Valentines day gifts can really, well…suck. Roses? Yawn. Little boxes full of waxy, nearly inedible mounds of chocolate. Ew. Cheesy teddy bears holding a heart that you are going to do what with? Come on! It’s time we all stepped up our game. The best gifts are experiences or things that add to an experience.

After a nice evening out, or home cooked dinner, how about drawing a nice bath for you and your special someone. Embellishments are endless. Create some mood lighting with Pacifica’s soy candles. The sexy smelling Bourbon Island Vanilla will put you both in the right state of mind. Speaking of states of wine…I mean mind. Domaine Carneros’s Brut Cuvee Sparkling Wine is certified organic and will add the perfect amount of bubbles to your bath.

Now let’s get back to the issue of chocolate. I love it. That’s why I know when it’s done badly and it often is. Voges Haut Chocolat, however, does it very very well. Their organic peanut butter bonbons will forever turn you off the common drug store peanut butter cup. Upgrade.

Voges Haut organic peanut butter bon bons!

PI Organic makes lovely little things to compliment any body type. And the Red Love boy shorts by A Lot To Say are the perfect underthings for the jeans and t-shirt kind of girl (available at the Green With Glamour online store). So much more desirable than one of those synthetic rayon nighties that litter the local discount chain. Who wouldn’t feel their sexiest in these?

PI Organic nightie

End the night (yeah right) with a massage using Pangea Organics Pyrenees Lavender Body Oil or Body Lotion if you prefer a little more friction.

Most important of all, say tell someone you love them. Sometimes that’s the best gift you can give!

This week Living GWG Beauty Editor, Sara Jones-Rust, traded lip gloss testing for wine tasting!

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of a private tasting at Foxen Winery in Santa Maria, CA. And by private, I mean while my husband and his crew were there shooting footage for their documentary before business hours, I was being thoroughly entertained by Foxen’s amazing staff and falling under the spell of their magical wines. Nothing like a 10 a.m. wine tasting!

Foxen is more than just a maker of fantastic wines, in August their main tasting room and winery became solar powered. A portion of their grapes are ‘dry farmed’ – which means they grow their grapes without irregation, hence saving water. I have lived in Southern CA for a little over two years now and I can say with certainty I’ve seen it rain about five times. So coming from Indiana where we grow a lot of things (ok, mostly corn) that is an amazing feat. Their main goal is to be sustainable in as many ways as they can and it shows in the way they produce their wine and the way they serve it. Plus the staff are such a fun bunch I want to go back every weekend to hang with them.

I can say that you will be happy buying anything from a Chenin Blanc to a Pinot Noir anywhere that Foxen distributes (Whole Foods seemed to be a popular place on their distributor list), but if you are in So. Cal you should absolutely treat yourself to a visit. Their new (solar powered) tasting room is lovely and dog friendly and The Shack – the second of their tasting rooms – is a quaint lovely stop. I could sit for hours on their patio sipping their marvelous wines.