Fashion Friday - Look of the Week

In LOVE with the beauty of Lauren Conrad's latest look that she donned to the Cover Girl 50th anniversary party this week.  It is perfection to me.  From her head to her toes.

I love the soft waves of her hair - and the color is perfect for winter.

Her makeup is soft and sweet, with just enough color, but not the fake-tan look.

The dress is divine -- creams and beiges are very hard to pull off in the winter, they often drown you out completely, but she pulls it off.

I love the of the flounciness of this dress, the tie around the waist, and the 3/4 sleeves, it just works.  I have really been loving the long sleeved, short dresses lately. 

And last but not least, her shoes -- really glad that she chose nude shoes w/ this dress.  The straps make them fun and youthful.  And I'm always a fan of dark toe-nail polish.

All in all, I give this a 5 out of 5 stars.

Way to go LC!!!  :)

A Tennessee Christmas

I realize I'm still behind on my blog posts, since this one is about our Christmas in Tennessee, which was 2 weeks ago, BUT, better late than never, right?  John and I were so excited to be able to go back to Memphis (where we lived the last 3 years, and where John grew up) to visit our family and friends over the holidays.  We had a great time and even stayed a few extra days due to cancelled flights into North Carolina!

Enjoy the pics!! 

Memphis Bound!  And apparently, the guy in the background thinks we are crazy to be taking a picture in the airplane. 

The beginning of our annual gingerbread house :)

Gotta love Twizzler mustaches

Dinner at Huey's w/ friends

Me and my sweetie

Our sweet nieces arrived!

Christmas Eve in Jackson w/ John's family

John's white elephant gift!

Bonfire w/ friends

We had such an amazing time -- thanks everyone for making it so wonderful!!

XOXO

Chocolate Caramel Brittle

Chocolate Caramel Brittle

(recipe via Framed Cooks)

1 sleeve saltines 2 sticks butter 1 cup brown sugar 12 ounces chocolate chips  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees  2. Line an 11x17 baking pan with foil.  3. Lay out all saltines in a single layer in pan, sides touching.  4. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.        Add brown sugar and heat to boiling for 3 minutes, stirring       frequently.  5. Pour butter/sugar mixture over saltines, making sure to       cover all of them thoroughly.  6. Bake for 7 minutes.  7. Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips in microwave for 2-3       minutes until they are completely melted when you      stir them.  Spread them on top of the saltines,       covering completely.  8. Refrigerate until completely cooled and hardened.        Break into pieces. This sweet treat is soooo tasty and is similar to any other  kind of bark, but it has the sweet and salty combination that  I love!  It's so easy and was a huge hit with my family over  the holidays!  I would definitely recommend this to any chocolate lovers, especially if you like the sweet/salty flavors together!   Enjoy!  Here are my pictures of the process :)

XOXO

Winter Beginnings

So I'm a little behind on my posts due to the craziness and wonderfulness that the holidays bring, and I have about a million pictures and stories that I want to post.  But for now, I'll be taking you back to the beginning of December.  This is by far my favorite month of the year, and I'm always so sad when it is over, because I look forward to it ALL year long. The twelfth month (wait, doesn't the word 'twelfth' look weird? I promise I spelled it right, John and I spent about 10 minutes trying to figure it out and then we finally googled it! Ha! It just has way too many consonants next to each other...ok now 'consonants' looks weird.  Am I losing my mind?)   Anywhoooooo, the twelfth month (December, that is) brought a whirlwind of festive parties, birthday dinners, tasty treats, and....our first snow!

It was so pretty and when we weren't trying to drive in it, we really loved it!  

I made several batches of my famous peppermint bark, and oh my, it was so good.  It's a perfect decadent combination of milk chocolate, white chocolate, and peppermint.  Sooo easy, and a great treat to give to friends and family :) 

all bagged up for my bible study girls :)

Pastas and soups became our go-to dinners... they are the ultimate winter comfort food, and I tried out several new recipes that I loved!

spinach and sausage penne pasta

My friend, Meredith, hosted an amazing "Secret Santa" party for all of the Duke girls, which was so much fun!  Lots of savory snacks and tasty desserts, and I got my first Duke shirt!

I also was soooo excited to make my first real sewing project - an apron!  I actually made 2, and gave them to my mom, and my mother-in-law for Christmas!  They turned out pretty cute, if I say so myself :)

you can't really tell, but there are pockets!

Oh, and last but not least....we attended our first Duke basketball game together!  John was able to get tickets to lots of the games this season, but we were invited to this game by some family friends.  It was soooo much fun and those players are seriously some kind of amazing.  And of course, they won!  This game might have been the most spirited game I've ever seen - the Duke student section was out of control!  

We will be in the student section for the rest of the games we go to.  

On a side note, I saw a couple of the basketball players at Super Target the other day, and they are GIANTS.  Seriously, so awkwardly tall, I couldn't stop staring.  

That's all for now ---- be back soon with lots of holiday pictures and updates!!

Happy 2011 :)