Give Thanks

                      

                   

The holidays are typically a happy time filled with so many good memories including those of loved ones no longer with us. I lost my hero, my role model, my friend, my mother a little over 6 years ago. So while I love the holidays it's rather bittersweet at times. I work hard to not let the melancholy really set in. I acknowledge my feelings and then I thank God that my Mom was in a far better place than this world. 

I picked up the holiday issue of Martha Stewart Living the other day (gotta love Martha...another thing that I got from my Mom). In the issue Martha wrote about remembering her sister, Laura, who passed suddenly this past August. She shared the poem she shared at her sister's memorial - Remember Me. 

After reading it I realized it lacked the true hope we have as Christians. So I rewrote the original.

Remember Me - A letter from a departed Mother to her daughter.

Do not be sorrowful that I will not return.

Do not be angry, I was not cheated.

My dearest daughter, be happy, I am at home with my Lord & Savior.

I cannot be seen but I can be heard in the wisdom of your words. You are growing into the woman of God I raised you to be. 

So as you stand upon a shore, gazing at the beautiful sea - remember me.

As you look in awe at the mighty forest and it's grand majesty - remember me.

As you look upon a flower and admire God's great care in His creation - remember me.

Remember me in your heart, your thoughts, your memories of the times we loved, the times we cried, the times we fought, the times we laughed.

One day we will meet again my darling daughter.

God may have called my Mother home but He also gave me the most wonderful Godmother and Mother-in-law a girl could ask for. God is good! 

With Thanksgiving upon us what are you thankful for? 

xo Mia

Disneybound

 

                         

The hubby and I are sitting in the airport waiting for our plane to board. We are stoked to be going back to Disney World to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. If this trip is even half as good as our honeymoon we will have an amazing time. 

I'll be back blogging after we get back from the happiest place on earth. You can follow along on our adventure on Instagram :) 

See you soon!

xo Mia

getting in the spirit

This time next week the hubby and I will be on our way to the happiest place on earth to celebrate one very happy year of marriage. 

I am getting super excited for the Christmas decorations we will see at Disney. I have even watched a few holiday movies to get me in the spirit (not like I ever need it since it's my favorite time of year). So instead of working on my to do list for vacation I have been busy goofing off and planning my theme for this Christmas and all the DIY projects that come along with it. I mean I will be getting back from vacation within less than a week from Thanksgiving so it is kinda a priority right?  

I am loving these curtains to spice up the living room to set off my gilded, art deco inspired holiday theme. They are super long and a super steal to boot! And maybe it's just an excuse to get new curtains wink wink.

Ingerlise Curtains by IKEA

I want to jazz up our sadly neglected hallway wall that you can see clearly from pretty much every room in our small apartment. I was catching up on one of my fave bloggers , Aubrey Kinch, and her nursery has the most darling polka dot wall. You can check it out here. I have a circle cutter so all I need is some gold contact paper and I am golden (pun so intended).

Every year our Christmas tree is a challenge as one of our tunas like to launch himself superman style into the tree. The first year the ornaments slowly migrated higher and higher on the tree until they were all at the top of the tree and rest of the tree was devoid of all sparkly goodness except for the lights. So every year I try to come up with a new idea to dress the tree up with the hope that Mr. Buff-N-Stuff will finally not be able to thwart his Mommy's plans. So far Mommy 0 - Mr. Buff 3. Here's hoping to my first win this year! 

Another blog I read, Poppytalk, had a great post last month that had some really inspiring holiday decorating ideas which you can check out here. The first image has a tree with oversized paper balls which got the gears in motion. I happen to have quite a bit of gold tissue paper stuffed in one of my craft drawers so I am thinking I will be making my own tissue paper pom poms for my tree this year. 

I have a lovely metallic table cloth in a pattern reminiscent of the art deco period that I scored from my day job that will be perfect as a tree skirt. It's been sitting in my closet for almost 3 years just waiting for the right project! I have to doctor it up a bit but that shouldn't be too hard. It will essentially end up being a tuna bed so I am not aiming for perfection since you will not be able to see much of it once Whiskey and Zeppoli park themselves under the tree for the remainder of the holiday season. But it will be lovely in between all that fur. 

I will be sure to share my adventures in decorating once I get back from vacation. Well, I guess it's about that time I get to work on what needs to get done before we leave for Florida next Friday. Yay laundry...said no one ever! 

Do you have any good plans for this weekend?

xo Mia

Sprouted Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't love a good chocolate chip cookie? Now that I've gone all crunchy and tossed all the refined sugars and bleached flours I have been working on revamping the classic recipe I made as a child. 

This is an easy peasy recipe that you can whip up in no time. With good for you ingredients you won't feel guilty devouring them! Though don't keep these tasty goodies all to yourself...sharing is caring ;)

{Sprouted Chocolate Chip Cookies}

1/2 Cup Unsalted Grass-fed Butter, softened

3/4 Cup Coconut Sugar

1 Large Pastured Egg

1/2 Tsp Organic Vanilla Extract

1 Cup + 2 Tbsp Sprouted Flour

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1/2 Tsp Celtic Grey Sea Salt

6 oz Organic Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

With a hand mixer or standing mixer cream the butter and sugar. Next, add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined. In another bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Now add the sifted ingredients into the bowl and mix until just blended. With a wooden spoon or spatula gently fold in the chocolate chips. 

Place bowl in the freezer for a few minutes while you line your baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper.* Once your pans are lined (I use 3) remove the bowl from the freezer and drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough on the baking sheets making sure they are equally spaced apart (you want them to make friends in your tummy not with their neighbors). 

Bake 10 - 12 minutes. Let the cookies rest for a minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Makes approximately 30 cookies.

Recipe adapted from my mother's recipe box.

*I have found that letting the dough chill for a few minutes before baking them helps them spread more slowly and evenly when baking. The parchment paper makes for the perfect non-stick surface AND makes clean up a breeze! 

If you like an extra crunchy cookie just swap out 1/4 cup of coconut sugar for real organic maple syrup. You can also add 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts if you want to shake it up. Also this recipe is easily doubled. All the ingredients I purchased at my local Whole Foods. 

I hope you give this recipe a try. It's sure to be a new favorite! 

xo Mia