If you’re like my husband and just realizing Mother’s Day is this coming Sunday, you may be frantically trying to figure out what to get the mother of your children. Never fear, here are five Mother’s Day gift ideas from Amazon (because Amazon Prime saves all our butts) for mom’s who like to hang out in the kitchen, or have to be in the kitchen because their children like to live.

I have four siblings and we’re all 18 months apart. At one point there were three of us in college. One year we all came home for Christmas and my mother threatened to send us back to Cotillion. Apparently surrounded by our besties at a cafeteria table did not lend itself to good table manners. Something about licking our plates being frowned upon? My mother is such a stickler! We’ve marginally improved since, most assuredly our spouses have probably helped. I’ll be honest, I hate writing these things because I chronically break them and then everyone KNOWS. But, I’ve had many requests for more of these types of blogs, so I am sharing them in good faith that you will not judge me when I come to your house for dinner and break them all.

Just a quick blog today to let you know about a digital recipe organizer. Recipe organizers abound and while Pinterest is great, Yummly is particularly helpful. It not only is devoted specifically to food, it also categorizes the nutritional content for my recipes. Other than that though, they operate very similarly. I’ve been playing around with it…

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Last week I shared a blog on things great dinner party guests do. Today I’m sharing a counterpart to that blog, things that great dinner party hosts do. Creating an environment where your guests feel welcome and at ease (the cardinal rule in hosting) is a learned skill. My mother taught me everything I know about being gracious (which despite her great effort, is still lacking) and my husband has taught me the subtleties of making a guest feel at home. Here are some of the things I have learned.

I’m going to tell you a true story. A story that will hopefully see what great dinner party guests do and do not do. And In case you’ve already mastered the lesson from my friend, I am also sharing five more things great dinner party guests do.

Valentine’s Day is in 11 days. If you’re looking for more ideas for the man or woman in your life, I’ve put together a Valentine’s Day Gifts for him list and a Valentine’s Day gifts for her list. It’s only February 3, so you still have some time to decide, just not much!

Buying on purpose helps reduce waste (this is also why I avoid grocery shopping while hungry, otherwise I buy 10 cans of spaghettios. Apparently I don’t have enough sodium in my life). That being said, we also need room for whimsy, not everything can be planned, especially in the kitchen. And having a strategically stocked kitchen can help you have intentional whimsy in the kitchen. Below I share ten of my pantry staples that let me be purposeful with those spur of the moment purchases at the grocery store.

Happy 2016! I don’t believe in making resolutions (especially diet resolutions), but I do like to start each year thinking about the goals I want to achieve over the next 365 days. So while I don’t have the expectation that I will hit these 100% of the time, here are my guidelines that will help me, as John Maxwell said, “fail my way to success.”