Mother’s Day Gift Guide

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // April 22, 2015 // 16 Comments

Mother’s Day is just right around the corner! (At least, here in the USA) And each and every year, I struggle with what to get. What exactly do you give someone who means so much more to you than just a bouquet of flowers or a mug? It’s so hard!

A Mother’s Day gift can be handmade or purchased. It could be a simple card with a thoughtful message or a huge splashy gift basket! Whatever it is, it must come from the heart and say “I love you and you are important to me”. Isn’t that the point of ANY gift?

So I’ve rounded up a few of my favorites! These could be for your Mother, Grandmother, Best Friend who is a new mom, whoever you need to treat!

I’m not a particularly crafty girl, so the handmade gifts are limited. HA!

For the Cook or Gardener:

The beautiful The Forest Feast cookbook, notecards or notebooks would make pretty gifts!

For the Beauty Fan:

A pretty set of hand lotions and a sweet card is always thoughtful. Plus, you can never go wrong with a pretty smelling candle! And an eye shadow pallet in neutral colors is a gift that everyone wants, but wouldn’t buy themselves.

And for a fun DIY, here’s How To Make Homemade Bath Salts from DIYInspired.com. Isn’t the packaging neat?

For the New Mom:

Here’s a fun spa product-filled mason jar gift from Classy Clutter. I’d tuck in a “coupon” for free babysitting!

And then the “Isn’t This Fun??” Gift:

A fun multicolored felt Pom Pom necklace!

Sentimental Gifts for Mom or Grandma:

Any photo + picture frame combo is a go to gift for me! This photo collage would be a fun change!

Have a toddler? This handprint card from Day In My Life is so cute! And it would be easy to pop in the mail.

Need other gift ideas? There’s a Pinterest Board for that!

Follow Katie | Cup of Tea Blog’s board Gift Ideas on Pinterest.

Menu Monday #44

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // April 20, 2015 // 9 Comments

Happy Monday! This weekend absolutely flew by! I don’t know where it went….

Hope you took some time this weekend to do a little planning for the week ahead. I grabbed my planner and my new favorite Moleskine notebook (I use it for to do lists) and make sure I was on top of things this week. It’s nice to feel a little ahead of the game!

This week on the menu, I’m keeping things fairly simple. It’s my week to go to Costco, where I like to stock up on fruit, veg, milk and eggs, and then some frozen items. When I do a Costco run, I also just hit my local Food Lion, so I need to plan a menu that doesn’t require fancy/specialty items or unique vegetarian foods. It’s simple, and using up what I have on hand already or picked up at Costco.

You may notice that the menu is pretty heavy on the Mexican food…. well it’s my husband’s birthday week! And it’s his favorite genre. So we’re living it up! You may recall that last year for his 30th, we did a Mexican food themed party for his birthday.

If you haven’t seen a Menu Monday post before, I share what we’ll be eating this week. (You can see how I generally menu plan here) I also try to include links to recipes where I can. Although some weeks are just DIY (open a can of this, saute that).

Monday:
Greek Tortellini Salad

Tuesday:
Oven Fajitas
(Thanks to Anne at In Residence for cluing me in on this!)

Wednesday:
Kale, Black Bean Burrito Bowls
(Didn’t get a chance to eat them last week)

Thursday:
Mexican Pizza with Salsa Roja, Smoked Cheese and Cilantro Drizzle
(Recipe from Fields of Greens, my favorite cookbook)

Friday:
Date Night to Celebrate Hubbie’s Birthday!
Plus his favorite Ice Cream Cake for dessert

Saturday:
Going to a potluck picnic

Sunday:
Probably leftovers by this point! HA!

Need more ideas for dinner?
Follow my Pinterest board – it’s where I save all of my dinner ideas!

Follow Katie | Cup of Tea Blog's board Good Eats | Dinner on Pinterest.

Linking up at Menu Monday with Org Junkie

Lilly for Target GIVEAWAY

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // April 19, 2015 // 16 Comments

How did you fair with the Lilly for Target collection?? Did you snag any fun items?

I know there were a lot of folks who couldn’t grab much (if any)…. I know I didn’t. (those Lilly Mugs…. sigh….)

But hey! I love you all! So I teamed up with Della at Della Devoted and Tif at Bright on a Budget (our super shopper with tons of moxie) to get you some fun Lilly for Target items for a giveaway!

You can read more about Tif’s Lilly adventures here. She really is an amazing shopper! I cowered in fear when I hit my local Target this morning, and ended up with 2 toddler clothes. She came back with oodles!

Here’s what you can win!

Hanging Valet in My Fans print

Scarf in Giraffeeey print

Wristlet in Nosie Posey print

Cute stuff! And all in different prints!

We’ve also got ANOTHER giveaway going on right now on Instagram with a few different items! Be sure to go there to see how to enter.

Two chances to win some fun Lilly for Target stuff! We can’t wait for you to get it!

Ready to enter? You have until this Saturday, April 25, at 12am to enter!

Linked up with Tuesday Talk, Style Sessions, What I Wore

a Rafflecopter giveaway

High Five for Friday

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // April 17, 2015 // 19 Comments

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by Katie, Caitlin, Tif and Della! If you want to know more, read about it here!

This week’s featured blogger is Andrea at The Pineapple Cake! She’s an American living in Australia, and has a pretty amazing blog. I love a good travel post, and I really like one of her latest, What to Bring on an International Flight. I’ve always wanted a quilted duffle like the one she featured. Go check her out and say hi!!

And now, my not-so-exciting, short week.

1. This is the second week in a row where I’ve been sick. Bleh. Needless to say, nothing much happened this week. I spent all day Thursday laying on the couch, and had Elizabeth watch WAY too many episodes of Daniel Tiger and Peppa Pig.

2. I have been counting down the days to the Lilly for Target launch! Tif and I have been planning a fun giveaway AND Lilly haul posts to share our fun stuff. We’ll be up early snagging our wishlist (mine and Tif’s) items on Sunday.

3. We celebrated Elizabeth’s half birthday last weekend. She had such a fun time! And she managed to smile for several pictures!

4. Because we’re always behind, husband and I are watching Season 4 of Game of Thrones right now, so we can watch Season 5. Game of Thrones is just awesome! My husband has a hard time keeping up with the 15 different plot lines, but it’s our show du jour right now.

Source

5. I mentioned this in the Menu Monday post, but if there are any creative food people out there, I need help. We’re going to a fun birthday party tomorrow that’s a Chopped Challenge party. I need to bring a dish that contains sausage, cheese (any kind), rice and flan (or flan mix). Any thoughts??? I’m stumped. Definitely will be bringing a back-up dish.

How was your week? Can’t wait to visit y’all and catch up!

Fellow bloggers – ready to join in the link up? Just write a blog post about 5 things that made this week awesome! Add your link to your blog post down below (make sure it’s your blog post, not your blog home page!). And then grab the H54F button to add to your post! And go visit at least 3 fellow link uppers AND this week’s featured blogger! It’s just the nice thing to do.

And then – We LOVE visiting every single one of your blogs each Friday! But, in addition to commenting on your blogs, we’d love to connect via social media too! If you’d like a follow, leave a comment below with your user name or whatever works, and I’d love to come follow you! I really love this link up community.

I’m also linking up with Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre, 5 on Friday & Diary of a Real Housewife

Elizabeth’s 18 Month Update

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // April 15, 2015 // 18 Comments

Umm…. how did we blitz through 18 months already?

I feel like tons of changes have been happening. Every day there is some new adventure to be learned. My favorite thing is all the gabbing.

Even if I can’t understand her most of the time.

Last weekend, we carried on my in-laws’ tradition of celebrating half birthdays! Despite us all being sick, Elizabeth opened up a few presents from us and from her Grandparents, and we took some fun pictures.

And then, here’s some changes!

Looking back at Elizabeth’s 15 Month update, there isn’t too much change in routine or height/weight (gained one extra pound and 2 inches…I wish I had her BMI)

Eating | We’ve entered the Toddler food protests. What was yummy to eat one day is disgusting the next. Having two foods touching… no good. But she’s a good eater when she feels like eating! Favorites continue to be any fruit, eggs, avocado, cheese, yogurt and veggie sausage. So basically she’s a fan of breakfast. She also would prefer I feed her nothing but Goldfish crackers.

Milestones | So many fun things each day!

Elizabeth is running. I love this walking phase!
She is such a fan of the children’s museum and hiking.
She is so caring for all her little dolls and animal friends. Every night, she’s got a little posse surrounding her.
The girl loves to “cook” and color!
Music is still a favorite! She responds to it and instantly we have a dance party. Even if it’s just Beethoven.
Not only has her word list exploded, but she’s started putting a few words together. She thankfully chose to demonstrate “I done!” at the pediatrician’s office this week.
Books are just a fun thing. She has to have a stack of books by her at all times. And she’s just starting to “read out loud” to herself and her little animal friends.
One not-so-nice thing is that we’ve definitely entered into tantrum territory. Like throws herself on the ground, kicking, crying when she hears no to something she wants. I was not emotionally prepared for this…. Heaven help me.

Ok, that’s enough. HA! But here are some favorite pictures over the last few months!

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