You Put Bacon On A Cookie?!

Wednesday was my girlfriend Allie's annual cookie exchange playdate. Good, good times. You get the energy zapped out of your kiddos from two hours of play, and you get them home right in time for naptime ... with a fresh box of assorted homemade cookies in arms reach of your deserving self.

Good times indeed.

Oh, and my cookies had BACON on them, so obviously I'm going to share about that!

Last year I cut corners big-time and added sugar and fresh rosemary to break-and-bake sugar cookies. And people LOVED them. You can catch that "recipe" (ehhh) right HERE. 

This year I got alllllll fancy and bypassed the break-and-bake sugar cookies for the kind in a bag where you have to add butter and an egg. Just call me Ina. And then I used sparkly gold sugar instead of white sugar, and I added the rosemary, and then I added bacon. Not freshly cooked bacon, but the bacon crumbles that come out of a bag. And that type fit the bill perfectly for these cookies! 

Even before being baked, they looked pretty!

I baked them according to the back of the sugar cookie package -- no tweaks.

Just 8 minutes at 375 degrees.

Food blogger I am not, and food photographer I am not. But I am a cookie lover, and I can tell you that these were perfectly salty and herby and sweet and delicious. So if you're looking for a fun tweak to packaged sugar cookie mix, well by golly, don't forget the bacon!

(Oh, and did you want to see the kids? Because they were absolutely adorable in their Christmas jammies!)

Make This: Felt Christmas Tree

In our home, preschool is officially on break, Christmas is still a few days away, and I'm looking for any holiday-themed activity that does not involve the television or iPad. I mean, I love The Grinch with my whole heart, and I love that Camille has developed an affinity for his smelly green self too, but that doesn't mean that we are going to watch the TV all-day-erry-day like my toddler would if I let her!

So, I have a little DIY to pass along to you that is:
1) easy
2) cheap
3) FUN and CUTE and ADORABLE

OKAY OKAY OKAY before you think to yourself "that looks WAY too hard and involved and I'm clicking away from this silly blog" -- believe me when I tell you that you can do this.

Here's what you will need: felt (you can find this at a craft store or Walmart), scissors, hot glue gun

My felt tree sticks to our brick wall, so I didn't need to use any Command strips, but you could certainly go that route. Oh, and wondering how the ornaments stay on the tree? Felt sticks to felt, so you just put them right on and they are repositionable!

Let's break this easy DIY down:

1) For the tree part, I bought one yard of green felt and I was able to cut out two trees from it (I'm giving one as a gift). The yard of fabric was $5.99 I believe at Hobby Lobby, but I used a coupon on it and got it for around $3.50. So, each tree uses about $1.75 worth of dark green felt. You can also buy this at Walmart ... if you can locate someone to cut the fabric for you, ha! (or is that just my store?!)

2) You will also need various squares of craft felt for the stars and ornaments. I actually purchased a stack of felt for $8.99 on Amazon (HERE) that came in a gazillion colors. But you could also pick up sheets of felt at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, or Walmart and they will cost you about $0.25-$0.33 each.

3) Warm up your hot glue gun. I think I used about 4-5 sticks of glue for this craft.

4) Remind yourself that this is a RUSTIC looking tree and that to your child it will look PERFECT.

5) To cut out the tree, fold your fabric in half and cut out the branches (sort of like when you'd fold the construction paper as a kid to make hearts). It really does not have to look perfect - it will look cute when you unfold it. 

6) For the ornaments, just cut out various shapes. They look way cuter when they are embellished with another color, so you'll just use your felt scraps to add designs to them. 

8) Don't forget the star! Again, it does not have to be perfectly symmetrical. Repeat after me ... RUSTIC.

9) For my tree stump, I cut strips of a lighter brown felt to add some details. You can certainly skip this step, but I promise it is easier than it looks. 

Now, stand back and admire this beauty.

BAM. 

Instant fun.

In all honesty, this held her attention for so long and is a great educational tool -- you can talk about colors, shapes, sizes of ornaments. And the total cost for one tree is definitely less than $10. 

So seriously ... how easy is that?!

A Little Scared Of Christmas

With a toddler ... is it normal to be a little scared of Christmas?

Don't get me wrong, I am REALLY looking forward to the magic of Christmas and the entire holiday season. We have already done so many fun things -- we move the star in the advent calendar each morning, we read Christmas books. We let Camille put the first ornament on the tree. We have wrapped (and unwrapped, whoops) gifts together. We took a wagon ride around the neighborhood last night to see the lights and decorations. We sat on Santa's lap. We color Christmas pictures. This week we are attending a Christmas craft playdate, a Christmas preschool program, and a Christmas cookie exchange.

CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS AND I LOVE IT!

But the presents thing scares me.

We've limited the amount of gifts that the girls are getting, and Charlotte's list is way practical. But Camille, at 2.5, is just at that age where she's starting to understand that she can ask "Hoho" for toys ... and maybe get them. But -- how do you really explain that just because she asks for it, it won't be under the tree? The logic is easy for me ... want versus need. But to a toddler?

Have you been to Walmart and happened to see the gigantic Barbie Cinderella carriage thing that fits two young girls inside? The one that's $398? Well, Camille saw it on a commercial and at Walmart and keeps telling me that she's asking Santa Claus for it. I have explained each and every time that that toy is for bigger girls, for older girls, and that Santa couldn't bring it for her ... but I think she still believes she may end up with it.

She will not end up with it.

Parents of older kids, please tell me that Christmas morning isn't filled with sad faces over presents not under the tree? That maybe the magic of the morning (music, family, cinnamon rolls, hot chocolate) and the pretty presents that they do end up with make them forget about the things not there -- like $400 motorized pink vehicles?

Because I'm truly looking forward to Christmas morning, and I just want it to be joyful.

Saturday Sip and Shop: A GREAT $16 Gift.

Sip:

Pink Elephant Cocktail
Recipe HERE
Vodka, lime, and rose lemonade. Right up my alley!

Shop:




I ordered three of these marble butter keepers on Amazon!
You can find them HERE.
They allow you to keep butter on the counter (safely) for
30 days so it is fresh, soft, and spreadable.
They are just over $16 and will arrive before Christmas
if you have Amazon Prime.

(get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime here)

Five On Friday

It's time for another edition of Five on Friday and I do hope you'll join along!

Remember, all you have to do is post about five things on your mind, add our logo (found at the bottom of this post), and join the party using the linky tools below. Easy, and a great way to find new blogs and be found. :)

O N E
I braved uptown with a girlfriend and our four daughters on Wednesday and it was so awesome. Life-sized gingerbread houses, a singing bear orchestra, Christmas cheer all around. And cute, filtered Instagram photos!

But ya know, gotta keep it real...

Flattering, yes?

Babies love when you smoosh their faces. 

Get in the pic, kid!

(#reallife)

T W O
We had Supper Club last week, and my friend Lori had the BEST and most flavorful crackers on her kitchen island. Her secret? This packet of seasoning for Saltine crackers!

You can find it HERE on Amazon and she said it is ridiculously easy -- no baking required. I could not stop munching on them! No cheese or dips needed, the crackers were perfect just by themselves. 

T H R E E
Last Friday evening, we got together with some friends and the older girls did a little gift exchange. We excluded the babies from the exchange and limited the older girls' items to around $10. I was so excited about my gift to the girls... I had these matching long-sleeved tees done by my favorite monogram/applique girl in town! The fabric background is Lilly Pulitzer fabric and (this is the fun part) it was actually made from an unclaimed pair of shorts at the last Junko Bunko that I hosted here! Nobody took the shorts home, so I decided to get creative and use them as fabric because the pattern is just so pretty. My monogram gal just cut circles out of the fabric and monogrammed right over top.

The white shirts are the BEST quality and are so inexpensive. They are from Blanks Boutique. It's where I get all of our shirts and onesies from for monograms and appliques! (Personally, I think their shipping is a little high, so I usually pack a lot of items into one order and ask girlfriends if they want to add anything to an order I'm placing.)

F O U R
Never thought I'd be a podcast girl, but I've recently listened to all episodes of Making Oprah and Up And Vanished and loved them both. They seriously made me excited to have any solo time in the car just so I could catch up where I left off!

F I V E

Finally, I wanted to share Charlotte's Christmas list! She is eight months now (how?!) and, just like Camille's first Christmas, our wishlist for her is fairly practical. A gift card for music classes, diapers, and the booties that apparently stay on better than ALL other shoes and socks! Yes, please!

1 // piggy bank

2 // gift card to baby music classes

3 // bella tunno crawler kneepads

4 // baby's first christmas rattle ornament

5 // pampers swaddlers

6 // zutano booties

She also needs some metallic moccasins like her big sister used to rock (and subsequently destroyed, thanks to active crawling) and I have my eye on these.


moccasins

TGIF y'all, and hope you will join in on Five on Friday this week! Cheers to the weekend!

Favorite Things Party

Last night I went to a gift exchange party with a TWIST.

Y'all ... it was so much fun.

I wanted to share how my friend Kathryn pulled it off!

The lovely hostess deemed it a Favorite Things Party (a la our BFF Oprah), and here's how it went down:

* You buy 5 of the same gifts that are $5 or less (so you're capped at a $25 spend)
* These gifts are something you truly love! A candle, cleaning product, beauty product, gadget etc.
* All of your gifts go in a bag and do not need to be wrapped
* Upon arriving at the party, you put your name ONCE in one cup and FIVE times in another bigger cup
* The hostess goes first, explains her gifts and why she loves them, then picks five names out of the bigger cup. These are the five random recipients of her gift!
* After giving the 5 gifts out, she picks one name from the smaller cup and that is the "next Oprah" to go up and give out the gifts she brought.
* If a name is chosen twice for the same gift, it just goes back in the cup so that nobody has to leave with duplicates of any gift.

Here's what I brought:

baby lips glow balm (here on amazon - for much less than I paid at the drustore!)

so smooth, creamy, and it changes color to become the perfect pink for any skin tone.

And here's what I ended up taking home:

$5 target gift card // locally made pimiento cheese // 
leather care gel // essie nail polish in ballet slippers // 
swear word coloring book and colored pencils

At the end of the party, the hostess also gave a gift to the person with the most creative gift (local pimiento cheese with instructions on how to apply for a library card) and 2nd most creative gift (selfie stick)! 

So, go forth and plan a FAVORITE THINGS party because I can attest to the fact that they are awesome!

To my friend Kathryn, you knocked it out of the park! YOU GET A CAR! 

Wednesday Notes: This And That

So, let's chat. It's been a while!

Today we are going downtown to see the life-sized gingerbread house at the Ritz and the singing bears in the Bank of America building. Free fun! And our third year of this tradition. Camille has already told me many times that she plans to "eat that gingerbread house." We shall see.

Last night for dinner we had slow cooker chicken thighs, black eyed peas, and roasted onions. The roasted onions were SO tasty and easy. HERE is the recipe we used.

Okay, moving on...

You know that feeling where you just feel like you've spent, and spent, and spent, and then you write out lists of what you have for everybody ... and you realize you've barely made a dent in your holiday shopping? I'm there.

On the flipside, I did score some great gifts this morning for my fam:

Reusable sticker pad for Camille:

(HERE)

Wooden percussion sticks for Charlotte:

(HERE)

And the iGrill mini for Ian:
(HERE)

Another thing. I mentioned on my Instagram feed recently that I was considering changing the name of my blog ... and I am going to go for it! I plan start the new year with a brand new name, so be on the lookout.

Name suggestions ... and GO!

Gift Exchange With The Girlfriends

Last night several of us gathered after kiddos went down to bed for some wonderful girl time, gossip, gifts, and grape juice (the fermented variety).

Oh, and sushi ... delicious, delicious sushi. 

We swapped gifts in the traditional sense ... everyone drew a number, and items could only be stolen twice. Number 1 in line got to go again at the tail end and pick any gift she wanted. Our limit was $30 which was a really good price point to get something nice!

most stolen gifts:

the CLT hat

Skinnytaste cookbook (here)

nest holiday candle (here)

For my gift contribution, I went with the Nars blush in ... well, their most popular color. This one if you're interested to see! ;)

And I wore my new emerald green crushed velvet top from Nordstrom. Seriously so festive and fun for $39! I typically wear an XS, but in this line from their juniors department, I liked the look of the small on me better. 

off shoulder top

It was a beautiful evening with friends and now I have one last gift exchange to attend with some girlies before Christmas Day!