Sunshine is Good for the Soul {Weekending}

When people always ask what's your perfect day or what's your ideal weekend.

I think my answer would be this weekend.

Beautiful weather and very little to do.

Last year at this time we were knee deep in wedding planning.

Two ish months away from finishing building our house.

This is our first spring in the new house.

Can I just tell you how great it is to wake up to beautiful weather and have a whole day with nothing to do but  e n j o y  it.

We kicked it off with a date night to a restaurant close by that my Mom had given us a gift certificate to - great night out, beautiful weather and got to wear spring clothes.  Perfection!

 How can a night go bad with watermelon martinis to start the night and a froyo stop to end the night.

Saturday was truly perfection.  The perfect cap off to the day would have been some sort of family BBQ but my brother was busy golfing and my parents out of town.

We woke up with the windows open, birds chirping, sun shining in - amazing!

A morning gym session followed by a family walk was a great start to the day.

The rest of the day was a mix of a little spring cleaning and a lot of time outside, mainly on the deck.

Also some binge watching Orange is the New Black -- finished season one yesterday.

 Stella got her first ever little ice cream treat and enjoyed one little sliver of shade on the deck.

 It's about time we had some nice weather to enjoy! 

 With vacation right around the corner some outfit decisions and pre packing was done

 Derek had to work a little on Saturday so we decided to stay in, do happy hour, have DIY nacho night and enjoy our deck.  Only problem is that we haven't set out our porch furniture yet so we basically had a little picnic.

 The warm weather had us in a huge country music listening phase, a fruity drink for me {recipe below} and a spring beer for him.

I don't know why we've never done homemade nachos before! We had so much fun and it was a fun little treat for dinner.  We each took a cookie treat, spread out or chips and topped them with combinations of cheese, chili, tomatoes, peppers, onion, lettuce, etc.  Homemade dirt pudding was for dessert {recipe below}

 We had the best night just relaxing and laughing and enjoying each other's company.

Sunday brought the long awaited Lilly for Target line.  Which to be quite honest - I'm pretty over it (and I think everyone is probably over all the hype, talk, etc.) 

so I'm not going to bother too much talking about it.  

I went to the store at 8am like tons of other people, waited in the line then watched the crazies - like a shelf was pushed over, people were pushing, had armfuls, etc.  

I am SO not a "black friday" shopper type so I kind of just watched the craziness - I reached in, hoped for the best and snagged this top.  There were some makeup bags and such available but I was sort of over it by that point - too much chaos for this girl!

The angry tweets #LillyforTarget are pretty funny to read and it's just insane what some of the pieces are going for on Amazon - just go to the real Lilly at that point!

We had a lunch date and some shopping to finish the day then a nice little night at home with some homemade chicken teriyaki and asian noodles -- I did some monogram/Lilly pattern searching on Etsy since the sale didn't go too well and definitely found some cute stuff -- it's amazing the things you can find by just typing in those two words!

Of course the ACM awards were on last night too.

Weekend Treats…

Passion on the Beach

1 ounce Malibu coconut rum

1/2 ounce peach schnapps

splash of grenadine

3 ounce pineapple juice

Homemade Dirt Pudding

1 box vanilla pudding

3 cups milk

4 ounce cream cheese

1/2 tub cool whip

crushed oreos

Directions:

Mix the pudding as directed and let it settle.

Mix the pudding, cream cheese and cool whip with electronic mixer.

crush oreos

Layer the mixture and the oreos evenly.

Linking up here and here today.

Valentine's Day Sweets + Loving Lately {Friday Linkups}

Before the regular Friday antics, two sweet recipes for Valentine's Day, TOMORROW! 
We did some baking last night to get ready for the holiday (Valentine's Day kind of crept up on me).

Valentine's Day Blonde Brownies

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Valentine's Day M&M's

*Note: Can make for any holiday with any color M&M's or regular with chocolate chips

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix four, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Melt 1/3 cup butter (microwave or on stove) then mix with 1 cup brown sugar.

Add in beaten egg and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredient mixture, a little at a time (2-3 parts), mix well.

Fold in as many M&M's as you'd like - not TOO many.

Sprinkle the top with M&M's.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

*I did mine for right about 22

 Valentine's Day Pink Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (one stick) butter, softened

1 pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix 

1/2 cup powdered sugar 

1/2 cup flour

2 egg whites (the yolk will turn the cookies orange if you use it)

Red food coloring 

1 cup baking chips 

*Once my batter was ready, I divided it into two bowls and used white chocolate chips in one, semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Directions:

Cream together butter and cookie mix.

Add in powdered sugar and flour, mix well.

Add egg whites and blend everything together.

Add red food coloring, a couple drops at a time (about 12 total).

Stir in chocolate pieces.

Put scoop of batter onto cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Package up cutely and you have some simple, homemade Valentine's!

Five on Friday: Loving Lately … 

1. Sunshine 

I'm loving that it's still not fully dark yet at 5:45 -- we are getting one step closer to spring/summer. Yay!

2. Macy's Thanks for Sharing

I'm loving that I got my "Thanks for Sharing" gift card in the mail from Macy's.  If your unfamiliar - if your a Macy's card holder, starting in September, you can pay $25 to their Thanks for Sharing charity program and then 10% of all your purchases until December 31st goes toward your "Thanks for Sharing" total and just this week I got my gift card!  I'm always in and out of Macy's so this was well worth it for me -- I can't wait to save it for something great!

3. Indulge 

I'm loving this special treat that I had for myself on Tuesday!  Tuesday was a long day, I was tired/grumpy/down and this little cookie hit the spot.  I mixed it up in about five seconds and undercooked it for about 10 and then indulged! I'm also loving my Kate Spade table runner in the background.

4. Husband's Night in the Kitchen

I'm loving that Derek was helping out in the kitchen the other night!  Sometimes we do it together, sometimes I do it, and sometimes he does it!  I had made a mess getting dinner together and the sink was piled up - I loved my couple extra minutes relaxing on the couch while he cleaned it all up for us.

5. Marnie met Taylor

I'm loving that Marnie the Dog is getting bigger and bigger - She met Taylor Swift at the Grammy's last weekend!  If your not following her you should be -- @marniethedog

What is everyone else loving lately?!

Friday Favorites

The Pick Linkup

Friday Favorites w/ Diary of a Real Housewife

Friday Favorites w/ Life in Leggings

Friday Favorites w/ Meet @ the Barre

Sugar Cookie Cake

I eyed this recipe on Pinterest quite some time ago and decided when we had both families over for dinner last weekend would be the perfect time to make it!  This was my first homemade cake, of sorts, and first homemade icing.  I will never ever use canned icing again, the icing was fantastic! As was the cake!

Cake Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened 

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

2/3 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles

Frosting Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened 

1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons half and half (or heavy cream)

1 teaspoon almond extract

salt, to taste

Directions:

Cream the softened butter in a large mixing bowl with either a hand or stand mixer

Add the sugar and mix until fluffy then beat in (I used a spatula for this part) the egg, egg yolk and vanilla.

In a smaller bowl (below) whisk all the dry ingredients.  The flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cornstarch.

Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients in 2-3 parts and mix on low speed.

Once the dough is evenly mixed, blend in the white chocolate chips and sprinkles with a spatula.

Pam your pie dish (throw away works easy) and press the cookie dough into the pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes 

I stuck a toothpick in at about 28-29 minutes and it was good to go, I like cookies softer so I wish I had pulled it out a tiny bit earlier but mine was still soft just not extra gooy.

The cake will sink in in the middle, that's normal!

Let the cake cook and then frost it however you want.  I used one of my winton tools and did a simple design but next time I might consider doing a checkered look or something to use more of the frosting! I had quite a bit left and it is d e l i c i o u s.

To lick the bowl or to not lick the bowl?!

My favorite parts?!

The white chocolate chips give an extra unique touch.  I loved this!  

I'm not a big fan of "regular sprinkles" so I picked another type which worked just as well

A little extra icing never hurt anyone.  My niece suggested the middle circle and I think it was a fantastic idea! The frosting is beyond delicious.

Christmas Eve

Let's start with a preview of the eve… my favorite day of the year (and a big photo overload)

 Christmas Eve Eve

I kicked off the day by making my chocolate M&M Christmas Pretzels.. Recipe: here

Additional Notes:

I never have paid attention to portions in the past few years, I always just bought a bunch of supplies, hoped it worked out and had extra so, this is as close as I could get…

Makes about 150 or so pretzels (I accidentally lost count)

1 bag butter snaps pretzels

3 bags hershey kisses (you will have a few left over)

1/2 (or less) bag red and green M&M's 

I usually double but this year I didn't need as many, singled or doubled the recipe doesn't take long at all!

Luckily I was able to stay home from the office to be able to pack - it's not the easiest task to pack to be away for the holidays for 4+ days, but I filled my car to the brim minus some gifts that I had previously sent home (Derek had already packed his suitcases and gifts for New Jersey) and was beaming with happiness as I headed home for the holidays!!!

I parked myself in my "little room" (the sitting room off the kitchen) curled up on the couch with one of the tree's lights twinkling, cheer in hand and watched Christmas Cupid.  All this while smelling and waiting for my favorite meal to be ready.. beef tips and noodles!  There is no place like home and I'm so glad Derek and I decided to go home on the 23rd instead of the 24th it was much more enjoyable and relaxing and not rushed.

How cute and festive does Mom look in the kitchen

It was a casual Christmas Eve Eve meal

Mom and I whipped up the sugar cookie dough for our tractional Christmas Tree Cookies - it needs to chill over night so we got the hard part out of the way and were ready for our baking the next day!
*Recipe to come in early January*

Every once in a while we get what we call a "blockage" in the cheer containers - since you put in all the fruit pieces sometimes they block the spout.  At this point my hands were sticky, I had cheer on my feet, I'd removed the cheer from the garage into the kitchen to try to be more successful (no such luck) and finally I had to call in Steve for back up to break the blockage

Since Santa Mom always has a lot of wrapping to do, Davey and I usually wrap the presents for Grandmom and Uncle Steve and we got this out of the way early this year so we could more enjoy the Eve!  Derek had to go into work for a couple hours Christmas Eve morning so he had already gone to bed but Mom and Steve (and Nash) kept us company watching the bowl game in the basement as we wrapped.. it was a late night for some of us!

Luckily we had Nash to guard the stockings

 Like I've said - I've been obsessed with Christmas since the day I was born (maybe its the birthday 5 days before thing, I don't know) any way we dug out my old "Christmas Box" circa maybe 1999/2000
(Note: I now have multiple tubs of actual Christmas decorations, clothes, ornaments, etc. now that don't look like this)
Davey and I always reference my "Christmas Cheer Code" and can never remember all the levels - we'll problem solved, we found the code and it is as follows: Christmas Tree Green, Candy Cane Red, Jingle Bell Gold, Frosty the Snowman White, Raindeer Brown, Coal Black
Note: We always thought Candy Cane red was first and that it was raindeer poop brown.

Christmas Eve

Our traditional Christmas morning breakfast will always be our usual meal and it's something we all crave and look forward to and Mom's "thing." While Derek is joining in on some of my traditions, we've been working on creating our own as well!  I started my "thing" this year which will be an annual Christmas Eve breakfast!  I woke up early and made everyone Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls and Quiche! It was a hit and I've found my new tradition for me to do each year. Kelly & Michael's Christmas Eve Show was of course on in the background
*Recipe coming in early January* Serve with Spode plates, optional

One of the most relaxing Christmas Eve's I've had - I spent the morning on the couch, in my pajamas, not showered or wearing makeup, watching the grinch before I did my yearly task of stuffing all the stockings, including new ones for Grandmom and Grandma this year! (Mom does mine - but a couple years ago Santa Mom passed the stocking stuffing down to me and I absolutely love it!  I love making everything fit and putting them together). We do stockings big and each person has to buy a couple things for each persons stocking - anymore people and it would be overwhelming but we go great and mom places a bag with each person's name on it throughout the first floor and everyone puts their stockings stuffers in, I gather the bags and stuff!! This is a task that's usually saved for Christmas Eve night, after a few glasses of wine/cheer so this year it finally clicked to do it during the afternoon when things were quiet - Hallelujah! Perfect idea. After that I made our traditional Christmas Tree Cookies

 We did our usual Christmas Eve dinner at Fellini's this year but of course a couple photos in front of the tree before.

Enjoying our first Christmas together :)

 

 Our Fellini's dinner was fantastic as usual.  We went a little bit earlier this year because each year it seems to get more and more crowded - it was extra nice this year because the new side was open as well so people were more spaced out, it was quieter and less cramped!

Such a special treat - we got to enjoy our "First Christmas Eve" wine from the bridal shower since Fellini's is BYOB

 Church was fantastic as always, always a huge highlight of Christmas Eve especially when we sing Silent Night by candle light.  We also sang a ton of other great Christmas songs.  It was very nice to have Derek there this year as well as Grandma for the first time in a while!  Mom, Steve, Davey, Aunt Gini, Ryan, Grandma, Derek & I packed into two pews together

After church, I helped in making our traditional Christmas Morning Casserole this year to learn how to do it so I can make it for Derek and I sometimes throughout the year since it's one of my favorites

 
Nash got plenty of attention, of course

Davey enjoyed his usual Christmas Eve Cookies and Milk

 The hubs requested to watch the Christmas Story, one of his favorite traditions! Then we put on the Santa Clause Two but most of us (especially the girl that requested it, fell asleep quickly)

and with that we we're off to bed!!

Christmas Day Activities & another photo overload tomorrow

Xo CHS