Here's to Friday!

We made our Christmas cookies this week and I am so, so pleased with how they turned out! Every year we try a different recipe in hopes of finding the perfect one, and this year I KNOW we got it right! The cookies were big and fluffy, and I followed this frosting technique in order to perfect my decorating!
The recipe yields about 40 cookies, and you don't need to cool them which is perfect for my impatient self. ALSO, they don't expand into a big blob when baking... another plus in my book!

Ingredients: 1 cup granulated white sugar 1 cup butter, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract 1 egg 3 cups all purpose flour 2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions: 1 - Preheat over to 350 degrees F 2 - Mix the butter and sugar until it is creamy 3 - Beat in the egg, vanilla extract and almond extract 4 - In a separate bowl combine the baking powder and flour. Slowly add to the wet ingredients while still mixing. 5 - Divide the dough into two batches. Roll one dough ball out (about 1/4 inch thick) onto floured parchment paper  6 - Punch out your cookies using your favorite cookie cutters and then place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 7 - Bake 6-8 minutes and let cool completely before frosting and decorating!

I mentioned earlier this week that we headed up to North Conway, NH for a very impromptu date with the slopes. The morning that we went skiing there had been a cloud inversion which is apparently a very rare thing. When we got to the summit, all we could see below us was a complete sea of clouds... it was absolutely breathtaking. 

Because we had never skied at Wildcat before, we had to do our ceremonial ski map framing to add to our collection of mountains. 

I couldn't pass up these adorable flannel sheets at Target the other day - our bedroom looks like Christmas!

We used Tiny Prints this year to order our Christmas cards and I couldn't be more happy! They have all been mailed out, and we have been receiving more and more Christmas cards every day to add to our wine cork card display!

I'm trying to get a lot of days off of work for Christmas and New Years and have been busting my butt at work to make it happen... hopefully it does! Yesterday was a 14 hour day and this entire weekend is going to be crazy, I just know it! I really want to go see Trans Siberian Orchestra (again) at the garden on Saturday but I just don't think I'll be able to swing it! They're my favorite this time of year!

via

 I hope all of your shopping is done! Can you believe Christmas is in 6 days! December is flying by!

Have a Happy Weekend!