Scent can be the key to unlock the most powerful emotional memories. Pumpkin pie baking in Mom’s oven, fabric softener on Grandma’s beach towels, and the freshly sawn wood smell of Dad’s garage- all bring with them such sentimental feelings. Funny enough, I’ve never had a scent to tie to the memory of Phil. Since we started dating ten years ago, he’s never worn cologne! All I smell when I bury my nose into his shirts is the lingering odor of his deodorant, which I borrow more often than I care to admit. No sentimental value there!. So when we had the chance to try out Banana Republic’s new scent duo for men and women, I had high hopes.

I love the pleasant, woodsy scent of M, Banana Republic’s scent for men. The women’s scent has a bit of musk to it too, but with lighter, citrusy and flowery notes that are more dominant.  M and W are designed to compliment each other, just as men and women were designed! Even down to the bottle- W is concave, and M is convex. I normally go for a sweeter musk when selecting my own perfume, and probably won’t wear W all of the time, but I really like that when I wear W while Phil is wearing M, we combine to create a really pleasantly compatible scent! And I’m really loving how nice my man smells now that he finally has a cologne we both enjoy.

Banana Republic’s iconic scents M and W are available for purchase at Banana Republic stores. Banana Republic is a sponsor of Making Nice in the Midwest, but all opinions are my own. For sponsorship opportunities, click here.

Living in a small(ish) Midwestern city doesn’t mean you’re cut off from a creative community. In design school, everyone seemed so ready to rush off to Chicago or New York, but I stuck around and was so surprised to meet a lot of creative dreamers like myself, right here in my hometown of Canton, Ohio. Friends in Cleveland have also been fighting Ohio’s creative brain-drain by hosting a growing (and spectacular) creative conference and Summer music festival called Weapons of Mass Creation, drawing interest from successful designers and artists all around the U.S.A. The rust belt isn’t giving up. And downtowns all over “dying” rust belt cities are beginning to revitalize themselves and bring in people from the suburbs with fresh restaurants, music venues, artist communities.

My friend Tim had been dreaming about an artist co-op/gallery in downtown Canton, and finally got a space to make it a reality. Now, when you drive down Sixth Street North past The Auricle (my favorite live music venue in Canton), you’ll see The Hub right across the street. Tim chose New Year’s Eve for its grand opening, and we had fun looking through the gallery downstairs and having a dance party in the artists’ work space upstairs. I’m so excited to see howCanton develops thanks to people like Tim who decide to stay and make their city a better place!

(P.S. Here are pictures from last year’s party, and the year before that.)

Christmases aren’t always magical, and I know we’ve had our fair share of sad holidays. But when they’re right, they’re wonderful. I know we celebrate Christ’s coming, which is always true, even when life is sad. But I look forward to this time all year for a variety of reasons- the joy of remembering baby Jesus, the excitement of gift-giving, the pleasure of delicious food, the coziness of a warm, beautiful home, and certainly the comfort of family. I don’t talk much about my family here, but you should probably know that I treasure them with all my heart. I have parents and in-laws who are incredibly supportive, loving, generous, and even fun to be around. My brother is dating a beautiful girl who fits right in with the rest of us, and now we have little Lucy to join the crew. Certainly we have lots to enjoy!

This year I have a special memory to cherish, being the Daddy’s-Girl that I am. Throughout 2012, Phil and I finally had the sense to properly budget for gifts starting last January, so we wouldn’t feel burdened with our desire to give. I started shopping last Spring when I found a big letter G for my brother (Matt Graber), took the money for it out of our gift envelope, and allowed the rest of the dollars to keep multiplying with only small withdrawals for weddings and babies. By the time all of the gifts on my list were purchased, I had spent more than any other year before (our family isn’t typically extravagant gift givers, out of necessity), but I still had a nice amount of money in our gift-envelope. Perfect! Because I still hadn’t gotten anything for my Dad, and after all of the work he does for our cars and house, I really wanted to show him how much I appreciate him by giving him a nice gift. The guy has all the power tools any red-blooded American man could want, but something that always goes unsatisfied for him is his desire for ice cream. And preferably soft-serve. So I thought I’d splurge on a nice soft-serve ice cream machine for him. Did he ask for it? No. Was I worried it would just collect dust in their pantry? Yes. But I spent the last of our money on a whim, wrapped up his ice cream machine, and placed it under the tree.

When my parents walked through the door on Christmas Day, we were all very bubbly and chatty, and somehow Dad started talking about ice cream and how he would really like to get a soft serve ice cream machine some day. I couldn’t believe it! Phil and I were stealing big-eyed looks at each other, trying to contain our excitement. Before dinner, we opened gifts, and the last one to be unwrapped was the one I wanted Dad to see the most- his ice cream machine! He peeled back the paper and the look on his face was like something I’ve never seen before! My usually stoic father was grinning wider than I thought possible, and my heart exploded. It made me so happy to see him happy, to whip together the supplies I had stored away in my fridge, and see him enjoy the fruits of my giving. I know it’s just ice cream. And it’s just an appliance. But finding the perfect gift for the guy who is notoriously difficult to shop for, and the first man to steal my heart- that is my favorite Christmas memory so far.

So how did your Christmas go? I hope you were able to enjoy time with family and friends! Were you able to buy gifts? Which was your favorite gift to give?