Have you ever dropped your kid off for a play date and wondered what they would do with their friends? Or how you might enrich their time together? What if you could help create the perfect playdate? Mom Like That Nichole Beaudry has the answer for you. This smart, fun and impressive mama is the co-founder of Avery and Austin. I met Nicole a couple of months ago and we instantly clicked. We share a love for subscription boxes and we have very similar parenting styles. I hope you’ll enjoy reading about her just as much as I enjoying having her as a friend.

How would you describe yourself?

Generous, grateful and loyal.

What do you do besides motherhood?

I am one of the co-founders of Avery & Austin, a subscription box for creative kids and their amazing moms. I also do some photography and freelance writing and spend as much time on my yoga mat as possible.

What’s the best advice you have ever received?

I have the easiest time handing out advice, but sometimes find it difficult to be open to receiving it! I’m truly working that, though. The best advice that I’ve gotten that I resisted at first, but have come to hold dear came from my dear friend Sherri, who has children who are much older than mine. She urged me to never lament the fact that my children are getting older, but to see the beauty in the moment and in the many moments that are yet to come.

What’s your beauty routine?

I’m a pretty simple girl when it comes to my beauty routine. I wash my face each morning with Cetaphil and follow up with Perlier’s Hydro-Zone Barrier Balm and Aveda eye cream. If I’m just running errands, I top that off with a bit of Nars The Multiple and a coat of Benefit’s Roller Lash Mascara and some lip gloss. Then, each evening I wash everything off with Perlier’s Hydro-Zone Micellar Cleansing Water and follow up with another round of Barrier Balm and eye cream.

What’s your signature scent?

I’m eternally in love with Aquolina Pink Sugar. I love the way it reacts with my skin and lingers in a soft, sweet way.

What can’t you live without?

My husband, my children, my friends, coffee and wine. Not always in that order. Kidding. Sorta.

How do you balance your life?

Since launching Avery & Austin, balance has been truly elusive. I’m working on a plan to make 2016 the year I finally find my groove.

Who is your biggest role model?

My father died when I was just two years old. In his wake, my mother and my two grandmothers shaped my entire life. My paternal grandmother taught me that happiness truly is a choice, my maternal grandmother taught me that you have to love yourself before anyone else can truly love you, and my mother taught me what it is to sacrifice for your children, even when life isn’t easy and doesn’t go as you dreamed it would.

Do you have a family tradition?

My husband and I brought two sets of traditions to the holidays to our marriage, both carried with us from our own childhoods. Christmas meant ham for me and turkey for my husband. So, we scrapped all that a few years ago and created a new tradition based on foods that bring us all joy. Now, I make carnitas and borracho beans from scratch every year. Everything simmers all day while we stay cozied up at home.

What makes a mom like that?

Listening when my children talk, about the big things and the small… showing them every day that their thoughts are important and that they’re truly heard. For me, that’s the greatest gift I can give them.

5 quick questions:

Favorite restaurant: I haven’t been in years, but if I could transport myself anywhere right now, it would be to Alamo Cafe in San Antonio. I lived there during college and I still crave everything on their menu.

Favorite recipe: Carnitas, Houston style from The Homesick Texan.

Favorite dessert: Simple white cake with a scoop of chocolate ice cream on top. Pure bliss.

Favorite drink: I am, without question, a cabernet kind of girl.

Favorite book: Oh, I have too many to choose just one. The ones that I’ve read time and again are Walden (Henry David Thoreau), Emma (Jane Austen) and Me Before You (Jojo Moyes).