new years pinspiration

Christmas weekend was fantastic and New Years will be just as great. My niece was born 1/1/1 so we always do a NYE party for her. She has to go back to her mom's house at 5 on NYE so we will celebrate her all day long and then the kids will go home and we will have a sparkly adult new years eve bash to bring in the new year. I love it!

Source: polyvore.com via Katie on Pinterest

I love this top. So much sparkle, I can hardly handle it!

Source: lisastorms.typepad.com via KK on Pinterest

Gorgeous NYE decorations!! Love the star punches in the numbers.

Source: thecupcakesocial.com via Kristina on Pinterest

So creative and pretty! But with so many people at our celebration, I don't think anyone would notice the designs.

Source: blog.freepeople.com via Jillian on Pinterest

I probably need these. I'll wear them every day, ya know to the grocery store.

Source: secretsofasupermommy.blogspot.com via Laurie on Pinterest

After hours of games and drinking midnight snacks are definitely necessary! What a cute tag.

Source: twodots.com.br via Sarah on Pinterest

I will definitely have a glam smokey eye for Saturday night

Source: weheartit.com via Amanda on Pinterest

And then I will top it with this much glitter. I'm not sure HOW, but I will do it. Any tips are appreciated!!

Source: google.com via Whitney on Pinterest

LOVE this. Individual bottles on ice. I swear, it doesn't get cuter.

Source: dandee-designs.com via Nikole on Pinterest

How perfect? I love the design of this box!

Source: dribbble.com via brad on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Julia on Pinterest

How are you celebrating NYE this year??

post christmas coma

Apparently I needed a day to recover from Christmas weekend. We had a fantastic weekend with family and friends.

Christmas eve was great! We spent the day out at my sister's house celebrating with my niece because she spends Christmas day with her mom. After celebrating with her and eating delicious food made by my wonderful sister we went to my cousin's house to see the kids and have some dessert. Her kids were so excited, it was completely adorable. Zach, who is 8 was tracking Santa on NORAD obsessively. It was so fun to watch him get excited about where Santa was at every single moment. Then we went home and started doing our thing. While mom finished wrapping presents I brought down and arranged the ones I had wrapped. Then I sat down with a cup of tea and watched every Christmas special on tv. It was glorious. We finally went up to bed at around midnight.

Zach showing me the NORAD app on his ipod.

Before Santa came

Addie, my sister's dog, helping herself to the canister of
dog food we keep in the kitchen.

Mike in his Christmas pjs

Sheldon snug as a bug in my bed.

My sister got to my house at around 7am, honking up the driveway and singing jingle bells to wake us up and get us ready to open presents. We made coffee and started cooking some early morning snacks.

After Santa came!!

Santa was absolutely amazing to me and I couldn't be more thrilled with the presents I received Sunday morning. I got a ton of new running gear which is awesome. Lots of cold weather gear, which is awesome because it has finally gotten COLD here in the northeast! I'll be loving the hat and gloves and long sleeves on my run tomorrow morning. I got a new tv for my bedroom. It's small and perfect. Some new clothes, first time I've been in a medium....ever I think. Santa his up Victoria's Secret hard core! I got 2 new bras and a lot of gift card money to hit up the semi annual sale. This is amazing for me. My bras were awful. I have a really hard time finding ones that fit me really well except for the very sexy push up and I get super annoyed paying $50 for a bra, so getting one for Christmas was perfect.

Mike had a very running gear Christmas too, he loved it all! I think we all really enjoyed waking up Christmas morning and spending a nice relaxing two hours to open presents, snack on a cinnamon bun and drink copious amounts of caffeine. It was honestly the perfect Christmas morning. 

stalking

I love Santa. It's true. I love the magic he brings to an otherwise commercialized holiday, I love the joy he brings to little kids faces, and I love the anticipation of when he will be here!

Yesterday Mike and I had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the big guy himself. Like really close, as in Mike was in the big red suit.

Jenn, my older sister is a preschool teacher and was in a bit of a bind when Santa called out sick. She called and asked Mike and of course he said yes. He was a bit nervous at first, those are really big shoes to fill, but once he was decked out in the get up, he said it was awesome. First we went to the baby room (1yr old and younger), where all but two of them were completely terrified. He posed for pictures with screaming babies and gave out presents.

Then we were on to the bigger kids. The 3-4 year old kids! This is Jenn's classroom. She had all the kids in one room and they were singing Christmas songs, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" to be specific and Mike walked in and the kids freaked out! They were SO excited. Running up to him and hugging him. Thanking him for being there. Telling him just how much they loved him and how good they've been this year. He was fantastic. With oodles of "ho ho ho's" and getting his belly to jiggle as much as possible, he played the part really well. In this room there were more than 30 kids and he gave them all their presents and then sat for pictures with them and helped them open their new toys and examine the very cool things he brought them. Watching him play with the kids made my ovaries ache like you wouldn't believe.

If you don't have little kids in your life, you may not be familiar with NORAD tracks Santa. This is my favorite thing of all time. As a kid (ok I guess teenager) when this came out my dad LOVED it. It's the dorkiest thing ever really. You can check in online and see where Santa is at any given moment. They give you facts about the different cities and an ETA for when you can expect him to visit your house. I'm 27 and I track Santa like a crazy ex-girlfriend. I love sharing it with my cousins. It makes me feel like I'm sharing a bit of my dad with my younger cousins, in such a fun way! So, go track Santa.

tipsy turtle friday!

Happy Friday my lovely friends! Christmas is in 2 days!! TWO DAYS! Are you ready? I definitely am! Today is Christmas Eve in my sister's life which means the big man comes to her house tonight to bring presents to my niece. They started that tradition years ago so they could experience the magic of Christmas morning with her even though they only have her on Christmas Eve. (She spends Christmas day with her mom) So today marks day one of our three day extravaganza and I'm super excited.
First I want to share with you my absolute favorite Christmas treat recipe. It's for tipsy turtle bark. It couldn't be easier and it is seriously delicious.

Tipsy Turtles:
1 bag good quality chocolate chips
1 bag chewy caramels
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup whiskey
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:
Melt chocolate and spread to about 1/8-1/4 inch thick on a nonstick surface. I use a silicone mat. Put it in the refrigerator to help it set a bit faster. While chocolate is setting, melt caramel with the heavy cream and whiskey. Once smooth pour it over the set chocolate. Top with chopped pecans and refrigerate until caramel is also set. Cut into squares.
Proceed to eat the entire tray. Then repeat!
I always have to make two batches because I eat one myself!!

Now onto my favorite link up!! For Friday fancies this week we're dreaming of a white Christmas. I don't think that we'll get to enjoy snow this Christmas, but I'm still hoping! I decided to go pretty darn fancy and with a "winter white." This is definitely not what I'll be wearing on Christmas day, but I wish I was! I wish there was a holiday event that required this dress, it is just gorgeous!

winter white by rundreamcook featuring platform high heels

I hope you all have a magical holiday weekend. Merry Christmas!

peanut butter kisses

Peanut butter and chocolate. Can you think of a better combination?? It is definitely one of my favorites. Perfect mix of slightly salty and sweet. Yum. These cookies have a bunch of different names, I think Hershey's calls them peanut butter blossoms, but I've always called them peanut butter kisses. Adorable and delicious they are a fabulous Christmas treat!

Peanut Butter Kisses:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
48 hershey kisses, unwrapped

Directions:
Cream together the butter, peanut butter and the sugars until fluffy. Add in the egg, milk and vanilla and beat for 2-3 minutes. Finally mix in the flour baking soda and salt.
Form 1 teaspoon (ish) sized balls of dough and put them on the cookie sheet. Once evenly spaced, press a kiss into each one and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.
Let cool for a few minutes before trying to move them.
These are a little bit softer than normal peanut butter blossoms because of the extra peanut butter, it just makes them better in my opinion!!

molasses kringles

I've made gingerbread for the past 10 years, every single Christmas. It's delicious, but definitely a lot of work. This year I decided to branch out a little bit and instead of doing the "roll and decorate" gingerbread, I wanted to try a chewy molasses cookie. After searching foodgawker for what seemed like hours, I decided to go with a recipe from What Megan's Making for molasses kringles. They certainly did not disappoint. They are soft, chewy, spicy and just a bit sweet. I when I make them again I'll ditch the glaze though. I think it made them just a bit too sweet. If you want the recipe for the glaze, check out Megan's original recipe!

Molasses Kringles:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter and brown sugar until very light and fluffy. Add in the molasses and egg and beat until well combined. Mix in the flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Mix until just combined.
Roll into balls and place on a cookie sheet. On my 1/2 sheet pan I fit 20 cookies and they barely fit.
Bake 10 minutes until lightly browned on edges. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet.

nyt chocolate chip cookies

If you've read any blogs during the holidays over the past few years, I'm sure you've heard of the New York Times chocolate chip cookies. There are a million chocolate chip cookie recipes out there. They go from super simple to really complicated. 

This one is more on the complicated side. It takes two different types of flour and it has to sit overnight in the refrigerator. When all is said and done, they are definitely delicious. I'm not sure if they're really worth all the extra time and work, but they are delicious. The best thingt about them is that even if you over cook them a tiny bit, they are still nice and chewy! I tried not to change anything, but I decided to go with smaller chunks of chocolate and smaller cookies. Cookies that are FIVE inches are huge, especially when there are so many other cookie choices around to try. I'm not going to include the recipe here, but check it out. They're at least worth a try!

t-6 days

Let the Christmas countdown begin! There are 6 shopping days until Christmas, how are you spending them? Me? I plan on wrapping, cleaning, wrapping, catching up with old friends, cleaning, and cooking my tail off.
I mentioned on Friday that I was going to spend Sunday baking with my family. A full day of beating, mixing, laughing and eating. It was really awesome. I can't even begin to describe how thankful I am to have such an awesome family. I made cookies on Friday and Saturday too. It seems like I'd have far too many but I give away A LOT of cookie trays. We give them to Mike's family (4 separate houses) and a bunch of different friends. I think I made 12 cookie trays over the course of the weekend. Since there is an abundance of cookie recipes hanging around my house, I'll be sharing them with you all week long. Check back later for my kickoff recipe, the NYT chocolate chip cookies!
Sunday was spent surrounded by my favorite people. The best part about it was sharing the traditions that I had growing up with my grandmother with my younger cousins who never met her, or who are too young to remember her.

jackon, 3, appears to have dug into the cookies before they were ready!

jaclyn, 10, telling her dad she's "gonna get him" with her cookie hands!

she apparently gets prettier every day.

my sister and twiglette (that's what we call the baby!)

working hard on making snowballs, recipe to follow this week.

tom, the only male helper we had!

seriously gorgeous ladies

devan helping jackson "rake" the powdered sugar, he was shoveling snow!

sisters! they get mistaken for each other all the time.

my mom gets mistaken for them too and she married into the family!

sisters...again!

Don't forget to check back later for my review on the famous NYT chocolate chip cookie recipe!!

cookie weekend

With this being the last weekend before Christmas, it is cookie weekend around here! Saturday night everyone is heading to my cousin's house for party night and then we'll be up early for cookie Sunday! I'm super excited about it. We will make (what seems like) 4billion cookies and some of them might even get baked...We're big fans of cookie dough in this family! We have a recipe for Chocolate chip cookies that makes the absolute best cookie dough you've ever tasted. The cooked cookie is pretty good, but the dough is spectacular. I'm pretty stoked about it!
This week's theme for Friday Fancies was sparkle and shine. No one loves sparkle more than I do, so I was totally excited to come up with an outfit for this one.

sparkle and shine by rundreamcook featuring diamond jewelry