New Additions

I feel like I have been living in the Grove as soon as I wake up and as soon as the minnies go to bed.  I wouldn't call them late nights so much as early mornings, but my trusted Red Cup from Starbucks and the sea of monograms, ribbon and cello make it worth it!

I cannot say my desk is clean, but this is the reality of the holiday season!  Just keeping it real friends.

Every year I love to try and find new things for the holiday season especially.  I thought I would give you a sneak peek tonight!

Holiday Notes

I love these big notepads to give as hostess gifts or tie one up with a Starbucks card for the "nice" teacher on your list!

Some people always make sure to give socks or underwear to kids during the holidays, but I always give thank you notes, because a thank you should always follow a present right?  These stag fill in thank you's are perfect for the little man on your list!

If you are a fellow monogram addict, these patterned notepads are perfect!  Jumbo monograms, polka dots, stripes, just let us know your favorite color, and monogram of course, and leave the rest to us!

Warm and wild or carpool chic?  You decide, but wither way our our fleece and nylon jackets look even better with an applique monogram in Lilly fabric.

So many of you emailed asking for the best $25 gift and I will do an entire post on this tomorrow, but let's just say I think I have nailed it!

I need your help!  We would love to know what you would like to see on sale for Cyber Monday.  We have some ideas and treats up our sleeve, but we always like to know what our customers want!

And with that, I need to get back to wrapping and boxing so we can ship first thing tomorrow morning!

XOX!

Christmas is Coming

I know a lot of you are already getting ready to head back to school.  Mini K has until August 26th and we are going to try and pack as much in as we can over the next few weeks.

The Grove has been nonstop holiday and trunk show prep lately!  The holiday emails are coming in and we are already processing corporate gift orders and a LOT of people seem to be having holiday weddings this year.  This bring means to THAT WORD:  Christmas...and yes it is coming.  Well, not tomorrow, but I have been busy getting everything prepped for this holiday season...including some great deals!

Based on the emails I have been receiving, A LOT of you have taken advantage of having your family together to get your holiday card photos taken!  HATS OFF TO YOU!

I wanted to let everyone know that we will again be having a double your order for FREE sale on Holiday cards for those of you that order early...same goes for other items, so stay tuned to our Facebook page and make sure you can see us in your feed.

I am loving some of our new designs, and this one is perfect combination of classic and chic!

Good Things Happen In 3's....

I have been out of town for my day job for the past 8 days!!!!!  For those of you that have placed orders at the Grove don't worry...everything is still shipping out on time...I have just been burning the candle at both ends.

I realize that most normal people are not doing posts at 9pm on a Saturday night, but we have been glued to the start of college football season ALL day.  If you have heard the voice of a toddler screaming TOUCHDOWN, it would be Baby C!

Since I titled this Good Things, I must share my 3!

1.  Happy News!
My dear friend A just got engaged today!  I could not be more happy for her and had to start the celebrating my mocking up her new monoram!

2.  College Gameday!
Mini K woke up this morning and said, today is Gameday, we should wear orange!  While Mr. G did not attend a football school, I have made sure to raise 2 little Longhorns!  So both Baby C and Mini K were dressed in orange today!  College football season to me is the start of fall and while it was in the high 80's today I couldn't help but think that hopefully soon we will need sweaters and boots and some fall shopping.

3.  The Holidays are coming!
If you are a fan on Facebook then you know Mini K and I had our first official candy corn sighting of the year!  You know how I ALWAYS share a good deal...well today, I have 3!

1.  Charmed
I am a BIG fan of charm bracelets and was given a charm from Planet Jill with a photo f Baby C and Mini K.  What I love about her charms is that you can get them in sterling silver, 14k white gold or 14k yellow gold.  You upload the photo of your choice and the photo becomes part of the charm.  These charms have been seen on the necks and wrists of Jennifer Garner, Maria Shriver, Ricki Lake and Cindy Crawford.  The charms themselves are a great price, but when I saw this deal I had to share.  The PJ necklaces, bracelets and charms make the BEST gifts for moms, friends, daughters and grandmothers so I thought some of your might want to start your holiday shopping.

You can purchase a $100 gift certificate to Planet Jill for $32 right HERE.  Just enter code LaborDay2012 at checkout and it will bring your total from $40 down to $32!  It gets better, when you then create your photo gift at Planet Jill, if you share it on your Facebook page you can get FREE shipping.

2.  Holiday Cards
I know it's early, but a lot of you are clearly organized!  We are doubling your order for FREE on all personalized holiday cards until September 10th!  If you order 50 cards with return address printing, we will send you 100!  I have loved watching the beach photos come in and must admit, I am always envious when I open a holiday card to see a tan person in the cold of winter.  While a lot of you have submitted photos, a lot of you have ordered from our selection of cards where you attach your own photo later!  A client added a note in the message box that she was going to have a card addressing party complete with gluesticks!  I love cards with texture and depth and have been known to take a great photo off of a card and stick it in a personalized frame and give it as a hostess gift at a later date!

You can see all of our cards on sale HERE.

3.  The Look For Less
We have all seen J.Crew's bubble necklace, complete with its $150 price tag.  I am sure we have all seen the sellers on Ebay that will sell you the necklace for less but take an entire season to actually ship it to you!  I have discovered a happy medium, same quality, super fast shipping and how does $14.99 sound!  I ordered a couple of these for myself and a couple to give as gifts this holiday season.  These necklaces come in a LOT more colors than the ones shown below and can be ordered HERE.

I often get emails asking for help coming up with wording or packaging for invites, gifts and notes so I thought  I would share a few ideas for this necklace.

Congratulations on a new job or engagement:  We are bursting with happiness for your engagement/good news:  wrap the necklace in tissue, put it in a cello bag, and tie a bottle of bubbles to the cello bag and attach your card.

Sip N See:  I always like to take something for the mom as well as the baby.  You could do the same packaging and say we know you are bursting with love for your new bundle!

Yes I Know This Is Weird

This is something that after years of firendship Grove Gal E just accepts from me. I plan ahead. I usually start planning as one thing is ending.

In this case, it was Mini K's last week of school and the arrival of my gold momagenda for next year. All of our teacher gifts are wrapped and ready to take to school tomorrow. I let Mini K pick these out every year and then I try to think of something clever to say on the card. This year she wanted to give monogrammed ribbon key fobs...so I tied them up with with a key shaped card that said: thanks for being the key to a great year!. We put them in cello bags with some candy and a starbucks keychain giftcard and tied them with some matching ribbon.

I have spent the rest of my week getting ready for Mini K's ballet recital on Saturday (flowers ordered & hairspray purchased!), charging the camera and organizing all of my magazine clippings so I am ready to meet with our architect tomorrow. My mom always surprised me with a gift on the last day of school and in her typical organized fashion she kept a list of what she gave me each year. She found the list last year while she was recovering and mailed it to me as proof that I did inherit my list making penchant from her. The scary thing...I have given Mini K almost exactly what she gave me for the last 2 years. Tomorrow she is getting a ladybug charm bracelet. Her favorite thing this year has been science and she has loved learning the names of insects and plants. I cannot wait to give it to her.

The big surprise is my mom is finally strong enough to travel and cleared from her radiation treatments! We are so thankful she is getting stronger and cannot wait for her to arrive tomorrow...Mini K has no idea and will be so excited!

So this brings me to my planning and the photo on this post....tonight I am starting my Christmas gift list. I do this every year and my goal is always to have my shopping finished by September not including teacher's gifts. I also try and pick out my hostess gifts for the holiday season and get them ordered so I have them ready to go. I always think there are so many good sales over the summer that I might as well take advantage of them and cross things off my list!

What can I say, I am a planner...I wonder if I can blame this on my love affair with school supplies as a child?

So Much To Celebrate

As a child, I was always excited to figure out which holiday comes next. My mom had a way of making every holiday special: heart shaped pancakes on valentine's day, something that was unexpectedly green on St. Patrick's day, and Easter always seemed bigger than Christmas.

I am determined to make all of the holidays special for Mini K and Baby C.

While I can't be at all of your homes to make heart shaped pancakes, and to be honest, pancakes aren't my thing, I can help you find a little something to make the next few holidays special, and throw in a deal too!

How cute are these t-shirts for Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras and St. Patrick's Day? They aren't on our site, so just send us an email and the shirts will be on their way to you!

What do you do to make the holidays special?

Stocking Stuffer Sale..Stock Up!

In an effort to clear out before the new year brings our new stock we have marked down all in stock Lilly Pulitzer 30%. These items are NOT on our website so you need to email us to place an order and we will send you a paypal invoice or you can call us with your credit card number. All orders will ship same day via USPS priority mail with delivery confirmation.

Take 30% off the prices listed below. Hurry and order, because we have limited quantities and these prices are too good to miss! Place an order by emailing us at grovegifts@gmail.com

iPhone Covers (these fit 3g and 3gs iphones) $19.95

Coral Me Crazy-3 available

Don't Be Koi-2 available

Checking In-3 available

10oz Water Bottle $14.95

Desert Tort-1 Left

Later Gator-5 available- 2 Left

20oz Water Bottles $17.95

Checking In-4 available

Coral Me Crzy-3 available

Oh Shift! Dress magnets (set of 5 magnets) $12.95

3 Left

Watch Set $19.95

Patch Day-2 available- SOLD OUT

Umbrellas $24.95

Checking IN-2 available- 1 LEFT

White Zin-3 available- SOLD OUT

Placemats $5.95

Desert Tort-2 available

Later Gator-4 available

Market Totes $10.95

Creme Fraiche-2 available

Just Add Lemon-1 available

Fill In Inivitations $12.95

Taboo-2 available- SOLD OUT

Cabanarama- 2 available

2011 Desk Calendar with Easel $19.95

2 available- 1 LEFT

Box of Assorted Enclosure Cards $16.95

7 available

Pens $19.95

Coral Me Crazy-2 available

Checking In-4 available

Animal Crackers-1 available

Highlighters $9.95

5 available- 3 LEFT

Pencils $11.95

7 available- SOLD OUT

Plates & Bowls $9.95 each

Desert Tort Bowls-2 available

Desert Tort Plates-2 available

Later Gator Bowls-4available

Later Gator Plates-4 available

Mousepad Notepad $15.95

Cabanarama-7 available

Large Notebook $15.95

Little Master of The House-4 available

Mini Pocket Notebook $13.95

Desert Tort-4 available

Crabtastic-4 available

Mini Pocket Agenda $15.95

Don't Be Koi-1 available

Checking In-3 available

Pom Poms $13.95

4 available

Fireplace Matches $9.95

Private Property- 2 available- SOLD OUT

Don't Be Koi-2 available- SOLD OUT

To place an order email us at grovegifts@gmail.com

Easter Prep

Easter is a big deal in the Grove household. Maybe it's because it the one holiday that I can claim pink and green is a must, or maybe it is because I love spring, regardless no matter what else is going on in my life Easter is my favorite holiday. This year will be no different...I don't care that it is the day after my birthday, or that it is a little less than 2 weeks before Mini #2 is born, or that we will have Mr. Grove's sister, husband and 3 children staying with us. it is going to be a pink and green soiree.

There are a few changes this year...Mr. Grove is in charge of one mega Easter Egg hunt in our backyard. I think I have ordered more plastic eggs from Oriental Trading (via ebates of course) than I actually need, but who cares!

Mini K's dress arrived on Saturday and brace yourselves....it is blue, white and yellow...it seems the age of 4 is when one stakes her claim on her closet. I almost laughed at her reason for not wanting to wear Lilly...and I quote..." oh mommy, I just cannot sit still in Lilly, so I need a serious dress to wear to church! I promise to report back on if said wardrobe actually results in a perfectly behaved little girl at Easter Sunday mass.

Last week and this week I am also wrapping up some house projects: a new window in Mini K's bathroom, new interior doors and trim, painting Mini K and Mini #2's bedrooms, a custom desk and cubbie hutch for the kitchen to house our family imac, cookbooks, backpacks and well, I confess clutter. I also had grand plans of ordering an outdoor dining set for our new patio, but I refuse to order from Ballard Designs without a coupon code. Am I alone in this insistance on waiting to order until I receive a coupon code? I promise to post photos on all of these projects as soon as they are completed this week! And Mini #2's crib bedding should arrive next week.

So that leaves the Easter baskets...

Usually, this is the easy part, but this year I need to make more than a few and I am stumped. We will have 2 tweens, Mini K, a younger cousin and one of Mini K's best friends....1 boy the rest girls. I should also say that Easter baskets in Groveland do not contain candy...hence the Easter Egg hunt, so I am trying to be creative. Any thoughts or suggestions just send them my way.

I was thinking I had been such a blog slacker, but I confess I am a little tired reading this so maybe I wasn't being lazy after all.