I wanted to drop in real quick and share my favorite December pattern!   December to me means one pattern... buffalo plaid... and apparently J. Crew has the same mindset! Here's a handful of my favorites!
Pajamas

Puffer Vest

Peacoat

Scarf

...and from Hello Apparel, we have this super comfy sweatshirt!

 Any other December fashion favorites out there?

Cherry Chocolate Kisses

Cookie baking has begun in our humble abode! The first contender for the season was a cherry chocolate kiss! While this recipe is extremely easy to make with cherries.. you can use this same recipe to make "peppermint chocolate kisses" by substituting peppermint kisses, peppermint extract, and crushed candy canes for the cherry kisses, cherries, and cherry juice! However, with this month being everything peppermint, and L not being much of a peppermint person, I opted for the the cherry version!

When all of the ingredients were mixed, and I was eating the raw dough (which you can, there's no egg), I found that is was basically just a shortbread cookie with cherry flavoring and bits. Yum! So just so you know, if you are planning to bake these keep in mind that they are a shortbread cookie meaning that they are not SUPER, EXTREME sweet, but more of a lighter cookie with cherry flavoring. 

Cherry Chocolate Cookies Adapted Servings: Approximately 24 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened - but still cool!

1 cup powdered sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons maraschino cherry juice

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup maraschino cherries, chopped

Granulated sugar, for sprinkling the cookies

Milk chocolate cherry kisses, unwrapped

 

Directions:

 

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. In a bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy.

3. Reduce the speed to the lowest speed and slowly add the powdered sugar and salt.

4. Add the cherry juice and almond extract until combined.

5. Slowly add the flour - mixture should start to become more doughy.

6. Increase the mixture speed, and add the cherries.

7. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and place on a baking sheet every 2-inches apart.

8. Using your thumb, gently press each cookie in its center until the cookies is about 1/2-inch thick.

9. Sprinkle each cookies with a little granulated sugar.

10. Bake the cookies approximately 14 minutes, or until the cookies are slightly brown on the bottom.

11. Once removed from the oven, immediately press a chocolate kiss in the middle of each cookie.

12. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

  Enjoy!

Fabulous Friday

Can you tell that it is my favorite month of the year? Everything I do has Christmas incorporated into it... I have a problem, I'm tellin' ya!
Last night was my first Christmas party of the season and it was quite the success! Located at my office, over a thousand dollars worth of unwrapped, nonviolent toys were dropped off for the annual Toys for Tots drive/party that the office holds! I couldn't believe how many gifts there were. We stuffed ourselves full with amazing food and loaded up on tons of wine. What a wonderful start to the holiday season! You can read more about it here!  

 

...and we can't forget the booze...     This past week L and I celebrated both of our birthdays! Again, lots of Italian food and big, delicious homemade cakes were had!  

    We also picked up our BEAUTIFUL Christmas tree from Prince Postale! Our Christmas shopping/wrapping is about 70% there!  

    I read this cute article of Christmas traditions to start with your spouse/significant other. I really want to do matching buffalo check PJs this year... we'll see if L's onboard.  

    Our Christmas cards arrived today, and I am anxious to share with you within the next week or two a project that I've been working on! I'll give you a hint... it involves my unending collection of wine corks! 

 
Stay tuned!   Also on the blog this week: December Goals  Gift Ideas for Family & Friends  O' Christmas Tree  Birthday Business   

Birthday Business

Hip, hip hooray! Another year under our belts... welcome to the 22 club! L and I both celebrated our birthdays yet again these past couple of days (Mine on the first and L's on the 3rd), and in true L&K fashion, we filled our days with Christmas tree shopping, Italian dinners, and a big fat homemade cake! Get in my belly!  

  Monday, we scooped up our Christmas tree, and then pranced over to Carmelina's in the North End for a delectable feast. Delicious! Might I reccommend the Penne Capricciose and Stuffed Pork Chop for any of you guys looking to dine in the North End. Wednesday, we picked up some pizza, and crashed on the couch watching a Christmas movie, and making unhealthy eating decisions. Nothing... and I mean NOTHING beats sitting on your royal arse watching Christmas movies!  

  The cake that I made for Landon was nothing short of Christmassy. Covered in red and green everything.  

And let's not forget the 22 birthday kisses I got from my fur child! Muah!   Tonight is our first official Christmas party! It's a Toys for Tots event at my office! If you're in the area, feel free to bring an unwrapped, nonviolent toy to Elite Boston Landmark Realty between 6-9, and we'll spoil you with food and dranks! 

O' Christmas Tree

On the first day of Christmas my true love bought for me.... a Chriiiiiiiiiiistmas Tree!

For my birthday on Monday, L and I were en route to our fancy dinner plans when we detoured past Prince Postale to see if they had anymore Christmas trees! This is our first real Christmas tree together, so try to imagine my excitement when we picked out the most beautiful and perfect tree! Thanks to our new apartment and our slightly "bigger" (and I use that term loosely) living room, we went for the biggest one he had! They call them North End trees (little 6 footers) because they are grown and cut to accommodate smaller spaces.

I'm a fan of the classic white lights on the tree however L loves the colored lights and eclectic look. This year we decided to go with white lights, silver balls and candy canes! Each year, we go to the Christmas store at Faneuil Hall and pick out a special ornament... last year we picked up a Red Sox ornament in honor of our 2013 World Series Win!

As of now we have two ornaments... our Red Sox, and a beer can. Riveting stuff.
We are slowly but surely building up our ornament collection and will soon have an arsenal of memories hanging up year after year.

I already have several gifts wrapped and modeling underneath the tree and I couldn't be more excited! I've had several people ask me if they're just empty wrapped boxes? Uh no. No one has any Christmas shopping faith in me this soon. 

 This cat is thoroughly enjoying the holiday season! I am forcing it upon her. 

I bought stuff for her stocking and have already given half of it to her already. #fail

21 Days, 13 Hours, 50 minutes until Christmas!!

Have you put your tree up yet?

Gift Ideas for Family & Friends

 

  I'm back again for the 3rd week of this three week series celebrating a few of my favorite things! The first week I shared a few of my favorite things, last week I shared great stocking stuffer ideas... and today I will be sharing fun gifts for family and friends that are under $100!
   Cards Against Humanity

    Wool Throw

    L.L. Bean Boat and Tote Bag 

    Slippers - Men, Women

  NutriBullet

     New England Tees

    Magazine Subscription

    Lottery Tickets

 Happy Shopping! I think I'm down to 5 people who still need shopped for. 

In other news, we bought our Christmas tree yesterday!!! ...and it

is beautiful! More on that later this week!

Recap November Goals

 

  Here's what was supposed to happen this past month!

ONE//

+ Stay true to my push up routine.

I only got to day 12 :(

TWO//

+ Order an extra bureau for the bedroom and get rid of the desk. 

Done and done!

THREE//

+ Do all of my Christmas shopping!

I wanted it all done by December 1st. I'm about 80% done with the shopping, and 45% done with the wrapping... getting there!

FOUR//

+ Save

Eh... still working on that goal! November and December are hard for me... but I'm getting there!

FIVE//

+ Have a wonderful and fun Thanksgiving!

Absolutely! We went to Pittsburgh to celebrate my grandparents 50th anniversary and visit family!

  Check in tomorrow for my December goals!