Fa la la la, Pinterest!

This will be my first Christmas with my hubby that we have not decorated for Christmas.  I didn't realize how much I'd miss all the holiday craftiness & decor!  We are going to be spending the entire season elsewhere, and it just didn't make much sense to do the whole shebang, but oh how I will miss it so!  

I decided to do a little Pinterest therapy, to sooth my soul today---I didn't want to feel like too much of a scrooge.  So if I were decorating this year...here's some of what you might find lying around our house or hanging from the tree :)  

Links to each photo can be found at my pinterest page, here. 

CYBER MONDAY!!

Celebrate Cyber Monday with 20% OFF in the handmade shop!  

use code:  CYMONDAY at checkout

I've got a little somethin' toasting in my oven....

a little baby bun!! 

Our little cutie was about 9.5 weeks when this was taken & only a little over an inch!  Little Buttercup is growing like a little weed in there at 13 weeks & is about the size of a peach now!  Hard to believe!

Ben & I are beyond excited for this new little addition to make his/her debut into our little family sometime in late May.  This little one is quite an answered prayer & is a miracle in the making.

Brace yourself for pictures, updates & stories :)  It's just gonna happen.

DIY Wednesday {Bare Branch Tree Decor}

I've always loved bare branch trees in home decor.  I was contemplating getting one to hang Christmas ornaments on, when I thought "shoot, I can make that!"  

And so I did.  Thankfully, fall actually exists in our neck of the woods, so leaves and branches are falling every which way in my back yard.  I selected a few branchy branches that caught my eye, spray painted them off-white (with a touch of glitter over the white), and just had to find a vase or object to put them in.

So far, I've settled on this silver vase...we'll see if I end up changing it :)  My branches just happened to lay out really nicely without the need for any stabilizer in the vase to hold them up. However, in the past I've used things like glass marbles, pepples or foam to stabilize things like this, so any of those should work, depending on the look you are going for.

I like my little branches, ornament-less & all...they might just end up being a year-round piece in our home :)

Spiced Chai Tea Latte

Apparently, I am on a recipe rampage lately.  Hope you are enjoying experimenting with new things as much as I am :)  

A few days ago, I went to the local coffee shop on a mission:  to treat myself to a Chai Tea Latte.  You can imagine my disappointment and the teeny ounce of despair I felt when I arrived only to find out it was the one drink they were out of that day.  REALLY??  Well, this would not do.   I needed that Spiced Chai.  

I got home, found my friend, Google & started looking up Chai Latte recipes.

I never end up having exactly what a recipe calls for & well, there's just something in me that loves to tweak things, so off I went to make my own version of a Chai Tea Latte.

Here's what I used:

2 cups water

2 single serving bags of Chai Tea (black tea is also fine)

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. mulling spice mix (includes cloves, orange peel, cinnamon, coriander & allspice)

1/8 cup raw sugar (most recipes called for much more than this, but I found the latte to be perfectly sweet)

2 1/2 cups milk

And here's what you do:

In a saucepan, bring water, tea bags, ginger & spice mix to a boil.  Let simmer for 5 minutes until well steeped.  Add raw sugar, stirring until dissolved.  Pour in the milk & heat until teeny tiny bubbles form.  

Use a sieve to extract the mulling spices & tea bags from the Chai & pour yourself a nice warm mug of what I like to call, Christmas in Your Mouth.  

Top with whipped cream & cinnamon.  Heavenly.

Delicious Tomato Basil Soup

Tomato Basil Soup is one of my absolute favorite dishes to make when the weather starts getting chilly.  

Yesterday was a chilly, rainy day--perfect for making this yummy soup!

Ingredients:

1 TBSP butter

2-3 cloves garlic

14 vine ripened tomatoes, cut in half

2 tsp oregano

1 Shallot, minced

2 TBSP fresh basil, chopped

1 tsp each. salt & pepper

2 1/2 cups organic vegetable broth (lower sodium)

1/4 cup heavy cream

squeeze of lemon juice

To Prepare:

Preheat oven to 425*.  Place tomatoes, flesh side down on baking sheet, along with cloves of garlic.

Roast for 50 minutes, taking the garlic out after 30.

Heat butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, shallots, oregano, basil, salt & pepper.  Cook for about 3 minutes, or until garlic begins to turn brown & shallots are cooked through.

Add tomatoes & broth to the mixture & simmer, covered for 15 minutes.

Puree soup with either immersion blender or in batches with a regular blender until nice & smooth.

Pour in heavy cream & lemon juice.  Season with additional salt or pepper if needed.

Cook up some yummy grilled cheese sandwiches to go along with the meal and you have one delightful meal.

Enjoy!

Texas Happenings

Yes, we took our trip almost a month ago.  & yes, I am just now getting around to posting pictures.  

Just a few of my favorites from a visit to our favorite places in Texas.

Oh & some favorite friends had to make their way into the pictures ((of course!))

Boo.

We have a LOT of kids in our neighborhood, which on Halloween translates to a TON of trick or treaters.

Three of our neighborhood couple friends & ourselves decided to spend the evening together, enjoying each other's company while passing out the loot.  As the details of our little block party came together, well let's just say we got a little carried away.

Military people move a lot & tend to have a lot of boxes.  What's a better use for old boxes than to make a little Halloween maze?   

We were quite the neighborhood hit with the chillins ;) 

 The Flapper & the Mob Boss

Bob even made his first Halloween debut...as our mob pup.  He was not a fan of the mob hat. 

The Flapper, Lois Lane, a Hippie & a Fairy 

Clark Kent, the Mob Boss, Pirate & Luigi