The Catch-Up | Vol 28
Holiday wrappings + ribbons I love, gifts money can't buy, a holiday home themed board, and a set of dinner plates that have piqued my interest this season.
Hello friends!
Hello friends! Happy Sunday and welcome to The Catch-Up, my weekly column that arrives in your inboxes every week. The Catch-Up consists of everything that has caught my eye, heart, imagination, interest, and family throughout the week. This post is coming on Sunday this week, which is a little later than usual. It was such a busy week with Thanksgiving celebrations with the kids, a really busy week of work, and lots more. My boys are officially out for a week for Thanksgiving and it feels nice to have nowhere in particular to be every morning. A highlight of the week was celebrating a dear friend going back to school to become a nurse. One of our friends hosted a little gathering and everyone brought a dish or a drink + everyone dressed up as nurses. One girlfriend showed up in a Civil War era nurse outfit. It was beyond! Our friend thanked everyone for a “totally outsized celebration for going back to school” but I shared with her that, while I understood her modesty, I believed the celebration was more than important! My mom always says celebrate everything! You’ll never look back in life and say, “I wish I hadn’t celebrated that with people I love.” I also feel like it’s wonderful to show our children to celebrate when we do something hard and admirable and worth celebrating. Perhaps my mom’s outlook comes from a place of my mom loosing her mom in your early 30s or from a place of my mom being a completely happy, optimistic person - I’m not sure. What I am sure of though is that my mom is right. Celebrate everything in this life! There’s your happy reminder for the day.
If there is anything in particular that you like seeing from me, please don’t hesitate to drop me a comment and let me know! Thank you for being here and for reading my thoughts, inspirations, and obsessions. P.S. If this post is ever too long for email, simply click through to read it in Substack.
What you may have missed on the blog this week:
What to wear for family photos: for you, for your husband, for little boys, and little girls (including what we wore in ours!)
What to wear for Thanksgiving: for a Turkey Trot, for cooking, for a holiday lunch, a dressed up dinner, and Thanksgiving outfits for men!
3 creative ways to display memories
Meaningful questions to ask your parents - I love writing more thought provoking posts like this one
P.S. I did a roundup of Christmas pajamas for children in this post under “What Caught My Kids” - now is the time to shop, while they are all on sale!
what caught my eye
a few quick things
If you live in London or are traveling to London in the coming weeks, The Notting Hill Christmas Shop looks so special.
Holiday prep: A to Z. This is too good.
This weekend in Charleston - two splendid holiday shopping opportunities for unique gifts! Antiques and Goods/Businesses all Made in the South.
Brand new random discovery for boy moms - this underwear! Found through the mom of one of Henry’s buddies and they are so so soft! Much softer than the Haynes underwear my boys often wear. We’re instant fans.
My devilishly talented friend, Aldous, has a watercolor collection on display and available at Wentworth right now through next week. Catch a peak of it here and go visit it in the coming days in store!
I am absolutely taken, smitten, and completely fond of this Etsy shop I found for kids!
I’m dying to go back to Scotland and I now have a new hotel at the top of my travel wish list: Penicuik Estate. The history, the design, the landscape, wow.
Look I’m loving: chord necklaces with chunky pendants. They can be such a fun, punchy look! Here’s three I love to master the look: adjustable silk chord necklace at the most amazing price, seashell necklace in seagrass and ivory, and the ingenious lip locket chord necklace.
A merry holiday antiquing pop-up I saw happening in Charleston on December 3rd.
what caught my heart
Gifts! Here’s the thing with gift giving - it is consumerism at height. Instagram right now is so many links. I’ve found that if someone is exclusively sharing sales right now, I’m just not interested. I want to see the heart behind the holidays too - the family happenings, the recipes being cooked, the packing taking place, the decorating underway, the traditions starting. I also want to see links! I like a balance because I love seeing what other people love and recommend and because I’m obsessed with supporting small businesses by recommending them and shopping for gifts from them. Someone’s business, whether big or small, is someone’s dream so I have no problem with the consumerism. I love to support it for them. I just like to see a balance. So, with gift giving, I like to see heart in it. In my guides, you’ll find it all - crowd pleasers, unique items from small businesses, books & cookbooks, Etsy finds, and ideas for ways to take a classic gift and give it a special twist.
I have a gift guide for personalized gifts live (with even more here!) and a guide for gifts for her live (with even more here!). I have a guide for him and for children coming next week. Plus, next week, I’ll be doing an Instagram story series sharing sales - sales from businesses that I love, businesses that support my business, and small businesses!
I also have a whole holiday hub for you right here with sections for beautiful holiday home finds, holiday books for you and for littles, holiday style, and gift guides!
A very merry exciting gift update I have to share with you is that my other business, TableWith, is giftable! Give the gift of TableWith this holiday season (and always!) by purchasing a friend a TableWith subscription for 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months. It’s a great gift that is experiential instead of a “thing” and it is affordable - A WIN!
A now, a few gift ideas that money can’t buy:
As I think back to the best gifts I’ve received over the recent years, one really pops out in my mind - Edwin reading out loud to me after my c-sections. When I felt too tired and out of it to read, he gave me the gift of my favorite thing, reading. He did this by reading out loud to me. It was the simplest gift that made me feel so loved. We all need more of these simple acts of love in our lives.
A recipe! Write out your favorite holiday recipe, slip it in an envelope, and pop it in the mail or hand deliver it to a loved one with a note that reads, “my family loves this recipe at the holidays! I thought yours would too!” or “My grandmother’s recipe - makes me think of people I cherish, like you! I hope it brings love into your home this holiday season.” My kind of snail mail.
A playdate. The holidays are so busy for moms and there’s no doubt a point of every week when mothers think, “I just wish I had an extra few hours.” So, invite your children’s friends over for a playdate and tell the mom to go tackle some holiday shopping while you have the kids. A gift that’s worth more than gold - happy children and happy parents!
what caught my interest
I’ve had a bee in my bonnet for new dinnerware plates for a while now. This is absolutely not a need! We still love and use the Juliska Berry & Thread plates we registered for for our wedding and I completely adore our wedding china. That being said, the Berry & Thread plates are white and I wouldn’t mind looking at a bit of color. However, I don’t want something too bold because these would be for constant everyday use. I keep my eyes peeled at all times and I found a set I am in love with recently that I can’t stop thinking about! Enter: the Flora Dinner Plates from Il Buco Vita. I love that they come in different colors and think doing a mix of the dinner plates and the salad plates would be dashing. Don’t laugh but, to me, they read almost like a neutral. Ha! Honestly, though, a floral that is done in one set color feels incredibly versatile to me. Our house is primarily blues, greens, and pinks/pinky-reds/reds so I think a mix of the Blue, Ivy, and Burgundy colorways would be splendid. My interest was piqued and now I can’t manage to stop thinking about these plates. Plates, plates, plates!
You could make this pattern your entire set because it comes as a tureen (lovely!), oval serving platter (I love this shape dish always), pasta bowls (which I like in the ecru mixed with the flora plates), platters (large and small), and bowls (could these be used for cereal and ice cream, I wonder?).
what caught my imagination
Are you deep in the throws of holiday wrappings and ribbons? It’s a detail I love. As Rebecca Gardner affectionately calls such things, they are unnecessaries - items that are not required but that sure do bring joy and merriment. Little extras. So, let’s get down to brass tax with some wrapping recommendations to get your imaginations going…
Wrapping:
Red grosgrain stripe paper
Cranberry urchin paper
Midnight sky paper
Holiday floral paper
Seashell paper (if you go to the beach for Christmas, this is for you!)
Menagerie paper
Rolling hills paper
Antique botanical paper
Green stripe gift bags
Mushroom party paper
Hand marbled paper + more hand marbled paper + even more hand marbled paper (pretty!)
Marbled gift bags
Ribbons:
Satin ribbon at a great price
Hand-dyed silk ribbon - I bought over a month ago because I love it so much!
Burgundy and blue grosgrain ribbon
Falalala twill ribbon
Paper chain garland (not exactly a ribbon but fun!)
Embroidered velvet ribbon
Holiday stripe ribbon
Velvet ribbon
Tinsel ribbon
Toy soldier garland (not exactly a ribbon but fun!)
Velvet tinsel trim ribbon
Gift Tags:
Classic Merry Christmas with stars
Gifting tassels (!!! love these)
Winter floral tags
Paper maché ball ornaments for wrapping
Paper tassel tags
Holiday ornament tags
Funky font merry Christmas
Custom embossed stickers
what caught my kids
Henry is currently flip flopping on deciding if he is ready to move to his big kid twin bed. In true Henry form, he crawled out of his crib right after he turned two. His crib is a converter crib so we just took the front side of it off and he has loved being cozy in there ever since. I recently got him a new comforter from Gooselings and it started the whole conversation about if he was ready to make the jump to his twin bed. It changes daily but I’m ready because I’ll be able to store some items under the bed when he moves to his twin (#OldHouseProblems). This + a girlfriend of mine pregnant with her first child asking about crib and child bedding recommendations has me feeling inspired by the category. Henry is SMITTEN with his new Gooselings comforter and coordinating personalized pillow so I thought I’d share all our favorites / go-to’s from the last 5 years (aka since I became a mother).
Gooslings for the most whimsical prints + I love their down inserts and they do fantastic personalizations.
For a fresh, classic, white bedding/crib look, I use Boll & Branch, ALWAYS.
Biscuit Home for bedding that is downright playful and fun.
For beautiful embroidery, I turn to Little English bedding. We have the sky blue color but it comes in more color options too.
Timo & Violet for bright colors in happy prints. We love the Happy Monkey print!
For sweet prints done in singular color ways, I like Oso & Me.
Pehr does prints in a more organic, granola (if you will) style. This is the one brand from this list that we have not used but we love their cute clothes!
P.S. This is the crib mattress we use (also available here)! It is safe + latex, lead, phthalate, and PVC free.
P.S.S. It’s a great time to refresh any of this while everything is on Black Friday sale!
what caught my husband
Thank you so very much for reading this week’s edition of The Catch-Up. I’m so grateful you are here. Feel free to drop a comment below - I love to chat! Also, if you made it this far and like what you read, would you consider heart-ing this post, just below here? It helps Substack know people like my writing, which means the world to me! See you next week with vol 29! x
