Good GIfting: House & Baby

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. Mini K and I picked up dinner from Daddy's favorite restaurant so we could eat early at home before he had to catch his flight.

And I took advantage of a quiet night to go through that stack on my desk that has been staring me down! It seems the holidays were the time for people to get engaged, move or make some changes with their childcare.

I am now caught up on my mail and email (919 emails answered last night and inbox cleaned up!) and need to do a little shopping.

My old intern just purchased her very first condo and is so excited about having an address of her own that I had to get her some address stickers! You can find these, 30% off no less, HERE.

I have a couple of friends whose children are going through some changes: one is starting at daycare and another one is starting at a new school. I would say the both moms and the minnies are nervous and excited. I made up a double batch of my favorite chocolate chip cookie dough recipe and packaged it in the contessa tubs from Garnish and delivered one batch with bag tags for my friend whose child is heading to daycare and stickers for my friend's daughter to have for all of her new school activities.

All bag tags and stickers are 30% off at the Grove through the end of the month.

I ordered these adorable bag tags for friend's son Sam, but instead of an address I put his mommy's name, email address and cell number on one side and his name on the other. That way he can tote all of his gear to daycare in style!

Our other friend's little girl is starting at a new school due to a move and I wanted to send her a little something that would be just for her. I picked out these stickers and think they will be perfect for gift giving or just labeling her stuff!

You can find all of the SALE ITEMS HERE.

As a child I remember my mom would always send a little something to friends when they moved away and would drop something off if they moved but were still in town. It is yet another example of who doesn't like a little unexpected cercie?

One gift that I think is great for marrieds, singles, men or women for a housewarming gift are new towels. The Grove only has white towels and yes, they are monogrammed. I think you cannot go wrong with a white towel with a white monogram. For some reason, I get asked all the time why I would have white towels with two kids. My answer is simple: BLEACH.

We have had 3 friends move recently so that means it's towel ordering time! My go to is always 2 hand towels and 2 bath towels for couples and 2 hand towels and a bath towel for singles and yes I monogramed them. I think Horchow has a great selection of towels and the monogramming is usually free so I headed to ebates to click through so I could double dip: CASH back from ebates and Incircle Points from Neiman Marcus. Well, I got my own surprise this morning when I discovered that almost everything is 30% off today on Horchow with code: LOVEHC. I got 6 bath towels and 6 hand towels all monogrammed, including shipping for the price of 2 hand towels and 2 bath towels, plus 3% cash back! If you are in the market for towels or sheets I would take advantage of the Horchow sale as today is the last day. If you have been coveting any of the Lilly Pulitzer furniture, well it is 25% off today as well! If you haven't joined ebates, join before you make your purchase so you can save even more. You can join HERE.

Tune In For Tunics

I know today is the day before Valentine's Day, but it is also the day I purchased my first bag of Brach's this season! What can I say, orange jelly beans make me happy and tonight they were also my dinner.

Mondays are our crazy days and today was no different. Mini K had tennis, then homework, then final Valentine's Day prep, Baby C needed a bath and Mr. G was off to a Capitals game. I needed to answer too many emails, pack up Flat Teddy to send him back to Miss M and check on tomorrow's predicted wintery mix, not the ice cream variety but the gross winter weather that somehow encourages every bad driver to get behind the wheel!

So needless to say, when I got the uscoop email, I assumed it would be a promo for something that left me feeling old and out of the loop. I WAS WRONG....SO VERY WRONG. It was about one of my favorites, that I have worn since college: Gretchen Scott Designs. Her clothes are just as fashionable now as they were almost 20 years ago when I went off to college and YES I still wear them.

If you haven't checked out uscoop, you can right HERE. I took advantage of today's $88 gift certificate for $44...now I just have to make up my mind on what to purchase.

I think I purchase a new one of these Moroccan jackets every couple of years, because I literally wear them out! They are great over a tank or t-shirt with jeans, short or crops and they are super for travel as they take up zero space and can double as a layer for warmth on planes!

The Stoningtons is one of my favorites to pack for travel. It looks great as a pool cover-up by day and pair it with a pair of navy city capris and some gold sandals for night!

Her ruffle robes can make even your oldest pj's seem chic!

If you haven't checked out uscoop, you can right HERE. I took advantage of today's $88 gift certificate for $44...now I just have to make up my mind on what to purchase.

You can never go wrong with a Gretchen Scott tunic. They look great with white jeans, dark denim and black crops. The Marquis tunic is one of my favorite patterns.

Minnie Blog Sale-Summer State of Mind

Wednesday was my last post, then the crud hit. That would be tonsilitis for Baby C no doubt caused by the 70 degree temps one day and the 30 degree temps the next! He is on the mend and Mini K and I took flat Teddy around for Miss M this weekend.

So tonight I took advantage of the FREEZING cold weather and sorted through Mini K's old clothes. I thought I would host a minnie blog sale before I list them on ebay tomorrow night.

Lilly Pulitzer Size 6 Dress. $18 shipped

Lilly Pulitzer Romper. Size 6, $15 shipped. Worn once. SOLD

One of my favorite outfits, size 5 and Mini K only wore it once! $20 shipped SOLD

Size 5 Maxi. $20 shipped

Size 5 Minnie Maxi Dress. I LOVE this dress! $20 shipped

Either leave a comment or email me if you are interested in any of these and if anyone know of a little boy with the initials CJG have them email me as I have an entire tub full of monogrammed clothes of Baby C's that I am going to list on ebay with these and more girls stuff tomorrow night!

Bag Lady

Mini K gave me an orYany bag for Christmas to, and I quote "hold all of OUR stuff!" Her statement was correct as Mr. G says if my car ever broke down I probably have everything I need to fix it in my bag! a sippycup, pacifiers, fruit snacks, a Tide bleach pen, a stain stick pen, at least 1 if not 2 ipods, but what I usually cannot find are my keys!

I have a big Louis Vuitton neverfull, but am not really a fan. It doesn't zip or close on top so my stuff always seems to fall out so I was willng to try something new. One of my favorite things about these bags are the lining. Mine is a bright green and brown trellis print and my items still stand out instead of fading into the black darkness! There is an outside pocket where I keep my keys and lip balm and the inside has 3 zipper compartments and pockets for 2 iphone, blackberries, etc.

Since Christmas they have been featured on Rue La La once and the prices were around $100 instead of $400.

I noticed today that they will be back on Rue La La this Saturday so mark your schedules.

If you aren't a member of Rue La La you can join HERE and start your shopping with $10! I of course LOVE the pink one featured in promo. How chic would it look when paired with black skinnies and a black cashmere sweater.

Handwriting Happy Challenge

Mini K needs to work on her handwriting, but neither her teacher or I believe that writing letters over and over are fun! Last week she announced from the backseat that she LOVES mail and it got me thinking. Who doesn't love mail? I am not talking about stacks of junk flyers or the standard catalogs, but a card or letter or maybe a special catalog, and a surprise box, well that is even better.

Now the Lawyer's Wife has a daughter that is only a year older than Mini K so I told her that Mini K was going to write Miss M a letter. Mini K thought it was super fun and now loves to say she has a pen pal.

This got me thinking, our love of mail doens't stop once we are adults so I got out mystationery, monogrammed of course, and wrote 3 notes to friends for no real reason. Today those 3 friends all called to say how much they liked their notes.

My point is the little gestures can have a big impact. You never know when a friend or family member may just need a little smile at the end of the day.

So here is my challenge:

This week write a letter (and MAIL IT!), send a box of happies, drop off a note with something yummy at a neighbor's house or surprise someone with a cookbook...JUST BECAUSE. There is one condition: do NOT expect ANYTHING in return. In the words of Nike, just do it.

Trust me, you will feel better for it!

Sunday Finds

I had planned to do this post on Friday, but we had Trivia Night at Mini K's school on Friday night and let's just say the parents stayed out past curfew!

Yesterday was filled with a birthday party, a play, a long run, guitar lessons and errands so today is the day.

You know me, I love to share a good deal. Usually those deals involve a sale or a discount code, but sometimes they are just a great product for the price. Well, this list is a combination.

I can't wait for my BIG FAT CHECK to arrive from ebates, but I might have to take advantage of this special deal from Kate Spade for EBATES. In addition to getting 3.5% cash back on all purchases, when you shop Kate Spade by clicking through EBATES you can take $50 off your $250 purchase with code YOP12. The code expires tonight. So in between commericals, just click on over. You also get $10 in your ebates account just for joining.

One thing I don't like about running in the spring with Baby C in the Bob stroller is wrestling with a blanket. Last year a friend gave us a Nuddle and I had yet another one of those moments where I kicked myself for not inventing it. The Nuddle is a blanket that locks into your stroller (it works on both our Bugaboo and Bob so I am pretty sure it will work on any stroller) and I no longer have the added workout of chasing a blanket down the street with said stroller in tow. The blankets sell for $38, but they are on Plum District for only $18 and of course I found a code! So you can use code " fabulous" for an extra 10% off. The blankets come in natural, blue and pink and make the BEST baby gifts. No surprise to any of you, but I had to monogram Baby C's. You can buy your Nuddle Blanket HERE.

Finally, Baby Lips. I have been a fan of La Mer lip balm for years. Yes I know it's $40, but it works. Chapped lips are gone in mere hours and it isn't overly smelly or oily. Mini K and I stopped at Ulta to pick up some Essie to send to a friend overseas and I saw a display for Maybelline's Baby Lips. I figured for $4.49 I could take the risk to see if it would really last for 8 hours. It does and is amazing!

I highly suggest trying it.

Happy Happy

What a day! I have been looking forward to this post all day, because we know I LOVE a good deal. I intended to post it earlier, but Mini K lost the first of her two front teeth and I needed to assist the Tooth Fairy in finding some worthy gold coins.

We may have 6 more weeks of winter, but starting tomorrow the Grove is having a HAPPY sale! What is a HAPPY sale? Well how does 30% off ALL id tags, stickers, enclosure cards, save the dates and wedding invitations sound? Yep you read that correctly, 30% off from February 3rd-February 28th. Just enter code: HAPPY30 to receive your discount.

I lost track over the holidays of how many Facebook status updates for engagements I read so we wanted to do a sale that offered something for EVERYONE.

One of my favorite things to give are id tags. They are something everyone needs, but most people will not spend money on them for themselves. These are great on their own or pair them with a boat tote, a beach towel or as part of new baby gift if the baby will be going to daycare. We have a lot of military spouses order these with their name, cell phone number and email address and monogram on the other side. Since they move so much, they won't have to constantly being ordering new ones! I love the khaki and orange combination, but you can see all of our designs HERE.

I love stickers! Simply put one on a cello bag and you can save a fortune on birthday and baby shower cards. Each member of the Grove family has their own stickers, plus we have some from our entire family, and some from just Mini K and Baby C. I keep them all in page protectors in a three-ring binder on a shelf so when I need one I can just pull it out. My cercies are currently gifted with these stickers, but mine say Happy Happy xox, Grove Gal K. You can see all of our stickers HERE.

Most people think of Save the Dates for weddings. but lately we have had a lot of clients order them for Frist Communions and Confirmations. With so many families living across the country they are a great way to send all of the details, with plenty of notice, in style. This blue and coral design is one of our best sellers. I love the idea of including a photo of the special girl or boy, or use it as a traditional wedding save the date. You can shop all save the date cards HERE.

This is one of my favorite wedding invites. It is perfect for all seasons, has a big impact, but a simple classic style and the price is unbeatable before the 30% off so with the discount it is a DEAL! You can shop all wedding invites HERE.

We believe in sharing a good deal, so feel free to pass this on!