Although I do think that handmade gifts are the best, sometimes there just isn’t enough time or energy to pull off a warm, fuzzy DIY present. What then?

Here is a list of some fun gifts that just might get you some serious girlfriend-of-the-year perks.

If your man loves to read, a Kindle Fire is a mighty fine present. (You can read over 3,000 reviews here.) Not only can you read a boatload of books on the Kindle Fire, you can also watch play games and watch movies. At $199, it’s a much more economical alternative to the iPad 2.

If your guy is old school like me and prefers the look and feel of a good ol’ book in his hands, why not surprise him with an Amazon gift card?

Speaking of old school, ION iCade Arcade Cabinet for iPad is a brilliant gift for guys who love vintage video games. iCade will integrate his iPad into an authentic, arcade-style cabinet complete with joystick and buttons! How cool is that? iCade is compatible with 100 Atari classics including Asteroids, Centipede, and Battlezone.

And while we are on the topic of retro, why not tell your guy how sweet with a crate full of vintage candy? Candy Crate 1970′s Retro Candy Gift Box is jam packed with 30 different candies from the 1970s. (Eighties child? No problem. There’s a crate for every era!)

Because he’s such a great guy, why not buy him his own helicopter? Totally impractical? Yes! Fun? That too! The Syma S107/S107G R/C Helicopter is the world’s newest, smallest and lightest RC Helicopter. At approx. 7.5″ long, it will easily fit into the palm of his hand and is fully functional, equipped with latest Gyroscope technology. At under $30, it’s easy on the wallet.

We’d love to hear your gift giving ideas!

By Darin (The Huzz)

I’ve been drinking coffee since I was 14. It got serious when I started university and did the traditional caffeine induced study marathons.  Energy drinks were just starting to arrive on the scene then, and they were expensive, just like they are today. Twenty years ago, before the latte craze,  a monster coffee from the local coffee shop was under a buck-fifty.

My preferred method of brewing coffee is a French Press, so when Tassimo offered to send us a Tassimo T20 single cup coffee maker by Bosch I wasn’t sure that I would even like the coffee that it brewed, but I was willing to give it a try.

I was pleasantly surprised. We blasted through the samples we received and the 2 packs of coffee we bought at the grocery store in one week.  It’s a breeze to use – and super quick, which is great when you are in a rush to get out the door. And the coffee tastes great. But there is a downside, and it’s a fairly big one: it’s expensive.

A single cup of coffee brewed at home is  almost the same price as the coffee from the Starbucks drive-thru.

Here is how it breaks down for cost :

Tassimo T20 One Cup Coffee Maker: $99.00 USD on Amazon.com. (You can purchase the coffee maker and T Disc via the affiliate links below if you are so inclined)

Starbucks Cafe Verona t discs:

Local Grocery Store Price:          10.49  / 12 pk = 0.87 per brew

Costco.ca incl. Shipping Price:   49.99  / 60 pk  =  0.83 per brew

Amazon.com price:                          20.56 / 24 pk   =   0.86 per brew

Now how much coffee does that really get you? I measured out a single t disc brew and it came out to 8 0z  or 250 ml for the metric fans. One official Starbucks short cup, right on. If you’re used to the 16 oz Starbucks Grande, you’re looking at about $1.66 to $1.74 per cup for your home brew.  Our local ‘bucks haunt charges $1.95.

That said, we have discovered a hot tip for the coffee drinkers who want to cut their costs.  If you brew your Grande-equivalent cup at home and go for the full-on double T-disc, yes you’re looking at about $1.70 per cup.  But, what we’ve found is that for our size of cup it works quite well to use the add water option and top up our 12 – 14 oz cups with a bit of extra from the same T-discs.  That brings your cuppa Joe down to 80 cents and there’s really not much compromise in taste.

So, if you are looking for a coffee maker that is convenient to use that makes really tasty coffee – the Tassimo T20 single cup coffee maker is for you. Just make sure you make plenty of room in your budget for your coffee fix.

Full Disclosure: We love coffee. Tassimo gave us a coffee maker for free to try. We like the starbucks coffee that it brews, and even enjoyed the Nabob brand samples it came with. We have provided links in this post to the coffee maker and the T-Discs via our amazon affiliates account and if you make a purchase when you get there, amazon gives us a cut. That’s what keeps this website going. That seems to be how a lot of other bloggers do it too. Some are up front about it like us, others aren’t. We hope you find this site helpful and see that we’re not all fluff-n-buff and full of fake rah-rah-rah-siss-boom-bah about the stuff we get to review.

What timing. My 10-year-old Kenmore upright vacuum cleaner is just about on its way to vaccuum heaven (or hell, given how much of a pain in the arce it has been.)  What luck when I was asked to review this fancy bride-white Dyson DC25 Limited Edition Blueprint Vacuum on my blog.

Some of  you might be thinking of adding a vaccuum to your bridal registry. Well, here’s the lowdown on the Dyson DC25 Limited Edition Blueprint Vacuum

What I like:

• It picks up a ton more stuff than the tired old clunker it’s replacing.
• It maneuvers like a charm when doing carpet and running it over floors.  That articulating ball thingy works great.
• No bags! Whohoo! I can see when it’s getting full, and boy can I see a lot! With our family of 4 plus 2 cats and 2 dogs, it fills up fast with all kinds
  of dust bunnies, animal hair, and kid’s trinkets that have fallen behind dressers and under beds and into every nook and cranny imaginable.
• It’s lighter (about 16 lbs) than the old clunker (about 19 lbs) and I notice it hauling it up and down stairs.
• Once you get used to the techie whiz-bang attachment thingy, it’s pretty easy to go from vacuuming floors to vacuuming couches and using the dust tool.
• The simple attachment for vacuuming the couches and getting at the stairs is quite good, and the suction is great. Does a much better job on my couches than my old vacuum.
• The “Flat Out” floor attachment works great, maneuvers incredibly and gets under all but the skinniest little openings.

What I don’t like:

• I was hoping the length of hose would allow for a bit less effort to reach the nooks and crannies, but its still a bit difficult with the hose having a lot of tension in it and requiring quite a bit of oomph to get to where you want to go. And it’s always wanting to spring back and drag the vacuum with it.  Not nearly as bad as the old clunker was, I must say, as that one had a tendency to cause the vacuum to tip and whack you in the head.  The poor old clunker’s been drop kicked more than once by hubby after it bonked poor hubby in the head. The Dyson DC25 seems to at least have some stability in the vacuum when you’re having to battle the hose. And lucky for the Dyson, so far it hasn’t attacked my husband.

Since hubby is an engineer and this vaccuum is supposed to celebrate engineers, I thought I’d let him weigh in on the pros and cons. Here’s his take:

What hubby likes:

• No bags!
• Maneuverablity is 300% better than the old clunker. At first glance I thought the articulating gizmatron ball was a hokey gimmick that you’d see Vince the Slap Chop guy trying to peddle. But, to put it frank, this thing is friggin cool!
• Floor attachment “Flat Out” head works great and gets under just about everything.
• Quiet. Gotta be 3 dB lower than the clunker.
• Definitely notice the weight difference vs. the clunker. And the handles on the Dyson are convenient carry points.

What hubby dislikes:

• I am a canister man at heart. After perusing the Dyson.com site I’m thinking the DC22 Motorhead would have been a better fit for me, but hey, I didn’t have a say in the bridal white DC25 Limited Edition selection.
• I still have a hard time with the recoil in the hose.   I’ve always preferred the canister type vacuum that doesn’t seem to have the same issue.  Why don’t they sell an extra length of hose for them?

Our overall impression:

A great vacuum. A pricey vacuum, but we were just in Sears, and all vacuums seem expensive these days!  As luck would have it, we are no longer in the market for a new vacuum. Had the DC25 not shown up by divine intervention and we did end up at Sears doing some comparo shopping, this vaccum would definitely be on our list to consider.  But hubby noticed the canister version of the Dyson at Sears too, so I might have given in to his pleading to get a DC22 what with all the trauma he has endured with the whacks to the noggin by the old clunker.  Amazon carries the Dyson DC25 Blueprint Upright Vacuum – Limited Edition here at my affiliates link if you’re so inclined to grab one up right this very minute.