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Hellooooooooooo there. *wipes mouth sheepishly in an attempt to get chocolate glaze off* You can find me over at Girl Versus Dough today, stuffing these delicious little Gluten-Free Meyer Lemon & Bittersweet Chocolate Muffins in my mouth. And sharing the recipe, of course. Pop on over! 

Call me weird, but I love talking snack foods, especially gluten-free snacks. Good, healthy, easy, quick snacks are hard to come by, so I periodically share some of my favorites.

Clockwise starting with top left:
 Goody Good Stuff Koala Gummy Bears: You guys, these are amazingly delicious & I like the texture much better than regular gummy bears.
Organic Apple Cider Vinegar Drink – Ginger Spice : This one is a bit of an acquired taste, but I think you’ll come to love it. And it is just so incredibly healthy for you.
Sahale Snacks Tuscan Almonds with Parmesan + Herb: Most of the Sahale line of flavored nuts are amazing, but these are my most recent delicious find.
Trader Joe’s Sipping Chocolate: This was a birthday gift from a friend, and it’s incredible.
Brown Cow Cream Top Greek Yogurt, Maple Flavor: I cannot get enough of this. I think it might be the best yogurt I’ve ever had and I eat a lot of different yogurts; it’s one of my favorite foods to try new flavors and brands. This one is standout.

I have also been making these 1 Minute Coffee Cakes preeeeettty much daily since I discovered it! YUM!

I hope you enjoy and find some new favorite snack foods too 🙂

I’m so excited to hear that my favorite ad agency is back in business…on TV, that is! Mad Men is officially starting Season 6 on April 7. Let’s just talk about that photo above for a sec, one of the stills from the new season: 

1.) SALLY! She’s so grown-up and I adore her little gloves. 

2.) Betty is back in shape and as stunning as ever.

3.) Love Megan’s late-60s hair and dress. Also: Her makeup!

4.) Don’s looking as dapper (and yet concerned) as ever. Love a man in a bowtie. 

So, you’re probably going to a Mad Men party come April. Would you go as Betty, Peggy, Megan, or Joan? They all have distinctly different styles. If you’re like me, you don’t want to wait until April to find the perfect outfit. You want it now. You want it hanging in your closet. No, actually, if you’re really like me, you’d probably hang it on the outside of the closet door so you can admire it for the next few months. Here are some outfits to consider, complete with vintage-style dresses, low heels, pearls, gloves, hats, and handbags!

Sophisticated but girly, and a little bit more fancy. Try a floral gown with pretty pearls, embellished gloves, and pink heels.

Prettiest Gal in the Bloom Dress//Gloves: Brixiana, Etsy//Heels: Bandolino

Peggy
More conservative and working-girl, but we’ve seen Peggy’s style evolve and grow. This outfit is perfect for going to mass with her family.

Very trendy and smoldering, Megan steals the show with her youthful, modern style.

Dress: Free People//Rhinestone Choker: F21// False Eyelashes: Sally Beauty//Heels: Franco Sarto
Also Consider:Mermaid to Measure Dress

Joan shows off her lovely curves in tight satin, and often wears red and red lipstick, even as a redhead. What would Joan be without an embellished secretary pen necklace, even though she’s now a partner?

Necklace: HubbaHubs//Dress:Full Steam Ahead Dress//Lipstick: Radiant Cosmetics (image)//Heels: Sam Edelman
Also Consider: Feel the Vibrant Dress

Now you’re all set for hosting or attending a Mad Men Premiere Party for Season 6! Yay! And we can watch all of the re-runs we want and look at our pretty dresses for a few months. That’ll chase away the winter blues, right?

PS. Modcloth dresses like to go in and out of stock, so don’t worry if one isn’t available…chances are it will  be back in stock by April!

How cute is this? And Pinterest-y, if we’re being honest. 

Best yet, it cost me $3 and about half an hour.

That’s some Pinterest-y cuteness I can afford!

1 Mason Jar with 2-piece lid

1 pump from another bottle (hand sanitizer or soap pumps work great! You’ll want it to be long enough to allllmost hit the bottom of the jar)

Super glue gel

X-Acto knife and awl or another tool to get the hole started

Pliers

Make sure you carefully fold down the metal pieces on the underside so no one will get hurt! Then, line the rim of the jar band with super glue gel and push the flat lid down so the two lid pieces will become one. Let dry thoroughly.

Make sure the pump fits, and hold it steady while you take a bit of super glue to secure the pump on the underside of the lid. Let dry. 

Fill your jar with soap, screw on the lid, and enjoy your handiwork! 

~Linking up with Skip to My Lou!~

I’ve noticed a new trend: over-the-knee pencil skirts, or midi pencil skirts. To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about them, especially considering I just sold a 90s wool version to the consignment store.
Should I have kept it?

Does this conservative look say cute & vintage, or dated & age-ing?

What do you think?

I have been the happy recipient of two jars of this lovely body scrub, this most recent batch from my friend, and last Christmas, a similar jar from my sister-in-law, so I never had to make myself a jar. Happily, my friend included the recipe so I could make some more when I ran out. 

And lucky for you, she’s letting me share.

I love Weeknight Projects: the kind you can whip up after dinner, while watching a movie, or after the kids have gone to sleep and you sneak a cup of tea and a few moments to yourself. They usually involve products around the house or inexpensive items. This sugar scrub is no exception! With a few basic pantry ingredients, you can create an indulgent, pretty, and useful sugar scrub. Unlike other exfoliating sugar scrubs I’ve tried, this one isn’t too oily, so you don’t need to worry about it making your shower slippery. It is especially indulgent to use before shaving. I recommend following up with a lovely body oil right out of the shower to seal in that soft skin! My friend sent along the Refresh scent (Green Tea & Grapefruit) from this line.

I picked this Philosophy body wash/shampoo up on clearance after the holidays. It smells truly fantastic (as all of their products do), and it coordinates so nicely with the scrub! I can’t be the only one who gets a kick out of having color-coordinated shower products, right? Right?

Ahhh, don’t you feel refreshed now? 

Girls, get your calenders out 🙂

Because I’m pretty sure you’re going to want to be part of Dayspring’s Incourage In-Real-Life ((in)RL) meet-ups! I co-lead one of inCourage’s groups for single ladies (we are starting up again in February, be on the lookout for more information), and I just love what they do to encourage community among women. This is one of their initiatives…they like to think of it as a “free girls’ weekend that doesn’t require a plane ticket.” 

 

Registration is FREE, and the weekend starts with a webcast on Friday, April 22nd, and moves on to small community-hosted groups all over the country on Saturday, April 23rd. This year’s theme is “Staying Rooted In Community Through Tough Times.” Doesn’t that sound like a fantastic time?

You can check it out and register HERE (and if you register today, you get a few extra perks!).

A little bit of Christmas Catch-Up is on the docket for today…a few things I never got around to sharing. 

I made the advent wreath this year! SO pretty, I LOVE an advent wreath!

In my room, I had this pretty big bowl of vintage ShinyBrite ornaments, a few mercury glass balls, and my favorite glittery Eiffel Tower ornament. I twirled in some silver ribbon and my one of my Christmas cards from this year (they were totally Taylor Swift Christmas cards and I am not ashamed to admit that!).

Made some Bittersweet Chocolate Pots de Creme with Homemade Whipped Cream & Peppermint. YUM!

We made SEVERAL batches of my Grandma’s famous white-chocolate popcorn (with green & red colored sugar) and caramel corn. 

Popcorn-Gift-Bag-Making Station!

I made DIY versions of these (way too expensive) awesome Anthropologie hairbands for some of my friends! 

Love them.

Just a few fun things from Christmas I wanted to share before it was totally way lame to do so. 

Hey, I’m still well within the 12 Days of Christmas (which come after Christmas, but you knew that, right?).

These little tea cakes are just so adorable. They are happy, and that makes me happy 🙂 And they taste about 1000 times better than they look. 

I know these are technically meant to be eaten with tea in the afternoon. But I say, Why not with coffee in the morning? I’m an adult, I can make that call, right? 

Besides, the light was landing on that one in the back, illuminating it and saying, “Pick me! Pick me!” 

Eat dessert first! And by first, I mean, for breakfast!

Oh. Yeah.

I also ate an egg for breakfast because, y’know, adults have to make the tough decisions.

These would be brilliant to have in a pretty basket down on the kitchen counter by the coffee maker for early-rising Christmas guests. They’ll feel like royalty in a 100-diamond hotel. Which is way, way, way better than a 5-star hotel. Duh!

This is the marvelous Gesine’s recipe, which I made gluten-free using Bob’s Red Mill GF flour, added some almond extract, and used my mini-mini bundt pan from Nordicware. Show her the love for this amazing recipe!

 Enjoy! 

We had a snow day this weekend, and what better time to wrap up all of my pretty packages than on a snowy Sunday? Oh my heart is happy!

I find great pleasure in a giant passel of packages wrapped beautifully and coordinating. While there is charm to hodge-podge wrapping, too, this is the way I currently prefer to wrap all of my presents. They just look so pretty and dare I say, glamorous?

All of this was from my stash…having just moved, I couldn’t afford to shell out money on brand new, full-price wrapping paper. The cocoa cups paper is a holdover from last year; the last bit of the precious roll. The pink and gold paper is from my stash…rather vintage-y and yet, modern, too. 

The gold bows and gold ribbon are from my craft stash, too. The pink tags, green twine, and the brown “icing” bags were picked up this summer at one of those fancy boutiques in one of the fancy towns. You know the kind…where the only thing you can afford is some teeny tiny paper bags and a yard of baker’s twine. Granted, they are super cute little paper bags!

And since it was snowing, snowing, snowing, what else to do but bake up the traditional Christmas cakes that take some old-fashioned TIME? You have to beat this batter for 20 minutes by hand, and that’s after chopping all of the nuts and fruit. Then you’re supposed to try, try, try to let it sit in the freezer until Christmas. But let me tell you, it really is worth it. 

Enjoy your Christmas preparations, friends!