And the winner is...

The peanut butter and nutella cookies!!!! Oh man, they were delicious! And the best part....the only ingredient I needed was the Nutella :) One of my favorite things about this recipe was the addition of cinnamon to a peanut butter cookie...genius! Of course they were gluten free, but a few of my gluten eating friends tasted and reported back that they were super yummy! The second runner up was the cake pops, so I will probably make those sometime in the next two weeks.

My set up...complete with "cookbook" (aka iphone)

Pre-nutella...not the easiest thing get to drop onto these cookies

These are the little gems that I took to Easter lunch. Of course, I had a few for breakfast too!

I also made two potato salad to bring. Yum!

This is the gracious hostess of Misfit Easter, Brie

She even has bunnies :)

My friend Rhi....always knitting :)

I had a great time over the weekend spending time with some of my favorite people. I hope everyone had a great Easter and spent time with family &/or friends.

Your help is needed....

So as most people probably know, this weekend is Easter. I love Easter for many reasons. I love the music in church on Easter. I love spending time with family and friends. I love dying Easter eggs, planning Easter egg hunts, and getting an Easter basket (and yes, I still get one...don't be jealous).

But this year I especially love it because I will be able to enjoy sweets again!!!! I am not really sure why but it was much more difficult to give up sweets this year. I am going to a lunch at my friend's house and opted to bring dessert (duh!). The problem is I can't decide what to make....everything looks sooooo delicious! This is where you come in... please let me know which of the following desserts (of course, they are all gluten free) I should bring to misfit easter lunch.

Cookie-Brownie Bars

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

Peanut Butter Nutella Thumbprint Cookies

Cake Pops

See how delicious they all look! HELP!!

Happy Moments!

Did you find some happy times this week? Here are my little roses that I found throughout the week!

Friday- new skirt and skirt weather :)

Saturday: Helping with a great fundraiser

Sunday: Palm Sunday

The pastor commented that the palm leaf was a sign of good things to come!

Monday: a picnic lunch with a great friend

Tuesday: Knit night! I can't reveal what I am working on just yet ;)

Wednesday: I came home to this package on my doorstep! I LOVE fun mail!!

Thursday: This was a bit of a rough day so I opted for some me time and dropped by the library. I was so excited to find some good (well I hope) funny movies to enjoy over the week!

I hope everyone had a great week! Happy Friday!

a quick weekend project

This was a busy weekend so I didn't have much crafting time! Although I have a birthday coming up that I haven't even started working on yet...gulp! But a few weekends ago I bought some fabric to make a skirt around my bathroom sink. I was stranded at my house for a few hours on Saturday, which left just enough time to complete the project....

Before.....

See how completely unattractive it is to see all my bathroom cleaners and hair brushes/tools

After...TADA!

It was really super easy. I used 2 yards of fabric, but it was a little short. I just gathered the top and put a hem at the bottom. The best part is that the skirt puddles a little so my hem didn't have to be exact...I love that kind of sewing! Also, the magic to keeping it up under the sink...duct tape! That stuff is so useful!

I also helped with a fun race this weekend called Mutt Strut. It is a dog friendly 5k that benefits Hand In Paw (an amazing non-profit.... check it out). There were almost 500 runners and fun run walkers out on Saturday enjoying the nice, but rather chilly & windy, Saturday.

working the registration table with one of my old co-workers

It was a great day and a perfect spot!

This is Lula. She is a therapy dog and sooooo sweet!

I thought these dogs were adorable!

The owner said they don't shed...maybe I should get one ;)

More Happy Thoughts!

I am really loving this weekly post! It causes me to really think about my day and notice what I am doing. I think it is so easy, especially Monday - Friday, to just exist on autopilot. But each day I really try to think about my day and what I am going to do that makes me happy. Sure, I think everyday I do something that makes me happy but am I really noticing what it is and taking a moment to stop and appreciate these happy times? Just something to think about as you go through the day. I encourage you not to wish the tough days away but instead find little bits of joy that shine through the clouds (I am definitely preaching to myself in this one)!

Friday: Margaritas always make me happy!

Saturday: A little shopping and I found this shirt! I love all things nautical.

Sailing is definitely something I want to try

Sunday: Mom and I went to A Chorus Line (musical happiness!)

Monday: So much about this lunch made me happy...including the company :)

Tuesday: This is on my co-worker's door...I like to snuggle with it to cheer me up!

Wednesday: Hung out with Rachel and Will

BTW...Will is gloating in this picture because he is eating a cooke and drinking a beer

(neither of which I could enjoy)

Thursday: Guacamole for dinner...yummy!!

Hope you had a great week full of happiness! Just think, tomorrow is FRIDAY...just seeing that word makes me happy :)

Craft Night Fail....

In the words of my pal Rachel, if out of all the craft nights we have and this is our only fail, I am pretty happy with that! Craft night is something Rachel and I do at least once a month but if we are really good we can squeeze in two. This time was her turn to choose and she sent me this knotted necklace project. I agreed that it looked cute and easy! What I didn't realize was that in order to make a necklace as long as she did, one would need a lot of fabric. We attempted with 44 inches...not enough! The end product was very reminiscent of an 80s elementary school teacher... or as I like to refer to it as "country".

But I may be getting too far ahead of myself... here is the process:

Me sewing the "tube" of fabric

Rachel doing the worst part of the craft, turning the tube right side out

Terrible stuff! This took way longer than it should have!

My "necklace"

Unfortunately, I forgot to snap a picture of me in mine...but Rachel was kind enough to model the necklace version of our country creation...and a few other ideas we found for it!
The necklace... more of a choker...
The ever stylish headband

Bracelet
Shoe tie (doesn't everyone need one of these!)
And my favorite, the arm band!

So I guess it didn't work out like we had planned but as always we had a great time! Oh well, better luck next time!

Happy Thoughts

So I attempted to continue my April project of doing one thing every day that makes me happy. To be honest, with work and other obligations, it wasn't always easy to take the time to myself. Hopefully as the month continues, I will get better at taking time for me! Self-care is preached repeatedly in my profession...I see no better time than now to work on trying to perfect this important skill! :)

Friday: Visit the recycling center

It really makes me happy to think about what is not going into a landfill :)

Saturday: A walk through town

I saw this sign and it made me smile. It also made me miss my grill and totally wished I could take a lesson!

Sunday: A walk to the pig

This makes me soooo happy! I always go get the Sunday paper...coupons!!!

Monday: A confession and a birthday treat

I was happy to spend a little time away from the office celebrating with Vikki. But I confess... I had to break my Lent sacrifice in order to go.

Totally worth it...plus, I had a groupon (happy x 2)

Wednesday: Spending time with a sweet friend and getting ready for her baby

Wednesday: Happy hour at a restaurant with outdoor seating (EXTREME happiness!)

Although, I forgot to document...this sign in my office pretty much says it all!

Thursday: Dinner and a movie with Maggie

Thursday was my only night without plans so I was more than happy to veg out on the couch!!

Did you do something that made you happy this week? I hope so, if not maybe you should schedule a little self care next week and share the joy!!

Baby gifts

I have a super sweet pregnant friend, Katie, who is having a baby shower this weekend. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend. So I spent some special time with her and gave her my handmade gift for baby Frances (she is baby Frances because I have a friend named Frances- remember the cupcake pin cushion). Baby Frances is already a rockstar in my book because she has amazing parents. I knew her present had to be special. It was my first attempt at baby gifts so I started out slow. But I already have a sweet idea for my "welcome to the world Frances" gift (this is not a normal thing I do, but like I said her parents are some of my favorite people so she totally deserves it)!

Back to the projects.... I wanted to make something for baby Frances that would match her nursery. So I conspired with the husband to figure out the fabric being used in the nursery and made a little stuffed elephant. I started this project on sew-turday back in February. It probably could have been completed in one afternoon but I chose to take several weeks :) The pattern came from the book One Yard Wonders.

The beginnings of the elephant

Body

The pattern has really great instructions until you start to put on the head. I had to hand stitch it to the neck, which was an adventure in itself.

Ta Da!!! no wait, there is something missing

EARS! Isn't it sweet?!

I made sure to make the eyes out of embroidery floss because I fully expect baby Frances to love on this elephant!

I also played around with making bibs. They were super easy and took less than 30 minutes, plus I used some scraps from a different project! I followed this tutorial, which I highly recommend!

I didn't really measure my fabric before I sewed it together. After sewing, fold your new block in half with right sides together.

This is the easy part... you literally trace around a bib you have, sew along the trace line (be careful to leave an opening so you can turn it, and THEN cut.

Cut and snip the curves. Turn right side out and top stitch all the way around. This also closes up the space you left open to turn the bib right side out.

Then just add a snap or velcro and you are finished!

Check out the tutorial before you get started... she did a much better job walking you through this project than I did :)

I can't wait to meet baby Frances...but she has a little more time in the oven before I can love on her!