wishlist: baker's edition

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five.six.seven.eight

Happy December Everyone! I'm so excited for this time of year. Our tree is up, but not decorated yet. I have to mentally prepare for lighting it. I despise it. And so does Bradley, except he gives up, so it's all on me. Awesome. 

Anyway, to kick this season off, I've created a baker's wishlist. I already have most of these items and love them! The glass bowl is on my wishlist. I had no idea that these bowls fit the kitchenaid artisan stand mixers. I had originally wanted another metal bowl, but then I saw this and I was sold. I think it will be a nice change. The pie crust shield is a gadget that my mom has (that I got her). The other day I was baking a pie at my house and realized I didn't have one. They really make a big difference. No more fidgeting with aluminum foil on a hot pan. Just pop this baby on and you're good to go!

For more gift ideas, check out my wishlists from years past. For the beauty lover, for yourself, more for you, and for your guy. Some of the links still work, but even if they don't, these wishlists can give you some great ideas!

ALSO, the Black Friday/ Cyber Monday Sale ends tonight at midnight in My Shop! And I'm feeling extra generous so I bumped up the discount on the zippered pouches to 25% off! I won't be having a sale this big for a while, so get it while it's hot! The pouches make such sweet gifts. And you can give them a theme by adding nail polish and a file or some lip gloss or some jewelry. The possibilities are endless.

To get 25% off Zippered Pouches, enter code DECEMBER at checkout. Quilts are still 15% off with code GOBBLEGOBBLE. Thanks for Shopping Small!!! xo

halloween 2014

The weekend before Halloween, we started this holiday off right with Wag-O-Ween! This is Savannah's trick or treating event for dogs, where all the funds go to local pet rescues. This was our first year, but it has been going on for 9 years. It was pretty fun! I loved seeing all the dogs in their costumes! And instead of trick-r-treating for candy, they got dog treats!

Cooper was a crayola crayon in "Fire Hydrant Red," of course! And Ginny was a "Wide Retriever" complete with extra padding. They were both pretty cute, but cooper wouldn't keep his hat on to save his life!

On Halloween, we dressed the pups up again and by this time, we had Stella! Seriously one of the first things I said after we won her was "I have to get her a halloween costume!" By this time, they were pretty picked over, but we did manage to snag an adorable ladybug costume that was slightly too small!

We don't have any kiddos yet, so I love dressing our dogs up for Halloween. Cooper was a prisoner and Ginny was a cowgirl, who wouldn't wear her hat either.

And because this is one of my favorite pictures ever of Coops, here he is last year as a dinosaur. Ahh, I love it!

Saturday night, Bradley's sister had a halloween party, so we got to dress up. This costume was so last minute, but turned out to be my favorite one, yet! The Hunter and The Hunted.

My friend gave us this idea after she couldn't use it! We didn't have anything planned for the party yet, so I jumped on this idea. I enlisted my mom to come help and man did she rock it. It definitely pays to have a mom who's an artist!

Now I have no clue how we are going to top this next year! 

some more ideas

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1. Bare Minerals Customizable Get Started Kit: I have been using this makeup for 2 years now. I've never been one to put on liquid foundation because I love my freckles. I also don't like the feeling of a lot of makeup. When I tried Bare Minerals, I fell in love! It was the perfect makeup for me, because it could give me coverage on things I don't like (my dark undereye- thanks allergies!) and let me still show what I do like. I prefer the customizable starter kit over their other starter kit. In their other kit, I think they give you 4 small samples of foundation so you can find your best shade. But if you buy it at ulta or another store, they can help you decide what color you need and then you can get 1 big foundation. So you aren't left with makeup that you can't use!

2. Clarisonic Mia 2- Sea Breeze: Now this is on my wishlist this year. I don't have one, nor have I ever used one. But I know a ton of people who do and I have heard nothing but good reviews! I have never had a problem with acne, but I do find that I could use a bit more exfoliating and help with blackheads so I want to give this a shot!

3. Herstyler Grande Curling Wand: This is probably my favorite beauty item! I bought this wand in the mall about 3 or 4 years ago and I had no idea that it would turn out to be such an amazing product. If I curl my hair with a traditional metal curling iron, it doesn't hold at all. Even with hairspray. With this wand, I don't have to use hairspray and the curls last for days. I don't know their secret, but it could have something to do with how hot this thing gets! They include a glove to wear while you use it, which is necessary in the beginning. But once you get the hang of it, you don't need the glove.

4. OPI You're Such A Budapest: This is just a really sweet color that I found this summer. Love it!

5. Moroccan Oil- Light: Everyone knows about this, but I wanted to include it because it's such a great item to get as a gift. It can be somewhat expensive, so it's nice when you don't have to pay for it! This product is so amazing. I have been using it for about 3 years now. My hair has grown so much with the help of this. Normally my hair starts to look very rough after I grow it to a certain length. Moroccan Oil keeps my hair hydrated and healthy. I use the light version since I have fine, blonde hair and I only use it from the neck down- not for your roots!

cheers to 5 years!

How we've made it five years without killing each other is beyond me! See, Bradley and I have that relationship where we can banter back and forth, giving each other a hard time, but we know deep down that we are obsessed with each other. I swear this is the only man who can put up with me. Honestly, we have a good understanding for each other and really know each other's faults. Like I know when he's had a long, hard day at work, I shouldn't nag him even more about the trash not being taken out. I know that will only lead to a bigger argument when it wasn't that important to begin with. And he knows to not make a big deal when our house is a complete wreck. He knows that I know it and don't want it to be, so complaining about it would do nothing but upset me. Ok, sorry for the tangent. This post is supposed to be happy, so let's move on!

We had plans to make a nice dinner at home that night and decorate our tree, but the universe had other plans. Bradley had asked me to pull the steaks out of the freezer early in the day so they could thaw. I did it (shocker that I actually remembered, I know) and put them in the sink. After a few hours they had thawed and I noticed that they had a strange smell. Like possibly they had gone bad. But what do I know? So I left them there for Bradley to inspect when he got home. And no surprise, he agreed that they had spoiled. So now do we go buy some new steaks or go out to eat? We decided to splurge since it was our anniversary and we went out to our favorite Japanese steakhouse. Ohhh and it was so worth it! Here is Bradley stealing picking me a rose from the parking lot of the restaurant! I swear this boy doesn't understand consequences. But I love his spontaneity.

We then made it home and started to decorate our tree! This is my absolute most favorite part of the holidays. Bradley thought it would be sweet to make it a tradition to decorate our tree every year on our anniversary. I love the idea for sentimental reasons, but I don't know if I want to wait until Decmeber 5th each year! The only reason it didn't feel late this year was because thanksgiving was a week later, but next year it might be back to the 3rd week in November. I guess we'll gap that bridge when we get to it.

Bradley always gives me a hard time for how many lights and decorations I like on my tree. I want it to look overdecorated. And I don't know that I've ever been completely satisfied with the number of ornaments! More is more in this case. But obviously that can rack up a rather large charge, so I just keep growing our collection each year!

Thank you babe for five wonderful years! You have truly made me the happiest girl.

christmas lights don't like me

Ahh! It's that time of year again! I was so excited this year to get our christmas tree. It's our first Christmas in our new home, so I wanted to make it extra festive. Bradley works for a landscaping company/ nursery so we got a free tree! I couldn't wait to pick him out. He has to be a little chubby and have some awkward branches that Bradley would want to cut off.

Going through these aisles of trees was a little weird though. I got this unsettling feeling that the trees would all fall like dominoes and I would be burried alive. Haha, so much for it's the most wonderful time of the year!

These lights were my Nana's. I found them after she passed away. The woman kept everything. These are really old and they get super hot. Like so hot, I wouldn't dare put them on a tree. Unless I didn't care if our sweet little home burned to the ground. But I do. So they have a new home, adorning our arch!  

This sweet, little picture is from the third time that I strung the lights. The first time, I included some purple lights that I figured out I didn't like so much. But I didn't know this until they were on the tree. Guess I should have re-read this post! Would've saved me some time and frustration. The second time, I think I connected too many strands together because about 5 minutes after it was perfect, all the lights went out! Talk about a sinking feeling in your stomach! I had no idea what happened and the last thing I wanted to go was take them all off the tree, but that's what google told me to do, so I did. Sure enough, I blew a strand, so they all went out. I was just happy that I didn't have to go buy 15 more boxes of lights. The third time, I strung on all the white lights and plugged it into a power strip. Then I strung all the colored lights, not connecting them to the white lights and plugged them into a different outlet on the power strip. And then I strung all the white globe lights and plugged them into their own spot on the power strip. So far, so good, but I swear if something goes wrong and I have to take down all these ornaments and restring the lights, so help me God.

our thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2013 really tricked me! A few months back, my mom let me know that she and my stepdad would be spending thanksgiving in California with his kids. Um, but we always do thanksgiving here. I'm not so good with change, you see. This left Bradley and I stranded. Where do we go now? My dad's? His dad's? His grandparents? Our friends in SC? Stay here and eat with my brother? So many choices, but we couldn't decide. Then my stepdad had some health scares (no worries, he's all better now) about a week or so before thanksgiving, and they decided not to go to California. And one by one our family made it work to be here for thanksgiving. We had the whole crew! I just think it's so funny because none of us were going to be together and then it all worked out in the end :)

via

This past year my mom has also had some health issues that have led her to go gluten free and dairy free. We were so proud to say that our entire thanksgiving feast was gluten free AND dairy free! I mean, who does that?! And the best part... everything was SO GOOD! And I bet if you had been a guest at our table and I didn't tell you, you wouldn't have even known. 

I really wish I had photos of every dish to show you, but I guess we were all too excited! Here's what we had:

Turkey

Honey Glazed Ham 

Brown Rice with Pecans + Cranberries (this year's dressing)

Roasted Sweet Potatoes + Butternut Squash

Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan Cheese

Grilled Basil Corn

Sweet Potato Casserole with marshmallows

Maple Brussel Sprouts (Aaren's specialty! So freaking good)

Collards

Cranberry Salad (This weird jello that my Nana always made)

Deviled Eggs

And for dessert:

Mini Pumpkin Pies

Mini Chocolate Chess Pies

Chocolate Chewies

And more sweet potato casserole!

When planning this meal, we also decided to change some of the traditional dishes for healthier options, like instead of a greenbean casserole, we had the roasted asparagus. But we still had to have a sweet potato casserole! That is a thanksgiving staple! Roasting a lot of the veggies was so easy and fast! Just drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. And when it came to dessert recipes we just made a few substitutions. We used Bradley's Meme's Chocolate Chess Pie Recipe but just traded out the evaporated milk for evaporated coconut milk so it was dairy free. And my mom had already been trying some gluten free pie crust recipes, so she was all set. Instead of butter she uses ghee, which is clarified butter. This option still gives you that great flavor.

We had such a wonderful holiday and I am so thankful to have my family in my life. I hope you all had a great thanksgiving, as well!

holiday gift ideas

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All I really want for Christmas is for our home renovations to be over! But there's no way they will be finished by then. So, until then, this list holds some pretty sweet things that I would love to get and maybe they could help you with your gift giving! Happy December!

pine cone garland tutorial

Hi everyone! To cheer up your Monday, I've got a tutorial on how I made my pine cone garland! This is such an easy little holiday project to set your mantle off right. And it's so fast! You can definitely finish it in an afternoon. 

 A few years ago, I collected pine cones from the yard and spray painted them silver. I used them as a centerpiece for our thanksgiving table. This year I had new plans for these sweet little guys. If you haven't spray painted pine cones, it's very easy. I just laid out some cardboard outside and got to spraying! Simply rotate and keep spraying until it's all covered. Allow to dry completely before next step.

Now you need to screw in the screw eyes so you can hang them. These are from Home Depot. Pick a finish that matches what color you are spraypainting so you don't have to paint these, too. This part isn't too hard, but your fingers might hurt by the end. You can always use pliers, or just give them to your big muscle boyfriend/husband and I'm sure he'll take care of it. In the beginning it may seem like they are not screwing in, but you just have to apply a lot of pressure and twist at the same time.

Now you're ready to string them into a garland. You can use anything from ribbon to yarn to fishing line. I went with yarn. I laid the pine cones out on the floor to roughly get an idea of the spacing. You can get really picky about the spacing or just eyeball it. I eyeballed a few inches in between each one. Start with the center pine cone. String it on and tie a knot in the center. Now, work away from the center on each side. And you're done! Hang your garland and enjoy the immediate holiday cheer effect :)

festive five

 

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Is this not the cutest little dinosaur that you have ever seen? I don't have any babies to dress up yet, so you better believe my little man is getting a costume. Funny thing is, I think he actually loves it! Normally, he will try and scratch his way out of them, but this one is working for him. 

two.

So like I said in my last post, I am obsessed with decorating for fall. And I can't stop. I don't know, pumpkins and gourds, big and tiny just keep showing up at our house!

I'm running out of places to decorate, so these are actually on top of the dresser in our bedroom. Bradley kind of freaked when he saw them. He thought it was getting a little crazy when I resorted to this because I was running out of room. But who doesn't love a little ombre pumpkin festiveness to help wake you up in the morning? 

three.

I was able to wear a scarf today! It only got up to about 71 degrees. Thank you rain! The thing is, I have much cuter fall clothes than summer, so we need to get the ball rolling on this whole cold weather thing. 

four. 

I have been really good about keeping my nails looking good lately. This raspberry

(sally hansen: cherry, cherry bang, bang) and this warm gray are my favorites. They are the perfect fall colors for me. 

 five. 

We have been participating in soup sunday. This creamy chicken noodle was so amazing!! I love the spinach and big chunky carrots. Next up, taco soup!

here's some help

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easy holiday manicure

Alright, I know with the holidays right around the corner, we are all trying to make that budget stretch. And of course, those holiday party invitations are stacking up. So I've come up with a really easy manicure to dress up your look.

Here's what you'll need:

• Gray Nail Polish, solid, no shimmer. I used Revlon's Mischievious.
• Gold/Bronze Nail Polish, metallic. I used Orly's Buried Treasure.
• Top Coat. I use Seche Vite, my all time favorite.
• mechanical pencil
• paper to protect table

Begin by painting 2 coats of the gray nail polish. Let dry. Then make a small puddle of the gold/bronze nail polish on the paper. Use the mechanical pencil to make dots. I made 3 dots in a column in the middle of my nail, but feel free to do your own design. Let dry. Finish with a generous coat of Seche Vite and you're good to go! Now, how easy was that?
 

tis the season

The halls are officially decked! Now about this tree, I think there needs to be way more ornaments, but Bradley cut me off. It just doesn't look over-decorated, yet! Guess I have to wait till next year to buy more ornaments! But I do love these reindeer ornaments! His + Hers. And the lights, oh my god. I bought some lights that said "cool white." Turns out I don't like the cool white. But of course I didn't know this until the tree was lit. So those came off, and some "warm white" went up. And then I had some purple lights that went up, as well, but I didn't like those either. All in all I lit and re-lit this tree 6 times in 3 days. Bradley was beyond impressed by my determination.

And can you believe it's December? How did this happen?!

Also, Check back tomorrow for a holiday manicure, perfect for all those Christmas parties!

dear santa

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it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

Oh, here it comes! It won't be long now, before we are ripping open beautifully wrapped gifts and sipping hot cocoa. And we plan on watching Elf everyday in December. We even got a head start in November, decorating our first tree! I'm still slowly acquiring ornaments, though. My perfect tree looks overdecorated. You know, too many lights, ornaments, everything. So I've still got a ways to go. Good thing it's not even December yet!

And this is a real tree, by the way. Honestly, I don't how you fake tree lovers do it? Where's the magic? They come pre-lit, they don't smell, and they are all identical, which leaves no room for those quirky personalities that we fall in love with! Like my tree has a few awkward, long branches that could probably be trimmed, but that's what I love about him. So they are staying. And you know the other day, I saw christmas tree scented "ornaments" that you hang on your fake tree and you can still have the same smell. But see, that's not real. Seriously, who comes up with this stuff? Alright, my rant is over.

Oh and hey! Check back tomorrow for my amahzing (you have to say that like Penny from Happy Endings. Don't know who that is? Google it.) holiday wishlist! You don't want to miss it :)