The holiday season around our house is always a little different than other families! My mom celebrates Christmas, but my Dad, Sister, and I are Jewish so we celebrate Hanukkah. We end up basically celebrating both holidays in varying degrees. This year was super special, as Hanukkah and Christmas truly overlapped. (Hanukkah changes every year.)
Quite a few years ago, we were vacationing in the Florida Keys. In between being out on the boat and eating tons of fish, we would sit around and watch hours (I mean, hours) of "The OC" as a family. We got hooked on the concept of Chrismukkah and started incorporating it into our Decembers.
Because this year was a true Chrismukkah, we really went all out. My dad's side of the family lives in Florida, so they drove to our house to celebrate on Christmas night as well as a few family friends. We had traditional Jewish brisket (not me though... vegetarian!) and latkes. The dessert table was a true mix of Christmas and Hanukkah. We made sufganiyots and had tons of sugar cookies.
Instead of buying everyone lots of presents, we have a $2 gift "contest." (We calculated for inflation and raised the limit to $3 this year though!) Everyone brings a gift that's less than the limit to give to everyone. Trust me, we start planning for this in July... trying to find the perfect gift! I am personally a fan of super easy scratch off tickets though!
Our holiday traditions are always fun and always low-key. No one is stressed on Christmas! Win-win!
xoxo
C
Francesca Joy is an awesome designer out of Florida that has some beautiful hand-painted pieces. These products depict everything about the ocean, relaxation, and a finer life while maintaining a down-to-earth quality.
Francesca Joy offers a wide array of totes, iphone cases, shirts, shorts, and wristlets all featuring her signature brush-stroke designs.
I personally am a huge fan of her anchor print:
Don't you just LOVE the lobsters! These iPhone 4 cases make me drool to get an iPhone 4 just to have it! they're $40 on her etsy account.
I recently had the opportunity to communicate with the founder and designer Elise Fargnoli. Check out what she had to say about starting her company:
When did you first decide to start your company?
In February of 2010, I had just had my work represented by a gallery in Chelsea, NY (Agora) and was seeking a new way to sell "Art"- introduce it to the fashion world on another level, with a non-jaded perspective. I feel as though inexperience is creativity.
What is your inspiration?
Passion, color, 1960's & 1970's- the time, the music, the people. My biggest inspiration is probably rock and roll. I love music, and I love fashion- the feminine affect on something contrasting like rock- how to marry the two in 2011 has to be fresh, and a mix up of a million different feelings, emotions, colors, and experiences. That is what creates the fresh, and the new. I am very inspired by whimsical art- the unexpected that doesn't try too hard. I saw two exhibits this year that made me want to push Francesca Joy to every level I could- Tim Buton in L.A. and Alexander McQueen in NYC. Two extraordinary artists.
Where did you first develop your style?
Style is somewhere- somewhere there and then you figure out what you want to do with it. It comes and goes and I chose to awaken it with the development of the things I knew how to do--If I draw an anchor it is just going to come out the way you see it. I prefer to paint because I see things- the shadows, the dimension with color. The only way I'll know how to draw or paint something is what it will always be- so the anchors, the whimsical designs you see are simply the only way I know how to interpret. It then becomes yours- your style.
What do you hope your products will convey about yourself and your style?
A mix of different personalities, feelings, and ambitions. Something should never be just "one"- we shouldn't limit ourselves. Francesca Joy offers a mix of preppy, rock, and art because that's who I am. It's what I listen to, how I dress, or how I live- I don't know, really. If I was one or the other perhaps this would be a different brand. When you jump into something and don't over analyze it becomes exactly who you are.
What has been the hardest thing about starting your own business?
I learn something new everyday- the lessons are not very easy, and I am young. I also started this on the money I've made selling paintings- when you aren't backed by any money, you have to be even more creative on how you can get something out there- you have to be smart about your branding and a step ahead every minute of the day. You will go without as you have to make your own way. You have to be ambitious, yes, but more importantly, aware. You have to be present- learn from those around you and the mistakes you've made.
What other products do you hope to add to your portfolio?
I wish to expand the current clothing line into a swimwear collection and childrenswear.
Is there anything else you'd like mentioned?
It should make you smile. That's what it's about.
Want to learn more about Francesca Joy? Check them out here:
Hi Megan’s preppy followers!!! I am Liz from midwesternpeach.tumblr.com. I haven’t been blogging lately because I have been so busy with work and just got married in November. I grew up in Lafayette, Indiana (right next to Purdue University). I know Megan and her BF from my Purdue days. My husband and Megan’s BF are really great friends from the fraternity and we were honored to have him in our wedding as a groomsman. I am so excited to share some of my family’s Holiday Traditions with ya’ll!
I was so blessed to have grown up in a family where most of my cousins, aunts, and uncles lived so close. Because of my family all being so close to each other, especially my mom’s side, we always spent Christmas Eve with them. My family and my mother’s side of the family are Catholic, so of course the reason for the season was more than just the gifts. In preparation for Christmas, like most Catholics we would prepare for the Lord’s coming with Advent, which starts the 4th Sunday before Christmas. We always had an advent wreath on the dinning room table which had four candles to represent the four Sundays before Christmas. My mom and I would usually volunteer at the church for families in need so they can have a Christmas, and we would make food for the homeless shelter. I always loved the season. We would go sledding in the snow, drive 2 1/2 hours to Chicago to see the store fronts, and drive around town and see all the lights on the houses. There was even a family that did a huge display of lights out in the country and when I was very young I opened the door to our van and lost my shoe! My dad still reminds me of that today, “I went to look at the lights where you lost your shoe...”
Christmas Eve in our home was always a blast. Every other year we would have Christmas Eve at our house or at my aunt’s house. My mom and her two sisters were always cooking and baking, especially on the holidays. For our main course we would always boil a ton of shrimp and serve with butter and cocktail sauce. Aside from the traditional pies and casseroles, My Aunt Judy always gave the boys of the family homemade beef jerky and I was always so jealous... she would even put it in the White Elephant gift exchange which was always a hit.
Homemade Beef Jerky
This recipe was given to my aunt by my great uncle. They drying method in the recipe reduces the moisture content to around 18% which means the jerky will store at room temperature as long as there is any to be eaten :) Any cut of lean beef can be used. It is very important to select a lean muscle cut and then remove all outside fat. Fat will turn rancid. The easiest cut to use is flank steak.
1 beef flank steak 1/4 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 cup soy sauce 1/4 tsp. lemon pepper
Trim all visible fat from beef. Cut lengthwise with grain into long thin strips, no more than 1/4” thick. Combine soy sauce and seasonings. Pour over beef strips and toss until well coated. Place a wire rack on a baking sheet. Arrange strips on rack to touch, but do not overlap. Bake in a very slow oven (150º-175º) overnight, 10-12 hours. Store finished jerky at room temperature.
*Note beef jerky should not be crisp, if it is, oven is too hot.
Another great hit at all of our holidays are my Aunt Ann’s homemade Caramels. This recipe has been around for 25 years, and they have been made for all the family weddings, even mine!
Caramels
2 1/4 cups brown sugar 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 cup butter 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup light Karo corn syrup
Pinch of salt
In a large saucepan, combine the first 4 ingredients. Cook over medium heat until all the sugar is dissolved. Gradually add milk; mix well. Continue cooking and stirring until candy thermometer reads 240º. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla until blended. Pour into a 9x13” buttered pan. When cool enough, cover with plastic wrap so not to form a skin on the caramels. You can use parchment paper to line pan. When cool, cut into small pieces and wrap in wax paper.
Our favorite part of the night, besides all the food and games of euchre is the White Elephant gift exchange. Each family member brings a wrapped gift. We then draw numbers to determine in what order we take turns choosing gifts. The first person opens a wrapped gift, then the second person chooses whether to open a wrapped gift or "steal" the previously opened gift. If a person has their gift stolen, they also have the option of choosing a wrapped gift or stealing an unwrapped one. And so on... Our family has the rule that a gift can only be stolen three times. There are usually re-gifted items, funny gifts, and sometimes one of the parents will put in something good (case of import beer, family heirloom, beef jerky mentioned earlier, etc). It is more to entertain than get something really good. Some entertaining gifts in the past have been: A box of travel shampoos and conditioners, a beer bong, an ugly shower curtain, or even snuggies.
Now living in Atlanta I am sure I will start some fun traditions with the husband and our dog Stout! I will be spending my first Christmas away from my family and with the in-loves (I like that better than in-laws) for the first time. I will miss my family tons, but I am not going to miss the snow this year!
Happy Holidays, fellow Prep in the Midwest Blog readers. This would be Megan’s soriroity sister, know from previous blogs as JM. Megan asked several of us to do a blog post for the holidays and I told her I would be more than happy to after I finished my Law School Finals. I finished with everything today and I will never ever have to take over the holidays as a full time student and let me tell you finals put a cramp on the holiday season. But finals are over so it now time to get into the Christmas spirit.
Growing up in the Midwest where Christmas Tree farms are plenty and one of the results from that is the annual family tradition of the hunt for the perfect tree. Now for those of you who either have a fake tree or purchase your tree precut, you have never had the privilege of the thrill of the hunt. Since we were little my family….Momma M, Papa M and sister SM have gone on this yearly trek and you have to understand there are certain qualifications for any tree we consider. It must have a straight trunk, it can be no taller than 8 feet, and it must pass Momma M’s hug test (if she can’t get halfway around the tree its too fat. Only once in my life have we not all gone and that was when Momma M was sick and couldn’t go….SM and I were still young so we had not bee fully schooled in “the hunt” and we failed. It was the fattest tree we have ever had and was almost too big for the area in the old house. Now the hunt is no something short, one year when SM and I were both in college or SM had just graduated we went to three, yes three different farms to find the perfect tree. It is no uncommon for it to take half a day as we trek over 10-15 acre large tree farms. We normally get it down to a couple of trees and then Momma M has to compare them which means normally SM, Pappa M, and I got left at our top three picks to guard them while Momma went between them. Finally when we had reach a unanimous decision (ok really it was Momma’s call at the end of the day) we all assumed our designated roles which we have had since I was 8 years old or so. Pappa would of course cut it down and Momma, SM and I use to hold it but after I hit 12 it was strictly my job. Pappa and I would carry the tree, SM would carry the handsaw, and Momma the measuring pole.
When SM and I were at Purdue we normally wrangled dinner out of Momma and Papa before they went home. Momma would put lights on it, normally around 1,000-1,200 lights, and when we got home we would decorate it. We are at no shortage of ornaments as Grandma M has gotten SM and me an ornament every year since we were born, so right there we have 4 dozen or more. We also have ornaments friends have given the family, several glass balls from my parent’s first tree together, ones from my parent’s childhood and even some that belonged to Momma’s grandparents. The only time we don’t go on “the hunt” for a Christmas tree is when we go to Florida and then I have to make do with a fake one….but throw in a beach and I can deal.
This is the first year I was not home to decorate but I think they did a great job and Momma saved a couple of ornaments for me to put on when I head home next week.
This is the first year I was not home to decorate but I think they did a great job and Momma saved a couple of ornaments for me to put on when I head home next week. A picture of the finish product that Momma sent me.
Over the years we have had scotch pines, white pine, Douglas fir and Frasier fir trees. I have to admit Fraser firs are hands down my favorite and have been our tree of choice for the past 8 years. Which is your favorite?
Scotch Pine
White Pine
Douglas Fir
Fraser Fir
I wish you happy holidays and I hope you get to sit around your Christmas Tree on Christmas morning whether it be a fake one, one you got precut or one you spent hours hunting with your family!
Tucker Blair is now a fairly established, quality needle point belt company founded out of Washington DC. Their owner/founder/designer, Taylor Llewellyn, is based around Georgetown (not too far from College Prepster herself!).
He creates a quality product, at a reasonable price, while maintaining his original ideals and designs. Taylor created a product based around the classic scenes of New England and the Northeast, such as these lobsters:
With my Derby Party likely to sneak up on me again this year, I'm already thinking about it with this great horse race scene belt:
But especially around these holidays, this Santa Taxi Belt seems especially appropriate:
And speaking of just in time for the holidays... Taylor has generously provided a 20% discount to all you fabulous readers! Just use coupon code: prepinthemidwest
on your next purchase! Get those holiday orders in fast! Only a few days left!
I had also asked Taylor how he got started and about his inspiration. Check out what he had to say:
When did you first decide to start your company?
Summer of 2007, I was working in DC for another company. I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. I loved needle point belts and thought there was an opportunity in the market. I thought it was a great product niche that I could jump into, and there was a space in the market for these really cool belts. It wasn’t until May of 2008 that we sold our first product. It took a while to find a source overseas. I was just sitting down with a pad of paper and pen drawing out my ideas.
What is your inspiration regarding your designs? The whole company, and especially the design process, has been a huge learning curve. We started out with 12 designs, some of which remain the most popular today. The American flag, the lobsters they’re designs that remind people of what they love most. From golfing to American flags. The designs have become much better over the years with the addition of designer Chris George. We take a lot of customer input because if we get enough demand it becomes a standard product. Now we’re at over 100 patterns that keep getting better and better. I feel there’s a huge opportunity to make even more.
Where did you first develop your style?
I grew up outside of San Francisco; I was born there and went to college there. It’s not typically thought of as a preppy enclave. My parents are both from the East coast and that helped me develop my preppy roots. We’re very much east coast centric. A lot of the patterns are very much, and a lot of the inspiration is derived from, Cape Cod and DC. I went to college in the Northeast; I went to Colgate. However, one of our largest demographics is the Southeast; we sell a lot of product down there. That kind of fratty-preppy style is even stronger down there. It’s also very strong in the northeast. It’s also very divisive by defining our demographic, and you see a lot of the country club set in the northeast. It’s a very niche preppy product that a lot of people are put off by. You see a lot of those pockets of people around the country. And those are the types of people that we target. It’s a self selecting group.
What do you hope your products will convey about yourself and your style?
I hope they covey eccentricity and reverence. If someone’s going around with Nantucket red pants and a needle point belt, they’re clearly trying to draw attention to themselves, I mean I do. It’s the same kind of way that people are trying to dress hipster, alternative, that’s the same way people wear our belts, they’re trying to convey something.
What has been the hardest thing about starting your own business?
It’s been very challenging. I have no fashion experience, so to speak. It’s just been a huge learning curve. I’m also on a shoe string budget. I’m just trying to grow customers and develop sales. It’s just very hard. I have a much better appreciation for entrepreneurs. It’s a very inventory intensive business; very capital intensive. It’s hard to put all this money into inventory and then market to customers in the hopes that they will buy your business. I think I’ve made just about every mistake I could possibly make while starting this thing. I look back at some of the decisions I made along the way, and just thankfully have made enough of the right decisions.
What other products do you hope to add to your portfolio?
Over the years we’ve looked at offering other products, from headbands to polos to non-needle point belts, but we’ve just realized our niche is the classic needle point. I’m always evaluating the idea of other needle point products, but at the same time I’m still sensitive to keeping true to what we are, a cool niche belt company.
How would you define today's 'Preppy' and how do you think it compare to the preppy past
decades?
Lisa Burnbach wrote the official preppy handbook, but I think it’s like a country club type, beach style. It’s timeless, and doesn’t look any different from your grandparents to a few generations after that. It exudes a life style: golf, tennis, sailing, and eating lobster. It’s a small category; I see it a lot because I live in Georgetown because it’s one of the preppier places. Vineyard Vines is probably one of the largest
Want to learn more about Tucker Blair? Check them out here:
This past weekend started busy. This past week has been filled with holiday parties, and Friday continued the trend. I had a Birthday/Christmas party over in the western burbs for a girlfriend from work. It was an interesting place. I say the 'i' word because it was kind of a local bar, and in fact if BF would've come, I'm sure he would've seen a lot of old high school peeps.
The Lodge was having 7th Heaven, a local Chicago band, playing. They pretty good cover and I've actually seen them before at Rib Fest.
Overall great evening.
I woke up Saturday morning to our first measurable snow fall of the season.
Saturday evening, BF took me on a bit of a date night. BF had gotten a groupon for Chen's up by Wrigleyville a while back and it expires over Christmas. We made our way on the LONGEST bus ride EVER, for a night dinner. I will forewarn anyone who thinks this would be a good place to go, they charge... A LOT... like unnecessarily so. I'm not a cheapskate by any means, but $4.50 for a hot tea is a bit much. Especially when they charged that per person.
Afterward we grabbed a cab to catch the zoo lights down at Lincoln Park zoo. Each year, ComEd (the electric company around here) puts on this free event for the Chicago area. It's really nice to just walk around and enjoy the music while admiring all the lights.
They set up colored light trees over the sea lion exhibit that change to music!
They even had an ice sculpting exhibit! Check out that cool Moose!
The evening was topped off by awesome Hot Chocolate and Christmas specials.
Sunday was a much more relaxing day. BF had to attend a baptism of a fraternity brother's new beautiful little girl. I had some errands to run including trying to locate a gloriously heinous holiday outfit for our office party on Tuesday. (Mel - I love you, but threatening people with paying for the party for not wearing an ugly sweater is somewhat unfair when our own company doesn't even SELL these things!). I spent the afternoon/evening doing laundry/ wrapping gifts/ cleaning/ and writing this blog.
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.
AND DON'T FORGET:
TODAY'S THE LAST DAY TO ENTER THE CHICAGO BELT GIVEAWAY!
