As you all know by know, I love me some ModCloth.  I actually purchased this brand new zag top back in December and have been wearing the heck out of it ever since.  (Technically they call it a dress, but in my wardrobe it’s a top.)  It is cute, super comfortable, and gets compliments all the time.  I like to pair it withe black leggings and gray boots.

On some other dreadfully cold day back in December, I was so miserable that I went on a cardigan online shopping spree.  I’m all about cardigans anyway, but this winter I’ve been reminded just how much of a wardrobe staple they are for me and that I can never have too many of them.  This particular sweater has become my BFF.  It goes with almost anything, is super soft and warm, and works in almost any situation.  I’ve worn it to work, out on a date night, at home with the kids, and even to hot yoga.

I’m an OPI lover and I fall victim to each new line they release basically every time I visit the hair salon.  Imagine my excitement when I learned online that they had released a Skyfall 007 line.  Say what?!  I quickly made a trip over to the salon only to learn that they had already been basically wiped out of all the shades and wouldn’t be getting more in.  Thank goodness for the internet, right?  I chose Casino Royal, Die Another Day, and Goldeneye.  I really love them all, but I think Goldeneye might be my favorite.  (It’s the polish I wore in these photos – lots of readers loved it too!)

And speaking of nail polish…are you ready for this?  This is a life-changing tip.  (Understand I mean life-changing in a totally superficial, related to nail polish sense.)  My friend taught me this trick.  Apply nail polish as usual (I do a base coat, then two color coats usually.)  Let air dry about two minutes.  Then soak your fingertips in a bowl of ice water for three minutes.  It helps your polish set much, much more quickly than by air drying.  I still let my fingers air dry until the water has evaporated from my fingers but still, this is so, so much quicker.  In the past I would paint my nails, go three hours being ultra careful and then still, the first time I touched anything, they would get blemished.  As a result I probably painted my nails twice a year, if that.  Now I’ve had them painted probably five or six times in the past month and a half.  (Also, I know this sounds really difficult but to me, the first minute is the hardest and after that your fingertips are kind of numb and it’s not that bad.)  I still put on a top coat later, but that never takes long to dry anyway.

No matter how old I get, I’ll never stop giving out Valentine’s Day treats to my friends and coworkers.  I haven’t completely decided on what treat I’ll be handing out this year, but I did buy some fun packaging embellishments from good ol’ Paper Source several weeks ago.  Sadly the adorable stuff I bought is no longer available, but never fear.  They have so many other cute options to choose from.  Last year I made the ever popular soft frosted sugar cookies, decorated them with Valentine sprinkles, and packaged them up with baker’s twine and these cute “XOXO” stickers.

When it comes to baby gifts, I’m normally one to stick to the registry and buy functional items that the parents-to-be really need.  However, those functional gifts aren’t always the most fun to give, so I tend to throw in something else that’s a little more frivolous like clothes.  However, when the baby arriving is a third or fourth child, there isn’t much else the family needs and in that case, clothes it is!  My sweet pal Josie recently gave birth to her adorable twin boys and when I saw these little cardigan onesies from the Etsy shop Haddon & Co., I absolutely could not resist sending her a pair.  This may become my go-to “fun” gift for friends expecting boys…or maybe not.  Wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise for any friends reading this!

As I’ve mentioned in my past few instagram posts, I’ve gotten into knitting.  Like, really into it.  It may come as no surprise that I’ve never been great at sitting still.  Knitting gives my hands something to do when Ben wants to watch a movie, when I’m sitting with the kids in the playroom, when I’m sitting watching swim lessons, etc.  If you’re already into knitting I’m sure you are well aware of Ravelry, but if you are new to knitting or looking to get into it, I apologize in advance for just stealing away your next 24 hours as you save pattern after pattern.

File this under things everyone else probably already knows about, but I finally started using the Starbucks app recently and it is awesome.  My girls told me about it last fall during our trip to CT but since getting our espresso maker, I’ve barely been to Starbucks at all.  However, at the holidays we received lots of Starbucks gift cards (woohoo!!)  I downloaded the app, loaded all of the gift cards onto my account, and now I can just pay with my phone rather than a credit card or cash.  So convenient and quick.

I haven’t had a ton of time for pleasure reading lately, but I did read the book The Round House by Louise Erdrich last month and I absolutely could not put it down.  It covers some interesting themes from, at least in my opinion, a somewhat unique perspective and kept me on the edge of my seat until the very last page.

As always, I have been listening to lots and lots of episodes of This American Life.  I’m going back in time through the archives.  There have been tons of really incredible shows that I’ve heard lately but this one  in particular (Very Tough Love) was fascinating to me and had me Googling afterward to find out more information on the rest of this story.

And now, for your dose of humor, this fantastic video of The NFL: Bad Lip Reading.  When Ben first showed this to me, I thought it was dumb for about two seconds and then we were both laughing to the point of tears by the end.

Disclaimer:  I have no affiliation with any of the products or companies mentioned above.  I’m just sharing things I love with you, because I love them!

So, you know how I mentioned that last week I said goodbye to my 20′s and I was…a little bummed about it?  On my actual birthday things didn’t really improve.  I worked as usual, picked the kids up from school and then on our way home, we were stuck in an unimaginable traffic jam that brought our commute to a total of two hours door to door.  Two.hours.  As a result, I missed my hot yoga class, and well, after two hours in the car with tired, hungry kids (and tired, hungry me), it just wasn’t the greatest day.  It’s okay though.  It got better.

The next evening, Ben arranged a dinner with my brothers, their better halves, and a few close friends.  He packed the kids up and drove them over to the babysitter’s house while I had about 40 glorious minutes in the house to myself – such a rarity.  I did glamorous things like sort mail, clean up the playroom, and take out the recycling.  Ben finally returned and said he had picked up one more birthday present for me on the way home.  Into my kitchen walked my amazing friend Courtney.  All the way from Richmond, VA.  I was floored.  I am supremely difficult to surprise but somehow everyone involved pulled it off and it was amazing.  All sorts of unintelligible shrieks and squeals poured out of my mouth as I jumped up and down.

So, we had a wonderful night out that evening with my family and friends.  We stayed up super late talking while we baked my birthday cake.  The next morning we woke up and did what we always do together – decided to cook something awesome.  Though normally indecisive, it didn’t take long for us to settle on this heck of a breakfast dish.  Eggs in a ranchero sauce with black beans, topped with lots of melted cheese, freshly baked tortilla strips and a mouth-watering lime crema.  Yowza.  Basically, my perfect breakfast, made even more perfect by Courtney’s company.

My already phenomenal weekend was made even more perfect when another of my BFFs hosted a rockin’ birthday party for me the next evening.  She thought of every little detail (hello, margaritas in mason jars!) and added so, so many sweet personal touches.  My other great friend and the best art director in the world Ryan covered a massive chalkboard wall in semi-snarky, tongue-in-cheek graffiti – oh, how he knows me.  (Also, like that center design?  Good, because it’s about to be a t-shirt you all can wear – minus the 30, obvs.  Details soon…)  Tons of my friends came to celebrate and they all contributed dishes made from this very site.  My sweet friend Shanon made the trip all the way from Milwaukee.  The sweet and inspiring Alex and Sonja were there too.  It was truly amazing to have so many people I love all in one place.  So yeah, I’m feeling just fine about 30 now, in case you were wondering.

1.  We took a cue from Pinterest, and started a memory jar for 2013.  We have been writing down memories here and there on small pieces of scrap paper and putting them in the jar.  We’ll read them all on New Year’s Eve this year.  It’s fun!
2.  My friend and I were browsing downtown one evening and I found this necklace at Silver in the City.  I adore it.
3.  Caroline has started to become really interested in kitchen goings on.  She always says, “I see making?” and wants you to pick her up so she can see, and usually stir.  This particular night, she wanted to stir the pasta for the full cooking time.  So funny.
4.  My daughter, the guacamole monster.  No idea where she gets it.  Who needs chips or spoons?
5.  Random warm-ish January day means grilled chicken fajitas, obviously.
6.  Pre-swim class shenanigans.
7.  Midway through the playroom update.  Things are looking better every day!
8.  My friend loaned me this book on knitting toys.  I died of cuteness overload, and then promptly planned my next 10 projects.
9.  Our first project in knitting class was this sweater.  Here it is nearly finished (now it is finished!)
10.  Another warm January day meant a trip to the park with our little sunshine.
11.  Andrew rode his bike to the park.  I have a feeling those training wheels will be coming off once the weather warms up!
12.  Super(hero) weekend fun.
13.  I had to work on MLK day though the rest of the family was home.  Andrew picked out these flowers for me to cheer me up when I came home.  Sweet, sweet boy.
14.  Here he is with the bear he requested from the knitted toy book!  He decided to name him Little Nice Bear.  Seriously, can’t handle his cuteness sometimes!
15.  My schedule usually doesn’t allow for it but this month I was finally able to go on a field trip with Andrew’s class.  They painted mugs and we all had a blast.
16.  I had my first food truck experience ever.  Scratch Truck grilled cheese – total insanity.  Already looking forward to the next time!
17.  After finishing Andrew’s bear, I decided to teach myself to cable knit.  It is way easier than you would ever imagine.  And when you’re cable knitting, it only makes sense to watch The Cable Guy.  Duh.
18.  One of the best things about being a grown up is watching my family play with my friends’ families.  This is my honorary niece Kylie, the daughter of my best friend since kindergarten Amanda.  She’s sweet as can be.
19.  I was bummed about my last day as a 20-something, so I started the day with a pick-me-up.  It helped.  A little.
20.  My attending happens to share a birthday with me, and he requested red velvet cupcakes – also my favorite!  Great minds think alike…and share birthdays.

Most of these images are from my personal (private) Instagram account.  You can follow my public stream here: user annieseats.

Have you heard of sticky toffee pudding?  Better yet, have you actually tasted sticky toffee pudding?  If so, you get it.  You totally get that behind this rather ambiguous name and monochromatic, unassuming facade is one of the very best desserts you could ever taste.   Yeah, I said it.

I first tried at sticky toffee pudding at R Bistro, one of my favorite Indy lunch spots.  The menu is mostly seasonal and local, and as a result it is rather limited.  As such, there are typically just a few choices each for starters, entrees and dessert.  I don’t remember what prompted me to try this the first time around.  Possibly the “toffee” in the name – most things involving toffee are pretty great, after all.  When it arrived I still didn’t quite know what to think.  I don’t know what I had expected, but that wasn’t it.  However, that all disappeared when I took a bite.  A warm, soft, sweet cake soaked with an incredible toffee sauce and accompanied with vanilla ice cream.  Now when I visit R Bistro, I don’t even bother looking at the other dessert options.  I will always order this.

This was my first time making sticky toffee pudding at home, and also Ben’s first time ever tasting it at all.  He’s now just as enamored with it as I am.  If you haven’t experienced this dessert yet, I highly recommend you give it a try.  You will be so, so glad you did.

There are a crazy number of food holidays.  I don’t know who comes up with these things, but these days it seems if you can think of a food, there is probably a day, week or even a month honoring that food.  For the most part I pay no attention to these dates, save a few.  National Grilled Cheese month in April is a no-brainer of course, and I cannot possibly resist Pi(e) Day.  I usually forget about chocolate chip cookie day until a reader reminds me, and then I absolutely must celebrate it.  And of course, I absolutely will always celebrate National Macaroni and Cheese Month which is now – January!  There’s still time to take advantage :)

As I have in years past, I teamed up with my friends from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board to create a new recipe in celebration of mac and cheese month for the 30 Days, 30 Ways with Mac and Cheese Blog.  This year the theme is mac and cheese versions of other classic dishes.  Many possibilities came to mind, but the accidental excess of bell peppers in my fridge combined with my near-constant craving for chicken fajitas led to this.  Chicken fajita mac and cheese.  If you’re a little wary of combining these two dishes, don’t worry – I was right there too.  But one bite of this and I was sold.  Oh, yes sir.  These two dishes meet in a very happy marriage.  Cheesy pasta goodness with tender sautéed onions and peppers and spiced chicken.  It far surpassed my expectations and now is one of my absolute top favorite mac and cheese recipes, a title I don’t take lightly.   My mouth is watering again just thinking about it.