Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe New Year’s Eve. I had a few friends over to my place last night for snacks, drinks, and games. I wanted to make something light, sweet, and easy to eat. Well, I think mini champagne cupcakes fit that bill. I opted to start with a box cake mix, just to make things a bit easier on myself. Plus, there is something fun about making a super simple recipe that seems so fancy.
I am not a huge fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I mean, if you can find an excuse to put something off until after New Year’s Eve, you sure can find an excuse to put it off again. However, in the spirit of resolutions, I am going to re-open this book. I started reading The Happiness Project at the beginning of summer break last year. I remember bringing it with to visit family in Arizona. I picked up the book today, and found a plane ticket from Phoenix to Minneapolis wedged in chapter 8. That makes sense. I spent a relaxing few days in AZ by the pool, but returned home to packing and 9 weeks of Europe chaos (not that I’m complaining about a trip to Europe). The book never got finished.
I must admit that I could definitely work on being a happier person… law school will do that to you. So, today I will begin re-reading The Happiness Project. I may read a chapter a month, or and up curled up with Pippa and finish it in a day. Either way, I encourage you to join. Who couldn’t use a little more happiness in their life?
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I am not entirely sure how I made it through nearly 25 years on this planet without knowing about “crack balls,” i.e. oreo truffles. My friend Danielle mentioned making them over Christmas, and a few days later, my mom asked for a truffle recipe. Fate? I think so. Continue reading
With New Year’s right around the corner, I am featuring inspiration from these Kate Spade dishes that would be perfect for New Year’s Eve. I’ve seen some buzz in the blogoshpere about how wonderful these dishes are. Well, aren’t they? However, at a Kate Spade price tag, I will definitely not be making this purchase anytime soon. There are a few people who share this sentiment, and have used this pattern to inspire other projects. Here are a few that I found. Continue reading
I saw this pie pop maker for sale at Sur la Table for $29.95. I thought this was just about one of the greatest ideas ever, but had two main concerns. 1) why would I spend $29.95 on a gadget that I would use maybe twice per year? and 2) even if I were willing $29.95 on something that would be used maybe twice per year, where would I store this gizmo for the other 363 days a year? So, I ventured forth into the world of pie-pops without a pie pop maker. Continue reading
Well, it took me a bit longer than I expected, but I finally finished my posts for the 12 days of Christmas cookies. Just in case you missed anything, here is a wrap-up of the goodies I made.
day 1 – hershey’s kiss thumbprint cookies
day 2 – santa’s belt chocolate covered oreos
day 3 – grandma schill’s fudge
day 4 – peppermint pinwheel sugar cookies
day 5 – kleinur
day 6 – coconut snowflake cookies
day 7 – double limoncello pistachio cookies
day 8 – cookies for the grinch
day 9 – eggnog cookies
day 10 – christmas wreath cookies
day 11 – santa hat pretzels
day 12 – spiced sugar cookies
While my sister Loree was visiting over Thanksgiving, she introduced me to a store here in Minneapolis: the Paper Depot. This place is like paper heaven. I think Loree originally discovered this place when doing wedding invites, and she went back last Christmas for cards. Paper Depot has an amazing selection of paper and envelopes, as well as some 
scrapbooking supplies.
Loree decided to go the Paper Depot route for Christmas cards again this year, and she enlisted the help of my Slice machine in the process. Continue reading
On the 12th and final day of Christmas cookies, I decided to make cookies for the staff at the vet’s office. I managed to find dog-shaped and dog house-shaped cookie cutters at the kitchen store in Uptown, so I knew I would be making a rolled cookie. I contemplated making gingerbread cookies, but opted for spiced sugar cookies instead. Continue reading
With this being Pippa’s first Christmas, I though it would be nice to make an ornament for her. Mike thought I was crazy for doing this, so one afternoon when he was at the library, Pippa and I had arts and crafts time. Continue reading
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I saw these chocolate-covered pretzels on Pinterest, and immediately knew that I would be making them this Christmas. The actual link provides very minimal instructions, so I took plenty of pictures along the way. I also made a few tiny tweaks in my process. Continue reading
