Guest post Archives - Farmhouse Chic Blog

{ Guest Post: Father’s Day Gift Suggestions! }

June 5, 2013 by Fotini Filed Under: Father's Day, Father's Day gifts, gift ideas, gifts, Guest post 2 Comments

Hi everyone. I am Eva Stephen. I am going to share some shopping tips and gift ideas for the upcoming Father’s Day. I feel the price of the gift is not that much important but the love and gratitude you have for him is all that matters. Please also share your ideas and any interesting experiences in the comment box. 🙂

What to shop for Father’s Day

Though most of us agree that the loved ones should be loved every day of the year, it is still nice to shower them with gifts on that one symbolic day when everyone recognizes their special role in the world. So, with Father’s Day just around the corner, there is no time to spare. Whoever has not yet chosen a present for their father or father of their children might find a few good ideas in this text.

Like father, like gift

Buying gifts can be an act of mere spending, or a manifestation of true skill. If you don’t want to have your money wasted on a useless gift, you’d better do some heavy thinking and maybe even some detective work. You want to find out what the father of the family likes, wants and would love to have at this very moment.

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Buying the man in your family furniture is certainly an original gift. He may be imagining himself falling deep down into a recliner chair, with a pipe sticking out of his mouth, watching out the window and contemplating life.

Maybe he likes nice suits in general, but would die for a certain rock concert ticket right now. That is why you should spend a few days being very attentive to what he says and pays attention to. Observe carefully and with little luck, you’ll know exactly what you should buy him.

How about furniture for the domestic type?

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Or, he may have seen an outrageous TV set at his friend’s house and cannot stop thinking about it. Maybe he’s one of those artsy types who enjoys nothing more than a nicely ornamented wooden piece of furniture, a unique lamp or a massive, respectable looking mahogany desk for his study. Better visiting Shop 4 Furniture and see what they have to offer to a father who likes furniture as a gift.

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Let’s think of gifts for an adventurous type.

If father/husband is more of an outdoors type of person, or someone who likes entertaining an idea that he’s always living on the edge, there is a variety of products for that tough guy. A ticket to the most dangerous roller coaster, a mean Swiss knife, a shirt with special printed letters ordered just for him that say: “Don’t mess with me if you don’t want your head messed up” – like one you can find at 8 ball. Such a gift also works if father likes fun stuff.

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Naturally, budget is also to be considered.

Of course, listing gift ideas is not a problem, but you should narrow down your choices according to your budget. If you can’t afford buying extravagant gifts, or if your father didn’t let you go out the previous night so you are a little angry with him and don’t think he deserves a very expensive gift, there are many interesting and more frugal gift options: a leather wallet, a fun tie, the latest album by his favourite band, a rare movie he’s been looking for a long time, etc.

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Make him a gift and he’ll never forget it.

There’s something about handmade gifts that makes people appreciate the thought behind gift-giving even more. Some very cute and doable handmade gift ideas are shared at Tip Junkie, you can pick any of the idea for your dad. So, go ahead, make your father/husband a treasure box full of things he likes – book of jokes, Sudoku, a photo of him and mum he thought was lost, a mix CD of his favorite music, his favourite chocolate (but only one piece so he wouldn’t get fat).

The most difficult part is recognizing that one perfect gift, so without much ado, start your top priority mission now!

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{ Blog Feature! }

December 11, 2012 by Fotini Filed Under: blog feature, blog love, Guest post 1 Comment

I’d like you all to help give a warm welcome to Betsy from Musings of a Museum Fanatic….

Hey All! I’m Betsy from Musings of a Museum Fanatic. I’m a later twenty something museum lover from Chicago. This month Fotini is so awesome to let me hang out on her sidebar all month … sorta like a creeper since I’m hanging out for the month : )

I’m terrible at writing about myself posts, I always feel a bit self-conscious. So instead of me doing a whole post about myself I decided to take you to my top three favorite museums I’ve visited ever. If you know me even a little bit (or have just stopped my blog too) number one is quite obvious … The Field Museum!

I’ve been an intern/volunteer there for almost three years now. I’m hoping if I’m able to hold out long enough I’ll actually get a job there. The photo above is actually the view I see when I come in the days I’m there. It is so awesome to walk past that view! I love it every time. This is a photo of Stanley Field Hall. I took this one the first winter I was there waaaaay back in 2009. This is the coolest museum in the Chicago area and definitely gives you the most bang for you buck!

My second favorite is Colonial Williamsburg. I know some people might consider it a cheat but it is actually considered an open air museum. I visited CW way back in the summer of 2007 for my annual family reunion, one of my aunts and uncles lives in Williamsburg. My absolute favorite part of CW is the fact that the staff are in period dress and they are doing first person interpretation, acting as if he or she were an actual person from the era or culture he or she is representing. As someone who always always felt they were born in the wrong time period this has always appealed to me!

Here are some photos of my parents and I in the stocks! What can we say we’re trouble makers. I can’t wait to go back and visit again, there is so much we missed the first time around. They have historic hotels to stay at, two museums on the property and tons of events that go on throughout the year. Around Christmas time they have so many historical Christmas events going on it would be the perfect time to visit.

My final top 3 favorite museum I’ve ever visited was the British Museum I went as part of a school group EF tour to London & Paris the summer of 2003 after I graduated high school. I had taken French for four years and was really going for Paris but fell in love with London and am dying to go back for a visit. The British Museum was amazing! It is a museum dedicated to human history and culture with over 8 million objects in it’s collection. Check out A History of the World in 100 Objects, a very cool page I found playing around on the website.

The photo to the right is of the Rosetta Stone. It is an amazing piece of history, it has three different languages written on it, Greek, Demotic script and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Since all three portions of script say pretty much the same thing this allowed Egyptian hieroglyphs to be translated, which had previously been impossible to do. The one below is of my good friend Rachel. Like typical high school students of course when you find something neat you have to act like a dork. Gotta give the first bump to the large fist of course. She was not actually touching the object though no worries!!

Here is a quick look at my top three favorite museums in the world .. I have a feeling there are some pretty amazing ones I have still to visit though! Thanks so much again to Fotini for letting me share this with you guys! Please come and check out my other posts on Chicago museums, my love of Pinterest, life and oh so many other things!

{ My Guest Post at Michelle’s Pixie Dust }

October 29, 2012 by Fotini Filed Under: Guest post, Halloween kids craft, kids craft, Michelle's Pixie Dust 10 Comments

I shared a fun, super simple kids craft over at Michelle’s Pixie Dust last week! I’d love it so much if you’d head over and take a peek at it!!

How cute would these look lined up your driveway for trick-or-treat night?! I added mine to our hallway in front of the kids’ rooms. They look so cute lit up and the kids love them!

Thanks again Michelle for giving me the opportunity to share this fun craft on you blog!!

Sharing this project on these fabulous sites!

{ Guest Post and Halloween Kids Craft!! }

October 26, 2012 by Fotini Filed Under: blogger, blogging, Guest post, Halloween craft, Halloween kids craft, kids craft, Michelle's Pixie Dust 6 Comments

Today I am so pleased to have Michelle, blogger {of} Michelle’s Pixie Dust as my first guest post! Such a pleasure getting to know you Michelle, thanks so much for for sharing this fun kids game with us!!

“I remember my mom playing this game with us during our Halloween parties in elementary school. We always had so much fun! I am very happy to share this with all of you J

{ Spooky Spider Web Game }

What you need:

1 ball of yarn (pre-roll into a ball, it prevents tangles, you will thank me later!)
A few awesome kids (any age, as long as they can throw)

Have the children sit in a circle. They can sit on the floor, in chairs or even move their desks in a circle if you are at school.
Choose one child to sit in the middle of the circle.
Give another child the ball of yarn. He or she will begin the spider web.
Have the children say what they will dress up as for Halloween or have the children say a line of a scary story they make up as they go along. This is the step that can be changed depending on age group (be creative).
After the first child says their statement, they will hold on to their yarn and throw the ball across the circle to another child.
This child says their statement, holds on to their piece of yarn and throws the ball to the other side of the circle.
This continues until each child has had a chance to speak.
The result is a big, yarn “spider web”!

I have played this game with 6^th graders through 9^th graders and they all LOVE it! Since I am a substance abuse counselor/prevention educator, I have adapted this game to include drug and alcohol facts. In my adaption, I call this game “The Web of Lies”. Each child draws a myth and fact about drugs or alcohol out of a bucket. The student in the middle gets “tangled” in the web of lies about drugs and alcohol. We play this during the month of October for Red Ribbon Week. It’s a fun idea for all you teachers out there! “