when we hosted for xmas morning recently, i noticed all of the old juice pitchers i own aren’t my style at all anyway– so i started looking for some modern ones i love. of course i had to do a roundup post for you!
the prices range from low to pretty high for a pitcher, but i included them all based on the design. i think all of these would look gorgeous in any table setting! one of them was so gorgeous i had to have it immediately… i bet you can guess which one!!
i was asked for a travel guide even though we didn’t venture out TOO much on our trip to oahu and we ate a lot of meals at home, but i got so many helpful tips that no matter what you should have access to them!
this was my first time on this island, it was so crazy! honolulu definitely feels like LA meets vegas meets hawaii — so unlike the island vibe of the other islands i’ve been to. but i really liked it a lot. walking around waikiki at night was so peak.
we stayed in the kahala area and i’m sorry i don’t have a link for the house but it was rented by my in-laws.
at first i thought this place was too pretty to be delicious but it was also delicious!! we had ricotta pancakes and this incredible corn fritter dish. and its just sooo pretty!!!!! they acted a little hoity at first, i would recommend making a res! Read More
between watching love actually, sending out our holiday cards and decorating the house, wrapping gifts is definitely in my top 5 favorite holiday activities!! i even find myself buying multiple smaller presents for people instead of large ones so i can wrap more. ok thats actually subconscious but it seems like it could be why now that i’m thinking about it. besides a simple wrapping paper and a nice ribbon, my favorite touch is always the gift tag.
so i wanted to design some pretty new ones for your presents this year! i hand wrote the words on paper, and then scanned and printed them using my Canon PIXMA TS8320. the printer is not only beautiful and sleek enough to keep out on your desk, it is really cool too– you can print from your phone, you can print voice activated and hands free using google assistant or alexa, and my favorite part is that you can print borderless up to 8.5×11″.
i don’t know if you realize but that is so rare– and something i’ve always wished a printer could do! there is almost no better grandparent gift than a framed photo of their grand babies, so if you’re looking for last minute gifts — you can print them at home with the Canon PIXMA!
for these gift tags, i always recommend printing on standard 8.5″ x 11″ thick card stock paper. cut tags out carefully and then use a single hole punch on the top for your ribbon. files will always print more accurately if you actually download from the link above, and then print that file versus printing directly from the browser.<
ps i get asked often about what printer i like to use and i’ve used Canon for a long time! they are the only printers i’ve ever had that don’t break eventually (LIKE WHY IS THAT A THING) and the quality is so great. click here to shop the PIXMA TS8320!
ever since arlo started preschool, he has been growing so much!! he is talking nonstop, he can clean up after himself, he has manners, he’s just so independent in general. he’s like a little man suddenly and we are loving it. there have been so many chapters in his almost 2.5 years on earth, it seems like he is doing something new weekly.
one of the biggest changes is how he now plays on his own. it’s so nice to not have to watch over him constantly and let him play solo — he’ll do funny voices, sing, come up with what sounds like very crazy scenarios and it’s so insane that his brain has developed like it has and he’s so curious and explorative and hilarious. watching him play and seeing his imagination igniting has become my new favorite thing to do, so i’m excited to be partnering with little tikes because they make some of his all-time favorite toys.
while he used to play with cars and trucks by just driving them around and saying “vroom”, now he seems to come up with full on plot-lines. these dirt diggers trucks have become his favorite thing to play with outside while he hosts his make believe truck parties, performs truck themed sing-a-longs, etc. (ps these are the perfect backyard toys if you have a sandbox or a basically “full sand” backyard like we do with decomposed granite)
it seems like there’s a big developmental milestone when kids go from not playing with little guys to being obsessed with little guys. i guess because they sub in for mommy/daddy, school friends, or his favorite cartoon characters in a world where you can tell he feels free to get silly and weird and creative. immediately after we gave him this little baby bum farm block set, he named the farmer “madonald” (hey, he’s only got a small set of references haha) and he introduced him to the cow and sheep in a very formal ceremony. this world of make believe is such a leap from where we were and it not only makes him seem more independent but me too. i am worried about him so much less these days playing on his own, and it’s such a nice change of pace.
generally speaking, arlo has been pretty slow to reach milestones— he was slow to crawl, he didn’t walk until 14 months, he didn’t talk until very recently, he’s still in diapers… and all the while i’ve remained pretty chill about all of it. over the years i’ve gotten so many questions like “are you worried about arlo’s speech?” “will you send him to speech therapy?” “when are you planning to transition to a big boy bed?” and my answer is pretty much always the same for all of them — i’m not worrying about it (ok obviously i need to worry about the potty training soon lol, but the rest is pretty much out of my control). i did spend the first year of his life on the apps checking what was coming that month and making sure he was hitting his milestones and when you’re a new parent with zero experience this makes total sense. but our pediatrician always helped ease any concerns for us— she is really matter of fact and never made us worry much if he was behind (granted he was never super behind actually, he had 8 words by the time she said 8 words, they just happened to be animal noises hahaha). he has always been super smart in comprehension so i was less worried about the verbal skills. Read More
i get asked a lot about cute things for hanukkah and other jewish holidays so i’m excited to have put together this cute simple hanukkah party with some easy appetizers and nods to traditional decorations, but not like… BLUE BLUE. Read More
another gift guide– this one is for the traveler in your life! i’m not much a traveler as you probably know (we go to hawaii with my in laws and thats basically it lol) — but i love the dopp kit and makeup kit so much i sent them to gid to get me haha. Read More
when i was a kid i was obsessed with looking through family photo albums and keeping my own scrapbooks. sadly i was an irresponsible dumb kid so i was always taking photos out to cut up and put on a collage so now there are so many pictures missing haha— big regret!! these days it seems like no one really keeps a scrapbook because its just so much easier to print a book from your phone directly instead, but there is something so fun about doing it yourself, and going slowly with it.
artifact uprising never seems to make a product i don’t love, and their modern scrapbook called “the stories we tell” is no different. its got a simple clean layout like all their products, but what i love most is how its divided into sections so you can document whatever you want— big or small. it’s also beautiful enough to keep on your coffee table— which is not only the most interesting thing to look at on someones coffee table, but also keeping it there inspires you to keep adding to it versus keeping it stored away somewhere.
i keep a box of little mementos, ticket stubs and cute cards from gid and i’m so happy the album has little envelopes for keepsakes like those! because i save them but literally never have any clue of what to do with them lol. i’ve also been putting all the little art arlos made at preschool in them too! and besides the little slots for mementos, they also have a page of tear-off notecards where you can have other people contribute to your album. so sweet!
the best part about the scrapbook is that you can give it to your loved ones right off the shelf, there have been many times when i’ve gone to create a custom photo book for someone and then decided against it because its too much work or i don’t have certain photos, etc, so with “the stories we tell” you can just let them do all the work themselves! its the perfect holiday gift for the sentimental people in your life. they come in five different colors, with a beautiful pen, adhesive and a credit for printing photos.
i loved keeping my first year scrapbook for arlo (also from artifact uprising) and i was really sad when it ended. no like genuinely SO SAD. i think i may have cried because it just felt like this chapter was closing haha— so this is the perfect sequel to keep the momentum of documentation going. its so easy these days to just let all the photos in your camera roll sort of fade away as the photos just keep getting accumulating (speaking as someone who has 100,000 photos in their camera roll gulp.) so i really try to make it a point to get photos printed every few months.
if you want to order one for xmas, orders need to be placed by december 15th for USPS and december 22 for overnight shipping!
my favorite gift guide because as you know if you follow me on IG stories, we like never leave the house haha. some real cozy things for all the cozy enthusiasts in your life! Read More
