Nov 26, 2013 | Uncategorized
I despise shopping for the most part, but these sweet spots in central Arkansas make it much easier to shop local.
Here are my favorites for this year:
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| Photo from the Box Turtle website |
This is the coolest store on Kavanaugh with a mix of local artist’s work as well as fun things they’ve found in market. Great clothes, gifts, cards, cool jewelery, and more! Great t-shirts by my friend Erin of shop E.L.L. can be bought here! (hint-hint)
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| Photo from Shop E.L.L.’s etsy page |
We’ve lost pretty much all of our local toy stores in Little Rock except for this store. It’s a great little toy store in the Pleasant Ridge Town Center. Very helpful employees will wrap your gifts or make a gift registry for you. My boys love that there are so many toys on display that you can test out before you buy!
Arkansas’ first legal distillery since prohibition is new (opened in 2010) but has already won national and worldwide acclaim with it’s delightful spirits. Almost every aspect and ingredient is made in Arkansas, from barrels to grains. (I’ll be posting more about them soon!)
Some great picks:
The super cool American Whiskey Aging Kit comes complete with a tiny barrel (handmade in Arkansas) to age your whiskey to your taste.
The Moonshine Sampler Pack is a fun gift with Grape, Peach, Blackberry Cobbler and Apple Pie versions of Arkansas Lightning. (My hubby loved the Apple Pie on the rocks!)
You can buy at better liquor stores in Arkansas or at the RockTown Distillery itself, which is located close to Heifer Project headquarters downtown. (Fun tour if you have the time!)
Run by the Friends of the Central Arkansas Library system (and in the
Rivermarket district) this store not only sells gently used library and
donated books, but also some quite unique gifts for readers and
thinkers. Also some fantastic art galleries (with some art for sale.) Get a
cup of coffee at the counter inside and browse!
- Arkansas Institute Studies Art Gallery
Another gem in the Rivermarket district- you might not have realized
that this is a free art gallery with most of the work being for sale (by
Arkansas artists!) Jewelry, hand turned woodwork, books,
hand knitted scarves, pottery- they’ve got it!
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Clinton Museum Store
No matter what your political affiliation, the Clinton museum store has
something for you! Books, handmade jewelery, recycled presents,
and more. Not actually inside the museum, but in the Rivermarket
district. (More great museum gift shops in the area include- Museum of
Discovery, MacArthur Military Musuem gift shop, Old Statehouse Museum
gift shop, and the Arkansas Arts Center gift shop.)
The Heifer project is not only a cool place to visit, but houses a
wonderful gift shop. They have lovely gifts and neat things from around the world. While
you are there tour the center and think about getting a gift that keeps
on giving- animal donations for people in need around the world. Great
organization. Our family registers online now and gives animals
instead of gifts to ourselves.
Another sweet friend opened this store a couple of years ago on Kavanugh and it’s become “the place” for fashionistas. I love how they group clothing by colors and ideas so even the fashion challenged like me can look good! It’s also not expensive (which as a mom of a teenage daughter I LOVE!) This week they are offering 40% off STOREWIDE at several of their stores so make sure to stock up on gifts! (Did I mention she has a Little Rock, Conway, and Fayetteville store now?)
Once on Kavanaugh, this amazing antique store is now located on South Main Street in the SOMA district of Little Rock. I love browsing (and buying) in this chic, but affordable store! My son has a great antique school map on his wall that we bought there for $20! While you’re there make sure to check out…
Also in SOMA, this quaint little store has great local gifts, all eco-friendly! Also the home of Loblolly Creamery (get some and tour the Bernice Gardens nearby!)
Support your local businesses! Where are some of your favorite places to shop locally?
Nov 20, 2013 | Motherhood
Last month I had an ultrasound to check and make sure all was well…
It is, and it’s a GIRL!
I really didn’t care if we had a girl or boy,
but secretly leaning towards the female side (just to even out the team.)
We were going to have a Gender Reveal at dinner to tell our kids, my mom, and hubby’s parents
that night…
I had great plans of making cute Pinterest-found cupcakes with cute fondant toppers and
pink icing in the middle,
BUT
Dance happened. E is getting ready for Swan Lake AND Nutcracker so it just didn’t happen.
Instead I ordered an all white cake with pink filling from a local bakery.
BUT
On the way home the entire top layer slid off!
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| Cake after I attempted to fix it- Pink was showing through sides though! |
(They hadn’t put dowels in the cake and it was three layers with LOTS of filling.)
With an hour to spare I managed to come up with this:
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| Tiny Take-Out Boxes |
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| Filled with PINK Sixlet Candy |
We asked everyone to open them at the same time and it served the purpose!
The kids were so excited (finally!)
I’m officially more than 1/2 way there now…
21 weeks!
19 to go til we meet her!
Nov 20, 2013 | Florida, Travel, United States
Part 2 of Fall Break Fun with a Mouse!
On this trip, since we were doing things other than Disney,
we decided to only spend two days in the Disney parks.
We let the kids pick their favorites and they chose
(of course!)
The Magic Kingdom was having “Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party” on most of the nights that we were there, but we picked a night when it wasn’t happening so that we’d get to see the fireworks.
We chose not to go mainly because:
- For the party ticket it costs quite a bit more
- My kids are allergic to most candy and I didn’t want to fight them
There was a lot of construction going on in the MK, some was finished and new
areas were there since we’d been four years ago.
One new thing was the Beauty and the Beast castle and “Be Our Guest” restaurant.
I really was looking forward to eating there after reading some reviews-
Verdict? Not even the kids were impressed!
In their words:
“They don’t have it together yet.” (on ordering)
“Basically a cafeteria with GPS to get you your food.” (8 yr old)
“Cool ambiance but awful food.”
“Almost no options for vegetarians.”
“We waited for this and I’m still hungry.”
I’m excited about the new Snow White castle going in across from it- they will have a runaway mine car ride!
My oldest finally got to ride the Dumbo ride. She had been bugging me saying this was the third time she’d been and she HAD to ride the Dumbo ride (lines were too long the other times.)
Lines were non-existent and she got to ride it a couple of times I think!
It was so neat that all of my kids were old enough to ride anything- they had so much fun!
Kids’ favorites:
- The Pirate Adventure Scavenger hunt- very neat & interactive. (Gave us some time to drink something and put our feet up while they did that a couple of times.)
- Splash Mountain- youngest is making me read him the Uncle Remus stories now
- Tom Sawyer Island- they didn’t want to leave this part!
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (we were stuck on this one awhile but the game still worked so they were happy!)
- Space Mountain
Funny thing- we said we were jinxed because at least six of the rides we went on
got stuck when we were on them!
The second park the kids chose was the Animal Kingdom:
I secretly was hoping for Epcot since it was the Food and Wine Festival,
I do love Animal Kingdom.
It seems like a break from the rush of the other parks.
Very pretty and rides were great for older kids (and hubby.)
There were no lines at all in AK and they got to ride Expedition Everest probably 15 times in a row!
We ate in the Yak & Yeti restaurant and were disappointed again.
Think I’d do the fast food stuff there if I had it to do over.
One good thing was that this park closed at 5:30, which meant we had to take it a bit easy!
(And being pregnant I appreciated that for one day!)
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| Getting souvenirs in Downtown Disney |
Nov 17, 2013 | Florida, Travel, United States
My kids go to a “year round” school, which means we get a lovely break in the fall.
So, the last week in September/first in Oct. we took a trip to Orlando.
Our first outing was to Legoland-so much fun!
This new one in Florida
is located in the old Cypress Gardens park
so it’s not only fun, but
beautiful.
There were NO lines at all so the kids rode everything they wanted over and over.
Our next adventure was to Universal Studios
and then Universal Islands of Adventure
I wish we’d had more time to stop and pick oranges when we drove out to Legoland. There are beautiful U-Pick orchards and it looked like it would have been fun.
We ate in Mythos in Islands of Adventure which I’d heard good things about on Universal fan websites. It was better than anything else we ate in any of the parks, but the service was not the best. (Pretty much everywhere in Orlando the service was slack though.) The frozen butterbeer was a hit in Harry Potter World. My eleven year old was chosen at Olivander’s for the wand selection, which he’d been hoping for before we left. Made his vacation I think! (Hint, if you’re in line try to not get next to other eleven/twelve year olds as they pick those kids for the “chosen.”)
I didn’t get to ride much of anything being pregnant, but the kids rode everything they wanted at all of the parks multiple times because the lines were non-existent. The only time it took was the time it took them to walk to the front of the ride! Perfect time to go to Orlando!
Next time I’ll tell you about
the Magic Kingdom
&
Animal Kingdom!
Deals in Orlando:
*I found a smoking hot deal online on the Legoland website before we left- kids were free plus they got a free Chima Lego set which was over a $20 value.
*Plane fare from LR to Orlando? Try Allegiant Airlines, direct flight. Cheap- but we aware that they charge you to sit together and also for each carry on and checked bag. They are 1/2 price if you check bags at home online. Pack light!
*Universal Studios tickets were cheaper when bought online ahead of time. I printed them before we left and walked right in.
*Disney doesn’t give a discount for buying tickets ahead of time so we didn’t, and didn’t have any trouble buying them at the park. Their sales people are very helpful in figuring out which pass is best for you.
*Coupon in tourist book for Wonderworks which equaled over $10 off I believe. The kids loved that place.
*Be ready to spend lots of money for subpar food. Nothing besides chains really and service is horrific in Orlando. If we had driven I’d probably had taken a cooler and snacks/lunch to the parks. It’s easy to shell out over $100 just for fast lunch there. Next time…
*I found a great hotel deal on Groupon at the Embassy Suites Lake Buena Vista. Fantastic
price, cheaper than anything else I’d found and free breakfast, happy
hour, snacks, and movies in the pool! With a family of 5 the Embassy
Suites is a usually a nice choice. The location was fantastic too-
right by Lake Buena Vista so we were close to the Disney and Universal
resorts.
Nov 1, 2013 | Arkansas, Motherhood, Travel, United States
School Pumpkin Patch trips,
Fried everything and Turkey legs at the Arkansas State Fair,
Zombies at the zoo,
Fall Fest at school,
Trick or Treaty fun,
and Candy meltdowns!
Even with our vacation this month,
October wore me out!
How about you?
Adios, October- Hola, November!
