Gift ideas for Mother's Day

Is your mom a Martha fan?  If so, there are some great deals to be had on Martha Stewart publications in time for Mother's Day. 

Get one year of Martha Stewart Living for $19.95.

Get ten issues of Whole Living for $10.00.

Get ten issues of Everyday Food for $10.00.

And to get this adorable front-page style coloring sheet, click here.

But don't stop the gift-giving with a magazine subscription. Seriously.

Is your Mom a fan of smelling awesome? Or a fan of gorgeous earrings?  Then compliment that magazine subscription gift with some lovely baubles and scents from Darling Clandestine.  Evonne sent me two new fragrances (Carny Wedding and Pyrotechnik) and I was blown away.

I am now the proud owner of eight fragrances in the Calliope Crash line. Before these arrived, I had them all arranged by my order of preference, which was an already difficult job. When Carny Wedding and Pyrotechnik got here, that comfortable and well-established order was totally disrupted. In fact, these two might have marched right into places #2 and #3.  That's how awesome they are.

So, if you were wondering to get Mom, or yourself, for Mother's Day, then I'm happy I could point you in the right direction:  a MS magazine subscription and fragrances from Darling Clandestine will thrill her for the entire year.  Have fun shopping!

The gift of Martha

As a self-proclaimed and semi-certified (and maybe certifiable!) Martha Stewart wanna-be, my Martha card would be revoked if I did not share this deal with you:  now through Sunday, MSLO is offering full-year subscriptions to Living, Whole Living and Everyday Food for only $20.00. 

Plus, they are even throwing in a free tote bag!  This is a tremendous deal, and would make the perfect gift for yourself or anyone in your life who is interested in all good things for their home and their life. 

This offer expires on December 5, so act now (wow, don't I totally sound like an infomercial?  Scary!) before the deal is gone. 

Seriously, I love all of her publications, and I know that this is one gift the recipient will not want to return.  Happy shopping!

Ferns for the bathroom

In the September issue of Whole Living, there's a little snippet on how Boston Ferns are THE plant to have in your bathroom for two reasons:

1. It's one of the top air-purifying plants, making it a great addition to your house, and
2. The high-moisture and low-light conditions of the bathroom are ideal for a fern.

This sounded great to me. I've long wanted plants in both the master bath and the kids' bath, and ferns seemed to fit the bill. I headed out to Lowe's and got two varieties:  Kimberly Queen and Japanese Bird's Nest.

In order to test the hardiness of the plants, I left them in the bags on my kitchen island for two weeks.  Actually, things have just been really busy lately.  I meant to repot them right away, but it just didn't happen. In fact, you might notice that my son is in his pajamas at 2 in the afternoon, and the massive piles of random crap on the dining room buffet.  Like I said, it's been really, really busy here the past few weeks. 

I finally got around to it, and things seemed to work out just fine. The ferns were quite forgiving.

Here's the large Kimberly Queen fern in the kids' bathroom.

And here are the two Japanese Bird's Nest ferns in the master bathroom:

I think they really add something to the space...just like the kids' kitchen set does.

Yeah, that's right...I have a kids' kitchen set in my bathtub.  Sometimes, that's just how we roll here at TMI.  We're all about the classy.

For more ways to green up your bathroom, check out Whole Living. 

Martha Monday--Mail call

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Martha and/or her people have noticed me.  Soon after, I got two interesting pieces of mail...take a look at the return address:

What a thrill to see something from MSLO addressed to me as a (blog) writer!  Inside the envelopes were the September issues of Whole Living and Everyday Food, along with info sheets about both publications. 

I have to confess, I've gone through each magazine several times already and I think I might like them better than Martha Stewart Living. 

I know, right?!?

Anyways, I'll be trying out the recipes/ideas in the coming weeks, and let you know how the suggestions on the page translate into real TMI Living.  Because at the end of the day, you and I know that's the Living that really matters...the one that works for us in our homes and with our own families.  Stay tuned!