my front door, and being as busy as I was last week, I did not even get to the front door until the girls came over Saturday night, so I am SORRY, but I didn't get to this until yesterday, but what an awesome package I received from Hair Girl at My Life Behind the Chair!
She did SUCH an awesome job of sticking to the SPRING theme that CT Charm came up with, I LOVE the little letters spelling out SPRING with each of the coordinating little gifts! HOW FUN!

The "Sassy" little apron is just perfect, and I love the colors! Popcorn, "it's what's for lunch" today! Recipes, can you say crockpot Mac and Cheese? The boy is LOVING that! Pedicure stuff, with the prettiest pink, the basket is perfect for mail on my table by the door!

Thank you SO much, I just loved everything, and CT Charm, thank you SO much for hosting such a fun swap!

Happy Valentine's Day! Swap Reveal!

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope that you all are enjoying your day. I got a fresh new look? What do you think? Amber over at The Shabee Chick did SUCH a great job and was SO easy to work with. It is something I have been meaning to get to for a while and I am glad it turned out so well!

I am lucky that I get a lot of date nights, so tonight is another date night! We are off to dinner at Grand Cafe and the to see the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, it is supposed to be quite cold, but I will have my sweetie to keep me warm.

I participated in my first blog swap! SO much fun! It was put together over at Sweet Eye Candy Creations and it was a secret admirer swap. This is what I sent, I made the Flirt letters, it was a lot of fun.

I also had fun picking out some fun things to send off.

This is what I received, it was SO much fun to get this box in the mail.

Just look what was inside!

The cupid garland looks so decorative and festive on the mantle over my mirror.

So my first swap, it was SO much fun, have you ever participated in one? Can't wait to do another one!