Happy Easter!

Just popping in to wish everyone a super duper Easter!  We exchanged Easter baskets, shared a nice lunch with our furry animal babies and a close friend, and headed over to the park today.

Have a marvelous rest of your holiday!

Brined chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, bacon wrapped green bean bundles, and Crescent rolls. Green bean recipe to come.

59 Ideas for Simple Adult Easter Baskets

Ever notice that most holidays seem to be geared around kids?  Since I'm in my early twenties and don't have a family of my own yet, I find myself putting a grown-up spin on most holiday traditions.  My fiance and I usually exchange Easter baskets, but this year I also decided to put together an Easter basket for a few co-workers and friends.

My formula for Easter baskets is simple, and I like to keep it around $10.  You need a Chocolate bunny, an Easter candy favorite (like Cadbury Eggs, Peeps, or jelly beans), and a trinket (think classic toys like Pinwheels, Slinky, bubbles, Yo-Yos, etc.).  

For an adult, I like to grab one of the cute spring pails out of the dollar aisle at Target.  Then I stuff the bottom with shredded green paper and nestle in a dark chocolate bunny in place of a milk chocolate one, a traditional Easter candy, some dark chocolates (Dove makes great little purple foil wrapped chocolate eggs).  Trinkets are easy for adults, too, if you just think about what your friend enjoys doing.

I have one friend who posts a lot of pictures of nails on Pinterest, so I gave her a nail polish in a plastic egg (which I got on sale at CVS)...

And a co-worker who loves to garden, so I got a packet of Lavender and a Lavender garden stake for $2.99 at Target.

And sometimes a wind-up chick is just fun. :)

Before you know it you'll have a whole bunch of beautiful Easter baskets! :)

If you need a few more grown up Easter basket ideas, here are a few:

For the Foodie

1. Egg timer
2. Whisk
3. Tea Infuser or Tea Bag Rest
4. Wooden Spoons
5. Loose-leaf tea
6. Novelty kitchen items (shop online here)
7. Mini bottles of wine
8. Package of nuts, pasta, or coffee
9. Spoon rest
10. Use a colander instead of a basket

For the Crafter

1. Knitting Needles
2. Crochet Needle
3. Embroidery thread in plastic eggs
4. Ball of yarn
5. Scrapbooking stickers or stamps
6. Pretty beads in plastic eggs
7. Bundle of charms or fat quarters
8. Spools of thread
9. Colorful buttons in an egg
10. Spools of ribbon/ric-rac

For the Gardener

1. Gardening gloves
2. Pretty spade, trimmers, or hand rake (like this one)
3. Garden Stakes
4. Seed packets
5. Bulbs
6. Mini garden gnomes
7. Mini gazing balls
8. Seed bombs
9. Crystal sun catchers
10. Use a pretty pot or watering can instead of a basket 

For the Fashionista

1. Nail polish in a plastic egg
2. Manicure kits
3. Sleep masks
4. Face mask mix
5. Make-up (eye shadow, lipstick, mascara, eye liner, etc.)
6. Costume Jewelry
7. Make-up brushes
8. Mini soaps/lotions
9. Perfume or body spray

For the Professional

1. Chord organizers
2. iPhone Cables (try to find colorful ones for Easter)
3. USB sticks (they make lots of fun ones these days!)
4. Cute notepads
5. Nice pens or pencils
6. Business card holder
7. Pretty phone case
8. Cuff links
9. Car charger for phones/tablets
10. $5 Sarbucks Gift Card

For the Builder

1. Nails or screws
2. Wood glue
3. Hammer, screw drivers, or wrench
4. Staples for staple gun
5. Measuring tape
6. Level
7. L-Ruler or T-Ruler
8. Stud finder
9. Carpetner Pencils
10. Use a Mason's Bag instead of a basket

French Board 2.0

Back in February, we did a Secret Admirer Valentine exchange at work.  I took pictures of all the valentines I made so that I could share with you here, but apparently forgot.  So here I am now.

The idea of the exchange was to leave little trinkets on your Valentine's desk all week long.  I left cookies and pinwheels and really weird cards to try and throw her off all week long...

...but on the last day I gave her this homemade french board.

Of course, this totally gave away that it was me, since you may remember I made this french board for my own cubicle at work awhile back:

Oh well!  I had a blast making it, and she enjoyed receiving it.  I love the way the colors look together.

This is one of those easy DIY projects that is so satisfying.  You should try it! :)

Thanks for reading!

--CC

Raised Bed Garden

Hello, and Happy St. Patrick's Day! :)  Here in Florida we're well into the spring season.  The Azaleas and Dogwoods are blooming, the trees are budding, and we're experiencing warm weather with lots of rain!

Yesterday it was sunny and warm, so my fiance and I got to work building a raised bed garden.  (We also had this little helper.)

I was surprised at what a quick and easy project it was.  After just three hours of work, we were completely finished.  We used a bunch of different tutorials online as a guide for building our raised bed, but didn't really follow any instructions in particular.  We ended up buying one 2x10x16, cutting it into four 4 foot sections, and drilling it together.  We used a 4x4 that was 12 inches tall in each corner for extra stability and to bury into the ground so the bed would stay put.  (If this makes no sense, you might want to check out this tutorial--it's the best raised garden bed instructions we found and it even includes a shopping list.)

The whole project (lumber, dirt, and all) cost us just $75--well worth it for the tasty vegetables and the enjoyment we'll get out of it.  Plus, once you have the raised bed set up you can plant in it again and again.

I can't wait to see my little vegetables grow! :)  Thanks for stopping by!

-CC