Alyssa Rosenheck's Anti-Gift Guide

On this Cyber Monday, let's think outside the “gift” box!! Our social media scrolls have melded into a big shopping mall, so this year I am coming out with an ANTI-gift guide where we focus on slowing down, creative moments, and connecting with our loved ones. Don’t get me wrong: gift giving gestures are here to stay, but this year we’ve struggled with everything from lives lost to livelihoods disappearing and I personally have gift guide fatigue. 

Per my usual back to basics approach, let’s use this time of year to focus on one of the most valuable gifts we can offer ourselves and others — TIME. We can still connect and invest in our relationships despite our physical distance. So, if you are pandemic fatigued, running out of ideas to make the holidays connected, or at a creative loss —  THIS GUIDE IS FOR YOU!

Slow Down Together

• For a family with littles

  Create your own holiday countdown calendar! My girlfriends Elsie and Emma of A Beautiful Mess have created a DIY Houseplant Calendar that will breathe fresh life into your space while testing your green thumb.

  Another effective teaching tool for kiddos to start incorporating acts of kindness and charity is to decorate a cardboard box as a family and fill it daily with items needed for local charities. Deliver it together to your local Salvation Army, Toys for Tots, Cradles To Crayons, or No Kid Hungry.

• Snuggle up buttercup

  Let’s make this a holiday Hallmark binge-a-thon with my go-to Netflix suggestions! If you are looking for a light-hearted, feel good moment paired with festive jammies, I suggest  Operation Christmas Drop. If you are in the mood for a velvety chess marvel with thoughtful cinematography, The Queen’s Gambit is a must.  Noteworthy additions are: Unorthodox, Emily In Paris, YellowStone (on Peacock), My Octopus Teacher, and The Way I See It.

  Not looking to binge watch? Pick up a good book and create a book club with family and friends! Settle in with this year’s best reads, curated by Oprah and her team or NPR’s Book Concierge.

  All of the above pairs well with my favorite Paso Robles Cabs: Austin Hope or DAOU.

• From the creative to the collaborative

  Host a holiday Zoom party that’s sure to get everyone into the spirit with these interactive team building tips from Paperless Post!! (They have everything from virtual puzzles to interactive workshops and more!)

• Picking up the pieces #2020

  Do you want to elevate your puzzle game? Level it up by making puzzles dual purpose for slowing down and creating an artful moment. I have been selecting beautiful new puzzles that can also be framed as art!!! This brand is great to get started HERE!

• Stillness Speaks

  The New Southern Style topped off the gift guides this year thanks to YOU.  Get your signed and personalized copy here just in time for the holiday rush. For those who have their copies, I suggest bringing pages 95 and 96 to life which will be the gift that keeps on giving for you. In order for us to effectively connect with others, we have to connect to ourselves first. #StillnessSpeaks #TubTime

Rev up Creative Moments

• cooking comforts

  I have been playing in the kitchen and satisfying all of my comfort food cravings. From homemade popovers to the best mac and cheese recipe. I turn up my playlist and challenge myself to try one new recipe each week. Creativity happens when we are making other plans and this includes cooking, sweet friends.

  For the Nashville community, CRC Nashville is offering Gingerbread House Kits for a good cause. Orders need to be placed by December 3rd for December 4th pick up. Decorating gingerbread houses can be the new virtual happy hour to spice things up.

• express yourself

  Pick up a paint brush and try your hand at watercolor.  Right now we have the time to explore our inner artist, and when you lean into your light it connects you to your meaning and purpose.  My dear friend Sarah Simon of The Mint Gardener is a fantastic resource with her book Modern Watercolor Botanicals.  Also, refer to page 315 in The New Southern Style — “Childlike Is The New Grown-Up” — for a reminder of why it’s not only encouraged, but necessary for adults to play, too!

• The Author Inside You

  I believe we all have at least one book within us. Have you thought about yours? Being courageous means picking up the pen and reflecting how personal stories and experiences have an ability to be a resource for others. I see the inner author in you and now it is your turn to see this within yourself. “Morning pages” is a great exercise to get the creative juices flowing at the start of your day.

• Picture this

  The best camera we have is the one in your hand and ‘tis the season to capture our holiday moments and mantels!!! Make it playful — a photojournalistic style is where we focus on capturing emotion over perfection. Head to my AR Prescriptive Presets where I am helping you regain the creative confidence to help you be your own visual storyteller.

For the holidays, I am offering signed and personalized copies of THE NEW SOUTHERN STYLE that may be purchased through our local Nashville book store, Parnassus Books. They ship nationally and this is the perfect gift that will reconnect you to your creative power and cultivate the strength of community. This is a gift that keeps giving.

Subscribe for updates, announcements & book tour locations!

Alyssa’s debut Coffee Table book, The New Southern, Out now via Abrams!

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Resilience Renewed: A Simple Choice

The personal theme for many of us in the collective this year has been between the intersection of gratitude, grief and drowning. No one has been immune to what has been felt globally and what we privately have been experiencing within the four walls of our home. I am not here to relive it; rather, I am here to remind us how we can grow from it and heal through it together. You are not alone and we are stronger together my friends. A few thoughts as we approach this holiday season: consider this a personal energy boost and reset for ourselves as we head into the month!! Here’s to resilience, here’s to hope and to kindness as we enter into a new week! I love you all - AR

Create Your Calm + Give Thanks

Being calm is a necessary ingredient for effective creativity. The world is filled with noise and this year has been loud. Let’s look at this as an opportunity and a silent invitation to go “inward” for a few quick mood-lifting journal prompts that will continue to shift your mindset from hopeless to hopeful!

I have to train my brain. Yep, I said it. It is a natural human response to look at all the things not working out for us, or dwelling on the negativity in our day. What we focus on expands and we have the ability to challenge new, powerful pathways in our mind (Google “neuroplasticity”). I do this personally with micro gratitude lists in the morning or at night. This will get YOU in the habit of looking at tough moments (or even the mundane) as opportunities for growth and insight, allowing us all to walk through fresh new doors.

Pick up a pencil and start small! (I do this in my notes app on my phone or even on the back of a mailer — toss out perfection and let's get to it.) Some examples of mine are below. These micro “Thank Yous” help me stay present throughout my day and get me in the habit of giving thanks.

1. Thank you heart, for pumping blood through my body and letting me feel - everything.

2. Thank you mind for the ability to think critically and develop creative solutions.

3. Thank you breath-work for creating a safe place for me to go to create stillness.

4. Thank you fear for letting me know the direction to go into for growth.

5. Thank you creativity for showing me my purpose and meaning.

6. Thank you pillow for supporting my neck and mind while I sleep. 

7. Thank you home for helping me feel grounded and safe right in this very moment.

8. Thank you for the cup of coffee warming my hands and energizing the day.

9. Thank you for the crisp autumn air filling and awakening my lungs 

10. Thank you clean water! I see light streaming through the steam in my shower and it inspires me daily.

11. Thank you Ben for helping with the laundry (miracles do come true).

12. Thank you for letting me be a child of this universe and connected to you.

To round out the year, I challenge us all to “take 5” and show up for ourselves, and the small priceless moments that afford you stillness and nourishment with this daily prompt. 

P.S. My “Love Over Fear” print makes the perfect companion for your journaling station.  ALL prints in my all-new AR Print Shop are 15% off with the code HOLIDAZE when you purchase now through December 25th.  

Giving back + Opening up

The secret to happiness is helping others. Women and children in this country get my support. In college, I was fortunate enough to partner with BBBS.org as a “Big Sister” and I have done the due diligence to where I know my financial support is going with the social impact organizations I am mentioning below. Access unfortunately is a “privilege” in this country and their are those in our nation who do not have fundamental access to basic human needs such as food, healthcare, education and mental health outlets. I suggest us all to examine the moments and stories that break our hearts and find ways we can give back. Let the pain of these stories connect us to purpose and service.

According to the USDA, over 18 million children will be facing hunger and or living in “food insecure” homes this year. Donations to reputable food banks on both local and federal level. I have personally found No Kid Hungry a wealth of information in understanding various programs and how each dollar helps.

The Loveland Therapy Fund provides national assistance to black women and young girls seeking therapy services. Education, access and care for those who have experienced any psychological distress or access to alternative therapies surrounding mental illness is vital for living a full life.

I encourage us all to educate ourselves around the racial disparities in medical care across the U.S as it also relates to the racial inequities in this country. Harvard.edu came out with an informative article “America is Failing its Black Mothers” and finally our policy makers are paying attention to the climbing maternal mortality rate among expectant mothers.

Here’s to resilience and restoration. Despite Native Americans accounting for nearly 2% (5.4 million) of the U.S. population, philanthropic funding for the population remains less than 0.5% percent of annual grant dollars. We need to do more.

If this list touches you, please feel free to add to it and share it with your friends….. #SharingIsCaring!

For the holidays, I am offering signed and personalized copies of THE NEW SOUTHERN STYLE that may be purchased through our local book store, Parnassus Books. They ship nationally and this is the perfect gift that will reconnect you to your creative power and cultivate the strength of community. This is a gift that keeps giving.

Subscribe for updates, announcements & book tour locations!

Alyssa’s debut Coffee Table book, The New Southern, Out now via Abrams!