Runs on Coffee and Cream

This month has been all about pumpkin flavoured foods and drinks for me. I came across some great recipes online and I tried out a couple from Skinny Taste.

The first one I tried was Pumpkin Spiced Oatmeal Pecan Cookies. The only thing I changed in the recipe was that I replaced the butter with unsweetened applesauce. They turned out really chewy and soft. They're not overly sweet but they're a good cookie to nibble on with a hot drink.
 

I also tried the Pumpkin Spiced Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe as well. I again replaced the butter with unsweetened applesauce. These cookies were really yummy and very pumpkin-y. They were soft and the chocolate chips definitely sweetened them up.

It seems crazy that tomorrow is Halloween. I baked Halloween sugar cookies today and tomorrow I'm  making cupcakes. Then I get to be in full-on Christmas mode! I cannot wait to make peppermint-flavoured sweets and listen to Christmas music! Christmas makes me feel like a kid if you can't tell.

Have a happy Halloween and eat lots of candy!
xo Jen

Today marks the one year anniversary of when Adam proposed. It's crazy a year has gone by and the wedding was a few months ago. We planned our wedding and all the events surrounding it in a fairly short time span, but I wouldn't have done it any other way. Things came together pretty quickly and easily. We had a lot of help from our amazing friends and family and we both had a good idea of what we wanted and what we didn't want. Anyways, I haven't posted many photos from the wedding since it happened in June. I thought I'd share a few favourites of mine.
My shoes!
 
The wedding party.

We took our photos at the Devil's Punch Bowl Market. It was a bit windy out but it was nice it was overcast. It wasn't too hot and we weren't squinting in all the photos. Plus the market itself and the surrounding orchards and fields are beautiful!
This is my favourite 'fun' picture we took. There were a lot of them but I love that every one of us is having fun in this photo!
 
And of course our cake - vanilla cake with a different flavoured buttercream on each layer! Look at all those tiny yellow flowers <3

It's absolutely freezing out today. We went for a small walk to the dock where Adam proposed today. We couldn't stay long since we lost all the feeling in our hands.

I hope you're having a good day!
xo Jen

I wanted to share a yummy recipe I tried recently. I highly recommend that you bake this when you will have company coming over or if you have a big family because if not, you will eat the whole pan by yourself! I have a thing for coconut and for anything with almond extract so I might be a little biased about this recipe though...



Polka Dot Coconut Macaroon Bars
3 3/4 cups sweetened coconut flakes
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites
1 whole egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9-inch square baking pan.

Stir together coconut, sugar, flour, and salt in large bowl.  Add egg whites, whole egg, and almond extract and stir until well blended.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Spread mixture in prepared pan.

Bake 35 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool completely in pan. Cover with foil and allow it to stand at room temperature about 8 hours or overnight.  Cut into bars.

The only thing I changed about this recipe is that I didn't add any salt. I never do. And my oven seems to be hotter than the average oven so my bars were done in 30 minutes. I also attempted to eat a small piece of it about an hour after it came out of the oven and it was sooo messy! It fell apart and it was slightly mushy. Definitely let it sit overnight and it turns into a chewy, heavenly, treat! Yum!

If you try this recipe out, enjoy!
xo Jen

It seems crazy that Halloween is a week away tomorrow. October has flown by. I found out today I get Halloween off work which excites me so much! This will be the first year in a long time that I don't have a Halloween party to go to. But I'm actually looking forward to not having to plan a costume for once. I always find it stressful putting a costume together. I think next weekend we're going to spend Saturday night watching a couple of scary movies which will be fun. I'm also going to bake some treats for Adam since he works all day on Halloween and then I'll head into Hamilton to see my niece. It will be her first Halloween and I have to see her in her costume! I'll probably end up handing out candy at my parents' as well. Of course the next day I'll be heading out to buy some discounted Halloween candy for ourselves hehe... The stores stocked with candy and Halloween decorations have definitely taken over my brain lately...  

Does anyone else have any fun Halloween plans?
xo Jen

It's a little over a week late but I finally uploaded my Thanksgiving weekend pictures. It was a fun weekend even though I was feeling sick for the last couple of days. I'm so happy I finally made it to the Ball's Falls Festival.



I have a very early morning tomorrow so I'm off to bed... night!

xo Jen

How's your day going? It's cold and rainy here which makes me not want to move off this couch. But I have to be at work for 5 p.m. so eventually I will have to move.

I've been catching up on blogs today and I guess because of my nesting mood I'm loving all the family-related posts from some of my favourite bloggers. Hearing about family outings and holiday plans, and seeing beautiful photos is giving me such a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. I know, my soft, marshmallowy insides are showing through right now. I find these ladies incredibly inspiring. They're talented and creative, they make and share amazing projects and have their own businesses, and they have such strong family values. They definitely provide me with a lot of motivation to where I want to be in a couple of years.

I've been reading Skunkboy Creatures' blog for years and I adore her adorable family. Katie's handmade creatures, hair tutorials, and photos of family outings make her blog one of my favourites. This recent post especially made me excited to have a family one day.

I blame Pan Am... I've been going through a love-hate relationship over the past month with my hair. I've been letting it grow long forever. Some days I love it loose and wavy and some days I'm happy to have it long so I can through it up in a ponytail. But shoulder-length bobs are so cute! I've had similar haircuts before and I always end up growing my hair out. But the amount of hair I have right now kills me on bad hair days. I'm so torn... I love these:



My problem with hair is I need something low maintenance that works with thick, wavy hair. Gah, I don't know what to do... Help?

xo
Jen

I'm guessing it's because of the cool Fall weather but lately all I want to do is nest... bake, curl up on the couch to read or to watch TV boxsets, or snuggle with a kitty and drink tea.  Lately I've been obsessed with Gilmore Girls... again. I've been flying through the seasons and I don't know what it is about the show but it gives me a lot of comfort. It's the perfect show for cool weather and hot drinks. I dream of finding my own Stars Hollow and living in a house like Lorelai's. Maybe we'll move up North when Adam graduates and I can find a small town to make into my own Stars Hollow...





I'm off to watch another episode of Gilmore Girls before bed. I work tomorrow and then I have Monday off which excites me greatly!

Night!
xo
Jen

I've been slowly updating my etsy shop over the last few weeks. I want to keep it up-to-date, especially with the Christmas season coming up. I finished posting my pouches I had on hand, and starting today I will be updating the pillowcases I've made. I've been busy sewing more pouches for Canzine and I'll be sewing up a few new totes this week as well for the show. Once Canzine is over, which is October 23rd, I'll be posting my remaining pouches and totes so my shop is nice and full for Christmas shopping!

Anyways, I have to be off to work in a couple of hours. Have a great day!
xo
Jen

To all the Canadian readers, Happy Thanksgiving! It's been a wonderful long weekend and the weather was amazing! We went to the Ball's Falls Thanksgiving Festival, drove into Hamilton for a Thanksgiving dinner, and took a couple of walks around the canal. I unfortunately woke up yesturday morning with a horrible head cold so I haven't been too productive today. I'm hoping to eat some turkey and cranberry sauce leftovers tomorrow, if my taste buds have decided to start working.

Last week I decided to bake a recipe I found on Cakespy's blog since we had oreos in the house - Cookies and Cream Scones. It was taken from a book by Laura Shaefer, The Secret Ingredient. The only thing I changed was I crushed the cookies rather than just chop them up. So my scones turned out more speckled than cakespy's. However, they are super yummy! They're not overly sweet and they're perfect to have with tea!




If you have some oreos I 'd definitely try making these! We bought a new bag during our grocery shopping trip this weekend so I'm sure I'll be making another batch soon!

Have a great day!
xo
Jen

It's been a very quick week for me. I can't believe it's Friday night already. Last weekend it was absolutely freezing. We froze at the Niagara Food Festival and then it rained all day Sunday. But by mid week it started to warm up. It's abnormally warm for October. But since I have 3 days off because it's a long weekend I'm not going to complain. I'm looking forward to lots of walks outside and hopefully to feed some ducks before they leave for the winter. I'm going to try to make it to the Ball's Falls Festival tomorrow which is outdoors so it'll be great weather to walk around.
Deep Fried Kool-aid! We didn't try it but I was definitely tempted.

I caught the kitties snuggling all weekend together. They were definitely stealing each other's body heat.
When they weren't sleeping they were hyper and fighting. Seymore was claiming that box and wouldn't let Logan get near it at all.
 
By the end of the week I was able to go without socks. I even took my tights off part way through today because it was just too warm.

Well, if you're Canadian, have a great long weekend! I can't wait for 3 days of mini adventures and some time to myself.

Night!
xo
Jen

Some fun music I've been addicted to lately.
Mates Of State - "Maracas" from stereogum on Vimeo.


Listen and try not to dance along... I dare you! I'll be dancing during my commute tomorrow hehe... Night!

xo
Jen

Just a quick post tonight. I've had a busy weekend filled with lots of baking, sewing, and hanging out with my boys. It's been very cool out and I've had 2 kitties cuddling with me while I try to steal as much body heat as I can from Adam... hehe.

I just wanted to post a couple of etsy treasuries I put together. I've been having fun on etsy lately. It's the time of year to start looking for Christmas gifts and I love finding handmade and unique gifts on etsy. I already have a few things in mind to buy!
Well, Pan Am is on and then it's time for bed!
xo
Jen