Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies [YUM!]

This is our second Christmas together and well, last year's was our worst Christmas ever. So this year, we have decided to try to make it a happy time again and start new traditions together as a family. We got our first Christmas tree together [Malachite was clearly very amused by the tree - see below].    We have also baked cookies (an old tradition that had been lost). We have traveled too. Our best vacation ever so far was last month during Thanksgiving week and to say it was PERFECT is a complete understatement.  

  Anyway, I really like storing good recipes on here so here it is - the recipe I used for this year's amazing peanut butter blossom cookies.  

 

48 Hershey's Kisses 1/2 cup shotening 3/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter 1/3 cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup light brown sugar 1 egg 2 tablespoons milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt additional granulated sugar Directions: 1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. 2. Remove wrappers from chocolates (do this first because the cookies bake relatively quick and the chocolates need to be placed on them as soon as they are out of the oven) 3. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. 4. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar & beat until fluffy. 5. Add egg, milk, and vanilla extract and beat well. 6. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt and gradually beat into peanut butter mixture. 7. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar and lace on ungreased cookie sheet. 8. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly brown. 9. Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate into the center of each cookie (cookie will crack around edges). 10. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack and cool completely.    I have altered this recipe in the past and used Trader Joe's Cookie Butter instead of peanut butter and they came out delicious!!   [recipe from hersheyskisses.com]

Wrtier's Block

Lately I have been contemplating about this blog and the direction I would like to take this in. I started this a long, long time ago with the intention of blogging solely about DIYs and crafting and it was all super amazing. I remember numerous blog hops and blog awards and super sweet and thoughtful comments from so many in the blogging world. 
But soon enough, it all came to an end. I started blogging about way more personal things and shared so much more about my life on here and slowly, but surely, I started losing readers. I get it. My readers were here to share in my crafting adventures but I was saddened nonetheless, as I had really thought some of those readers could be transformed into actual  friends. It wouldn't be the first time I met someone online (especially through blogging) so you could definitely say that I was a bit disheartened by it all. 
Eventually.... I just lost my passion to write... and my desire to share. 
And here I am. With writer's block. And absolutely NO IDEA what I will be doing with this AT ALL.

365 days.

365 days have come and gone and the feeling hasn't gotten any easier. I really truly thought I would "do" better. I thought I would think of him and feel sadness but also be able to smile at the memory I have of holding him in my arms.

Unfortunately, as the 7th of December approached, I felt despair instead and felt as though life had just pressed the rewind button. I suddenly felt transported back to that black hole I found myself in one year ago. 365 days ago. Man, that's a lot of damn days. And to end up here again?

I know it's normal and to be expected, yes. I just wish it were a tiny bit easier as I can't imagine feeling like this every December 7th for the rest of my life. I want to someday, maybe, be able to celebrate instead of continuing to mourn our sweet, sweet boy.
 

West Elm + Wax by Lax

I  remember when we first started our Wax by Lax journey and we talked about our first craft show. I told my hunny how I had always dreamed of being a vendor at a show. So we signed up and we were accepted and there we went buying all the props we would need to get started. I was certain that craft shows were exactly what we needed to get Wax by Lax off to the right start. 

Well... it wasn't all I had hoped for. It was hot and raining and super slow. At the end of the show, the amount of money we made still managed to leave us in the negative but it was a great experience for us both either way. We talked to customers about our product and our process and we started getting more comfortable sharing our candles with others.

Almost 10 months later, and I am in awe at how far we have come. We had our third "pop up shop" today (2nd at West Elm) and every time we do one, I am still in awe at how much we have achieved in such a short time.

Wax by Lax wasn't something I ever imaged would turn the way that it has and even though we still have SO MUCH to learn, I feel confident that we have done pretty well.

Our little angel is what keeps us going -- making him proud is our goal. I just hope that he is looking down at us from heaven and is happy with his momma and daddy <3

Moving Out

It's been a week since we left our old apartment for our first home together. It was indeed a bittersweet day for me. After all, it was my first apartment by myself and because of that, it has a lot of symbolic meaning to me. I also went through so much in that apartment. I went through literally the best times of my life and the worst so to say it was difficult to leave, may actually be a little bit of an understatement. Besides the fact, of course, that I absolutely loved our community.

It was in that apartment that I saw my hunny for the first time in over 10 years. He came over, brought me food, and we sat on the couch watching True Blood. It was late and awkward and so amazing all at the same time. It was there where we had our first kiss. It was also there when we decided to try to have a baby and there that I found out I was pregnant. The worst day of my life also happened there, when I found out our baby was gone to be in heaven. 

 The months that followed were the worst of my life. I was completely broken and as I tried to find my way back to normality again, I saw myself surrounded by the same four walls. I would clean and sometimes break down and cry. I was reminded every day of our baby boy, where we had put his crib, and I would constantly imagine how our life would be different if everything had turned out OK. I would try SO hard to focus on all the amazing things that came from this place. But finally, it was time for a change.

This school year I started at a new school. It's been an amazing change and so cathartic. Now, we are in our new home and we are absolutely in love with it (apartment tour blog post coming soon!). I love it, it feels fresh and so amazing. I am less than 10 mins away from work now so it's easier and I get to sleep in a little bit more in the morning. I even get to come home for lunch and see my hunny. 

Yes, I do sometimes miss the area where we used to live but our new place is SO much better and it's a place we picked together and made it a "home" together. I am excited to see what new adventures we will have here.

our first kiss in our new home <3

Free My Mind - 50 Questions

A couple of years ago, I completed a 50 questions blogging challenge (answering 5 questions at a time) and reading back now, I have been able to see just how much I have changed since then. So I decided to go ahead and do the challenge again now... now that life has challenged me so much and I now that I am, in a way, a different person than I was back then when I originally answered them. I'm curious to see how my answers may have changed since then.

The questions can be found here online...

Here are my answers to the first five for today's post...

1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? Honestly, this is a pretty tricky question for me. On one hand, I feel like I have been through so much in life that has, in a way, forced me grow up quickly. I guess, if I had to choose an age, I would be at least 35 based on the person that I am, what I enjoy doing, how I act, how I feel about certain things, and where I am in life right now with all the experiences life has shown me. I'm in reality 32 and sometimes I feel like I act like a much older person but at the same time, I feel like I still have so much left to experience in life. 

2. Which is worse, failing or never trying? No one likes failure. Well, at least I think no one does. I, for one, am so competitive (with myself!) and hate when I fail. However, I also know that if I don't fail, it would signify that I never tried (or that I'm just that awesome LOL) and yes, I believe never trying is even worse. If you don't at least try something, then you will be depriving yourself of a learning experience. 

3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do? I think people do things that they don't like because of curiosity and because of expectations. I think people are curious at first about certain things and that curiosity may lead them to want to do something. Also, some people might do things because of expectations from others. For example, some people might feel like they have to do certain things or live a certain life because of what's expected from them. I'm not saying this is necessarily a good thing but it's a very common reality. As for the other side of this question, I think we like so many things we don't do because of fear. I think fear of what may happen is what keeps us from pursuing a lot of things we may like. 

4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done? Definitely but I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I rather say more than not have said anything at all. I think it's important for us to set goals for ourselves even if we know that maybe we will accomplish only 3 out of the five, for example. I think we should at least aim for something and we can't do this if we don't say we will. 

5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world? I would have to say ignorance. I think ignorance is the root of so many other problems we face in the world. I really think that if ignorance wasn't so prevalent in today's society, we wouldn't have as much crime, suicide, depression, arguments, etc. I think, in general, people would lead happier lives without depriving themselves of meaningful relationships with others because of ignorance. 

Spicy Tomato, Vegetable, & White Bean Stew

 

Ingredients:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

carrots (2-3, peeled & chopped)

3/4 red onion

2 green bell peppers, chopped

6 cloves of garlic, minced

28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes

2 1/2 cups of low sodium vegetable broth

1 15 ounce can of cannellini beans, drained & rinsed

1 15 ounce can of navy beans, drained & rinsed

1/2 cup dry whole wheat penne pasta

crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)

Italian seasoning (to taste)

salt (to taste)

black pepper (to taste)

2 bay leaves

  

Directions:

1. Warm the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and add the carrots, peppers, onion, and garlic until soft. Meanwhile, boil water for your pasta in a separate pot.

2. Add the crushed tomatoes, broth, beans, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and bay leaves.

3. Cook your pasta until it is al dente.

4. Bring the stew to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes on low heat.

5. Remove bay leaves and add pasta (cut them into small pieces) to the stew.

6. Cook together for another 5-10 minutes.

7. Enjoy :)

Day Trippin'

Sometimes you just need to get away after a long, stressful week. That was today for me. This past week was a roller coaster full of ups and down and turn-arounds. I was SO happy yesterday when the clock turned 2:20pm and the bell rang and the kids were out the door. It was such a relief. I couldn't wait to detach from work and I promised myself I would avoid any talk about work for the whole weekend (I have been talking about work non-stop since starting at the new school this year & I think my hunny is annoyed with it already lol).

I typically hate going out on Fridays because I'm usually exhausted but I suggested we go out to dinner anyway since I really needed to do something fun with my hunny. It was oh so good but of course, I ate too much and yes, I totally went over my daily Weight Watchers points.

But I. Didn't. Care.

Today was another bad-eating day (two days in a row! eep!). I did, however, have an awesome weigh-in this morning and I'm currently down a total of 27.8 lbs!!! *happy dance*

Today we decided to take a little day trip to Naples/Estero and we had a delicious lunch at The Rusty Bucket and we window shopped (and actually shopped lol) for the rest of the day. In between stores, we also had some pretty amazing gelato at Le Macaron and a decadent little piece of chocolate (yum!) as well as our usual Starbucks stop.

It was an amazing day at an amazing, relaxing place and I am so happy we went and made a day out of it! I really needed the disconnect from my daily stressful routine.

Oh! And I totally had little burgers today! I had only had burgers once in my entire life! Yup! Not even joking. These little babies were goooooood.

Here's a little video of us just walking around together and talking and laughing. We used our selfie stick for the first time and that was soooo awkward! lol. I'm glad to make memories together though. So I guess, in the end, it was totally worth the awkwardness.