Maybooks and May Designs

Have you ever heard of Maybooks?  I never had until my sister-in-law gave me one for Christmas (thanks sista)! She gave me one of the Maybooks for new moms, giving me the ability to track breast feeding and different items for the baby.  Since the baby will be here in two weeks or less, I made sure to pull out my Maybook planner and put it in my hospital bag.

Here is how the site works.  You get to pick a lovely design (I love the bikes, and this pattern). Then decide if you want to personalize the planner by adding your name or the gift recipients name to the book. You can customize the typography, color and everything else about the name, initial or monogram added to the cover. Moving on, choose what type of planner you want--this will not be an easy task because you have 16 options to choose from.  There is a kids coloring book, other options are blank and resemble a standard journal, you can pick an exercise log, basic planner, meal planner or in my case, the baby diary.  And there are many other creative and unique options to choose from.

 May Designs, the parents company who created the Maybook offer a variety of other products like stationary, photo books and cards.  These other items are customizable as well.  I love this pattern for some stationarity.  I'm looking forward to using my Maybook baby diary, will let everyone know my thoughts!

P.S. New customers get 20% off!

Hostess Gifts For Any Occasion

Since we have had a few showers recently, I've spent lots of time thinking of appropriate gifts to get the hostesses.  Budget friendly, thoughtful gifts can be hard to find but here are a few ideas:

For the hard working mother of the mommy-to-be:

This gold initial necklace, found on Etsy from the shop Sara Gal Studio, is a thoughtful, affordable and unique gift.  You can use the initials of the gift recipient, or in my case, I put the initials of the three kids in my family since I was gifting this to my mom.  Bonus...you can add more initials if need be (more kids in the family!) and you can customize the length of the chain. Sara Gal Studio was easy to work with and ships right away!


For the best friend:

For the best friend, or brides maids if that is the occasion you are looking for, I purchased this gold-plated initial bar necklace.  Something a bit more modern and youthful, but also personal. Again, another purchase from Etsy, but this necklace is from the shop Custom Brites.  Similar to the shop above, you can customize this necklace with a few different fonts, add more letters and change the length.  Custom Brites was easy to work with and the necklace arrived at my door step a few weeks after I made the order.

For the other friends throwing you a small, casual couples shower:

Continuing with the monogram theme.  Yes, I'm going to a whole other level with the monograms, but I truly think they add a personal touch.  These Anthropologie monogram pouches are currently on sale for $15 and were originally $38!  Not only is that a steal, but for the quality of the pouches, that is money well spent in my opinion.

You can never go wrong with a candle!  Everyone loves candles, but can't always justify the purchase...or at least that is how I feel.  The candles above from Anthropologie smell heavenly.  I also love this scent that I recently discovered and my absolute all-time favorite scent.  

A few other ideas:

-Terrain has a whole section of gifts for "the hostess". It is worth glancing through.  I love this gift idea.

-Can't go wrong with copper.

-Everyone loves a good throw, and these are on sale! Also, a nice way to warm up the winter months with this throw.

-Spa and mani/pedi gift cards are always a hit!

Good luck in your hostess gift endeavors!

Review of Myregistry.com

Two weeks ago we had a big shower that my mom, along with two best friends' mothers hosted.  The shower was beautiful, the food was delicious and a good time was had by all.  For my main registry, I used myregistry.com and had a fairly successful experience with it. But, since this is a review, I have to add a few cons  :)

Pros:

I loved being able to add gifts and desirable items to my registry from all over the web.  I had items from Amazon, Land of Nod, Pottery Barn, Target, etc.  Adding gifts from all different stores allowed me to really get all the necessary items I wanted in one place.  Another bonus...myregistry.com keeps track of all your thank you notes!  It can be a bit of a spoiler in a sense, because you can see who bought what, but it is so nice to have a reliable source to reference as you write your thank you notes. You can also access "inspirational boards" to get ideas about different themes for a nursery or items you want to get.  They also have a tab dedicated to popular items that others are putting on their registries.  This helps you get ideas and see if there are any major things you could be forgetting. Based on my experience, I recommended myregistry.com to a friend who is not using it for her wedding registry.

Cons:

Not everyone invited to your shower, wether it is a wedding or baby shower, will be technically savvy.  I do think there was a bit of a generational curve when it came to purchasing items.  But let's be honest, grandparents are not always going to be the best at using the internet, let alone a registry site.  On myregistry.com you have the ability to "sync" other registries to your myregistry.com page so viewers can see the registries all in one site.  This actually is a pro, but has a con looped into it.  Myregistry.com does not support all other sites.  I was able to sync my Land of Nod and Pottery Barn Kids registries but not my Carter's, which created some confusion with the masses.  Finally, if you wanted to add a bunch of items from one store, make a registry at that store and sync it into myregistry!  This is important because it may be more convenient for some people to go to a store location as opposed to purchasing an item online.

For example, if Aunt Suzie walks into Pottery Barn because she saw a ton of items on your registry from Pottery Barn, she will be out of luck and probably purchase something random for you.  This is because you don't actually have a Pottery Barn registry, you have Pottery Barn items on your registry, which confused Aunt Suzie. Although this point is obvious to some, it is not obvious to others.  So help your attendees out and create several registries to sync into myregistry, it will be more work for you in the beginning, but will help you and your buyers out at the end.

*Why the bottle of Burt's Bee's shampoo?  My mom used some Burt's Bee's baby and Mama Bee items as center pieces on the tables at the shower.  I loved this idea because it gave me practical party favors to take home!

Post Cards

I have a new obsession when it comes to the mail.....post cards!  Post cards have clearly been around for decades, but in the past six months a light bulb went off in my head; post cards are WAY easier to write, they save time (ain't nobody got time for envelopes), and they are cheaper to mail.  Genius!

Knowing that we would have a great deal of thank you notes to write in the upcoming months with the baby on the way and several showers, I went ahead and researched some options.  I chose the post cards about and ordered postcards that could be downloaded, so I would always have access to the pdf.  I purchased the cards above from this store on Etsy. The owner, was sweet and easy to work with.  After purchasing the pdf, I uploaded the postcards to Vistaprint and printed 250 for $32!  I had a coupon code that gave me a discount and provided free shipping, what a deal!  I have already used over 50 of the cards, and I'm sure I will be writing plenty more thank you cards after the baby is born.

Dogs and Babies

Do you have a dog (or two in our case) and have little kids?  What has your experience been introducing them?  We have a baby coming in March and have two dogs....I wonder what their introduction will be like?

 Our two dogs, Boone and Cash, are both sweet but are a tad unwieldy.  Boone is three and has turned into a big lovable boy.  You could squeeze Boone, hug him all day, pull on his hair and he would love you all the more.  Cash is only a year and half and is a bit unpredictable to say the least.  We call Cash our sour patch kid..."first they're sour, then they're sweet".  That phrase describes Cash perfectly.  When you squeeze him, he makes a groaning noise like he is annoyed and hates you and then stares into your eyes and gives you a kiss.  But he is such a little dumpling.

These pictures give me hope that the intros will go well. I can't handle the cuteness.

And this is what I am untimely hoping for. Best friends.

Thank You Notes

We are so thankful to already receive gifts for the baby!  Books, mittens, toys and now Clemson socks (thanks Christie) theses are just a few of the adorable items we have received. Now that we are half way to the due date, being proactive is key.  One thing that I want to cross off my list are thank you notes.  I'm trying to order something cute, unique and inexpensive in bulk.  I want to decide soon-ish so I can start writing!

I've decided to go with a postcard version of a thank you note...the hard part is picking a design! Also, if I choose to order them now, I have to stick with a gender neutral look.

Here are some of my options:

• I do love this printable note....could be a more economical option to just pay for printing?  I will have to price that out
• Another cute option 
• For the tandem bike lover...which I am
• Possibly my favorite

Noonday Collection

Have you heard of the jewelry/accessories company called Noonday Collection?  They have unique and beautiful items that are all made in third world countries, creating opportunities for people to provide for themselves and their families when there may be no other option.

The business has a truly incredible story and is worth reading. I am actually hosting a party at my house in 2 weeks so you can come over and buy something OR buy something through my party online.

If you can't attend, please feel free to shop online using the directions below.

• Go to www.amandawommack.noondaycollection.com
• Shop and add items to cart.
• On check out, type Meghan Newman into Trunk Show Name at the top of check out page.
• Remember, this show closes on, November 7th so be sure to place your online order on time!

I love the cuff above, below are a few other items I love!