A Very Thoughtful Gift

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My friend Lynne bought me some of these lovely personalized letterpress note cards from Dingbat Press as a hostess gift for co-hosting her baby shower. She knows me so well because they are something I would love to have but wouldn't splurge on for myself.

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These custom cards are available on Etsy (have I mentioned that I love Etsy?!) and you can specify the name, the Dingbat, font type, font color and envelope color of your choice. What a perfect gift. (Thanks again Lynnie!)

Custom Silhouette Greetings

Check out these adorable custom silhouette cards available on Etsy. A friend of a friend just hired her to do a baby announcement showing their toddler pushing a stroller with the new baby. Creative idea. Cute option for announcements, birthday party invites, thank you cards or just blank notes.

Make What Your Heart Desires

I think these oversized Bernard Maisner O Christmas Tree Grand Statement Cards are spectacular but at $34 a piece they are well over my Christmas card budget (for 1 person let alone 75). Two years ago I hired a calligrapher to draw it up for me, then printed on beautiful paper and used stamps and a heat gun to add sparkly red ornaments. They weren't as lovely as the real thing but I was still quite pleased with the end result. It was torturous to make them though and a few hours into it I vowed never to make my own cards again. I'm sure I'll forget the pain and suffering brought on by homemade cards someday because it is so fun to turn out something different every once in awhile. Here's my card from Christmas 2006...

Bernard Maisner also has quite the selection of exquisite stationary and cards like their hand painted notecards. I think they're dreamy. Maybe I need to make my own hand-painted notecards too. Another crazy idea that will take way too much time, but could be fun. Hmmm.

Notecard Addict

I just came across The Grosvenor Stationery Company in the gift section of Domino magazine (Fabulous Finds under $25). Of course I went straight to their website and I just love the Cool Dudes Correspondence Cards. If you think I seem addicted to notecards you don't even know the half of it. I am on a "notecard spending freeze" since I have a closet full, but I would sure love to get my paws on a box of these.

Click here to find a US retailer.

Baby Boy Thank You Cards

I adore these Kate Spade thank you cards that my friend Clare ordered with her son George's initials on them. How cute is that?! I sent her a pre-written, addressed and stamped thank you but she didn't use it. I'm so glad she didn't or I would've never seen these cuties.

Cutest Thank You Cards

Foxglove Writing from Thornwillow Press, LTD. makes these beautiful Profuse Thank You cards. They are my most favorite thank you cards, to the point that I don't even want to use them (which is just crazy I know). They would make a great gift for a fellow cardie (did I just coin a new word?).

This boxed stationary set includes 10 engraved medium weight folded cards (4 5/16" x 6 3/16") and 10 tissue lined envelopes in the signature Foxglove Yellow box for $35.

The Greatest Gift for a New Mom

Over a year ago I went to my friend Amanda's baby shower. Along with my gift, I gave her a self-addressed stamped envelope with a pre-written thank you card. All she had to do was pop it in the mail and mark me off her list. I think the card got more oohs and aahs than any of the teeny tiny baby clothes.

All the better to give to a new mom who has already had the baby. The last thing a new mom wants to do once the baby has arrived is write a bazillion thank you cards. Not that you aren't so grateful for all the generous and thoughtful gifts from friends and family, it just becomes overwhelming as the gifts keep coming in at the same rate you're adrenaline is slowing down and exhaustion is settling in.

With that said, I won't allow a new mom to write me a thank you card and the only way around it is to write your own. My friend Clare just had a baby and lives in NYC. I sent her a package with some of my favorite things for baby and threw in a thank you to myself. She can just throw it in the mail and I know the gift arrived safely. Genius.

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So next time you're friend has a baby, send one of these little bits of heaven along with your gift! And if she lives in your city, bring her dinner too because that is the other thing new moms don't want to think about. They will be forever grateful.

Tipping Talk

My husband and I are on vacation in Los Angeles and had a date night last night. We went to a fabulous Mario Batali restaurant in West Hollywood called Osteria Mozza and had an amazing meal. We had the sommelier help us select an incredible Barbera from "the Barbera King", Bricco dell Uccellone (I highly recommend it!). When the bill arrived, we had the same debate we always have after a wine splurge... what and how do we tip? I was a waitress so I generally tip between 18 and 20 percent, based off the final price (not before tax or without alcohol). I will tip less for really poor service although I can't remember giving less than 15% unless it was a disaster, even then I leave something (it's the poor college student waitress in me!). So my thoughts were that we tip on the final price and I assume (and hope) that the waiter passes off the sommelier's portion of the tip. I was curious what the proper etiquette is so I did a little google search and found this from Peggy Post (via the Good Housekeeping site):

Q: At a dinner out with friends, we ordered an expensive bottle of chardonnay. When the bill came, they insisted that we didn't need to include the cost of the wine when calculating the tip, only the food. Is this true?

A: Your waiter is entitled to a tip based on the cost of the meal and the alcohol. The exception: When a wine steward, or sommelier, selects a bottle and serves you. If so, the wine expert is given a separate gratuity of 15 percent to 20 percent (depending on the service, as well as the price and number of bottles ordered), and your waiter should be tipped only on the food portion of the tab. Customers usually hand a wine steward cash at the end of the meal (he should come to the table when you're done), but if you want to pay for everything by credit card, look for an extra line on the bill just for the wine tip.

I have never seen an extra line on the bill for the sommelier's tip so I suppose it would be nice to denote it somewhere or give him cash as suggested so he, or she (although I have never seen a female sommelier - have you?), receives their full portion. So what do you think about all this? And what do you think you do if you pick out your own bottle? Do you still give the same amount of tip for the wine (for the waiter)?

And speaking of ... if you've ever wondered about the proper way to pronounce it (as we once did), it's [suhm-uhl-yey].