Work/Bake from Home

So...16-18 inches of snow later, I was able to work from home today.  :)  Thank goodness, because I would've been lucky to have gotten out of our driveway.  I was a little surprised by the amount of snow we received.  I know they mentioned the 8-12 inch range, but we usually get the lower side of the prediction.  My back and arms are sore from shoveling, however our awesome neighbor came over and snow blew most of our driveway, so I just had to keep up on it throughout the day. 

After periodically checking my email and making sure I wasn't needed for work, I decided to do a little more baking...I vow this is it.  No more sweets for us.  I made another batch of my Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate cookies and was much happier with this batch then my last.  I also make some Candy Cane Kiss Cookies (found the recipe on Pinterest).  Holy moley batman, those are some dang good cookies.  However, I will tell you now, the recipe calls for 2 1/2 sticks of butter...I used 2 1/2 sticks of butter and swear I can feel it on my thighs, but it's Christmas-time right???  Good excuse. 

If you decide to try this recipe, I did have to cook them closer to 15 minutes...mine were bigger than than 3/4 -1 inch in diameter.  Also, the recipe tells you to put the kisses in right after you pull them out of the oven and then put them in the freezer.  I found this to be extremely un-successful.  They sat in the freezer for 20 minutes and the kisses were still melting.  So on the next batch, I just let the cookies cool for a few minutes and then I put the kisses in.  Much easier.  :) 

Christmas is only 2 days away...but my sweet, adorable, smart niece Abbigayle is turning 5 on Christmas Eve.  That little girl makes me so happy, it is so hard to believe that she's 5 years old.  She's my little mini-me. 

So, I'm looking forward to my sweet girls birthday and Christmas.  I can already hear my Dad singing, 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas' as me and my Mom leave for Christmas Eve Mass.  :)  I think that's the only part of the song he knows, but I look forward to it every year. 



Merry Christmas!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

It's snowing like no tomorrow right now.  Geoff shoveled the driveway and sidewalks when he got home from work and they're already covered and in need of another shoveling.  WOW!  It's suppose to snow 8-12 inches tonight.  It's gorgeous, I'm just really hoping that I don't have to drive in it tomorrow.  :)  I'm so, so blessed with my job, not only is it awesome because of the message, but it's awesome in the fact that we get so many wonderful perks.  Great health and life insurance, paid holidays and we get the week between Christmas and New Year's off, PAID.  It's such an awesome Christmas gift.  Sorry, got sidetracked.  So in addition to that, if the roads are 'dangerous' we can usually work from home.  LOVE IT!

Minus the fact that we were a little strapped for cash this year and not able to buy presents for everyone on our list, I feel like I'm ready for Christmas.  My Christmas cards have safely arrived at their destinations and Christmas cookies liter the top of my counters.  I'm not sure if I mentioned, but I do make my Christmas cards.  I love making cards and I feel like it adds an additional personal touch.  I'm a Stampin' Up girl!  I wanted to show my cards to you.

This past weekend I decided to cook a few different types of cookies.  I made Oatmeal Cranberry and White Chocolate Chunk cookies and Biscochitos.  For those of you that might not know, biscochitos are a shortbread like cookie that have anise in them and are topped with cinnamon and sugar.  They're a traditional Spanish cookie.  They're amazing. 

Have I mentioned that I love the smell of cookies in the air.  Oh, it says Christmas-time all over it. 

So, if I don't have time to blog before Christmas.  I hope everyone has a blessed, safe and very Merry Christmas!



Why I LoVe Pinterest!

So, have you heard?  Of the new website called Pinterest?  It's ahh-maz-ing!  In technical terms it's a virtual pin board.  So, you create a profile and your friends can follow you and you have all types of categories from DIY, to recipes, to workouts and beyond.  So, if something tickles your fancy you can pin it to your board.  You also have the ability to add a pin to your browser, so if you run across a website and see a really cool tree skirt you'd like to make, you can pin it and it'll automatically go on your board.  Brilliant! 

It is so much fun, it's brainless and has become an addiction rather quickly.  I will admit, I, Karissa McCoy am addicted to Pinterest.  However, after you see a few cute and tasty things I've gotten from there, you might change your mind.  (That's if you're not already on Pinterest)  First up...Christmas Card Holder.  In the past, every Christmas card we've gotten we've taped to the back of our front door, which has been sufficient, however I wanted something cuter.  So here's what I made.  :)

You'll need a cross stitch frame, I bought the biggest one that JoAnn's had.  Then I used different size close pins and super glued them in different directions.  Lastly, I got some seasonal ribbon and tied it to the top and that's how it hangs.  Pretty easy and cute too!

Secondly, my outdoorsman (aka Geoff) loves snicker doodles, well he loves anything sweet pretty much, but I've known for a while that he really like snicker doodles.  So, I happen to run across a recipe on Pinterest and this site in particular called them the best snicker doodles they've made to date.  So I tried them out and they were really good.  (I forgot to take a picture of them, so I found one on the web to substitute)

Mine looked similar.  Not as cinnamon-y, but similar.  :)  Last, but certainly not least I went to the Holiday section of Pinterest and saw all kinds of different table center pieces.  I really wanted to make something instead of buy it...and this season this seems to be the CRAZE.  Getting a pretty, clear vase and putting Christmas ornaments in it.  Well, I did something similar, but the post in particular that I found included pine cones, which I loved. 

I love it!  I think it looks really fancy and elegant, yet it was OH-SO-Simple!  :)  So, now you know why I'm addicted to Pinterest and hopefully you'll be addicted too. 



One week until Christmas.  Yowza!

'Tis the Season

I've come to realize that blogging has put time in perspective for me and how fast it flies by.  A week ago at this time I was celebrating Thanksgiving with my family and now it's December 1st and Christmas is only 24 days away.  Let me remind you, I have absolutely no Christmas shopping done, I honestly don't know what I'm going to get anyone, including my own husband.  I'm still working on my Christmas cards (hoping to get them done this weekend) and I hope to get those out soon!  I love Christmas cards...I love sending them and I love receiving them.  It makes me happy!  :)  This time of year makes me happy, I get the warm fuzzies, thinking about it.

Geoff and I went back 'home' for Thanksgiving and we had a great time with our friends and family.  I took my camera with the intentions of taking numerous pictures and I took like 5.  Oops!  So the picture on the right is after Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house and then we went to Geoff's for round 2!  :)  Needless to say, the food was great, the company was great and we came home a few pounds heavier.   

Rockefeller Center, NYC

See this beautiful picture of Rockefeller Center in New York City?  For my high school graduation my parents took me to Philadelphia and New York City.  It was the summer time, so this photo isn't mine, however I fell in love with both of these cities.  Would I ever want to live there?  No...but would I visit again?  Ab-so-freakin-lute-ly!  There is something about NYC that I feel like that city sparkles...especially now during the Holidays.  I've been telling my Mom we have to go back to NYC during this time of year.  I just picture myself in a wool coat, hat, gloves and a scarf; freezing my butt off, but enjoying a nice warm hot chocolate from Starbucks (of course) walking through Time Square.  Maybe one day right??  I'll add that to my bucket list!      

Time to get busy with those Christmas cards.  :)