Playing Catch-Up

Hello, here I am, the worst blogger ever. I'm actually blogging from my phone - Chris and I went the romantic route this Christmas and got each other new phones - so this is a test run. If it looks like poo then iPhone blogger no more. Anyway, I thought I'd do a "phone dump" of sorts to catch you up a bit... 

Halloween recipes

Hi all! So, I'm going to make this short and sweet. I've been busy cleaning this mess of a house and now feel like I'm combating a cold. However, I did tell you that I would share if I found any good recipes, and I haven't found anything that's blown my socks off... But I did find a couple that are cute and deliciously unhealthy. 

For something sweet, I'm going to make these yummy-looking cookies that have a lovely hint of festivity.

And for an app, I'm going to make some sort of a combo of these two dishes:

They're really quite similar, so it might be as easy as adding sour cream to the first one! Hopefully my concoction turns out!

images and recipes: The Faux Martha, Divine Dinner Party, and Skinny Taste

witchy woman

... but not this Halloween! While my witch dress is my backup plan, all the stars are aligning this year and my lifelong dream of being Snow White is finally coming true (what? it's normal!) After seeing a Snow White makeup tutorial on Classy Cosmetics (love her, by the way!), I chatted away to my coworker, who happens to have access to a Snow White costume up for borrowing! Yahoooo! Stars. Aligned. If that didn't fall into my lap, I would've gone with my old witch dress and these awesome eyes.

I thought it might be fun, more for you than for me. For me, more embarrassing, but full disclosure here, folks. So. I thought it might be fun for you to see my past Halloweens. I don't have pics from all of them, unfortunately and nothing is extremely creative, but I do love the holiday and decking out like somebody else!

2010: Hamburger and Hamburglar

2009: Fred and Wilma

2008: Witch

... and Flapper

2006: Fairy*

2005: The original witch

So that's all I have! I've also recently been a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Cher (or some other non-specific '70s gal.) What are you planning to be this year? I need to find a Halloween themed app. If I find some good options, I'll share!

*OMG. Have I never mentioned this? In 2006 I dated Ryan Gosling from October 30-November 1. It was great.

Images: Lover of Makeup, and me

Stars and Stripes

Is everyone else excited for the weekend? Mine is pretty jam-packed and I'm looking forward to all of it! Sunday we will be celebrating the Fourth with our good friends, whose wedding I'm in next weekend. I took the role of bringing dessert and (of course) immediately went searching for something festive. I love the idea of an ice cream sundae or milkshake concoction, but will probably opt for something a little more travel-friendly. Don't they look absolutely delic?

Such red, white and blue goodness! I will probably make the first image, the Red, White and Blueberry Trifle. All recipes can be found either on Martha Stewart or Food Network. Enjoy your Fourth of July! I hope you eat something delicious!

images: Martha Stewart, Food Network

happy Memorial weekend

Hello all! I hope you have had a great week. We're taking off this weekend, heading for Knoxville, Tennessee to spend the long weekend with friends. I'm looking forward to good times, the long weekend and spending time on a boat! Enjoy your Memorial weekend, everybody.

image: mary ruffle

happy mother's day weekend!

Hello! I would like to wish everyone a wonderful weekend and a fantastic Mother's Day! We will be going out to brunch on Saturday for Mother's Day and my dad is going to help me finish up my vegetable garden. Our good friends are also coming into town and bringing Duncan's brother. How exciting, even the puppy has weekend plans, unbeknownst to him! What about you; do you have any big plans? No matter what you do, be sure to make the mothers in your life feel loved!

image: mary ruffle

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! I hope you are taking time to unwind, enjoy and spend time with your loved ones. I am looking forward to relaxing at my parents house, eating some great food and watching my family open the gifts I have for them. Have a Merry Christmas!

images: HomeSweetHome

Christmas wrapping

One last day of work, then I'm off to spend time with my family for the holidays! I'm really excited and everything is coming together nicely. As promised, today I am going to share my approach to wrapping this year. I wanted to do something elegant, but also somewhat festive and fun. What do you think?

I printed the gifts tags on ivory cardstock and cut them out with a 3" circle punch. I used three shades (two reds and one ivory) of embroidery thread and black lace ribbon to add texture and contrast. The paper is a smooth kraft from Ikea, which I picked up a few months ago. The origami flowers are from this tutorial on Folding Trees, which was shared with me! I used a metallic ivory textweight stock for the flowers.

Happy wrapping everyone! I'm off to do a few more.

homemade holiday

Hello everyone! I am finally going to show you the projects that I have been working on! I am definitely pleased with the final outcome, but I'm not sure if I will do a homemade Christmas project again without trying it out first. Here is my first really failed attempt at making these bath fizzies. I obviously do not recommend you ever try this. Seriously, never try this. I can tell you are considering trying this. Don't.

Then I decided to put my ingredients to good use by making bath salts (I added food coloring) and sugar scrub. I didn't lose hope in Martha completely. I am quite pleased with the turnout and there were no production problems compared to the dreaded bath fizzies!

I also made this wine bar nut mix, which I have made in the past and love, as well as sugared almonds. Delicious and super easy!

I got the sugared almond recipe from a friend a year or two ago, and they are super easy, as well!

• Bring 1 1/2 c. water and 1 1/2 c. sugar to boil

• Add 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and 1 tsp. vanilla

• Turn off stove and mix in 1 lb. whole almonds until coated

• Spread evenly on baking sheet, bake for 20 min. at 350

• Continue to baste with syrup every 5 min.

• Sugary coating will harden once out of oven

Enjoy!

one week 'til christmas!

Happy Friday to you! I have been a busy-bee lately. I've been working on a couple handmade presents, some of which are turning out, others not so much. I'll post some pics of the failures later on. The success will have to wait until the unveiling :) We are going to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra tonight. I'm excited to be festive and in the holiday spirit. I've never been and its always nice to do something new. Can you imagine if one of these was your tree? Yes, darling, we open our gifts beachside.

images: Coastal Living