Holiday Snapshots

What equals a perfect holiday? Time for some Christmas math...

Cold Weather (FINALLY!) + Toy Story 3 + Pomegranate Martinis + Mexican Food +
My AWESOME In-Laws & Brother & Sister-in-Law + Lots of Naps + Roaring Fire + Watching the Doggies Play & Nap + Homemade Fudge + Awesome Presents from Santa + Crazy Chinese Gift Exchange + PIE! + Silly Antler Hats + My Sweet Hubs = Super Fab Christmas.

The only thing missing was my parents, brother and sis in law, and my side of the family. I am so blessed to have so many people I love in my life.
I hope your holiday was full of yummy food, loved ones and fun.

XO
-L

P.S. No outfits of the day over the holiday...I pretty much wore yoga pants, my fave Gap boyfriend sweater and no makeup the entire weekend. Not exactly OOTD material.

Gallery Girl

So, now that I have a fab camera, and have all of our wedding photos back (on top of all the prints and screen printed posters I've picked up at Flatstock over the years) we have a surplus of wall art. Which is never a problem for me-I love each piece we have and would have a really hard time editing. So now I am on the hunt for a clever way to display all the art and photographs I love- without it looking like a big sloppy mess. Here are some of my fave solutions from Decorpad.

Hope everyone is having a lovely holiday weekend!

XO
-L 

 
All images via Decorpad

Its beginning to look a lot like cheese sauce

LOVING...

Tons of Christmas cards in the mail.
Especially the ones with cute babies all over them.

Spending the evening with the Hubs' parents drinking wine, cooking and chatting.

 Flank Steak with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce. I could seriously drink this sauce...

The HUGE Sale at Anthropologie right now. This & this now live at my house.

All our old ornaments and stockings from when we were little.
And then Hubs telling stories about when he was little- he tells the best stories. 

Mixing Patterns.

Our first married Christmas. 

Halloween Party Treats

Happy almost Halloween lovelies! Geoff and I are super excited to be going to a friend's Halloween party this Saturday. And being a Southern lady, I can't head to the festivities without homemade goodies in hand. I have been trolling the interwebs for ideas and came across the perfect gory treats- witches fingers! These are so gross and cool at the same time. I might even use some green food coloring to dye some of them green for that extra "witchy" effect.

Of course, Miss Hostess With The Mostess herself Martha Stewart had a great recipe for these on her site (its also written below.) They are super easy to make- I'll let you know how they come out! Anyone have any fun Halloween plans?

XO
-L

Ingredients

Makes 30

• 2 tablespoons red food coloring
• 30 blanched almonds
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpats (French nonstick baking mats) or parchment paper, and set aside.
2. Place food coloring in a shallow bowl. Using a small paintbrush, color one rounded half of each almond. Set aside to dry.
3. Separate 1 egg. Set aside the white. In a small bowl, whisk together yolk, remaining egg, and vanilla. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, confectioners' sugar, granulated sugar, and salt. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Add egg mixture, and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the flour, and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic, and chill until firm, 20 to 30 minutes.
5. Divide the dough in half. Work with one piece at a time, keeping remaining dough covered with plastic wrap and chilled. Divide the first half into fifteen pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece back and forth with palms into finger shapes, 3 to 4 inches long. Pinch dough in two places to form knuckles. Score each knuckle lightly with the back of a small knife. Transfer fingers to prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough.
6. When all fingers are formed, brush lightly with egg white. Position almond nails; push into dough to attach.
7. Bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Cool completely.

From Martha Stewart Living Television 

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Ladies' Fingers - Martha Stewart Recipes

Witch Finger Cookies via RecipeGirl.com

Bloody Finger Cookies via Studio Surface Blog

Young House Love & Budget Floor Mirrors

Happy Wednesday the 13th! Today Geoff and I are celebrating 3 happy years together (and 18 days of wedded bliss!) The dust hasn't even settled on the wedding yet (pictures coming soon!), but being the type-A crazy pants that I am, of course we are already starting on another huge life event- buying our first house. We spent hours online hunting last night and hopefully will get to meet with our realtor this weekend. And leave it to me to already start mentally revamping a house we don't even own yet. I find myself spending a ton of time on house design blogs- I am especially enamored with Young House Love. Cutie-pies Sherry and John run this delightful blog thats chock-full of gorgeous, genius, affordable home design ideas and renovation projects. My fave recent post is about this cute couple and their awesomely affordable home makeover. I am totally going to steal their floor mirrors made out of old doors and weathered wood palettes idea (see photos below!) Check out Young House Love for all sorts of home ideas goodies (and be sure to visit their Projects Section for how-to's on anything you can imagine- I have a feeling this is going to come in very handy soon!)

XO
-L 

Images via Young house Love