soooo sorry i have been slacking on gift guides this year! did we all realize thanksgiving was a week later so december came way too fast. i’ve been so busy that i was like maybe they don’t need lots of gift guides this year but i got some very sad messages so here we are. i’ll try to do as many as i can!
i’m so excited to do an advent calendar for our first time this year! i bought this cute one from target (and i cut the tassels off to simplify it a bit), but wasn’t sure what to fill the pockets with. i got a couple little things like elmo bandaids and was gonna put some little cars and chocolates and maybe some ornaments in them, but decided to also incorporate a lot of activities to do together instead of just material things!
the pockets are really small on my advent calendar, so i had to cut the cards way down to fit, but i left them square on the printable version so you can use them as is or cut down if needed! i also only did one set of 12. it was hard to come up with 12 things to do, and you can supplement the rest with treats and things.
i get asked so often about where to find minimal xmas decorations so i thought i’d go through all the stores and roundup my favorite things for you guys!! this took me a WHILE so you better appreciate it :) the big lesson is that if you just shop carefully, you can totally put together a hip, minimal decorated house for the holidays– it just takes a while to find the right pieces! ps– twinkly lights everywhere.
OR you can just shop it all here, lined up all pretty! Read More
it’s gift guide time– once again! your favorite time of year! first up is the littles.
having an almost 2.5 year old, i did a mix of things he has and things i think he’d enjoy but also tried to make it mostly gender neutral with a mix of interests! (art, music, cleaning, baking, cars, etc)
i only included one book, but if you need some more book ideas i keep a running list here. Read More
i’ve seen a lot of people write posts about tips for what to pack etc but i thought i’d share my own tips, because why not!? when i was asking about disneyland with arlo on IG stories, i got a lot of super helpful tips which i’m including on here!
we debated if arlo was too young to go to disneyland yet or not, but in the end we are so glad we brought him. watching him meet mickey was worth the price of admission alone. ok well the price of admission is BAT SH*T crazy but it was close to worth it. we know he loved it because at least once a week he’ll wake up and ask if we can go to “DIDNYLAN?????” (when i say no, he says “CVS???” his disneyland alternative hahaha)
in another year (when he’s closer to 3.5), we think it’ll probably be more fun, but he was pretty into it all day! the rides were just a little overstimulating and scary and he is in a very “my way or the highway” phase (as if that would ever end lol). Read More
you guys know i’m passionate about cute places. i’ve shared my LA guide but the new places come and go and it can be hard to keep up with what’s cool now that i’m a mom and all. but i don’t know anyone who is more passionate about cute places than my friend sophie carpenter. she can spend like every waking moment of her weekend on the hunt for new shops and brunch and has so much more energy for it than i even had at 21! so i thought she would be the absolute perfect person to help contribute to the blog and create some city guides of the coolest things to do and spots to eat and shop.
she lives in one of the hippest neighborhoods of LA, the northeast– so we figured this would be a perfect first section of the city to do a tour of. and if you guys like this, she will totally do more!! just let me know in the comments. Read More
for some reason i get asked a lot about good looking jewelry boxes, i guess people have trouble finding them so i took it on as a challenge. jewelry boxes can get really insanely pricey for some reason, so i did my best to find ones that are mostly under $100. i mean i guess if you’re going to use the same jewelry box for the rest of your life, you could warrant a larger price tag but also, it’s just a jewelry box.
anyway, here are some of my favorites!
in october we go sort of crazy watching horror movies (ok tbh we watch them every month) BUT in october i step it up even more. i sort of don’t want to even consider watching a movie or show that doesn’t scare me lol. i don’t entertain much, but movie nights are actually the perfect get together when you have kids because you can do them after the kids go down and people won’t be as loud since they’re barely talking.
i always go overboard with food when i’m entertaining, but no matter what — i try to make sure it’s easy, like for every one item i cook from scratch, i try to buy another one and spruce it up a little. but this time i put together literally the easiest spread ever because everything is from harry & david! i’ve tried their fruit boxes around the holidays before, but i actually had no idea the amount of gourmet food they actually offer as well! almost everything arrives frozen so it’s super easy to just store until you’re ready to serve, making it such a giant help for entertaining and around the holidays. Read More
