after michael and i indulged ourselves in the most delicious bowl of ramen at masu for our second annual valentine's day lunch, we dropped into the foundry home goods store in the north loop neighborhood. if you haven't been in this little corner shop - you're missing out on the most perfect rustic scandinavian setting. the ambiance just makes you want to curl up on the couch with ruby, the cutest shop dog ever.

we picked out our favorite gift items with the idea that gift-giving is not just reserved for holidays. why not shower your loves with goodies without the premise of a holiday that tells you you should? here are my picks(and later, jump over to millcitymen to check out michael's):

for the well-cultured everything connoisseur: an issue of cereal, a quarterly magazine that delivers beautiful imagery in the pursuit of food + travel

for the ice queen: how precious is this ceramic ring holder in the form of a bird?

for me: because i'm a witch, had to put a broom on my list. no but in all honesty, as a person that lives in a studio that lacks storage space, i wouldn't mind if someone gifted me this broom/dustpan set that was meant to be shown off.

i'm a huge collector of canvas totes and you can't beat the price + size of this one. michael has a couple, one in which he's dip-dyed for a little something extraordinary.