This weekend is Memorial Day and I'm hosting a patio party. Just a few friends and family enjoying the weather on my patio, grilling some steaks and having a good time. It's one of my favorite things to do when it's nice out.

I bought about 10 steaks, some potatoes and sweet corn to grill, I just need to make sure I have enough propane in my tank to grill everything. I have this nifty Propane Gas Meter that tells me when I'm running low. It attaches right to the tank and indicates when it's low, I hate getting all prepared to grill and have people over and then realizing you've ran out of propane.


I also cant enjoy myself when the sun is beating down, making it uncomfortable to sit outside. I got this Solmar Umbrella that attaches directly to my patio table, blocking me and my guests from the scorching sun.


And an unfortunate thing about living in Minnesota is the awful mosquito. It seems like no matter how much bug spray you have on they do not go away. I've tried everything, and the only thing that really helps is my Mini Mosquito Patio Trap, the chemical free trap uses UV and carbon dioxide technologies to draw in mosquito's.
Once night falls and the mosquito's are taken care of we enjoy ourselves with a few cocktails, I keep my patio lit with these beautiful Vintage LED Lanterns. They have 12 super bright LED bulbs that last for up to 100,000 hours, it's truly amazing. Plus the vintage look is just so unique.
As my guests start to leave and I start to clean everything up, I always make sure that my grill is covered for the night. In case rain, hail or high winds, I want to keep it protected. My Cart-Style Grill Cover is weather resistant and highly durable.
My advice to you this holiday weekend is to be prepared when you're hosting, think of everything to make your guests comfortable. But most of all just have a Happy Memorial Day!

Mother's Day is Sunday and I have a great day planned with my mom. That got me to thinking, what does everyone else do with their mom on Mother's Day? There's so many exciting things to do around Minnesota, especially considering it's fishing opener and it's supposed to be beautiful outside.

I'm taking my mom to the Twins game. She's never been to Target Field and I can't wait to see her reaction, the stadium is just amazing. Since our seats are far away I'm bring my binoculars just to make sure mom gets to see Joe Mauer close up. It's supposed to be 70 degrees and sunny so I'm making sure we have our hats on and I have my sunglasses. I can't wait, hopefully the Twins can pull out a win.

My friend is going fishing with her mom. They're renting a pontoon for the day and just enjoying the weather. I told her to make sure she brings some good tackle because with all those boats on the lake I'm not sure how much fish she's going to catch.

My husbands mom works on Mother's Day, unfortunately, but all she wanted from him was to make sure her yard was looking nice when she got home. So he got some grass seed  and good sprinkler, he's just going to mow the lawn, they the seed and water the grass to make sure it's nice and fresh by the time she gets home.  

You don't need to do a whole lot with your mom on Mother's Day to make sure she knows she's appreciated. Take a walk with her, cook her some dinner, or just give her a nice piece of jewelry that she'll love. A little gift goes along way.

I remember when I was back in school, National Teacher's Day wasn't even recognized. And unless my mom told me to bring a gift for my teacher, I would have never remembered. Some kids in my classes always remembered, and they'd give the teacher a typical gift... pens, pencils, even apples.

Spending a decent amount of money on your favorite teacher isn't unheard of. And maybe you don't have children who have teachers and you yourself don't have a teacher, but a friend or a family member of yours is a teacher. Make sure they know you don't take their work for granted.

If you come to Minnesota on May 12th you'll see boats on lakes, people on docks, and every bait store around will be packed with fishermen. It marks the day where fishermen can hunt for almost every kind of fish in our lakes. So while some of us are thinking about what to get mom for Mother's Day, a lot of us are wondering where to fish and what to bring with to make sure we get the big one.

Mother's Day is May 13th. There's only a few more days to order gifts online for Mother's Day for them to get to mom on time. Every year I struggle with what to get my mom. She pretty much has everything she could ever want or need and it's very hard to please her with gifts these days.

There's always the option of getting her jewelry she loves bracelets and necklaces. But I feel like she has so many already, and eventually they all end up sitting in her jewelry box anyways. So maybe this year jewelry isn't the best bet.

I know that mom loves to walk. Her and her friends even have a walking club where they walk everyday together. She does need a good pair of shoes. But I'm not exactly sure what size she is, so maybe those wouldn't be right this time either.

She does love her garden, and planting her flowers. I know that she's always looking to find new decor' for her yard. Maybe some solar garden balls would spice up her garden. And I know she would love to talk about how they light up at night and she wouldn't even have to plug them in because they're completely solar powered. I can never go wrong with getting her stuff for the yard or garden because she'll always use that. Plus they're only $19.99 and free shipping!

My favorite time of year is camping season. Camping to me means relaxing and enjoying the small things in life. I love being far away from the city, where there's no phones, no TV, no computers, it doesn't get any better than that.

I've been trying my hardest to get all my camping gear before I leave so that way I'm not running around trying to get everything the day before I go. I need camping essentials to get me through my time in the wilderness, but I also need some items to have fun with as well.

My most recent purchases include: