cool gift ideas

as we are settleing in to married life, writing many "thank you's," and enjoying all the amazing gifts that we have been given, i thought that this may be a great opportunity for me to share with everyone some of the most unique and useful gifts we received... in case you're in the market for some new gift ideas. though i can't list everything, i do want to say that we are very appreciative of every gift we have been given. we were TRULY BLESSED!!!

Gifts that keep on givin'

1. monogram picnic basket-- perfect for taking food/drinks over to a friends house for dinner, and for road trips!
   
2. tea pot-- if you don't drink hot tea, you should. i know it's freaky for us southerners to even fathom hot tea, but it's really comforting and a perfect night cap. you can buy all sorts of hot teas with and without caffeine. we recommend rooibos (sp?) red tea for starters. add a little milk/cream and splenda (perfection!) if you have any other tea recommendations feel free to leave us a comment!
   
3. rubbermaid--produce saver storage set. i might get this for the next shower i go to because i know this girl loves to cook. if you're like me and you love to eat and cook with fresh foods but don't buy them often because they go bad before you can eat them... get these. they're always in my fridge now!
   
4. rowenta auto-steam iron-- this was given to me by one of my girlfriends and it came highly recommended. now i know why... if you're in the market for an iron, or you want to give something really useful as a gift, this is a good one. i would have never registered for an iron because i already had one, but i never knew how much my former iron lacked until i tried the rowenta.
   
5. mariposa brilliante collection (sandcast aluminum serverware)-- when a couple of my girlfriends gave me several pieces from this collection i was tickled! (yes tickled!) i'm really looking forward to entertaining, and this stuff is so beautiful! i'm not sure about where you can get it except i know it's sold at Zest Cafe and Home Art.
   
6. remember the guy-- we got an awesome gift package from a family i adore, and the gift for us was the salt and pepper shakers that go with my china... i guess they knew that brentley was less than thrilled about china and housewares, so they included a best buy gift card which he was so stoked about. well i am too, but he was especially stoked because he gets to decide how we spend it =) that was super thoughtful of them to remember the guy!