O Christmas Tree

I love Christmas.

I start listening to Christmas music in August.  I buy any decoration that is properly covered in glitter.  I bought my first tree and started collecting ornaments when I was in high school.

For the past 8 years I've even had a Christmas-tree-decorating-tradition: Sean, one of my best friends, has come over to my house for almost a decade and helped me decorate my tree.  We have dinner and watch Christmas movies and hang all things sparkly from my tree.

He is also the only person that I know that can put the star on my tree.  It's way too heavy and takes roughly half an hour of maneuvering to get it to stay up there.  But it's made of solid glitter and I love it.  So every year Sean bitches and whines takes my direction and somehow manages to wedge that star on top of the tree.  It's why I keep him around.

Maybe slightly to the left.

But alas, this year my tree tradition has been broken.  I sold my house, packed up all of my things, and moved to South Carolina last week. I'm in temporary housing for a few weeks and while the weather is already a tremendous improvement, I am missing my Christmas tree.  It just doesn't feel like the most wonderful time of the year without the glow of lights in the evening.

So I will reminisce here about years of Christmas past.

When I bought my first house in 2011, I received the Christmas decorating gift of a mantle.  And I've had some fun with it over the past few years.

Also - if you need some (almost) free entertainment this holiday season - pick up some of these 3D Christmas glasses.  They turn each Christmas light into a different shape (I chose the reindeer version).

I'm also a huge fan of driving around looking at Christmas lights during the holiday season.  I am way too lazy to actually put lights on the outside of my house, so I really appreciate the effort that others go to to provide my entertainment.

My favorite - perfectly round tree.

And then there's also the time honored tradition of dressing my dogs in Christmas garb.

I believe her face says it all.

But I couldn't have my first Christmas in South Carolina be totally without cheer.  So to Target I went.  Meet my mini Christmas tree.

He may look kind of sad (he doesn't photograph well), but I already love him.

I plan on taking a Christmas tour of Greenville very soon, and I will post again about all the wonderful (and sparkly) things that I'm sure to find.

Happy Christmas season!

Jordan

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Happy Thanksgiving (and adios, Indiana!)

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year.  Not only does it kick off the holiday season with a ton of foods that are absolutely terrible for you (but taste oh-so-good!), it's the perfect time to reflect on the things that you are thankful for in your life.

And I have to admit that I am truly blessed.

I have two wonderful parents who have loved each other and me for the past 27 years unconditionally. My parents have provided an excellent foundation for my life and they are truly the reason that I have and can do all that I do.

I have two wonderful siblings, whose sense of humor cannot be matched.  My fur babies bring me such joy, and watching the community of people that are adopting homeless pets this holiday season just brings a warmth to my heart that cannot be expressed.  I also have a close group of friends that are really more like family.

The thing that I am most grateful for this year is a new opportunity that I have been presented with - the chance to leave Indiana and move to South Carolina.  All those wonderful relationships that I mentioned before - they have been really put to the test this year.  I have been an emotional wreck in making several huge life decisions, and my parents/siblings/friends have been by my side, lending a hand when I needed help prepping my house for sale, helping me move all of my things, and providing advice/comfort when I needed it the most.

I bought my first house in 2011, and over the past three years I have spent countless hours transforming it into my first home.  I completely revamped the kitchen (new countertops, backsplash, floors, sink, hardware and painting the cabinets) and no wall in the house was left unpainted.  I am actually really proud of how it turned out, even though I can't say that I am very sad about leaving it behind.

My good friend Jill Curtis helped me list and sell my house.  She is amazing and I highly recommend her if you are trying to buy/sell in Indianapolis.

Even though I have no idea what 2015 will bring, I am so excited about the unknown.  I've spent 2-3 weeks out of the year in South Carolina since I was born, and I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be making it my permanent residence.  I am temporarily moving to Greenville, where my parents have recently relocated, but my ultimate goal is to end up in Charleston.

If you've never been to Charleston - I highly recommend it.  We visited a few years ago and I was absolutely blown away with its beauty.

Wherever I end up, I have a wonderful support group that will be there for me, and that is what I am most thankful for this year.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving and get to spend time with the people that you love.  Because, quite honestly, that's the most important thing.

Jordan

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Mini More - Almond Joy Cupcakes

27 years.

I've been alive for 27 YEARS - and this Halloween was the first time that I experienced the wonder that is an Almond Joy.

Chocolate. Coconut. Almond.

Best combination EVER.

My baking routine has been thrown for a loop lately - I'm currently homeless.  In preparation for a big move (which I'll post about later), I sold my house and have been camping out at my parents' home while they reside at an undisclosed location (hint: somewhere in South Carolina).

While there are many drawbacks to not having a place of your own, my mom's house comes with at least one benefit: her stockpile of food.  My mom is a coupon queen.  She has no greater joy than getting things for practically free.  Therefore her pantry could feed a family of four for several months.

Or as my friend Krista calls it: diabetes in a closet.

She's not wrong.  But hey - we love to bake.  As I was foraging through her multitudes of baking supplies, I came across a package of Almond Joy instant pudding mix.

I immediately had two questions:

1. How did I not know that this existed?
2. How can I incorporate this into a cupcake?

I used my Mini Banana Pudding Cupcakes as a recipe base, and twisted it to become these Mini Almond Joy Cupcakes.

And trust me - they are fabulous.

PREP/DECO TIME: 45 minutes

BAKE TIME: 15 minutes

MAKES: roughly 75 mini cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

• Chocolate fudge cake mix (plus ingredients listed on box)
• FILLING
• Small box instant Almond Joy pudding*
• 1 3/4 cup cold milk
• FROSTING
• 1 cup cold milk
• Small box coconut cream pudding
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 4 oz. whipped cream cheese
• 8 oz. whipped topping (thawed)
• Almonds (optional)
• Chocolate shavings for garnish (optional)

WHIP IT UP

1. First prepare the frosting (it takes an hour to firm in the fridge).  In a large bowl, whisk together milk, coconut cream pudding mix and powdered sugar until thick and smooth.
2. Whisk in whipped cream cheese until blended.
3. Fold in whipped topping and place in the refrigerator for an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line your mini cupcake pans with paper liners.
5. Prepare cupcake batter as called for on box and fill each mini liner 2/3 of the way full.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
7. While cupcakes are baking, prepare the filling.  In a medium bowl, whisk together milk and Almond Joy (or your own version) pudding mix until thick.
8. Place pudding in refrigerator to set.
9. Once cupcakes are fully cooled, cut a small circle in the center of each cupcake and fill with Almond Joy pudding. (Tip: use an apple corer to "core" each cupcake.)
10. Once frosting has firmed, pipe onto the top of each cupcake.
11. Garnish the top of each cupcake with chocolate shavings and an almond.
12. Store any uneaten cupcakes in the refrigerator.

*If you can't find the Almond Joy pudding mix, you can always create your own.  It is essentially chocolate pudding with coconut and almond mixed in. So just place some coconut and slivered almonds in a food processor, chop down to a fine mix, and add to your chocolate pudding mix before allowing to set.  This might actually work better if you are finicky about coconut/nuts - you can omit anything you don't like, or add extra coconut if you are that kind of person (I definitely am).

Enjoy!

Jordan

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Sticky Floors

Another lesson in buying your first home: you will never catch everything that is wrong during an inspection.

Case in point - my kitchen floor.  As you can see, it's just sheet vinyl. Nothing particularly fancy.  It wasn't horribly ugly, but I wasn't in love with it either.

And even though I spent several hours (along with my parents and my inspector) in my house before I bought it, it was only when I was loading up the fridge on move in day that I noticed a large crack in the floor.

There is an island, so when they laid down the sheet of flooring, there obviously had to be a seam where the flooring was cut.  However, it could have been installed properly (how that is done, I have no idea).  Since I wasn't particularly fond of the flooring anyway, I never fixed the seam because I planned on replacing it at some point in the future.

So three years later, after mopping over it and general traffic, the seam looked like this:

Ick.

I was prepping my house to list it for sale, and I knew the flooring needed to be replaced.  I didn't want to spend a ton of money, and my dad mentioned something that he had seen on HGTV (he watches daily, he has no shame).

Peel-and-stick flooring.

Yes, you probably just had the same reaction that I did.  NO FREAKIN' WAY.

We had the peel-and-stick tiles in our laundry room when I was growing up. They were hunter green with diamond centers and to this day I still have nightmares about how ugly they were.

That was not going in my house.

Still, I humored my dad and let him take me to Lowe's to take a look at said peel-and-stick flooring.

There were options that looked like wood planks and tile that was actually grout-able.  I was absolutely blown away by the appearance, but the online reviews still had me skeptical.  Would the adhesive really work?  And if so, for how long?

Only one way to find out.

Lowe's was running a special where you received $10 off an order of $50 if you ordered online and picked up your items in the store, so my entire kitchen floor (around 180 square feet) cost me $156.00.

Definitely worth giving it a try.

I chose the wood plank option because grouting seemed like a hassle, and a wood-like surface was what I was really aiming for anyway.  Many of the reviewers stated that the adhesive didn't work and the planks buckled immediately.  I was so apprehensive that I kept the boxes and paper backing just in case the flooring didn't work so I could return it.

Three months in - it still looks fabulous.

I laid the planks directly on top of my existing kitchen flooring.  I vacuumed the surface once, mopped it with a water/vinegar solution, vacuumed once more, and mopped it with water/vinegar a final time.

The directions tell you how to initially lay out the planks, and we opened several boxes at a time and pulled planks randomly from each box to mix up the pattern.  Just peel back half of the paper, apply it to the floor, and pull back the rest of the paper as you lay down the plank.  The planks are extremely pliable, and although the directions tell you to score the plank with a box cutter, most of the time we were able to just snap the plank where we needed it (straight edges weren't a big deal for my kitchen).

Yes, that's my lovely mother slaving away.  Hi, mom!

The glue is atrocious.  I mean, really.  It was on the sides of the planks and it was a nightmare once it got stuck to your hands.  But a little canola oil removed it, and we had to take several breaks to get the goo off of our hands during the 8 hours (yes, it took us 8 hours) of installation.

I have to say this - my mom has some patience.  I would have quit on me a few hours in.

I've only found one setback - it scratches easily.  I noticed immediately that my dogs' nails were leaving marks on the floor.  You can only see it when the light shines on the flooring a certain way, but I'm extremely OCD and I know the scratches are there.  The real question is - can you see them?

So if you have pets, I might be a little apprehensive about putting this flooring down.  No critters running about? No issue.  It looks amazing, was a fraction of the cost of laminate or actual wood flooring, and it's water resistant to boot.

And just in case you were wondering - Lexi approves.

So, much like my recent wallpaper discovery, peel-and-stick floors are back. And until I told my Realtor that the floors were really peel-and-stick, she had no idea.  Mission accomplished.

Jordan

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Reese's White Chocolate Popcorn

Happy Halloween!

For the past several years, I've had this obsession with making white chocolate popcorn.  It is delicious, super easy and there are tons of variations.

This Halloween we are going with white chocolate popcorn drizzled in dark chocolate with Reese's Pieces sprinkled throughout.

Super healthy, I know.

The hardest part of making this snack - dodging my dogs as they were dancing around the kitchen and hoping that I would drop something.  They are huge fans of popcorn.  They are NOT huge fans of Halloween costumes, just in case you were wondering.

Yep - I'm that pet parent.  Their shame is well worth my entertainment.

If you have twenty minutes to spare this holiday season, you can put together this delicious snack with three or four ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry.  And there really isn't any "cooking" involved.  Unless you count melting chocolate chips in the microwave as cooking.

You will need:

• 1 bag of popcorn
• 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup Reese's Pieces

To start, pop a bag of popcorn (or you can be fancy and make it the old-fashioned way, but I don't have the patience for that mess).  Make sure that you get all of the unpopped kernels out of the bowl.

Next, melt the white chocolate chips by placing them in a microwave safe bowl and heating for 15-second intervals until fully melted.

Pour the melted chocolate over your bowl of popcorn, and mix together with a large plastic spoon.  You may need to coat the spoon in non-stick spray, as this does tend to get rice-krispy-treat messy.  Throw in as many Reese's Pieces as you feel necessary (roughly a cup did it for me), and spread out onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper.

If you want to add a little more pizzazz (and I always do), melt dark chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in 15-second intervals until melted.  Take a fork and drizzle the melted chocolate over the popcorn.  Your finished product should look something like this:

Now it just needs to set.  You can leave it out for around 15 minutes, or place it in the fridge if you want it to harden a bit faster.  Just break it into pieces, place in a bowl and munch away!

I warn you - this stuff is addictive.  And you may also hate regular popcorn after having eaten it covered in this sugary goodness.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Jordan

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