I’ve been meaning to write about John’s 26th birthday present since last July, and now seems as good a time as any: Valentine’s Day is coming up, and I know a lot of y’all are looking for sweet, low-cost, and thoughtful gifts for your significant others! (Me too.) Since his birthday fell on a week day last year, I wrapped up a few small packages — one for every two hours he would be at work — and marked them with the times they were to be opened. I kept the packaging discreet so as not to embarrass him in front of his coworkers :)

I can’t remember all of the gifts, but I know I included a can of his favorite limonata at 12:30 (lunch!), a gift certificate for a bucket of balls at our local driving range, a $10 Chick-fil-a gift card, an issue of a favorite magazine, and a can of tennis balls. The gifts kept rolling after he got home; I even put a late-night one in the freezer — a package of Dove bars! Yep, it was wrapped, too :)

I did get him a larger gift that he opened after work, but I think (hope) the best part of last year’s celebration was the hourly reminder that he was loved and thought of, even if we weren’t together.

P.S. Looking for Valentine’s Day goodies for friends? Here are a few I’ve made in the past: crepe paper chocolate, felt fortune cookies, clever cards, and wrapped chocolate.

Hi friends! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments on my last post! I loved reading them!

Going back a few more posts, I had mentioned that I was considering DIY-ing this Sugar Paper note card set. And I did! It ended up turning out very well (if I do say so myself!), so I thought I’d share it here.

Supplies needed: white cards (I used A2), colored envelopes (my favorites are from Paper Presentation), metallic gold craft paint, a 12″ bamboo skewer, a small paint brush, something to hold your paint, and an old magazine

There are really no instructions for this project — you’re just making dots, however you think looks best! But I do have two very helpful hints. The first: I like the look of dots going off the card, but if you do so, you’re depositing paint on your work surface with every card, which can make finding a clean place for your next card difficult. My solution: use an old magazine you’re ready to recycle! You can turn the page after every card so you have a clean surface for each one without using an excessive amount of paper.

Second tip: When you use the base of the skewer to deposit the dots, it leaves a tiny peak. I wanted a cleaner look, so I went back over each dot with a small paintbrush to pick up some of the extra paint and smooth things out. It sounds fastidious, but only took a few seconds for each card! Before and after below.

And that’s it! I tied sets of six with satin ribbon for gifting after letting them dry overnight. They may not be letterpress like Sugar Paper’s, but I think they’re pretty fun!

DIY projects don’t always turn out that professional-looking, which can make them hard to give as gifts, but I think this stationery is the perfect candidate. Tuck this one away until next December, or make a set for yourself! :)

Wowee! Thanks for all your thoughts on our Christmas cards! I haven’t tallied up the opinions yet, but we appear to be almost evenly split between the five designs :)

In other news, you may recall that one of my September goals was to paint a chalkboard wall in our kitchen. John was actually not pleased when he saw this goal, because he was not yet on board with the idea of a chalkboard wall at all. However, we discussed, and realized that his hesitation was not about the wall itself, but about whether it would a) take a long time to execute and/or b) require his manual labor. Once I assured him that neither of those concerns were warranted, he was on board :)

I loved the idea of a chalkboard wall because I loved the idea of an easily-switched-out art installation in a casual part of our home. I wanted somewhere to practice my lettering, to record our weekly menu, to count down to exciting events, and to post a weekly scripture verse. The scripture verse has by far been the best part: it takes me so long to write them out that by the time I finish, I’ve memorized them. Committing favorite verses to memory has been something I aspired to but never made happen, so I’m especially thankful for this chalkboard by-product.

One of my favorites! A few thoughts for those of you looking to make your own:

— There are lots of Pinterest DIYs for mixing custom color chalkboard paint. I love these in some applications, but we decided to go with classic black and white.
— Choose your spot carefully. I knew I didn’t want a potentially messy-looking space where it would be part of a guest’s first impression (say, in our foyer), so the little sliver of wall between our kitchen windows and pantry was perfect.
— Be prepared to roll on lots of coats… and then a few more. I think I did five coats in the end. I used a mini foam roller and Valspar paint, both of which I would recommend.

Do y’all have a chalkboard wall? Any verses I should consider for our weekly installation? :) I’m looking forward to choosing favorite hymns/carols in December!

There are a few things I hope you’ve picked up after reading this blog for any amount of time: namely, the joy of fiscal responsibility, a deep appreciation for goals of every stripe, and a conviction that donuts are delicious. Also, this:

Kelly Cummings

YES! We are the kind of people who use our wedding china on a daily basis. The people who crack open the letterpress stationery for a quick note. And yes, we are the people who throw adventure dinner parties.

I’ve been reading the blog Oh Happy Day for years, and Jordan is the one who initially introduced me to the idea of an adventure dinner party. As far as I can define it, it’s a meal shared with friends and the trappings of an indoor occasion — table, chairs — on public property. So, a fancy picnic. I was immediately taken with the idea, as I have a deep love for creating memorable experiences for the people I love. I put it on my 101 list almost three years ago, finally checked it off (hooray!!), and would now like to share a few tips I picked up along the way.

1. Choose your location wisely. It must be said: don’t dinner party on someone’s private property unless you have their permission. Duh. Also, don’t break any laws, and I’d suggest not choosing a location that expressly forbids picnicking. In fact, I’d look for a place that DOES encourage it — because really, an adventure dinner party is just an elaborate picnic, so if picnicking is allowed, you should be in the clear. Try also to find a location that has parking close by, since you’ll be hauling a fair amount of stuff from your car. Also, a bathroom, especially if two of your friends are pregnant.

Once you’ve found your location, make a scouting trip before the big day — even if it’s a location you’re familiar with, you’ll see it with new eyes. We chose the NC Museum of Art’s Art Park as our location (we took our engagement photos there). Here I am on our initial scouting trip in our chosen spot:

There was even a path mown to it!

2. Plan a moveable menu. The more food that can be transported and stored at room temperature, the better. Bonus points for anything that packs down tightly and requires few or no utensils. We chose chips and salsa as an “appetizer” (just served them out of the bag and jar, respectively), and Cobb salad as the main course. We brought the pre-washed spinach and arugula in the boxes it came in, and all of the other ingredients — hard boiled eggs, turkey, bacon, tomatoes, avocado, blue cheese, vinaigrette — in mason jars. Guests could assemble as they pleased. We also packed watermelon mint lemonade in Weck jars and fruit skewers in a 9×13 pan with a lid.

3. Make your packing list and check it twice. You’re going to be (kind of) out in the middle of nowhere, so there’s no running back to the kitchen when you realize you forgot plates. Walk through the entire event in advance and make sure you have — and pack — everything you need. Think about clean-up, too. Among other things, we brought mason jars for guests to drink out of (with lids, so that we could just screw the lids on at the end of the meal and not worry about rinsing them or drips), wooden forks, plastic plates (I figured they’d be less likely to blow away than paper), and bug spray. We packed everything in our cooler and my oversize Bean bag.

4. Get the right equipment. Because we could see ourselves doing this again, we bought a tote-able 6-foot table and two folding chairs from Home Depot to supplement the six folding chairs we already owned. Renting would also be an option. So would buying from Craigslist if you leave yourself enough time. We already had a surplus of mason jars, but they’re pretty cheap at Walmart.

5. Invite the right guests. You want people who will relish the experience, and be excited about something different… not think the obscure location and mysterious lead up are a hassle. Guys, I can’t tell you how grateful I am to have friends and a husband who appreciate things like adventure dinner parties!!

6. Have fun with it. You’re creating an experience for your guests, so layer on the fun touches! Keep the location a mystery until the last minute, or text clues in the days leading up to the party. (I’d recommend giving them an estimate of how long it will take to drive to the location, though!) Bring a tablecloth. Send invitations in the mail. Order up a giant balloon to mark your spot. On that note, make sure you have a car large enough to transport said balloon — I have an SUV, and had to fold my seats down to fit it in! It wouldn’t even fit through the doors of our house!! We bought our 36″ balloon from Party City, and it was $6.29 to inflate it with helium.

I modified Amy Moss’s invitation template and had them printed at FedEx Kinkos — so cute!

Post-dinner we loaded everything back into my car, then walked over to the Museum’s outdoor showing of Moonrise Kingdom. We packed dessert boxes for everyone in turquoise berry baskets with cinnamon sugar kettle corn, chocolate chip cookies, brownie bites, and gummy bears :) One other note on food preparation — if there was any dinner party to take food shortcuts on, this is it. All of these goodies were purchased from Whole Foods!

7. Roll with it. The weather. Oh me oh my the weather. There were a plethora of angsty text messages flying between my and John’s phones the day before and the day of our dinner party. Suffice it to say, we didn’t definitively call holding the party outside until about an hour before the arrival time, BUT the weather turned out to be beautiful! We had sun!!

Also, make sure you’re okay with attracting some attention. There were bike riders and walkers moving past our location, and at first I was a little self-conscious, but as soon as everyone arrived they faded into the background. Remember, they’re not judging you, they’re either curious or want to BE you! :)

Finally, be flexible. When we arrived at the park, we discovered that the entire field had been mowed, meaning our private circle was no more. We made a quick decision to relocate under the tree, and it worked out wonderfully.

8. Clean up. Leave your dining room for the night better than you found it. Duh.

Friends, what do you think? Would you host an adventure dinner party? Have you ever purchased a giant balloon? :)