Creating New Christmas Traditions

Any newlyweds out there? Austin and I have been married for over a year now, but for the purpose of this post, I'm going to consider us newlyweds. Last year was our first married Christmas (which you can read about here), and it was so special. We embraced double the family time, double the traditions, and double the cheese platters (no complaints here)! But at the same time, I'd be lying if I didn't...

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Hosting a Stress-Free Cookie Decorating Party

Ever want to host a holiday party but then you remember: You'll have to clean the house, buy food, prepare the food, serve the food, hope your guests like the food, clean up any potential messes made and in doing so, pretend like you're not even a little sad your favorite *insert item here* got broken or stained? Don't get me wrong, I love to host people in my home and am happily prepared for...

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Ring in 2019 with Pantone's Color of the Year

Since the year 2000, Pantone has been in the business of studying our global society and choosing a "color of the year" that they feel reflects the cultural climate. As some of you may have heard, last week Pantone released their pick for the coming year, 2019. Drumroll, please... The color of 2019 is PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral, which the agency says is "an animating and life-affirming coral...

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Strong Girl, Brave Girl: A Q&A with Author Kelsey Baldwin

If you caught last week's gift guide, you may remember I recommended a new book: Strong Girl, Brave Girl. As I mentioned previously, the memoir chronicles Kelsey Baldwin's journey through divorce and single motherhood, but it's about much more than that. Since Kelsey's my friend "IRL", I had the privilege of hearing her say "I think I want to write my story" and seeing her follow through — all in...

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Queen City Gems: Your SGF-Based Holiday Gift Guide

Happy Holidays! Whether you consider this season the most wonderful time of the year or simply the most expensive, I hope you're finding joy in these chilly December weeks. Personally, I love this season and I gain so much excitement from hunting for the perfect treasure to show a loved one I care. The only thing I enjoy more? Using my dollars to support small businesses and people I love! So if...

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Behind the Scenes of the 'Backstabber' Music Video

Wait… What’s the “Backstabber” music video? Glad you asked! Dragon Inn 3 is a sister band to the Springfield favorite, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, and they released their debut album, Double Line, this August. It's a really wonderful homage to the '80s and early '90s both in sound and style. For their album's release, a handful of Springfield artists and filmmakers made music videos...

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25 Items of Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, people! My fam has a longstanding tradition of going to a family friend's house for Turkey Day. It's been going on for 30+ years; this group is o.g. Friendsgiving advocates. Needless to say, it's my favorite holiday. And it's not just for the potatoes au gratin. There's something uniquely sacred about friendships that become family. Gratitude is one of those amazing things...

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Our Honeymoon: Croatia

Croatia was the final place we went on our honeymoon, and if it weren't for some good pals of ours, we wouldn't have even had it on our radar. Austin and I both have friends who had been to Croatia and said we had to go. They were right. Since tickets are less expensive to hop around once you've crossed the ocean, we took advantage of that (and being able to take time away from work) and spent...

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Our Honeymoon: Paris

In case you missed it, yesterday I posted about the first part of our honeymoon which was a quick, 3-day stopover in Iceland. You can see it here if you haven't already! Funnily enough, Austin and I planned our honeymoon around Paris and just kind of hung out once we got there. If you're considering international travel after a big life event (like getting married!), know that a bigger city will...

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