October 31, 2013

Happy Happy Halloween

Hi, friends! I’m just popping in, wishing you a Happy Halloween! It seems that after this day, time completely zooms by, and before we know it it’s January. Here’s hoping that we slow down, spend time with our loved ones, and enjoy all that is to come. I hope you all have a safe day and evening, and that it is full of spooky fun. My husband and I will be at my parents’ house — where I have been every year since birth! — handing out candy and enjoying the company of family. Our furbaby Kuma will even be joining in on the fun with us! :-) I’ll see you back here on Monday!

Happy Happy Halloween. From me to you.

October 30, 2013

Halloween Treats Round-Up

Good morning! Yesterday was spent perusing spooktacular Halloween tablescapes and I do hope that you enjoyed it. One of my favorite things to do when there is a holiday coming up is spend time in my kitchen. I love to bake and create fun treats for my friends, family, neighbors… Just like yesterday, I pulled inspiration from my Pinterest boards in order to create a fun round-up of scaaaary (not really) Halloween treats for you today! If you would like to Pin these recipes to your own boards, please follow the links to their respective sites and do so from there! ;-)

Halloween Cheesecake Truffles via Chocolate Moosey

Monster Munch Muddy Buddies via Sweet C’s Designs

Candy Corn and White Chocolate Softbatch Cookies via Averie Cooks

Candy Corn Oreo Truffles via Shugary Sweets

Candy Corn White Chocolate M&M Blondies via Averie Cooks

Pretzel Rod Monsters via Jenny On the Spot

Halloween Fudge via Crazy For Crust

Halloween Brownie Truffles via This Gal Cooks

Oreo Mummy Pops via iFood

Cocoa Crackle Cookie Monsters via The Decorated Cookie

Pumpkin Pretzels via Butter With a Side of Bread

Peep Baked S’mores via Home Is Where the Boat Is

Candy Corn Cheesecake Mousse via Glorious Treats

How cute are all of these ideas, right? I don’t know how I am going to choose which treat I am going to bring to my parents’ house tomorrow night for Halloween. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your Halloween Eve. I’ll see you back here tomorrow bright and early, wrapping up my Halloween fun this week on the blog.

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Frightfully Adorable Halloween Tablescapes (inspirationaffirmation.com)

October 29, 2013

Frightfully Adorable Halloween Tablescapes

Hey, there! Since Halloween is Thursday, this week is going to be all about celebrating this fun and spooky holiday. I haven’t yet published anything Halloween-ish on this blog, so I’m really excited about doing so this year. Today, we’re focusing on frightful Halloween tablescapes. ;-) I, like so many of you, love designing a table theme around any holiday (really, I’m not picky!). I love poking around Pinterest for ideas and then putting my own spin on them. Let’s look at some fun ones, shall we?

Coco + Kelley

The Tablescaper

Bright, Bold, + Beautiful

Camille Styles

Between Naps on the Porch

Maureen Stevens

Once Upon a Plate

Are you tablescaping in a fun and festive way for Halloween?

Halloween Drinks, Costume Party & Costume Party Ideas | Pottery Barn (potterybarn.com)
14 Fabulous Pets Dressed Up as Food-Related Things for Halloween (thekitchn.com)

October 18, 2013

Crock Pot Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

During the Fall months, I love anything apple cinnamon-flavored — and I know I’m not alone! I also really like having a hot breakfast during these colder months in lieu of my usual spring/summertime fruit + yogurt. And having my breakfast ready for me as soon as I get home from the gym, with all of the preparation having been completed the night before? Well, that’s just perfection in my book. :-)

This recipe is super simple to make (as most crock pot recipes are), and I’m betting you have all of the ingredients right inside of your kitchen! This is most definitely an overnight recipe, as it needs to cook on Low for several hours.

INGREDIENTS

2 sliced apples, peeled (I used Honeycrisp)

1/3 cup brown sugar (use a little more if you want it sweeter, or if your apples are tart)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups oats

4 cups water

Spread your apples onto the bottom of the crock pot. Then, pour the brown sugar and the cinnamon over the top.

Next, pour the oats.

And finally, add your water. Resist the urge to stir! It’ll all get nice and mixed together overnight. Cook on Low for 8-9 hours. When I opened my crock pot after 9 hours, the oats were on the soupy side. I changed my heat setting to Warm, went to the gym for a couple of hours, and when I came home the oats were perfect!

Serve with a little bit of maple syrup, some dried berries, and enjoy!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Happy Friday!

Harvest Coffee Cider Recipe (kraftrecipes.com)
Bacon-bourbon Apple Pie Recipe (kraftrecipes.com)

October 17, 2013

Room Translation: Beachy Living Room

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Room Translation, so I thought that it might be a fun change of pace for today. I love beachy spaces. I especially love them when the designer leaves the kitsch out of the decorating and simply adorns the room with natural elements, cozy (slip-covered!) furniture, and a few water references throughout. Nope, no anchors or sails for me — I want subtle suggestions of the beach and the occasional shell or two. That, to me, is what dreamy beachy spaces are made of.

{Source Unknown} – if you do know, please respond in the comments

I love this interior. The chaise lounge is begging to be sat in, don’t you think? I love the warmth from the brick fireplace that is paired beautifully with that rustic taupe console table. Casual water colors are dropped in here and there in the perfect way that makes this space say, “I am a house made for days by the water and nights by the fire.” I also love the beadboard accent wall, which adds a bit more texture to the space. However, this room is surely not lacking in the texture department. Look around and notice all of the elements of this room that you can feel without even having to touch them! Anyway, here’s my translation:

Chaise — Console Table — Lamp — Mirror — Pillow — Vase — Artwork

October 16, 2013

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

There’s not much better than chocolate chip cookie dough straight from the bowl — especially when it is eggless and the threat of possible food poisoning is far from reality. These bites are so delicious — perfectly salty and sweet with the delightful crunch of chocolate chips in every bite. I based my recipe off of this one from Disney Family.com, tweaking a few things here and there to my liking. These bites make great gifts, and you can even send them off to work with your sweetheart for a yummy office treat. I think these would make a really sweet hostess gift, as well. And they are perfect for the cookie dough-lover in your life! :-)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup salted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

2 cups flour

1 cup chocolate chips

melting chocolate (for drizzle)

sprinkles, if you wish

First, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.

Next, add remaining ingredients with the exception of the chocolate chips. Hold onto those until the very end.

Fold in the chocolate chips. If you’re using a stand mixer, just set it at its lowest mix option. That’ll keep the paddle from being too rough with the chocolate chips — you’ll just get a nice stir.

Roll into balls — I used a 1 tablespoon ice cream scoop in order to get them to be a uniform size.

Put the balls in the refrigerator for about a half an hour so that they can chill.

When you’re ready, pull out your melting chocolate and sprinkles. I chose silver glitter sprinkles that I received as a gift — I think they are from Sur la Table?

Our apartment doesn’t have a microwave, so I have to melt things the “old fashioned way.” ;-) On our stovetop. I kind of love it, though. My recipes sometimes need extra steps, but I find that I enjoy melting butter or chocolate on my stove. There’s something relaxing about it.

After the chocolate is melted, you know what to do! Pull your cookie dough bites out of the refrigerator and drizzle some chocolate over each one with a fork. Sprinkle a smattering of glitter on top.

Now get them out of your house! ;-) These are addicting.

Liking up!

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October 15, 2013

Halloween and Early Fall Decorating

Hey, there! I hope you all had a great weekend. Since the days are ticking away to Halloween, I thought I would share some of my simple decorations with you today! I was so excited when I pulled out my Fall decor last month because I had just enough to sort of ease my way into the season — here in Arizona temperatures don’t really start to drop until right about now. I’m looking forward to doing some more decorating when my Halloween things come down, but for now, this is what I’ve got!

Our dining area got a fun splash of Halloween with our Halloween Town up on the top of the bookshelf. This always sort of acts as our mantle, and I love having it in lieu of a fireplace mantle for now. I zhushed up some black spooky netting, and my husband and I nestled the Halloween Town on top. It lights up at night, which is really fun, but is also really difficult to take good pictures of. ;-)

This is just an easy little centerpiece I threw together for the top of our dining table. The bowl is vintage Waterford, and the leaves are just a couple of garlands from the Dollar Store strategically wrapped around a candle from Hob Lob.

Don’t worry — I never light this particular arrangement. I don’t think that would be a good idea, lol.

I bought that pumpkin candle from Target a couple of weeks ago and have already burned through it. It’s pretty orange mercury glass, and I am probably going to buy another one because I miss it already. The rope candlesticks are from Anthropologie and usually look really nautical but I think with the orange pumpkin, they add a pretty natural element. And of course I had to bring out my super-cozy faux fur throw from Restoration Hardware that my mother- and father-in-law bought for us last Christmas. We love snuggling underneath it — it’s so warm!

And then there’s my fun DIY mummy wreath hanging on our door. :-) Greyson loves Halloween so I really made an effort to decorate for him this year. This wreath was pretty simple, I just used a tutorial from Bower Power Blog (http://www.bowerpowerblog.com/) and hung it on a Command Hanger, then Velcro’d the arm of the wreath to the door. The worms are glow-in-the-dark and you can find packs of them at the Dollar Store!

I had to include these. How sweet is he?! :-) I love my baby.

Have you done any Halloween decorating yet? I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to Halloween — it has been so much fun finding projects and recipes to try out. What would we do without Pinterest? ;-)

Linking up!

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