Father's Birthday Gift

It's hard to shop for my father because he doesn't need much and what he does need, he gets. We'll be meeting in CA soon, so I thought I'd get him a nice framed art print that'll remind him of summer. I got him this beautiful print of a sailboat that has these architectural lines that he'll appreciate. It's from an etsy shop called delaflamant, this artist makes great modern prints!

My Mother's Day Gift

I'll be seeing my mother shortly, so I wanted to give her something I could present to her in person. She has a weakness for figure sketches, and I saw this one on Etsy from the artist Gretchen Kelly and it was a done deal!

Birthday Gift

Just purchased this print for my friend Jeff. He's a pretty hip guy who just moved to NYC, so I wanted to get him something cool to hang in his new apartment. It's from the artist S.Sarat's Etsy Shop. Etsy is an online community of buyers/sellers of all things handmade or vintage, and it's a great place to find something unique that won't break the bank, although be warned... you'll have to sift through a lot of stores to find the best ones. I'll post links to any of the stores I purchase from.

Last Minute Gift Scramble No More

This post is directed towards my fellow ladies, I don't purport to think that my male counterparts will have the foresight to do this... but maybe someone will surprise me.

Have you ever been invited to a last minute house warming party? An office colleague's bday? Or you forgot about your friend's birthday dinner... that's tonight?

THE GIFT BOX

Every sensible lady should have a gift box in her home, a place to stash good finds and cute treasures to give at a future unknown date for an unknown recipient/occasion or for a very specific occasion for a known recipient.

Stocking the gift box: This is an easy task for ladies who are often out and about. Whenever I'm shopping, I always keep an eye out for things that are appropriate to stock up on. If you see a cute item and you think to yourself, "this is so cute, but I don't really need it" or "this would be great for so and so but their birthday just passed," then you should purchase the item for the gift box! I'm a huge fan of buying something you love when you love it, instead of scrambling to buy something that's not even that great later on when you're in a crunch.

Good things to have on hand in your box or to get you started

• nice candles (Votivo is great)
  
• gift cards THAT DON'T EXPIRE or REDUCE IN VALUE (restaurants, spas, itunes)
• great stationary (Cartier, Kate Spade, Crane and Co.)
  
• wine
• nice cookbooks (Willams-Sonoma has great ones!)
  
• leather notebooks/passport cases/luggage tags
  
• cashmere accessories
• Coffee table books (destinations, artist's work, photographs)
  

Currently in mine

• Candles (in different scents, some are seasonless so I can give them year round and others are more season specific), I recently purchased Votivo garden candles on sale from GILT

• Kate Spade Gift Cards (these are labeled for someone in particular)

• gloves
• A set of Richard Avedon postcards (Portraits of Power)
  
• Really cool silicone propeller trivets by Verbena

The gift box also helps when you've already purchased a gift for someone and you want to top it off with another little item!