By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor

Being a wine lover and having written several articles about this favorite pastime of mine (with one being on Wine Successories), I see how fanatic self-proclaimed sommeliers can be. However, now that I am occasionally trying out new craft beers like this Lake of Bays Brewing’s River Walker, I am realizing that wine lovers have nothing on craft beer fans. They bring their passion to a whole new level!
So, in honor of Father’s Day I thought I would share some of the fun bottle openers I have come across. I am sure, by now, we [...]

By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife
Wine aficionado, wine snob, wine geek or sommelier in training? We all know one. Or want to become one. Well, here  are some great kits to up the ante by Le Nez du Vin by Wine Aromas.

Le Nez du Vin make the optimal oenophile training kits. Each kit – and there are 6 of them – contains petite vials, each filled with different aromas and notes imbued in wine.
“Le Nez du Vin Series is a discovery tool to educate and develop your sense of smell and enhance your enjoyment of wine”.
The foundation principle of Le Nez du Vin [...]

By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife
Father’s Day is coming up. Might you have a rabid vintage music fan as a husband, father, brother? Or a wannabe music historian? The Burton History Trees are for them. What an absolutely fantastic – and exciting – gift idea for those hard-to-shop-for men.
The Burton Trees are unique kind of wall art, a visual & artistic rendition of music history. These graphic “trees” document music history along the recognized “format” of the family tree. Each tree is arranged by chronological order, where the roots describe the “building blocks” of an era, a band or musical genre. The [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor

I have been married for 26 years now and, unbeknownst to our children, my husband and I still have sex. Yes, it is true. It may not be as often as we once used to, but my feeling is that quality beats quantity. And I love married sex. No one knows me and what I like more than my husband. There is a complete level of trust that allows us opportunities to explore, experiment and let our fantasies come to life. So, when I saw Jeremy Brown’s Love is Art Kits, I thought that this [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
One of our favorite passions is discovering unique, fun, clever or simply cool products that we get excited about, bring a smile to our faces or give us that “aha!” moment. But is this not what The Succulent Wife is all about? We love creating curated lists, including our (ahem) infamous gift guides. We work on them all year long as we window shop, scour art fairs and trade shows of all kinds. Our goal is to do all the leg work so that you can enjoy the holidays, because, quite frankly, this is what we love [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
My family and I have just relocated back to Eastern Canada from California for a two year stint. I must admit that I so loved this past fall season up here that I am really looking forward to a very white Christmas. When I last lived here (over 18 years ago!) I loved the look of Christmas lights reflecting off the snow on the outside trees around my home. I loved to attract birds and decorating a holiday tree with seed ornaments. And I am planning to do that again this year.
Mr. Bird has an [...]

Dilemma. You need to provide a – nice – gift for someone you don’t know all that well, but you know that the gesture will mean a lot. And say a lot about you.
Stress. Your first thought is “gift basket”.
Dread. You need to navigate the world of gift baskets, avoiding tacky,  swerving around generic and not hitting overpriced.
Deflated. Or…
Aha! Someone is finally treating the gift basket with the modernity and dignity it deserves! That’s Früute for you, Früute, Gift Unordinary.
We found this delightful company while surfing the interwebs and had to mention them. We breathe and live gifts all year round, so [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Every once in a while I come across a company and the story behind the person who started it makes me just want to write about them. Newly founded Get Happy Inspirational Apparel is one of those companies. At age 33 Maria Carmel woke up one morning in her friends apartment with her young daughter sleeping on the floor. Homeless, jobless, without family support, she decided right there that she wanted to Get Happy – her first independent decision in her entire life. Growing up in an unsupportive and emotionally abusive environment, Maria never felt [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
I have found something to collect and I am not a collectible kind of person – unless you count shoes…
Anyway, I have just discovered Nora Fleming’s fun ceramic accents that dress up a simple white platter making it suit any season, event, or special occasion. I love this idea of having one platter for every occasion with interchangeable pieces!
Nora Fleming’s cute, whimsical, keepsake minis have become part of my family’s traditions. With almost 80 minis to choose, I already have my fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas minis picked out. Each hand-painted piece has a stem [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Sometimes I come across a product that has yet to hit the market and I can hardly wait until it does, so I can sing its praises for you here. Swivl by Satari is one of these products. I became aware of Satari when I started following their progress through Indiegogo (a crowd funding platform similar to Kickstarter) over a year ago. I was really rooting for this personal “cameraman for hands-free videoing and I was happy to see other people could conceptualize, not only how cool this product was but, how it could revolutionize [...]