allow me to introduce myself...

hey there! it's about time i started this blog up again, and i feel like this would be the perfect opportunity to tell you a little bit about myself!

my name is brittney. i'm a coffee drinking, sprinkle loving, 20-something year old gal living in central california (think cows and almond orchards rather than beaches ;P). i'm married to my super sweet husband, eddie, and we have a baby named arlo and a cat named tommy. i have a major sweet tooth and love eating pretty food (you are what you eat, so your food might as well be cute, right? or is that not how it works...). 

anyway, i plan to share some fun food adventures here, along with other cute bits and pieces. i'm still figuring the blogging thing out, but i'm just gonna dive in and play it by ear! 
i hope you'll come along for the ride :)

let's be friends! introduce yourself in the comments!

~*~ birthday month wish list! ~*~

Guess who is THE WORST at posting regularly? This girl right here! I've been busy working and living life, but I would really like to get in the habit of taking more photos and such. We shall see! 

Anywho, it's almost my birthday! I've had my eye on a few things lately and thought maybe you would like to drool over these pretties with me. Shall we?

1. These Kate Spade pink glitter eyeglasses are probably the most perfect frames I have ever seen. EVER! I mean, pink AND glitter?!? When I first stumbled across these online I started dancing around my room with excitement. Alone. At midnight. Basically, I need them. 

2. More glittery Kate Spade eyewear! I don't know if I'd ever spend more than $20 on sunglasses, but dang, these are nice to look at!

3. I've been freaking out about this watermelon cooler bag from ban.do since it was first released. I FINALLY PURCHASED IT! It's on its way to me right now! I fully intend on using this ultra-cheery bag as a regular purse ;). I like novelty bags, what can I say? 

4. Currently swooning over this hanging chair from Urban Outfitters. Very whimsical, no?

5. I have a mild obsession with teacup inspired mugs from Anthropologie. I've been eyeing this dainty striped mug with a floral interior. Don't you just love those surprise prints on the inside? 

6. I've been saving my pennies for a professional-grade espresso machine. I haven't decided on a specific model yet, but if I won the lottery or something like that, I'd probably have to go with the new Linea Mini by La Marzocco. It's crazy expensive and I'll never buy it, but a girl can dream, right? ;)

Has there been anything that you've been dreaming about getting lately? Let me know in the comments!

We bought a house!

Buying a house can make you feel a lot of different emotions. I, for example, would go from jumping up and down with excitement to feeling sick to my stomach with stress within a few minutes. But! I'm so happy that my husband and I are currently moved into our new home. We've been looking to buy a house for years, and when this opportunity just fell in our lap, we knew it was meant to be. 

When we first saw the house we knew we would have quite a bit of work ahead of us. Don't get me wrong, if we reeeeeally wanted to, we probably could have just moved in without changing anything, but it's nice to give everything a fresh coat of paint and new flooring to make it feel fresh and clean. Especially when the carpets are a sort of magenta/burgundy color and the walls are red in some rooms and sponge painted in others. Here's a few phone snapshots to give you an idea of what we were working with.

Not the greatest quality picture, but you get the idea. Nice color combo, eh?

See that pink and green sponge paint action? Yup. Awesome. It reminds me of those old school photo backdrops.

In case you were wondering, yes, it was a pain to paint over those walls. It took 3 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint. 

We got lucky with this room! It already had wood flooring and it has great natural light! I will be using this room as my office.

I LOVE the bay window and fireplace! 

Of course I chose a Hello Kitty key ;) You can kinda see our new flooring in the background here.

We will be working on little things here and there for a while, but that just means that everything in the house will be what WE want it to be. I'm excited!

I will be sure to post a full house tour in the near future. Wait 'til you see the yard! It's needs a bit of cleaning up but it's so awesome!

xoxo,

Brittney

a quick update

Sorry for the lack of updates over here! My husband and I bought a house (!!!) and that has been taking up most of our time. The whole experience was quite a roller coaster! Things kept getting pushed back, but we're finally all moved in! I'll be writing a full post about it later with lots of pictures soon. We also took a trip to Disneyland with our good friends (a wedding proposal was involved!). And when we got back I got fired from my job without explanation, sooooo...yeah. I guess you gotta take the good with the bad, right? I'm currently job hunting and trying to remain positive! Cross your fingers for me! 

xoxo,

Brittney

Stylish Surprise

Confession time:

Modcloth's  Stylish Surprise is my favorite form of gambling.

In case you aren't familiar, Modcloth holds the Stylish Surprise sales event a few times a year to clear out extra stock. You choose from different categories (such as shoes, apparel, accessories, or sometimes even apartment), choose your size if applicable, and they send you a mystery item. It's super cheap (usually $10 for apparel and shoes, and $5 for accessories) and the product can be worth anywhere from $30 to over $200! The catch is that there are no returns, and sometimes things can run a little small or large. If you have a very specific style, this may not be a good choice for you, but if you like being adventurous with your clothing, I highly recommend trying it out next time it rolls around!

The most recent Stylish Surprise event sold out super quickly, but I was lucky enough to snag a couple items!

My cat, Tommy, was very curious and decided that he needed to help me unveil my surprises. ;) 

 How cute are Modcloth's boxes? So fun!

My first item was a bright pink button up tunic. It not something that I would necessarily pick out myself, but I love the color and it's a nice addition to my wardrobe. I would love some styling suggestions! I'm thinking it will be a nice layering piece for the cooler upcoming months.

My second item was a 3/4 sleeve plum colored fit-and-flare dress. It's fairly basic, but the color is nice for fall and winter. It does fit very snug in the arms, but that will just make it easier for a cardigan to fit over the sleeves without bunching. The length is great too! Just a bit above my knees. 

 The dress does have this interesting twist back to it, but it makes it a little difficult to cover undergarments completely. Overall I really like it! I can't wait for the weather to cool down so I can wear this with some tights, booties, and a scarf. 

I'm fairly happy with my Stylish Surprises this time around! I like seeing what other people got via the #stylishsurprise hashtag on Instagram, too. It looks like there were a lot of winners out there! 

Have you had success with Stylish Surprise in the past? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo,

Brittney

National Peach Pie Day

1. I really like food holidays. I'll take any excuse to eat something yummy.
2. I need to figure out how to improve my kitchen's lighting situation. This is the only photo that turned out semi-ok. Yikes.
3. I realize that the fruits on the tea towel are probably oranges, but I'm going to pretend that they are peaches. ;)


ANYWAY.

If you would like to make a peach pie today, Sunday August 23, in honor of National Peach Pie Day, you totally should. I have a recipe for you! Yay!



Butter Pie Crust
recipe from King Arthur Flour

Here's what you're gonna need:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

Here's what you're gonna do:
 1. If you're using a food processor, pulse the flour, salt, and butter (cut the butter in small pieces first!) together. Carefully! You want it to look kinda crumbly, not fully incorporated. If you don't have a food processor, you can use a pastry cutter or a couple of forks to cut the butter into the flour. You'll probably use your hands a bit too. Wash them first. Don't be gross.
2. Add the ice water a little bit at a time. You will have added enough water when you can smoosh the dough together with your hands and it doesn't crumble apart. If it crumbles apart, add a little bit more water. Easy peasy.
3. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill for about 30 minutes. While that's chilling, make your pie filling.

This recipe makes enough dough for 1 double crust pie or 2 single crust pies.


Peach Pie
recipe adapted from Kitchen Trial and Error

Here's what you're gonna need:

6 peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
a pinch each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground ginger (if you want a more autumn-y tasting pie, you can add some more spice!)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter

Here's what you're gonna do:

1. Add the lemon juice, sugars, cornstarch, salt, and spices to peach slices in a bowl and stir. Let sit while you roll out the pie crusts.
2. Go ahead and preheat that oven to 375º F. It doesn't hurt to put a foil lined baking pan on the bottom rack to catch any drips! Super easy cleanup and no smoke alarm to deal with!
3. Take your chilled pie dough disks out of the fridge. Roll out one of the disks on a lightly floured counter. You want a circle that is a little bit bigger than your pie plate. Carefully take your circle of dough and transfer it to your pie plate. Push the dough down a little bit to make sure the plate is lined.
4. Stir your peach mixture one last time and add it to your dough lined pie plate. Cut the 2 tablespoons butter into small pieces and add on top of the peach mixture.
5. Roll out your second pie dough disk. From here you can make your top pie crust as simple or decorative as you like! If you want a simple top, just take your rolled out dough and cover the top of the pie. Crimp the edges together and make sure to cut some slits in the top dough to let steam escape. Or you can get fancy with cookie cutters or lattice tops or braided dough edges. It's your call! Have fun with it!
6. Bake your pie for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. To be safe, check on your pie every 20 minutes or so, just to see how it's coming along. If your crust is getting too dark, cover it with some foil.
7. This is the hardest part: wait for the pie to cool completely! I know it smells so good and you want to eat it right away, but if you wait about 4 hours the filling will set and won't ooze everywhere when you try to cut it. 

Enjoy!

xoxo
Brittney

Confetti Cookies!

You are what you eat, therefore, you should eat lots of cute foods! 

If you don't like being cute, well, then you should eat these cookies anyway because they're delicious.

I came across this recipe on Annie's Eats and could not wait to try them out. Sugar cookies with lots of sprinkles? Yup yup yup. I needed them. You need them now too, don't you? What are you waiting for? Let's make some cookies!

Here's what you're gonna need:

*makes about 2 dozen cookies*

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or any other extract you like! Lemon? Almond? Go for it!)

1/2 cup sprinkles!

 I used rainbow jimmies (aka "ice cream sprinkles") and threw in some heart shaped sprinkles for fun. You could use those little crunchy nonpareils too, but be aware that those crunchy sprinkles will stay crunchy when they are baked in the cookies. It just depends on your textural preference. :)

Here's what you're gonna do:

1. First things first! Preheat that oven to 350º F. Get a couple baking sheets out and line them with parchment paper while you're at it.

2. Dump the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl and whisk it together. 

3. Get out your stand mixer (or hand mixer!) and put the butter and sugars in a mixing bowl. Beat 'em on medium-high speed for a few minutes until they're nice and fluffy. Sing "Beat It" by Michael Jackson because that's what you always do when you beat things together when you bake. You're a little weird. That's ok. I like weird.

4. Crack that egg and throw it in the bowl! No shells, please. Add the vanilla, too. Mix until combined.

5. Turn the mixer speed to low and SLOWLY add the dry ingredients. We don't want flour flying everywhere. It'd be pretty funny, but let's be real, who wants to clean that kind of mess up?

6. Got that dough all mixed up? Good. Now for the best part: SPRINKLES!

Are your eyes happy? My eyes are happy.

It looks good, doesn't it? You should totally have a taste or 5 to make sure. I fully support your choice to consume raw cookie dough. YOLO. (Disclaimer: Obviously you know your body better than I do. People with weakened immune systems should probably skip the cookie dough eating part. Eat at your own risk!)

7. Scoop that cookie dough! I used one of those handy dandy cookie scoopers, but spoons work just fine. Aim for about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie. Leave a little space between the cookies so they don't bake together in one mega cookie. A couple of inches apart should be fine. 

8. Pop those pans in the oven for about 15 minutes. Rotate the pans halfway through so the cookies bake nice and evenly. The cookies are done when the edges are barely golden brown. It doesn't hurt to check on them a few minutes before the suggested baking time, just in case. Some ovens might take less time, and you probably don't want burnt cookies.

Leave the cookies on the baking sheets for a few minutes to cool a little bit, then transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy your tasty treats!

Thanks to Annie's Eats for this recipe!

P.S. You should totally make ice cream sandwiches with these! Do it! Do it!