Welcome Home

Summer is over and we’re feeling very much in that Back-to-School mode! On this episode of The Home Hour, we’re talking about everything that goes into getting our families out of the home!

Join hosts Kirsten and Graham as we chat about our a.m. routines, night before to-do lists, and the first day of school traditions in our homes. We also share our lists of must-do’s to prep for a new school year, what we buy new and what we make work from the year before, and why nothing beats the intoxicating smell of fresh Subway bread baking in the oven!

Sponsor Spotlight: KIND Bar Snack Club!

Hey Home Hour listeners, have you ever tried a KIND Bar? You might have seen them in your local grocery store, coffee shop or gym. They make delicious, healthy snacks using whole ingredients you can recognize and pronounce.

Well, if you’re ready to try some tasty AND healthy snacks, we’ve got a special deal for you! Home Hour listeners, can try 10 KIND Bars for free, all you have to pay is shipping! 

When you order the sample box, you’ll also get to try KIND’s Snack Club, where you’ll receive monthly snacks at a discount and get members only bonuses.

To access this great deal visit KindSnacks.com/thehomehour.

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Planning an event that’s photo-shoot worthy! This episode is all about inspiration and aspiration as Graham and Kirsten chat with one of the country’s most recognized and celebrated event planners, Calder Clark! Calder shares her tips and tricks for creating swoon-worthy events, but also readily admits that for the everyday, nothing beats pizza and beer at home with a great group of friends!

Links we mention on the show:

* Calder Clark: Gorgeous website of our gorgeous guest!

* Sferra: One of Calder’s go-to spots for beautiful table linens

* Roost: Champagne Flutes

* Juliska: Calder’s everyday dishes

* Shag! The best movie ever made (*According to Calder, Kirsten, & Graham)

* Bite by Bite: Peter Callan’s cookbook that helped start the mini-food trend

Among her dozens of accolades, Calder Clark has been named a “Best Planner” by Vogue and a “Top Planner” by Martha Stewart Weddings. In her incredible career Calder has planned events ranging from the 2001 Presidential Inaugural Luncheon, to the Bloomberg News/White House Correspondents’ Dinner After Party, to some of the most elegant and photographed weddings across the country. However today she’s catching up with The Home Hour about how she entertains at home as a wife and a mother.

We learn that at her home, it’s always casual and it’s more about eating pizza on your lap and less about being fussy! However, Calder does share with us a few tips to elevate our everyday events such as linen napkins. She also says that the juxtaposition of casual and fancy always makes for a great atmosphere so don’t be afraid to serve fast food burgers on fine china and champagne in Dixie Cups!

When it comes to parties at home, Calder says it’s less about the fancy, detailed schematics and more about the life-lessons: be ready for your guests, have enough food, make sure you have great lighting, and keep a comfortable temperature in your home! She also says that a party at home is never the time to try a new recipe. Always go with your favorite tried and true recipes and remember that they will be new and exciting to someone!

Calder says the newest trends to look for are “80’s peach” and dark racing green with lacquered brass accents. She also says “Farm to Fork” healthier eating is really hot as is anything paired down to a mini-version of the original, as popularized by Peter Callahan. 

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We all give them, we all receive them, but what makes a good gift? There are wedding gifts, hostess gifts, baby shower gifts, and the endless parade of children’s birthday gifts. On this episode of the home hour we’re tackling a huge topic and sharing our favorite go-to gift ideas. We learn that Kirsten pretty much sticks to registries whenever possible, but Graham has some standard gifts she always gives.

Kirsten explains why her favorite way to package a gift is with a cute tote bag. And we offer one lucky listener the chance to win a $50 gift card to buy their own cute tote bag from one of our favorite online boutiques: Adornlee!See our Instagram account @thehomehour for details! 

We talk about Kirlkland Wipes, the words most expensive spatula, and the amazing mailbox culture of Graham’s hometown.

Links we mentioned on this episode:

* Marye-Kelly Frames – Precious Frames. They make great wedding gifts & baby gifts.

* Tiffany’s Atlas Bowl – Graham’s favorite standard wedding gift

* Adornlee tote bags!- Cute tote bags with fun sayings

* Sharbat Recipes– One of Graham’s favorite homemade gift ideas

* Giant Spatula (The original William Sonoma one we mentioned is no longer available, but this looks just like it and is much less expensive… lucky you!!)

* Mountain Brook’s Mailbox Culture – Sweet article about community support

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Whether we like it or not, cleaning our house is a job that must be done. Today on The Home Hour, we’re strategizing to figure out how to make it easier! On this episode Kirsten and Graham chat with the Clean Mama herself, Becky Rapinchuck, about how schedules and routines can help make keeping a clean home more manageable!

We discuss Becky’s approach to systematically laying out chores as well as her favorite time saving hacks, the best cleaning tools, and recipes to create your own all natural DIY cleansers.

We also learn a great tip to help our kids to make their beds and get into a meaty debate with Graham’s cable guy over sharing favorite family recipes!

Links we mention on this episode:

* Clean Mama Website! 

* DIY Disinfecting Spray Recipe

* DIY Marble & Granite Spray Recipe

Visit the Clean Mama site for great resources and printables and be sure to check out her newest book SIMPLY CLEAN!

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No business could succeed without proper planning, strategizing, and goal setting. So what if we if we applied those same basic principles to the way we run our homes and families?

On this episode of the Home Hour, Graham is interviewing her co-host Kirsten about her tradition of taking an annual weekend away to focus solely on goal setting. We discuss how Kirsten and her spouse plan their yearly calendar, their one year goals for themselves and for their kids, their house goals, and their long term planning for the future. Think of this episode as a to-do list on steroids!

To help you get started on setting your own goals, here’s a sample template!

The Home Hour, Sample Goal Worksheet!

Also on this episode, we check in with our real life remodeler Jen to find out how things are going back at her house, while she’s halfway across the country on summer vacation!

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We’re putting on our party hats and getting a bit silly! Kirsten & Graham have always believed that sophistication is overrated and that laughter beats stuffy every time…and now we’ve found fabulous two ladies who agree! On this episode of the Home Hour, we chat with the Slageter Sisters! Susan (Slageter) Palma, a decorator from Dallas, and Babs (Slageter) Horner, a cook from Connecticut, are sisters, best friends and two moms on a mission to bring the giggles back to entertaining!

Links we mentioned on the show:

* Sophistication is Overrated Book!

Susan and Babs grew up in a home filled with laughter, joy, and parents who taught them that no matter what challenges life brings, the party should never stop! They talk with Graham and Kirsten about how they were raised to smile at life and how they have tried to raise their children with the same sunny outlook.

On this episode we learn about some of their favorite tips and tricks to make entertaining a fun-filled experience for their guests and hear about their new book “Sophistication is Overrated”

Whether it’s a poolside BBQ, a formal holiday dinner, or a post-plastic surgery luncheon, these ladies bring delicious food, beautiful decorating ideas, and usually a blow-up doll in a crazy costume. We hope this episode inspires you to throw a party that makes you smile!

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It’s DIY Day on the Home Hour! Time to whip out the paint brushes and hammers as Kirsten & Graham are joined by Ashley of the popular Home Improvement & DIY Blog Domestic Imperfection.

On this episode, Ashley shares the behind-the-scenes stories of some of the most popular projects on her blog including how she made a countertop out of pennies, how she painted and raised her big-box-store cabinets to look custom, and the DIY butcher block countertop that looked so good online Kirsten copied it in her own kitchen!

Links we mentioned or should have mentioned on this episode:

* Domestic Imperfection: Ashley’s amazing blog!

* Butcher-Block Countertops: Ashley recommended, Kirsten copied, both loved!

* Waterlox: What Ashley and Kirsten used to seal their countertops

We also learn about Ashley’s most sought after project to date: the infamous “Paper Bag Floor!”

Ashley and her husband are currently in the process of building their dream home in Texas with their four little boys!

This new house is so unique and gorgeous… and they are truly building it themselves!

Also on this episode, we check in with Jen Brigham, our real life remodeler, to see the latest developments from her whole-house renovation.

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Move over green smoothies, we’re taking the art of hiding veggies and vitamins to a whole new level! We may have just found the ultimate kitchen hack for those of us who deal with picky eaters! Oh, and did we mention it’s perfect for summer?

Introducing “GLOW POPS!”

On this episode of The Home Hour, we’re talking to wellness writer, creator of the popular blog Sprouted Routes and author of Glow Pops, Liz Moody.  Liz chats with Kirsten & Graham all about why popsicles may be the ultimate “healthy freezer food” and shares tips and insights into some of the hottest new trends in healthy eating.

Links we mentioned, or should have mentioned, on this episode:

* Our Instagram: (to enter to win a copy of Liz’s new book!)

* Sprouted Routes

* Glow Pops Book

* Adaptagens: Herbs that work with your body! They do things like balance your hormones and they adapt to your individual needs.

* Ashwaganda: good for anxiety

* Maca Maca a root from Peru which gets ground up. Ancient warriors used it to build up their stamina. *Note: this is not “matcha”,which is powdered green tea.

* Vitacost: One of Liz’s favorite online retailers for affordable health foods.

* Truffle Salt: Kirsten’s favorite way to trick herself into eating her veggies! (Crazy expensive but so delicious! Also, this little jar last as about 6 months)

While we loved hearing about the latest trends in healthy eating, Liz does caution us that all these fashionable foods, while cool and good for extra healing, aren’t as important as a diet full of greens, good fiber, healthy proteins and healthy fats! Liz also loves fresh fruits but warns that as soon as they are picked, they begin to loose their health benefits. She says frozen fruits are a great option!

Liz says popsicles are the perfect way to hide veggies and, because they can be pre-made, they may even be easier to grab in the morning than making a smoothie! All you need is a blender and a popsicle mold. Rather than pureeing and straining (as many popsicle recipes suggest) all the recipes in Glow Pops are simply blended and poured into molds, which keeps all the healthy fibers.

Liz also recommends an avocado a day. She says they are the perfect “brain food” and as a bonus, they help give popsicles creamy texture.

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It’s “The Home Hour away from Home!” On this episode of The Home Hour, Graham and Kirsten and talking about summer travels with families. We discuss our summer plans and how we like to travel…or not travel, with kids. We also talk about staying in VBRO’s, finding hotels for a family of 5, cooking while on vacation, and finding a balance between “cultural experience trips” and “beach & pina colada trips”. Graham tries to put Kirsten’s Disney anxiety to rest and shares a crazy story about the bizarre lengths her parents went to when they needed a vacation-babysitter in a pinch!

NEW SEGMENT! REAL LIFE REMODEL!

We also are meeting Jen Brigham as we begin a new series on the podcast! For the next 6 months (or maybe more!) we’ll be following Jen, a real life working mom of 3, as she embarks on a substantial home remodel.

This remodel has been six years in the making but she’s finally moved out of her house and torn it apart! Now, we get to watch the process of putting it back together!

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Kitchens are the most utilized room in the house and as every mom knows, they can also quickly turn into one of the most disorganized! From a practical pantry, to a mom kitchen office, to the ultimate black hole of the ” the junk drawer” we’re addressing the biggest kitchen challenges! On episode 73, Kirsten and Graham talk with Ashley Murphy, professional organizer, working mother, and co-founder of the Neat Method, a nationwide organizing company

Ashley and the Neat Method have been featured on Oprah, HGTV, Houzz.com, The New York Times, Vouge, and The Washington Post.

Ashley give us some great tips for setting up our kitchens to maximize efficiency, shares some standard rules for keeping the junk drawer in check, and teaches us what is really the heart of the kitchen.

We also have an honest talk about separating “Pinterest Perfect” kitchen organization from what works in real life!

The Neat Method can be found in more than 20 cities around the country and has online services available. To learn more about The Neat Method visit their website and follow them on Instagram, Pinterest, and Houzz.com.

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