Oh My Goodness!

Finally someone in coffee land has read my mind. If you are anything like me you have done some pretty ridiculous things in attempt to make awesome iced coffee at home, and usually it just doesn't cut it, it's never quite the same and I always find myself wishing that I had just shelled out the $4 instead of being to cheap to go to Starbucks.

Let me just say NEVER AGAIN. The wonderful amazing people at general foods international now have iced coffee already mixed with cream and flavor that you can buy in a carton an keep in your fridge. I got mine at SAMs club, six dollars for two half gallon containers so it's really affordable.

I know, I know, how does it taste? AMAZING! Very sweet and wonderfully creamy - if you are a McDonald's frappe kind of person then it is perfect. I like a little more. Coffee flavor, so I will probably add coffee to mine, but at 100 calories for one cup I definitely can't complain!

Do you know about 31?

Oh my goodness. I just received that box that I was waiting for and it was full of incredible wonderful things from 31! If you have not heard of 31 please go to www.31gifts.com immediately. It is a direct sales company, so yes that means I had one of those parties, but let me tell you that it was totally worth it, this picture shows HALF of the adorable things that I received for hosting the party, and I only paid $40! What can I say, this is a wonderful way to satisfy my bag addiction.

My latest project

I came across three large embroidery hoops and have been looking for creative ways to use them, my recent obsession with wreaths led to the first finished product, a wreath for our door with our house number on it - and I am so impressed with the way the giant flower turned out, I've been practicing that technique for 2 years and I think I finally figured it out!

Happy Monday!

I woke up to a dreary, gray Monday morning, so I tried to start it the best way that I know how... With Starbucks of course!

Today was a Cinnamon dolce latte kind of day.

At the moment I am home on my lunch break waiting for a giant package with my name on it to be delivered. I love ordering stuff, I hate waiting for it to come! When it gets here I will be sure to share the contents with you!

You can look forward to many regular posts from me now that I have my wonderful new iPhone!

Tell me what you are waiting for today!

That's not what I was going for...

Yeah, those are supposed to be hearts...

The inaugural run of my new cookie press left a little to be desired (to say the least), I followed the recipe and instructions to a T, but the whole process was very different than I remembered as a kid. I think next time I will plan to add a little more flour and refrigerated the dough for a while before actually using the cookie press.

BUT, the cookies tasted AMAZING, and I have a plan for all of those funky looking pink cookies: Valentine Cookie Ice Cream - YUM!

Thank goodness I have fun kitchen gadgets to save the messes that I make with my other fun kitchen gadgets!

Super easy wreath

I've never been one of those people who decorates for every single holiday, I go all out for Christmas, but the rest of the year my house looks pretty much the same, with the exception of some small seasonal changes, and the occasional switcharoo when I get bored with a vase or candle. I just don't see the point in having all those cutesy holiday decorations when my place already looks so great (plus I'm all about matching color schemes, so throwing in some pink for Valentine's day would totally clash with everything else that I own).

That said, I have also been feeling as though I've neglected my front porch, which is, you know, a pretty average front porch, except for the fact that no one ever uses it. The sidewalk from our driveway leads to our backdoor, and there is no sidewalk to the front door, so basically it's a wast of space. BUT it is the part of the house that you see when you drive by, and I promise I'm going somewhere with this incredibly long rant... where was I?

Oh yeah... anyways, I decided that the solution to my neglected front porch was a cute wreath, since I'm obsessed with the super-versatile Styrofoam wreath trend that is blowing up on Pinterest. And since nothing else that I own is seasonal, this seemed the perfect place to celebrate all of those random holidays.

Here is the super cute wreath that I made this afternoon

the base is made from 2" strips of burlap wrapped around a Styrofoam wreath form. The heart designs are hearts that I cut out of random pieces of cotton fabric that I had in my stash. After I cut them out I sewed them to cream colored fleece scraps to stiffen them a bit and add texture. And of course I used my hot glue gun to attache them to the wreath. Add a few bows and there you have it!

Valentine's day...already?

I don't know about you, but I have fully embraced the craziness that is Valentine's day (and yes, I do realize that it is a month away, but you know me... obsessively organized...). Anyway, I spent the evening contemplating what I would create for Valentine's day this year. It all started with my hankering to bust out the cookie press that I received as a Christmas gift.

My parents had one of these, and as a kid I loved that thing, but I've always been just a bit to cheap to purchase one for myself, because I know that it would only get used a few times a year (a la all the other random kitchen gadgets that I own). I was more than overjoyed to get one as a gift, however, and Valentine's day seems like the perfect excuse to bust that baby out.

Therefore the first holiday treat on my V-day list is pink and chocolate heart spritz cookies, just like these:

From there my mind wandered to marshmallows... I know, random, but ever since my first attempt at making them, right before Christmas (and my surprise at how easy the whole process was) I have been looking forward to doing it again - this time I want to cut them with a heart shaped cookie cutter, because duh, Valentines day, just like these:

However I am leaning towards pink, and possibly on a stick, oh, and drizzled with chocolate - so much for that whole eating healthy thing...

Finally, sensing a theme here (heart shaped and gadgets that I don't use nearly often enough) I'm feeling the urge to dust off the awesome Message-in-a-cookie Cutters that I purchased from Williams Sonoma and used to create last years V-day cookies (not to mention all of our wedding favors - see picture!)