Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Actually we will be driving in a 4-Runner. But that's besides the point! Tomorrow is my last day of work before I have a week of vacation. Woo hoo!

Mr. Vanilla Bean and I are headed down to Florida to spend Christmas with my family. I am so excited to soak up the sun and get away from this cold. I plan on hanging out in my bathing suit and flip flops as much as possible!

Yay for Christmas in Florida filled with palm trees, sunshine and all things wonderful! :)

A Weekend in Atlanta

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Mine was fun...and busy!

It started with Thanksgiving with the In-Laws and lots of good southern food....hashbrown casserole, candied sweet potatoes, squash casserole, pumpkin pie...yumm!

Then Friday we drove to Atlanta to see my Family. My sister is temporarily in Atlanta for school and my parents spent Thanksgiving with her. Anyway, the exiting part is that she is recently engaged and we spent Saturday shopping for Wedding Dresses - so fun! All the dresses she tried on were amazing! It made me want to buy one for myself!

After that, we met the boys (My sister's fiancé, my husband and my Dad) for Lunch in Marietta Square. If you are ever in Atlanta, you should definitely visit Sugar Cakes for Lunch! It was so delicious. Great Chicken Salad on fresh baked, buttery croissants. Creamy Butternut Squash Soup. Fabulous House Salads with Cranberries, Feta cheese and Balsamic Vinaigrette. And do not miss out on the desserts - Chocolate Croissants, Tiramisu and Cheesecake - that are so pretty you don't want to take a bite and ruin it. Oh, but your taste buds are so happy, when you do!

We made it safely back from Atlanta yesterday and today was back to work. Ugghh. I am really unhappy in my job right now. If anyone knows of a good job in Birmingham, let me know!

I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving too!

Where has the time gone?

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week? And Christmas is just a little more than a month away? Where has the time gone? I haven't bought a single Christmas gift for anyone yet! I haven't even had a chance to attempt shopping this holiday season. Things have been so busy lately!
Does anyone else feel like there is not enough hours in the day??

Football and Cupcakes

I can't believe it's been a whole week since I blogged. Sorry about that. I didn't even realize it had been that long. I guess that shows how busy the last week has been!

Just a little recap from the weekend -

Friday I took the day off work. I had a large order of cupcakes to make and I also had to travel 2-1/2 hours south to a football playoff game.

Mr. Vanilla Bean's team lost the game :( Although it was disappointing, he's slightly relieved that Football is over. Now he can focus on the Basketball season (it was becoming difficult trying to juggle both)!

Saturday I delivered the cupcakes to the Grand Opening Party at Crossfit Birmingham. My husband and I are both members of this gym and we love it! The party was really fun!

Tomorrow I am off work for Veterans Day so I am very excited about that!

THE BIG 27

Yep, that's right.....I'm getting old. Today I've been on this earth 27 years. That seems like a pretty long time, yet at the same time the last few years have gone by so fast.

How does that happen?

Anyways, sorry I didn't blog this weekend but it was a busy weekend filled with birthday celebrations!

Friday night Mr. Vanilla's football team won their final regular season game. Our first playoff game is this Friday! Go Aggies!

Saturday night, Mr. Vanilla took me to a fabulously, delicious dinner. I had veal (no hate mail from PETA please) and it was scrumptious!

Tonight I am just laying low because Mr. Vanilla has football AND basketball practice and won't be home until late. Oh, the life of a coach's wife.

Here is a peak at one of my gifts from Mr. Vanilla. I LOVE it! (The picture doesn't do it justice. To me the gold is a weird color in the picture, but it's very pretty in person)!

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween! It's my second favorite holiday, after Christmas of course! And I love love love carving pumpkins! I went a little overboard this year and carved three. Mr. Vanilla Bean just sat there and watched. He's thinks I'm a little crazy for enjoying pumpkin carving so much!

I just can't help myself :)

I hope everyone has a great Halloween! I am a little depressed that I won't be home to see all the Trick-r-Treaters this year. Mr. Vanilla Bean's football team is playing and I must be there to cheer them on! Go Aggies!

I heart Sara Bareilles

The concert was amazing! Sara's voice is unbelievable. It has amazing clarity - I can't really describe it, but she definitely has a gift! And as if her voice wasn't enough, she plays the piano too! If she is touring in your area I definitely recommend getting tickets ASAP!

Check out the tour dates here!

Who Loves Sara Bareilles???

Me! Me! I am going to see in her concert tomorrow night at the Alabama Theatre. It's a small venue so the sound should be great.
My friend Whitney and I are making a girls night of it with dinner and drinks before the concert! Should be fun - I will give a full report afterwards!
My weekend has not been great (more details on that later) so I am hoping this will cheer me up! :)
Hope everyone has a great Monday!
-vanilla bean :)

T.G.I.F!

Is anyone else soooo glad that tomorrow is Friday??? I can not wait for the weekend!

Monogram Chick Give Away!

Who doesn't love free gifts?? Monogram Chick is giving away the cutest monogrammed recipe holder! I love her entire shop, but this is probably one of my favorite items! You can enter to win here!

Organic Pumpkin Bars with Chocolate Chips

Yummm! My newest organic creation is a moist pumpkin bar with dark chocolate chips! I could eat the whole pan, but I will resist! This is the perfect fall treat! Order them for yourself or to send as a gift! Available for order now at my Etsy shop

Tumbleweed

I could spend every penny I have on jewelry! Tumbleweed Bead Co. is my newest favorite Etsy jewelry shop!

I have always loved hammered gold jewelry and this shop offers plenty of it! Be sure to check it out!

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

I love chocolate covered pretzels! The saltiness of the pretzels combined with slightly sweet dark chocolate is sooo delicious! Problem is, all the chocolate covered pretzels I find in the stores are filled with high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil and other artificial ingredients that I do not want to eat!

So this weekend I decided to make my own! I started with organic pretzel sticks and then dipped them in melted dark chocolate. And just for fun, I even rolled some in organic coconut and some in organic pecans. They turned out better than I even expected......and without all those bad ingredients!

Now I am just trying to decide if I should add them to my Etsy shop - I am a little concerned about the chocolate melting in shipping.

What do you think?

A few more treasuries!

I stumbled upon a few more treasuries this week - one featuring my organic double chocolate brownies and one featuring my organic chocolate pound cake!

Anthropologie Wish List

I am in love with all the new accessories at Anthropolgie! They have the best coats, boots and bags for Fall! My birthday is coming soon, so may be this list will be a hint to Mr. Vanilla Bean :)

Nanda Handcrafted

I love these amazing knitted neckwarmers by Nanda Handcrafted! I am so excited to buy sweaters, scarves, and tweed for fall - yay!

Today's Etsy Favorites

This weekend was a bad weekend (Auburn lost, my Tampa Bay Bucs lost) - so dissapointing. But today is a new day and I am drowning my sorrows with online shopping! Here are a few of my new Etsy Favorites!

Sweetgrass Place Setting by Jd Wolfe Pottery

Rococo Shawl by Tickled Pink Knit

Fleur du desert (desert flower) necklace by Olala Design

2009 IS COMING!

And who doesn't love picking out a new, fun calendar to begin a new year! Look no further than Valentina Design and their new fresh, colorful calendars! I can't wait to order one for myself and a few for friends and family too!

Also, I want to give a big thanks to sweetnsassybaby for featuring my brownies on her blog! Check it out here!

Virtual Bake Sale!

For all of you who love homemade bake goods, the Team EEAT (Etsy's Edible Arts Team) is having a virtual bake sale in the Etsy labs tomorrow, October 1st at 8 pm Eastern Time.

Come meet the fabulous bakers of Etsy and see all their luscious treats! Many will be offering great discounts and free give-away items!

I will be offering 15% off my baked goods! Come check it out!

Prints from Corid

I love these unusual prints on vintage paper from Corid! I would buy her whole shop if I could!

More Treasuries!

I never thought I could love a little collage of pictures so much, but I LOVE the Etsy treasuries. It's so fun to look through them and see so many talented artists featured. Plus, I love the color combinations and the original theme of each treasury.

It's also really fun and exciting when someone features you in their treasury.

Yesterday, Peanutbutter and Ella featured me in one of her treasuries - thanks Peanut!

The Pebble Collection

I love the fun, girly jewelry from The Pebble Collection! The pictures above are two of my favorites, but be sure to check out the entire collection!

Treasury Love!

I stumbled upon two Etsy Treasuries yesterday featuring my baked goods! The first Treasury pictured here was even featured on Etsy's front page last night around 7:30 pm. So exciting!!

Thanks to the curators for featuring me in your beautiful Treasuries!

Also, thanks to the Etsy Edible Arts Team for featuring my shop on their blog