Franklin Goose

Carrie's Henrico County Home

My hometown story isn’t very exciting, but it is very comforting. I still live relatively close to where I grew up and since I have had my first child, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I grew up in Henrico County, which is right outside of Richmond. I went to school with the same people throughout my entire childhood and teenage years. It was so much fun growing up near “the big city” and in the middle of so many historical landmarks. I can’t tell you how many field trips I’ve taken to Williamsburg or Yorktown or any museum in Richmond, and it wasn’t until I was an adult that I really understand why people love Richmond. There is so much history here and it is right in the middle of everything!

When I think about growing up in Henrico, so many things come to mind: spending spring days at Maymont Park, summer time down “on the rocks” and looking at Christmas lights all around the city.

 

Maymont Park

 

 

 

Maymont Park

 

Maymont Park is an awesome place to spend a warm, sunny day. The animals are usually out and about, which is so much fun for people of any age. Maymont also has gorgeous waterfalls and ponds, they’re great to sit by and have a picnic!

 

Belle Isle

 

The “rocks”, also known as Belle Isle, is a fantastic place to be on a summer day! There are bike trails, walking paths, rocks to lounge on and there is a great view of Hollywood Cemetery (sounds weird, but its really cool). I’ve wasted many summer days lying on the rocks, soaking up the sun with friends! Belle Isle is full of history; there are signs all over the island that describe the historical events that took place there.

 

Christmas lights at Lewis Ginter

The good thing about Virginia in the winter is that it gets cold, but not too cold to go outside. Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, in the north side of Henrico, has a really cool light display to walk through. It begins a few weeks before Christmas and lasts until the beginning of the new year. There are also tons of light tours that happen throughout the Christmas season all over the city. It’s definitely something that everyone needs to do, at least once, while in the area.

 

Richmond is my hometown, my friends and family are here and it’s where I grew up. I find more new and cool things to do all around the Richmond area as I get older. I can’t wait to introduce my daughter (and more future children) to the awesomeness that is Richmond!

Lillebaby Giveaway!

Lillebaby is having a giveaway! This week, you can win  a Lillebaby COMPLETE Carrier!

 

To enter, click here!

But hurry! This giveaway ends Sunday, August 4!

 

Online Shopping Is About To Get Awesome.

(sheri)

One of the things we have lost in this new age of internet and social media is human contact. We have learned to do our shopping, catching up, and conversations in a fractured way. It seems like so many of my conversations with people are not verbal anymore. We text, we email, we ichat or AIM. When I shop online I do it alone, or I have to send links or pins to friends or family asking their opinions.  We know it is the same when you shop with us.

So we started thinking about how to change that experience for you. Whether you are registering, making birthday or Christmas wishlists, or just picking out new school shoes, we wanted you to have the same feeling you would if you came to the store with your best friend, parent, spouse or sibling.  We thought it would be so cool to have a personal shopping experience even if you live on opposite sides of the world.

Luckily for us, we found some guys who thought so, too. 

 

FranklinGoose.com will soon be unveiling a new feature on our webstore. Keep an eye out for what's to come and how you can be a part of it!

 

Gifts Fit For A Prince (Or Princess!)

(emily)

I love all things British--I think the fault lies mostly with PBS shows and my love for The Chronicles of Narnia--so I'm sure you can imagine how excited I was when I woke yesterday morning to the news that the Duchess of Cambridge had been admitted to the hospital and was in labor. 

In honor of all the princes (and princesses) born yesterday, we've put together a few perfectly royal gift ideas:

1. The Prince's Bedtime: Written by Joanne Oppenheim and illustrated by Miriam Latimer, this adorable book is about a young prince who refuses to go to sleep, something that all parents, royal or otherwise, know well. Features an audio CD narrated by Jim Broadbent. 

2. Aden + Anais Dream Blanket: Made with soft bamboo muslin, the Dream Blanket is incredibly luxurious. 

3. Under the Nile Buddy: Soft toys are so much fun to snuggle with! 

4. Baltic Amber Necklace: Because teething happens to everyone.

5. Bamboosa BambooBaby Hooded Towel: These towels are so soft! I love them!

6. Tots Bots Easy Fit Diaper in London: The London diaper is so cute with its map of the Underground, double-decker buses & taxicabs, and Beefeaters! What a great diaper for a royal bottom!

7. Sophie the Giraffe: Every baby has to have his own Sophie!

8. Wood Teething Necklace: The Duchess of Cambridge needs something fun and pretty, too, and this wooden teething necklace is absolutely beautiful and unique. 

9. Rockin' Baby Sling in The Ground Beneath Her Feet: Duchess Kate and Prince William can keep in style and stay close to their son with a Rockin' Baby Sling! Come on, Kate--all the cool moms wear their babies!

10. Mudpuppy Flip & Draw Knights: Now, I understand the little prince might not quite have the fine motor skills for this item just yet, but Prince Harry is going to need something to do while the baby is sleeping and he has no one to play with. This would be a great older sibling or any child adjusting to a new little one.

(Check out the Flip & Draw Princesses and the Double Draw Princesses, too!)

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Finding My Roots: Emily's "Hometown"

(emily)

 

Colonial Williamsburg, VA

 

My childhood was a little different from the standard American girl. After spending the first 10 years of my life moving around Virginia, my family left the USA for Central Asia. I grew up with friends from all four corners of the world and got to have many fun experiences. After high school, I bounced around and lived in a variety of cities like London, New York, and Springfield, Missouri. I even moved back to Central Asia and worked as a teacher for a time.

Thankfully, there was one place that I could consider “home,” and that was Virginia. Virginia was where my family went for Christmas. It was my home during my summers off from university.  Virginia has been a place synonymous with refreshment and family for me.

Virginia has also been the state that has taught me about America. With all of its history and culture, it has been in Virginia that I have learned what it means to be an American, an identity that I have often wondered if I can claim.

I love Virginia's history. The state has been through a lot, and there are many places scattered throughout that allow for Virginians and tourists to both celebrate America and learn from America. My absolute favorite places to do this are the many living museums we have.

 

Market at Colonial Williamsburg

Colonial Williamsburg is a fascinating place to visit. It offers people to an opportunity to go back in time. One minute you can be walking down the street in July 2013 and then suddenly you’ve gone back in time to a world where American beliefs and rights were not yet actualized. 

 

 

Williamsburg features several time markers like these along the path into the colonial city.

I got the chance to go to Williamsburg last spring with my best friend. There were two things that stuck out to me during our visit. The first was that before we entered Williamsburg, we visited a colonial farm and we got to listen to a speaker about the life of the slaves in Williamsburg. It was difficult to consider that while our forefathers wrote beautiful documents about rights and fought for their freedom, there were still people who would be denied such freedom for many more years.  It was a sobering discussion and left me with a more perceptive eye as I explored the rest of the city.

 

Second, as my friend and I wandered about the town, we found a woman dressed as a soldier. She shared with us about the many women who fought in the revolution and the things that they went through. Again I was struck with how true the words of Thomas Jefferson are and yet how much of a struggle it really has been for our country to understand what it means for all to be equal.

 

Actress speaking on the role of women in the American Revolution

Places like Colonial Williamsburg are great for helping people take what is learned in school and applying it in a real setting. Another great place to do this in Virginia is the Frontier Culture Museum of Staunton, VA.

 

The Frontier Culture Museum has chosen to share the history of Virginia by looking at the various people who settled Virginia. This is achieved with the various homes reconstructed of the ones that the settlers of Virginia would have either left behind in the Old World or created in the New.

What I love about the Frontier Culture Museum is that it helps me understand who my ancestors are and why Virginia became their home. Personally, I feel a connection with these people for I too have experienced a world outside of America and yet have chosen to live in Virginia. Getting a chance to understand these people a little bit more has allowed me a chance to understand my state and country more. It has also impressed upon me the importance of my freedoms and rights as an American instead of taking them for granted. 

 

Have you visited Colonial Williamsburg or the Frontier Cultural Museum? What did you learn about America there?

What other living museums have you visited that have taught you about America? 

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USA Hometown-Abingdon Virginia

Green Toys - Supporting & Changing America

(sheri)

Part of the mission for Franklin Goose has always been to promote American made products. We do this with our Made in the USA page online, and by guiding people in the store to our Made in America products. This month while we are focusing on America we knew we had to talk about Green Toys.

Green Toys is synonymous with the American sucess story. We love them for their dedication to creating great toys in America. What we also love is their dedication to our planet. They use 6.9 lbs of recycled material for every 1 lb of toys they create. That is a lot of waste being reused, plus many jobs created in the recycling process! Jobs like the one that converts the bottles into plastic pellets that are then used by Green Toys to make the toys.  

We love that Green Toys makes trucks, and boats bcecause they open up dialogue with kids about the jobs that are so  necessary in our country. In our house we had long discussions about what ferry boats are, what they do, and where you can find them when I brought home the new ferry boat toy. When we went to visit firemen at the fire station it was imperative to my niece that the Green Toys firetruck come with us. That was her reference point for firetrucks and she wanted to show the firemen her truck when we visited.  So many toys focus on race cars, airplanes and helicopters but we don't often find recycling trucks, ferry boats and tug boats. 

Green Toys has proven that you can make quality, affordable, environmentally responsible toys that are fun and functional! Green Toys are great outside, inside, wet or dry. They are great for girls, boys, kids and adults (yes, you can find me playing with the ferry boat and cars when I am helping at bath time). 

 

 

Green Toys also make great snack plates and bowls, which I have used as great prep bowls for cooking!

Hopscotch Nursery Rug DIY

 

(sheri)

My sister and I spotted this rug on Pinterest and immediately thought we should use it in the nursery in our Richmond store. We couldn't find a pattern or instructions so my sister made them up herself.

First we had to hunt down some wool felt in the heathered colors we liked. Luckily there is a fantastic fabric store in Richmond, Quilting Adventures, where we had purchased some heathered wool before to make birds for our windows. They special ordered some for us in the colors we wanted so now our rug was possible!

 

Next Kathryn drew out the dimensions of the space we had available for a rug. She did this on graph paper so she could start to draw out the dimensions of each square and number. There are a total of 9 squares needed. With two horizontal lines that hold two numbers. I would recommend

 

Next we cut the main fabric for the rug. Then cut each piece of the white felt for the hopscotch square outlines. Next were cutting out the numbers. We decided to use the iron on hem product rather than sewing each piece of fabric. We felt it would give us a cleaner look. The only thing about doing that is you have to cut each piece of iron on hem material to match the pieces that make up the hopscotch board.

 

The beginning of our hopscotch rug

 

The rug is starting to take shape

 

 

I would recommend not using pins, they left tiny holes

 

 

 

This is half way through the ironing process

 

 

Almost finished

 

The last step was to iron on each piece and then, DONE!  We are so happy with the final results! We will get a non-slip rug pad to go under the rug and it will be perfect!

 

 

All done!

In the Nursery!

 

What do you think?

USA Hometown-Abingdon Virginia

(sheri)

When Emily and I were talking about what to post this month all we could think about was how cool America is and how we can easily forget that sometimes. We decided this month we want to talk about some of  the great places in America by introducing you to the staffs hometowns. 

I love hearing the stories people tell about their hometowns and their childhood stories. For me, it is a bit confusing to try to tell stories about a hometown. I have grown up all over the country; I was born in Chicago, moved to Peoria, ILL, then moved to the L.A. area, after that moved to Abingdon, VA, then Atlanta, GA, then Valparaiso, IN then Lucca, Italy and now Richmond. In a certain way each of these places has been a hometown to me, they have all definitely changed me, and molded me into the person I am. They have given me new perspectives and new experiences.  When I narrow it down I think the most "hometown" place I have lived would be Abingdon, VA. It is the place my sister and I love to visit in the summer, we love taking our husbands and families to Abingdon as well.

 

 

Downtown Abingdon

 

 

 

Martha Washington Inn- Downtown Abingdon

 

Abingdon is a small town in Southwest Virginia. It borders Tennessee and is within driving distance of North Carolina. We moved there when I was in highschool. I moved from Los Angeles to Abingdon. In LA my school had over 3,000 attendees, in Abingdon the town at that time had about 20,000 residents. It was a HUGE change. I wasn't well received at the school at first, I was an outsider in a tight knit community, and I had a very hard time adjusting to the changes.

 

 

Emory & Henry College

 

I think I really started to settle in and feel attached to Abingdon when I attended Emory & Henry college. I loved and love the campus there, it is a gorgeous small campus with old brick buildings, a beautiful pond and rolling hills. I lived in Abingdon and worked at The Tavern restaurant, which was a Civil War hospital at one time.

 

 

The Tavern Restaurant

 

Downtown Abingdon is quintessential America to me. It has a lovely downtown area with old brick sidewalks, beautiful trees and old buildings, each of which has their own story. The town is very walkable, even in summer, when so many places in Richmond are roasting. There is something about the hilly setting with the old trees that keep the town cooler. If you walk through the streets that are close to the Main Street you will be rewarded with picturesque homes, lovely landscaping and adorable Bed & Breakfasts.

 

 

Barter Theatre

 

 

 

Virginia Creeper Trail

 

Abingdon offers theatre, with the Barter Theatre, there is a lake close by which is great fun in the summer, and they have a great festival every summer called the Virginia Highlands Festival. One of the things that I think is so special about the area is the access to the Creeper Trail. The part of the trail that runs close to Abingdon is filled with waterfalls, streams, farm lands and a great little place to get ice cream along the way. Our family absolutely loves being on the Creeper Trail, it is the epitomy of the beauty of America.

We are never disappointed with what Abingdon offers. We come home relaxed, unwound and madly in love with small town America.

 

The Volunteer Spirit

(emily)

“I have seen Americans making great and sincere sacrifices for the key common good and a hundred times I have noticed that, when needs be, they almost always gave each other faithful support.”

–Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835

 

Benjamin Franklin

America has a beautiful history of volunteerism. Did you know that Benjamin Franklin started the first volunteer firefighting company in 1736? Those volunteers set the standard for future firefighting companies in America: approximately 70% of American firefighters are volunteers.

 

Not only that, but American volunteers have continued through our history to serve our country: volunteers collected funds for the colonists during the American Revolution. Clara Barton established the American Red Cross in 1881. Volunteers set up soup kitchens and bread lines during the Great Depression. John F. Kennedy created the Peace Corps in 1961. The Handson Network (originally known as the Points of Light Foundation and started in 1989) is the largest organization in America for civic involvement.

The volunteer spirit is a great American attribute. Abraham Lincoln once said, “I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.”

Honest Abe’s words challenge me to try to live better, not just for my loved ones and myself, but for my community as well. It’s one of the reasons why I love working at Franklin Goose because we are concerned with making sure that our lifestyle does improve our community by providing safe and eco-friendly products, plus classes and working with local groups like the Cloth Diaper Project.

If you’re interested in volunteering in your community, here are a couple of places you can get started looking.

For our local Richmond, VA, community:

Handson Greater Richmond 

Richmond Good Life: Volunteer Opportunities 

 

For our nationwide community:

Beds for Kids US

The Handson Network 

United We Serve 

Volunteering and Civic Life in America 

 

We hope you have a happy and safe Fourth of July! Please share in the comments your volunteer experiences, and if you have a suggestion for a great volunteer opportunity, let us know!

And don't forget that from today until this Monday Franklin Goose will be having our Tickled Pink Sale to benefit Beds for Kids US. 

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The Franklin Goose Tickled Pink Sale!

The Franklin Goose Tickled Pink Sale!

Good news, everyone! Franklin Goose is having a sale! From Wednesday, July 3 to Monday, July 7, all PINK spring & summer clothing will be 15% off!

For every pink clothing item sold, Franklin Goose will donate $1 towards a Lullaby Earth Stage 2 mattress for Beds For Kids. Beds for Kids is a Richmond-based charity that seeks to help children and families by providing them with beds for each child. With your support, Franklin Goose will raise money toward purchasing 1 Lullaby Earth Super Lighweight 2 Stage Crib mattress to donate. Naturepedic has promised to match our donation with a 2nd Lullaby Earth mattress!

For more information about Beds For Kids, check out their website at bedsforkids.us. 

Franklin Goose will also be accepting donations for the mattress if you don't want any pink clothes.