Pumpkin White Chocolate Cookies

So, lately I have been a failure at both cooking and baking. However, there have been tons of yummy fall recipes floating around Pinterest and I just couldn’t resist.

I saw these easy “3 Ingredient Pumpkin White Chocolate Cookies” over at Tatertots & Jello.  Three ingredients?? That’s pretty hard to mess up!! And they are semi healthy too!! No flour, no butter, no oil.  Bring it on!!!

Ingredients:

16 oz. Pumpkin Puree

1 box of Spice Cake Mix

2 cups of White Chocolate Chips (1 cup in cookies – additional cup for optional topping – see my notes below)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350-degrees

Mix the pumpkin, cake mix and cup of white chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl

Once its thoroughly mixed, spoon mixture on to a greased baking sheet

Bake the cookies at 350-degrees for 10-12 minutes (I only cooked for 10 minutes to prevent burning – my specialty!)

Take them out and cool!

A few notes:

• If you look at the original recipe over on Tatertots and Jello, you will see she melted white chocolate over the top of the cookies.  I failed at melting my chocolate (I know I know – this is how I roll with cooking/baking) so my cookies had no extra chocolate on the top.  But honestly, it wasn’t even missed.  These cookies are a perfect amount of sweetness (even for someone who would eat sweets for every meal for the rest of my life.
• THESE ARE ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!  I am not a fan of pumpkin pie because of the consistency of the pie itself and the crust.  HOWEVER, I do love the taste.  These cookies have an amazing amount of chewy/soft consistency and taste exactly like pumpkin pie!!  The white chocolate chips are a little extra sweet and are just like putting some whipped cream on top of your pie!!
• These are even better stored in the refrigerator!

This is a super easy, minimal ingredient recipe!!! They are absolutely DE-LISH!!!

Have you tried any fabulous fall recipes lately??

High Five for Friday!!!

Happy Friday friends!!!

Here’s my five, well four, for the week!!!

1.  Last Friday night I went to a football game at my alma mater.  My niece’s high school was playing my high school.  I went to go see her freshman-year band performance.  14 years after she came to see me at my first home football game, in a baby carrier!  Such a proud aunt!! And my big sister (her mom) marched on that field 13 years even before that!!  Family of band nerds!!!! And proud of it!

2.  I have been wanting to bake  a yummy fall treat, but most of the recipes out there go against my trying to eat healthy.  I made these pumpkin spice cookies for my fella last weekend.  Not only were they DELISH but they are also pretty good for you!! I will be posting the recipe next week!

3.  I have had a bunch of games stored away and dug them out recently.  We played a round of Jenga last weekend. Seriously, that game is so much fun. But stressful! Happy to say I didn’t lose!!!

4.  My DIY spirit continued this week around my house. I have swapped out electrical outlets before and figured this one would be the same.  After several failed attempts and face-timing with a friend who is an electrician, I managed to cause sparks, blow the house’s circuit breaker, and burn up the outlet! Whoops!! Luckily no one was harmed and no houses were burned to the ground. And the outlet has been successfully installed!!

Overall a successful week!! What are you up to this weekend?!?

As always, linking up with Lauren!

Happy Friday!!!

My Table Scares Me

So, throughout most of my life, I have taken the “safe” route. Not taking many chances, doing things the way they “should” be done, and especially not taking any chances in decorating my house.

I have always gone the safe route, not wanting to do anything too risky or out of my comfort zone.  Then I saw this quote……..

Source

It immediately inspired me.  Since I graduated college, I have lived with another person.  All of my decorating choices were a compromise.  For almost the past two years, I have lived by myself for the first time in my life.  It took about a year to realize, this was MY space, and my space only.  This may be the only time in my life I will be on my own, able to decorate for ME and no one else.  While sitting in my living room, looking at this…….

I realized this was the space I wanted to scare me. All of that dark furniture (all brought from my old house, bought for that space specifically) didn’t make this space feel like mine.  THIS was where I was going to take my decorating chances.

I have always been a fan of light colors, turquoise, tan, white, yellows, but lately I have been drawn to navy, gold, yellow, etc.  Then I saw this living room on Pinterest…..

Source

After seeing this, I knew navy and gold/yellow was where I wanted to go.

With all of that heavy furniture, one piece had to go. My TV stand was staying and I loved the tall bookshelf in the corner, so it was the small shelf on the left that got the boot.

I fell in love with this table…..

Source

But with a $699 price tag, I knew something else had to be done.

I have never, in my life been drawn to the color gold, until recently.  This was definitely going to be a risk, outside of my comfort zone, and something that scared me.

I scoured thrift shoppes, HomeGoods and other discount stores and wasn’t finding anything I liked. Then I remembered various gold items floating over blog land, all done with the magic of Rub’nBuff.  You may remember I gave my first go with Rub’nBuff on this silver vase.  This vase was to practice before I took my skills out on a bigger, more substantial piece.

I found the perfect table on Joss & Main.  Clean lines, simple, and only $99. BUT they were sold out. Womp.  The perfect table was eluding me.  I took a chance and looked on Amazon and found the exact same table that Joss & Main was sold out of.  For $93!!

I had $65 in cash back bonus to use + free shipping with Amazon Prime, so the final cost of the table was only $33.58.  That made me feel better about totally altering the look of the table.

After building the table, I got to work adding the Rub’nBuff

It took two coats to fully cover the table.  This time, the best way to “buff” off the excess was to just wipe. No circular buffing, no scrubbing. Just wiping off the excess.  This helped limit the number of streaks and prevent the original finish from poking through.

It didn’t take long at all. And when done, the finish was solid, and wasn’t rubbing off.

I swapped out the bookshelf for the new table and absolutely love it!!!

I think it totally helps lighten up the space, taking away the heaviness of all of the dark furniture.

I did a little bit of styling of the space (seriously always the most fun part of any new project!!!)

I got all of this from Target. Total Target addict! The lamp was on clearance for $18 and the shade was only $14.  This picture doesn’t do the lamp any justice. It is HUGE.  And totally a bargain at $18.  I got this Jonathan Adler desk organizer to hold some necessary living room clutter and also to use as a charging station for my iPad and phone.  I always charge them at this spot and this helps corral the mess!

I absolutely love pictures and wanted to find the perfect place for these pictures from my trip to Napa last year. Boy do I wish this table was in a house I owned out in Napa!! I got this geometric shape from Target for $3.  I gave it two coats of Navy spray paint and it was perfect for the space.

So, was I scared to have a gold table in my house? Yessir! But am I thrilled to have taken a chance and go outside of my comfort zone?? ABSOLUTELY!!!

What decorating risks have you taken lately?!?!?!

High Five for Friday!!

Happy Friday everyone!!!  I had a busy week of normal everyday stuff, but I only have 4 things to share this week.

1.  I have been working with my trainer still, eating healthy and trying to lose some lbs.  I was researching what were good “after workout” snacks to not ruin my workout but build back up my muscles and energy.  I have seen so many places that chocolate milk is a great after workout snack.  I asked my trainers to be sure I wasn’t sabotaging myself and they said go for it. I haven’t had chocolate milk in YEARS, but it is absolutely amazing!!!  Anyone else out there drink chocolate milk on the regular??

2.  I have another app I love (this is almost like a regular segment – Favorite apps by Tiffany!).   MyFitnessPal is an awesome app!  It is a calorie tracker where you can input your weight, where you want to be, and some other factors and it calculates how many calories you should be eating each day. As the day goes on, you can input what you’ve eaten and your workout details and it keeps track of your daily progress.  This app is awesome because it has practically everything (including the 1/2 Panera sandwich I had a work lunch this week) in the app.  AND if you don’t feel like searching,  you can scan the barcode of what you’re eating and all the details pull up. AWESOME!! Oh, and it’s free!

3.  I have been skiing since I was in middle school and have always dreamed of going somewhere “real” to ski. Not just the various places around Pennsylvania.  This week my fella and I booked an upcoming ski trip out west to Colorado!!! I can’t wait!! I have a countdown ready and going! Hopefully I survive the descent down the mountain!! (Picture source)

4.  In addition to skiing, we are going camping in a few weeks.  Some background….I am a girl scout drop out. I was forced to go camping when I was younger, camped in the snow, and refused to go again so I quit!   Last October was the first time I had gone camping since I was a kid and have gone twice since!  I haven’t had my own sleeping bag and froze the last time we went so I had to invest in this awesome bag!!  I got it out of the box this week and it is so warm and cozy and comfy, I want to lay in it on the couch at night when I watch tv. Hey, I live alone –  I can do these things!!

Hope you all have a fab weekend!!

Linking up with Lauren.

HomeGoods – The Oversized Edition

It’s time for another round of virtual HomeGoods shopping!!  Since I have instituted a “no-spend” September, I told myself I was not going to buy ANYTHING when I went into HomeGoods.  I stayed true to my promise and left empty handed, but saw lots of eye-candy that I wanted to bring home!!

As soon as I walked in I saw this beauty………

The soft gray color and the nailhead trim made me wish I had a place to put this in my house.

And right next to it was this settee…..

This was by far my fave.  The linen fabric, nailhead trim, tufting, and the whitewashed legs. It was absolutely gorgeous. I wanted to sit on it and never get up!

Ummm…are you seeing a trend?  Lots of linen, tufting, and nail-head trim to be found.  This chair would make an amazing office chair or even dining chairs.

There was lots of amazing glassware to be found.  HomeGoods never disappoints in that department.

Those mercury glasses above were $9.99. But if you have some old glass sitting around you can follow my tutorial here and make your own!!!  I loved the glass lantern with the leather strap. It was different than the normal glass vase and gave it some additional interest.  The vase wrapped with jute it also an easy DIY.  Any glass vase you have can be made into something with some glue and a roll of jute. I actually have a vase I DIY’d and never blogged about.  And this big giant beauty was only $9. I had trouble walking away from that awesome deal!

These two mirrors were awesome.

I am loving industrial touches lately and this first mirror made my heart pitter patter. This second mirror isn’t my normal style but I could see the individual blocks painted a variety of colors, or different stain colors.  That would give it some spice.

I also loved this mirror. It seemed vintage to me and in the right room could really pop as a focal point.

Sticking with the industrial theme, I saw these few things……

This chest was HUGE.  Almost 4 feet long. I absolutely loved the roughness of it, the metal edges and the glass fronts.  The lamps were also a nice industrial touch. I wished I had a room to put both of these items in!

This metal cabinet also was a nice, manly, industrial cabinet. It was thin metal, but for the price it could work in a nice, organized storage room, in a husband/wife office, etc.

And by far my favorite industrial item was this bench….

I love benches at the foot of a bed, but this one was on industrial wheels. It was ingenious.  I loved it.

Now, you may have noticed this post was titled the oversized edition. As I was making my way around the store, I was noticing that 80% of the items in the store were HUGE. Not just furniture, carpets, mirrors, etc. But accessories and decor pieces were huge too! All 5 foot 4 of me was starting to feel shrunken in this place!! And I realized 99% of the things I saw would never fit in my teensy house!!

These pictures in no way do these items justice. They were all huge! That top picture was an aisle of huge items!!

I love terrariums and have it on my list to make one. I would love a container like this….

Again, it was HUGE and wouldn’t even remotely fit anywhere in my house!!!

And what’s a trip to HomeGoods without a giant knight in shining armor?

I want to know who buys these?!?!

Not everything in the store was huge……

As you saw in my High Five for Friday, I fell in love with this little guy for $5.99. I patted him on the head and walked away. It is no-spend September after all!

Have you had any good finds at HomeGoods lately? Share!!!

Fall Outdoors – The Previous Home Edition

With yesterday being the first day of fall, I have been seeing lots of fall outdoor inspiration on Pinterest lately and it makes me sad that I do not have an abundance of space at my new house to put up a fall display that I deem worthy of putting my efforts into!  See?

Not much space there on my tiny stoop. It makes me miss the stoop at my old house and I decided to reminisce.  Allow me to share my fall stoop from 2011!!!

In no way do I consider myself a “country” girl. Despite my borderline obsession LOVE for George Strait (King of Country) I am far from a country/nature girl.  HOWEVER, every Fall, my must have outdoor item is a hay bale!  Hayrides, hay mazes, Fall decor….the perfect fall accessory!

Mums are another must have (despite the fact that I will probably kill them within two weeks).  I loved the warm Fall tones of these maroon and gold beauties! Hopefully they last! They got dressed up with two pots I had lying around the garage.

Pumpkins are also a MUST HAVE……this is earth shattering decor advice I am bringing you here, people! You can thank me later!  Most of my outside stuff came from a local orchard.  Visiting the orchard is definitely one of my favorite parts of Fall!

I HAD to have this green Apple Gourd…..apples……another Fall must have!  I may or may have not run over and JOYOUSLY picked this guy up and hugged him when I saw him…..exclaiming that he HAD to come home with me!  And the big orange guy on the left, well, he’s totally mis-shapen in the back, and I felt sorry for him, but I knew his stud-ly, crooked self would work out just fine on the hay bale!

The “stoop” is uncovered….oh how I used to wish I could alter the front of the town house to add an overhang…

1……. So I could leave more stuff outside to decorate (the Jack-O-Lantern lantern and the wagon in the picture before this will have to come in at the first sight of rain).

and 2…….. So I don’t get soaking wet in the rain while fumbling for my keys!! Umbrellas are too much for this hot mess to handle sometimes!

ANYWAY!!! On the door is a festive Halloween wreath that I had from last year (this is about as Halloween as my house gets! – No ghosts or goblins here!)

BUT, by far, my favorite outside festive item is this beauty………

I have been IN LOVE with pumpkin topiaries that I have seen on Pinterest……

Inspiring Pretty

and over at Centsational Girl….

I knew I had to make one of these!!!  You can find my instructions for making my topiary here.

I feel fully in the fall spirit now that I lived vicariously through my old stoop!

High Five for Friday!!!

Hey Hey!!! Happy Friday!! I have been anxiously awaiting this week to be “ovah”!!!

1.  I ran to Target for necessities this week (3 times because I forgot something EVERY TIME) and ended up with this $4 “necessity”.  This Pumpkin Cheesecake candle is absolutely UH-MAZING!!! I can’t get enough of it. Totally got me pumped up and ready for Fall!

2.  I did some HomeGoods browsing last week and saw this little guy for $5.99.  I am not a dog person. Never owned one and never will, but I fell in love with this little guy. I keep going back and looking at his picture because he is so darn cute!!

3.  I bought an iMac 2 years ago……and I’m not sure why. Somehow I let myself be talked into wanting  a desktop more than a laptop. Bad move. I have someone who is buying my iMac, and before I can let it go I have to get myself a new computer to keep up with this here blog and other life necessities.  So I am computer shopping this weekend with my fella and I am pumped!!!! Especially because it WILL NOT break the bank with the sale of my old comp!  Excited like it’s Christmas!!

4.  This week I went out to dinner with some friends to restaurant week in Conshohocken (outside of Philly).  We went to a tappas restaurant and each got the tasting menu for restaurant week.  The 12 courses were delicious (except for the salt-laden squash soup and the mussels and shrimp which I didn’t eat).  Although there was a 15 minute lull between each tasting course, the night was fun.  My fave course of all? DESSERT!! I’m a sucker for dessert!

5.  I am always excited to try out new apps on my phone.  I heard about the Sleep Time Alarm Clock app and knew I wanted to check it out.  It’s an alarm clock you set at night before bed. You then put your phone face down on your bed (above your pillow) and it monitors your sleep levels during the night. It works with the sensor in your phone to be able to record when you are awake, in a light sleep or in a deep sleep.  It will also start your alarm in the morning when it senses your body is ready to wake up, rather than when you alarm is making you get up.  The first night, my alarm went off 20 minutes before my set wake-up. Today it didn’t go off until my set time.  Guess I wasn’t ready to get up!! Both nights I was around a 90% sleep efficiency meaning my body is in a nice, restful state of sleep for most of the night! It also has soothing ocean sounds to fall asleep to! So far I think its pretty spot on and awesome! Give it a try!

Hope you have an awesome weekend!!

Linking up with Lauren!

Adding a Little Spice in the Bathroom

I’m back!! Technical difficulties (= no batteries for my computer mouse and me forgetting for 2 days to get some) have led to an unintentional hiatus!!

As I mentioned before, I love helping other people fix up their houses. Spending their money and having additional spaces to let my design juices run free = AWESOME!!

My fella has finally gotten on board allowing me to “help” spruce up his house!  I am usually at his house 3 days a week. Being a female, I come with a LOT of stuff. Especially bathroom items.  Currently at his house, his daughter’s bathroom is under renovation so she is sharing his bathroom, the same I use. Three people in this bathroom means a LOT of stuff.

(Now, I will confess that in the picture above, 75% of that stuff is mine…..but still). His builder-grade bathroom has a large mirror and no medicine cabinet. The only option is to leave essentials out on the counter or put them below the sink. And seriously, who wants to have to bend over daily to get essentials for getting ready?!?! NOT ME!!!!

I had seen these Bekvam spice racks in the kitchen storage section of IKEA……

and knew they would be PERFECT to help corral some of this bathroom chaos!  And at $3.99 a piece…..game on!

I built these two puppies in less than 10 minutes, gave them a coat of primer and spray painted them satin white.  A day or two to cure, and they were ready to hang!

Probably one of the quickest, easiest organization projects of all time!!!

SO much better!! See that organization? (And all that room for my stuff on the counter???)

You may remember I bought 2 racks. Well, we placed them up and realized only one was needed, so there is one left to use to “spice-“up somewhere else around the house!

Hey, its a win win for everyone!!! I also hung up that $4 mirror from IKEA too!  A girl’s gotta pluck her eyebrows and be able to see to apply her makeup even when she’s away from home am I right?!?!

So for $12, there is some definite “spice” and organization going on in this space! Next up, I think he needs some paint, some crisp white outlet and light switch covers, and an updated light fixture…….all in the name of helping those I care about!!

High Five for Friday!!!

Hey Hey!!! Happy Friday!! I have been majorly slacking in finishing several outstanding projects, hence a lack of posts this week! I have an agenda to complete this weekend so hopefully I have some new things for you next week!

This week was slow, so I only rounded it out with a high four! Here goes!

1. I did a little new purse shopping last weekend and took my fella along. I saw this Coach trench and fell in love. I have always wanted a trench but never found one that fit just perfect! I made the mistake of trying this on and it was UH-MAZING. I fell in love! I didn’t want to spend the money on this since I was getting a new purse so my “oh so sweet” fella bought me the trench as an early birthday present. Funnily enough, my birthday isn’t until January! Maybe he will forget about this and buy me something else! HOPEFUL!!

2. Last weekend I got together with two of my college roommates for a catch-up lunch. We had lunch on the river in our state’s capital city. It was a gorgeous day with lots of laughs, catching up, and celebrating D’s pregnancy announcement!!! Congrats!!

3. Speaking of gorgeous weather, I went for a long run last weekend and it was amazingly beautiful out. I snapped this picture while running. It’s like a hole into heaven! I love it!

4. And last but not least, I love this time of year for several reasons, one of which is Franken Berry cereal! Since I have been little, this is one of my all time faves!! I stock up on a few boxes since I can only get it one time a year! Yumm!

Any good plans for the weekend? I have some projects up on the schedule and some other odds and ends!!

Hope you have a fab weekend! Linking up with Lauren!

High Five for Friday!!!

Happy Friday after a short week!!!  Can I get an AMEN that all weeks should be 4 days weeks?!? I’m just so much more productive when I have less time at work!

Anyway! Here’s my 5 for the week!!

1.  This Boom Chicka Pop popcorn is UH-MAZING!! I am not a fan of regular buttered popcorn although I know generally popcorn is a healthier snack option. I heard about this stuff and decided to give it a try. It has a slight hint of sweet to it and its FAB. You can eat 3 1/2 cups and its only 90 calories or something ridiculous! Yum!

2.  I haven’t spent much time pool/beach-side this year and was hoping over the last weekend of summer to get some sun time. I spent a few hours at the pool last weekend. It was wonderful and sunny and good for a tan!

3.  Over the holiday weekend we decided to go to a local park for some outside time in the gorgeous weather….which led to some grown-up swinging. Swinging is fun at any age!

4.   Ummm….tell me how amazing these cupcakes look!  A new cupcake shop opened near my work today and despite my diet better judgement, I decided to stop in and get some……of course they are a gift for my fella…..and I just may have to taste test each one to make sure they aren’t poisonous or anything for him!!! (Verdict so far……….UHHHHH-MAZING!! It made me work harder at the gym tonight!)

5.  So, true story. I have hated football all my life. I was the girl in the band (BAND NERD) whose best friend LOVED football and didn’t gossip talk to her most of the Friday night football games because she was actually watching the game!  Now that I’m dating a fella who LOVES football, I decided to give it a try. Shockingly, I actually like it. It’s pretty exciting and fun to get caught up in all of the hype. My fella is a NY Giants fan and their first regular season game is this Sunday. Excited for football Sunday (and Pizza!!!)

Hope you had a fab week and an even more fab weekend coming up!

Linking up with Lauren!  Happy Friday!!!