Recipe Recommendation: Cake Mix Cookies

I wanted to bake something delicious to take to the Super Bowl party we went to, but I didn't feel like making something completely from scratch. In our cupboard, I had yellow cake mix but didn't think a cake or cupcakes would go over well - they're not easy finger food - cupcakes are too messy!

So, I googled "things to do with cake mix" and came across all kinds of cookie ideas. One in particular stood out to me - Betty Crocker's chocolate chip cookies made from a cake mix.

A box of yellow cake mix, some milk, butter, vanilla, eggs, chocolate chips, and voila - you have chocolate chip cookies. Oh - and salt. I always salt my chocolate chip cookies when they're fresh from the oven. It gives them a little something extra!

When we tasted these cookies straight out of the oven, we were both unimpressed. BUT, when I took them to the party hours later, they were delicious. I guess they needed to settle down some! Everyone raved over them and when they were gone, there were lots of sad faces.

I found that the recipe made about 4 dozen cookies.

Enjoy!!

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Online Book Shopping: Better World Books

I honestly feel completely unmotivated to take and edit photos for blogs, so I'm just going to keep sharing favorite websites with you, is that cool? I hope so!


Better World Books is THE best place to buy books online. I placed my first order with them in 2008 and I consistently turn to BWB any time I buy a book online. They sell both used and new books and the used books are sold at insanely great prices. You can often find books in the $3-$4 range and shipping is free. FREE shipping!

The only catch is that shipping does take QUITE a while, so if you're on a deadline, it's not the best option. However, if you're looking for books to leisurely arrive on your doorstep, it is the best option for online book shopping.

The coolest part? The money you pay for books goes to literacy programs around the world. They've raised over 15 million dollars for literacy programs and libraries around the world.

Love them and highly recommend them! This post is all on my own - no compensation whatsoever from BWB!

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Art Discovery: Minted.com

Last week when all the coolest bloggers were hanging out at Alt Summit, I noticed some of them posting about Minted.com on Instagram. I was super curious about the company, so I switched from phone to my laptop and looked it up. I was instantly stunned by the beauty of the designs and the range of the products! I sent the link to my friend Hilary, with whom I share all my best online finds, and we ooh'ed and ahh'ed over the designs.

Aside from art prints, Minted offers a huuuuge range of printed products like birth announcements,  every kind of wedding paper product you would need (like save the dates, invitations, bridal shower invitations) stationery, journals, calendars, wrapping paper - I mean, the list goes on and on. The choices are endless - and so impressive!!

I'm extremely drawn to the art prints - I have been wanting to collect more art for our walls so I can switch out our small gallery wall above our couch and also add some more art to our dining room.

(I'm also pinning some of my favorite nursery prints for the future! They have the cutest ones and you can even customize them! A lot of the art comes in different colors AND you can add a frame for as little as $5. I know. I'm gushing, but I am in love!)


Here are some of my favorites (click the image to view them on Minted.com):



St. Paul's Cathedral in London - when I went to London in college, St. Paul's was my favorite place. I felt so at peace and so at home there. Then years later, I realized it was where the bird lady sings "Feed The Birds" in Mary Poppins. Destiny.



Speaking of Mary Poppins, I love anything umbrella related. :)



All girls love horses, right??



I want to fill our house with all peonies all the time, which isn't very realistic. BUT, I could hang this print and feel like I have a fresh bouquet year-round!   And more favorites...













 

I love that you can order them framed. Sometimes it's so hard to find a frame and matte that work for your art - this takes all the hard work out of that!

 

Thanks so much to Minted.com for credit toward art! All opinions are my own - I really did fall in love with them last week before they reached out to me!

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My New Favorite Plant: Peperomia

I'm obsessed with houseplants. I love, love, love them. I have a really hard time passing them up at the store, but I've had to show some restraint lately because we have no good windows for plants except for our stairs. Have I shown you our stairs before?

Someone in the 90s finished our attic and built a staircase in front of a window. It's really strange but it makes a pretty nice perch for my plants!

When we decided not to sell our house and to stay, I committed to making our house work for us and make it more enjoyable. We've been doing some updates to our kitchen, so I decided to find a way to add plants to our kitchen window. I started reading a lot about easy houseplants and discovered one called Peperomia. I had previously ordered a plant online from Hirt's Gardens, so I decided to go on and order a Peperomia plant from them.

How cute is that??

It's going to live in an Ikea Asker planter in our kitchen window, but I haven't potted it yet - the plastic pot is just sitting inside the Asker pot right now. I'm waiting until it warms up a bit!

We've been working on a few house things that have made me so happy! I'm working on getting the kitchen all finished up and then I hope to take photos to post!

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Inside Llewyn Davis: The Gorfeins' Apartment

We finally saw Inside Llewyn Davis and I loved it.

The movie is set in 1961 and follows a week in the life of fictional folk singer Llewyn Davis, who hops from couch to couch as he struggles to pursue his career. When he has run through his rotation of Greenwich Village friends, he turns to the Gorfeins, an Upper West Side couple that takes him under their wings.

I loved them. I was also completely smitten with their apartment and wanted to share some stills of their living room and dining room. I wish there was more footage online of their house - I took these screenshots from a trailer and a clip on IMDB.



Love, love, love. The light, the french doors, the dining room furniture, the books, the records, the cute chair... love it all!















I wish I could move right in!

I recommend Inside Llewyn Davis, but my favorite movie I've seen in 2014 is Philomena. (I saw Saving Mr. Banks in 2013. :)

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Merry Christmas from a future Mrs. Claus!

This year, I discovered the song "Mrs. Santa Claus" by Nat King Cole. I love the idea of honoring Mrs. Claus in song - I think her contributions are totally overlooked! I told Andy that if we don't have careers as Clauses in 30 years, I'm going to be very disappointed!!


Enjoy the song above and merry Christmas!

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Christmastime is (almost) here!

Yikes. Haven't blogged in awhile. I closed the booth 2 weeks ago - it was surreal. I gave away most of my stock to other vendors and I kept some things to re-price for 8th & Argyle. I will close my shelves there at the end of February, so expect some more deals in January and February!

I'm leaving in 20 minutes for the airport - I am going to Sacramento for work. Closing the booth was a great choice - my role at work is changing and I will be traveling more, which is exciting - and I'll be doing events - which I love. (I mean, I day-of-coordinate weddings on the side for FUN!)

And now - a mind-dump of the past few months!

Lucy turned 2, is sweeter than ever, and is just the best little friend. Andy's role at his job is changing, too - it's so funny - our jobs have always aligned. We both got promoted around the same time right after getting married and then we both had to find new jobs around the same time and now we're both moving into new areas in our job.

We started going back to our old church - and it's been hard to not be known, or to not know anyone, but last week was great and we got to eat lunch with old friends we hadn't seen in um...a couple years. I'm sad that I'll be out of town tomorrow and won't get to go.

I made some Christmas ornaments with the help of my mom that I'm really excited to post about - but I haven't taken photos. Womp womp. Hopefully soon!

I started watching Gilmore Girls for the first time ever and devoured seasons 1 and 2. I'm taking season 3 with me on my trip and hope to get a good chunk watched on the plane and at the hotel. :)

I made a plan to get rid of 100 things from our house in December. I have a decent-sized donation pile going, but I need to kick into gear and purge some more stuff. I should write a post about it!

Really, we've just been living life and the blog has fallen in priority since I no longer have the booth to support it. I hope to have some time for creative endeavors in the new year and hope to make time to post about them.

If you have the opportunity to see A Christmas Story on stage - GO! I'm kinda over the movie, but the stage production was amazing - so funny and innovative.

In case I don't post again before Christmas, I hope you have a very merry Christmas if you celebrate. And happy new year!

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