Mr. LH and I have never really exchanged gifts over our 14 year relationship. Instead, we usually choose one or two large items we want to purchase, and make that our holiday or birthday gift. This year, Mr. LH turned 40. I felt he needed something special instead of the “big” gift we always pick out together. The one thing I knew I could do for him, one he wouldn’t want to take it back or exchange for the “right” one, was a collage photo frame of our years together.

GorillaPod - The Original

While sorting through our photos, I had a difficult time finding photos of us together. Sure, there were plenty of  just me or just him in front of some monument or goofing off on some trip, but the ones of us together were few and far between. With our latest trip to the Sequoia’s scheduled, we decided to remedy this problem. For just under $25 we found a solution to our photo problem; the GorillaPod. (P.S. they’re having a 20% off sale through 8/29!)

Okay, some of you are thinking, “Why don’t you just ask strangers to take photos for you?” We’ve done this in the past when there were people around to ask. But, sometimes strangers can’t focus the camera, or maybe we don’t want to bother others, especially if they don’t speak our language. Yet the biggest advantage of the GorillaPod is taking photos in remote areas, like when we’re hiking or camping. There may not be very many people around to help out, and taking a tripod is a bit cumbersome if I’m already carrying a day pack and water.

The GorillaPod is small enough to fit into a small pack or Mr. LH’s pocket. It’s flexible enough to wrap around a tree branch, and with three slip-resistant legs and feet you can prop it up on almost anything. The non-slip nodules help it grip around smooth surfaces. It also has a locking clasp, just like a tripod, that screws into the bottom of most camera’s, including my Canon PowerShot.

Mr. LH was able to figure out our camera’s timer, and this trip, we ended up with lot’s of photos of us together.

Like this one - GorillaPod was on a rock

Do you think you’d use the GorillaPod?

This week I’m wrapping up my fall semester and studying like crazy for a couple of finals. Then, I get a blessed 5 weeks off from school. I can’t wait for the winter break to rewind and focus on some things that have taken a back seat. However, this past weekend my husband and I realized we had to get our holiday shopping completed so that gifts would reach the intended recipient in time. Over the past year we have simplified our lives and made shopping a low priority. Again, I’ve never really like shopping, so this comes naturally to me. So to purchase our holiday gifts for our family members in the least stressful environment, we decided once again to purchase Omaha Steaks gift packages online. We did this last year and everybody really enjoyed the gifts.

My first draft of the holiday card, I need to redo it!

Since we have a total of four families to buy for, we purchased a gift package for each family. Omaha steaks allows you to pick and choose items to personalize each gift package. Each family purchase ended up costing under $80, so it’s also an affordable way for us to send gifts to our families. We ended up under our $400 budget. And, we ordered using our MyPoints link and earned 2,500 bonus points that we use toward Shell gas cards! We still have one gift each to purchase for our 3 nieces and nephew, and one gift for a stepfather on my husband’s side (we have a lot of step parents and extended families, we are children of divorced parents from the ’70′s!) This week we’ll be able to wrap up these last few gifts and get them mailed out before Christmas comes.

My final endeavor is to create our holiday cards. I wanted to design our own this year based on an art project I picked up from an art teacher. If I can get it finished  in time to send out it will be a nice card with a personal touch. Once the finish the beard, my husband will add the Santa hat to complete the homemade Santa design. This week just happens to be a bit hectic with school wrapping up. Time is just so limited!

I have to admit that when it comes to the holidays, I am a procrastinator. It’s the only time of year, and the only area in my life, where I just can’t seem to get a head start. Part of this is due to my own internal struggle with shopping: I really dislike it. Over the past couple of years my husband and I have narrowed down our gift giving to only immediate family and simplified our gifts by purchasing one family gift for the adults, like an Omaha Steak food sampler. This kind of gift also saves us time since we don’t have to lug a huge box to the post office ourselves, we just place the order online and it gets delivered. But we still feel obligated to purchase a gift  for our nieces and nephew. This year, we have vowed to only buy one gift for each, instead of 3 to 5 per child. (My husband gets this excessive gift giving from his mother and his sister – they go crazy with the quantity of gifts per person!)

Canvas Bags Make Great Gift Wrap!

Since we will still be purchasing gifts this year that we have to wrap and mailed, we’ve decided we want to become more eco-conscious with wrapping the gifts we send. A few years ago, while visiting my sister-in-law over Christmas, my husband and I noticed the 4 large trash bags full of torn wrapping paper following the gift opening extravaganza. Because my husband’s family is so excessive with their gifts, the amount of trash was ridiculous! Much of the wrapping paper that got thrown away couldn’t be recycled or burned because of the coating on the paper. So, my husband and I have come up with some alternatives to reuse stuff we have, and are more environmentally friendly to boot:

• Use a canvas bag to wrap the gift. This January in Los Angeles, retailers will begin charging shoppers a carbon tax on plastic bags. Might as well help out a  family member by giving them a  canvas bags now!
• Put a small gift in a mason jar. I recently wrote a post about how I’m making drinks in mason jars for co-workers. Mason jars are terrific for crafts, gifts, pencil holders and the like.
• Use the copious amounts of junk mail to wrap gifts. We’ve been inundated with a ton of junk mail everyday. My husband is on a mission to reduce our mail by getting us off vendor’s lists. But, until that happens, I might be able to use some of that wasteful paper in more useful ways, like gift wrapping.
• Use the funnies from the newspaper to wrap gifts. News print decomposes easily and is made from mostly recycled paper anyway. Show your family that you are learning to live frugally by using it as wrapping paper. (This might send a message to family members who just don’t get it yet!)

These are just a few ideas for reusable gift wrap. If you have other alternative wrapping ideas, please let me know!