Category Archives: Liz’s List

The Vintage Pearl: Hand-Stamped Jewelry

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Did you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day? We were in Scottsdale, AZ relaxing by the pool for a belated one  year anniversary trip. I was missing my mom though. Days like Sunday are when it’s hard to live so far from home!

I sent her a little something to let her know I was missing her from a lovely website called The Vintage Pearl. Have you heard of it? It’s handmade jewelry with a very personal touch perfect for moms. I got my mom these “mother of pearl” earrings that she loved.

Mother of Pearl Earrings

They have a lot of other sweet gifts perfect for a special lady in your life as well. Most of them are handstamped with special names, dates or phrases so you can personalize the gift.

The Vintage Pearl

Charm bracelet with names

Cross necklace

Mother Necklace

Cross necklace

Handstamped NecklaceI can think of so many occasions where a piece of jewelry from the Vintage Pearl would be a wonderful gift – engagements, mother’s day, baby showers…

I love that the jewelry is causal enough to wear every day and will go with most any outfit. Plus it’s very appropriately priced for handmade, personalized jewelry – necklaces are around $45.

What did you give mom this Mother’s Day?

Only I Would Get Hurt at Yoga / Handmade Heating Packs

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Soooo, yeah. Remember last week when I blogged that I took my first yoga class and loved it!? Well, that love has quickly turned into hate. I hurt my back during my second class!

I know, I know….who gets injured doing yoga???

I took a class last Tuesday that involved a lot of twisting and stretching of my back. Appartenly the athlete in me didn’t realize that yoga is about bringing balance to your body and NOT pushing each stretch to the absolute limit until you’re hurt.

The odd thing was that during and after the class I felt fine. The next morning I felt fine. Then around 11 am things started to go downhill quickly.

My whole back tightened all the way up my neck, so I could hardly look left or right. The next morning was even worse- I could hardly get out of bed and almost started crying while trying to wash my hair.

Six days, several ice packs, heating pads, husband massages and IB Profuen tablets later, and I’m finally starting to feel somewhat normal again. It probably didn’t help that I skied three days in a row during our trip to Breckenridge, but there was NO  WAY I was sitting out due to a yoga injury!

Luckily, right before this little mishap, I had purchased a homemade heating pad off etsy.

Filled with rice and flax, this wrap provided 45 minutes of soothing heat to my stiff neck and shoulders after just 45 seconds in the microwave. Plus it traveled really well.

These heating pads have become my go-to gift for friends/family who are feeling stressed out. They’re in expensive and very useful. My best friend (and big cat lover) Julia just got this Kitty Heating Pad in the mail from me after she went through a crazy time in her residency.

I laugh every time I think about her wearing a giant cat around her neck. lol!

Anyway, I’m glad I had one of these on hand during my little injury or poor Luke would have likely heard “my back hurts!” even more than he did this week. ;)

I hope you all had a more pain-free weekend.

City-Themed Stationary

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This Thursday is my sister Amy’s birthday- she’s a St. Patrick’s baby! We’re not huge on presents in my family, but I wanted to get Amy something small to help celebrate her day.

In the age of texts, tweets and wall posts, I have been on a kick to bring back some elements of old-school communication. One of these is the hand-written note.

I love the personalization a note brings to a relationship. Plus you’re able to show off your personality with a design all your own or even your initials.

I went on Etsy and scrolled the thousands of handmade stationary they have available until I landed on these from Gooseberry Press shop. My sister lives in San Francisco and has friends all across the US, so I thought they were a great fit.

These cute cards are also available for Chicago, Washington DC, Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, Las Vegas and Napa. They cost $2.75 – $4.00 per card, so you can mix and match your favorite designs. You can browse all the stationary here.

Happy Birthday, Amy – Love you!

Handmade Surgical, Scrub or Chemo Hats

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When it comes to gift-giving, I simply adore anything handmade. Especially when it’s done by someone who owns a small business they have a lot of passion for.

That’s exactly what I love so much about this gift idea today – it’s handmade by one of Luke’s mom’s dear friends who puts a ton of care behind her product.

Linda’s Lids are personalized hats perfect for anyone in your life that needs a cute, festive way to comfortably cover their head- whether that be a doctor, nurse or even a cancer-patient going through chemo.

Linda’s hats are made with the highest quality materials and since she makes them all herself, she’s able to customize orders, like choosing specific colors or adding softer fabric to the insides of hats made for those who have lost their hair.

The hats come in a lot of different fits and styles to suit women with long or short hair and even for men. You can choose from a lot of various fabrics – including sports teams and holiday-themes, like these “santa” hats she made for the the team at Henry Ford Hospital.

All of Linda’s Lids run under $15, and knowing Linda, I promise you’ll enjoy your experience ordering from her. She’s a big sweetheart!

Check out and “like” Linda’s fan page on Facebook and browse her website to see all the styles available.

Happy Wednesday!