2015 | A Year In Review

I absolutely love writing and reading these year in review posts. I feel like it's a time of reflection and to get excited for the new year. 2015 was a year of crazy ups and downs, and I am really looking forward to 2016 and the new goals I have for myself.

Here is what happened this year with a help of some blog posts..
January
I was still recapping our wedding and my husband got in an awful car accident.

February 
I celebrated turning 23 and blogged about my birthday weekend. We also bought a new car!

March and April
We had a very hard two months and I took a month long blogging break.

May
I didn't blog much this month, but I did share my favorites and planned a baby shower for my sister!

June
We took a trip to Las Vegas for my husbands birthday and it was much needed.

July
My sweet baby niece Allison was born and this was definitely the highlight of my year! This girl has me completely wrapped around her finger and has made this year so much better for everyone.

August
I wrote about my life lately and shared my first dermatologist experience. Definitely not what I expected.

September 
I made a fall to-do list and did almost everything on the list.

October 
We celebrated ONE year of marriage. We ate our year old wedding cake, and it was not good at all.

November
I made my 101 in 1001 list and started a new job hunt

December

I didn't blog much this month, but I did link up our Christmas Card and shared a recipe. 

I hope everyone has an amazing New Years Eve/Day and is able to spend it with people you love! What are some of your plans for tomorrow night or goals for the new year?

Talk to you all in 2016!

Christmas Cracker Toffee

AKA Christmas Crack. This stuff is hands down one of the most delicious things I had in a very long time. It's not safe in my house (because I will eat it all) so I am forcing myself to send some over to my family's houses to resist. The Christmas season for me means a lot of baking. It's one of my most favorite things to do and sharing sweet treats with my friends and family makes me really happy.

This is one of my favorite recipes because I literally had everything in my kitchen, and you just might too. It requires very little time, so it's great for a last minute holiday party.

What you need:

2 Sticks of unsalted butter (1 Cup)

1 Cup of Light Brown Sugar

1 1/2 Cups of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 1/2 -2 Sleeves of Saltine Crackers

Cooking Spray

How to make it:

-Line your baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.
-Preheat your oven to 425 degrees
-Line up all of the saltine crackers to fill the entire sheet.
-Place your butter and brown sugar in a sauce pan and heat on medium until boiling, while stirring.
-Place the heat on low and cook about 4 minutes, still stirring occasionally. Be very careful during this step not to burn it. Once it is thickening, it is done.
-Pour the mixture over the crackers and spread out evenly.
-Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 5 minutes or until it is bubbling.
- Let cool for 3 minutes and then pour the chocolate chips on top of everything and let sit until they melt.
-Spread the chocolate chips evenly with a butter knife.
- Place the whole pan in the fridge to cool for about 1-1/2 hours.
-Break apart the toffee with your hands and store in the fridge!
If you have sprinkles or chopped nuts you can place them on top to be more festive as well.

This would be great to bring to anyone during the holidays, even as a gift. It's that good!



I hope you enjoy!

Our 2015 Christmas Card | A Link Up

I was really on top of my game this year and ordered our Christmas cards on Black Friday when all of the deals were going on and I'm so glad I did. We used Shutterfly again this year, and let me tell you it was so hard to pick just one style for our cards. Since we did a vertical card last year, we decided to go with a horizontal card this time and I really love the way they turned out.
P.S I had them all sent out before the middle of the month!

This picture is a major win because we were all three looking at the camera. Pepper was in his cute little sweater which makes him look so preppy. Thank God he puts up with my shenanigans.

I'm not really a fan that Shutterfly puts their logo on the bottom of the cards but I got over it. I left some room at the top for any personalized messages we wanted to put to our friends and family. I think Christmas cards with pictures are so special because you can collect them each year and look back. We have ours from last year in our Christmas bin from our first married Christmas. It's just so special to pull it out this year and think back on our first year of marriage.

Oh, and there is my Starbucks ornament. I have a hard time saying no when I see them out in the bins this time of year. They are just too cute.

I am linking up with Macy and Mary today for their Christmas card link-up!

December Goals from my 101 in 1001 List

It's officially my favorite month, and even though I feel permanently cold I am so happy! We have our tree up and Christmas decorations are decking the halls. This month I decided to really commit to my 101 in 1001 list by making my smaller monthly "goals" stem from that list. I want to be actively checking things off as I go so I think this will be a good way to keep participating each month.

Here are the ones I will be focusing on this month

1. Finding a new job. I am actively searching for a new position in a new field so wish me luck!

2. Fitness - I will be tracking my water intake all month, and raising my Fitbit step goals and trying to meet them daily.

3. Organizing all of my photos and baby pictures into albums. I have purchased the albums and now I just need to get them all organized!

4. Journal all month. Journaling has been something that I have wanted to do for such a long time and I never have made it a priority. So as of December 1st I am going to try and journal as much as I can, hopefully every day.

5. Go on a fancy date. We have several things this month that I think will be fancy enough for me to cross off. We will be celebrating our six years of dating anniversary. Yes, we are still celebrating that even though we are married. We also have Joe's company holiday party that is really fancy and I can't wait to see my husband in a tux again!

Of course, I hope to cross off more things this month, these are just the goals I am choosing to focus on.

What are some of your goals for this month?