His: H&M shirt (similar) | ASOS denim | Urban Outfitters socks 
Hers: Urban Outfitters jeans | Aritzia sweater | Eye Buy Direct glasses

We’ve been carving out some time early each day to embrace the quiet, brisk mornings with our doors and windows wide open. The chill when stepping out of bed when our bare feet hit the hardwood can sometimes be a bit shocking, but once we’ve thrown on some cozy clothes and have gotten ready for the day, the lower temps are pretty calming. We still can’t believe we live here. It really feels like we found a special piece of the country tucked away in Phoenix. Our neighborhood is pretty quiet, with the occasional rooster or chicken exercising their vocal chords each morning (I guess you could call some of our neighbors “urban farmers”) and we welcome their clucks while prepping our morning brew.

We’re a coffee loving, few cups of caffeine a day family around here. Cappuccinos, espressos, lattes, the list goes on — we don’t discriminate, so we were pretty excited to add Nespresso’s Evoluo Machine from their VertuoLine range. We ditched our traditional coffee maker a while back, and found ourselves getting into pour overs. They can be a bit timely but we love the taste of a strong Americano, so we were really eager to add the the Evolou Machine to the mix. We’ve been sharing a bit about it on Snapchat, experimenting with the Aeroccino4 Milk Frother, and chatting with a few of you about the process. It quickly brewed an 8 oz cup of coffee and shot of espresso, while still delivering a quality cup of coffee. If you’re looking to get fancy in your kitchen and make a couple of cappuccinos, try it with a double shot of espresso.

The machine has a nifty capsule receptacle, so once you open the machine to pop in a new capsule to brew, the used one drops off into the compartment on the side. You can pick up a recycling bag for free at any of their boutiques or order them online and then drop off all your used capsules at a UPS store to recycle, which is pretty cool too.

Nespresso Evoluo Machine | West Elm tea towel

With Christmas just around the corner, we have found ourselves reminiscing quite a bit on our childhood and the holidays growing up. Maybe it’s all the sappy Christmas music or the smell of cookies that we’ve been baking several times a week (no excuses, just fully embracing a sweet tooth over here!), but we can’t help it. The other day over breakfast, we found ourselves laughing over a similar memory we both shared involving our parents on Christmas morning. After a few big toys were opened our dads always snuck away, dragging their slippered feet into the kitchen to get a big pot of coffee brewing.  Meanwhile our moms held down the fort in the living room, with bows and colorful paper flying everywhere. Madness. We all gathered in the kitchen afterwards for a holiday breakfast, parents on their second cup of coffee, kids with orange juice or milk, scrambled eggs, pancakes — the works.  No matter how crazy of year it was, gathering together before our extended family came over was always a special time.

The smell of coffee this time of year always rekindles these fond memories. Nespresso has some limited edition capsules with some of our favorites like Banana Bread, Pumpkin Spice Cake, and Gingerbread.  Our parents always feel so difficult to shop for. They’re not picky, but I think we just struggle with finding something that is practical and also meaningful to surprise them with. We’ve been thinking about gifting them with a new Evoluo machine, along some capsules to get them started, and a personalized photo album with memories from past Christmases. It feels like it would be pretty perfect for them, with a big bow and tag that says “Open This One First” so they know it’s something they’ll want to open and enjoy right away. We think we just might hit a home-run this year in the gifting department. 😉

Anthropologie holiday plates | Bloom and Give tea towel

What are some of your favorite gift ideas? Do you have anyone close to you that is a little harder to shop for?

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Photos by: Willow Greene

Thanks to Nespresso for sponsoring this post. As always all thoughts & opinions are our own.