Cupcakes & Coffee Breaks

 A tradition in my husband's house when growing up was " Christmas Morning Casserole ", which has morphed into "any special occasion casserole", simply because it is delicious. It's simple to make, and we recommend making it the night before you plan to serve, so you can simply preheat the oven and let it bake while you enjoy present unwrapping or Netflixing. Conscious of the fact that COVID-Christmas 2020 has passed, here's to hoping you have a few days off of work to spend at home with your loved ones. If not, this would be a great dish to make for New Year's Eve at home. Whatever the occasion, grab your mimosas and slice into this breakfast casserole. It's a winner for sure. Ingredients 6 slices of white bread 2 lbs sausage 1 tsp of mustard 12 oz sliced swiss cheese 6 eggs 1 3/4 cup of milk 1 cup half and half 1/4 tsp salt 1/8 tsp pepper 1/8 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce Instructions Place the 6 slices of bread in the bottom of a gre

Affiliate links may be included below. This review is purely my opinion, and I am in no way associated with the product or compensated for it. Again, falling prey to social media marketing, I purchased a set-- okay, several sets-- of Ohora gel nail kits.  We had enough strips leftover so that we could match! I am not a professional, but I'm certainly no stranger to different manicure trends. I remember about ten years ago when Sally Beauty came out with nail polish strips in fun designs. I've recently been reintroduced to press on nails, and I'm experienced with doing my own dip powder manicures, too. So I was intrigued by the idea of semi-cured nail strips, and after having worn several sets, I'm comfortable sharing my experience in case you have been eyeing these up, as well. What You Get Each nail kit comes with a set of nail strips on little plastic sheets, a file, a stick, and two prep pads to clean your nails beforehand. I also used a discount code for a free gel

If you're a woman who has spent any time on social media, you've likely seen the ads for Rothy's. These sustainable flats have been seen on the feet of Silicon Valley tech professionals, celebrities, and politicians. There are Rothy's fan clubs that trade and sell "unicorn" shoes, or those discontinued but highly coveted colors and patterns, who share pictures of colorful shoe collections. But do these plastic shoes live up to the hype? It took me a while to take the plunge, and I think it's worth sharing the good, the bad, and the confusing so that you can make a decision about whether or not this shoe brand is right for you. I am just a consumer and am not being compensated in any way for this review. All opinions are just that-- opinions, and should be treated as such. Now, on to the fun part! About a year ago I tried out Rothy's new-at-the-time Chelsea boot, which is honestly less of a boot, and more of a high top slip-on sneak

 My most popular post on this blog is my Apple Cinnamon Sheet Pan Pancake recipe . I thought it was time for a revamp of that post, one, because I initially wrote it as a gluten-free recipe, and two, because the world looks a little different this year, so you may not be cooking for a crowd. It turns out that I don't need to avoid gluten, but if you do, the recipe is mostly unchanged, except you'll obviously be using gluten-free Bisquick! I initially wrote this recipe with the intention of cooking for a crowd. We are big fans of breakfast, and I totally miss our weekend routine of family breakfasts at our local diner. As breakfast fans, we were making breakfast sandwiches for a birthday brunch, using pancakes as the "bread". These sheet pan pancakes (sheet pancakes?) work well as part of a sandwich, but they also shine on their own.  I love to cook. I love food. I love cooking for friends and family.  But this year, I've also consciously decided to slow down a bit

My hair has been straight for my entire life. Puffy-straight. "Needs time to calm down" after blow drying it, straight. Works great with extra heavy conditioner, straight.  Sure, occasionally I'd wake up with a few curls here and there, but after brushing my hair-- because brushing is a must!-- they would disappear into a puff of frizz, so I'd add some serum and calm it down. It literally never dawned on me that my straight hair struggles were happening because my hair wasn't straight. Sure, it had some  wave, sometimes, but I just assumed straight hair was the default. Mine was puffy and needed help all the time, but it was straight. It turns out, I'm not alone. In fact, this blogger  had the same realization, and the descriptions of her hair rang true for me as well. I've always had "damaged ends" or "a texture issue", even right after a major haircut. So what gives? About two years ago I decided it was time to do a big chop, and cut

 "..hip hip..." When you have an open concept home, your kitchen is the center of your house, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. For example, being able to see your kids while cooking dinner? Great. Not being shut off in the kitchen away from company? Great. Having a sink full of dishes visible from all angles? Not so great. Having a builder grade, barely painted drywall and trim set up as the centerpiece of the home? Not terrible, but not great, either. Sad, builder-grade island... It's not like I didn't try. I had ordered supplies from the Home Depot that basically never arrived until I canceled the order months ago, but with the encouragement of a new neighbor mom friend, I ventured back to the "Deep" as I affectionately call it, and we packed her car full of 8-foot pine boards and I crossed my fingers and went in with the pry bar side of a hammer. I am not afraid of color. I've painted an accent wall in an old home plum purple. I've had a

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I'll earn a small amount based on your click-- that doesn't mean that it costs you anything, and I'll never recommend something I don't like.   I have a problem, and it's called "I'm a sucker for social media advertising." Little glass bead roll on bracelets? Got 'em. Sustainable shoes? Bought too many, shared a bunch of pictures, have a bunch of "sole sisters" I've never met. DIY lash extensions? Bought 'em, subscribed to 'em, joined the Facebook group for 'em. So it's safe to say it was only a matter of time before I clicked through the custom haircare ads and tried out my recommended shampoo conditioner. When my Love Beauty Planet bottles were running low, I figured it was the perfect time to try it out. Prose was the company that fell into my newsfeed on that fateful day, and so off I went, clicking through the questions that asked me about my glorious mane. You g

 I have a love/hate relationship with meal kit delivery services. On one hand, it's nice to get a bit of variety in the weekly rotation. On the other, I have often found that the prep time, delivery delays, or more-than-occasional rotten vegetable made the experience more frustrating and less reliable than I would like, especially because, after the initial promo period, they are not exactly cheap. On a neighborhood Facebook page, I scrolled past a request for meal delivery recommendations and saw that a neighbor had recommended Freshly pre-made meals. I had never heard of, let alone tried, a meal service that did not require any prep work on my part, and this sounded like a great alternative to take out for those busier weekdays.  Freshly touts fresh, nutritious, and chef-prepared meals that are ready in 3 minutes or less. This means that you'll need to use a microwave to truly have it ready in that short amount of time. There are oven instructions (which require a separate tr

This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may make a small portion based on your purchase through it. No worries-- I'll never recommend anything that I don't truly believe in, and I appreciate your readership! There is a saying that, "blondes have more fun," and that might be true! But any natural blonde or light-haired beauty knows that fair hair means light eyelashes. In my case, this led to a love of eyeliner. Starting in ninth grade, I was all about the mascara and the lined waterlines. Some purple eyeshadow would make my blue-green eyes pop, and I was good to go! But I am into the natural look, at heart, and my current lifestyle, which is a mix of constant momming, virtual schooling, and a full-time job, means that I want to wake up refreshed and beautiful, and ready to go. Enter Lashify. First, it needs to be known that I am not a false lash goddess. In fact, once I could get false lashes to fit, they had the "special occasion, only" lo

Poop. There, I said it. It's the single thing that I've heard people say when we talk about cloth diapering, as the ultimate, omega, challenging, "no way I can deal with that" reason to not use cloth diapers. Because somehow we perceive it as easier to bundle up poop and two-finger carry it to the trash can, where it sits in our kitchens, rather than to keep it confined to the bathroom. Let me tell you, I did the googling when I was putting together our baby registry, and I was sure that even if I wanted to use cloth diapers, it was something that was going to take up so much time , but I was ready for the trade-off. I'm here to assure you that this couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, cloth diapering has made life with one in diapers easier than I could have imagined-- and I say this as someone who had one in traditional disposable diapers so I feel like I'm a safe judge of cloth diapering in general. The main difference that I've experienced

 It's been a while since I've blogged, and so much has changed in the past year-- not just for me, but for everyone! We've obviously been dealing with a pandemic situation, and whether you're in an area that is still under lockdown, recovering, or somewhere in between, there has certainly been an adjustment over the past several months. I've always been a bit of an introvert, so I've actually embraced the opportunity to be a bit more focused at home. We've completely revamped our life, but I think it's for the better, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to grow; while at first, it seemed like the coronavirus pandemic would be a quick disruption, I've shifted to a home office, long-term, abandoned daycare for a mix of in-home care and virtual schooling, and finally (finally!) started to organize this "new" house. We bought our first home because it had "potential", and while I don't regret living there, I don't t