I added one of the songs from this station to “My Happy Song of the Day” over to the right on the homepage. Madeleine Peyroux is one of my absolutely favorites. But if you have Spotify, listen to the Norah Jones station- just go. Right now. And then dance with your person in the kitchen. Norah Jones is a big part of me and Blake’s (20 year) history. We have danced to her for a long time. And now we dance with our girls in the kitchen. Every.single.song.of.this.station.is.stunning. Close out this year with your family, lots of love and some slow dancing to beautiful music. Happy New Year, loves.
Archives for December 2020
My Favorite Places to Get Stocking Stuffers in Nashville (and a couple non-local places!)
I love stocking stuffers- who doesn’t love getting cute little things? And as a mom I have discovered I love GIVING stocking stuffers- to my kids and husband. I put together my mom’s stocking gifts too so a few of these places covers the gambit…kids, spouses and parents.
Blake always gets something bourbon/cocktail related- whether it’s little bottles of bitters or fun sugar cubes for Old Fashioned cocktails. And he’s a candle and chapstick dude so I usually throw a fun version of each in there. My mom always gets a gift card to one of her favorite places and a special little treasure like a stone that says “HOPE” on it- as we like to exchange little things like that with each other.
Right now my girls are 3 and 1 so it’s little fun Christmas toys along with treats like giant candy canes. Some of my favorites I’ve given to them in past years include a wind up music box, a colorful spinning top, a toy truck (we live in Nashville after all), Christmas finger puppets and a fun bird whistle. Tessy has only had one Christmas so far and she was two months old, so I mostly speak for Charlie here…but she has played with ALL of these throughout the year and they have become playroom staples. Especially the bird whistle and top. There are a few local stores that I shop at every year- mostly for stocking gifts.
White’s Mercantile– Owned by Holly Williams- she has a few locations throughout Nashville and Franklin. My favorite is the original in the 12 South neighborhood. Mostly because it’s closest to me, but they also usually have the best and biggest selection there (IMO). She has curated the most beautiful store- the kids section is chalk full of fun little gems and there is a baking/food/cocktail part that is perfect for spouses. And even for friends- there are all sorts of fun little things that would be perfect for stockings. I recommend taking your time and really looking at the whole store- you’re bound to find something fun! There are other locations throughout the southeast too.
The Getalong– One of my very favorite stores in all of Nashville. The owner is so sweet and you will often see her two daughters hanging out in there. Mostly handmade items- many of them local. It’s a baby/child store, but there are a few things for mamas in there too. Handmade mugs, handmade apothecary items, handmade pillows and scarves. And bonus- they have many of their items online.
Arcade– This is a wooden/beautiful toy lover’s heaven (aka my heaven). In the Hillsboro Village neighborhood. It’s bright, it’s fun, it’s stocked with soooo many fun things. The bird whistle pictured is from here and Tessa got some absolutely gorgeous handmade wooden animals from here last year.
Besides these three local stores- Paper Source and World Market are my go-to places for fun little things too. Paper Source’s holiday goodies are always so much fun- Christmas sunglasses, little squishies, finger puppets- if it’s fun, it’s probably in there. This year I got my mom (and Charlie and Tessa) a little llama worry doll. I mean, come on. While you might not think of World Market for holiday gift giving, they have the most fun, vintage-inspired toys and games. Not to mention, their worldly selection of food + drink would be perfect for those foodies in your life.
Happy stocking shopping! Where are your favorite places to get stocking stuffers?
A Special Gift Idea: Custom Printed Recipe Tea Towel
I grew up with my grandma’s Betty Crocker “Cooky Book” on the counter and I have the most fond memories of always flipping through it. My mom had saved in the back a scrap piece of paper where my grandma had drawn a sketch of a gingerbread house and the grocery list of all the candies she dreamed of putting on it one day. My mom gave me the cookbook for my 33rd birthday and it’s one of my most treasured memories of my grandma. I know how important this book was to my mom, so for her to gift it to me was incredibly special.
I wanted my mom to still have a visual memory of it like I now did so I found a small business on Etsy that prints recipes on tea towels. But the special part is that they can to it with your photo so the print is of real handwriting, and in this case, a copy of my grandma’s gingerbread sketch and candy list.
If you have recipe cards from a favorite dish of a family member, how sweet would be it be to have it printed on a tea towel? Ironically, the Etsy shop I found is in Nashville- Nesting Project– and they did a beautiful job. They print it on a white and red tea towel and you simply send them a scan of your personal recipe. As of today, the 15th, they can still have one printed in time for Christmas: )
How to Make Any Bag a Stylish Diaper Bag
I’ve never been a traditional/do things by the books kinda girl. I’ve always marched to the beat of my own drum- so having a traditional diaper bag never even crossed my mind. I just naturally try to figure out unique and different ways to do things and have fun thinking outside the box. With Charlie, I got a neutral backpack similar to this one from Amazon so it was a good fit for both me and Blake and he could feel like it was his diaper bag too. And as every first time parent does, I had that thing packed perfectly all the time and used every inch of space with things I probably didn’t need.
With babe number two, you learn a thing or two and realize what the essentials really are. I wanted to streamline and downsize a bit, and although I loved not having a traditional diaper bag with Charlie, I realized that with Tessa I did want to have everything a bit better organized.
So I did some research and found this diaper bag organizer/insert by ToteSavvy that you can put in ANY bag. GENIUS. Now you can have all the organizing benefits of a real diaper bag and the protection from the wipeable material but still use your bag of choice. It comes with a changing mat, three large pockets and two small pockets. It was the perfect size and amount for diapers, wipes, bottles, a bib, a snack, pacifiers and a change of clothes, which I found to be the essentials for daily out and aboutness.
I’m a leather bag kind of girl and one of my favorite small business leather bag makers is ETWAS in Brooklyn. Blake had gifted me one of his canvas bags for Christmas several years ago and I just adored it. So I knew I wanted a smaller version of that bag for Tessa’s diaper bag that I would also then have just as a beautiful bag when I no longer needed it for baby purposes. WIN/WIN. Has anyone else done something like this?
Special Gift Idea: Children’s Name Puzzle
I just love these name puzzles- aren’t they beautiful? Each of the girls got one for their first Christmas. For the first year they were a nice way to personalize their rooms but now I have them on little wall shelves where they can easily reach them. Charlie takes them both down from time to time to work on them and they’ve been a really great way to have her start recognizing what her name looks like and talk about the letters (although I’m a firm believer in not pushing academics until they’re ready, but I do still think it’s good to be introduced to things).
I got ours from this small shop- Woodinout– on Etsy and they are gorgeous. Beautiful quality and fast shipping. I’m a neutral colors girl so these natural ones were perfect for us, but this shop also has puzzles with all sorts of beautiful colors.
Just thought I’d share one of my special Christmas (or birthday!) ideas- happy gifting!
