5 Monthly Subscriptions Worth Subscribing To

I love subscription services! For crying out loud-I own one! But, that really isn't the reason I love them.

I love subscription services because they automatically and regularly provide something needed (or wanted). I don't have to remember to order and reorder. My subscription just arrives-weekly, monthly, or quarterly, as the case may be.

Subscriptions often are a bit pricier than if you'd just pick up the product at your local store. But, that isn't always the case. Sometimes they are the same price, or even cheaper because of quantity discounts. With subscriptions what you are paying for is convenience, automation, and regularity, as well as the product itself. Personally, I feel that those things are worth paying for. I don't have to remember to buy razors or flowers because they are already scheduled to arrive on a certain date each month.

Not long ago, a subscription would generally fit into one of two categories-newspaper or magazine. Nowadays, subscriptions can be purchased for just about anything under the sun. Clothes, jewelry, menu plans, laundry soap, flowers, wine, razors, books, and much, much more.

Here are the subscriptions we use. These are the subscriptions I'm excited about! (in the interest of transparency in advertising-some of the links are affiliate links. You don't pay any more for purchasing through the links, but it might knock a dollar or two off my own subscription.)

Dollar Shave Club. I bought this subscription for Mr. Hippie last Christmas. It seemed like he was never shaving because either his razors were dull or non-existent. Well, this subscription solved those problems. I opted for the $6 per month plan (the 4X). Each box contains 4 razor blade cartridges, plus a sample of one of their other products. The reason it is called the Dollar Shave Club is because there is a dollar a month option, that actually comes with 5 cartridges. They are not as quality as the ones we get, but they still have good reviews. There is also the executive plan for $9 per month. Those razors are of an even higher quality. But, whatever. We both (him-the shaver; me-the kisser) are happy with the razors we get. It is totally worth the $6 per month. This subscription is paid for as you go, and can be cancelled at anytime. Also, I just switched Mr. Hippie's subscription to every other month, as he has a back log of razors still to use up. Oh, and Mr. Hippie loves the Dr. Carver's Shaving Lotion, which I just add to the next box when his is getting low. (more info here)

Wine Club. We are on our second wine club subscription. We started a couple years ago, using a subscription that came solely from one winery. While we loved their wines, we wanted to branch out to other wineries. We are currently subscribed to the National Review Wine Club. Essentially, our subscription arrives once a quarter, and contains 12 bottles. (okay, so we are giving them away to anyone we know who has any occasion in their lives.) The wine runs about $15 per bottle with a flat $10 shipping rate. With our last subscription, we were paying closer to $30 per bottle with all the fees. (shipping alcohol is expensive). I know a lot of local wineries have a pick-up your subscription option, which can run from $10-$15 per bottle. I will just say that there is not much of a chance that I'd pay $15 for a bottle of wine in a grocery store. I'm too cheap. This subscription allows us to enjoy some good wines that we'd never actually fork out for in regular life. This subscription is paid for as you go, and can be cancelled at anytime.  (More info here)

Flowers. Did you know that there are flower subscription services? I didn't-until just recently. Bouqs offers three tiers of flower subscriptions-$40 for a regular size bouquet once a month, $50 for the Deluxe, and $70 for the Grand. Bouqs has gorgeous flowers. And they only send flowers, not vases, so your money goes towards fresh flowers, and not a vase that you just want to give to Goodwill. And, I almost signed up. I had my info filled out, and I was going to save 20% by paying for the year in a lump sum. But, then, like a good wife, I decided to talk to my husband about it. Because, even $40 a month for flowers is quite a lot of money. And do you know how many Aldi bouquets I can buy with $40 every month?! Well, this discussion with Mr. Hippie got his wheels turning. And he did a really romantic thing. He went to our local florist, and asked them what kind of bouquet they could make for $25 per month. (He's Dutch. What can I say?) So, he ended up buying me a flower subscription anyhow, which I think is pretty great, because they are so pretty on my table. And he thinks it is pretty great because he looks like an awesome husband every month without even trying. Win-win. (more info on Bouqs here) Or, just check our your local florist for what options they can offer.

Laundry Soap. I know, I know. It's laundry soap. What a boring subscription! My Green Fills sends you a laundry soap bottle in your first shipment. Then all they send you is refill packets that get placed in that bottle with warm water to dissolve. Each packet is for 50 loads, and costs $6-$8. That is totally a savings. Plus My Green Fills is totally transparent about the ingredients in their products. Its eco-friendly (what-what? not non-green me?!), cost-effective and rather healthy. My package arrived the day after I signed up. Like, I signed up at dinner time, and it was here mid-afternoon the next day. Crazy fast! (more info here)

Menu Subscriptions. There is the competition, and then there is me-She Plans Dinner. Either way, a menu subscription is a fantastic subscription. And by supporting She Plans Dinner, you are supporting a small business. Regardless, the grocery list, is worth it's weight in gold. How much time do you spend assembling a grocery list every week? 5 minutes? 30 minutes? An hour? How much time do you spend writing up a menu each week? 5 minutes? 30 minutes? An hour? 30 minutes per week adds up to 2 hours per month. She Plans Dinner costs $5 per month. $5 per month to have the convenience of an already written up menu and grocery list? Totally worth it! Bonus...the coupon code "fall" will save you $5 on any subscription to any of our 6 plans. So, essentially you'll get a whole month free. Which is pretty awesome! (more info here)

Well, those are my 5 favorite types of subscriptions. Obviously, some are more luxurious than others. Luxurious or not, each is worth it's cost.

Do you have any subscriptions? Tell me more!

Inhale, Exhale, Repeat

This weekend I breathed. Deep cleansing breaths.

I inhaled. I exhaled. I breathed. I relaxed.

We live in the Mitten state. And while I generally think it a nice place to live, I rarely think of it as beautiful. But, the Mitten is one of the top tourist destinations in the USA. This weekend I was reminded why.

This weekend I was reminded of its beauty. The fields of corn and wheat. The endless forests of White Pines lined up in neat rows like soldiers. The sandy beaches studded with beach grass. The open, clear blue skies.

The Mitten is a glorious state.

Mr. Hippie and I spent a bit over 48 hours exploring the upper regions of our lower peninsula. We crammed a lot of doing into that time plus a lot of not doing. We also crammed a lot of eating and drinking into that time.

On Friday we headed up to Traverse City. Cherry Capitol. We ate at a restaurant that we enjoyed 8 years ago on our 5th anniversary. We meandered along the bay-until we ran out of quarters. There was plenty of parking downtown-it was just all metered and required change. Who carries change? We filled our meter with every available piece of change we had and then we explored every available minute of our time.

One thing that Mr. Hippie really wanted to do was to taste some of the area's famous wines. The vineyards in the Leelanau Peninsula region produce a ton of wine every year. We enjoy wine (we have a wine of the month membership) so we decided to look up some of the area wineries.

That was a lot of fun. Cheap fun. We got to taste 13 (I lost count, but I guess Mr. Hippie was keeping a tally or something) different wines. At 4 different places. My favorite wine possibly was a cherry wine. But, my favorite wine tasting experience was a a hole in the wall shop that housed two different brands of wine, Skipping Stones and Three Fires, owned by a husband and wife. We had a ton of fun there! The husband is an unofficial sommelier. (som-lee-aye) He has an extensive repertoire of wine and grape knowledge. He poured each wine and talked about it. We learned so much. He was also a great salesman. We walked out with (not quite) a case of wine. If you are ever in the Sutton's Bay neighborhood, you should make their shop a stop on your itinerary. You won't regret it.

We left the Leelanau Peninsula to check into our B&B, Applesauce Inn. This B&B is located about 45 minutes from Charlevoix, Petoskey and Traverse City. It is housed in the tiny burg of Bellaire. Bellaire is famous for one thing-Shorts Brewery. If you are a microbrew aficionado in Michigan, you have probably heard of some of their brews. As I am far less into beer than into wine (read: I can't stand beer) I'd never heard of them. Mr. Hippie was thrilled though. He enjoyed a custom taster flight with his dinner on Saturday. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Applesauce Inn is an old farmhouse that has been renovated and decorated in a rather Victorian style. Lots of knick-knacks and vintage wall paper. The hosts, Jamie and Gary are friendly and amazing. Jamie cooks delicious, unique, farm fresh breakfasts. Gary is an artist. The walls feature some of his very nice oil paintings. We loved sitting on their porch eating dessert and drinking wine in the evening and sipping coffee in the morning. I loved hearing their rooster crow. I enjoyed the welcoming feel of the B&B, without feeling the pressure of being guests, and adjusting our schedule for our hosts. Does that make sense? It is the cozy feel of a home while still preserving your independence. The price was reasonable, and the location was perfect. The bed was comfortable. The room and ensuite bathroom were roomy. It was perfect.

Saturday (after a delightful breakfast shared with other guests) we decided to head north. We had brought our bicycles with us, because it is fun to explore new places that way. We read about the Little Traverse Wheelway that runs from Charlevoix to Harbor Springs. It is a paved pedestrian/cycle trail that runs along the Little Traverse Bay. There are many amazing vistas, and a lot of the trail is shaded-which is a plus, trust me. We only went to Petoskey-which is a little more than halfway. Round trip, the trail is over 50 miles. We went 32. We enjoyed a picnic overlooking the bay in Petoskey, and then biked back along the trail, stopping in at a very high brow set of shops and restaurants along the way. I had gellato with M&Ms. Because I am classy like that. I also added a nice lobster hue layer to my biker girl tan.

As we were biking along, we noticed miles painted on the trail. The majority of the Charlevoix Marathon runs along this trail. As previously noted-the route is fairly flat and shaded. When/if we ever run a marathon-we decided this is the one that we are going to do.

We camped out at a state park beach west of Charlevoix for a couple hours. I read (and got redder) and Mr. Hippie did an open water swim in his wetsuit. It was very relaxing. I managed to read another whole book this weekend. One Plus One by Jojo Moyes.

So, we had a great balance of activity and relaxation. And I feel blessed. And ready to face my week. Which included preparing for a new product launch next week, preparing to start school next week, and canning 2 bushels of peaches over the course of the next few days.

If I don't get as much writing in as I'd like, you can picture me standing at my kitchen sink, peeling peaches and dreaming of beaches.

I know. I'm good.=)

Go Big or Go Broke Trying

I wrote on FB last week that sometimes moms and dads need to get away and just be husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends. Well, that is a great summary of our weekend. We ditched our kids on Friday evening and didn't pick them up until Monday, late afternoon. We raced, road tripped, biked, drank tons of coffee, laughed and talked, visited friends, watched a movie, did a wine tasting, swam, rode a Ferris wheel, and stayed in a swanky hotel. (basically a huge chunk of my 20 Inexpensive Date Ideas rolled into one weekend)

It was rainy on Saturday, and we almost gave up our biking plan, but we stuck it through and the sun popped out.

We came back feeling refreshed and reconnected. It was one of the best weekends of my entire life. No exaggeration!

Without further ado...(you're welcome for the photo dump)

trying to hit tin cans...

practice makes perfect

new favorite picture...helmets make for awkward posing

everything is so picturesque. I love getting down into cities to explore them.

iconic bridge

awesome architecture

the city and the boats

this has always been my favorite building. interesting composition....

Jimmy Buffet was in town. That makes for craziness...

I love fountains...

went to Navy Pier for the first time EVER. Road the Ferris wheel. Ate Italian Ice. Had an amazing time!

Sunday breakfast. Painful smile...

we are so sophisticated...wine tasting

fun.fun.fun.

Now we are back to real life...for a couple days. I have a garden to weed, laundry to wash, kids to scrub and a Meres to potty train. But, that's okay.

I've been to Chicago...

What's your favorite city to hang out in? Why?

Wine and Cheese

There are various blogs I read for various reasons. I read Design Mom to be inspired. Ascetically inspired. Between Design Mom and Anna@IHOD, I get my daily dose of beauty.

So, when I saw this glorious article on Design Mom about cheese tasting, I knew I had found the theme for our cabin fever party this winter.

Mr. Hippie and I invited over 20 friends, plus their off spring, and we committed to buying a variety of cheese to taste. We asked everyone to bring an accompaniment for the cheese, and a bottle of wine or fruit juice-depending on their alcohol inhibitions.

We ended up with a great spread-6 varieties of cheese, lots of crackers and some great bread, chocolate dipped strawberries, dried fruit, olives, prosciutto, salami, summer sausage, sun dried tomatoes, jam, and ???

Our cheese buying guide was the rhyme, "something old, something new, something goat and something blue." The 6 cheeses we picked were

Old:

cheddar-plain old, sharp Wisconsin cheddar. I picked it for the color.

manchego-Spanish. Sheep cheese. Very regimented in production. Milder flavored and went very nicely with kalamata olives.

dubliner-Irish. (yay! for Irish-ness in March) This is a cheese made by only one company. No preservatives.

New:

queso fresco-Mexican. Obviously. I am not usually a fan of queso, but I liked the flavor of this. It was similar to mozzarella. The meats really shone with this one.

Goat:

chèvre: the most popular form of goat cheese. It has a tangy flavor. Similar to cream cheese. We all liked it with the sun-dried tomatoes.

Blue:

Danish blue: it was blue and it was Danish. It did add a nice strain of color to the board. And it paired nicely with peach jam. And I have over a pound left over. Can't say it was Mr. Popular here. Oh well. Blue cheese on salad anyone?

We ended up with several bottles of great wine. Reds, and whites. And some Belgian ale or something. Not my thing. But, it went fast. 

Our goal was, "something old, something new. something goat and something blue."
We were able to find at least one of each,
but we noticed there were a whole lot more aged cheeses at the store
than any other kind.

the Danish blue was nicely paired with homemade peach jam.

amazing chocolate dipped strawberries. The perfect ending to the cheese.

the spread

finishing touches

goat cheese was accompanied by sun dried tomatoes.

a whole lot of stemware. so pretty.

gorgeous. food art.

some of the bottled product...

Now that you have seen the pictures, I can say, this beauty had nothing to do with me. I contacted my mother-daughter duo friends, Ann and Hannah, and asked them to make this party a sophisticated event. Decorating is not my strong suit. I am much better at organizing, facilitating and cleaning. If it had been me setting it all up, the cheese would have been on one board in the middle of the table. With everything else just kind of plopped around. No joke.

I think they did an amazing job. I thought everything looked so pretty. They went with a woody and rustic theme. They came early to set up, washed most of the dishes when we were done, and brought more than their share of wine and sides.

I love it when everyone can get together and use the gifts God has given them! Even for such a minor and fun thing as a cheese tasting party.

We ended up with around 20 adults, and 4 or 5 kids on top of ours. The kids banged around, eating cheese sticks, and several pounds of not dipped strawberries, and a good portion of crackers too. The adults mingled and laughed and talked. And it was a great time to just reconnect with everyone.

I thought it was funny when I read Nadine's party post this morning. She talked of cleaning and broken chairs, good friends, and laughter. I think this weekend was perfect for hanging out.

One thing I have learned in all my years of hosting get together is that it is better to save your cleaning until afterwards. Which is totally counter-culture. I mean, we dusted the baseboards before company came growing up, so they wouldn't think we were complete animals. Just kidding. Though we did dust the baseboards, and we did always give my mom a hard time about having to clean for company.

Poor mom...

Anyway...I say-clean when people leave. Dust the obvious, wipe down the sinks, and where the boys missed on the toilets. And leave the rest. Then you can let go, and not worry about spills, or crumbs, dirt or anything else.

Because entertaining is messy. It is work. Things often get broken. Not always by the guests. (I lost another piece of stemware in the ensuing cleanup. Freckles broke it and looked horrified.)

But, it is worth it. Don't ever forget that. Some mess and work is worth the effort of connecting with people. Investing in others' lives.

How can you open your home this month? Maybe not for a huge party. Maybe just for coffee with a friend. Tell me about it in the comments.

I Even Add it to The Food

I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
W. C. Fields

I love this quote, don't you?

It reminds me of my weekend cooking. And truthfully, only my weekend cooking.

new sugar scrub-coffee, brown and white sugar, vanilla, oil

See, weekend cooking, in my opinion, should be fun. When I cook on Saturdays (in leu of going out to eat) I crank up Motown or the Beach Boys on Pandora, and I pour myself a glass of wine, and I have fun!

Day to day cooking is more utilitarian. We have to eat. We eat delicious, healthy food. But, the focus in my cooking is getting it on the table. Between the  busy days and busy nights.

Weekends are a different pace, and I cook for the fun of it. I cook because I enjoy it. I cook for love and ascetics.

Whether on weekdays or weekends, I cook with wine. (in the food) If my wine rack is holding several bottles of wine, it is because I am cooking with it-not guzzling it.

shallots-a pain to peel, but much milder flavor than white onion

Growing up, we never cooked with wine. If a recipe called for wine, we substituted water. (not the most tasteful plan. But I do honor the thought behind it.) I learned eventually that if you have an issue with cooking with wine, chicken or beef stock is a better replacement than water.

But, let me tell you, you can't beat wine (or beer) in a recipe for flavor. It is more tangy, and robust than stock. The function of wine in cooking is to intensify, enhance, and accent the flavor and aroma of food - not to mask the flavor of what you are cooking but rather to fortify it.  

Barefoot Hippie Girl garden fresh tarragon

A rule of thumb is to never use any wine that you would not drink. If you do not like the taste of a wine, you will not like the dish you choose to use it in. 

Most of the alcohol in the wine evaporates while the food is cooking, leaving only the flavor. Meaning that you don't need to worry about getting tipsy while eating food prepared with alcohol. Boiling down wine concentrates the flavor, including acidity and sweetness. 

the ingredients

Last night we went out to visit Mr. Hippie's bro and his wife and fam. They recently had a new baby and we wanted our offspring to meet their new cousin. So we descended upon them, bringing dinner. 

I brought a favorite of ours, Champagne Chicken. It is a very simple recipe. Not many ingredients or flavors thus combining for what I like to call a clean recipe.

final step simmer

This recipe is one my bff found, and cooked for one of our Tuesday dinners. We both LOVED it. She gave me the recipe, and I made it for my family. Who also loved it. It has been a family staple ever since.

I used tarragon (this is one of the 2 recipes I make that actually calls for tarragon) from my garden, and supplemented the meal with a lettuce salad, and fresh rolls.

Oh, and I break my own wine rule on this recipe-because I can't stand champagne. I buy the driest white I can find for this recipe, and I would never drink it. But it is perfect for this recipe.

Champagne Chicken

2 T olive oil

1-1/2 pounds chicken cutlets (or breasts cut into 2-3 smaller pieces)

1-1/2 cups champagne

3 shallots, sliced

1/2 c whipping cream

1 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

1/4 c tarragon-chopped

16 ounces linguine

-Cook linguine according to package directions.

-Pat chicken dry, and sprinkle with additional salt

-Heat oil in pan. Add chicken. Cook until browned-5 minutes per side. Remove from pan. Place in a covered dish.

-Add 1/2 c champagne. Stir. Reduce by half-3 minutes.

-Add shallots. Cook until tender-3 minutes. Add remaining 1 cup champagne. Cook until reduced by half-5 minutes.

-Add cream, tarragon, chicken, salt and pepper. Cook 6 minutes. Serve chicken and sauce over pasta.

-It takes about 30 minutes hands on time. And it is very saucy. 

This weekend, why don't you have a glass, AND eat it too.

Linking up with

Fantabulous Friday
TGIF
madeinaday
Weekend Blog Walk
Serenity Now
Time Warp Wife
Mercy INK
Try a New Recipe Tuesday
bloom designs
Homemaid Simple

Summer Fridays
Weekend Wanderings