Baking around Christmas is my favorite tradition! There’s just something magical about making batches of cookies and making the whole house smell like a gingerbread house. Over the years, I started to pack up cookies and give them to friends and family. What began as a few cookies in a plastic ziplock bag, has turned into a very large production that takes hours of baking and taking over the dining room to turn it into a cookie assembly and distribution center.
This year is busier than most and I was thinking of not baking this year or at least not going as big as I usually did. Until people started asking when the cookies were coming and making sure their Snickerdoodle cookies would be included this year. I realized that one long (very long) night on my end where I’m up until the early morning baking, is a small price to pay for the joy when someone receives a cookie package.
If you have a small budget or are looking to spread Christmas cheer to your friends or coworkers, maybe a cookie package is the right gift for you. Below is my list of cookies and sweets that make the list every year. This year I’m being kind to my body and breaking up the baking in two days so be sure to plan ahead! I like to get cute boxes and packaging at Homegoods or TJ Maxx to make the cookie packages a little more special. Or if you want to keep it simple, I have put cookies in a ziplock bag with a cute holiday cocktail napkin.
Here’s a list you will want to check twice to find the perfect gift for your girl friends. From coworkers, sisters, or best friends, here are some gifts she will be excited to unwrap this Christmas!
Paris Hilton Memoir // I love to gift my friends who love watching reality TV a book written by a TV personality. It’s usually something they would never get for themselves, so it’s always an appreciated gift!
Uggs // If you need a big gift, you can’t go wrong with a new pair of Uggs. I love these because of the cute bow details!
Makeup Bag // Grab a cute makeup bag and fill it with her favorite things! I love this pink one with the red bows!
Customized Tote Bag // This is on my wish list this year! They come in lots of sizes and color selections to fit her personality.
Slippers // The best way to get cozy is a new pair of slippers! I love these and the price is great to grab a few pairs to gift to all of your friends! Or splurge and get her some new Uggs!
Summer Fridays // For your cousin who is cooler than you and you don’t know what to get her, a lip balm from Sunday Fridays will make you the cool gift giver this year.
Perfume Set // I get so many compliments when I wear this perfume and it’s always on sale this time of year, making it a great affordable gift!
Tarte Eyeshadow Pallettes // I LOVE LOVE LOVE these eyeshadow palettes and they are a part of my everyday makeup favorites.
Hair Bow // For your bow-obsessed friend (like me!), these hair bows are a must!
Pajama Set // One year for Christmas, I gave my best friends cute pajama sets and they are still talking about them! These have a buttery feel and the perfect amount of stretch. I have them in almost every color and can’t wait to buy these red ones for myself this year!
It’s time!!!!! Here are some thoughtful gifts she actually wants this holiday season. Our moms deserve the best things in life and in their homes.
Hand Soap and Lotion Set // This is always my go-to gift for when I need to get someone a nice gift or a hosting gift. My mom loves having this set by her kitchen sink and still gets excited when I gift her another scent.
Hand Towels Set // When you have a small budget but want to get them something nice for the home they will actually use. If I need to buy for multiple people, I can buy the towel set and break the towels up or gift the towel set with the hand soap set in a basket.
Martha Stewart Cookbook // If you grew up with your mom reading Martha Stewart magazines or always had her head in a cookbook, you must get her Martha’s new book!
Tote Bag // My mom loves going to the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings and this tote bag is the perfect bag to hold all her purchases! Also living in a city with a plastic bag ban, I may be buying myself one to use at the grocery store because of the pockets and storage.
Candle // A new scented candle for the holiday season is a must have! I end up buying a bunch in early November to have them on hand for easy gift giving.
Pearl Earrings // As a way to apologize to your mom for always stealing her earrings, be sure to get her a nice pair of (faux) pearl earrings this year. I wear my pearl earrings almost daily and my mom is always saying how much she likes them so this year, she gets her own pair!
Perfume // Make it a yearly tradition to treat your mom with a new scent for the year. I linked my favorite scent that I go back to again and again.
Basket // All moms want is a clean house….. so how about a chic basket to put things in to make their house look clean?
Collagen Face Masks // I purchased a pack of these for my wedding and handed them out left and right on my wedding morning because all the ladies wanted a lifted neck and defined chin! Great for a stocking stuffer she will actually use!
Magnolia Table Cookbook // If your favorite memories of your mom involve her being in the kitchen cooking, you need to get her this cookbook! Easy recipes for you and mom to cook together and make new memories.
Craft Organizer Bag // If your mom is a crafter, this bag is a must for keeping all of her most used craft supplies organized.
Is that a cold chill in the air? Is Fall finally here? Summer is my favorite season but I’m looking forward to wearing layers and sweaters. I stopped by J Crew Factory this week to see what was new in stores because they always have the best fall collection. My closet is full of J Crew coats and I can’t resist this year’s classic Lady Day Coat in pink! J Crew Factory has great pieces no matter your budget. I have my eyes on the black lady jacket as a great layering piece with skinny jeans and a white tee. And a tweed headband is a no-brainer for hiding bad hair days but keeping it chic!
It was July 4th weekend and our original plan was to walk around Old City but the heat wave made that difficult. We still wanted to spend some time in Old City, walk past Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, and get in the holiday spirit. So what better way to celebrate the 4th than go to Royal Boucherie? It’s been on my list to try for a long time and I’m glad we could make it happen.
A dimly lit restaurant and bar is around the corner of Chestnut Street on 2nd Street. The floors and walls look like they have their original panel walls and hardwood floors. We sat at a table in the corner by the window to enjoy the pub aesthetic of the restaurant. How could we pick just one thing? The menu has a classic French menu but enough selections for patrons new to French food. We joked that Royal Boucherie is the delicious peasant food compared to the fancy and formal French restaurants we have visited before. Could it be that Royal Boucherie has better food than another well-known French restaurant in Philly?
We started with cocktails and chuckled at the creative drink names like Franklin’s Mistress and Wham Bam Thank You Cran. If you don’t have time to sit down for a meal, I highly suggest you order a drink at the bar to enjoy the custom-made bar and mingle with fellow patrons.
Since we are foodies, we wanted the full food experience and started with a Fromage Tasting Board and escargot a lail noir, black garlic braised escargot, ratatouille, panisse, crispy garlic escargot to share. The cheeses were perfectly selected to pair with a baguette and jams that we were making notes to make this board at home. I should note that the portions are more similar to what I’ve experienced in Europe, smaller portions with high-quality selections. At first glance, I thought there wouldn’t be enough of the Fromage board for both of us to share, but I was left satisfied without being too full for the main course.
For the main course, Jacob went with a boucherie burger, foie gras, brie, onion confiture, frites. He said it was probably the best burger he has ever had with the perfectly melted brie on the burger. I wanted to try something new than my usual order of modules and went with the crab cakes, blistered cherry tomatoes, roasted broccolini, saffron rouille. The crab cakes were not your traditional style like you expect in beach towns but instead had a French twist with unexpected flavors. Every bite was delicious!
We split a chocolate mousse tart as a special treat before heading back out into the heat. Restaurants like Royal Boucherie are hard to come by with their dark moody interior, friendly staff, and perfectly curated menu. The next time you are looking for a good meal out with an experience, I highly recommend stopping by here. We’ll be back again soon because it’s been a week and we are still talking about the fromage board!
My parents threw us an engagement party in their backyard in North Carolina a few weeks ago. My mom mentioned if we were free in June she could throw us a little party to celebrate our engagement. June was a busy month for both Jake and me. He’s constantly traveling for work and even though we put his work trips on our family calendar that hangs on the fridge, I still can’t keep track of where he is each week. I was in that weird part of the school year where we were winding down the school year but that meant we had to put in the extra work to put together an end-of-school-year field day and celebration party while also planning six weeks of summer camp that started shortly after the last day of school. When my mom asked what weekend worked for us in early June, I squinted at our family calendar for June and squinted to make sense of when we were “free” and gave her a weekend. The last week of school slowly made its way, and I spent my nights baking for school events and waking up early to get work done in the office to prep for summer or attend the Fifth Grade Graduation ceremony. When that last day of school came and went, I was scheduled to attend an all-day training at Temple University to learn “what summer camp looks like”. I found myself falling asleep in the back row of these workshops asking why these couldn’t have been an email?
I saw on my calendar how little time I had before camp started. I was sitting in another training on Monday when I realized that the next Monday camp started, and I needed a break. I asked/told work that I was leaving for North Carolina on Wednesday. That Wednesday, we slept later than we would have liked and started packing. We didn’t know what the long weekend at my parents’ house would look like, so we packed a little bit of everything, but the biggest priority was bathing suits. I think both of us were more excited about the pool time than the party! While packing we both realized we didn’t have anything to wear for the engagement party, so we made a mental note to buy something to wear down there.
Our original plan was to drive to my parents’ house on that Friday to be there for the party on Saturday, so my parents were still in cleaning and planning mode when we got there. I saw with my own eyes that this small party with her friends had turned into an event. Did you ever watch Downton Abbey or Bridgerton and see the servants running around the days before to prepare the flowers, the China, and the food? Well, my parents’ house was like that without the Mr. Carson and other servants there to do the work. My mom handmade invitations to her White Party where guests are instructed to wear white. She also hand-delivered each one to 50 of her friends in the neighborhood to invite them to the party. On Friday morning before 8AM, I drank my cup of coffee out of a Le Creuset coffee mug and watched as different parts of the party prep came together like a rehearsed dance with the choreography. At 7AM, a large tent went up in my parent’s side yard, and when the tent was just finished being assembled, the landscapers came to mow the grass just in time before the chair rental delivery was coming to drop off 50 chairs. This was all choreographed so well because a party for 50 people is considered a small get-together for my parent’s as they often entertain people in the hundreds in their backyard. As Jake and I watched the comings and goings of tent assembly, landscapers on their mowers mowing the large lawn and my dad on the phone with the chair rental company, Jake leaned in and whispered “ I sometimes forget you come from this world”. He didn’t mean it as anything negative, but my parents have always entertained in their home, and growing up meant I was there to assist and play hostess. It’s one of the things I look forward to when we get married. I can’t wait to be able to host parties and get-togethers with friends and family at our house like my parents did growing up.
One exciting surprise earlier in the day when Jake was making floral arrangements for the table and I was cleaning out the large cooler, my dad shouted for us to come by the pool, another part of my parents’ large yard. We were confused as to why we were told to do one task and then asked to go somewhere else, but when we went through the gate that led to the pool, Jake’s parents were hidden around a bush to yell out surprise! Jake’s family drove up from Florida to be able to celebrate our engagement with us and it was so nice for the families to arrange!
The party started at 5PM and at 4:45 PM I was still drying my hair. I told Jake to go down without me and I’d be behind him shortly. As I sat on the floor in front of the mirror in my bedroom at my parents’ house, it finally hit me. The last few weeks were busy with school and work, so I kept thinking of this party as just another thing on my to-do list. It wasn’t until I was sitting on the floor listening to Britney Spears on my phone that I had that realization. I am getting ready for my engagement party because I am going to get married. Oh my gosh, I am going to get married.
So much of this wedding planning has gone smoothly because we are older and have the money to select the vendors we want and can pay for vendors instead of DIYing anything. Even when the planning got stressful, like not being able to find someone available to do hair and makeup, within a week I was able to find vendors. For the most part, I’ve had fun planning this wedding and adding a lot of fun surprises for our guests to enjoy. But during this whole process, I don’t think we took the time to celebrate that we were getting married. So much of wedding planning is contracts and making decisions. While I was zipping up my new white dress and slipping on my heels, I decided it was time for me to lean in and enjoy being celebrated.
“So, I heard you’re getting married in a castle!” The party had already started when I walked out back, and the guests had drinks in their hands. A group of women came up to me to wish me congratulations and started asking questions about the wedding. These questions they already knew the answers to because my mom had been sharing our wedding details with her friends who were in awe. My mom saw me in the crowd and took me by the arm to introduce the Bride To Be to the guests. Jake and I earlier had volunteered to bartend, so we went out and got ingredients to make 3 signature drinks that were special to us: Pimms, Aperol Spritz, and Mojitos. Jake was sweaty behind the bar making drinks but saw me whisper “APEROL” and he nodded to let me know he heard loud and clear.
While being introduced to guests, I got close to the bar area and an Aperol was placed in my hands. I continued my nodding and small talk, sharing the wedding planning and answering questions the guests had. It was nice to see our two families mingling with guests and each other. Jake’s dad was helping him behind the bar, and Jake was having to explain again and again what an Aperol was since the guests had never heard of them. After Cocktail Hour, we made our way to the tent where my mom set up a long table with her crisp white tablecloths, fine white China, and a hint of greenery in the middle to go along with her White Party theme. Guests were awing at the attention to detail my mom had while planning this party. No detail was overlooked. My parents cooked and brought out dinner on large serving dishes placed on the table for a family-style dinner. Guests mingled and raised their glasses to toast the couple. Once the sun was set and the string of lights that my dad hung up in the tent was the only source of light, is when some guests started to say their goodbyes and when the good liquor came out. I kicked off my heels and sipped on a cold Aperol Spritz enjoying how wonderful the night went. Both of our families were sitting around the table, laughing with each other and guests. The same stories were being told and my mom after having a few drinks, waved her hand and said that’s a problem for tomorrow when someone asked if my parents needed help bringing the glasses and plates into the house.
I wish I could have turned that happy and carefree energy into a ball to put into a jar to save for our wedding. My goal for our special day in October is for guests to stay late, sit around a table with dim lighting, and laugh over a drink. The planning that goes into a wedding for 100 or a dinner party for 50 people is different in many ways but similar in the amount of work that goes into it. I hope that I’m just as carefree at the end of the night in October running barefoot on the lawn after a few too many glasses of wine.
If this party taught me anything, is that no matter what is going on with work and our lives, we need to slow down and truly enjoy the next few months as we celebrate we are getting married.
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