~Comfort and Joy~

Lucky for me, Patrick had work in Charlotte this month which meant that I got to come to North Carolina for a lonnggg visit this holiday season!  I spent the weekend of the 16^th-18^th in Charlotte and got to see so many old friends there before coming to Cary the following Monday.  Charlotte has two new stores – the SoBo Loft and Boutique and the Boulevard at South End, both of which have adorable home décor items and fun other gifts for anyone who is doing last minute shopping today ;)
 

I took the train for the first time since I obviously don’t have a car when I come home which was kind of fun!  It’s actually cheaper than driving since the $27.00 ticket beats filling up a tank these days.  You can check up to three 50 lb. bags for free and then get to relax in a fairly spacious seat and watch the world go by or read or catch up on email your whole trip.  They even have two outlets in each aisle so you can charge your phone/computer etc.  It’s not quite as cool as getting on at platform 9 ¾ and heading to Hogwarts, but it’s still a great way to travel and I highly recommend it!

After four straight days and nights of parties and get-togethers in Charlotte, I spent the first two days in Cary relaxing at home.  Tuesday night I went with a few girlfriends to Café Caturra which was so much fun, and good for the soul (you just can't beat old friends!)  A wine and tapas restaurant, there is a huge wood burning fireplace inside that we sat next to while we caught up (not that we needed the heat in the 70 degree weather…but the ambiance was nice!) Kudos to Cary on having such a fun, trendy spot!

There really is nothing like being home for Christmas… being with family and friends that are like your family really do bring the most comfort and joy J  I hope all of your final preparations are coming together and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

~The Life of a Housewife~

As someone who, until September, has never been married and never without a job since she was fourteen, “housewife” is definitely a new role for me!  While I am looking for a job and have a few prospects on the horizon (cross your fingers for me!), I am, for the time being, a housewife…weird. 

Maybe it’s my new found love of Mad Men, or maybe it’s the fact that I’m finally taking the advice of so many friends, but the last few weeks I’ve tried to let go of my impatience regarding the lack of bringing home a paycheck and actually enjoy this time (easier said than done).  I admit it's not exactly my first choice, I’m the type of person who's at a loss when she doesn't have a million things to do, but... I know as soon as I start working again I'll be wishing there were more hours in the day!  So I’m using this downtime to read, run, actually stay on top of things like wrapping gifts and mailing packages on time, cook, and of course spoil Sadie with lots of play time/long walks/etc ;).  Since I’ve been cooking so much, I decided to share a couple recipes I’m loving right now.

Our friends Ryan and Ashley are coming over tonight for dinner and I’m making wine stew.  I wanted to share this recipe because it’s perfect for chilly weather and takes no time at all.  I’m a huge fan of crock pot recipes because you can throw everything in and leave it for hours while you go to work (or you know, continue your job search and walk the dog..whatever). 

Ingredients

2 lbs. stew meat (find it in the beef section of the grocery store, already cubed)

1 can tomato soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can sliced mushrooms

1 envelope French onion soup mix

1 cup burgundy wine (I didn’t have burgundy and didn’t want to buy it just for this recipe, so I’m using Cabernet instead, which I always have on hand, naturally)

Instructions: combine all ingredients in crockpot.  If you’ll be around the house, put on high for one hour then low for several hours.  If you’ll be gone all day long, just put on low all day. 

Serve over rice… easy!

And for dessert… Pumpkin cake balls

YUM.  I love, love, love pumpkin bread this time of year however, my recipe makes so much that I had a ton leftover.  Enter pumpkin cake balls.  Easy, cute, and easily adapted to whatever your personal taste (I made two versions).  Basically take half a loaf of pumpkin bread (or chocolate cake or whatever you want, really) and combine with about half a container of icing, mixing together well.  I used half a loaf of the bread with cream cheese icing and half with coconut pecan icing.  Put the mixture in the fridge for a while to cool it down so it’s easy to form balls.  Once cool, form small scoops out of the mixture and place on parchment paper.  Put a toothpick in each individual ball then freeze. 

After freezing for a few hours (or overnight, it doesn’t matter), microwave your preference of baking chocolate squares in a small bowl.  Be careful as you do this, go for about a minute and a half, stir, then heat again in small increments of time to make sure the chocolate doesn’t burn.  Once chocolate is melted, dip the balls in the chocolate holding the toothpick and place back on parchment paper.   The chocolate will set almost immediately since the cake balls are so cold but if you’re quick and so desire, you can have a second bowl with finely chopped nuts or sprinkles that you can dip the ball in while the chocolate is still setting. 

And that’s all!  You can keep in the freezer right until about ten minutes before you want to serve, they thaw quickly.  It’s different and I think would be great at a party because you can grab a toothpick for a bite size of dessert instead of having to balance a piece of pie on a plate…. Enjoy!