HALLOWEEN WEEK!

Halloween! Halloween! I used to love Halloween when I was a kid. I mean, not surprising really: candy (I love) + dressing up (I love) + usually a sleep over (because I went to a Catholic School, November 1st is All Saints Day). What's not to like?

This week I have a TON of Fall/Halloween posts for you guys. Starting with just a preview: jack o lanterns. 

Can you tell which one is mine? (It's the one on the right) (Though I love the one on the left) (It's an emoji) ;D

P.S. Anyone have a tip on how to remove my permanent marker trace before trick or treaters spot my cheat? 

& what to do with all those guts/pumpkin seeds? Why... you roast them. I'll show you tomorrow :) I hope that you all have the best halloween week. Are y'all dressing up this year? What shall you be? I need suggestions!! xoxo

PHOTOS| RACHEL + CASEY

This weekend I had the most magical request from two of my loveliest friends. Rachel & Casey recently got engaged & were looking for someone to photograph their save the date pictures. As you know, I love love & so happily obliged.  

Now, I've never taken photos for anyone before (except for my blogging partner in crime, Cincin-Natalie, from time to time) but guys it was so fun.  I'm serious. So. Fun. The leaves were stunning & it definitely helps that I was third wheelin' with two of my great friends. I think you could hear our laughter through the entire forest. 

I'm just so flattered that these lovebirds asked me to play a small role in this special time of their life. Thanks you two. You're just plain awesome.

& to all of you lovely Magical Simplicity Readers, I've missed you! I've been traveling a lot, but I'm back now for a solid two weeks :) I hope you are all having the most magical fall! xoxo, & thanks for reading. 

OVER THE RHINE: IRIS BOOKCAFE

Iris BookCafe & Gallery
Mon-Thurs 8a-9p; Fri 8a-7p; Sat 10a-7p; Sun 11a-9p

Books. Photography. Art. Secret garden. Welcome to Iris BookCafe in the heart of Cincinnati's OTR [map]. Here, the food is local & the books are global. Can you imagine a better combination? Oh wait! Coffee. There is coffee. & it's Coffee Emporium coffee (another Magical Simplicity coffee crush!) (which you can read about here). Now can you imagine anything better? Didn't think so.

I first read about Iris BookCafe in City Beat's 2014 Eats Staff Picks. They dubbed this oasis as the Best Winter Warm-Up. The way they described it made me imagine a secret, warm, cozy, awesome, vegetarian haven. AKA: My dream. 

Oh guys, it seriously is all of that & more! Tucked away in the middle of our bustling city (just across from Park + Vine) (which is ironically on Main Street) is a true  gem. & outside through the back, shielded from all the bustle by its neighbors' walls, is an ivy clad solace. They've crowned it: The Courtyard.

My sisters & I spent a wonderful morning at Iris & I think it will be the first of many. My only complaint is, how have I not ever stumbled upon this magic little slice of a Cincinnati fairy tale before?

Stop by Iris Bookcafe. It's what dreams (well at least my dreams) are made of.

[SUPER EASY] PUMPKIN MUFFINS

Fall means pumpkin! Everywhere! Pumpkin spice.  Pumpkin cheesecake. Pumpkin pie. Pumpkin Beer! & my personal favorite.... PUMPKIN MUFFINS!!!! Why do we all love pumpkin? (Because its naturally fat free?) (Because its so delicious?) (Because it reminds us of jack-o-lanterns?) I don't know for sure. But we sure do love it. My mom has been making these pumpkin muffins since I was in high school. They are soooo super easy. Only three ingredients, actually. Let's get to it.

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees & grease a few muffin tins. (I had enough batter for 24 mini muffins & 12 normal sized.) (& there could've been more.. I didn't try very hard because I wanted to lick the bowl.)

This recipe literally calls for three ingredients. Pictured above: 

• 1 dry package of spice cake mix
• 1 18oz can of PURE pumpkin (not pie filling!)
• 1 cup water (pictured below)
• Optional: Mix ins. You're going to want to add chocolate chips.

By the way, without the mix ins, we found this recipe all those years ago on Weight Watchers (here). BUT.. trust me on adding those chocolate chips. It's really delicious. 

Use a hand mixer to blend three ingredients (1 package spice cake mix, 1 can of pumpkin, 1 c water). Or, if you don't have a hand mixer (I made these stranded away from The Studio with over-the-weekend car malfunctions), you can hand whisk :)

Then, if you're adding "mix ins" you'll want to divide your batter. I always add Ghiardelli Dark Chocolate Chips to mine. My mom used to add frozen blueberries instead. You can see my three batters below.

Spoon your batter into muffin tins.

& bake for 18-25 minutes or until a toothpick (fork) comes out clean. Weird side note, my mini muffins took nearly as long to bake as the large!

As you know, I swoon for baked goods (you also need to try this yogurt banana bread & these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies). But I swoon most for the easiest ones. Happy Pumpkin-ing my loves!  Let me know if you try these out & thank you for stopping by Magical Simplicity!

PHOTOS | GORMAN HERITAGE FARM

I put the Sunflower Festival on our calendar 5 weeks early. I absolutely did NOT want to miss it. 

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate & by the time this year's sunflower festival rolled around at Gorman Heritage Farm, the field was pretty... dead. That's okay though, because I got a lot of sunflower pictures earlier this fall (see those here). But Gorman Heritage Farm was still pretty cool! Smack dab in the middle of Evendale [map] are a few acres of an educational farm. I can't talk too much shop about farms (without totally embarrassing myself), so I will let my photos tell you. 

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! It is definitely  fall!! & speaking of fall, I have a fun fall recipe ready for you guys tomorrow. Check back :) XOXO & thanks for reading!