The Weather Outside is Frightful (Just Kidding!)

The weather these past few days has been really strange! Unseasonably warm all throughout the East Coast! I actually prefer the colder weather around Christmas, even though it's sometimes unbearable. So, other than the strange weather, what have I been up to over the break so far? I have made by favorite secret recipe cheesecake brownies, I have helped my dad wrap some presents, exchanged gifts and spent the day with some of my cousins, re-read a romance novel on my kindle, and watched tons of TV and movies!

On Netflix this week I have watched two shows that were about a woman bringing a fake fiance home to her family. I just really do love corny romantic comedies! (However, I do love to watch dramas and action films as well).

My grandmother gave a really special present, that I will cherish forever! It consists of some of her favorite things she has collected while traveling around the world. I am so grateful!

Also today I have spent 5 hours making and decorating sugar cookies! This might sound crazy to most people, but to me it is really fun and relaxing. I guess I am just the kind of person who gets really excited about crafts and baking! However, I have been watching Castle while doing this, so I was basically only decorating on commercial breaks. I have only just started to enjoy crime shows, but now I am sooo into them. Another one of my favorites is Criminal Minds! However, I am a proud competition show devotee (the X Factor, the Bachelor, Sweet Home Alabama, etc.) and I don't think that will ever change. I also like sitcoms. I'll basically watch anything! Except I only really watch TV on breaks, so I really don't watch that much otherwise.

Back on topic... here are some of my cookies! After years of being obsessed with baking, I have a wide variety of sprinkles and colored sugars that I love to use while decorating my sugar cookies! I change my recipe basically every year, but this recipe I got last year from the Food Network's website, and they're pretty good! Not too sweet at all!

I love putting scarves on my snowmen, and it's one of the easiest things to make with sprinkles!

I highly recommend using parchment paper underneath your cookies! They never stick to it, and it leaves basically nothing to clean up on the pan. Just rinse it off with water, rather than all the scrubbing I used to have to do to get the burned sprinkles off the pan!

These ornaments are consistently some of my favorites! I decorated them very similarly last year. I found the circle sprinkles a few years ago, and I originally used them for cupcakes!

My family loves giving these sugar cookies to Santa Claus, along with my brownies! This year I also make Chocolate Dulche De Leche bars (recipe found here). I tried them, and they're not my favorite thing I have baked, but they are pretty darn good! I will also make Pecan Sandies and Thimble Cookies (sugar cookies filled with raspberry preserves), and maybe make more of my pretzel buttons!

Can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve! I will be hanging out with my family and my bestie aDr at their party, and of course have my pageant at church. What are you up to?

Merry Christmas!

XOXOXO,

Kels

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I cannot believe that only four days from now is Christmas! Also, I cannot believe that the last time I posted was like three weeks ago!! I finished my mid-term exams on Friday. Some of them were really tough for me, but I am glad that they are in the past now. It was a really hectic week!

Yesterday was really fun though after exams. My friend kHr and I went out to lunch at my favorite burrito place, went to Starbucks, then went to a ceramic painting store that I absolutely love! I painted a mason jar that I think I will either give to my cousin, or keep for myself. I also painted a light switch cover in an attempted copy of the Lilly Pulitzer first impression print. The colors are kind of dull right now, but when it gets glaed and fired in the kiln the colors will really pop! I love painting, and it was a great thing to do after all of the stress of exam week. I also took Maelia here when she was staying with my family, its a great things to do with people of any age! There were older ladies, a young woman, young kids, and other teenagers in there with us yesterday. If you have something like this around you, I highly encourage you to go and treat yourself to a fun and relaxing few hours!

I also have been busy practicing for my church's Christmas pageant, which I have done every year since I could walk, probably. It is often hectic, and there are always mistakes, but I love going to church and seeing it packed on Christmas Eve! I am a big angel, and am essentially in charge of girls in 6th to 10th grades with doing a candle dance. Its very beautiful!

I love baking, as you can see from my last post, and I am going to start my holiday baking today! Maybe I will share a few more pictures and recipes...

Although I love receiving presents at Christmastime (I will share with you below what is on my list!) I think giving presents to family and friends is so special. I love looking at people's faces when they open a gift that they love, or a gift that they have been coveting for years!


Here are a few items that I have selected from my Christmas list to share!

1. Hunter Boots I have been asking for these for basically every birthday and Christmas for the past few years. I think that they are so versatile and cute!

2. Frames! I love having photos of my friends and family in my room, and I thought that this would be a good thing to ask for, because there is such a great variety of them out there! This particular chevron frame is from Anthropoligie's website.

3. Stationary: I think the practice of sending letters is not dead. I love sending thank you notes, and expressing my gratitude to people who have helped me in any way, or gave their time to help me when it was not asked of them. I love so many stationaries! You can find this sassy animal print kind, here.

4. I love posters, and I think this one is so cute! Posters are a great and pretty inexpensive way to decorate a space. You can find this poster here.

5. I think that Lilly Pulitzer scarves are a cheery accessory that is very transitional, and can be styled for practically every season. You can find a variety of their scarves here.

6. I love love love Patagonia! I got a Patagonia fleece for Christmas last year and I wear it all the time. It's so cozy! This vest would be a great thing to wear around. I love my J. Crew Expedition vest (in black) and I think this would be a good thing to have, so I don't have to wear the same vest all the time.

7. Sunglasses: I probably do not need sunglasses, but I have been lusting over these for a while. Ray Bans are classics! You can find them here.

This Christmas, I am thankful for a lot of things. I know that not everyone gets presents for Christmas, and I realize that while I am typing this blog post, some kids are dying of diseases and starving to death. I am grateful for so much, and I love my family and my friends to death, and cannot imagine my life without them. I thank God for all he has given me. I wish you a Merry Christmas (or a relaxing break if you are not Christian) and I hope that you have a happy and healthy 2014. 

See y'all later!

XOXO,

Kels

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas....

Hey everyone!! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I cannot believe it is already December! Time has really flown by this year faster than I thought it would. I have less than three weeks of school left, including a week of exams.

 My family got our Christmas tree on Sunday, and just brought it into our house last night! We haven't decorated it yet, but I am soooo excited to do that! Here is a picture of our tree from last year (I was messing around with the bluriness-its intentional!)

Decorating a Christmas tree is honestly is one of my favorite things to do in Christmas time! ... Along with doing advent calendars  (my family has two) and BAKING!

One recipe that I love to bake anytime of the year, but especially around Christmas, is for pretzel buttons! My friend sPg always makes them for Christmas, and I was so excited last year when I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest. The original recipe was intended for Valentine's Day, but I love them during Christmas! Last year's batches looked so much better than the ones I made this year, so here is what they should look like!



They are really simple to make, and they are great gifts for your friends, or for a hostess, as well! They are also the perfect sweet to have out at a Christmas party! At my family's annual Christmas open house, we had them sitting out for people to much on, and they disappeared quickly! Last year I put them in small mason jars with custom stickers, and gave them to family and neighbors.

Here's the recipe!

You will need:
- A bag of M&M's
- A large bag of pretzels (I have found that the square pretzels work best, but normal shaped mini pretzels or the ones that are just circles work fine as well.)
- 1 or 2 bags of Hershey's Hugs (The candy cane Hugs work, and so do Hershey's Kisses!)
- Parchment Paper
- 1 cookie sheet

Side note on the HUGS: This year I used a combination of Hugs from early 2013 and brand new HUGs. The melting process did not move at the same speed for the different kinds, so I encourage you to use all new ones, or at least ones that were all bought at the same time!

Side note on the M&M's: This year I tried mini M&M's, but I think the normal sized ones work best!

Step 1: Fit a piece of parchment paper to your cookie sheet.

Step 2: Begin placing pretzels on the sheet. I normally try to fit as many as possible.

Step 3: Unwrap your HUGS, and place one HUG on top of every pretzel.

Step 4: When you are half way done with unwrapping and placing the HUGS, preheat your oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 5: Place your pretzels and HUGS in the oven for about 5-6 minutes (brand new HUGS will take far less time than older ones). You do NOT WANT to melt the HUGS, just to have them be soft. They will be shiny when you remove them from the oven!

Step 6: Get your arms ready! As soon as you remove the pretzels from the oven, place a M&M on top of the HUG. You can decide how far you want to push them, it's all up to you!

Step 7: Place the buttons in the fridge for a few minutes to let them set. Then you can package them!

If you try this recipe, tell me how it goes! I highly recommend them!

XOXOXO,

Kels

Au revior, Maélia & Alyzée

The French exchange students have left our homes. They are now off to Orlando to experience more of America with their younger sister and parents. I have learned to love both of them, even though at times they drove me crazy and practically to tears. Normally, an exchange would be nothing like these last two weeks that mWd and I have shared with these two French girls. When I get another French student in October, there will be planned outings through the giant group they are coming with, and school will give me some relief from their constant presence. These past two weeks mWd and I have worked our butts off to make them happy, not bored, and certainly not hungry. We have taken them to countless restaurants, including ones serving Indian, Japanese, Mexican, Bolivian, and plain ol' American food, as well. We have painted pottery, blew glass, went boating (practically every day), went to the beach, went to the pool, went kayaking, went tubing, shopped, toured museums. Together we watched both RIPD and the Way Way Back (my new favorite movie!). Maélia thought my family was probably crazy as we watched episodes of the Bachelorette, Teen Wolf, Duck Dynasty, and Keeping Up With the Kardashians. She laughed louder than all of us when we watched Sharknado and Project X. She learned to love Pitch Perfect as well as I do (I've seen it 8++ times). She now occasionally snickers, "vertical running", remembering Fat Amy. She's learned that my favorite flower is the hydrangea, and points them out to me whenever she sees one. Her sister, Alyzée literally made me smile all the time. I definitely have a soft spot for her. Maélia has seen my obsession with tumblr, and ice cream. She's learned to appreciate frozen yogurt and Starbucks. She's fallen in love with the American stores, everything from Forever 21 to Urban Outfitters. She taught me how to make her cupcakes, and I taught her how to make my favorite cookies. She learned just how obsessed I am with the royal family, and jumped for joy with me when Prince George Alexander Louis was born. She now knows that I am literally ALWAYS tired, which I told her probably ten times a day. She always had her camera around her neck, documenting her stay in America.

The girls were by no means perfect guests, by American standards they would be considered impolite and they literally harassed my brother, but no one is perfect which we all understood.

We now have so many inside jokes, such as "Sorry for you", "Banagram!", "Non Ouai/No way", and "Kill yourself".

They've taught me "Ouai gavée" (poor spelling), but definitley told me NEVER to say it outside of their hometown.

This experience has been truly life changing. I learned how important it is to put on a happy face, even when I am about to cry. I have learned that it is okay to express my anger, but never to them. Even though they were very different than I am, they were still girls struggling to express themselves in a new language, and people who only wanted to make new friends and learn about the American culture. I have gotten SO much closer with mWd's family (who were basically strangers to me before).

I will miss them so much, but I will forever cherish the memories we've made, and the new friends we have become.

XOXOXO,

Kels

French Exchange and Summer

I am so excited about Prince George! I was in the movie theater watching one of my new favorite movies, the Way Way Back, when he was born! Both my mom and my best friend kHr texted me "It's a boy" (they know me so well) and I just about died of excitement. I love this picture of my two favorite guys.

I cannot believe my frenchie, Maélia, is about to leave! I have gotten really close with both her, her sister Alizée, and Alizée's host, mWd. We have done so many things, but I feel like the main thing we have done is expose them to normal American cuisine and lives. They've met a few of my friends, and have seen all the local landmarks.

We made my go-to cookie recipe, modeled after Momofuku Milk Bar's compost cookies. Maélia showed me her favorite French cupcake recipe as well. Both ended up being delicious!

Maélia and me on her first full day in my hometown!

mWd and I after a great night out together!

mWd and her Frenchie, Alizée

The sisters

Alizée and I

Next week I am heading off to Nantucket. I am so excited to go back to my favorite place in the world.

XOXOXO,
Kelsey

Cobbler Tuesday

Hey everyone!

Today I have finally finished my seventh and last day of behind-the-wheel. I will be on the roads, licensed in under 20 days! Its crazy for me to even think about that, I remember when I was younger feeling like driving was so far away.

In celebration of this (but not really), today I am making my favorite Mixed Berry Cobbler. The recipe is from an old issue of "Bon Appétit", which you can find it online here. My cobbler never ends up quite as pretty as the magazine's, but it honestly tastes amazing. I use all of the kinds of berries my local grocery store has to offer: blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries. The biscuit topping never is as dough-like as they make it seem, but it will harden up when you cook it! I love to eat my cobbler with a huge scoop of vanilla or strawberry ice cream. I end up eating practically the whole thing by myself over the course of about two weeks! I put it in the microwave to get it warm, then add the ice cream and grab a spoon and I am all ready to go!

Final Product

On another note, so excited that Pretty Little Liars is back on tonight! The show seriously creeps me out. I am on edge the entire time I watch it. I am the same way with my other favorite non-reality show, Teen Wolf. The guys from Teen Wolf are drop dead gorgeous!

And talking about drop dead hot, muscular men, my favorite reality show, The Bachelorette! I really liked the current bachelorette, Desiree, during the beginning of Sean's season, but by the end I was not sad to see her go. During the Bachelorette, however, she has really grown on me! My favorite guys are Chris, Brooks, and Juan Pablo (I love foreign guys! Swoon...). Last season for the Bachelor, I found out who would win Sean's heart through Reality Steve. Just Google his name to find his blog, where he will "predict" who will be the final men, and who will become engaged to Desiree. His predictions are always right, so if you like to know what will happen, head over there. This season I am going to just watch and see.

This Thursday I am heading to Duck, NC for a quick "vay-cay"with one of my best friends. On Monday I am heading to Williamsburg, VA for a tour of the College of William and Mary. 18++ people in my family have gone there, and right now it is at the top of my list, along with Davidson, Washington and Lee, and Wake Forest. There will be more coming on that front, soon.

XOXOXO,

Kelsey