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bake, make, & take!

One thing I LOVE about the holidays is making treats! The project I went with this year... "Heaven in a Jar". (a.k.a. - Mason Jar Cupcakes) Super easy, and makes a cute little gift! Coming from someone who is definitely not a master baker, or even an intermediate baker, this one's a breeze and the presentation MAKES the gift! Here we go!

I used red velvet cake for these... and yes that is red velvet batter in the contraption above, and let me just say... this thing has saved my sanity. Cupcakes tend to be a messy job for me sometimes, spilling batter here, there, and everywhere. No more! This nifty thing is great (and does pancakes too!) I found it here. And don't fret on the recipe... you can make from scratch if you want, but I just went with a mix. It's the holidays... and I have more things to do. Like getting my eyeball gauged by our tree. Anyway.

Pardon the glare... do you know how weird it is to try and take a pic with only one hand on the camera, and the non-dominant hand pouring batter? Well, it wasn't too bad... But look how nice-

What's that? No liners! Right... no paper liners on this one. Bring out your friend PAM and give them a good spray.

While your cupcakes are baking, wash your jars and get them ready for the assembly line. You can line them up in neat little rows and it'll make you feel good about yourself. What? That's only me?

I am using the Ball brand 8 ounce jelly jars... I bought a case of 12. Make sure you make 24 cupcakes out of your mix, recipe, whatever. Each jar will hold 2 cupcakes.

Let the cupcakes cool, then since you sprayed the pan really well... just pop those babies right out... hey, look!

Not the best looking cupcake, but that doesn't matter. Now give it a gentle nudge-

It slides into the jar very nicely.

If your cupcakes aren't perfect, no one will know.

Using a pastry bag (I like the disposable kind)... or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped (which is the SAME thing) pipe a layer of icing in the jar on top of the cupcake.

How pretty, right? Nope, doesn't matter... we're going to squeeze in another cupcake on top! So no worries, just get the icing in there!

Squoosh the next cupcake down and the icing becomes a nice even layer.

Pipe in some icing on top, and that's it!

If you want, you can make or buy little labels for the lids, or just cover the top with a fabric square. I went with the labels and had some fabric scraps to tie around the rim.

Tie on a vintage spoon (or find a cheap one... Fred's has them 4 for $1) and there you go!

I think these would be so cute for Easter (think funfetti cupcakes), or Halloween (chocolate cake and orange colored icing), or the red velvet will work quite nicely for your Valentine in a couple of months!

2 holiday faves...

Growing up we had one of those bowls to hold unshelled nuts that we would leave out around the holidays. It was one of those with the space in the middle to hold the metal nutcracker and the little picks. I had been searching ebay for a vintage bowl for our home but found myself with a bit of sticker shock!

I was thrilled last year when I received one for Christmas from my uncle... and not just any bowl, it belonged to my (late) grandmother. We are enjoying it in our home this holiday season, and it will be a yearly tradition for us as well!

And just to keep the house smelling like some fresh-baked holiday goodness-

I cannot tell you how many compliments I've received on THIS candle. Everyone thinks I'm slaving in the kitchen baking up something fabulous. I bought this candle at Wal-Mart probably 3 years ago, and I bring it out during the holidays. It smells SO good. I don't know why it has to be a holiday thing, I should burn this baby year round. I haven't even checked to see if they even carry this scent anymore, but if so I need to stock up!

family tree hunt, & when christmas trees ATTACK!

We have made it a yearly tradition to go and cut our Christmas tree. We live very close to a tree farm and we've gone every year since we were married. This year we braved it without a stroller!

I think we drug Harper all over in search of the perfect tree. That's one thing I love about a fresh-cut tree is that they all have their own little imperfections... but we tend to forget this and search long and hard for THE perfect tree. By the time we walked up the big hill, it was really getting windy and Harper was ready to see some action.

enough with the pictures...

ok, she's done.

As usual, Chad gets to do the honors while we cheer him on.

Harper waits patiently before we say "TIMBER!"

Then they loaded our tree on top of the car and we head home. We were just chatting it up on the way back up the driveway because not one of us actually remembered we had a tree on top of the car and we sure did drive right into the garage. We heard a loud scrape and then we knew. But everything was ok.

We set up the tree and watched the SEC Championship football game (War Eagle!) while we decorated. Maybe I was a little too focused on the game, or maybe it was the tree's revenge for the treatment we gave it earlier... but as I was leaning in to string lights I was poked/brushed in the EYEBALL by some of the needles. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time, and we finished decorating the tree. We went with the non-breakables on the lower portion this year-

A few hours later my eye was really starting to hurt, and by the next morning (Sunday - why do these things always happen on weekends?) it looked horrible. Thankfully a good college friend of ours is also our optometrist, so I was fixed up in no time. Just a little FYI... guard your eyes!

NYC - Part 2

Day 2 in the city. We headed to Soho for brunch at Balthazar. OK, can I just say... FANTASTIC. I'm calling this the best meal in NYC hands down. Not to mention that somehow the three of us managed to walk in with no reservations (the place was packed-that's always a good sign) and be given a table immediately, bypassing others already waiting, and told the wait was reported as nearing an hour. Still don't know how me managed that one!

I'm sad that the only pic I took here was of the basket of bread. Which was fabulous. But so was the other food. That sticky bun on top was pure evil. We split that one three ways. Next time I'm in NYC this will be on my list.

After lunch we walked over to Aero to check out the good stuff, then a quick trip through CB2.

We wandered through Soho and through Tribeca, stumbling upon a fabric shop so we stopped to browse the goods.

Shelly and Laura got an insane deal on some trim (some vintage). My next custom bag from Laura will need to incorporate some of this trim... as a trip memento of course. fyi, Laura :)

Our feet were getting tired so we grabbed a cab and headed down to Ground Zero. So much has changed since Chad and I were here in 2006. They are in the process of constructing the new buildings and 9/11 memorial site. We couldn't see much because of the construction barracades but we went in the information center where they had more info on the project. It is set to open 9/11/11.

Next we hopped on the Subway and headed back up to Chelsea Market. The market was filled with lots of cafes, floral shops, food markets, and unique shops. We decided it best to take a little break while we worked out our plans for the evening, so we landed at Eleni's for cupcakes.

I went old school and got the vanilla with buttercream icing (in pink of course!) It did not disappoint.

Back to the hotel, for a 30 minute rest (this was our only designated REST the entire trip might I add... we are in our 30s now so I guess it's ok). We enjoyed wandering around Times Square a bit before dinner. We were completely overwhelmed by the Forever 21 store there. All 4 levels of it, or was it 5? Wow.

Dinner at Tramonti (no website... get with the times, Tramonti!) and it was so good. Authentic Italian, great atmosphere.

Even though we had just eaten dinner there was another stop we had to make... for another cupcake before the show! This time we went to Magnolia Bakery. Yum...

Pumpkin cupcake with cream cheese icing... You. Complete. Me.

Our last stop of the day? Radio City Music Hall! Already decked out for Christmas-

To get in the holiday spirit we saw the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular - you know, the one with the high-kicking Rockettes. I think we sat on the next to last row, and it was quite a hike to the top! The show was great!

We walked back to the hotel and enjoyed NYC all lit up one final time. We had an early breakfast at Junior's before we parted ways. Yummy bacon and cheese grits! My flight was a bit earlier so I had to get to the airport. I was back home a few hours later and had really missed my H-bug, but the trip was a blast! I've travelled all over with these girls. We've spent so much time together that I think we are beginning to read each other's thoughts... no matter how much time passes we just pick right back up. Good times & good friends! Until the next one!

turkey day

The NYC Part 2 post is still in the works. I had it all ready to go last night then blogger gave me an error message and only a paragraph had been saved. I was not a happy camper. But here's a little Thanksgiving recap!

We spent Thanksgiving this year in Tennessee at my grandmother's house. When we arrived it was in the low 70's and by the next morning we had sleet and some snow! How's that for crazy weather! I tried to get some pics of Harper outside but it was so cold!

Holidays here growing up were always interesting because besides myself, there was only ONE other female cousin. And a house FULL of boys. Now there has been a swarm of little girls, so Harper has some playmates! So far... girls-3, boys-0. :)

L to R: Josie (3), Harper (2), and Ellie (10 months). They played in the floor together most of the time.

Harper liked to run and sing to herself and perform in front of my grandmother's tall mirror. The calculator in her hand is her "phone".

We took the annual "4 generation picture", each of us in our designated spots.

We had a great time spending Thanksgiving with family and now we are getting excited about Christmas!