Cookie Time

My Pantshood Sister, Beth, and her real-life sister, Julie, make excellent sugar cookies. These cookies are great to bring to holiday events because they are A) delicious B) adorable and C) deliciously adorable.

Beth and Julie got their recipe from a friend of theirs, Janice Grubb, and they make the perfect, tasty canvas for a creative cookie decorator.

Janice's/Beth's/Julie's Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups butter

3 cups sugar

4 eggs 2 tsp vanilla

6 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

4 Tablespoons milk 

Directions:
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then beat egg and vanilla in well. Add flour, salt, and baking powder. Then add milk. Chill for about an hour. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface. Bake at 375 for about 9 – 10 minutes.

Frosting:

1/3 cup melted butter

3 cups powdered sugar

2 Tbs milk

1 ½ tsp vanilla 

So acquire some holiday spirit, some cute sprinkles and some festive cookie cutters. Maybe display your cookies in a basket, take them on a plane, or give them to coworkers!

Being Chi-Rish

The Ya-Ya Sister Pantshood spent St. Patrick's Day weekend in beautiful Chicago. What better place to take in the holiday than the Windy City?! Sadly, we missed seeing Obama. However, we did take a limo to McDonalds, crawl under the Bean, and do a lot of interpretive dancing.

So here's a compilation of totally unhelpful tips for taking on the city. First thing I suggest is to stay at the Swiss and get an awesome view like we did. You can drink mimosas in your room while watching the river turn green. No need to fight the crowd.

You'll probably want to bring some food coloring to dye your own drinks. Make some festive cookies and bring some flare.

Try to wear some poorly-applied glittery green nail polish. Don't forget your metro pass!

The most important part of St. Patrick's Day is the outfit. Your friends will take lots of pictures of you standing in front of the river, being flexible on various objects, or simply sitting on a sidewalk. You must looks good at all times. I suggest head-to-toe green with rainbow accents.

Other things you'll need to do: 

Eat Chicago-style deep dish pizza!

Go to the Wiener Circle!

Drink at a rooftop bar!

Take a limo to McDonald's For a Shamrock Shake!

Watch a KU game at Kincaids!

Try not to get too schnockered and embarrass yourself and your friends!

Operation Sports Movie Marathon

My fiance underwent knee surgery this week. Thankfully, I had the day off to take care of him. Translation - I had the day off to watch movies and make themed snacks. We chose sports-themed movies because there is usually a knee/leg injury of some sort involved. We decided to enjoy a variety of sports, so we watched Bend It Like Beckham, Friday Night Lights, Coach Carter, and we didn't quite get to Warrior. Sorry MMA.

 For eats, I decided on a sloppy-joe-grilled-cheese! My fiance, is weirded out when I try and combine ideas. He said he'd prefer a sloppy joe followed by a grilled cheese. What does he know?! He ended up liking it.

I also decided to make candy bar cookies. Again, fiance wanted candy bars and cookies separately. I really just used refrigerated dough and shoved a mini candy bar in the middle. I'm not ashamed. It was delicious.

And, of course, we quenched our thirst on the ultimate sports drink - Gatorade.

Holidays

So I've been a bit behind on posts lately, partly because I've been so festive in real life!

For Valentine's Day I ate and dressed quite appropriately. My friend and I had breakfast before work at the cutest little eatery, Succotash. It's pretty much my favorite.

The decor is seriously amazing, especially the little girls' room. There are bright colors, chandeliers, and girly details all around. Not to mention the food is delicious. I highly recommend the BLT!

I dressed pretty dang cute...

In addition to Heart Day, I also celebrated Mardi Gras pretty heavily in the Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis.

Beadage. That's about all I can say.

I have fun.

The Patricka Collection

I thought I'd share some great photos of the jewelry my dear friend makes. Patricka of The Patricka Collection puts so much work and detail into each of her pieces. I am lucky enough to own a few chunky pieces of my own. Take a gander!

I love how her necklaces look natural but make a statement at the same time. <3

Book Club - Sarah's Key

Tonight the Ya-Ya Sister Pantshood had their first book club meeting. The book of choice was Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. Umm, only about 45% of the sisterhood actually read the book, but it's all good. We did cool things to make up for our literary shortcomings. 

I made these chocolate fluffy things from this recipe. I added caramel to some. I highly recommend doing so yourself.

My sista made these mini "key" lime pies. Adorbs!

We also wore key necklaces in honor of Sarah's Key.

There were "French braids" to go along with the French setting of the book.

And, of course, we brought along a "Key"stone Light.

Anywho, next book needs to be a little more lighthearted. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Impressions

I love painting, but my favorite things to paint are usually things that have already been done. I like to think of it as my impression of the work, rather than copying. My mom is the same way. She made this Erté painting for me several years ago, and it's become a huge part of my decor. I've moved 5+ times since she's made it, and I always feel at home once I hang this baby on the wall.

I'm a big fan of poster art. My mom also created this piece featuring my all time favorite, the greyhound, with poster art as inspiration.

My absolute favorite things to paint are chandeliers. I could paint chandeliers all day, everyday. Of course, some of them are outlines copied from chandelier decals and such, but I'm still pretty proud of this one.