BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION: IS EVERYONE HANGING OUT WITHOUT ME?

We loved Mindy. Loved her so much. Right before Christmas we got together to discuss our Holiday Book Club Selection, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? [And Other Concerns]. Once again we met for delicious food, divine drinks, & a little talk about a shared read. 

The consensus was clear: Mindy Kaling is hilarious. We laughed out loud even recounting what we had read. I did all my reading this time on a plane, traveling three times to Baltimore between Thanksgiving & Christmas. I would like to take this moment to apologize to everyone who sat next to me on those flights. I was that girl. The one who literally l-o-l-ed through the sky.

Though I loved many parts of this light & easy read (adjectives that Mindy herself ties to this book), what I find most lovely is how normal she makes me feel. Yes, of course we all work from our bed. Drama is fine. Fad dieting can be fun. Etc. My friend Teddy described Mindy as "the perfect combination of ditz and biting intelligence." You know what, I 100% agree. What did you guys think? What were your favorite parts? Do you think she will write another book? Let me know your thoughts in comments! 

& feel free to join us for our next winter book club. We will be reading Cheryl Strayed's Wild.

THE ROLLING STONES TEE

Do I love The Rolling Stones? I had to Wikipedia them to figure out who they really were. I mean, sure, everyone knows The Rolling Stones. But can you really roll off some Rolling Stones originals? If so major props. I music envy you. I, on the other hand, mostly love The Rolling Stones for this. awesome. tshirt.  

My dad gave me this tshirt a few years ago. It is the softest, most perfect, most excellent shirt in the land. So soft, perfect & excellent, in fact, that I usually wear it to bed. But I packed a little light over Christmas & here we are! The Rolling Stones Tee makes its daylight debut!

It's kind of like, my original graphic tee :D What do you think? Can I pretend to be a groupie? I really like the look (& the comfort level) so I think I'm going to no matter what. ;) xoxo

Shirt: Rolling Stones Tee (inherited) (similar)
Jacket: rag&bone via TjMaxx (similar)
Jeans: Jcrew Factory
Boots: Anthropologie (three years ago) (similar)
Photography: Natalie Folchi of CincinNatalie

LATELY....

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we WISH you a Merry Christmas.. & a Happy New Year! Hi guys! I've been a little mia. I had my very last trip of 2014 last week in Baltimore Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday. The rest of the week I celebrated Christmas with some of my nearest & dearest friends. Here's a little look into my world lately.. I wish you all a Holiday so lucky as mine. xo Annie

^^^ All those many, many times I say I am traveling - these are the goones I am with. We had our company Christmas party on Friday. It was so fun to kick it outside of the office with the people I spend so much time with.

^^^ I am THRILLED to announce 2015 will bring with it the marriage of one of my best friends. Morgan (center) & her college sweet heart Ben (not pictured) are tying the knot next fall. I'm in the wedding (yayyyyyyyyyyyy!) (first one!!) & this weekend we toasted to the happy couple. Random note: I can't even tell you how many of this exact same picture we have from our high school years. 

^^^ The great cookie bake of 2014! This is the first year my friend Kate (who recently  re-debuted on this blog  as "my friend who was as obsessed with Gossip Girl as I am & ate rolos & drank cheap wine with me after our long, hard days of interning" (I jest. I realize now the internship was the perfect amount of long & hard. I was dramatic in my youth)) invited me to her family's cookie bake. Basically, there were like 400 cookies in her garage at the end & I brought a bunch of them home. Heaven. Random note: see that picture above? It's an upside down ginger bread man! Isn't that genius??

^^^ I ended the weekend at a blogger clothing swap (keep your eyes tuned for something extra great coming from this group in 2015). We each brought the clothes from our closet that were headed for the donation bin & thought we'd check with each other before we sent them to Good Will. It was so fun to try on clothes & new styles & I came home with a gold mine.

AH what a phenomenal week. Only to be followed by an even better one. Christmas is my favorite <3 Sending you all love. xoxo 

HOMEMADE ICE CREAM SANDWICH.... the first try

What are my two favorite desserts, you ask? Cookies & ice cream. How could you make my life even better? BY COMBINING THEM. That's how I started my quest for the perfect homemade ice cream sandwich. I happen to already know the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe (remember it  HERE?). So I thought, "Um, omg. Easy." Disclaimer: it only half worked. Here's what I did:

Seems simple: stuff two oversized cookies with one scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Freeze. & you've got yourself a delicious homemade ice cream sandwich. Right? Kinda........

You've got an ice cream sandwich with cookies so hard you can't bite into it. THE WORST! I eagerly chomped into this treasure yesterday & was left with.. nothing! Not even a bite! Now, I'm biased, but I believe these would have been perfect  if I ate them right away without freezing. However, four cookies worth of cookie dough later, I thought I'd be good (smirk emoji) & save this mega treat for later.

So back to the drawing board I go. In my google search bar today: "How to keep frozen cookies soft." Ideas & tips welcome!

STYLING WITH CINCINNATI'S CURATE BOUTIQUE

Oh my gosh you guys. Fun. That's what it was to hang out with Courtney PeGan owner/founder of Cincinnati's Curate Boutique [map]. I mentioned to you guys a bit ago that I had the fabulous opportunity to model some of her outfits for the Holiday Lookbook. (See it here!) 

Behind the scenes, Courtney pulled three fantastic outfits for me. Then the talented Corey Stevens Photography traipsed around Cincinnati with us to get seriously festive. I had one casual outfit & two fantastically fancy ones, ALL of which I loved. In fact, the outfit above inspired me to start wearing beanies & pom hats as much as possible (remember this one?). Since this photo I've actually purchased that very pair of pants. Spoiler alert: they make every outfit amazing.

I literally had so much fun with Curate. & if you haven't stopped in recently (or ever)(gasp!) it's about time you did. & it's conveniently the perfect season for it. (Christmas presents!!!!!!!!)

What do you think guys? Which is your favorite of these styles? This green dress is just lace - all the way down the back. Gorgeous. But... I think I'm still partial to the sparkly number in the middle. xoxo & thank you for reading! 

Outfit 1 |
Pants: Liverpool Madonna Skinny Coated Jegging via Curate Boutique
Sweatshirt: JOA Embellished Collar Sweatshirt via Curate Boutique
Beanie: In Stores only (Curate Boutique) 

Outfit 2 |
Dress: Chaudry Beaded Cocktail Dress via Curate Boutique 

Outfit 3 |
Dress: Line & Dot Moore Keyhole Lace Dress via Curate Boutique

Photography: Corey Stevens Photography