Things I Love Thursday: Christmas Shopping

So I've seen this sort of thing on several blogs? Me likey. I think I'm going to give it a shot, post once a week on my favorite little things at the moment. Now I can't promise it's gonna happen every stinkin' Thursday, but I shall do my best.


Which is mediocre, in case you were wondering.


First time out, I'm going to go with the holiday spirit and give you my most favoritest places to shop for Christmas gifts. I mean, we all love a good gift certificate or sweater from The Gap, but for that unique little thing for the hard-to-buy-for? You gotta get creative.


Fortunately, downtown Lawrence doesn't let me down in most situations. Let's call this an Endorsement to come for a visit, yes? I have no problem taking someone shopping! Or - I've linked up to some brands and stores mentioned, I bet you can find them near you, or at least follow the links online if you're interested.

So let's get started, shall we? In no particular order...



The Toy Store - for the dear little kiddos in your life, there is nowhere better to get some toy goodness, in my opinion. It's huge, and full of quirky, classic, and collectible toys. Think of it this way: it's everything they don't have at Toys R Us. They carry all the hipster European toy brands, like Haba. They have every toy imaginable as well, rows upon rows of dolls and bath toys and train sets and make-believe goodies. Shelves of stuffed animals that reach to the ceiling inhabit one corner, and a basement level with nothing but children's books. Heaven! This year I snagged Melissa & Doug sets, Ugly Dolls, Schylling vintage tin robots, and tons upon tons of their unique book sets. This place rocks for the younger set.

Bloom Bath & Body - lotions and soaps and soaks, oh my! This pretty and tiny little shop is a girlie girl's dream: simple glass bottles in pretty pastels, with gorgeous scents. Walls of lovely French-milled soaps. Sparkly accents abound, and they have a corner devoted to robes and pretty little underthings. It is a bit on the pricey side, but I suggest you check out the Clearance corner for sure: usually scents that are being discontinued, they still smell amazing and can be bought on the cheap and make nice stocking stuffers.

Au Marche - such an eclectic little shop that somehow pulls it all together. If asked what they are all about, I could tell you that they are a chocolate shop, a purveyor of french bath products, a European market with not just shelves full of staples but also a cold case of German sausages and English cheeses and French pates... They have a bit of everything, maybe we'll just leave it to that. I love to run in there to get Italian sauces, to grab an authentic spaetzle, to snag some Vosges and Christopher Elbow chocolates. Their treats make perfect little bits to pad a gift basket or hell - make one from all of their hard-to-find goodies while you're there, they carry boxes specifically for that purpose.

The Bay Leaf - oh, one of my favorites. This place has a special place in my heart, and would be the best little shop to pick up something for your favorite cook or baker. Or coffee/tea lover: they have a counter dedicated to specialty coffees and teas, as well as the perfect tea or coffee vessel. Their shop carries Emile Henry and Le Crueset as well as Wuesthof knives, all fitting gifts for the serious chef in your life. They also have tons of things for the casual baker or cook in this posh little shop: shelves and shelves of glassware and servingware, gourmet foodstuffs, every baking pan and specialty cake pan you can imagine, kitchen gadgets galore, and the coolest thing is their demo and class kitchen, which takes up the back of the store. It is gorgeous, with professional stoves/ovens, tasteful muted colors/counters, and mirrors angled over the appliances and countertops for participants to see every move made by the teacher. They also sell gift certificates for classes, by the way, which make a great gift as well.

Blue Dandelion - the place to pick up a few pretty things for those boutique babies. I love everything in here, I must admit. Everything you've ever seen in Cookie mag is probably in here: Hatley and BabyLegs, and Appaman and Tea Collection in their apparel room. Me-in-Mind, See Kai Run, and PediPed shoes in the loft area. Aden + Anais swaddlers, Trumpette socks, Fleurville bags, Boon feeding sets, MacLaren strollers, and Dwell bedding. And European toys. And delicate infant jewelry. And sweet baptismal sets... Um. Let's just say I can't go in here without buying at least some little thing for the Peter man. I have a problem, I am aware.

The Phoenix Gallery - this is a great little gallery with reasonably-priced artwork by locals and regional artists alike. Pottery, glassworks, jewelry, prints; they have a bit of everything in here. The kind of place where you'll find that unique little one-of-a-kind piece for the person who has everything. I can't tell you the number of times I've picked up their wind chimes or pottery for my parents, jewelry for the girlies in my life, delicate glass ornaments for friends. Great little shop.

Free State Brewery - now, you didn't think I'd make it through a list of Christmas shopping without mentioning my dear husband's version of Mecca, did you? I am happy to say that for the beer lover in your life, they sell several products emblazoned with their logo, including t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and pint glasses. They also sell gift certificates, you know. And growlers of their beer make the perfect little stocking stuffer. Or so my husband tells me.

Weekly Update 12.13.09

Sooo... You know how, around the holidays, you're so busy and you have that one go-to recipe that takes two seconds to pull together as a hot meal because you have no time to do anything else? Like a nice pasta carbonara (hmmm, that post was during the holidays too, how surprising).

Anyway. This post? It's like the pasta carbonara of posts. Quick. Easy. Hopefully filling.

Peter doots turned 6 months old. Half a year! Our teeny newborn baby! Half a year! Gawd, pass the wine.

Scott brewed and bottled beers. I worked out again with Anna. There was a nice snow storm (well, 3 inches of snow and ice and other fun stuff). Fun for driving! Unfortunately I didn't get any fun pictures of it. Next snow I will, I promise... For now, console yourself with a picture of Peter in the bath.

Saturday was baking and dough-making for me. Scott played a bunch with the doots. I took a picture of our dear son sleeping after he went to bed that night, because seriously - how cute are kids when they do that whole sleeping-with-butts-in-the-air thing??

Sunday Scott spent the day with Paulo, doing man stuff (like watching football and talking about their fantasy football dorkhood, I'd imagine). Peter and I hung out, made some more candy, finished Christmas cards, tried to charm the camera whenever it was around...

Um, and we kinda sorta maybe starting crawling. Kinda. It's more like a rocking/scooting thing. But boy, he's already getting around the house and into all sorts of things. Time to baby proof, yikes. Refill that wine glass again, please.

The Eldridge's Gingerbread House Festival

Oh, the city Gingerbread Festival. All ages, from 5 years old to adults, join in on the fun. The Gingerbread houses are displayed for a few days, then auctioned off for charity.

We went to see them for the first time this year, and I must say: I loved it, loved it. More about it here, if you are interested.

I took a bunch of pictures (yeah, shocking I know). Here are some of my favorite little houses, pictures aren't edited but you'll still dig them I promise.

Enjoy :)


The detail was amazing. Check out the view inside this one:

Our real estate agent Tanya (who is awesome, by the way) participates every year. This was her submission for this year, it made the front window display:

I don't know what's Christmas-y about pirates to this little kid, but I like it.

NASA-inspired.

Santa: Land Here!

Rooftop pools, how decadent.

This one? Was my favorite. Tanya's husband Greg submitted it this year. It's the house from Up! Super duper cool, the detail was amazing.

Weekly Update 12.06.09

Um, busy week! The holiday season is officially upon us, because it seems that every night there's something going on or something to do...

Weeknights were busy. I went for a nice, long walk one night with my chum Anna (and now we have a workout date for once a week, woohoo!). We headed to downtown KC one evening to do our ordering session with The Solars. I had a baby shower and a bridal shower to attend, for dear coworkers of mine. In-between that, it was shopping and decorating and getting together packages to mail out this weekend. Whew!

The weekend was super-duper fun, lots of fun family stuff. I remembered my camera for that stuff, so pictures are below.


First off: we headed to the Lawrence Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade on Saturday. Paulo came to town for the day, so we were able to hang out, great fun! They started things off with a fly over:



The weather was... well, cold. Pretty darn cold. We made sure Peter was snug and bundled up, and then we added a blanket for good measure.

The city parade is unique in that it is truly "old fashioned" - only horses and horse-drawn carriages allowed. Everyone dresses up their horses, selves, and carriages for the season.



When he decided to stop people-watching and actually check out the parade, baby doots was curious about the horses:

After the parade, we checked out the Holiday Mart at the Arts Center with Paulo and his friend Katie. It was cool, full of lots of handmade pottery, jewelry, woodworking, and prints. Also crowded (made us wish we brought the baby Bjorn instead of the stroller, that's for sure). Then we parted ways, Paul and Katie off to shop and us off to see Santa and check out the gingerbread houses.

We visited Santa at Weavers it was a wee bit anti-climatic. Peter was not happy, not sad, in fact didn't even realize he was on a stranger's lap. Meh. Next year, we'll get a more-exciting Santa shot. Next year.

Then we were off to The Eldridge Extended for the Gingerbread Festival and Auction. Every year, the Eldridge hosts a Gingerbread Festival, everyone is invited to submit. The houses are
open to public viewing before they are sold at auction, with all money going to charity. Cool, cool, cool. More posted here, you can kinda see my favorite in this picture...

Again - we were regretting the stroller in the crowded space. Peter couldn't see anything from his view, either, but hung in there like a champ. Afterwards we headed the Free State way, to get some grub. And who did we run into but Paulo again... So we all sat together and had a nice long lunch.

Good sport that he is, Paulo busted out the Ugly Christmas Sweater for the occasion, so that he and Peter would match.

Our son is a shameless flirt. As usual, he wooed the women over to come coo at him (and ask if they could hold him). I had no idea boy babies were so flirty, honestly. The things you learn when you have a kid...

Peter shared a plate of goulash with me.

Sunday was a little more laid back, I finished pulling together packages and then got them off in the mail to be sent on Monday. Peter and I did shopping and I worked on holiday cards. We did the usual weekend catch up (laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning...).

And Sunday was St. Nick's Day, so Peter got a little bag of goodies from St. Nick in true Kemmeter tradition. The best part was these mesh food-holder thingies, perfect for the kid who wants to try feeding himself but isn't quite ready for big bites...

Mmm, apples.

See ya next week.

6 Months Old - The Slideshow

Weekly update to be posted soon, but first I need to acknowledge the hard-to-admit truth - Peter's One-Half birthday is today.

Six months already, really? Oof. And yet, I love what a sweet little baby he's grown to be. So darn cheerful, always smiling and giggling and cooing. It is such an over-used cliche, but - we really don't know what we'd do without that goofy, happy little man hanging around.

Today, in honor of this special day, Peter was rocking on his hands and knees, and then took a few tentative (shaky, falling-over) crawls across the floor. Oh, but I believe we are in for it, folks.

In honor of this momentous occasion, I give you: Peter through the months, from Day 1 to this evening.

Enjoy.

Peter's 6-Month Portraits

Josh and Jenny Solar (of Solar Photographers fame) were burning the midnight oil, and got teasers from Peter's 6-month portrait session on their blog already. Talk about dedicated!

Some of our favorites follow... Well, who am I kidding - we love 'em all, it was hard to pick which ones to post here! Head over to the Solar's blog to see more (clicky click here). Thanks a million Josh and Jenny, you captured our little robot perfectly :)