Nine/peppermint bark

Christmas is only nine days away. Nine!!! I completely missed the boat if I wanted to do any kind of 10 day countdown. Speaking of Nine, I am SO excited to see that movie! It looks like it will be uber-dope, because with all those Oscar winners and singing and dancing, how can you go wrong?? Plus, I hope to see it with people I love. Plop me down in a theater with some peanut M&M's and Daniel Day Lewis, and I'm a happy girl.

In the spirit of the holidays, I chose to make peppermint bark today. I've been craving it for a while, and haven't had any for two years. I found a pretty simple recipe for it here, and made it even more simple and cheap by using chocolate chips instead of chocolate bars. I put on Love Actually in the background and spent my afternoon cooking.

And if you think I didn't make this a big part of my dinner, you are sorely mistaken. SOOO good!

updates on my life

A lot of things have gone on since my last serious post (before Thanksgiving), so here's a little catch up.

Thanksgiving was everything I was hoping it would be, and since I had been looking forward to it since FOREVER, it had a lot to live up to. I got a chance to see my family and friends, relax, and eat some amazing food. Some of the highlights:

My uncle burnt the sweet potatoes, which resulted in a hilarious two minutes of everyone panicking in the kitchen.

My dad and I made this killer chocolate pie.

I kicked everyone's butt at Apples to Apples (what what?!).

Plus, it gave me the chance to bake a pumpkin pie for the first time in my life, which I've been dreaming of for a while. It was without a doubt the best pumpkin pie I have ever tasted. This is not a joke. What made it so good? Toasted walnuts on the bottom layer, cream cheese mixed with the pumpkin, and cute leaves that I designed myself, with my dad's help. Take that Martha Stewart! Here's the recipe if you want to try it out.

And a couple of weeks ago, I got to go to San Diego to see my lovely friend Amanda who I haven't seen since Spain.



And here I am, almost done with the semester and taking care of some holiday business before I go home. It's flown by, as usual, and I can only thank God that I've gotten through it. On to make some Christmas goodies (coming soon)!

really quick...

Finals are coming up, so of course I've been doing everything I can to put off studying. Currently looking at WeHeartIt, and here's what I've decided...

In my dream life, I'd live here:


and my boyfriend would be this guy:


and I'd be this cute all the time:


and I would be able to incorporate this into every meal:

too much fashion and oreos

I'm just going to cut to the chase and tell everyone that I've wasted a HUGE portion of my last two days messing with Polyvore. Although it's not new to the internet, it's new to me, and it's become my new favorite way to waste time! (What? How did you guess that I've got a couple of big school projects looming in my near future?)

For anyone who doesn't know, Polyvore is a website that allows you to create outfits creatively. I would explain better but it's 3 am, and I don't want to. Just go look at the website.

Whenever I find something I like, I tend to exhaust myself with it to the point of obsession. Case in point, when I ate an entire package of Mint Double Stuff Oreos (but frozen, because they taste even better that way) last weekend...by myself. Is this behavior healthy? No. Will I do it again if I get another craving for those little cookies? Quite possibly. So I guess Polyvore has become my new Oreo.

Since I've been dreaming of cold weather, here's my cold (but stylish!) winter outfit:

Items in this set:
KAIN t shirt, $95
Net-a-porter.com jacket, $1,295
Seven For All Mankind jeans, $198
Chloé boots, 490 GBP
Chloé shoulder bag, $1,720

And there's a lot more where that came from, so blog, I hope you're ready for some cute outfits.

bring on that cold weather

It's hard to believe that it's November already...I wore shorts today, for crying out loud! How are we supposed to get excited about Thanksgiving if the weather feels more appropriate for bbq-ing the turkey than roasting it?

This afternoon, as a way of tricking my brain into thinking it's scarf-weather outside, I made steel-cut oats for the first time. My mom suggested them to me a while back, and I've wanted to try them ever since. So I picked up some oats at Trader Joe's and got to cookin'.

(Bytheway, how cute is this can of oats?! It looks like it jumped right out of a 1930s' Irish cupboard...you know...because I'm so familiar with 1930s' Ireland.)

Let me tell you, these are not your normal oats. They took a good half an hour to cook fully, and that's not including the time it took me to clean up the messy aftermath of the pot boiling over. But, I cooked a big batch which should last me for a while, and from the little I tried this afternoon, I think I'm going to like them. It's grainier and harder than the oatmeal that I'm used to, and they're gonna taste amazing with some brown sugar and dried cranberries on a cold day...

So come on, weather. Just cool down a little so I can fully appreciate these oats!

Grizzly Bear follow-up

They were haunting, stunning, and a little creepy. Simply put, they were amazing. Despite the fact that there was a couple making out right next to my butt for a good portion of the night, it was one of the best (early) birthday gifts I've ever received...thanks Sara!

Plus, eating breakfast food at midnight with good friends was a pretty good way to end the night.

sister

I miss this girl A LOT. She's starring in a play and applying for colleges and taking a million classes all at once, and I have no idea how she does it. She's amazing, and I can't wait to see her this weekend!