Happy New Year everyone! I kicked off this year with a nasty head cold, so I've been curled up on the couch binge watching all the amazing new content on Netflix.  Black Mirror Bandersnatch, Tidying Up (remember my blog post about how much I love Marie Kondo?) and this awesome new series called "You" based on a book I read and LOVED a few years ago.  Oh yea, and Bird Box of course.

My favorite part about starting a new year is opening up a fresh new day planner! This is how I keep my life organized and make sure I get everything done that I'm supposed to do. 

I was never a day planner kind of gal. Then, one fateful day a few years ago, I happened to come across a video about something called "Bullet Journaling."  This is the video I saw:

I had a great system at work to keep myself organized and on top of what needed to be done, but I had no way of organizing my personal life.  Bullet journaling seemed like it might be just the thing for me!  I gave it a whirl, and quickly fell in love....

Every holiday season there's a huge need for easy and tasty recipes that can be prepped quickly!  We have so many parties and events coming up, and I wanted to find a quick and easy bite-sized treat to bring with me when needed.  

One flavor I always gravitate toward during the winter season is peppermint.  It's sweet and packed with flavor, and I just love it.  I love candy canes, peppermint stick ice cream, and of course peppermint bark. 

I decided to make a decadent peppermint bark fudge this year, and oh my.  It's so delicious.  It's taking everything in me right now not to get up from this couch, open the fridge, and devour the entire container.  I'm so pleased with how it turned out, and can't wait to share it with friends and family!

Not only is this fudge delicious, but it's SO EASY! It took no time at all to prepare.  The hardest part is waiting for it to set.  I was very tempted to just break into it early because it smelled so good. 

Peppermint Bark Fudge

Serves:  24          Pre...

Hey people! 

Unfortunately I don't have a real blog post for you today (I've just been so busy!) but I have some exciting news to share:

This month, my blog was featured in a local magazine!  Ocean State Magazine shared my recent Christmas Breakfast Blog post in their December issue.  How exciting is that? I'm very flattered and also pretty dang pumped about it! 

Anyway, be sure to flip through the magazine here or view it on their website.  I promise I'll be back next week with my recipe for peppermint bark fudge!

xoxo

Jill

We all have our Christmas morning traditions.  Maybe you wake up and begin opening presents right away! Or, perhaps you dig into a hearty breakfast first.  Maybe you skip them both and sleep in instead. 

Our Christmas morning tradition is to relax on the couch with a holiday mimosa.   It's a fun and festive start to a usually busy day, and is just something we both really enjoy.  We like to sip our champagne while we open our stockings, then move on to a leisurely breakfast.  (This year it will be the Sausage Crescents I wrote about a few weeks ago!)

We never drink champagne, so this is our special holiday treat.  I like a mimosa, but I like to be able to taste the champagne so I'm usually very light handed with the orange juice. 

For this mimosa recipe, I decided to make things even more festive by adding some cranberries to the mix, as well as a tiny hint of cinnamon and star anise.  I garnished with an orange slice and a little sprig of thyme, and voila! A beau...

I've been very busy this weekend working on my Christmas shopping list, trying to decide what to get for everyone!  I absolutely love holiday gift giving.  I spend hours - seriously hours online trying to find the perfect thing for each and every person on my list. 

This year I've been working on reducing the amount of waste I produce, and I've also focused on purchasing products made from environmentally friendly materials such as recycled plastic.  I thought I'd try to stick to those guidelines as much as I can this year when I'm looking for gifts to give to others.

Maybe you're like me, and you are looking to reduce your impact on our environment.  Or, maybe you are shopping for an earth-minded individual and want some great ideas.  Have I got a list for you! Below I've compiled all the planet friendly products I've found this year while I've searched the web for holiday gifts.  Let's get into it!

1. Love Beauty & Planet Gift Sets

This gift set is first on my list for a f...

It's officially the most wonderful time of the year!  It's time to start playing Christmas songs on an endless loop while you hang all your favorite decorations and guzzle gallons of hot cocoa.  It's also time to start planning out your menu for Christmas if you are hosting this year.  Eek!

If you are going to be doing a lot of cooking Christmas Day like I am, then you'll want a quick and easy (but filling!) breakfast to prepare you for the day.  I like something with protein, but unfortunately my husband can't eat eggs.  That means unless I want to eat an entire breakfast casserole myself, we can't have one!

Luckily, we both love breakfast sausage.  I decided to use that as the protein base for my Christmas breakfast this year.  Add some carbs, some starch and some cheese, and you have a fantastic and EASY Christmas morning treat.   This would also be a great breakfast to make for a large groups!

Sausage Crescents with Hash Browns and Cheese

Serves: 8...

Hey! Are you hosting Thanksgiving Dinner this year? If yes, that is both exciting & stressful (as I'm sure you know.)   If you aren't, then just bookmark this post for the day you do host :) 

I, personally, LOVE to host.  I love picking the recipes and the decor, and I especially love having family relax at my house and enjoy the day.  I totally get that not everyone feels that way - hosting can be stressful and overwhelming at times. 

A few years ago, we hosted Christmas (and made a Thanksgiving-style dinner.)  This was my first time hosting a large number of people for a sit-down dinner, and I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed.  Because I'm a super type A personality, I made myself a really intense spreadsheet to lay out EVERYTHING I needed to do and when.  I'm so glad I did - I ended up having a virtually stress-free day thanks to my schedule. 

Today, I'm going to share all that with you! This is the kind of post I've always looked for on Pinterest, but...

Happy Sunday friends! 

I know I usually post about food or podcasts or products I've tried, but today I want to write about something a little different. It's a crazy world, often full of stress and negativity, and sometimes it's hard to remember to take time for yourself.

I also think a lot of us can be very critical of ourselves.  I know I'm often very hard on myself, and it's something I'm working to stop.  Whether it's criticizing work I've done, the way I look, or the weird things I sometimes do, I often forget to stop getting down on myself and instead embrace my quirks and appreciate my own hard work. 

Today I want to share with you one of my absolute favorite ways to relax, release tension and stress, and spend some time caring for myself both mentally and physically.  Believe it or not, it's through a YouTube channel - Yoga With Adriene. 

We are avid YouTube watchers - I especially enjoy TimTracker on occasion for my Disney fix.  I watch tons of beauty videos, cat v...

Woah.  Things have been REALLY busy for me lately.  So busy I haven't posted anything on the blog for the past 2 weeks!    I finally have a fraction of a minute to write this post tonight, and thought I'd share something I made over these last few busy weeks. 

I bet you're like me, and LOVE crock pot meals on a busy day.  This is one of my all time favorite recipes. I feel like I say that a lot, but I'm not kidding.  Nothing brings me more joy than knowing this is waiting for me when I get home.   It's perfect for chilly days and, as all slow-cooker meals do, it makes your house smell great while you're gone!

I can't decide what the best part of this recipe is - the tender beef? The tasty noodles? The incredibly flavorful broth?  How EASY it is to throw together? I just love everything about it, I guess. 

I had never tried Pho until I made it a few years ago, and now I just can't get enough of it.  If it's on a menu, I'm ordering it.  If you haven't...

Ok folks, I'm hot off a Netflix binge, and wanted to share my thoughts with you.  As you know by now, it's my favorite month of the year - October.  One of the best things about October is the slew of new scary movies that get released.  Most of them are low-budget gore-fests, but once in a while a real gem comes out of the madness. 

Even better than a two hour movie? An entire series you can invest your time in.  We are truly in the golden age of television right now with fantastic series like Game of Thrones, the Walking Dead, and Stranger Things changing the way we watch television.  This isn't casual TV watching - this is TV made for an audience who is fully invested in the characters and stories. 

With shows like Game of Thrones and the Walking Dead, you count down the hours between episodes, speculating with your coworkers as to what everything means and what will happen next.  Only in whispers of course - you don't want to ruin the show for someone who has...