Blog / Living

Besides something fun to say, a swizzle stick is a small stick used to stir mixed drinks! Originally swizzle sticks were created in the 18th century at a rum plantation in the West Indies.

Letter writing really is a lost art in today’s culture of texts, emails and instant messaging. But there really are life occassions that warrant a thoughtful, handwritten note instead of an electronic message.

I think I was a little old-fashioned even when I was young. Some of us are like that. My daughter is only 16 but is an old soul. When I was her age, I wrote letters to my new friends across the state that I had met at summer camp. Letters. With stamps.

My husband and I often go on picnics. Sometimes it’s just as simple as grabbing a few snack items to take to the beach or sometimes it’s an entire spread at our local waterfront park.

When my daughter started middle school, I grabbed one of my pouches, added a few cute enamel pins and turned it into a kit for emergencies. Since she’s gotten older, we've added to it and by keeping this in her backpack, it has eased her stress and given her peace of mind!

When my husband and I got married less than a year out of college we hadn’t traveled too many places. He had never flown in an airplane or been to a foreign country. I had been to a handful of states and found while in college that I loved exploring the surrounding area our school was located in.

Every once in a while I encounter someone who asks, "what the heck is a tea towel"? To me, it’s an old-fashioned way of saying kitchen towel or bar towel, but it really is a bit different than that. Tea towels originated in the 18th-century in England. They were towels that were absorbent, usually made of linen, not terry cloth, and used while serving tea.

Have you ever heard of the book The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman? This was a book that had been recommended to me while I was in college and engaged to be married.