Happy Holidays!!!

Such an eventful weekend coming up! But most certainly my favorite time of the year filled with family, friends, and food!! Here are 2 delicious dessert ideas that are sure to make guests wish they had saved more room!! They only use a few ingredients and everything can be found at any old grocery store!

Death by chocolate toffee trifle

I used this recipe. I made this just last night for my parents who came in for a pre-holiday dinner. Usually you would layer this in one of those big clear trifle dishes, but I didn't have one and the clear martini glasses are way cute!  Who doesn't love their own individual dessert!

Oreo Truffles

These are insane!! A coworker of mine brings them in every Christmas and we literally fight over them! Crazy addicting!! So for a holiday party I was attending this past Saturday I decided I would try to whip them up. My coworker gave me the recipe which was literally 6 lines long, so I figured how hard can it be? Well they were super easy and worth the time it took to dip them individually in white chocolate!

Ingredients:

1 package Oreos, 1 package cream cheese, 2 bags of white chocolate, Milk chocolate optional, or decorative sprinkles

Chop Oreos in a food processor till very fine, add cream cheese blend till it's a paste. Roll into 1 1/2" balls. Freeze for 15 min. Melt white chocolate and dip each ball individually using a fork and spatula to help you roll it around. Place on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper and let cool in fridge till chocolate is hardened. Drizzle with melted milk chocolate. DONE!

This isn't a dessert but it was probably the best bruschetta I've ever had!

Made by my Boyfriend who happens to be a wonderful Italian cook! I have no idea whats in it besides tomatoes, but it was delicious and also looked so beautiful! My parents were super impressed!

 

Some photos to get you in the Holiday spirits....

My hello kitty ornament John bought me...

Our first ornament...John picked it out :)

Sparkely red just for the Holidays!!!

And were off!!! To visit the parents all weekend!!!

Hope you all have a happy and lovely holiday filled with love and laughter and amazing friends, family, and food!!!

DIY winter headband...

Hello my lovely bloggers!!! I've been MIA this past week an a half. I decided to take a little break and focus my energies on work, and my health (don't worry I'm fine just trying to get into a better sleep cycle and work out pattern). I've taken a step back from social networking in general. I realized I need to have a balance between my human everyday interactions with friends, co-workers, and family, and my "cyber-life" (is that what we call it?) So for the next month or two I will be blogging much less, but I will be catching up on your all fantastic blogs of course. I hope all you lovelies can understand! Soo.... any-who, on to this weeks post....
I've been dying for a winter headband to cover my ears for the chilly weather we've been having here in NYC. I found one at Macys recently but the adorable bow was half ripped off and of course it was the last one! On my way home the thought popped in my head that I could probably make one myself with some of those stretchy headbands. Well I found these perfect terry cloth headbands (even better than the stretchy headbands because they are super warm) and with a sewing machine and a little creativity I was able to whip one up in less than a hr! So I've decided to share my DIY project with you!
What you need:
3 stretchy headbands
Needle and thread
Sewing Machine


Step one: Take two headbands and sandwich them together matching up the seams.

Step two: Sew the two head bands together about 1/8" away from edge


Step three: Take the 3rd headband and fold into a bow. This doesn't have to be perfect, any shape you like will work, even a little rosette. If you are making a bow, sew the sides down where you pin them.


Step Four: If you want your bow to be scrunched up in the middle use a needle and a thread and simply stitch and pull the thread as tight as you can without tearing the thread. There is no real technical way to do this so just continue until you've scrunched enough to your liking.


Step Five: Stitch the bow to the headband wherever you like. Since I'm a bit anal I had to make sure my seam was centered in the back and the bow was off to the right. I stitched my bow on using the hand method with a needle and thread but you can use a sewing machine, or whatever works for you.

THAT'S IT! Your all done!!! This was SO easy and such an affordable version of the sweater ones in a department store!! They also make great stocking stuffers!!!


Happy Sewing loves!!!

A gift that gives....

The holidays stroll around and I always feel myself wanting to give back in some way. (As I'm sure we all do!) I know we are supposed to feel like this ALL the time, but the reality is that our worlds are just so bogged down with our own personal needs all year that thinking of others seems to come secondary. I find myself being so aware of this quality right around this time, and I get this huge urge to fix my selfishness from the rest of the year. This year has been extremely good to me, in more ways than I know how to be thankful for, but I realized I should pay my thanks in anyway I can. And I found a way for you to help too, and even get some holiday treats while your at it!

So last weekend I started playing around with different colored threads, and Swarovski crystal chains for some holiday presents. What I came up with, I thought was good enough to put on my etsy site. But when I stumbled upon Altruista that I blogged about HERE, I thought "I can do that too!" And these new bracelets are perfect for it! So I've designed them to come in a series of 4 different colors, each one will donate to a different charity. With every purchase I will donate 50% of proceeds to the charity corresponding to your order, in your name. You will receive an e-mail confirmation or message in the mail from the charity itself and a special note from me in each box. I think this is a perfect way to kick off the holiday season!

Each bracelet is $40.00 (SEE THE LISTING HERE)

For a 4 pack (one of each color) You will get 10% off but I will still donate half of the original $160.00 to the specified charities.

Pink - Breast Cancer

Olive - American Lung Association

Purple - The Humane Society

Yellow - International Rescue Committee

If any of you lovely readers have a specific charity you would like to benefit please let me know, I'm thinking of continuing this for spring in new color assortments!

P.S. They look fabulous layered together!!!

 

 

A CHARM-ing IDEA!

I love charm bracelets. They remind me of when I was a little girl. I always loved baubles of all kinds especially those dangling from my wrist. I always find myself secretly lusting after a little juicy couture number. The little charms are just SO divine! Even so, I just cannot bring myself to buy one, I just never have been much of a Juicy girl. But when I stumbled on this company Altruette I found more than one reason to indulge in my childish arm candy love. Their charms are SO adorable AND every charm donates 50% proceeds to a specific charity! The more charms you add to your bracelet the more you help! This is by far one of my favorite concepts ever! They even have neckalces and key chains! I think one of the best gifts you can give someone is a gift that gives! There were a few items from Bloomingdale's holiday "GOOD DEEDS" gift guide that donated proceeds as well, but these charms are just so unique! I'm definitely adding one of these charm bracelets to my list for Santa! Below are some of my favorites....

CAMERA - Donated to kids with Cameras

CUPCAKE - Dontates to Cancercare for kids

DOG - Donates to the Humane Society

COFFEE CUP - Donates to Technoserve

HONEY BEE - Donates to Honeybee research fund

NOTEBOOK - Donates to Girls Write Now fund

GLOBE - Donates to GlobalGiving Fund

There are a ton more and all come in sterling silver as well! Happy Holiday Shopping!!

Strawberries, Chocolate, and Journals...

When I woke up on Saturday morning I had some Birthday packages arrive. I was SO excited! I mean who doesn't love Birthday gifts? Especially the ones that are a total surprise in the mail! Since they were jsut so good i decided to share them with you! I promise this is my last b-day-ish post!

My boyfriend's mother sent me these delicious fancy chocolate covered strawberries from Shari's Berries and a chocolate bar birthday card that comes with candles!!! It was the cutest thing I've ever seen!!

hmmm one seems to be missing...

Oh no that's right! I ate it.... And the rest were gone by Sunday...

My other B-day package came from one of my dearest, closest friends, Annie of All Natural Annie (we also met in college, she is the childhood friend of my other bestie Nikki over at Style and Charm) She sent me such lovely little treats!! A gorgeous deep purple key chain that I put to use immediately, adorable hair pins that I can't wait to use, a journal that I think I'm going to use for dessert recipes, and a Vosges Matcha Bar (Chocolate with green tea). Vosges chocolates are my absolute favorite chocolates but I've never tried this one, so I'm very excited!

PHOTO CREDIT: NIKKI @ STYLE and CHARM

On The Tuesday before my Birthday Nikki made me the most amazing turkey and goat cheese lasagna dinner, to be finished off with the most amazing Carrot/Pineapple cake ever!!! Go visit her blog for the delicious recipe!

I am so lucky to have such loving and thoughtful people in my life!!

 

Dinner with Ninjas

So as you all know Friday night was my birthday, and I knew John and I were headed out to dinner but where exactly was the surprise. When the cab pulled up I was unbelievably excited because John and I had heard of this place called Ninja downtown where your served by real Ninjas, and they do all sorts of tricks, scare you and all sorts of fun stuff. I was even MORE surprised when we were brought to the table and sitting there was my Mom, Dad, Sister and one of my best friends to celebrate with me! I couldn't believe he arranged for everyone to come! John and I had never been to this place so it was going to be a first experience for all. And while the company, and conversation, and of course the fact that it was my Bday made it one of the most perfect evenings ever, John and I just would never recommend this place for dinner to others. I really really wish I could say it was worth the super high prices but it really wasn't. Our waiter was def NOT a ninja of any sort, and the sushi was terrible. Dishes came out in flames, or smoking, which was kinda fun...but all in all, this place should really lower their prices. When you pay $8.00 for one single piece of sashimi you expect it to be ridiculously fresh, and soft and mouth watering. I Can't say it was any of those things. It didn't matter much though because I wasn't paying too much attention to the actual cuisine, I was just way to excited to be celebrating my Birthday with the closest people in my life, and so happy that John took the time to arrange everything himself. It was the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me! I was touched. This was the first Birthday John and have spent together, and he went just above and beyond. I spent the rest of the weekend feeling so loved! He also surprised me with some Birthday goodies. Unfortunately I sent my gifts home with my parents because we were headed out for some drinks afterwards so I have no pictures, but he gave me tickets to see "The Heights" on Broadway for Dec 11th! Very excited about that! Here are some shots of our evening....

Chiffon Tank: soooo old from H&M, Skirt: Forever 21, Blazer: H&M

Justina Leigh Monte Bracelet, Bow Ring: Old from my jewelry box

Shoes: Marc Fisher

John wanted to be part of the photoshoot!

Us at dinner..

Some interesting presentation of the food...

After dinner we ventured to the Lower East side to a place called The Back room where they serve drinks in tea cups. Loved it!!

After such an eventful evening John and Q just wanted to lounge around all day on Saturday!

We had such a great time. And thank you again  for all my Bday love on Friday!!! It definitely added to my happiness!! Love you all!!