When it comes down to it, the holidays are the most special time of year for me. They provide me with a wholehearted happiness- a feeling that comes only a few times of year. It fills my body with that Christmas time feeling where shock waves of warmth shoot from my stomach to my heart (cheesy?). When Basic Invite reached out to me, I jumped for joy because I couldn't think of a better company to help me to encapsulate that feeling in the hopes of sending it via USPS to my loved ones and friends.

Do you love these holiday cards? Are you wondering why they're very B (and Anthony approved)? Let me indulge you for a moment. With over 500 different designs to choose from, I was able to pick the cards that encapsulated that Christmas time feeling I absolutely adore (Eloise voice) so much. From there, I choose from the basically limitless color selection which also includes gold, rose gold, or silver foil... beautiful. After you're finished with your design, you have the ability to see and print exactly what it is going to look like before you even buy! When it comes to envelopes, Basic Invite lets you choose a color for your envelope and gives the option to address it for you. This time saving option is great for anyone who's feeling overwhelmed this holiday season.

So, whether you're getting cards for your colleagues, the classic holiday card, or looking to send some vintage cheer, Basic Invite will have the card for you. Take it from me, I got 3 different cards! You better hurry though, 19 days until Christmas, darlings! Use the code holi30 for 30% off your purchase.

Now, the hardest thing we have to do is to get all of the addresses from friends and loved ones! So, if you're our people, be on the lookout for a holiday card from Anthony and me in your mailbox next week.


*This post was sponsored by Basic Invite

Tasked with bringing something to your Thanksgiving celebration? Not quite sure what you think you should bring? Want the dish to be simple, quick, and require minimal attention? Don't know what to do with those extra apples sitting on your counter? Want to exercise the kitchen witch inside of you? Desire to prove something to your mom and family? Despise me for asking you all of these questions?  Well, you made it this far in the post so I suggest that you make this delicious warm apple crisp. Perfect for the "record-breaking" chilly weather that is about to ensue.

Apple crisp is one of my favorite things in the whole world. It brings me back to the fall seasons I experienced growing up in Pennsylvania. How does that Christmas song "Home for the Holidays" go again? Oh yeah: Pennsylvania and some homemade pumpkin pie. Did you just sing that as you read that, too?! Yes, I have been listening to Christmas music for the last couple of weeks *insert shrugging emoji* Thanksgiving evokes for me memories of pumpkin pies, mile-high apple pies, and warming, filling, yummy, put-the-winter-weight-on foods.

I am here to share with you this yummy recipe for apple crisp that is a shoe-in family approval. Just what you need, another dessert, amiright?!

For the recipe, see below:

Ingredients:

For the apple mixture:

• 4 honey crisp apples
• 2 macintosh apples
• 1 tbsp of cinnamon
• 1/4 c of sugar 
• 1 tbsp of flour
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of cornstarch

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a 9x13 baking dish. 
2. Dice up the apples- I left the skin on for SOME nutritional value to this dessert. You can peel the skins if you prefer to
3. With the diced apples in a bowl, add the cinnamon, sugar, flour, salt, and corn starch. Mix everything until well combined. Let the ingredients sit and flavors meld. 
4. While the apple mixture is resting, prepare the crumble topping. To do so, mix together the flour, oats, white and brown sugar, and salt in a separate bowl from the apples. 
5. Next, cut the stick of butter into 8 pieces and then cut those pieces in half. You should have 16 pieces of butter. 
6. Add the butter cubes to a bowl of sugar, flour, and oats. Using a pastry blender or just your hands, crumble the butter into the other ingredients.
7. In the 9x13 baking dish, spread the apples as a layer on the bottom of the dish. Next, sprinkle the crumble over the top of the apples, covering them. 
8. Bake for 40-50 minutes. 

*Minkis approved

What is the one thing I hope that never goes out of style? Great eyebrows. For me, achieving great eyebrows is something I have to work for every day. No, I am not blessed like so many women and men are, including my brother Conor *insert unamused face*.  I often wonder if I could have had nice brows if I never found my mom's tweezers...

Yep, let me take you back to my days as an awkward and goofy (still awk and goofy) 6th grader. I was in the prime of all awkward stages. Baby fat raging, braces, weekly crushes on every boy in my class. I had just been granted the right, yes I mean right to shave my legs. All of my friends were doing it and I was just begging my mom to let me shave. I didn't want to be the only one in gym class with hairy shins. First of all, I'll never forgive myself for rushing into shaving. I'd give anything to not shave anymore. Anyways, I'll never forget the day my mom handed me the electric shaver and I did it! Wow, I thought, I'm a woman.

My obsession with being hairless didn't stop there, I moved all the way up to my face. No, I didn't have a beard or a mustache. I did however have eyebrows that were in desperate need of an arch. I took to them like Anthony takes to a plate of pasta- cleared house. Plucking in all of the wrong spots. The verdict? Welp, I came down from my room for dinner and my parents asked me what happened to my face. I've been paying for it ever since.

So many brow phases. Not knowing which color was right for me. I was stealing my mom's brow pencils (she has dark brown hair) and hoping I could pull it off without her noticing the pencil had gone missing and why my brows are 5x too dark. After 12 years of experimenting, I finally feel like I have found the best products for me.

For my best brows, I use:

• L'Oréal Paris Unbelieva-Brow in blonde: here
• Anastasia Beverly Hills DIPBROW pomade in blonde: here
• Sephora Collection PRO brow brush #20: here

To do:

• Go apple picking
• Carve pumpkins
• Go to a state fair
• Solidify my altar
• Make and can apple butter
• Go to the fall farmers market at Union Square
• Practice tarot
• Apartment movie date
• MYO candles
• Attend an NFL game

• Homemade meatballs
• Eggplant rollatini
• Chilli
• Chicken and dumpling soup
• Oven-roasted chicken with garlic mashed potatoes 
• Beef bracciole
• Maple butternut squash
• Homemade gnocchi
• Broccoli and cheddar soup
• Pot roast 
• Roasted root veggies
• Stuffed shells
• Homemade spanikopita
• Mac & cheese
• Fall salad with bleu cheese, pecans, and pears

To bake:

• Apple crisp
• Pumpkin cookies
• Apple tart
• Pie pumpkins for pumpkin pie
• Pies- apple, pumpkin, pecan
• Homemade cinnamon buns
• Apple streusel coffee cake
• Pumpkin roll
• Monkey bread
• Pear gallette 

To watch:

• The Good Witch 
• Hocus Pocus
• Charmed
• It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
• Hallmark EVERYTHANG
• Halloween

To drink:

• Hot apple cider
• Irish coffee
• Homemade hot chocolate
• Maple pecan latte
• Mulled apple cider

To read: 

• Crumb Cake: A novel by Conor Logan
• The Book of Kitchen Witchery by Cerridwen Greenlead 
• Kitchens of the Great Midwest: A Novel by J. Ryan Stradal
• The City Baker's Guide to Country Living: A Novel by Louise Miller
• Food and Wine Magazine
• Bon Appetit Magazines
• New York Times- Wednesday Food Edition

A little while back, I asked some of my followers on Instagram to answer and few questions:

1. What would like to see me post about?
2. Which posts have you enjoyed? 

Not so surprisingly, I got an overwhelming response for people wanting to see more self-care posts.

So, what is self-care exactly? It is the prioritizing of you, and your emotional, mental, and physical health. The taking of time for yourself. My favorite analogy is that of the cups- you cannot pour from an empty cup, your cup needs to indeed be full. The thing is, it's up to us to make sure our cups are full. You can never expect anyone else to fill your cup, because you don't know how full their cup is.

I'm writing this post as more of a proposal, the proposal of The Coffee Rule. The Coffee Rule is all about taking one moment from your day to do something, one thing for yourself. What does that look like for you in your day to day? Only you know that. It may just mean leaving the office and going for a walk outside. For me, sometimes it looks like leaving the office to go grab lunch or take a walk in one of the parks by my office. Most times, however, it looks like grabbing a cup of coffee or cappuccino (which is often a necessary afternoon pick me up). It could be getting a manicure post-work, getting up early and going for a run or walk, baking some cookies, snuggling up and watching Netflix. #TheCoffeeRule could be anything as long as you're taking some time for YOU!

So, let's start prioritizing us. One thing, every day.

I would love to know what your daily #CoffeeRule is. Let's make this a priority. What will your Coffee Rule be? Tell me! Post about it, tweet it, snap a pic of it with the hashtag #TheCoffeeRule or #CoffeeRule- whatever grammatically makes sense at the time. I'm going to start sharing mine daily!

Hi loves! Happy Tuesday! I wanted to share with you all a personal update along with some goodies I've found at The Hoboken Farmers Market and what I plan on doing with them.

Personal update: I'm settling into my new apartment in Hoboken! I have two rockstar roomies, and so far, I'm loving it. The apartment is gorgeous. The building was built in the 1920's. The outside of the building is whitewash brick with gorgeous ivy growing up the front. The inside has an exposed brick wall and wood floors everywhere.

This is my last week before I start my new job, so I'm taking the time to explore, discover, and acclimate myself to my new digs!

I totally lucked out when I went to Google and searched "hoboken farmers markets" and stumbled upon one happening today! I grabbed my fav resuable bag and headed two blocks (yes, it's THAT close) over to the market. It was small but had exactly what anyone could possibly need. Flowers, baguettes, mozzarella, fruits, veggies, pickles, pies, etc.


Here's what I've picked up and what I plan on doing with them:

1. Haricots verts: I plan on making a side dish with these lovlies to accompany a roasted lemon and rosemary chicken (I'm thinking tonight)! I'll cook them in a skillet with olive oil, chopped garlic, and once they're done cooking, squeeze some lemon over top. 
2. Tomatillos: I'm going to throw these bad boys in the oven and roast them with some onion, hot chili peppers, and garlic to make a roasted salsa verde for this weekend!
3. Orange and green chili peppers: will be roasted with the tomatillos for the roasted salsa verde!
4. Golden Beets: I plan to wrap these gorgeous golden beets in tin foil and roasting them until they are tender to the fork. Next, I'll make a red wine vinaigrette and pour over the chopped beets. Finally, I'll sprinkle over some toasted walnuts and goat cheese for a delicious beet salad. 
5. Corn: These gorgeous ears of corn will be grilled over a skillet grill (we don't have an outside grill) until they're charred on each side. They will accompany some bun-less burgers cooked over the same skillet grill or should we make grillet a thing?
6. Peaches: I'd love to grillet these peaches and serve them just as is. They could also be topped with a homemade baked streusel, whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream. Another treat would be a peach crumble (my mouth is watering) or simply enjoyed bite by bite! 
7. Wildflower and sunflower bouquet: They're just gorgeous to look at and make me happy! Also, why not buy yourself some flowers?!

Did you just cringe when you read those words? Flashbacks to middle school and high school summers when you were forced to read books you didn't want to? Yeah, me too. For me, my relationship with reading was always something I struggled with. When I was in the fourth grade, I was diagnosed with having dyslexia. You may be thinking, wow fourth grade? Isn't that late? Yes, it was. Thanks to my mom and her diligent research, I relearned how to read through wonderful tutors and a lot of practice. Me and reading have had quite the rocky relationship, but I'm now learning which books appeal to me, and which do not. It's not too late, right?!

When I was working at my other job, I never had time for reading. Honestly, that's totally on me, though. I would come home from work and collapse on the couch. I could've easily picked up a book but I always opted for the clicker (or remote, whichever you prefer hehe). I'm not mad about this at all because after work, I always needed a good laugh. With my lovely roommates Jill and Greg, we would watch Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, New Girl, Jane the Virgin, Parks and Recreation, The Office, and so many other shows that could offer us a little escape from our daily stresses.

Now that I'm in a transition period, I'm enjoying my time off before I start my new job to in August. This is exactly what I've needed. Free time is such a blessing and I feel so lucky that I'm able to experience this right now.

The first thing I did when I got to the Cape was think: I need a good summer beach read. So I moseyed my browser on over to Amazon (sorry to all of you die hard locally-owned bookstore supporters, but I too am one but I'm currently on a tight budget!) and filled my cart with some fun, funky, and extremely-B books.

Below are the books that I've either brought with me or purchased along the way!

• Ingredienti- Macella Hazan
• Sense and Sensibility- Jane Austen
• My Life in France- Julia Child
• Little Beach Street Bakery- Jenny Colgan
• The School of Essential Ingredients- Erica Bauermeister
• Garlic and Sapphires- Ruth Reichl 
• Delicious!- Ruth Reichl 

Happy summer, loves!!!! 

Personal update: As some of you may know, I've been spending some time at my family's quaint little home in Cape Cod. I've been taking this time to rest, relax, re-cooperate, and reset- that's a lot of re's! I've been spending my days beaching, running, reading, and eating my favorite summer foods. I've also been really focused on mastering my summer glow!  

If you know me on a personal level, or you've been following my blog for the last four years, you may have noticed that I'm a bit of a nail polish addict. Over that last 6 years or so, I have collected probably 250+ nail polishes. If you'd ask Anthony, he'd probably roll his eyes and tell you it's wayyyy more than that! 

On top of my elaborate collection of nail polishes, I always have to have my nails polished, and polished perfectly. I don't know where it comes from? Maybe from my mom and grandmom, with whom I can recollect special memories of trips to the nail salon for a reward or a just-because afternoon. 

So as I sit here on this warm summer's afternoon, I look down at my nails and want to share with you my favorite summer nail colors! I personally love colors that help to accentuate and compliment your summer glow. This is a warning though, I am a bit of a polish snob. OPI, Essie, or Bust. 

The colors I'm currently wearing:

Finger nails: Essie Gel Couture- Dress Call 

Toe nails: Essie Gel Couture- Style Stunner










For summer colors, I love to stick to blues, purples, pinks, and red. All of these colors stick to the general theme of fun and sunshine. The colors I'm loving for the summer:

Blues:

• Essie: Find Me and Oasis
• Essie: Bikini So Teeni 

Purples:

• Essie: Go Ginza 
• OPI: You're Such a Budapest @Tanile, if you're reading this ;)
• OPI: Show Us Your Tips! 

Pinks:

• Essie: Mademoiselle 
• Essie: Hi Maintenance 
• Essie: Tart Deco 
• Essie: Muchi Muchi 
• Essie: Just Another Pretty Face 
• Essie: Fiji 
• OPI: Aphrodite's Pink Nightie 

Reds:

• Essie: Clambake 
• OPI: Cajun Shrimp 

Hello loves,

I'm sitting here on my couch as I watch the snow fall outside on this second day of spring. This time two weeks ago however, I was sitting in a chez lounge chair looking at the ocean as my skin soaked up the sun's rays. But alas, here we are. I posted on my instagram this morning a picture of the yummy-licious waffles I made. A decent amount of my followers (if you are one- HIIIII) said that they'd like the recipe so here I am!

Let's cut to the chase because let's be honest, no one really reads the paragraphs before a recipe, they just want the recipe! I'm hip.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1/2 cup gluten-free old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt

You wake up and it's the weekend, or a day like today where, if you're like me, you just needed a day to yourself. I woke up and decided that I was going to have a day, a day where I was going to live my proclaimed best life. So, what's the best way to start a day where you plan to live your best life? Waffles.

If you know me, you know I have an affinity for lemon and blueberry goodies and treats. Few things pair together  quite as perfectly as lemon and blueberry. You have the obvious peanut butter and jelly or classic tomato and basil but the combination of blueberry and lemon come together quite blissfully.

I started my morning like I start all mornings by making a cup of warm lemon water. Before I poured the warm water into my lemoned cup, I plugged in my waffle maker in preparation for these healthy blueberry lemon waffles. These waffles evoke all of the joy and nostalgia with none of the guilt. You'll see why when you check out the recipe!

Hi loves,

It's been a while, but, I'm back! I'm feeling a whole new wave of inspiration. This time, it's not going to be half-assed. I'm not going to go into it with a half-motivated state of mind. I'm really feeling it. I spent this past weekend mapping out my goals, purchasing necessary success tools, and organizing my processes.

I wholeheartedly intend for 2018 to be the year of B. What does that mean? I'm focusing on my self- mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. This life is too goddamn hard for us to just merely get by; searching and grasping at things that will make us happy in the moment (chocolate, ice-cream, a Netflix binge, or a bottle of wine) but at the end of the day, it's just a glimpse, a meager moment of that happiness we so long for. I'm taking control. I've had enough of dreading Mondays and counting down until the weekend. I'm prioritizing myself and my happiness so I can stop wishing my days, weeks, and ultimately, life away.

I'm using this platform as a space where I am going to share my goals, check-in about those goals, share tips and tricks that I'm finding to be successful along this journey as I retake my life (is that too dramatic??). I currently have many ideas and thoughts flowing through my brain but on this first post, I intend to map out my goals and break them down into achievable milestones, both minor and major. We need to be kind to ourselves. We need to nurture ourselves. We need to be realistic. Below are my goals and what I feel are realistic expectations for myself!

Daily Goals:

• Meditate in the mornings: my plan for this goal is to wake up ten minutes before my alarm typically goes off to meditate. I am going to lay out my yoga mat, light a candle, and play a centering playlist or listen to a guided meditation. 
• Drink lemon water to start my day: there are so many benefits from starting your day with lemon water and it being the first thing you ingest to break your fast. This combination flushes your digestion system while also kickstarting your metabolism. It's also super hydrating and great for your skin!
• Drink three 40 oz water bottles a day: for those of you who don't know, I am a walking, talking HydroFlask advertisement. I'm obsessed with my 40 oz water bottle and how easy it makes it to drink water. My goal is to drink three of these big babies a day! 
• Journal daily: journaling alone is something that is cathartic in itself but my goal is to have a food journal, gym journal, and a couple self-reflective journals to jot down my thoughts, emotions, failures, and successes. 
• Read everyday: reading is always beneficial. It helps us to grow in so many ways so, there's not much else to say on this particular goal! 

As we go, we learn more about ourselves because every day, we learn more about ourselves. Be kind to yourself, love yourself, nourish yourself, and fulfill yourself. I haven't done this with myself. I haven't been kind to myself. But, I'm taking this new year as a fresh start for myself. I cannot wait for this journey and I'll check in soon! 2018 is going to be the best year yet!!

xoxo,
B