Happy St. Patrick's Day! This isn't a holiday I usually go all out for, but any holiday that includes drinks is one I'll happily celebrate. I'm not a huge fan of beer, however, so I made this drink so I can happily participate in the spirit of the holiday too! This cocktail is inspired by a leprechaun's pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I love the rainbow sugar rim; it adds such a festive touch to the whole thing.
Ingredients:
3/4 oz Goldschlager
1/3 oz butterscotch schnapps
apple juice
colored sugar
edible gold stars
To Make:
Dip the rim of your glass in corn syrup and then in the colored sugar.
Pour the Goldschlager and butterscotch schnapps in a chilled martini glass.
Top with apple juice and stir.
I used paper plates to rim my glasses–one for a circle of corn syrup, and the other for all the colored sugar. You can use a bowl, but I found paper plates to be the perfect size for my glasses and their flatness helped coat them evenly all the way around.
You can use any cinnamon schnapps you like–I chose Goldschlager because of the gold flakes in it. However, when you only use 3/4 oz you don't get enough gold for my taste, so I added some edible gold stars on the top too. Add them just before serving, so they don't completely dissolve before anyone gets to see them!
We get an extra day this month–February 29 only comes around once every four years! I always feel like I should make it count, whatever that means. I've compiled a short list of things you can do with your extra 24 hours that can help you make the most of your extra day.
Learn something new. Spend the extra time learning a new skill or technique to improve your knowledge. Maybe teach yourself to knit, watch a few makeup tutorials, or learn a new exercise.
Throw a party. As if you needed an excuse. Embrace the "leap" theme by making lily pad and frog cupcakes. Or make a Leap Year Cocktail, as invented by Harry Craddock at London's Savoy Hotel in 1928. (It is on a Monday this year, so you might need it after work!)
Pay it forward. Lots of people plan to use their extra 24 hours to celebrate with random acts of kindness. Whether you volunteer for your favorite charity or just buy the coffee for the person behind you, your efforts will be appreciated!
Improve your business. If you work for yourself, or even for someone else, there's always something more you can do. Try working on a new project, or redouble your efforts on that one to-do list item you keep putting off.
Relax. Sometimes the best thing you can do is give yourself permission to relax. If you're working hard the rest of the year, spend some time recharging on your extra day, guilt-free!
I'll admit, I've fallen a little behind in my reading recently. But I'm still here with a few recommendations of the books I have read, and hopefully I can pick back up soon. As always, I've linked the titles on Amazon, but search for them in a local bookstore first!
This is a trilogy that is basically just one long book. I read all three in a day, so they're very easy to get through! The story is essentially The Bachelor, with the man being the prince in a post-apocalyptic world. It also reminds me a bit of The Hunger Games, in that there's a very distinct class system in place, and there's a love struggle between the prince (Maxon) and the man she left back home (Aspen). I liked this series, but I do think it could have functioned well as just one novel. She also recently came out with The Heir, which is a sequel to the final book (that seems to be the first of a second trilogy!), but I haven't picked that one up yet.
This book was such a pageturner for me. I love Impressionists, and I have a little bit of a soft spot for Degas (probably because of all his dancers), so The Art Forger grabbed my attention right away. Claire Roth works as a painter producing copies of famous works. She wants to be known for her own paintings, and she makes a Faustian bargain with a well-known gallery owner who says he'll produce her first show. The plot follows a (fictionalized) version of the unsolved 1990 Gardner Heist, and goes deep into the world of art forgery. It also brings up a lot of interesting questions about authenticity and notoriety in the art world, something that I always think is important to explore.
Don Tillman decides it's time to find a wife. As a brilliant but socially inept geneticist, he creates the Wife Project–a 16-page survey designed to weed out those who are chronically late, the smokers, the drinkers, and more. He soon meets Rosie, a woman who is essentially the opposite of everything Don is looking for. As the pair collaborates to find Rosie's biological father, he struggles with the whirlwind he finds himself in with Rosie, soon realizing that "despite your best scientific efforts, you don't find love, it finds you." This book is so endearing; it provides an unconventional perspective of those with Asperger's, and you can't help but think about the characters after you've put it down. I just got the sequel, The Rosie Effect, and I'm looking forward to reading it too.
I know I'm late to the party with this one–it's been on my to-read list forever, and I finally got around to it. I wish I had picked it up sooner! Tina Fey is hilarious, and reading about her experiences from her amateur improv days to SNL to 30 Rock is super enjoyable. This book is definitely a quick, light read. I love Tina Fey's sarcastic, self-deprecating humor, and her writing feels very honest. One of the funniest parts is when she's simultaneously balancing rehearsals for her Sarah Palin impression, convincing Oprah to appear on 30 Rock, and planning her daughter's Peter Pan themed birthday party (all of equal importance). If you're one of the ten people who haven't read this yet, I definitely recommend it.
If there's one thing I love, it's award show season. I love the red carpets, the speeches, people getting excited about receiving recognition for their hard work, and of course, all the glitz and glamour. I love spending Sunday nights curled up on the couch in my pajamas while watching my favorite celebrities get all dressed up.
The grand finale of awards show season is, obviously, the Oscars. This is the most prestigious award, because it's voted on by their peers–actors vote for actors, directors vote for directors, etc. So if you're like me and want to pretend you're a part of the Academy too, here's how to throw the perfect Oscar party!
If you're going to be members of the Academy for the night, everyone has to fill out a ballot. These are perfect for the beginning of the party while everyone is still arriving. Fill them out while watching the red carpet–just make sure you finish voting before the show begins at 8:30, or it'll be too late! You can choose one person to score them and have people turn them in to keep the winner a surprise until the end, or just go by the honor system and have everyone score their own.
Hang up gold fringe curtains behind your food table to add glam to the room. Or you can just hang them against a wall to create a perfect backdrop for your well-dressed guests to take pictures in front of!
Going to the movies is all about the popcorn, so here are three amazing recipes for munching on throughout the show! For all three of these recipes, I used unsalted, unbuttered white popcorn made on the stovetop–the perfect blank canvas for adding flavor!
Celebration Popcorn
1 c vanilla candy melts
1 c vanilla cake mix (just the powder)
sprinkles
Melt the vanilla candy melts and stir in the cake mix. Melt them together for another 10 seconds, then drizzle the mixture over your popcorn. You can toss the popcorn with the mixture to coat it more evenly if you want. Add the sprinkles over the top and let dry before serving.
Oreo Popcorn
~12 Oreos
11oz White chocolate chips
Crush the Oreos until they're finely chopped, but not completely turned to dust. You'll still want some bigger cookie pieces. Melt the white chocolate chips in 30 second intervals and stirring until they're completely smooth. Drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn, or toss the popcorn to coat it more evenly. Add in the cookies and toss until they're mixed in evenly. Let dry before serving.
Garlic Parmesan Popcorn
4 T melted butter
1 T minced garlic
1/2 c parmesan
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and allow it to cook for 3 minutes. Spoon the mixture over the popcorn and toss to coat evenly. Add parmesan while it's still warm, toss, and serve. (This one is my favorite!)
These cookies are the real star of the show. Just use your favorite cutout sugar cookie recipe–make the same number of Oscar men and circles, and then just cut stars with the rest of the dough. A cookie cutter would work great for this, but I didn't have one, so I printed out a 6" silhouette of the statue and just traced it with a knife! They're not perfect, but I still think they're adorable. And as long as they taste delicious, who cares, right? After they've been baked and cooled, cut out a small slit in the center of each circle, just barely big enough for the base of the trophies.
Ice your cookies with a glaze made from 3/4 c powdered sugar and 2 T milk. Mix it up with a fork and add a couple drops of yellow food coloring to mimic the gold of the statues. Let the glaze dry. Stand the men up in the slits of the circles–if your cuts are too wide or they're just not staying upright, use a small amount of melted white chocolate to glue them in place. Are these not the cutest?
Rim your champagne glasses with gold sugar to glitz them up too.
And of course, what are the Oscars without awards? Give mini Oscar trophies to your guests for getting the most right on their ballot, best dressed, and anything else you can think of! Who are you watching the Oscars with this year? And more importantly, who are you voting for?? Tell me in the comments!
I know I'm not the only one who gets their headphones tied in knots. I've tried all kinds of tricks to keep my cords untangled from one another, but it seems like no matter how hard I try, they all fall apart sooner or later. Keeping them separated seems to be the key–and these leather cord tacos are the way to do it! You can easily adjust the size of the taco to fit all of your cords from headphones to laptop chargers, so you can stay organized across the board.
You will need:
Leather/faux leather panel
X-acto knife
Small button
Leather needle and thread
To Make:
Trace a small circle (like the bottom of a mug) onto the leather panel. This size is great for headphones; feel free to adjust the size to fit your cord's needs!
Cut the leather circle out with an X-acto knife. Use multiple shallow strokes until it's cut all the way through, rather than trying to cut through the full thickness at once.
Sew a small button on one side of the circle. Make sure the front of the button is on the inside, so it'll be oriented correctly when folded in half.
Cut a slit on the opposite side of the circle, just big enough for the button to fit through.
Fold the circle in half and button it. Done!
These are so easy to make, and they come in so handy when I'm tossing cords and chargers in my purse or if I'm traveling, so I don't end up with a knotted mess when I get to my destination. I also love the sparkle of the little button! Do you have any tricks you like to use to keep your cords in order?
