Spreading Warmth & Kindness

Dear Friends, Family, and Clients,

‘Tis the season to celebrate and give thanks! We want to take a break from the usual Chic vs. Geek to bring an especially deserving group to your attention during the holidays: foster youth, who, through no fault of their own, have not had their own parents available to raise them.

It is not uncommon for a child in foster care to move between eight or more homes during their formative years. Only 50% of foster youth graduate from high school, and just 3-4% earn a college degree. 20% become homeless the day they age out of care.

We can be a pillar of support to change these odds through donations to Pivotal, a local nonprofit. The team at Pivotal are willing to do whatever it takes to improve outcomes for foster youth, including scholarships, academic tutoring, professional development, workshops, summer internships, and job placement for over 500 foster youth per year.

But Pivotal provides so much more — their dedicated staff creates a community where foster youth feel understood and supported.

We invite you to read about Jaxmine, who caught COVID and had to sleep in their car, terrified they were in an unsafe situation. Pivotal got Jaxmine a hotel room to help them recover, and now they’re studying Molecular Biology with a 4.0 GPA. Sadly, Jaxmine’s story is not uncommon. They are one of nearly half a million foster youth in the U.S.

We are running a personal campaign to raise $5,000 for Pivotal by Christmas Day. Will you help us get there with a gift of any size — $10, $100, $1,000?

Thanks so much for your consideration!

With gratitude,

Pearl & Kevin

Making Holiday Cleanup a Breeze

We all love hosting our family and friends during the holidays, but after all the food and fun and merriment, there’s the inevitable mess to clean up. Need some tips to speed up the process? We’ve got your back.

CHIC (Pearl)

I like to get a head start on my cleaning by planning ahead. Clear out your fridge to make room for leftovers, line your roasting pan before cooking your meat of choice, and soak your pots and pans right after you finish to fight those tough grease stains.

GEEK (Kevin)

As the DIY half of our team, I’m never satisfied with off-the-shelf cleaning products. If you want to get your home spic and span and smelling great, try cooking up one of these recipes for essential oils before starting your post-holiday cleanse.

Get your winter gardening on!

It may be colder and cloudier outside, but winter can still be a productive time in your garden. Need some tips for making the most of the slow season?

CHIC (Pearl)

Believe it or not, winter is the perfect time for planting. Visit your local nursery to pick up whatever varieties of bulbs they have in stock, grab a guide on Google, and get your Spring plants in the ground now. While you’re digging around, be sure to clear out all the dead plant material in your garden to make room for the healthy plants and keep pests at bay. And that compost you’ve been collecting? Now’s your chance to mix it in with the topsoil to give your bulbs an extra boost of nutrition.

GEEK (Kevin)

Need a break from planting? Try your hand at pruning deciduous plants (the ones that lose their leaves in winter) like fruit trees, vines, roses, maples, and more. Start by getting rid of all the dead weight, then focus on aesthetics like thinning out crossed or rubbing branches. Just remember not to trim more than 30% of the plant if you don’t know what you’re doing. You may end up inadvertently harming the plant. Don’t know what kind of plant you’re pruning? Take a picture to your nursery and ask a pro.

What's your social network?

We’re not on Twitter. But the recent kerfuffle got us thinking about our social media presence. With so many options out there, what’s your platform of choice?

CHIC (Pearl)

My favorite social network is Instagram. You can share photos, videos, stories, comments, and emojis all at once! And there are so many image filters to choose from that it’s sometimes really hard to choose. Okay, a lot of the time. Anyway, because Insta is such a visual medium, it’s even more important for your content to stand out if you’re trying to get noticed — or sell a home!

GEEK (Kevin)

I can’t say I spend a lot of time worrying about my social media presence. I tend to let Pearl manage our business accounts. Sometimes I take a look at Facebook, just to remind myself why I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about my social media presence. I have to say, it’s useful for keeping up with friends and family who you wouldn’t see otherwise, but that’s about my limit.