Jennifer Fox
Stories (5/0)
Jenn's Guide to Shopping Small
Picture it: 2019, any shopping center in America. Hustle and bustle, frazzled people are everywhere, shopping bags are flying around, kids exhausted and ready to go home. Lines out the door, just for the chance to buy something that can be obtained any number of places. While that setting absolutely has a certain je nais se quoi, the most appealing change to the holiday season for a pandemic ridden 2020, is the urge and necessity to shop in a different way. It is certainly true that there are retailers such as Amazon where you can literally find anything and everything in one place. However, while most of us are shopping from home this year, we are called to support smaller shops that have seen a decline in business during this difficult time. Below, I have compiled a list of some of my favorite go-tos for shopping small, in a more personal manner. You can find nearly anything in this list from books to soap, essential oils to handcrafted jewelry. While most of these are physically located in Tennessee, all of them ship and also travel to different fairs to exhibit their work as well.
By Jennifer Fox3 years ago in Journal
A Tisket, A Tasket, Everyone Loves A Great Gift Basket
My love language is gift giving. I live for it. I don't mean necessarily huge, extravagant, expensive presents, but just something that says "I thought about you today and wanted you to have this." Ask my nephews, my sister, and my guy. I don't usually even venture to the gas station and return without chocolate, sour candy, or coffee.
By Jennifer Fox3 years ago in Lifehack
"Tastefully Done" Foodie Gift Basket
Everyone loves a kitchen at the holidays. Bakers get to bake their hearts out and there are many savory dinners with friends. Even those who don't love to cook, love to be in the kitchen, and love to eat the delicious goodies that come out of them! This suggestion for a great gift is geared towards satisfying those among us who do not enjoy cooking and baking but DO enjoy eating, quite a bit. It also satisfies every bit of gift-giving pleasure for those who do in fact love to cook and bake for hours. When given the opportunity, I love to make a basket of many different goodies for my closest friends and also something that I love to scale down for hostess gifts at the holidays as well. Please enjoy this collection of recipes and use them to delight at your future holiday gatherings!
By Jennifer Fox3 years ago in Feast
Homebaked Happiness
There are a lot of really special places, scents, and sights during the holidays. Christmas tree farms, crisp winter air, hot chocolate, apple cider, and peppermint everything. But unmistakably, the most comforting scent and place during the holidays is the heart of the home: the kitchen. Everything happens in the kitchen during the holidays - countless meals, fellowship, love, and laughs. My favorite kitchen activity in December? Baking homemade sugar cookies to decorate with royal flood icing. There have been several times (this year is one of them) where I have had to be, ahem, creative with gift giving. Those are the really special years where I go hog wild, pig crazy in the kitchen with endless cookie tins. I mean, I bake for days. The rest of the house rolls their eyes at me just a little bit...until I share some of the delicious goods, that is. By the end of the baking session, both myself and the kitchen are covered in flour and royal icing but there are some beautiful and scrumptious cookies to share with friends and family!
By Jennifer Fox3 years ago in Feast
Solo Home Run
I identify as a threadbare gypsy soul, satiated only by travel. Travel sets me free in a way that nothing else does. It sets me free from my anxiety, it sets me free from my depression, it sets me free from the everyday stresses and responsibilities that can really wear one down. The interesting dichotomy of this however, is my near obsessive need to plan out every "leisure" trip that I take. This includes weeks of research, budgeting, packing lists, and connecting with locals prior to my arrival. I have been extremely fortunate in my life reaching back as long as I can remember to have been given the gift of travel. My parents instilled in me a love of experiencing new places before I could even speak. By age five, I was writing hotel reviews in crayon and drawing "maps" of the routes we would take from our home to our destination. By 20, I was blessed enough to have visited 24 different countries and a good deal of the United States as well. And while I do love sharing these experiences with family and friends, there is definitely something special about taking a trip all on one's own. The travel time alone, whether a road trip or a flight, gives you the opportunity to attune yourself to what's on the road ahead and you do not have to answer to anyone or anything but your own sense of wanderlust. It's a beautiful thing, really.
By Jennifer Fox3 years ago in Wander