joyeux

photo by my lovely sister  

Small Business Saturday

In honor of Small Business Saturday, I want to share a handful of my favorite small businesses with you. 

I love that when you buy from a small business, you are directly helping out real live people and their families. It's a wonderful feeling knowing that you are actively supporting someone's livelihood and dream and of course, your gifts will be unique and thoughtful rather than just another "thing". 

taproot is a quarterly (ad-free!) magazine filled with inspiring stories, poetry, photography and so much more. In their words it is 'by and for people living fully and digging deeper'.

Hip Mountain Mama is the awesome, ecologically conscious purveyor of "Funky Style for Free Spirits" 

{use code 'thankful' for 15% off through Monday}

Laura Emily's good earth living is a selection of beautiful, holistically-minded e-courses ranging from a year-long Apothecary Circle to a week of one-on-one focus meant to cultivate balance during the holiday season. She is also donating 15% of her proceeds to raise $5000 by December 31st to provide water to the developing world.

{use code 'COMMUNITY' for 30% off her courses}

I hope these give you some great ideas! 

Remember etsy is full of great shops and gorgeous vintage and handmade items too.

It's beginning to {smell} a lot like Christmas!

Oh, man! Not to be weird but: My house smells amazing! 

The aroma of a fresh cut evergreen alone is wonderful but this potpourri totally brings the eau de Christmas up a notch.

It literally smells like you're living in a giant apple pie... or something...

Hmm, anyway, I just kind of randomly threw things in the pot that I had on hand that also happen to smell nice so here's my recipe but don't go out and buy stuff if you don't have it. {I'll asterisk what is vital to the mix.}

* 3 cinnamon sticks
* 1 TBSP ground cloves (can also use whole cloves)
* at least one citrus fruit, cut or sliced
(I did one cut up lemon & one orange, sliced)
2-3 bay leaves
dash of nutmeg
dash of pumpkin pie spice
a pinch or two of dried lavender flowers
and I can't remember for sure but I think I added a dash of garam masala, too

Add all above ingredients to a sauce pan and cover with cold water.
Bring to a low simmer and continue simmering throughout the day,
adding more water when it gets low.
I used mine for two days before tossing it into the compost pile.

our advent calendar

I'm a little late in posting this, but you can still do this project! Just shorten it by a few days, maybe 12 Days of Christmas-style.

I've never made an advent calendar before but I kept seeing so many great ideas on other blogs & on pinterest.
I knew my four year old would love it too so I figured, why not?
This is such an easy and inexpensive project. I had a friend use her Cricut for the numbers and I found some pretty snowflake stickers to decorate the paper sacks. Each bag has a little activity, treat and/or small gift. Some, such as the bird feeder project contain the supplies needed.
Here are the activities that are in our bags this year... {advent}.
I am so excited about this and five days into it, so is my daughter! Our first activity was dancing around to Christmas music, so after dinner, we lit a candle & shimmied. Now she thinks every bag has a "party".
My hope is that this becomes a tradition of ours. It's a great way to focus on our little family during this otherwise hectic season.