Holiday special edition: family Christmas traditions!

December 19, 2019 Amanda + Isabelle

It’s our last post before Christmas and last post of 2019! This time of year makes people think about traditions (old ones or starting new ones) and we wanted to share some of our favorite family traditions. Some go back a long ways and some evolve a little every year.

Bake all the things

Ok so this isn’t exactly a unique-to-our-family tradition, but it is something we always make time for and love to do together. Sugar cookies are of course standard, as well as spritz. These days one of us is often trying something new to add to the mix, but none have joined the ranks of tradition yet.
Confession: while almost everything we bake is from scratch, the one thing we can’t do without is canned frosting. There was one year we made our own buttercream (which we do for cupcakes) and… it just wasn’t the same. Also not a fan of royal icing really, so we’re sticking with frosting in a can.

Screen Shot 2019-12-17 at 9.18.12 PM.png — Christmas Eve Pajamas

Every year we got (get?) to open one present on Christmas Eve and it was always a new set of PJs, often made by our mom. Since we have both stopped growing this would make for quite a large collection so we’ve had to cut back on this a bit, but we both love the idea of picking this tradition back up with future generations :)

Movie night

It almost feels like “what is your family Christmas movie?” is both a very accurate way to understand family dynamics and extremely divisive (either between families or within the family). Our dad really likes **The Grinch** and some of us are ok with seeing that one time. There isn’t a movie we watch *every* year, but the top contenders are probably **White Christmas** (duh, **sisters**, but also **this**) and **Elf**. Which might actually be a pretty good way to sum up our family.

We wish you all a wonderful holiday season, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Amanda + Isabelle

Our Perfect Picks: wedding advice from around the web

December 5, 2019 Amanda + Isabelle

We’re always collecting ideas, inspiration and advice wherever we go and wanted to share some recent finds that we think are pretty helpful and maybe a bit different from what you usually come across.

This is genius: someone to help you write vows or a toast.

Helpful timeline info for pre-wedding beauty prep

Think outside the boarders - wedding tips from Europe

Some great wedding dos and don'ts from Cup of Jo

Your small, gorgeous, no work wedding dreams come true

A sweet way to make wedding memories last

What’s the best wedding planning advice you’ve gotten recently? Check out our favorite piece of advice to give couples :)

Travel Tips: packing, packing and more packing

November 21, 2019 Amanda + Isabelle

We shared some advice here on how we prepare for a trip, including a little bit about packing, but decided to dedicate a whole post to the topic because we have so many more ideas to share. Can you tell we feel passionately about this? Apologizes for the length of this post…

In addition to having a tab in the spreadsheet to help figure out everything you need, some strategy is involved in deciding what to bring.

Our favorite packing advice

No matter the length of the trip, we stick pretty much to a carry-on bag + personal item. So, part of it is the horror stories about bags being lost, things being stolen or that time someone told us their bag arrived on the carousel open with half their stuff missing *faints*. But we also realize that we have to be able to carry our stuff around cities, up and down stairs and it’s just not practical to have giant bags (usually we do public transportation, but maybe someday we’ll have that private chauffeur…). It’s also great not having to wait for your bag to come out, possibly spend a night in the same clothes waiting for your bag to show up or deal with waiting in line to check it.
The one caveat here is that most carry-on size bags can expand. That way we do have the option of expanding (and checking depending on the size) the bag on our way back #boughttoomanyshoes
Speaking of which, a bit of a mind-trick to force yourself to leave room for souvenirs is to pack things that will get used up on the trip - this works especially well if you’re planning to visit friends/family and bringing gifts! Bringing a few snacks (see below for why) forces us to leave extra room too and all those little things add up.

Packing cubes are the best! Cute ones are even better. Amanda got converted to this a few years ago and is still working on getting Isabelle to make the switch, but it’s pretty great. You break down everything into the small cubes and as long as everything can go back in them, it will all fit in your bag. It makes it especially easy if you’re going to move around a few times. Bonus: Amanda likes to use the biggest one to pack clothes on hangers, which turns out to be pretty efficient for space and ease of unpacking when you arrive.

We do love fashion and don’t really want to wear the same t-shirt and khakis every day (we love you Rick Steves, but that time you tried to give travel fashion advice we almost died), so we get creative. It does take some thought, but capsule and travel wardrobes are everywhere now so it’s not hard to get inspiration on how to mix and match a limited set of items to make a variety of outfits.

Things to pack you might not think of

Having a small extra bag with you comes in so handy when you’re out during the day

Power pack: since we use our phones even more when we travel, it’s nice to have one just in case.
A few snacks: guilty pleasures for the plane and some sustenance for when you get to your destination and are hungry, but aren’t sure how to find food yet.
Lightweight market bag: in general it’s great to use less plastic (and in many places you actually need to bring your own shopping bag), but having a small cotton bag is both functional and dare we say cuter than typical shopping bags, like this one.
Compression socks: not just for your grandparents anymore! We might be showing our age just a bit, but it really does make such a difference after a long flight. They even come in lots of cute patterns.
A few ziplock bags: you never know when you need these! Snacks, souvenir jam you don’t want to end up on all your clothes, wet clothes… who knows, but they come in handy.
Hair towel: we love this hair towel (hint: it makes a great gift) and now that we’re addicted, it’s started to come along on trips. It’s a small thing that makes a big difference and doesn’t take up much space.

We hope this was helpful for your next trip and would love to hear about your favorite packing tips!

Wedding Day Emergency Kit

November 7, 2019 Amanda + Isabelle

One of the most important jobs we have is to be prepared for everything (anyone else singing this song right now with us? no? just us? ok then) - bad breath, minor hair emergency or maybe a slightly worse stain/tear emergency.

Here is a list of what we have in our wedding day emergency kit so you can make your own, or if we’re helping on your big day, trust that we’re ready for anything!

Safety/Health

Bandages (we like to have both regular and waterproof)
Aquaphore (this size is great for so many things - chapped lips, small cuts, dry skin)
Ibuprofen
Benedryl
Pepto Bismal

Beauty

Hair ties (we have the clear elastic ones, which work for all hair and can easily be hidden)
Bobby pins
Safety pins
Hairspray
Fashion tape (for when you’re showing too much)
Hem tape (for when you’re not showing enough)
Comb
Lint roller or removing sheets (consider this a PSA to always have one with you in life)
Nail clippers and file
Clear nail polish
Mirror

Freshen up

Mentos (because you don’t want to have to spit gum out later, also who misses the commercials?)
Floss
Tide To Go Pen
Contact solution (because someone might have dry eyes)
Tissues (because everyone else definitely won’t have dry eyes)

We also always talk to couples about making sure that they (or the families) provide some snacks - not too messy, include some protein, easy to snack on between activities (or if you’re feeling nervous and a giant sandwich doesn’t sound good). It’s a long day and it’s easy to forget to eat, but we’ll be there to remind you :)

Party Mixology: choose your own adventure

October 24, 2019 Amanda + Isabelle

Click on the image to download the file for your own party!

We’ve talked about how much we like to make drinks interactive at a party and wanted to share a fun twist on the idea. The best part is it makes it really easy to have both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options that are tasty and pretty!

This came about while planning a nautical themed baby shower and were inspired to do play on ‘choose your own adventure’ like the books to help people make a drink. If you have a party with a similar theme, we’ve made the PDF available if you click on the image. We then came up with a series of drinks that had shared ingredients and used some fun arrows to guide people through several options. The colors and images could easily be swapped out to match the rest of the party, having a baby or getting married are both great adventures :) But really, it works for any shower or holiday celebration - make it scary for Halloween (perhaps a misadventure…) or cheery for Christmas (Elf’s big adventure).

Have fun and let us know if you try it out!