I’m a big lover of unisex scents. Smelling like caramel, cotton candy, and strawberry is not my thing. Heavy dominant florals can be sexy, but I never feel genuine to myself. Notes of citrus, herbs, coffee, chocolate, and booze resonate with me. Perfume and cologne can get incredibly expensive, but these days, the market is full of inexpensive options that are of excellent quality. Of all my favorites, these three can be worn by both men and women year-round and at any time of day, they’re affordable, and they make me feel like my best self.
Elizabeth and James Nirvana Bourbon
This one was my first love. Although it’s been discontinued, you can still find it online for a great price in sizes ranging from samples for $2 to a 50ml beautiful brown glass bottle. It’s described as an oriental vanilla. Tuberose adds floral lightness to the bourbon vanilla and oakwood. I will never get tired of this one.
Dossier Ambery Oakwood
I wore this to a beautiful dinner at The Black Pearl in Dunedin, FL with my husband and was complimented by the sommelier. Described by “fair-priced French perfumery” Dossier as a dupe for the very expensive Kilian’s Angel Share, the cognac elevates the warm and cozy feel of the cinnamon and candied fruit to something that feels almost sinful and decadent.
Bath and Body Works Whiskey Toast
Bath & Body Works never lets me down when it comes to keeping my fragrance game interesting. Fine eau de parfum, skin cream, air fresheners, or candles- you’re bound to find something you love in your budget. Ladies, don’t be shy about visiting the men’s side of the store to try something a little more daring. I’m very familiar with Coffee & Whiskey, Bourbon, and Leather & Brandy, but the newest addition resonated with me as a Florida Girl. Whiskey Toast absolutely offers the whiskey and oakwood notes that I expected, but the citrus adds a bright freshness that lifts it. Available as cologne, soap, body wash, moisturizer, and body spray.
We’re starting to look forward to our Harvest Hosts camping getaways. It allows us to enjoy local food and drink, spend our money in the local economies we visit, and meet new people. Our most recent trip to Armstrong Valley Winery is no exception.
Located in Halifax, Pennsylvania, Armstrong Valley has something for everyone. Whether you like fascinating blends, sweet dessert wines, or you’re a neat, clean traditionalist when it comes to your wine, you’ll feel comfortable in their welcoming tasting room. The converted barn also includes an ample event space and an almost infinite amount of parking. We spent two days here, starting with the flights of red wine on day 1, followed by the white flights on day 2. The charcuterie and hummus boards were fresh and featured the local flavors of sweet Lebanon bologna, cheeses, and fruits.
Our personal favorites? The 2023 Shale Ridge Vineyard Riesling is dry with notes of tropical fruit, luscious pears, and crisp apple. The stone fruit, cedar, and vanilla notes of the award-winning 2022 Merlot were the perfect match with our glamping steak dinner. Their club options offer special discounts on multiple bottle purchases, plus 5% off all purchases, a quarterly get-together, early access to new releases, and two complimentary flights each quarter.
It’s been a hot minute, hasn’t it? Over the past two years, priorities have been on things that aren’t particularly enjoyable, but now things are a little more settled and I’m getting back into fun, self-care, marriage, and family (including my furry critters). We are ready to take advantage of our blessings- we are both self-employed and working from home. We split our time between Pennsylvania and Florida with plenty of opportunities for adventures in between.
The Hub and I are back on the road with a brand new camper, a 2026 Winnebago Thrive. Harvest Host offers fantastic options for creative camping at interesting places. Our goal is to take at least one weekend a month for small getaways to breweries, cideries, and vineyards, not only for relaxation, but also in support of my “funemployment” as an executive bourbon steward in training. We most recently visited Laurel Spring Cidery in Spring Mills, PA. We had a tasting in the new beautiful tasting room with David. We were the only other people on this particular afternoon, which felt very exclusive, if I’m being honest! We had the opportunity to take our time and enjoy the great cider and conversation. It absolutely will be on our list of places to revisit.
We have some winery trips scheduled, so keep checking back in! – Erin
I love hats. Ask my husband. I have a nice little variety of styles, colors and materials for all seasons. I spent some time reading about what type of hats are best for my heart shaped face and super short hair and I found that I didn’t have a summer weight bowler hat! God knows what possessed me to buy a case of them. I know it goes against what I have said about better living with less stuff, but I had a moment of weakness.
Tippi says “Try something new!”
Also known as derby hats here in the States, these favorite hats of Winston Churchill were traditionally made of wool felt. The bowler hat was a fashionable alternative to the top hat in conditions when the taller top hat may get knocked off or damaged.
In order to find the proper size, I used the measuring tape from my sewing kit to measure the circumference of my head. To measure properly, I start the tape on my forehead between my eyebrows and my hairline. Ensure the tape is completely straight around your head. You should see about an inch between the top of your ears and the tape. Reputable online listings will offer a hat sizing guide and make a size recommendation based on this measurement. When right on the line between sizes, size up because a lot of materials have little or no stretch. Fabric should be chosen based on your lifestyle- wool is too hot for Florida, straw will not keep you warm in frigid Canada and a woven paper beach hat won’t work in rainy London. Color is completely personal- some people prefer traditional black and brown. I personally enjoy colors that cheer me up. Some hats like cowboy hats have removable hat bands that can be changed depending on the need for color or formality. The straw bowler that I chose has a non-removable black grosgrain ribbon and bow. I like the contrast of the black with the bright straw. But, of course, I’m an overachiever. A pre-made feather arrangement from the local craft store glued it to the inside of the band above the bow gives it that extra little “I’m wearing this hat, it’s not wearing me” personal touch.
So why did I buy a wholesale case of the same hat in 15 different colors? Because I’m deeply troubled. I know its overindulgent, but I absolutely love them. I pick a hat that coordinates with my outfit that day, thus I am the most stylish girl on the dog walk most mornings.
Look, I know a lot of people shy away from hats, but you have nothing to lose and so much to gain- sun protection, comfort in a variety of weather conditions, a unique fashion statement. Whether you try a traditional fedora or a hard-to-ignore Kentucky Derby fascinator, try something outside of your ball cap comfort zone.
I don’t have great nails. I admit that I am a nervous picker. Through lockdown last year, home mani/pedis helped me stay busy. I brought all of my nail polish with me from Pennsylvania but I soon learned that my northern go-to colors didn’t look as cute in the Florida sunshine. Different vibe, so a different look is needed.
Note: Yes, both of the nail colors are Sally Hansen products and no, they are not sponsors of this blog. Not that such a proposition would offend me. Hey Big Sal, hit me up, babe.
I am also not an Amazon Influencer at the original time of this writing. I use Amazon links for the sake of simplicity and I do not make anything from Amazon purchases.
I love this sheer white nail on tanned skin. Looks clean and classic on fingers holding a margarita or toes in the sand. This particular formula is vegan and plant based.
So this one is not a color. This is an oily plant-based nail polish remover. It contains no acetone or harsh chemicals so it has no smell and will not dry out your nails or cuticles. The dark glass bottle comes with a dropper- place a drop on each nail, use a wooden stick to push back cuticles that have been softened by the oil ( no trimming, please), then grab a (compostable, baby!) cotton ball or pad to remove polish.
Stone crab season is well underway here on the Gulf Coast of Florida! They are an amazing treat. I call them a treat for a good reason- when the price starts at around $20 per pound for raw claws from the fish fellas, that can really add up. If you have them at a restaurant, expect to pay even more! To enjoy the season’s bounty and still have beer money left over, we have to come up with some creative ways to stretch. How can we get the delicious seafood taste in a satisfying main course?
History Lesson
Ancient people had to work hard for their protein. You can only kill so much dinner with sticks and rocks, so we learned to incorporate the meat with the more readily available plants. During the Great Depression, cheap ingredients such as penny crackers, dried pasta and flour were mixed with small amounts of more expensive ingredients like eggs (one egg can serve as a binder for a whole recipe), bologna (Spam anyone?) and dried beef (SOS) to feed the large family. In the Italian neighborhood, a pound of pasta and a pot of sauce could feed a large family on a very modest budget. If you visit Italy, there will be different sauces in different regions- the difference is the availability of ingredients. Italians living in the mountainous north eat a lot of potatoes while southern Italians and Sicilians eat more citrus and fish. Use what you’ve got and stretch it, and what I’ve got is a pound of medium stone crab claws.
Too dark and they will taste bitter- go low and slow
I’ve spent 20 years in a Sicilian family as the wife of the only son. I can make sauce. But make your life easy, folks. Grab 2 jars of premade sauce and jazz it up. For this purpose, choose a sauce with a smooth consistency or alternatively hit it with a stick blender halfway through cooking. Mince a few cloves of garlic and dice some onion. Add this to a large pot over medium heat. Add some olive oil to the pan. As the oil warms, add the garlic and onion and melt them down. Add a little salt so they release their liquids and stir frequently until they are soft. Next, add that jarred sauce with some water and stir. Bring this to a simmer, cover and let it bubble gently for two hours or so, stirring occasionally to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom and adjusting the heat so that its not boiling vigorously. We are looking for a gentle simmer here. Your house should be starting to smell amazing right about now!
Give the claws a few strategic whacks!
Next, grab your raw claws and rinse them clean with cool water. In order to be able to eat these without splashing sauce on everything in sight, we’re going to need to crack these claws. With a claw on the cutting board, use your mallet or rolling pin and give each claw one or two strategic whacks. The idea is to gain access to the meat while keeping it intact during the cooking process. Rinse them again to remove any broken shell before adding them to the sauce. Stir, return to a simmer, and cover. Stir and adjust the temperature regularly over the next two hours to avoid burning.
Dinner is served
Buon appetito!!
To set the table, I like use newspaper as a table cloth so that once the plates are cleared at the end of the meal, you can wrap up all the mess into the newsprint and toss it.
First course: Spaghetti cooked according to package instructions. Serve with sauce, a sprinkle of cheese and crushed red pepper. Have some bread on hand to clean up your dish!
Second course (you saved room, right?): The claws aka The Fun Part. Use crackers and picks to get every tasty bit out of the shells of these bad boys. There is no way to eat this like a lady- you will be up to your elbows in sauce. The sweet seafood taste will make you forget all about the dishes and laundry that await you.
Third course: Italians eat their salad at the end of the meal. A simple mix of greens with olive oil and balsamic vinegar will do.
Wine: There’s plenty of sweetness in the crab, so a crisp, dry Chardonnay would be my choice.
Woohoo! Its the start of stone crab season down here in Florida! These monsterous crustaceans can only be harvested October 15 through May 15 and I will tell you they are a big deal.
On the docks with a few crab traps in the background
They are caught by fishermen in large traps, processed and the large meaty claws are sold by the pound. My favorite fish place, Lockhart’s Seafood, has 4 sizes- medium, large, jumbo and colossal. According to the man behind the counter, mediums weigh about three ounces each (so 6 or 7 claws per pound) all the way up to the colossal which weight about a half pound each. The size you choose all depends on your application. For an impressive steamed crab cocktail, consider a colossal claw in a champagne coup of dipping sauce. I’m not a big fan of making things like crab cakes with these because the prices start at about $15 a pound for mediums and their sweet fresh meat is just too good to be mixed with breadcrumbs and mayonnaise, in my humble opinion. I’ll be using mine tomorrow to make a favorite in my husband’s family- seafood sauce with linguini! What a fabulous meal, but it is everything but refined. It derives from the annals of cooking history where you used everything and stretched a small quantity of expensive protein to feed a large family. That makes this meal a retirement budget-friendly luxury that will have you craving more (once you’re done showering to get the sauce off of your elbows).
Stay tuned for more!
Erin
The amazing stone crab claw display at Lockhart’s Seafood in Tarpon Springs, Florida
The trio of abstract nudes over my headboard. The frame on the far right is my handiwork.
Its September and I’m glad to be back in Florida. It’s starting to get cold up north and I’m just not into it. Last summer and fall were a complete blur to me. My husband’s elderly father fell ill in early July. He was in the hospital for almost a month until we could arrange for him to come live at our home on hospice care. He passed peacefully with his son beside him in December, two weeks before we were due to get him to the warm Florida sunshine. Among the things he left behind (I’ve never seen so many socks and T-shirts in my life!) was a collection of his amateur artworks. There are stacks of canvases and frames in the basement in various degrees of completion. When it was time to set up new Florida households for My Fella and I and my mother in law, of course we had to incorporate his paintings into the decorating!
The very basic frame he designed
Custom art framing is an incredibly expensive proposition, so we looked at the ways my father in law made his own frames. We are on a retirement budget, remember? His way of doing some of them was actually very basic- wood glue, corner clamps, a sharp pencil, tape measure, a miter box, my favorite picture hanging kit from Harbor Freight Tools (don’t forget your coupons!), and pine trim pieces.
My Fella, good at all things DIY, got me started with a 10 minute tutorial/pep talk and set me on my way to making custom frames. Math was never a strong subject for me (truthfully I never had a strong subject), so the measuring and possible waste of wood made me a little anxious. I am working a little every day and in less than two weeks, I have framed and hung two paintings.
The first one is an unfinished painting that I sent over to my mother in law’s cottage. See the chair and cushion? Those are in her guest bedroom now, so I thought it would be a great place to hang the painting. She is tickled pink with this work; at age eighty six, her memory is slipping a bit but she specifically remembers him working on this painting and asking for her opinion because he couldn’t find the right way to finish it. I have not bought any special paint or brushes like he would have, the white is just the household trim paint.
The second painting completes a set of three over my bed and the frame is the same paint as I used on my living room prohibition table refinish that I did in the spring.
Glued with corner clamps
When our time ends, we will all leave some project unfinished, some decisions unmade and some things left unsaid. I think Pop would be very happy to know that these are being cared for and enjoyed instead of stacked up in his crawl space. I am not the perfectionist that he was, so the wood is not baby’s-ass smooth prior to paint application. I’m finishing what he started in my own way, thus making it…well, ours.
The wood pieces are measured and cut with the miter box.
I’m back in Florida following the summer in Pennsylvania. I missed it. Up north, our house is in the woods with nothing within walking distance, a stark contrast to being Down Home where we can bike and walk to anything we need which could be a dangerous proposition. See, we live about a mile and a half from two medium sized shopping centers which include Starbucks, Walmart, Publix and Petco, all places I frequent. But there’s also a TJ Maxx. I love TJ Maxx. I get into trouble at TJ Maxx. I have a TJX credit card. If you’re up for a scavenger hunt every few weeks, you can get some real retirement budget bargains! It’s not all clothes and shoes- there are some discounted must-haves that i can always count on finding at a discount. Keep in mind that we are on a budget now, so spend responsibly!
Paper Napkins
I love paper napkins. They are a fast and easy way to make even your lunch of leftovers a fancier occasion. I have a collection of fabric napkins as well, but if you are the type that doesn’t enjoy laundry or the ironing that may be essential for some fabrics, stick with pretty paper ones. I like table cloths and runners also but these should be bought cautiously and sparingly. Remember, we are in Florida to make our lives more happy and simple so don’t clutter it up. If you’re like me and you love sewing, consider a table cloth made of pretty fabric for a homemade top or shift dress.
Hostess Gifts
When in Florida, you may find that the beautiful weather and friendly people can bring out your more social side. You will inevitably be invited to a cookout or drinks at someone’s home on a beautiful mild evening. Shame on you if you show up empty handed! Think candles, jarred olives, a decorative wine bottle stopper with a bottle of wine (you can get them at Walmart and most gas stations, so no excuses). Hell, grab a package of your paper napkins if it’s an impulsive get together- your host will appreciate the party essentials.
Fragrance
This one is a little more risky due to the fact that you have no idea how long they have been on the shelves and what elements they have been subjected to, but I have had some good luck with designer fragrances. There is a particular bottle that I loved at the fragrance counter but wasn’t in the retirement budget. On a trip to Marshall’s, I chanced upon a bottle of it for about a quarter of the price! The box was opened and torn and the luxurious looking top was missing leaving the spray top exposed. Upon a test spray I was pleased that the familiar scent was still intact- time and exposure to heat and light can alter perfumes. I dropped it in to my cart and headed for the checkout. At the register, the cashier (aka my new best friend) commented “Oh, the lid is missing. Let me give you an extra 10% off because it’s damaged”. I was honestly so thrilled that I don’t actually remember saying “Thank you!”.
Please remember to keep your long term goals in mind as you shop. A house full of clutter does not a #temperatelife make!
Our summer Up Home (how we refer to our house in Pennsylvania) is almost finished and we are getting ready to move everything Down Home (the house in Florida). This is an unenjoyable process of winterizing the house, mowing and weedwhacking, fixing the drainage in the driveway and lots and lots of cleaning inside and out. Anything that attracts mice inside and bears outside has got to go. I’ve been diligently feeding the songbirds and hummingbirds so they have energy for migration and fattening up the squirrels so they will be comfortable until I come back up for the holidays. As I take in the last bit of green for the year up here on our acreage, I collect some last remnants of the season- some wild mint. You can still smell it six feet away even this late in the year. I have been known to collect it, clean it, dry it in a low oven until crispy and use it for tea, but I prefer it in more “sunshine friendly” applications, such as incorporating it into sweetened cocktails!
A simple syrup is one of the easiest and most versatile of kitchen ingredients. By definition it is a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water simmered on the stove until the sugar is completely dissolved. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination. With a vodka cocktail of fresh mint and bright lemon, it could be snowing outside and the porch will still call to me.
I take the washed mint, the zest (try to keep the bitter white pith to a minimum) and juice of one fresh lemon to the simple sugar pool and let them simmer together for the flavors to incorporate and the sugar to completely dissolve. Take it off the burner and cover. When its completely cooled, transfer over to a decorative clean bottle and refrigerate. Remember that this is free of preservatives so it won’t keep for long before it starts growing funk. Only make enough to last about a week.
Some other combinations to try: Lime and basil Berry and rosemary Orange and fennel
