Beautiful Brunch Week :: Day Two - Prepare Baked Apple Oatmeal in Advance (with Recipe)

I believe that the key to being a good hostess is all about minimizing stress. One way to tackle stress, is to do some simple food preparation a few days ahead. Your guests are coming to see YOU, so the more time that you can spend with them, the better. After all - if you are going to spend your entire beautiful brunch chained to the stove like a deranged Suzy Homemaker, then why bother to invite people over in the first place?

One of my favorite tricks for preparing baked goods in advance is to mix your dry ingredients ahead of time. I picked this up from the ever wise Pam of Gingerbread Snowflakes. Check out Pam's wonderful posts on making holiday baking easier; Part 1, Part 2.

The following recipe is such a crowd pleaser, and easy to partially prepare in advance. I have often packaged up the dry ingredients with this recipe to give as a gift. People go nuts over it, and I hope that you do too! Enjoy!

Ingredients
2 c oatmeal
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c. raisins or dried cranberries
2 T chopped walnuts
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1 pinch of nutmeg
1 t baking powder
1 1/2 c whole milk
1 apple, grated
2 T butter, melted
1 large egg, beaten
1 t vanilla

Directions

1. Mix the first 8 ingredients into a medium sized bowl. Or if you are a smarty-pants, mix these ahead of time!

2. In another bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients. Pour wet ingredients
into dry ingredients and mix well.

3. Pour into square baking pan or a pretty-pretty piece of Pyrex and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Serve with a large dollop of yogurt. NOM!

Do you have a recipe for a crowd pleasing, easy to prepare brunch dish? If so, tell me about it in the comments!

Beautiful Brunch Week :: Day One - Decorate with the Candy Stripe Wreath Tutorial

This coming Saturday morning, I will be hosting my second annual card writing party. To gear up for the event, I thought I would do a series of posts here, Monday through Friday, on the subject of brunch. I'll chat about decorating, organizing and, OF COURSE, food. Welcome to Beautiful Brunch Week, I hope that you enjoy!

Day One - Decorate with the Candy Stripe Wreath Tutorial



I created this sweet festive wreath for less than $5, with minimal supplies from a local value store, and things that I already had in my house. You can do it too! I hope that it will make my guests smile the moment that they arrive at my apartment.

Materials: One wire hanger, approximately 75 yards of 2 3/4 inch wide ribbon, faux holly, coordinating ribbon, a fun belt and a Christmas card (optional)

Tools: Pliers, stapler, safety goggles (optional, but recommended)

Step 1 Use the pliers to untwist the neck of the hanger. This leaves you with one long piece of wire to work with. Re-configure the wire into the shape of a circle, securing by twisting the ends.

Step 2 Cut 6-8 inch lengths of ribbon, as needed. Tie in knots all around the perimeter of the wire circle. You want your ties to look like bow-tie pasta. When the wreath is full, trim rogue pieces.

Step 3 Embellish the wreath with the holly. I used a stapler to attach my faux holly (it's barely visible)!

Step 4 Loop your cute belt through your wreath, and hang from the buckle.

Step 5 Finish by embellishing with a coordinating ribbon and the optional Christmas Card. My card is a pretty-pretty note from my friend Evelynne that I have been hanging onto since 2006!

Hang your wreath, and admire your handiwork!



Do you have cost-friendly decorating solutions? If so, share them in the comments!

Christmas Tree Day

This year, we ventured to Smolak Farms in North Andover, Massachusetts to pick out "the one."









It didn't take too long!





Then it was time to pay (at the so-cute-it-hurt gingerbread kiosk)...



We merrily took our little tree home, decorated and basked in the glow...



Oh, would you like to look closer?!

Lights on...



Cue chorus of angels "AHHHHHH, HAAAAA, HAAAAA!"

Lights off...



Hobbes wasn't sure of the whole thing...



but she got over it pretty quickly by cuddling with Matt.



I, on the other hand, cuddled up with some egg-nog and my new Martha Stewart Holiday special issue.



I love putting my tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving, so that I can enjoy it for a whole month. How about you?

Postcards from Thanksgiving 2010

This is what 34 lbs of turkey looks like...holy mole!





Storytime...



...pause for football.



Let's sing!



Everybody!



Finish off with Chai Spiced Apple Pie (Martha Stewart Living, November 2003) with egg nog ice cream, MMMM.



This year was the first year that I attended two Thanksgivings in one day. There are no pictures from Matt's house...I must've abandoned the camera in my tryptophan induced stupor. There is only one thing I have to say about dinner at the in-laws...there were almost as many desserts as there were people! It was delightful!

Thus begins my favorite time of year - let the holidays begin!

10 Great Baking Tips via Bake It Pretty

Do you read the Bake It Pretty blog? No? Well, you should! Not only is the Bake It Pretty blog a great resource for baking inspiration, tips and tricks, the Bake It Pretty shop carries all of the baking pretties that your little heart could possibly desire!

Click on the picture to be directed to 10 Great Baking Tips for the Holidays; including one from yours truly, Geek+Nerd.



Happy Thanksgiving!

Distracting Myself/Year Five

This is always an emotional time of year for me.



The story, year one, year four.



After last year's mini melt-down, I decided that the best course of action for this year was to take the day off. I dressed myself up, drove up to NH, went shopping with my mum, had dinner with my parents, slept in my childhood bed, got up the next day had breakfast with friends, went thrifting and shared an apple cider with another friend. I drove home, lugged all of my loot up to my apartment and made a Christmas wreath.

Then I sat down at my laptop and considered if I should really let it go by without writing about it...And I couldn't.

Five! You would be five years old and one day today, my little man. I am so, so sorry that we've missed out on doing so much cool stuff together. I do not think about you every day...but I think about you still. You will always be alive in my heart, peanut. I love you. Happy birthday, Liam.

recent pretty thrift scores

Two strawberry milk glass dishes, 75 cents apiece, a sweet Anchor-Hocking juice jug $2, and because I absolutely had to have another vintage scarf, a vintage scarf $4.50.

Has anything pretty found its way home with you lately?

2nd Annual Geek+Nerd Holiday Card Round-Up

It's that time of year again folks! To get into the spirit of my upcoming card-writing party, I scoured the internet to put together a round-up of holiday cards from my favorite indie designers. If you are sending cards this year, perhaps this would be a good week to buy them, and any stamps you need in advance. Also, before you peruse the racks of Barnes and Noble, or Wal*mart, why not check out these options first? Using your precious spending dollars to support a small business this holiday season is what Martha would call a "Good Thing." I hope that you enjoy the round-up, xoxo.

Afavorite Design

Vintage Holiday Pennant



Holiday Filling Station



Christmas Wish Delivery Bill



Holiday Jukebox



Gift Giving Face-off



Dude and Chick

Carolers



Lady Pilot Letter Press

A Letter From Santa



Olive Route

Holiday Scrabble Card



Paper Parasol Press

Animal Holiday Six-Pack



Spark Stationary

Happy Thanksgiving, Please Pass the Stretchy Pants



Spread the Love

Holiday Pizelle Card - WITH RECIPE!



Holiday Spiced Tea Card - WITH RECIPE!



Sycamore Street Press

You're the star on my tree



Many of the cute designs that I featured last year are still available. Visit the 1st Annual Holiday Card Round Up to check it out.

Happy Card Writing!

P.S. All pictures were used with permission!

giving thanks for little luxuries

My friend Megan came over tonight and we snacked on mixed olives and sun-dried tomatoes, both dowsed with herbs and olive oil and warmed in the oven. The pretty wheat stalk shaped bread was a tasty impulse buy, and Megan brought over a bottle of red wine that was to die for delicious (more on that later).



When work is challenging, and my brain has shifted into overdrive, I am amazed at how indulging in a simple little luxury can ease stress and warm my heart. A piece of crusty bread dipped in oil. A visit from a dear friend. Shared spoonfuls of brownie batter. Laughter, laughter and more laughter!

These are moments to savor. These are moments to give thanks.

Getting Organized for the Holidays

Hello, dear readers!

I have been busily working away on some super secret Christmas craft projects. I will have finished gifties to share very soon, but until then I thought we could have a chat about a topic near and dear to my heart; organization for the holidays.

Sometimes, us festive types can take on a little much around the holidays. Therefore, for the sake of our sanity and happiness, I believe that it is important to take a breath before Thanksgiving rolls around and honestly decide just how much or little it is possible for one festive type person to do. It could mean the difference between being chained to a stove baking cookies for the entirety of December or kickin' back and watching chestnuts roasting on an open fire...

In the spirit of taking a breath and assessing Christmas 2010, I would like to share one of my holiday organizing tips.

As is well documented here on Geek+Nerd, I like to make the majority of my gifts by hand. A couple of years back, I started a spreadsheet in Numbers (Apple's version of Excel, for you PC people) that looks something like the following (EDIT: The table that I made to illustrate my spreadsheet shows up all wonky in Google Reader. Not sure why! Click over to G+N if you want to see the real deal):

Recipient	Gift 2010
Family Member #1	Gift Idea #1
Family Member #2	Gift Idea #2
Family Member #3	Gift Idea #3

The red text denotes a project that is not complete. I may put multiple ideas in one family member's row. If I do not complete a particular idea in a given year, I will copy it to the next year's column for future reference. This allows me to catalogue what I give people each year, and to interact with a "to-do" list that keeps me on my toes.

Would you like to learn more about getting organized for the holidays? If so, I would highly suggest visiting the links below!

My friend, Pam of Gingerbread Snowflakes demonstrates how she breaks down each holiday activity into separate steps in her Winter Holiday Survival Planning Guide.

Amberlee over at Giver's Log shares her ambitious Handmade Holiday Organizer for 2010. AmberLee even provides a blank version of her organizer that you can download as a PDF!

The last one is an oldie but a goodie. In 2008, Ali Edwards posted Simplifying and Organizing for the Holidays: A Recap of Comments. This post is long, but well worth the read.

How about you? How do you get organized for the holidays? If you have a great organizational tip, share it in the comments below!

FYI: Two Awesome Online Christmas Zines

I think that November first rolled around and the internet exploded with Christmas crafty goodness.



I LIKE IT!

I may not be ready to decorate, but I sure am ready to percolate over the Christmas craftiness! I had to pop in and share two beautiful holiday zines with you.

The first is Gifted Magazine and the second is Inspired Ideas. Get a cup of coffee, open these babies up to full screen, flip and drool.

You're welcome :)