Tag Archives: disney

Hi guys, so today I’m going to share some Valentine’s Day gift ideas with you.  These gift ideas come from some of my favorite presents that Daniel and I have given to each other throughout the years, and most of them will work for either a girl or a guy!

If you’ve been to my blog before, you know that I’ve mentioned that puzzles have long been a theme in our relationship.  So I’m sure you can imagine that this has influenced a lot of the gifts we’ve given each other!

One year I had the idea to get Daniel a puzzle piece necklace.  I personally think jewelry for a guy is an unexpected gift, which is the kind of gift I strive for.  Unique, personal, and meaningful is my mantra when searching for a gift (especially for Daniel).

After searching and searching, I finally turned my attention to Etsy and found the perfect puzzle piece necklace.  This necklace was by far the most masculine looking one I found.  The seller was super nice, and the necklace came quickly and looked just as pictured.  Daniel loved it, and I love it whenever he wears it!  It also gave Daniel the idea to have a friend of his make me a matching puzzle necklace in silver!

Staying with the puzzle theme, Daniel gave me this amazingly romantic and sentimental gift (originally for our 1st year anniversary)!  Yes, that’s right, he made a puzzle for me.  I was so surprised and in love with this gift, not only when I first got it but every time we put it together.

Another gift that keeps on giving is… a fondue pot!  Daniel also got me this during our first year together.  It was particularly sentimental to us because of an amazing fondue dinner during our first trip together, but this would make a fabulous gift for anyone.

He was also very clever and made it a two-in-one gift by including the ingredients for chocolate fondue!  We exchanged gifts after dinner and were able to try out the fondue pot that night!  Yes, I know, I’m an incredibly lucky girl.

Since then, we’ve elevated countless stay at home date nights and celebrated special occasions with a fondue dinner (as you can see below).  It’s amazing how it can invoke so many wonderful memories every time we use it!

I don’t know about you, but we have numerous songs that have become very meaningful to our relationship and signified different stages of it.  For that reason, another gift I love giving are records.  This originally stemmed from Daniel having a beautiful record player, but no records!  Also, I’m not sure why, but I’ve always found vinyl to be more romantic than a CD.

Of course, if your significant other doesn’t have a record player, Valentine’s Day would be a great excuse to get one!  I personally think this would be an awesome gift for a guy, and a more unique and unexpected gift as well!

This is the one Daniel has, which doesn’t appear to be sold new anymore, but I love the look and features!

Another favorite gift that Daniel gave me was a picnic basket!

Talk about a sweet gift!  Would you not melt after unwrapping this?  We’ve used it SO many times during the summer months, and it makes me smile every single time.

And last but certainly not least, Daniel started making awesome paintings last year, and he made this WALL-E and Eva pair for me for Valentine’s Day!

As you can see, I was pretty happy!  You can visit his Etsy page to get these adorable paintings for your significant other.  I’m sure any Pixar-loving girl (such as myself) would LOVE to have these hanging on her wall!

There you have it, a few unique and meaningful Valentine’s Day gift ideas for your guy or girl!

I hope you all have a very special Day of Love!

I can’t believe Christmas is only a week away!  If feels like everything having to do with the holiday has been a scramble this year, and wrapping presents is no different.  I’ve mentioned before that I love to make gift wrap just as meaningful as the gift I’m giving, so I always put in a lot of time and energy when it comes to wrapping.  I usually find most of my ideas and inspiration on Pinterest (surprise, surprise), which you can see on my board.  There isn’t an extreme about of pins, so here are some examples of presents I’ve wrapped in the past.  Enjoy!

I sometimes like to hint at what could be inside the wrapping, and this present was a CD!  All I did was print out free sheet music of Jingle Bells onto some pretty resume paper I had, then I attached a few small bells to ribbon and tied a bow.  This was one of my favorite wrapping ideas, and I loved how it came out!  You can usually find bells at any craft store, especially during the holidays.

Daniel and I have always loved Disneyland ever since we began dating, and we ended up gravitating towards Minnie and Mickey (as most couples do).  I usually like to throw in something of them when I’m wrapping gifts for Daniel.  I found this brown gift bag at Target and wanted to make it a bit more personal.  So I found this super cute photo of Minnie and Mickey, printed it out on cardstock and made a gift tag!

Another year I used the same photo as the main event!

I often reuse wrapping from packages, such as brown paper from Amazon shipments.  This penguin tissue paper came in a pair of shoes Daniel bought from Penguin clothing company.  I thought it was way too adorable to throw out, and it ended up being the perfect size for a small gift I had!

Sometimes all you need is a variety of ribbons and bows to make standout gift wrapping.  I especially like this basket weave technique because of how clean and modern it looks.

I made this big bow with some wrapping paper scraps!

Here are a few more examples of things you can do with ribbons and bows!

I found this fun plaid wrapping paper at a 99 cent store!  I’ve often found great wrapping and trimmings at discount stores, and Daniel and I always take a trip to Target after Christmas.  The sales can be amazing, we’ve found things as low as 60 cents!  It’s a great way to stock up for next year!

Sometimes I like to choose a theme when wrapping, you can see here I chose brown paper and red ribbon as my theme.  This gave a very nice elegance to my presents, and I thought it could work for both men and women.

I also like to play with different color combinations.  I did green on green here!

I was going for more masculine colors when I did this brown and gold combination.

At some point during our relationship, coloring books became a “thing” for us.  One year I was giving Daniel a gift certificate, but I wanted to present it in a meaningful way.  So I decided to make my own envelope using a coloring book page (featuring Minnie and Mickey, of course)!  I used this template and it turned out great, take a look!

This would also be great for homemade cards!

Well, I’m happy to say that I only have a few gifts left to wrap, and I will hopefully be done before the weekend!  I hope all of you out there are finding time to relax amidst the holiday rush, and hopefully this helped you find some gift wrapping ideas and inspiration!

Ok, so if you read my Halloweentime at Disneyland travel post, you know that it’s my absolute favorite time to visit.  But a VERY close second is during Christmas Time at Disneyland!  Seriously, if you love the Christmas season, this is the perfect time to plan your Disneyland trip.  Disney goes all out with their decorations, festive food, and entertainment.

The entire park is adorned with holiday touches, aromas of gingerbread waft from cafes, shops have a variety of Christmas gifts and ornaments – but don’t take my word for it, check out some of my photos and tips below!

As you walk into the park, you’ll see Main Street is all decked out!

Make sure to get your picture taken in front of the HUGE Christmas tree!

Sleeping Beauty’s castle gets a Christmas makeover as well.  Another great photo opportunity!

I love how they decorate New Orleans Square within the theme.

I’m sure you can guess that Disneyland’s bakeries would have a plethora of Christmas treats, well, you’re right!  My favorite treat that I had to get every year was the hot chocolate!  I was sort of expecting it to just be a packaged Swiss Miss-like drink, but was pleasantly surprised at the richness and quality of the chocolate.  So good!  Plus, it will help to keep you warm as the sun goes down!

Tip:  While some of you from colder states may think:  “how cold can LA possibly get?”  You’d be surprised!  I’m originally from Maine, and I was often taken aback at the how cold it got, especially at night.  Certainly not that face burning, nose hair freezing frigidness, but it still manages to chill you to the bone!  We would always see tourists looking pretty miserable, because they were unprepared for the cold.  I suggest dressing in layers, wearing warm shoes, and having a stash of gloves, hats, and scarves.  Take advantage of the lockers at the entrance of the park, so you don’t have to carry everything all day long! Read more »

Happy December to you all, and I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday!  Daniel and I traveled to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving, and while it was fun to be back there for a bit, it’s SO good to be back in Portland.  Guess it already feels like home!  I’m also super excited that I can finally get completely immersed into the Christmas spirit!  I always try to give each holiday its rightful turn, but oh man, I can’t tell you how hard it was to hold out on decorating and sharing Christmas posts.

I plan to feature a variety of gift ideas, DIY’s, decorating tips, recipes, and LOTS more – so be sure to stay tuned!

Today I want to share some unique Christmas gift ideas.  I’ve always enjoyed giving and receiving artwork as gifts, and you can find some awesome pop art paintings at an Etsy shop called imDaniel. I may be a little bit biased, since (if you couldn’t guess) it’s my boyfriend’s shop.  I am always so beyond impressed by his paintings, that I honestly can’t help sharing his amazing work.  Take a look at some of his paintings below:

 Marty McFly from Back to the Future

Wall-e and Eva from Pixar’s WALL-E
(These paintings were my Valentine’s Day gift last year!)

Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Walter from The Big Lebowski

The Joker from The Dark Knight

These paintings would be an amazing and standout gift for anyone that not only loves pop art, but that’s also a fan of cult and classic movies.  Also, if you have a character in mind that you don’t see here, Daniel is totally willing to work on a custom design just for you!  And if you head over to his Facebook page by December 15th, you can snag a 15% off coupon!

Ok, I hope I didn’t gush too much while writing this post, but what can I say – I’m a proud girlfriend!  I hope this post comes in handy if you’re looking for a unique Christmas gift, and I can’t wait to share more holiday ideas with you all!

Fall is officially here!  Now that I’m living in Portland, I’m starting to miss one of my all time favorite fall activities – Halloweentime at Disneyland!

Disneyland was a favorite pastime for my friends and I when living in Los Angeles, so I’ve pretty much seen Disney decorated for every holiday and many non-holidays.  It could just be because I love the fall and I love Halloween, but I think Halloweentime is the most magical time to visit.

If you’re thinking about a trip to Disneyland, but haven’t set a date yet, read on and maybe this will help you decide when to visit!  Read more »