November 26, 2020 • 51 mins
Amy is back to give you all sorts of holiday gift ideas! Amy & singer/songwriter Brittney Spencer {@BrittneySpencer} kick off the episode with their parody of ‘Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.’ Meri then joins to talk about great items from @TheShopForward that give back to various causes, as well as @ShopEspwa. They also share some gifts {that don’t necessarily give back} that they will be buying for people this year! Next, Amy’s sister {Cristi from @RootHouseCo} gives ideas for the coffee lover in your life!! And then last guest is Steven from Home Street Home & he shares how we can give back to the homeless community. To wrap up the episode, Brittney, sang us out with one of her songs: ‘Sorrys Don’t Work No More.’
Links to most things mentioned:
RadioAmy.com
TheShopForward.com
ShopEspwa.com
WarbyParker.com
RootHouseCo.com
HomeStreetHomeTN.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Four Things with Amy Round podcast, the
Gift Guide episode. We're gonna be doing things a little
bit different this episode. It won't be four Things, just
going to be straight through an episode that will help
you with some gift ideas for this holiday season. A
lot of the gifts are going to give back to
a cause in some way, shape or form. The guests
(00:24):
that will be having on with me, which Mary will
be coming on my sister Stephen from Home Street Home,
which is a homeless ministry here in Nashville. My girl
Brittany's here on guitar. What up? I just drummed her
guitar for her. Why don't you give him a little strum? Oh? Yes,
that was beautiful. She came over tonight and we wrote
a parody for this episode to Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer.
(00:44):
We're gonna sing it for you real quick to kick
things off. But after we get done singing, I'm gonna
have Brittany share with you all a big time country
artist that sent her flowers today. I'm kind of freaking
out for Brittany because it's a really special moment and
the fact that this big time country artist said Britney
Flower to ask to write music with her is super cool.
So now I feel really special that I got to
(01:06):
sit and write a parody with you tonight, because you know,
I got to write with you before this big time superstar.
So let's bust out the song that we wrote for
this episode, and then well we'll talk a little bit
more about what you can expect from today's show. I
just wanted to be a fun one for you, and
I hope you'll feel inspired to shop and pay it
forward to this holiday season. So here you go, Brittany,
(01:27):
hit it. Count us Down. Oh, Brittie's gonna be doing
most of the vocals, but I'm gonna be handling some background,
even though I don't sing well at all. But yes,
you're just being kind. No, you just really hold your note.
I'm not even trying to get okay right now. Well,
I'm gonna do some snaps and some harmonies in the
background because I secretly wish that I could sing. So
this is my moment to pretend that I can. So Brittany,
(01:48):
count us Down. This is your movie. I'm happy for you.
You know, cool Mom and cool Dead and cool It
and Uncle, Grandma and Grandpa and grat It's journals. What
do you call the most popular right on the ball,
(02:09):
A perfect and thoughtful present. It's called the Four Things
So and you can customize it or choose it by
prematoad Goodies for healthcare heroes, pimpen Joined Be Contacts, Empower Women,
Night Items, do good and choose joy Swag. It's been
(02:31):
one crazy, hectic year, but everything is fine. Starry necklace
shines so bright. Will you shop online tonight and get
back with every purchase support American and Haiti. So many
nice gift options for all your friends and family. Yeah, yeah, okay,
(02:54):
So that's our little fairity we wrote tonight. Now that's
obvious a song. Well maybe not obvious because some of
you might be new listeners and you have no idea.
But Mary will be joining us and she runs the
Shop Forward. Some of those items are things that she
makes and sells. And also under the Shop Forward umbrella
is our company, ESPOA, which supports Haiti like the Four
(03:15):
Things to your just mentioned or the Gratitude Journal or
cool Ant Cool Debt. So we really do have items
for the entire family. I really do think you could
go to the Shop Forward either under whatever the shop
Forward has or the espoa umbrella on the website, and
you could one stop shop. You could shop for everybody,
but maybe you need other items. So we're going to
throw out other gift ideas as well. And then you
(03:36):
know my sister again, like I said, it's going to
share some stuff. And then I think donating in people's name,
maybe it's not a tangible gift, but you make a
nice donation. So that's why I'm going to have a
Stephen from Home Street Home. Come on, but Brittany, why
don't we share with everyone who sent you flowers today? Okay,
so they're more Sidney flowers. Yes. In the card that
said that she liked my voice simil lyrics to my music,
(03:58):
and then she was like the rights of time. I
wasn't expecting it. And also it's it's the reason I
should have to Amy's house, like an hour too late.
You didn't have to throw yourself out of the bus
that you were late. It's fine, it's fine, everything's fine,
just like it's fine, fine, everything's fine, but it's not fine.
So but we're going to wear a pull over this
as it's fine. So I think that's really cool, and
I'm very happy for you and I can't wait to
(04:19):
hear that. How the writing session with Marion goes. Brittany
has some awesome music. You need to check it out.
She's at Britney Spencer on Instagram. And I want Brittany
at the end of today's episode to actually share some
of her music, so she'll be playing that at the
end of the episode. Why are you making a shocked
face because I forgot that. I'm so excited. This is
(04:39):
so fun. Okay, this is so fun today, it's really awesome. Well, well,
we're going to continue with the episode and then yeah,
Brittany will sing us out with an original of hers
how about that? Yeah, this sounds great, awesome, Okay, Well
we're gonna kick things off with Mary. I'm getting her
on the phone right now. Hey, Mary, Hey, welcome to
Gift GUI. So excited to be here. We also have
(05:02):
a special guest with us here in the beginning, My
daughter Stashira is here. Say hey, we thought we could
bring her on to say thank you in Haitian creole
because a lot of the items were gonna be talking
about today support Haiti. So Stashia, can you teach people
how to say thank you? In creol Mercy. There you go,
(05:24):
Mercy beautiful. I didn't force her to do that, by
the way, she wanted to. Yeah, she asked to be
a part of the podcast and then she asked us
about but how long is it going to take? And
when we told her the time, she said that she
would just say hi in the beginning in the league
because she didn't want to sit here for more than
thirty seconds. But yeah. So SPA is a company that
(05:44):
Mary and I founded together several years ago to support
the orphanage actually where Stashira, my daughter, and my son
Stevenson grew up. There was a need there with the
nanny's they weren't getting paid. So we thought, oh well,
maybe we could make a T shirt and put a
spaw on it, which is spaw means hope in Haitian creole.
And we can sell the T shirt because we had
already started selling Pimp and Joy items and we saw
how well that was working with people wearing something that
(06:08):
represented choosing joy for themselves and spreading joy to others.
Which we do have Pimp and Joy items available to
they're not supporting Haiti. There's a Pimp and Joy General
Fund that we always have, which is super cool when
we can reach into that fund and support different needs
that people have that we learn about here about and
Pimp and Joy to this date, I think has donated
(06:29):
over two million dollars to various causes and organizations, so
that's been really cool. But this was still kind of
in the beginning of Pimp and Joy where we thought,
oh wow, we can sell a T shirt and help
people out. So we threw a SPUA on a T shirt,
we sold it, and then from there it all just
grew and now we have tons of items. We don't
(06:50):
just have shirts. We've got our Gratitude journal, we have
our totes, we have a necklace. We'll talk about each
of these things quickly in case you're looking for different
items for people in your life. But it's kind of
cool to see where it started and where it is now.
And so Shira even makes bracelets that we sell under
ESPOI they say Espla and then they're colorful beads, so
(07:12):
I think she's been working on them. Depending on when
you're listening to this, she might be putting them up
for sale soon. But those go fast pretty much right
when Mary puts them, they sell out. Oh yeah, so
they're very very in demand. Con ticket, they're very popular.
Another thing that's super popular is our custom four Things
to which is something that is a really special gift
and sometimes I feel like a broken record talking about it,
(07:34):
but some people don't ever take the time to go
look at it and see what it actually is and
how it is a super thoughtful gift because you can
customize the four things on the toe to fit the
personality and the likes and the hobbies and the passions
of whoever you're giving it to. I recently sent one
to my aunt on behalf of my cousin, and my
(07:55):
cousin sent me a screenshot of her aunt's text to
her after she got it, and the first sentence was
I got my tote and I feel so loved. That
just warmed my heart that we have a product that
can make people feel loved and seen and special and
at the same time they can carry it proudly because
it gives back to Haiti as well. And just so
(08:16):
you'll know when you'll order something from s Blah or
even the shot forward, we're going to talk about some
of the items Mary has up over there. There's always
a card included we try to give a card with
almost every item that comes with it that explains how
that item is making an impact and what difference you're
making by purchasing that item. So it's great too if
you get give it as a gift directly, they'll get
(08:37):
that in the mail with it and they'll know, Like
obviously they'll be excited to get the item and feel
special about that, but then also you can feel even
better knowing that it says that it's making an impact
even just beyond the actual gift. So get the gets back.
And a pro tip for designing a toe for somebody.
If you're feeling stuck and you don't know what four
things to pick, whether it's for yourself or for it's
a gift, if you search the hashtag four things tote
(08:59):
on Instagram, thousands of totes will come up and you
can go through and see what other people picked on
their bag. And then we've even made cheat sheets which
are up on our Instagram at shop Espla or at
the Shop Forward. If you go to a recent tope picture,
you might be able to swipe and see some of
our cheat sheets that you can use to help you.
Because we get it. It's not always easy to narrow
it down to four things. That's not lost on us,
(09:21):
but we've tried to make it easy on you. So
hopefully that's a cool gift you can get someone if
you really just don't have it in you to customize it.
We have some pre made options that might fit the
person's personality. They're all pretty different, and maybe you could
pick one that they would really like and that could
still be special for them. I feel like another really
awesome gift that we have, especially for this year, because
(09:43):
is are I'm fine pullover in t I feel like
anybody that you give that too, they're gonna love it.
I wear mine all the time. I know Mary does too,
and it's it's a conversation starter, right, Oh yeah, I
wear mine way too often. I actually two of them
that I like rotate, and I feel like every time
I wear it, it's like either just get a head
nod or you're just it's or it's a conversation starter.
And it's fun to tell people about it and about
(10:05):
what it supports and everything too. But it's just it's
kind of just all of us acknowledging together that this
year it's just a little weird. Yeah, we're definitely nine mine.
But the four things that are on that one is
it's fine, I'm fine, everything is fine. We have a
gray tea option and a black pull over, and then
you know we're not trying to be negative Nancy with
that pulloversa to counter it, we have our four Things
(10:27):
Gratitude journal, which is very positive and we try to
make it really fun with cool stickers and prompts in
the back that help you think of things you're grateful for,
and quotes that are sprinkled throughout the pages that will
help encourage you while you're journaling. And I have a
new therapist that I've been working with and he has
(10:48):
no idea what I do or anything. And he literally
said to me after one of our sessions the other day,
you know, Amy, what I would love to see you
do is every night before bed, just right down three
or four things that you're thankful for. You think you
could do that? And I just kind of laughed out loud,
because yeah, he has no idea. I was like, do
I do that? Mary? And I made a journal specifically
(11:11):
for that. That's like affirming too, because a lot of
people think that for journaling it have to be this
big thing. But like even he and we wanted that's
why we did this, to make it not overwhelming and
like very doable. So I just four things. It's like,
that's simple, and it's good to know that even he
thinks it doesn't need to be some big thing like
three or four things. I think four things is good.
But just to know that that even he thinks about helpful. Yeah,
(11:31):
and he's an expert, like he's a as his PhD.
He literally works with people every day to help them
with their lives and all he's saying, the simple act
of thinking of things before you go to bed that
you're thankful for can change your perspective. And really that's
the point of the Gratitude Journal, and just for you
to take inventory even if you're going through a hard time,
(11:53):
because a lot of us are, even if it's not.
That is life, and you know, we go through the
hard stuff and for me, I sometimes I'm even thankful
for it because I'm no I'm going to come out
on the other side stronger and more equipped or maybe
even softer. In certain areas, you never know why you're
going through something. It could be so that you can
(12:15):
help someone in the future get through it. So it's
weird how gratitude work. Sometimes it's something silly like oh
I just got a fun manicure, or you know, I
loved my latte today, or I really love my warm bed.
Coming up later on in this episode, I'm going to
have the founder of Homeless Ministry here in Nashville on
and after you listen to him talk, it'll be really
(12:38):
easy for you to think of things that you're thankful for,
even if you are going through a really, really hard time.
So the Gratitude Journal, we just released a new one.
We call it Four Things Gratitude Journal two point oh
with a new cover. Our first one was tied I
but this second edition that we have, how would you
describe it? Very sort of like an own break coralie
pink situation. Yeah, I think it's like a pink coral bombre.
(13:02):
It's really like relaxing and like, I don't know how
to describe it, but it's really really cute, and it
also just like looks cute on your bedside table. And
you know, I've seen a couple of people comment that
they loved the tide Tye, but they didn't feel comfortable
gifting it because it's such a loud specific thing, but
this they said they'd feel better gifting because it's more.
It's easier too for people to take in. And so, yeah,
(13:25):
if you've got five people on your lists like boom,
five gratitude journals, you know it's something awesome. And you know,
Mary talked about how we put cards inside when you're
getting something actually printed inside the Gratitude journal on like
the second page is a little note about the impact
it's making on education in Haiti through Project Meta Share.
So if you're giving it as a gift, they'll open
(13:47):
it and know right away that it's a gift that
gives back. Speaking of giving back, Mary and I decided
we wanted to kind of do a little give back
here and have a fun giveaway worked into the episode.
And I didn't really know how it was going to
look or what we were going to do. And then
Mary had the genius idea of why don't you have
people screenshot that they're listening to this episode on the
(14:09):
podcast and post it to their Instagram stories and you know,
write something like this podcast is so awesome or I'm
so thankful for this podcast. I guess in the spirit
of gratitude, that's we'll make it I'm thankful for this podcast,
and then you can tag at Radio Amy and tag
at the shot forward so that we see it in stories,
and then we will randomly pick someone to send a
(14:32):
four things gratitude journal too, and if you already have one,
you can give it as a gift to also. That
looks like a good thing to do in general, whenever
you're listening to Amy's podcast, just do a little quick
screenshot posting your stories. I feel like that's how I
learned about new podcasts from like people sharing in their stories.
So I don't know or other podcasts to but definitely
do ay. Mary is also my marketing and PR person.
(14:53):
That's a way better ideas, I think. When I first
mentioned it to her that I want to do giveaway,
I was like, I guess I could just have people,
you know, send me an email and write something that
they're thankful for. And then Mary's like, no, let's make
this a win win for everybody. And that is I
don't really have any promotion other than what I do,
and I have really been on Instagram as much as
I want lately, So if y'all could pick up the
(15:14):
slack for me, that would be amazing. Yeah, they're all
on your PR team. Everyone on amy Four Things of
Baby Brown PR team. Well, and also, when you think
about it, everybody listening that posts about ESPOI or Pimp
and Joy or their four Things to or something from
the shop forward, there are PR team for that stuff too,
because we don't have any marketing for that, oh totally.
(15:35):
Word of mouth is our biggest marketing, So thank you.
So tell everyone you know, Tell your your mom, your dad,
your aunt, your uncle, your grandma, grandpa, and I rattle
all those off because we have something for all of
those people with our Cool Line. We have t shirts
and pullovers for various roles in your life, whether it's
you're cool mom, your cool dad, you're cool at, your
(15:56):
cool uncol your cool grandma, your cool grandpa. Which speaking
of cool grandma, my mud her in law is staying
with us and she has our pink cool Grandma, which
we just added it in gray now right, yeah, we
just added a gray with coral cool Grandma. She said
she just didn't want to wear a plain sweatshirt anymore.
So she busted out scissors and she cut the neckline
out and then she kind of frayed the bottom a
(16:16):
little bit. I don't know what do you call that
current fringe? She had a fringe and it's so cute.
So she is seventy four rock and her d I
y cool Grandma pull over. So I think those could
be fun options for the relatives in your life. But
if you have a healthcare hero in your life or
a teacher in your life, we have four things items
(16:39):
for them that kind of fit their profession that are
super cute. And then the last spat item we'll talk
about today is our Star necklace, which we both are
obsessed with. It's available in gold, and it has three
different options for length, so it's adjustable. I wear mine
on the choker setting, but my sister wears hers down
(16:59):
on her collar own. But it looks cute either way,
and it has a local and global impact, so it's
extra special because they're made here locally through able. My
friend Gracie was on the podcast a couple of weeks ago.
You maybe heard her talk about it. She actually founded
the jewelry part of that company and hired these women
that were transitioning out of homelessness, and they worked out
of her attic and started a jewelry business, So Mary
(17:22):
and I linked up with them and they make the
Star necklace. So it's impacting those women locally here in Nashville.
But then also they're able to support Haiti with purchase
as well. So that's a great gift for any girl
in your life. Like, even if you don't know for
sure if they wear gold, you can mix it, you
can wear it with silver, rose, gold, whatever. It can
(17:44):
kind of just be one of those pieces they may
end up wearing every day or maybe they throw on
every once in a while and think of you when
they wear it. So those are some splat items that
support Haiti. And I know a minute ago we mentioned
Pimp and Joy and I just want to say we
added some new items in case you haven't checked out
what's in stock lately, but they're is a really cool
new Neon orange that's a retro repeat and also we
(18:05):
made available in navy blue. And I feel like this
Neon orange. It sounds kind of weird, but in person
it's the coolest color. Yeah, it's really really cute. And
you're the fashion person, Mary, so is that very on
brand for this time? Yeah, Neon is definitely on trend.
So look at us with Pimp and Joy. We were
keeping you on trend and you're spreading joy at the
(18:25):
same time. So some other items that the Shot Forward
has are these new do Good hoodies and T shirts
and then of course the Choose Joy line, which y'all
have had for a while. But I just saw you're
doing of the proceeds to Youth Centers of Orange and
they empower underprivileged kids. So Mary, how did you get
linked up with them? So the shop board is actually
(18:46):
based in Orange County, California, So yes, they're all supporting
the Youth Centers of Orange and we're giving a hundred
Cristina proceeds. And I got hooked up with them because
I know the person that runs at Holidays Immerman. She's amazing.
I've noticed since I was in high school, Jolly and
her husband and pastor at our church, and they're just
this awesome family that does so much, so much good
work in our community. And I'm excited to see how
(19:08):
this can help. And I've seen in the past how
much an impact of the donation can make to the
kids that are in the programs there. So we're really
excited about this. So we're going to actually get Holiday
on the phone right now? Right? Yes? Should I call
it right now? Okay? Yeah, do it? Hey Holiday? Hi, Hey,
thanks for coming on with us and just sharing with
our listeners the impact that they'll be making if they
(19:30):
buy anything do good or choose joy. So what is
the impact? So when they gifted, they can feel really proud,
or if they're buying it for themselves and they wear it,
they can wear proudly. Yeah, well, I am so excited
at that. But one of the reasons I've been working
with vulnerable kids and youth and family faster kids for
over two decades, and one of the things that I've
really seen and really believe in is that I've just
(19:53):
seen the poll of human trafficking and violences, and so
I really want to about prevention. And one of the
biggest impacts that UM we can make on kids is
providing after school kids between the hours of you know,
two to six to happ into children or they enter
into violent crimes, and we UM they use centers of Orange.
(20:13):
Don't want to see that happen. We don't want his
kids enter into any kind of violence. And so that's
really what we live to do, is to protect kids.
We provide after school care so that kids have a
free place to go get a young snack, but most
importantly be able to become the best that they can be.
They found that you know, they have great mentors. If
they have great tutoring, not only does it help them
(20:36):
academically and socially in all of those areas, but it
really does prevent them from entering into game, prevents them
from entering into like I said, violent times, or really
entering into human trafficking. That's when they fall prey to
those types of things, and not having supervision after schools
just such a scary thing. And I want to just
share a click story of one of our kids and
how shot Forward has already benefited this family and many others.
(20:59):
There is a little boy and his name is Song,
and he's seven. He has a little brothers, his spy.
His mom tragically passed away it's as you months ago,
and his grandmother took custody and you know, his grandmother's
elderly um and claimed houses for a living. And so
when COVID hit US and schools shut down, not only
(21:20):
did they not have internet access, a lot of kids
who are living below the poverty line don't have internet access,
so they weren't able to actually attend school. Not only that,
they were home alone. So a seven year old was
supervising five year old because the grandmother had to choose
either I seed you or you know, I stay home
with you, and so he was being courageous to to say,
I gotta do my best. So we heard about these
(21:40):
kids from the school district and shot forward. Actually at
that same time kind of gave us a consent, Hey,
we have some COVID release funds. Would that helped you out?
And of course it totally helped us out because we're
able to say yes to these kids many many more
for all days free, all day care, so they were
able to get internet access, they were able to supervised,
they were able to feel safe, they got free snacks
(22:04):
and a lunch and a little small sack for dinner,
and they were able to do their schooling so they
were able to get educated. And so not only that too,
we have these incredible staff and men towards that it
came alongside them and were able to mother them and
father them when their grandmother and grandfather could do that.
And so it couldn't be more grateful and That's why
I'm just like, I'm just so humbled and honored to
(22:25):
have Shot Forward choose us to do the Do Good
campaign because it's not only it's doing good, it's saving lives.
I truly believe their lives are safe. Well, thank you, Holiday,
You're amazing the work that y'all are doing. I just
I know that people will come through the shop. Forward
does great things, but there's awesome customers and they do
show up, and so I really think hearing how their
(22:46):
shopping is making a difference helps so much. So to
hear what y'all are doing and keeping these kids off
the streets, and yeah, to think of those hours two
to six and how so much can go wrong in
a child's life and something as simple as like y'all
are there to be there for them is priceless. So yeah,
buying a simple hoodie can make a big difference in
(23:07):
a kid's life. So thank you for all that you'll do,
and thanks for coming on with us. Yes, absolutely, thank
you guys so much. So. I love the work that
Holiday is doing to empower young kids. And Mary and
I actually have an Empowered women's line that supports women
and young girls, which is super cool. My daughter who
(23:28):
is Stuciera. You heard her at the beginning of the episode.
She did the artwork for the line, and it says
Empowered Women, Empower Women, and there's a cute little heart
in the middle, and they're very simple. It's such a
good job. So cute. She did great. They're they're really
simple and subtle. It's not like in your face, like
I'm an empowered woman. It's like really sweet. And I
think that if you have a woman in your life
(23:49):
that you really look up to, or you have a daughter,
it could be cool to get her one. But it's
a way of saying, hey, you know, I see you.
You're a really strong woman, and thank you for being
who you are. I appreciate it. So I feel like
our Empowered Women line can make a really great gift
and also is making a similar impact to the Youth
Centers of Orange with the donations. Then Mary tell us
(24:12):
about this Queen of Christmas shirt because our sweatshirt. I've
seen you post about it, but I don't know much
about being the Queen of Christmas. Oh yes, they're really cool,
and they actually support our TSF Military Fun which helps
military families around the holidays. So it's awesome that these
can get back to people that have sacrificed so much
for our country, and it's just fun. Queen of Christmas.
We all know people that are just like obsessed Christmas.
(24:32):
Like I got one from my mom. She loves it
because our house always looks like Christmas, like blue up everywhere,
which I love it now, but I always always like
this is a lot. So it's a cute little gift
or good of yourself. Oh you know what else I
think is a super cute gift for people, is your
denom be kind hat? Yes, so those are kind of
new that's a light denom like dad hut. I don't
(24:53):
know why they're called dad huts, but it's like a
canvasy super cute hasn't embroidered. We love those. Another dad
hat that I'm upset us with is our Pimp Enjoy
Camo Dad had that one. That's a good gift to
very popular right now. And then if you know about
Pimp and Joy, then you likely are a Bobby Bones
show listener. And just heads up if you're a B teamer,
the shot forward has B team tease and tell me
(25:16):
something good baseball teas Okay, So Mary and I just
covered like a small fraction of what's available on the
shot forward website, which you can find it's the shot
forward dot com and shop Spla is under the same website,
but just in case you want to find it differently,
(25:37):
it's shop spla dot com. We have like a million
different ways you can get to the website also four
Things dot Com. You know, Mary just gets all the
domains and makes it all go there, so hopefully it's
easy for you to navigate and find all of these
different gifts. They will be up there. Mary's there anything
we missed? I would say the one thing is maybe mask.
We've worked hard to come up with some really really
(25:58):
cute masks, but are also like their three layers, they
have like a soft brushed cotton polly, so they're super comfy,
and I think those are cute stocking stuffers too because
they're fun prints. So we figured it might as if
you have to wear a mask, you might as well
make it fun and super comfortable, So that would be
the other thing. I mean, there's something literally for everyone
if you need to just do like a one stop shop,
but I think we covered a lot. Okay, well, before
(26:18):
you go, Mary, I want to get into some gift
ideas that we have that are not shot forward are
a spoil related because you know, we obviously shop other
places too, and I'm going to share some stuff when
my sister comes on in a minute. But you mentioned
masks being good stocking stuffers. I have another idea for that,
and that's the arc balls, like our kind of It's
(26:39):
a stress anxiety ball and it's spelled a R G
G H andach and it's the best fourteen nine and
nine and I've ever spent because sometimes my son and
I use it. It's a sensory thing and it really
can help calm you. Well even throw it as hard
as we possibly can, and it really doesn't do any damage.
But there's something that's really there peutic about that. So
(27:02):
I would just recommend that could be an easy gift
to get someone or throw it in their stocking stuff
or or if you get them and I'm fine shirt
throwing an arc ball. Oh my gosh, that's a good idea.
It's like finding a little gift package. And oh and
there's something I want to say about gift packages that
I learned from Mary and I've definitely copied her on it.
(27:22):
When I've started to give people things, including back to her,
and I'm sure she's like, oh, this is all I
do things. But Mary is really good about making little
gift packages with a bunch of different little gifts, some
of them like totally small, some maybe not. But she
individually wraps each gift because I don't know, I guess
it's just more fun to open things. Plus it makes
the package really cute. So never underestimate how the gift
(27:46):
receiving experience the presentation, and then also is the receiver
how fun it is to open up all these little
tiny packages. And she always has cute wrapping paper. So
just a tip from Mary that I have also stolen
from her because it's super fun and cute. But like,
what are some gift ideas you have that you're getting
people this year? I mean, I'm just trying to think
(28:06):
of a few random ones. This is not for everyone,
it's maybe specific, but I have bought a few of them.
It's this book that's about royal fashion. It's called hr
H So Many Thoughts on Royal Style and it's like
looks at the fashion and the most influential royals for
the past like hundred years. I guess, and they this
huge statement they made through their fashion. It's just like
a pretty coffee table book, but also like has lots
(28:28):
of good content. I don't know, I think it's super
super interesting, especially if you're like watching The Crown and
it kind of goes along with it. Have you watched season? Oh? Yeah,
I finished it already. I do watch it. I've started it,
but I'm not done yet. I think it might take
me a minute, but I'm super pumped about it because
this season is all about Princess Diana, so it's kind
of oh my gosh. Yeah, and Diana is heavily featured
(28:50):
in this book. So it's called hr H So many
Thoughts on Royal Style and it's by Elizabeth Holmes and
I'm sure you can get it at any bookstore. That
was one. And then I asked Ashley, who loves everything
Target on him Instagram, and she sent me days and
I definitely already ordered them their ten dollar fuzzy slippers
and they're amazing and they'd be super cute as the
stocking stuffer. And so they're the women's Paris slide slippers
(29:10):
from Stars Above if you're interested in something like that.
And then I was also think it'd be good because
so many small businesses have been hit during COVID, especially restaurants,
to buy restaurant gifts cards for people like their favorite restaurants,
even if they just get take out. At this point,
I think that would be like, I would love to
get that. Those are a couple. I just thought of, Oh,
those are good ideas, and we're really we're just trying
to help you all. We know that shopping can be
(29:32):
overwhelming at times, especially if you've put it off till now,
and I think any other year this would be the
normal time to shop, but with coronavirus and shipping it
has added it's so weird, a layer of stress of
wanting to receive things in times. So yeah, if y'all
need to help with anything else, y'all can send us
d ms on Instagram and you know, maybe we can
(29:52):
shoot back and forth and and help you out with
with anything that you're struggling with. But thanks for coming
on as always, merry. Don't forget to screenshot this episode
if you want to enter into our little giveaway of
our Gratitude journal. You just got a tag at the
Shop Forward tag at Radio Amy and say so thankful
for this podcast. I feel so lame saying that, but
(30:14):
also I feel awesome at the same time because it's
it is It's yeah, it's that marketing there, so it's
a win win and we'll randomly be picking someone and
then make sure you're following the shop for it on
Instagram as well. And Mary, thank you. I hope you
have a great Thanksgiving. Thanks for having me. I'll talk
to you later as we talk like it's not like
(30:34):
I'm saying bye forever, but bye bye. Always awesome having
Mary on the podcast, and I'm gonna get my sister
on next. But before I do, I want to share
a little backstory of how I met Brittany, since she's
(30:56):
sitting here next to me. We actually met at Turnip Truck,
which is a grocery store here in Nashville. And sometimes
when we're hanging out or we're texting, I just randomly
say l O L we met at a grocery store
because it's so random, but it's so funny. It's so
random and so fun And Brittany has been amazing, big
supporter of Pimp and Joy and she is a person
that is joy. She brings joy to my life. And
(31:18):
that's why I laughed that I met you at a
grocery store. You just never know who you're going to meet.
But Brittany doesn't work at Turnip Truck anymore. She works
at Warby Parker. And I bring that up because I
think that a Warby Parker gift card would be a
really awesome Christmas present. It would, I mean, it would
be an incredible gift to give somebody a gift card.
Warby Parker has so many ways that you can even
just try on glasses. You can go into the store.
(31:40):
You can also do a virtual try on if you
have like an iPhone Tin or higher um where it
kind of does like the facial recognition thing and allows
you to like try on glasses and it looks very realistic,
by the way. But also they have something called home
try on where you pick out five beer glasses. You
can do it either over the phone or online or
on app, and you just pick five glasses and it
comes to you in like three business days and you
(32:02):
just hold onto them for a few days and see
which pay you like the best. And it helps a
lot of people be able to figure out what they
want to be able to buy. So a gift card
could be really dope and and it kind of just
goes a long way for people who are just trying
to get some glasses, especially around this Tommy year, people
trying to social distance and if you know someone who's
lost a job or whatever, like just having eyeglasses. We
don't realize how important it is until one day you
(32:23):
wake up and you're like, oh, my goodness, glasses. But
they also have sunglasses. And then I don't need glasses,
but I have the ones for blue light and I
got the look computers. People often ask me where my
blue light glasses that are a clear ram and they're
super cute. I have people ask me where those are from,
and they are from Warby Parker and they're very cute.
(32:43):
On you, by the way, thank you are the glasses
you have on right now? Warby Parker, Yes, these are
Warby Parkers are very cute. These are a raider. They're
like retro glasses. So like my aunt is like laughing
at me right now because she wore these glasses and
like the eighties and like very hip. I don't think
I'm cool enough to wear something like that. But they
look aviators but with the clear reading lens. They definitely
(33:03):
make me feel cool, like we're pulling it off. Good job,
it look cool. Okay, well, now let's get my sister
on the phone because she's going to talk about some
gift ideas for us as well. Okay, Okay, my sister,
if you've heard her on the podcast before, you may
know that she owns the cutest little coffee shop in
(33:23):
Pagosa Springs, Colorado, called a root House Coffee and her
husband y'all bought it and started running it. I don't
know what over a year ago. It's been a year
and a half. Yeah, and so it's super cool that
now I have a coffee expert in the family. And
before my sister gets into some gift ideas for the
coffee lover in your life, I will just say that
(33:44):
I was just gifted a Smeg milk frother. It's spelled
s m e G And these frouthers are so cute.
Everything Smeg putts out is just really adorable. But my
sister was at my house recently and we frought some
milk in it, and she was really impressed with how
it made a really good latte and it's so easy
to use. Now they aren't cheap at all, but depending
(34:07):
on who you're buying a gift for, I just want
to let y'all know that this is an option. If
you wanted to buy a Frouther and then maybe a
bag of coffee from Christie's company, it could be a
super cute gift. Williams Sonoma has the snag Frouthers, and
I'm sure you could find them elsewhere online. Again, not cheap,
but there could be that special person in your life
that definitely would love a gift like this. And now, Christie,
(34:28):
I know you have some ideas for us that are
coming from your coffee shop, so I'll just let you
explain what you've got. First off, we have our fresh
roosted small batch coffee, and we've got three flavors, first
being our base Camp Roast, which is kind of more
nutty chocolate e undertone, like a breakfast blend. Then we
have our Backwoods Roast, which has a little more lemony
(34:49):
blueberry undertones, and then our camp Fire Blend, which has
more earthy tobacco, dark gross type grosst going on. So
those can be bought individually or as a tree. Okay,
and I just got to say this about my sister's
packaging is it's adorable. So if you do buy one,
or you do buy the trio and she ships it
to you, it's going to be packaged really nice where honestly,
(35:10):
you could just throw some wrapping paper on it and
gifted to whoever you're going to give it to, or
you can have it shipped directly to the person that
you want to gift it to. And my sister just
does a great job with packaging. So I just wanted
to shout you out for that, Christie, Oh thank you.
Another idea is our Choose Joy spoons, which have been
a really popular thing that we usually has kind of
(35:32):
limited supply of. So these are like little vintage tea
spoons and someone handstands the word Choose Joy kind of
on the bowl of the spoon, and it's a really
great small gift or stocking stuffer or just a little
extra gifts to go along with something else for someone
who enjoys tea or coffee, and this is more of
like their special spoon that you know they're going to
(35:53):
stir their coffee with every morning. And then next thing
we have on there is actually a collaboration we did
with Spa and it's our four Things topes that we
have in the shop created for us at root House,
and our four things on the bag are rivers, mountains, campfires,
and coffee. So this would be a really cute gift
on its own or with a bag of coffee for
(36:13):
someone who enjoys all of those things along with coffee.
And the last thing is our custom root House camp cup,
which is an insulated mug with a lid, and it's
made by the company Mirror, and so each cup is
linked to a water project or another type of gift
project going on in the world, and there's a little
code on the bottom so you can follow along where
(36:35):
your purchase is making an impact in the world. Love that.
And I have my root House Mirror mug that I
drink out of sometimes I'm either drinking out of my
Pimp Enjoy mug, my root House smug, or this mug
with an a on it that my friend Gracie got
me from Anthropology, which is also another good gift idea
of just throwing that out there, so cute. Speaking of Anthropology,
(36:58):
Christie has been sending me I'm really cute mirrors from there,
So this isn't really Christmas gift related because I don't
know how many people you could buy a really cute
mirror for, but maybe you need to treat yourself to
a little holiday gift and you need there's a spot
in your home that needs a really super cute mirror.
Anthropology has, uh these owl what are what are all
of the animals they have? Christie, Well, I can't remember
(37:20):
all the animals that I have the bird, which is
the small one, and then I have the deer, and
so there's some of these vinagy kind of gold outlined
mirrors that are really cute, and it's it's more of
like a gift you buy for your home or if
you know, you know like husbands or I don't know
if wives by their husband's mirrors for their health, but
however it may go. It's more of like a decorative
(37:41):
thing for your home, which would be a fun gift. Yeah,
well your wife that would love something like that. Yeah,
I just bought the big owl one because I had
a really big wall I needed to fill and I'm
so excited about it. But yeah, they have some super
cute mugs there that have letters on them, which could
be a special gift. Maybe you order some coffee from
root House and then you want to get the cute
(38:01):
anthropology mug to go with it. Whatever, We're just trying
to share some gift ideas with y'all. And I love
that my sister now has a coffee shop with the
cutest little gift shop attached to it, and she does
such a good job filling it with cute things. So
if you're ever in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, I hope you'll
stop by there. But in the meantime, if you're looking
to do some shopping, you can check her stuff out
(38:23):
and it's root house co dot com and then on
Instagram it's at root House Code. Now it's thinking for
a limited time. I'm not sure when everybody's listening to this,
but from now until Monday, November, your listeners can use
the code radio Amy to get ten percent off their purchase.
Oh that's awesome. Well thanks for that little hook up. Okay,
(38:44):
so that'll be good on as well, right right, So
you've got until midnight on thet to use the code
radio Amy to save ten percent. And again, the website
is root house co dot com. Okay, thanks sister for
coming on, love you, thank you, love me too, all right,
Now I have Stephen Young, the founder of Home Street Home,
(39:05):
on with us, and Steven, why don't you tell everybody
what Home Street Home is and why you founded it?
And I will just also say before you get into
that that he came on the podcast not too long ago.
Was it last year? Gosh, where has this year gone?
It was last year, and did a whole episode on it.
So if you want to go back and find that one,
(39:26):
you can, and I will be having him on the
podcast on a normal episode, not just this gift guide
one to give an update and just really help educate
us on the homeless community and what we can do
to be a part of people's lives that you know
that we pass on the street and we may not
really know what the best thing is to do, and
(39:46):
Stephen is our resource for that. So Stephen, thank you
for joining us, and I'll let you go ahead and
share about your your organization. Well, thank you for having me.
It's a it's a pleasure. I founded Home Street Home
in October. We're often in March. Often. I came off
the streets that I had lived on for almost five years,
(40:08):
and at fifty two years of age, lost everything I
had never thinking I would be homeless and definitely not
thinking of the last five years. But when I was
blessed enough to get off the streets, I couldn't forget
what I learned out there and what I saw out there.
And I literally borrowed six dollars from a friend of
mine and started this ministry. And the reason I started
(40:30):
it is because while I was homeless, I learned what
was being done for the homeless community. But more importantly,
I learned what wasn't being done. And my focus when
I began this ministry and still today almost seven years later,
is doing what wasn't being done. And this year has
been one of the most trying, exasperating, difficult years in
(40:55):
the last six and a half, but it's also been
one of the biggest blessings because we have been able
to be there for the literally thousands that, for the
first time in their life this year found themselves homeless.
Mary and I went out and got to serve with
Home Street Home. Right before that, like probably a week
before Nashville shut down, we were out walking around Nashville
(41:18):
with you guys, meeting so many of the people that
you get to help every weekend where you're out all
the time, but that was such a blessing and we
I couldn't wait to bring my family out. And then
of course, just with the virus, everything sort of shut down.
But the point is this is the season of giving,
and you know, it is something that you can be
dedicated to year round. You don't just have to focus
(41:41):
on it come Christmas time. But this is a time
where you're also shopping for other people. And I thought
that donating to an organization like Home Street Home in
someone's honor could be a really cool gift. So you
can go to their website make a donation. You can
actually pick how your money is going to be used.
There's an option where you know you can make a difference,
(42:03):
but you get to choose where your money goes. And
then you could throw it in a card or a
nice letter to that friend or family member that you
bought it for and let them know, hey, this is
what I got this year. I made this donation and
I did it in your honor, So that is my
gift and it'll it'll really make a difference. So, yeah,
how has has looked for y'all? And what are the
(42:25):
various needs and where are you seeing at the most
this has been and to give you a brief idea,
in the first quarter of last year, we handed out
eight nine tenths. In the first quarter of this year,
we handed out four hundred and eleven. The most food
that we've ever given out in a year was a
(42:48):
little over eleven tons. We are now approaching twenty tons
and we still got a month and a half left.
Every avenue that we address, every service that we provide
more than tripled this year. Sleeping bags and shoes and
clothing and food and water. It's just been overwhelming, but
(43:09):
we've been blessed to be able to meet the needs
so far. And while a lot of places were cutting
back and shutting down, we were actually ramping up. And
we have had a presence in the field on the
streets of Nashville every day since this all started, back
right after the tornado and then the pandemic. But I
(43:30):
will tell you that it's getting more and more difficult because,
to be honest with you, the donations have it come
in this year like we're used to seeing, and we
totally understand that. But we have managed to restructure some
things and we continue to do what we do every day,
and with your audience's help and the general public out
(43:54):
there that that believes in what we're doing. We're still
being able to get up and blessed lives every day
and we are truly, truly blessed to be able to
do that. You mentioned they can designate where their money goes.
That's something that's very unique with Home Street Home, And
when I founded this ministry, I wanted to give people
(44:18):
an option as to how their money is spent when
it is donated. A lot of times you donate to
a charity and you really don't know what that money
is going to be spent on. You have a general idea,
but with us, you can actually choose exactly how your
money is spent, and those options are available on our
website under our give tab. If you want to give
(44:39):
to the food Pantry, if you want to give to
Survival Supplies, if you want to give to our housing fund,
where that money goes to getting people off the streets.
This year, we have gotten a people off the streets,
but to be honest with you, that is not cheap
to do. We have spent a little low. We're eighty
(45:00):
seven thousand dollars getting most people off the street, but
I've always said you cannot put a price on something
like that, and if you really are particular, we have
an area of Greatest Need tab that you can click
on it donate and we will put that money where
we need it the most at that time. I love
at the bottom of your website, which your website is
(45:22):
home Street Home tn dot org and the tennes for
Tennessee Home Street Home ten dot org. And at the
bottom of the give page it says, hope is a
powerful thing. Please plant a seed today. So if you
are thinking of people in your life and you would
like to make a donation in their honor, there's also
(45:42):
an option to become a partner and Hope, which is
a monthly donation, and I think that that would also
be a really cool gift. Now, is that set up
where it's reoccurring every month, Stephen? Yes, it is. They
can set it up and they can cancel it at
any time, or I can let it run on as
long as they want to. Awesome, Stephen. Well, I feel
(46:05):
honored to know you now as a friend and appreciate
all that you do in our community. And I hope
that people will just you know, maybe keep this in
in their back pocket as a gift idea this Christmas season,
or if you are looking to give just not as
a gift, but make a donation on your own that
you would consider home Street home Tien dot org. Or
(46:27):
if you don't live in Nashville, maybe this conversation will
encourage you to look in your own community and where
you might want to support similar efforts. But I personally
know Stephen and can vouch for him and the work
that he is doing, So even if you don't live here,
this is a super legit organization that you can trust
and feel good about your donation or your gift. And
(46:51):
if you gifted to somebody else, you can tell them, hey,
I want you to feel awesome about this because they're
doing really good things for people that need it in Nashville.
So Stephen, thanks for coming on with us, and I
hope you have a merry Christmas and tell Andy we
said hi, I will do that, and thank you for
having me Amy You. Thank everyone out there that's listening.
(47:11):
God bless you. We wish you the best of a
holiday season and very merry Christmas. Stay safe, stay healthy,
and be blessed. And again, thank you for having me
on Amy Right there you have it. Those are our
gift ideas for you. If you're starting your Christmas shopping now.
If you're listening to this the day it came out,
it's Thanksgiving day, you better start your shopping. Or maybe
(47:33):
you're listening to it the weekend after Thanksgiving. Still, you
really better start your shopping, whether it's with us or
anybody else. I just want to make sure that you
get your stuff in the mail in time, and with coronavirus,
you know, mail is crazy. But I also just want
to encourage you while you're thinking about shopping and you're
thinking about the people you want to shop. Four. I
guess I should say, you know, we gave you a
(47:53):
lot of ideas that costs money, and you know there's
amazing gifts that give back, whether it's with our company
or a different one in or there's just the random
gifts that we threw out there that are stuff that
we love. But words are free. I say that here
on the podcast a lot, because you don't have to
spend money on someone to tell them that you appreciate them,
and that's what a gift is all about. Right. We
(48:14):
give gifts because it's customary for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas time, holidays,
it's a time where that's just what we do. It's custom.
So you get someone a gift, but it's also to say, hey,
you're important to me, You're a part of my life.
But it doesn't have to be something that you spend
money on at all. You could write them a poem.
You could write them a really thoughtful card or not
(48:35):
to draw them something that they could keep reverend. It
could be special. And words are really important. Brittany sitting
here shaking your head. I know as a songwriter, words
are extremely important to you. There everything words are free.
So we put out this Christmas Gift Guide episode Holiday
Gift Guide so that you can have ideas, because we
(48:55):
know shopping can be difficult, especially this year. It's not
like you're going out to a bunch of different stores.
You know, shopping online is just kind of the way
to do it with COVID, but you know, it's hard
to think of everybody on your list. But don't think
for a second that we're saying you need to go
out and spend all this money. Whether the gift gives
back to a cause or not, you don't. You could
simply tell someone you appreciate them with words. And speaking
(49:18):
of words, I'll have Brittany go ahead and share some
of her words with us and one of your original songs.
She's going to sing us out with the song or
verse in a chorus of one of her songs called
sorry More Sorry is don't work no more? Here we go,
take it away, Brittany, try try, try, try to just
(49:39):
wood kid seem to fun lose. I called you up
in August oping I could be honest, but you never
let me speak and it to know you trust me.
(50:11):
Yeah time, I know the door no mass still look
no more? So good? So where can we hear the
rest of that song? Oh? You can hear it on
(50:32):
all your streaming services. So we just need to look
up Britney Spencer. Sorry so don't work more? If my
name is spelt like Britney spears with one extra tea,
there we go. That's true. That's how you like. That
is true. Britney's a lot, so it's like Britney Spears,
but extra tea and okay, Well, thank you for joining
(50:53):
us today, Britney. And unfortunately, at this time we cannot
offer our gift guide Rudolph the Red Nose reindeer parody
on all the streaming services, but you can go back
to the beginning of the podcast and listen to it
on repeat if you want to. Okay, bye m h
(51:16):
h
Welcome to the Four Things with Amy Round podcast, the
Gift Guide episode. We're gonna be doing things a little
bit different this episode. It won't be four Things, just
going to be straight through an episode that will help
you with some gift ideas for this holiday season. A
lot of the gifts are going to give back to
a cause in some way, shape or form. The guests
(00:24):
that will be having on with me, which Mary will
be coming on my sister Stephen from Home Street Home,
which is a homeless ministry here in Nashville. My girl
Brittany's here on guitar. What up? I just drummed her
guitar for her. Why don't you give him a little strum? Oh? Yes,
that was beautiful. She came over tonight and we wrote
a parody for this episode to Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer.
(00:44):
We're gonna sing it for you real quick to kick
things off. But after we get done singing, I'm gonna
have Brittany share with you all a big time country
artist that sent her flowers today. I'm kind of freaking
out for Brittany because it's a really special moment and
the fact that this big time country artist said Britney
Flower to ask to write music with her is super cool.
So now I feel really special that I got to
(01:06):
sit and write a parody with you tonight, because you know,
I got to write with you before this big time superstar.
So let's bust out the song that we wrote for
this episode, and then well we'll talk a little bit
more about what you can expect from today's show. I
just wanted to be a fun one for you, and
I hope you'll feel inspired to shop and pay it
forward to this holiday season. So here you go, Brittany,
(01:27):
hit it. Count us Down. Oh, Brittie's gonna be doing
most of the vocals, but I'm gonna be handling some background,
even though I don't sing well at all. But yes,
you're just being kind. No, you just really hold your note.
I'm not even trying to get okay right now. Well,
I'm gonna do some snaps and some harmonies in the
background because I secretly wish that I could sing. So
this is my moment to pretend that I can. So Brittany,
(01:48):
count us Down. This is your movie. I'm happy for you.
You know, cool Mom and cool Dead and cool It
and Uncle, Grandma and Grandpa and grat It's journals. What
do you call the most popular right on the ball,
(02:09):
A perfect and thoughtful present. It's called the Four Things
So and you can customize it or choose it by
prematoad Goodies for healthcare heroes, pimpen Joined Be Contacts, Empower Women,
Night Items, do good and choose joy Swag. It's been
(02:31):
one crazy, hectic year, but everything is fine. Starry necklace
shines so bright. Will you shop online tonight and get
back with every purchase support American and Haiti. So many
nice gift options for all your friends and family. Yeah, yeah, okay,
(02:54):
So that's our little fairity we wrote tonight. Now that's
obvious a song. Well maybe not obvious because some of
you might be new listeners and you have no idea.
But Mary will be joining us and she runs the
Shop Forward. Some of those items are things that she
makes and sells. And also under the Shop Forward umbrella
is our company, ESPOA, which supports Haiti like the Four
(03:15):
Things to your just mentioned or the Gratitude Journal or
cool Ant Cool Debt. So we really do have items
for the entire family. I really do think you could
go to the Shop Forward either under whatever the shop
Forward has or the espoa umbrella on the website, and
you could one stop shop. You could shop for everybody,
but maybe you need other items. So we're going to
throw out other gift ideas as well. And then you
(03:36):
know my sister again, like I said, it's going to
share some stuff. And then I think donating in people's name,
maybe it's not a tangible gift, but you make a
nice donation. So that's why I'm going to have a
Stephen from Home Street Home. Come on, but Brittany, why
don't we share with everyone who sent you flowers today? Okay,
so they're more Sidney flowers. Yes. In the card that
said that she liked my voice simil lyrics to my music,
(03:58):
and then she was like the rights of time. I
wasn't expecting it. And also it's it's the reason I
should have to Amy's house, like an hour too late.
You didn't have to throw yourself out of the bus
that you were late. It's fine, it's fine, everything's fine,
just like it's fine, fine, everything's fine, but it's not fine.
So but we're going to wear a pull over this
as it's fine. So I think that's really cool, and
I'm very happy for you and I can't wait to
(04:19):
hear that. How the writing session with Marion goes. Brittany
has some awesome music. You need to check it out.
She's at Britney Spencer on Instagram. And I want Brittany
at the end of today's episode to actually share some
of her music, so she'll be playing that at the
end of the episode. Why are you making a shocked
face because I forgot that. I'm so excited. This is
(04:39):
so fun. Okay, this is so fun today, it's really awesome. Well, well,
we're going to continue with the episode and then yeah,
Brittany will sing us out with an original of hers
how about that? Yeah, this sounds great, awesome, Okay, Well
we're gonna kick things off with Mary. I'm getting her
on the phone right now. Hey, Mary, Hey, welcome to
Gift GUI. So excited to be here. We also have
(05:02):
a special guest with us here in the beginning, My
daughter Stashira is here. Say hey, we thought we could
bring her on to say thank you in Haitian creole
because a lot of the items were gonna be talking
about today support Haiti. So Stashia, can you teach people
how to say thank you? In creol Mercy. There you go,
(05:24):
Mercy beautiful. I didn't force her to do that, by
the way, she wanted to. Yeah, she asked to be
a part of the podcast and then she asked us
about but how long is it going to take? And
when we told her the time, she said that she
would just say hi in the beginning in the league
because she didn't want to sit here for more than
thirty seconds. But yeah. So SPA is a company that
(05:44):
Mary and I founded together several years ago to support
the orphanage actually where Stashira, my daughter, and my son
Stevenson grew up. There was a need there with the
nanny's they weren't getting paid. So we thought, oh well,
maybe we could make a T shirt and put a
spaw on it, which is spaw means hope in Haitian creole.
And we can sell the T shirt because we had
already started selling Pimp and Joy items and we saw
how well that was working with people wearing something that
(06:08):
represented choosing joy for themselves and spreading joy to others.
Which we do have Pimp and Joy items available to
they're not supporting Haiti. There's a Pimp and Joy General
Fund that we always have, which is super cool when
we can reach into that fund and support different needs
that people have that we learn about here about and
Pimp and Joy to this date, I think has donated
(06:29):
over two million dollars to various causes and organizations, so
that's been really cool. But this was still kind of
in the beginning of Pimp and Joy where we thought,
oh wow, we can sell a T shirt and help
people out. So we threw a SPUA on a T shirt,
we sold it, and then from there it all just
grew and now we have tons of items. We don't
(06:50):
just have shirts. We've got our Gratitude journal, we have
our totes, we have a necklace. We'll talk about each
of these things quickly in case you're looking for different
items for people in your life. But it's kind of
cool to see where it started and where it is now.
And so Shira even makes bracelets that we sell under
ESPOI they say Espla and then they're colorful beads, so
(07:12):
I think she's been working on them. Depending on when
you're listening to this, she might be putting them up
for sale soon. But those go fast pretty much right
when Mary puts them, they sell out. Oh yeah, so
they're very very in demand. Con ticket, they're very popular.
Another thing that's super popular is our custom four Things
to which is something that is a really special gift
and sometimes I feel like a broken record talking about it,
(07:34):
but some people don't ever take the time to go
look at it and see what it actually is and
how it is a super thoughtful gift because you can
customize the four things on the toe to fit the
personality and the likes and the hobbies and the passions
of whoever you're giving it to. I recently sent one
to my aunt on behalf of my cousin, and my
(07:55):
cousin sent me a screenshot of her aunt's text to
her after she got it, and the first sentence was
I got my tote and I feel so loved. That
just warmed my heart that we have a product that
can make people feel loved and seen and special and
at the same time they can carry it proudly because
it gives back to Haiti as well. And just so
(08:16):
you'll know when you'll order something from s Blah or
even the shot forward, we're going to talk about some
of the items Mary has up over there. There's always
a card included we try to give a card with
almost every item that comes with it that explains how
that item is making an impact and what difference you're
making by purchasing that item. So it's great too if
you get give it as a gift directly, they'll get
(08:37):
that in the mail with it and they'll know, Like
obviously they'll be excited to get the item and feel
special about that, but then also you can feel even
better knowing that it says that it's making an impact
even just beyond the actual gift. So get the gets back.
And a pro tip for designing a toe for somebody.
If you're feeling stuck and you don't know what four
things to pick, whether it's for yourself or for it's
a gift, if you search the hashtag four things tote
(08:59):
on Instagram, thousands of totes will come up and you
can go through and see what other people picked on
their bag. And then we've even made cheat sheets which
are up on our Instagram at shop Espla or at
the Shop Forward. If you go to a recent tope picture,
you might be able to swipe and see some of
our cheat sheets that you can use to help you.
Because we get it. It's not always easy to narrow
it down to four things. That's not lost on us,
(09:21):
but we've tried to make it easy on you. So
hopefully that's a cool gift you can get someone if
you really just don't have it in you to customize it.
We have some pre made options that might fit the
person's personality. They're all pretty different, and maybe you could
pick one that they would really like and that could
still be special for them. I feel like another really
awesome gift that we have, especially for this year, because
(09:43):
is are I'm fine pullover in t I feel like
anybody that you give that too, they're gonna love it.
I wear mine all the time. I know Mary does too,
and it's it's a conversation starter, right, Oh yeah, I
wear mine way too often. I actually two of them
that I like rotate, and I feel like every time
I wear it, it's like either just get a head
nod or you're just it's or it's a conversation starter.
And it's fun to tell people about it and about
(10:05):
what it supports and everything too. But it's just it's
kind of just all of us acknowledging together that this
year it's just a little weird. Yeah, we're definitely nine mine.
But the four things that are on that one is
it's fine, I'm fine, everything is fine. We have a
gray tea option and a black pull over, and then
you know we're not trying to be negative Nancy with
that pulloversa to counter it, we have our four Things
(10:27):
Gratitude journal, which is very positive and we try to
make it really fun with cool stickers and prompts in
the back that help you think of things you're grateful for,
and quotes that are sprinkled throughout the pages that will
help encourage you while you're journaling. And I have a
new therapist that I've been working with and he has
(10:48):
no idea what I do or anything. And he literally
said to me after one of our sessions the other day,
you know, Amy, what I would love to see you
do is every night before bed, just right down three
or four things that you're thankful for. You think you
could do that? And I just kind of laughed out loud,
because yeah, he has no idea. I was like, do
I do that? Mary? And I made a journal specifically
(11:11):
for that. That's like affirming too, because a lot of
people think that for journaling it have to be this
big thing. But like even he and we wanted that's
why we did this, to make it not overwhelming and
like very doable. So I just four things. It's like,
that's simple, and it's good to know that even he
thinks it doesn't need to be some big thing like
three or four things. I think four things is good.
But just to know that that even he thinks about helpful. Yeah,
(11:31):
and he's an expert, like he's a as his PhD.
He literally works with people every day to help them
with their lives and all he's saying, the simple act
of thinking of things before you go to bed that
you're thankful for can change your perspective. And really that's
the point of the Gratitude Journal, and just for you
to take inventory even if you're going through a hard time,
(11:53):
because a lot of us are, even if it's not.
That is life, and you know, we go through the
hard stuff and for me, I sometimes I'm even thankful
for it because I'm no I'm going to come out
on the other side stronger and more equipped or maybe
even softer. In certain areas, you never know why you're
going through something. It could be so that you can
(12:15):
help someone in the future get through it. So it's
weird how gratitude work. Sometimes it's something silly like oh
I just got a fun manicure, or you know, I
loved my latte today, or I really love my warm bed.
Coming up later on in this episode, I'm going to
have the founder of Homeless Ministry here in Nashville on
and after you listen to him talk, it'll be really
(12:38):
easy for you to think of things that you're thankful for,
even if you are going through a really, really hard time.
So the Gratitude Journal, we just released a new one.
We call it Four Things Gratitude Journal two point oh
with a new cover. Our first one was tied I
but this second edition that we have, how would you
describe it? Very sort of like an own break coralie
pink situation. Yeah, I think it's like a pink coral bombre.
(13:02):
It's really like relaxing and like, I don't know how
to describe it, but it's really really cute, and it
also just like looks cute on your bedside table. And
you know, I've seen a couple of people comment that
they loved the tide Tye, but they didn't feel comfortable
gifting it because it's such a loud specific thing, but
this they said they'd feel better gifting because it's more.
It's easier too for people to take in. And so, yeah,
(13:25):
if you've got five people on your lists like boom,
five gratitude journals, you know it's something awesome. And you know,
Mary talked about how we put cards inside when you're
getting something actually printed inside the Gratitude journal on like
the second page is a little note about the impact
it's making on education in Haiti through Project Meta Share.
So if you're giving it as a gift, they'll open
(13:47):
it and know right away that it's a gift that
gives back. Speaking of giving back, Mary and I decided
we wanted to kind of do a little give back
here and have a fun giveaway worked into the episode.
And I didn't really know how it was going to
look or what we were going to do. And then
Mary had the genius idea of why don't you have
people screenshot that they're listening to this episode on the
(14:09):
podcast and post it to their Instagram stories and you know,
write something like this podcast is so awesome or I'm
so thankful for this podcast. I guess in the spirit
of gratitude, that's we'll make it I'm thankful for this podcast,
and then you can tag at Radio Amy and tag
at the shot forward so that we see it in stories,
and then we will randomly pick someone to send a
(14:32):
four things gratitude journal too, and if you already have one,
you can give it as a gift to also. That
looks like a good thing to do in general, whenever
you're listening to Amy's podcast, just do a little quick
screenshot posting your stories. I feel like that's how I
learned about new podcasts from like people sharing in their stories.
So I don't know or other podcasts to but definitely
do ay. Mary is also my marketing and PR person.
(14:53):
That's a way better ideas, I think. When I first
mentioned it to her that I want to do giveaway,
I was like, I guess I could just have people,
you know, send me an email and write something that
they're thankful for. And then Mary's like, no, let's make
this a win win for everybody. And that is I
don't really have any promotion other than what I do,
and I have really been on Instagram as much as
I want lately, So if y'all could pick up the
(15:14):
slack for me, that would be amazing. Yeah, they're all
on your PR team. Everyone on amy Four Things of
Baby Brown PR team. Well, and also, when you think
about it, everybody listening that posts about ESPOI or Pimp
and Joy or their four Things to or something from
the shop forward, there are PR team for that stuff too,
because we don't have any marketing for that, oh totally.
(15:35):
Word of mouth is our biggest marketing, So thank you.
So tell everyone you know, Tell your your mom, your dad,
your aunt, your uncle, your grandma, grandpa, and I rattle
all those off because we have something for all of
those people with our Cool Line. We have t shirts
and pullovers for various roles in your life, whether it's
you're cool mom, your cool dad, you're cool at, your
(15:56):
cool uncol your cool grandma, your cool grandpa. Which speaking
of cool grandma, my mud her in law is staying
with us and she has our pink cool Grandma, which
we just added it in gray now right, yeah, we
just added a gray with coral cool Grandma. She said
she just didn't want to wear a plain sweatshirt anymore.
So she busted out scissors and she cut the neckline
out and then she kind of frayed the bottom a
(16:16):
little bit. I don't know what do you call that
current fringe? She had a fringe and it's so cute.
So she is seventy four rock and her d I
y cool Grandma pull over. So I think those could
be fun options for the relatives in your life. But
if you have a healthcare hero in your life or
a teacher in your life, we have four things items
(16:39):
for them that kind of fit their profession that are
super cute. And then the last spat item we'll talk
about today is our Star necklace, which we both are
obsessed with. It's available in gold, and it has three
different options for length, so it's adjustable. I wear mine
on the choker setting, but my sister wears hers down
(16:59):
on her collar own. But it looks cute either way,
and it has a local and global impact, so it's
extra special because they're made here locally through able. My
friend Gracie was on the podcast a couple of weeks ago.
You maybe heard her talk about it. She actually founded
the jewelry part of that company and hired these women
that were transitioning out of homelessness, and they worked out
of her attic and started a jewelry business, So Mary
(17:22):
and I linked up with them and they make the
Star necklace. So it's impacting those women locally here in Nashville.
But then also they're able to support Haiti with purchase
as well. So that's a great gift for any girl
in your life. Like, even if you don't know for
sure if they wear gold, you can mix it, you
can wear it with silver, rose, gold, whatever. It can
(17:44):
kind of just be one of those pieces they may
end up wearing every day or maybe they throw on
every once in a while and think of you when
they wear it. So those are some splat items that
support Haiti. And I know a minute ago we mentioned
Pimp and Joy and I just want to say we
added some new items in case you haven't checked out
what's in stock lately, but they're is a really cool
new Neon orange that's a retro repeat and also we
(18:05):
made available in navy blue. And I feel like this
Neon orange. It sounds kind of weird, but in person
it's the coolest color. Yeah, it's really really cute. And
you're the fashion person, Mary, so is that very on
brand for this time? Yeah, Neon is definitely on trend.
So look at us with Pimp and Joy. We were
keeping you on trend and you're spreading joy at the
(18:25):
same time. So some other items that the Shot Forward
has are these new do Good hoodies and T shirts
and then of course the Choose Joy line, which y'all
have had for a while. But I just saw you're
doing of the proceeds to Youth Centers of Orange and
they empower underprivileged kids. So Mary, how did you get
linked up with them? So the shop board is actually
(18:46):
based in Orange County, California, So yes, they're all supporting
the Youth Centers of Orange and we're giving a hundred
Cristina proceeds. And I got hooked up with them because
I know the person that runs at Holidays Immerman. She's amazing.
I've noticed since I was in high school, Jolly and
her husband and pastor at our church, and they're just
this awesome family that does so much, so much good
work in our community. And I'm excited to see how
(19:08):
this can help. And I've seen in the past how
much an impact of the donation can make to the
kids that are in the programs there. So we're really
excited about this. So we're going to actually get Holiday
on the phone right now? Right? Yes? Should I call
it right now? Okay? Yeah, do it? Hey Holiday? Hi, Hey,
thanks for coming on with us and just sharing with
our listeners the impact that they'll be making if they
(19:30):
buy anything do good or choose joy. So what is
the impact? So when they gifted, they can feel really proud,
or if they're buying it for themselves and they wear it,
they can wear proudly. Yeah, well, I am so excited
at that. But one of the reasons I've been working
with vulnerable kids and youth and family faster kids for
over two decades, and one of the things that I've
really seen and really believe in is that I've just
(19:53):
seen the poll of human trafficking and violences, and so
I really want to about prevention. And one of the
biggest impacts that UM we can make on kids is
providing after school kids between the hours of you know,
two to six to happ into children or they enter
into violent crimes, and we UM they use centers of Orange.
(20:13):
Don't want to see that happen. We don't want his
kids enter into any kind of violence. And so that's
really what we live to do, is to protect kids.
We provide after school care so that kids have a
free place to go get a young snack, but most
importantly be able to become the best that they can be.
They found that you know, they have great mentors. If
they have great tutoring, not only does it help them
(20:36):
academically and socially in all of those areas, but it
really does prevent them from entering into game, prevents them
from entering into like I said, violent times, or really
entering into human trafficking. That's when they fall prey to
those types of things, and not having supervision after schools
just such a scary thing. And I want to just
share a click story of one of our kids and
how shot Forward has already benefited this family and many others.
(20:59):
There is a little boy and his name is Song,
and he's seven. He has a little brothers, his spy.
His mom tragically passed away it's as you months ago,
and his grandmother took custody and you know, his grandmother's
elderly um and claimed houses for a living. And so
when COVID hit US and schools shut down, not only
(21:20):
did they not have internet access, a lot of kids
who are living below the poverty line don't have internet access,
so they weren't able to actually attend school. Not only that,
they were home alone. So a seven year old was
supervising five year old because the grandmother had to choose
either I seed you or you know, I stay home
with you, and so he was being courageous to to say,
I gotta do my best. So we heard about these
(21:40):
kids from the school district and shot forward. Actually at
that same time kind of gave us a consent, Hey,
we have some COVID release funds. Would that helped you out?
And of course it totally helped us out because we're
able to say yes to these kids many many more
for all days free, all day care, so they were
able to get internet access, they were able to supervised,
they were able to feel safe, they got free snacks
(22:04):
and a lunch and a little small sack for dinner,
and they were able to do their schooling so they
were able to get educated. And so not only that too,
we have these incredible staff and men towards that it
came alongside them and were able to mother them and
father them when their grandmother and grandfather could do that.
And so it couldn't be more grateful and That's why
I'm just like, I'm just so humbled and honored to
(22:25):
have Shot Forward choose us to do the Do Good
campaign because it's not only it's doing good, it's saving lives.
I truly believe their lives are safe. Well, thank you, Holiday,
You're amazing the work that y'all are doing. I just
I know that people will come through the shop. Forward
does great things, but there's awesome customers and they do
show up, and so I really think hearing how their
(22:46):
shopping is making a difference helps so much. So to
hear what y'all are doing and keeping these kids off
the streets, and yeah, to think of those hours two
to six and how so much can go wrong in
a child's life and something as simple as like y'all
are there to be there for them is priceless. So yeah,
buying a simple hoodie can make a big difference in
(23:07):
a kid's life. So thank you for all that you'll do,
and thanks for coming on with us. Yes, absolutely, thank
you guys so much. So. I love the work that
Holiday is doing to empower young kids. And Mary and
I actually have an Empowered women's line that supports women
and young girls, which is super cool. My daughter who
(23:28):
is Stuciera. You heard her at the beginning of the episode.
She did the artwork for the line, and it says
Empowered Women, Empower Women, and there's a cute little heart
in the middle, and they're very simple. It's such a
good job. So cute. She did great. They're they're really
simple and subtle. It's not like in your face, like
I'm an empowered woman. It's like really sweet. And I
think that if you have a woman in your life
(23:49):
that you really look up to, or you have a daughter,
it could be cool to get her one. But it's
a way of saying, hey, you know, I see you.
You're a really strong woman, and thank you for being
who you are. I appreciate it. So I feel like
our Empowered Women line can make a really great gift
and also is making a similar impact to the Youth
Centers of Orange with the donations. Then Mary tell us
(24:12):
about this Queen of Christmas shirt because our sweatshirt. I've
seen you post about it, but I don't know much
about being the Queen of Christmas. Oh yes, they're really cool,
and they actually support our TSF Military Fun which helps
military families around the holidays. So it's awesome that these
can get back to people that have sacrificed so much
for our country, and it's just fun. Queen of Christmas.
We all know people that are just like obsessed Christmas.
(24:32):
Like I got one from my mom. She loves it
because our house always looks like Christmas, like blue up everywhere,
which I love it now, but I always always like
this is a lot. So it's a cute little gift
or good of yourself. Oh you know what else I
think is a super cute gift for people, is your
denom be kind hat? Yes, so those are kind of
new that's a light denom like dad hut. I don't
(24:53):
know why they're called dad huts, but it's like a
canvasy super cute hasn't embroidered. We love those. Another dad
hat that I'm upset us with is our Pimp Enjoy
Camo Dad had that one. That's a good gift to
very popular right now. And then if you know about
Pimp and Joy, then you likely are a Bobby Bones
show listener. And just heads up if you're a B teamer,
the shot forward has B team tease and tell me
(25:16):
something good baseball teas Okay, So Mary and I just
covered like a small fraction of what's available on the
shot forward website, which you can find it's the shot
forward dot com and shop Spla is under the same website,
but just in case you want to find it differently,
(25:37):
it's shop spla dot com. We have like a million
different ways you can get to the website also four
Things dot Com. You know, Mary just gets all the
domains and makes it all go there, so hopefully it's
easy for you to navigate and find all of these
different gifts. They will be up there. Mary's there anything
we missed? I would say the one thing is maybe mask.
We've worked hard to come up with some really really
(25:58):
cute masks, but are also like their three layers, they
have like a soft brushed cotton polly, so they're super comfy,
and I think those are cute stocking stuffers too because
they're fun prints. So we figured it might as if
you have to wear a mask, you might as well
make it fun and super comfortable, So that would be
the other thing. I mean, there's something literally for everyone
if you need to just do like a one stop shop,
but I think we covered a lot. Okay, well, before
(26:18):
you go, Mary, I want to get into some gift
ideas that we have that are not shot forward are
a spoil related because you know, we obviously shop other
places too, and I'm going to share some stuff when
my sister comes on in a minute. But you mentioned
masks being good stocking stuffers. I have another idea for that,
and that's the arc balls, like our kind of It's
(26:39):
a stress anxiety ball and it's spelled a R G
G H andach and it's the best fourteen nine and
nine and I've ever spent because sometimes my son and
I use it. It's a sensory thing and it really
can help calm you. Well even throw it as hard
as we possibly can, and it really doesn't do any damage.
But there's something that's really there peutic about that. So
(27:02):
I would just recommend that could be an easy gift
to get someone or throw it in their stocking stuff
or or if you get them and I'm fine shirt
throwing an arc ball. Oh my gosh, that's a good idea.
It's like finding a little gift package. And oh and
there's something I want to say about gift packages that
I learned from Mary and I've definitely copied her on it.
(27:22):
When I've started to give people things, including back to her,
and I'm sure she's like, oh, this is all I
do things. But Mary is really good about making little
gift packages with a bunch of different little gifts, some
of them like totally small, some maybe not. But she
individually wraps each gift because I don't know, I guess
it's just more fun to open things. Plus it makes
the package really cute. So never underestimate how the gift
(27:46):
receiving experience the presentation, and then also is the receiver
how fun it is to open up all these little
tiny packages. And she always has cute wrapping paper. So
just a tip from Mary that I have also stolen
from her because it's super fun and cute. But like,
what are some gift ideas you have that you're getting
people this year? I mean, I'm just trying to think
(28:06):
of a few random ones. This is not for everyone,
it's maybe specific, but I have bought a few of them.
It's this book that's about royal fashion. It's called hr
H So Many Thoughts on Royal Style and it's like
looks at the fashion and the most influential royals for
the past like hundred years. I guess, and they this
huge statement they made through their fashion. It's just like
a pretty coffee table book, but also like has lots
(28:28):
of good content. I don't know, I think it's super
super interesting, especially if you're like watching The Crown and
it kind of goes along with it. Have you watched season? Oh? Yeah,
I finished it already. I do watch it. I've started it,
but I'm not done yet. I think it might take
me a minute, but I'm super pumped about it because
this season is all about Princess Diana, so it's kind
of oh my gosh. Yeah, and Diana is heavily featured
(28:50):
in this book. So it's called hr H So many
Thoughts on Royal Style and it's by Elizabeth Holmes and
I'm sure you can get it at any bookstore. That
was one. And then I asked Ashley, who loves everything
Target on him Instagram, and she sent me days and
I definitely already ordered them their ten dollar fuzzy slippers
and they're amazing and they'd be super cute as the
stocking stuffer. And so they're the women's Paris slide slippers
(29:10):
from Stars Above if you're interested in something like that.
And then I was also think it'd be good because
so many small businesses have been hit during COVID, especially restaurants,
to buy restaurant gifts cards for people like their favorite restaurants,
even if they just get take out. At this point,
I think that would be like, I would love to
get that. Those are a couple. I just thought of, Oh,
those are good ideas, and we're really we're just trying
to help you all. We know that shopping can be
(29:32):
overwhelming at times, especially if you've put it off till now,
and I think any other year this would be the
normal time to shop, but with coronavirus and shipping it
has added it's so weird, a layer of stress of
wanting to receive things in times. So yeah, if y'all
need to help with anything else, y'all can send us
d ms on Instagram and you know, maybe we can
(29:52):
shoot back and forth and and help you out with
with anything that you're struggling with. But thanks for coming
on as always, merry. Don't forget to screenshot this episode
if you want to enter into our little giveaway of
our Gratitude journal. You just got a tag at the
Shop Forward tag at Radio Amy and say so thankful
for this podcast. I feel so lame saying that, but
(30:14):
also I feel awesome at the same time because it's
it is It's yeah, it's that marketing there, so it's
a win win and we'll randomly be picking someone and
then make sure you're following the shop for it on
Instagram as well. And Mary, thank you. I hope you
have a great Thanksgiving. Thanks for having me. I'll talk
to you later as we talk like it's not like
(30:34):
I'm saying bye forever, but bye bye. Always awesome having
Mary on the podcast, and I'm gonna get my sister
on next. But before I do, I want to share
a little backstory of how I met Brittany, since she's
(30:56):
sitting here next to me. We actually met at Turnip Truck,
which is a grocery store here in Nashville. And sometimes
when we're hanging out or we're texting, I just randomly
say l O L we met at a grocery store
because it's so random, but it's so funny. It's so
random and so fun And Brittany has been amazing, big
supporter of Pimp and Joy and she is a person
that is joy. She brings joy to my life. And
(31:18):
that's why I laughed that I met you at a
grocery store. You just never know who you're going to meet.
But Brittany doesn't work at Turnip Truck anymore. She works
at Warby Parker. And I bring that up because I
think that a Warby Parker gift card would be a
really awesome Christmas present. It would, I mean, it would
be an incredible gift to give somebody a gift card.
Warby Parker has so many ways that you can even
just try on glasses. You can go into the store.
(31:40):
You can also do a virtual try on if you
have like an iPhone Tin or higher um where it
kind of does like the facial recognition thing and allows
you to like try on glasses and it looks very realistic,
by the way. But also they have something called home
try on where you pick out five beer glasses. You
can do it either over the phone or online or
on app, and you just pick five glasses and it
comes to you in like three business days and you
(32:02):
just hold onto them for a few days and see
which pay you like the best. And it helps a
lot of people be able to figure out what they
want to be able to buy. So a gift card
could be really dope and and it kind of just
goes a long way for people who are just trying
to get some glasses, especially around this Tommy year, people
trying to social distance and if you know someone who's
lost a job or whatever, like just having eyeglasses. We
don't realize how important it is until one day you
(32:23):
wake up and you're like, oh, my goodness, glasses. But
they also have sunglasses. And then I don't need glasses,
but I have the ones for blue light and I
got the look computers. People often ask me where my
blue light glasses that are a clear ram and they're
super cute. I have people ask me where those are from,
and they are from Warby Parker and they're very cute.
(32:43):
On you, by the way, thank you are the glasses
you have on right now? Warby Parker, Yes, these are
Warby Parkers are very cute. These are a raider. They're
like retro glasses. So like my aunt is like laughing
at me right now because she wore these glasses and
like the eighties and like very hip. I don't think
I'm cool enough to wear something like that. But they
look aviators but with the clear reading lens. They definitely
(33:03):
make me feel cool, like we're pulling it off. Good job,
it look cool. Okay, well, now let's get my sister
on the phone because she's going to talk about some
gift ideas for us as well. Okay, Okay, my sister,
if you've heard her on the podcast before, you may
know that she owns the cutest little coffee shop in
(33:23):
Pagosa Springs, Colorado, called a root House Coffee and her
husband y'all bought it and started running it. I don't
know what over a year ago. It's been a year
and a half. Yeah, and so it's super cool that
now I have a coffee expert in the family. And
before my sister gets into some gift ideas for the
coffee lover in your life, I will just say that
(33:44):
I was just gifted a Smeg milk frother. It's spelled
s m e G And these frouthers are so cute.
Everything Smeg putts out is just really adorable. But my
sister was at my house recently and we frought some
milk in it, and she was really impressed with how
it made a really good latte and it's so easy
to use. Now they aren't cheap at all, but depending
(34:07):
on who you're buying a gift for, I just want
to let y'all know that this is an option. If
you wanted to buy a Frouther and then maybe a
bag of coffee from Christie's company, it could be a
super cute gift. Williams Sonoma has the snag Frouthers, and
I'm sure you could find them elsewhere online. Again, not cheap,
but there could be that special person in your life
that definitely would love a gift like this. And now, Christie,
(34:28):
I know you have some ideas for us that are
coming from your coffee shop, so I'll just let you
explain what you've got. First off, we have our fresh
roosted small batch coffee, and we've got three flavors, first
being our base Camp Roast, which is kind of more
nutty chocolate e undertone, like a breakfast blend. Then we
have our Backwoods Roast, which has a little more lemony
(34:49):
blueberry undertones, and then our camp Fire Blend, which has
more earthy tobacco, dark gross type grosst going on. So
those can be bought individually or as a tree. Okay,
and I just got to say this about my sister's
packaging is it's adorable. So if you do buy one,
or you do buy the trio and she ships it
to you, it's going to be packaged really nice where honestly,
(35:10):
you could just throw some wrapping paper on it and
gifted to whoever you're going to give it to, or
you can have it shipped directly to the person that
you want to gift it to. And my sister just
does a great job with packaging. So I just wanted
to shout you out for that, Christie, Oh thank you.
Another idea is our Choose Joy spoons, which have been
a really popular thing that we usually has kind of
(35:32):
limited supply of. So these are like little vintage tea
spoons and someone handstands the word Choose Joy kind of
on the bowl of the spoon, and it's a really
great small gift or stocking stuffer or just a little
extra gifts to go along with something else for someone
who enjoys tea or coffee, and this is more of
like their special spoon that you know they're going to
(35:53):
stir their coffee with every morning. And then next thing
we have on there is actually a collaboration we did
with Spa and it's our four Things topes that we
have in the shop created for us at root House,
and our four things on the bag are rivers, mountains, campfires,
and coffee. So this would be a really cute gift
on its own or with a bag of coffee for
(36:13):
someone who enjoys all of those things along with coffee.
And the last thing is our custom root House camp cup,
which is an insulated mug with a lid, and it's
made by the company Mirror, and so each cup is
linked to a water project or another type of gift
project going on in the world, and there's a little
code on the bottom so you can follow along where
(36:35):
your purchase is making an impact in the world. Love that.
And I have my root House Mirror mug that I
drink out of sometimes I'm either drinking out of my
Pimp Enjoy mug, my root House smug, or this mug
with an a on it that my friend Gracie got
me from Anthropology, which is also another good gift idea
of just throwing that out there, so cute. Speaking of Anthropology,
(36:58):
Christie has been sending me I'm really cute mirrors from there,
So this isn't really Christmas gift related because I don't
know how many people you could buy a really cute
mirror for, but maybe you need to treat yourself to
a little holiday gift and you need there's a spot
in your home that needs a really super cute mirror.
Anthropology has, uh these owl what are what are all
of the animals they have? Christie, Well, I can't remember
(37:20):
all the animals that I have the bird, which is
the small one, and then I have the deer, and
so there's some of these vinagy kind of gold outlined
mirrors that are really cute, and it's it's more of
like a gift you buy for your home or if
you know, you know like husbands or I don't know
if wives by their husband's mirrors for their health, but
however it may go. It's more of like a decorative
(37:41):
thing for your home, which would be a fun gift. Yeah,
well your wife that would love something like that. Yeah,
I just bought the big owl one because I had
a really big wall I needed to fill and I'm
so excited about it. But yeah, they have some super
cute mugs there that have letters on them, which could
be a special gift. Maybe you order some coffee from
root House and then you want to get the cute
(38:01):
anthropology mug to go with it. Whatever, We're just trying
to share some gift ideas with y'all. And I love
that my sister now has a coffee shop with the
cutest little gift shop attached to it, and she does
such a good job filling it with cute things. So
if you're ever in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, I hope you'll
stop by there. But in the meantime, if you're looking
to do some shopping, you can check her stuff out
(38:23):
and it's root house co dot com and then on
Instagram it's at root House Code. Now it's thinking for
a limited time. I'm not sure when everybody's listening to this,
but from now until Monday, November, your listeners can use
the code radio Amy to get ten percent off their purchase.
Oh that's awesome. Well thanks for that little hook up. Okay,
(38:44):
so that'll be good on as well, right right, So
you've got until midnight on thet to use the code
radio Amy to save ten percent. And again, the website
is root house co dot com. Okay, thanks sister for
coming on, love you, thank you, love me too, all right,
Now I have Stephen Young, the founder of Home Street Home,
(39:05):
on with us, and Steven, why don't you tell everybody
what Home Street Home is and why you founded it?
And I will just also say before you get into
that that he came on the podcast not too long ago.
Was it last year? Gosh, where has this year gone?
It was last year, and did a whole episode on it.
So if you want to go back and find that one,
(39:26):
you can, and I will be having him on the
podcast on a normal episode, not just this gift guide
one to give an update and just really help educate
us on the homeless community and what we can do
to be a part of people's lives that you know
that we pass on the street and we may not
really know what the best thing is to do, and
(39:46):
Stephen is our resource for that. So Stephen, thank you
for joining us, and I'll let you go ahead and
share about your your organization. Well, thank you for having me.
It's a it's a pleasure. I founded Home Street Home
in October. We're often in March. Often. I came off
the streets that I had lived on for almost five years,
(40:08):
and at fifty two years of age, lost everything I
had never thinking I would be homeless and definitely not
thinking of the last five years. But when I was
blessed enough to get off the streets, I couldn't forget
what I learned out there and what I saw out there.
And I literally borrowed six dollars from a friend of
mine and started this ministry. And the reason I started
(40:30):
it is because while I was homeless, I learned what
was being done for the homeless community. But more importantly,
I learned what wasn't being done. And my focus when
I began this ministry and still today almost seven years later,
is doing what wasn't being done. And this year has
been one of the most trying, exasperating, difficult years in
(40:55):
the last six and a half, but it's also been
one of the biggest blessings because we have been able
to be there for the literally thousands that, for the
first time in their life this year found themselves homeless.
Mary and I went out and got to serve with
Home Street Home. Right before that, like probably a week
before Nashville shut down, we were out walking around Nashville
(41:18):
with you guys, meeting so many of the people that
you get to help every weekend where you're out all
the time, but that was such a blessing and we
I couldn't wait to bring my family out. And then
of course, just with the virus, everything sort of shut down.
But the point is this is the season of giving,
and you know, it is something that you can be
dedicated to year round. You don't just have to focus
(41:41):
on it come Christmas time. But this is a time
where you're also shopping for other people. And I thought
that donating to an organization like Home Street Home in
someone's honor could be a really cool gift. So you
can go to their website make a donation. You can
actually pick how your money is going to be used.
There's an option where you know you can make a difference,
(42:03):
but you get to choose where your money goes. And
then you could throw it in a card or a
nice letter to that friend or family member that you
bought it for and let them know, hey, this is
what I got this year. I made this donation and
I did it in your honor, So that is my
gift and it'll it'll really make a difference. So, yeah,
how has has looked for y'all? And what are the
(42:25):
various needs and where are you seeing at the most
this has been and to give you a brief idea,
in the first quarter of last year, we handed out
eight nine tenths. In the first quarter of this year,
we handed out four hundred and eleven. The most food
that we've ever given out in a year was a
(42:48):
little over eleven tons. We are now approaching twenty tons
and we still got a month and a half left.
Every avenue that we address, every service that we provide
more than tripled this year. Sleeping bags and shoes and
clothing and food and water. It's just been overwhelming, but
(43:09):
we've been blessed to be able to meet the needs
so far. And while a lot of places were cutting
back and shutting down, we were actually ramping up. And
we have had a presence in the field on the
streets of Nashville every day since this all started, back
right after the tornado and then the pandemic. But I
(43:30):
will tell you that it's getting more and more difficult because,
to be honest with you, the donations have it come
in this year like we're used to seeing, and we
totally understand that. But we have managed to restructure some
things and we continue to do what we do every day,
and with your audience's help and the general public out
(43:54):
there that that believes in what we're doing. We're still
being able to get up and blessed lives every day
and we are truly, truly blessed to be able to
do that. You mentioned they can designate where their money goes.
That's something that's very unique with Home Street Home, And
when I founded this ministry, I wanted to give people
(44:18):
an option as to how their money is spent when
it is donated. A lot of times you donate to
a charity and you really don't know what that money
is going to be spent on. You have a general idea,
but with us, you can actually choose exactly how your
money is spent, and those options are available on our
website under our give tab. If you want to give
(44:39):
to the food Pantry, if you want to give to
Survival Supplies, if you want to give to our housing fund,
where that money goes to getting people off the streets.
This year, we have gotten a people off the streets,
but to be honest with you, that is not cheap
to do. We have spent a little low. We're eighty
(45:00):
seven thousand dollars getting most people off the street, but
I've always said you cannot put a price on something
like that, and if you really are particular, we have
an area of Greatest Need tab that you can click
on it donate and we will put that money where
we need it the most at that time. I love
at the bottom of your website, which your website is
(45:22):
home Street Home tn dot org and the tennes for
Tennessee Home Street Home ten dot org. And at the
bottom of the give page it says, hope is a
powerful thing. Please plant a seed today. So if you
are thinking of people in your life and you would
like to make a donation in their honor, there's also
(45:42):
an option to become a partner and Hope, which is
a monthly donation, and I think that that would also
be a really cool gift. Now, is that set up
where it's reoccurring every month, Stephen? Yes, it is. They
can set it up and they can cancel it at
any time, or I can let it run on as
long as they want to. Awesome, Stephen. Well, I feel
(46:05):
honored to know you now as a friend and appreciate
all that you do in our community. And I hope
that people will just you know, maybe keep this in
in their back pocket as a gift idea this Christmas season,
or if you are looking to give just not as
a gift, but make a donation on your own that
you would consider home Street home Tien dot org. Or
(46:27):
if you don't live in Nashville, maybe this conversation will
encourage you to look in your own community and where
you might want to support similar efforts. But I personally
know Stephen and can vouch for him and the work
that he is doing, So even if you don't live here,
this is a super legit organization that you can trust
and feel good about your donation or your gift. And
(46:51):
if you gifted to somebody else, you can tell them, hey,
I want you to feel awesome about this because they're
doing really good things for people that need it in Nashville.
So Stephen, thanks for coming on with us, and I
hope you have a merry Christmas and tell Andy we
said hi, I will do that, and thank you for
having me Amy You. Thank everyone out there that's listening.
(47:11):
God bless you. We wish you the best of a
holiday season and very merry Christmas. Stay safe, stay healthy,
and be blessed. And again, thank you for having me
on Amy Right there you have it. Those are our
gift ideas for you. If you're starting your Christmas shopping now.
If you're listening to this the day it came out,
it's Thanksgiving day, you better start your shopping. Or maybe
(47:33):
you're listening to it the weekend after Thanksgiving. Still, you
really better start your shopping, whether it's with us or
anybody else. I just want to make sure that you
get your stuff in the mail in time, and with coronavirus,
you know, mail is crazy. But I also just want
to encourage you while you're thinking about shopping and you're
thinking about the people you want to shop. Four. I
guess I should say, you know, we gave you a
(47:53):
lot of ideas that costs money, and you know there's
amazing gifts that give back, whether it's with our company
or a different one in or there's just the random
gifts that we threw out there that are stuff that
we love. But words are free. I say that here
on the podcast a lot, because you don't have to
spend money on someone to tell them that you appreciate them,
and that's what a gift is all about. Right. We
(48:14):
give gifts because it's customary for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas time, holidays,
it's a time where that's just what we do. It's custom.
So you get someone a gift, but it's also to say, hey,
you're important to me, You're a part of my life.
But it doesn't have to be something that you spend
money on at all. You could write them a poem.
You could write them a really thoughtful card or not
(48:35):
to draw them something that they could keep reverend. It
could be special. And words are really important. Brittany sitting
here shaking your head. I know as a songwriter, words
are extremely important to you. There everything words are free.
So we put out this Christmas Gift Guide episode Holiday
Gift Guide so that you can have ideas, because we
(48:55):
know shopping can be difficult, especially this year. It's not
like you're going out to a bunch of different stores.
You know, shopping online is just kind of the way
to do it with COVID, but you know, it's hard
to think of everybody on your list. But don't think
for a second that we're saying you need to go
out and spend all this money. Whether the gift gives
back to a cause or not, you don't. You could
simply tell someone you appreciate them with words. And speaking
(49:18):
of words, I'll have Brittany go ahead and share some
of her words with us and one of your original songs.
She's going to sing us out with the song or
verse in a chorus of one of her songs called
sorry More Sorry is don't work no more? Here we go,
take it away, Brittany, try try, try, try to just
(49:39):
wood kid seem to fun lose. I called you up
in August oping I could be honest, but you never
let me speak and it to know you trust me.
(50:11):
Yeah time, I know the door no mass still look
no more? So good? So where can we hear the
rest of that song? Oh? You can hear it on
(50:32):
all your streaming services. So we just need to look
up Britney Spencer. Sorry so don't work more? If my
name is spelt like Britney spears with one extra tea,
there we go. That's true. That's how you like. That
is true. Britney's a lot, so it's like Britney Spears,
but extra tea and okay, Well, thank you for joining
(50:53):
us today, Britney. And unfortunately, at this time we cannot
offer our gift guide Rudolph the Red Nose reindeer parody
on all the streaming services, but you can go back
to the beginning of the podcast and listen to it
on repeat if you want to. Okay, bye m h
(51:16):
h
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