Giving, For Boys

This year has been a crazy year for David and me.  We moved from Durham to DC, we went from two incomes to none, we went from two forty hour weeks to one eighty hour week and one zero hour week* and from a duplex with a wee yard to a teeny one room flat.  David has been rocking law school and I think he deserves an extra great Christmas.

1.  David howls like a lunatic while watching Stephen Colbert (or Colbizzle as he is called chez moi)  and so America Again might have to make an appearance under the tree.  Colbert is always better in audio book so you can hear his crazy face voice.

2.  To celebrate a new school and a new degree in a new city (and because I am way into university pennants this year) university pennant.

3.  David is big into Fair Isle, big into Christmasy sweaters, big into J. Crew.  This sweater is gorge.

4.  Last year we got my father and mother slippers and David got me slippers.  I think maybe it's his turn and I can replace the battered slippers he has worn into pieces.

5.  David is insane about dogs.  He will cross a street like a loon for a chance to pass an Airedale and Roger (the schnauzer) is his best friend.   He could spend hours looking at cute dogs so what could be better than photo book Dog Dogs by Elliott Erwit.

6.  Given the sixteen hour days (sometimes longer!) that he spends in the library at least he can have stylish notebooks.

7.  His family tartan tie (or mine, whoever has a tartan and a pretty one)

8.  We have an ongoing battle about small bedside alarm clocks.  I hate digital and he he hates the tick tick tick of my old analog.  This tick free Big Ben Clock is pretty and quiet.

9. This wooden iPod Dock would be very nice on his dresser.

10.  David is definitely the sentimental one in our family and he wants to keep photo albums and get picture frames.  I love these Pinhole Press photo books and I think he would allow these instead of pasting photos into an actual album.



* that would be my unemployed ass.

Giving, For Besties

1. For all the drinking - May You Never Flask
2. For wearing to brunch - Raw Pink Tourmaline Earrings
3. For hanging on the walls of their groovy apartments - NY Print
4. For wearing to the farmers market - Clutch
5. For wearing out to lunch with a sundress - Silk Clutch
6. For when one just needs salty and sweet - Bacon Chocolate
7. For the most stylish of fridges - Gemstone Magnets
8. For keeping notes on everything - Colour Block Notebooks
9. For wearing every single day - Trio of Earrings
10.  Because we should bring back Friendship Bracelets in style

Giving, For Mums

My mum actually does  on occasion read this blog so I'm not going to post anything that will actually be under the tree for Mumsters this year. I wish I had a million dollars so I could get my mum ALL of these things but since I can't I'll send them out into the interwebs and maybe you'll buy them for your mum.

1. I think one of us almost always gets pajamas for our mother, mostly my brother, if I were going to get her pjs this year I'd get her these Constalation Pajamas.
2.  While this year plants are absent from her Christmas list she has typically asked for a jade plant or something else fun.  I really love this rosemary plant.
3. This gorgeous jacket is one of my favourite things and my mum would look super glam in it.
4.  I think Mummie is a raw diamond earrings kind of a lady.
5.  She is also a big old hippy and I think she might be interested to know how black beans eliminate damp.  Healing with Whole Foods will tell her all about this.
6.  When I lived in York for a year I brought my mother loads of the British foods she had as a girl.  They are all available through British Delights foods here.
7.  Since most of her children are out of the house (poor Quatro at home alone) she is all about the horses and has decided that horses don't need to do anything they don't want to do.  They don't like bits so maybe a bitless bridle would be just the thing.
8.  Alexander McCall Smith says that his books are like tea books and my mother likes a good cup of tea of a book like one.  Maybe his newest, The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds, or the similarly tea-like Mrs. Miniver, or A Cotswold Adventure.
9.  My mom is a statement necklace wearer and has been even when everyone else was wearing wee tiny chains with a teensy weensy pendent.  I think this statement necklace is divoon.

Giving, For Dads

My dad is a pretty cool guy.  He was on the homepage of the National Day of Listening this year being interviewed about living in Spain after the death of Franco and leaving under duress.  He's an attorney and texts Kanye lyrics to Mary and he is, as Tres says, an Art Mongrel just "gobbling up the art world".  Tres is also an art mongrel so I guess she would know.  He was a chef for a while (and a garbage man) and loves good food more than almost anyone else I know.

1. I am 100% sure that the first song I ever heard was the Morning Edition theme (I was born at home at night and I can't imagine that they didn't put on NPR in the morning as they have every other morning of my life.  The Tivoli Radio is suppose to be the best.
2.  My father introduced me to Cee Lo and Outkast and tells me I'm his "best black jew" regularly.  I think it means he loves me. How about The Lady Killer by Cee Lo?
3. Dad is also a huge believer in buying books on subjects.  He's a big ask an expert kind of a guy.  How about this The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Classical Music?  He's always talking about what a bitch Mrs. Wagner was.  I know.
4.  Did I mention that he goes to yoga five days a week?  He does.  And I'm pretty sure that Cork Yoga Blocks are better than the plastic ones they have there.
5.  For cooking his darling daughter dinner - The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.
6.  Peppermint Bark needs no introduction.  It means Christmas in a way that nothing else does.
7.  The 20th Century Art Book  so he can gobble up a little bit more of the art world.
8. My parents local coffee roasters  is Greencastle Coffee Roasters and they have a million teas and coffees and they are mostly delicious.  Perhaps a couple of pounds of something delicious that he wouldn't buy for himself

Giving, For Brothers

My Rad brother is basically the raddest of them all. If you have to buy a present for your brother you should probably just buy them my brother's cd. Slightly psychotic sisterly plug through with, my brother is a hard guy to shop for. I don't bother to buy him music unless it's something he's asked for, he doesn't play sports or drink liquor so there go all the paraphernalia that goes with that. For my mega hip brother these are the things I'm keeping my eyes on.*

1. Music, not so much but music STUFF? Yes. Bear Speakers
2. Last year in his dorm he had antlers borrowed from his girlfriend's brother, he had to return them when they broke up so maybe some ebayed antique antlers would be groovy.
3. Requested music, Melody's Echo Chamber CD
4.  Presents you can eat are always a good bet and these have the added advantage of combining coffee and chocolate, Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans
5.  My brother has been known to wear extremely large fair isle sweaters from goodwill and reply to everything we say in his best nordic 'yah'.  And this is gorge -  Fair Isle Sweater
6.   Fancy Soap for shaving etc from Etsy is right up my hipster brother's alley.
7.  In highschool my brother wore a blazer to football games with a giant striped wool hat (with pom pom) and he's always been a well dressed guy.  Last year I did my best to knit him a tie but this year maybe I'll just buy this one.
8.  This year, as evidenced by my own Christmas list, I am obsessed with vintage collegiate pennants. The ones I found for my brother's school on ebay were a gorgeous dark red colour.
9. Every year there is always one sister who gets to give him what he really wants.  A Starbucks gift-card.  It keeps him happy and warm and caffeinated for months.  Which is really all we want to do for him anyway.


Don't worry, he would never in a million years look at my blog.  I am constantly whining "why don't you looooooove me?" at him.  It gets about as poisitive a response as you'd think.

Giving, For Sisters

I'm lucky enough to have three younger sisters (I'm Uno, then we have Dos, Tres and Quatro. Its an imperfect system.).  They are smart, gorgeous and the most fun.  If I wasn't living off of student loans I would buy them all the things.  Here are just a few:

1. For Quatro I'd love to get Blood Bones and Butter.  She's just learning to cook and Gabrielle Hamilton makes me want to run away and open a restaurant.

2. For Dos, I would get this fancy looking necklace from the Accessorize in the train station.  It's beautiful.

3.  I've been stalking this "I'm Outdoorsy" Print for years,  it's my favourite and I think Tres with her general distaste for the outdoors and her adoration for gin would be very into it.

4. Quatro has also gotten into "real jewelry" recently.  I think she'd love these Kate Spade Bow Earrings.  They are kind of perfect for a sixteen year old, right?

5.  This scarf with our family tartan is so pretty and would keep every single one of us warm.

6. Tres' sorority sisters called her Mama Llama and I think this Llama iPhone Cover would be a good way of giving a shout out to what she calls her 'real sisters'.

7. These Temporary Bunny Tattoos are another that I'd like to get everyone.  I'm always referring to the younger siblings as the 'baby bunnies' which they like to tease me about.  This fall I got us all matching bunny necklaces with a diamond eye.

8. Tres has been on a chocolate covered fruit kick recently.  I think it's such a lovely way of saying that you luff someone, Chocolate Strawberries.

9. Dos is a costume designer in Dallas and she is always wearing high wasted, Katherine Hepburn pants and children's dresses as shirts and I think pink Butter Nail Polish is insanely stylish and Butter is wooooooonderful.

10. Quatro needs a Foxy Sweater.  She has fox prints on her wall and is young enough that a hipster fox sweater looks cool and not trying too hard (ahem, unlike me).

What are you favourite gifts for wonderful sisterly people?

Wedding Season

We've reached the season of weddings.  Maybe it's our age but all of a sudden everyone is getting married.  Not a wedding last summer and David is in two this summer, and I'm doing a reading in another and am deeply embroiled in bridesmaid duties for a forth.   It's very exciting (and expensive! why do all of our friends live a million miles from us?) and a bit chaotic.   My favourite wedding gift right now is vintage maps.  We've bought two recently (and another for David).  Ebay has a bunch for under twenty bucks (or $7 and I'm way into parenthesis today huh?) and when framed up all purdy they look gorge.  Of course I also am going to buy a couple of toasters for the biddies who like their registries.

 Now if I were only comfortable wearing the same thing to all the weddings...

P.S.

From David's shower we got a million funky things, the funkiest being Ina Garten's Back to Basics (straight up mad love) and this absolutely preposterous electric bottle opener (which we will not be returning no matter how much David tries) and my favourite of all? We got a little cooler and some funky beach towels (not these but equally funky) and glasses and a summer's supply of lemonade mix. Somewhere the six year old Hannah rejoices.

Presents

Even though you get to pick a fair amount of your own presents when you get married it's still so exciting when they start arriving. My uncle in Germany sent us this Martha Bowl and someone's gone and bought the nicest cake stand (but it hasn't arrived yet so I don't know who). I get all surprised and giggly about the presents. It's nice to get the things that are going to make our home, we dont have a fruit bowl, we don't have a cake stand, we don't have forks and knives and glasses so the wedding gifts are, as Meg has said, a barn raising.