Christmas Cookies

A couple nights ago I got the bug to make Christmas cookies at like 11 pm, so I obviously had to heed that calling and make a batch.  I've never really made sugar cookies on my own before, though I'm sure I've done it with my mom, or at a cookie decorating party or something.  They're super simple and only require a few ingredients, which is nice.  I remember we used to get a canister full of fancy sugar cookies from a family friend every Christmas season and they were just so delicious.  I don't know if these ended up being as delicious, simply because those have that mystical quality of childhood memory, but they are some damn good Christmas cookies!

Last night I was a total idiot and got completely dressed up, make-up done, and was about to leave for a Christmas party, and when I went on facebook to check the address of the party... I noticed that the party was scheduled for tonight.  So there I was, sitting in my living room, looking super fancy, with all the lights turned off because I was about to leave.  Felt kind of like a scene from an 80's Molly Ringwald movie.  So instead of going to a party,  I took a bubble bath and then made even more cookies.  Okay, that part would probably be in the Molly Ringwald movie too.

I think the cookies turned out pretty fancy!  This is the first batch, when I forgot to put sprinkles on, but I remembered to put sprinkles on the batch I made last night.  

Cookie Ingredients (makes appx 2 dozen)

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

Frosting Ingredients:

2 large egg whites
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

1/ Cream together the butter and sugar.

2/ Next, mix in the egg and vanilla extract until just combined.

3/ Stir in the flour and salt until dough forms.

4/ Form a ball from the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (about a couple hours) or overnight.

5/ Preheat your oven to 375F. Lightly flour your countertop and roll out the dough until it’s about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out your cookie shapes with cookie cutters.

6/ Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and pop it in the freezer for about 5 minutes (optional but this will help the cookies keep their shape!). Bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack.

7/ Make the frosting! In the bowl of your electric mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites with the lemon juice until combined. Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined and smooth. (The right consistency to cover or "flood" sugar cookies is when you lift the beater, the ribbon of icing that falls back into the bowl remains on the surface for a few seconds before disappearing. Another test is to take a cookie and place a small amount of icing in the center of the cookie. Using a small knife, push the icing to the edge of the cookie. If the icing runs off the edge, thicken the icing by adding a little more confectioner’s sugar. Conversely, if the icing is too thick, add a little water.) Add a couple drops of food coloring to your frosting if you want colored frosting!

The icing needs to be used immediately or transferred to an airtight container as royal icing hardens when exposed to air. Cover with plastic wrap when not in use.

I don't have a frosting piping bag, so I just put the frosting in ziplock bags and snip the tip off a tiny bit and pipe it on like that.  I first pipe an outline around every cookie, and then go back and fill them in.  If you want to add sprinkles, make sure you add them as you frost, because the royal icing hardens relatively quickly.  I can't wait to package these up and send them off to some special people!

baby it's cold outside

Last night the Christmas bug hit me hard, y'all.  I wrapped presents, added a few more decorations to our tree, and baked and frosted Christmas cookies!  I feel like Christmas is such a family ordeal.  There's something about the unbridled joy of a child at Christmas time that really just makes everything sparkle and shine.  As an adult, I almost don't feel like Christmas will have that same magic until I have kids and get to create the magic for them.  Even as a kid I liked to create a bit more magic for my little brothers (or attempt to, at least).  I used to put cookies and a glass of milk by the fireplace on Christmas eve, and then I would sneak up and take a bite of the cookies and drink some milk so in the morning I could be like, "look!  Santa was here!"  Haha.  I'm sure they weren't fooled, but I still got a lot of joy out of trying to bring a bit more magic to Christmas for them.

top/vintage :: dress + tights + shoes/courtesy of modcloth :: coat/thrifted lady tie/courtesy of flapper girl :: bag/courtesy of handbag heaven :: photos by Dan
I only just styled this dress a week ago, but I already knew how I wanted to style it a second time.  The under shirt makes it a bit more winter friendly, since going sleeveless this time of year isn't too fun.  I'm discovering that I dress for warmth way more down here in Tacoma than I ever did up in Anchorage.  It's mostly because, while the temperatures down here are significantly warmer than in Anchorage during the winter, I spend a lot more time outdoors here in Tacoma.  In Anchorage, I didn't live in an area where walking to stores or coffee shops was really an option, so we would just drive everywhere, which meant getting into a warm car in a warm garage, driving to our destination, and then only briefly running from the warm car to whatever warm building we were headed to.  Not much time out in the cold.  But here, we live close enough to coffee shops and a few stores that we regularly walk as our main mode of transportation, especially now that we don't have bikes.  It might only get down to the high 30's, while in Anchorage it's hovering around 0, but walking in the 30's is cuh-hold!  
In these pictures I'm actually wearing two pairs of tights: one thicker, nude-ish color, and then the mustard ones on top.  It doesn't add bulk, but it really adds a lot of warmth.  If you're wearing darker colored tights, like rust or wine colored ones, you can even pull them on over leggings for added warmth.  I often will put on socks and then tights (mostly because this helps my tiny feet fit into all my shoes that are a bit too big), which helps a lot with keeping feet warm on long walks.  Most of my shoes are already about a size too big for me, but if you don't have baby feet like me, I'd recommend getting the shoes/boots you like wearing in winter in a size bigger than what you normally wear so you can fit some thicker socks in there.  

rainy days

The past few weeks I've been more interested in moving, fixing and organizing the new house, and trying to settle into a new routine, than coming up with content for the blog.  Lately most of my outfits are tending towards the Northwest-yoga-girl type genre, wearing mostly black leggings, boots, a fleece and a beanie.  Of course, the nasty weather also has me more interested in hiding indoors than hauling my tripod into the wind and rain to attempt outfit photos where I don't look totally annoyed that I'm being pelted with rain.  But that's okay.  Having my life rhythm interrupted and not being totally on top of everything is okay.  I think it's probably a good thing.  This is the season for focusing on home and family.  We've still got boxes everywhere and lots of piles of clothes waiting for me to buy a dresser to put them in.  We still don't have a table for our kitchen, and all but 3 pairs of my shoes are still in the Winne from moving.  We're trying to chase down contractors to do some hefty work, and I still need to tie up loose ends from our old place.  But we have a home.  A warm home, full of love and life and happiness.  And in a few minutes the person I love most in the whole entire world will walk through the door after working his awesome job and I'll get to curl up next to him in our cozy bed and fall asleep feeling the warmth of his body next to mine.  For all the curve balls and rhythm-interruptions that life can throw at you, it's things like that which really keep me grounded.

the new place

Thus begins finding new places to take outfit photos and making a whole new neighborhood wonder what the heck this weird girl is doing taking tripod photos of herself all the time.  So it goes.  So far our neighbors seem pretty great.  We've had quite a few come over and introduce themselves and give us the scoop on the neighborhood.  We only ever met our next door neighbors at our old place and none of our other neighbors made any effort to talk to us (other than writing "MOVE" in masking tape on my El Camino windshield.  Best believe that made me rage).  So it's nice to feel surrounded by friendly folks.  Plus, two of our neighbors have classic cars, so I feel right at home with the El Camino.  I've been making a bit of progress on my studio space, and once everything is in it's right place and the floor isn't littered with stuff I'll probably share some photos.  On Sunday, Dan & I went to a scotch tasting down at 1022 South, which was so awesome.  It's really fun to hear from people who are really passionate about what their telling you about.  And scotch and whisky are just plain interesting in general.  Sometimes I just want to learn everything about everything.  I want to learn how to cook like an amazing chef, learn how to make incredible craft cocktails and know all about the different liquors and mixers, learn all about photography and hone that craft, paint and create artwork consistently... I think I just want my life to be an explosion of creativity and be a student forever.  One of my 26 before 27 goals is going to be taking a cooking class.  I've always just figured stuff out from youtube tutorials and the internet, but there's something so much more informative about learning from a real live human who has the wealth of knowledge from a lifetime of doing what they love.

top/courtesy of alainn bella :: sweater/target (via swap):: tights/target(thrifted dress/modcloth ::  hat + boots/thrifted :: bag/courtesy of rouge & whimsy
I finally got our wedding photos compiled into a wedding album, and I'm super excited for it to arrive.  Though, I did the cheapest shipping, so I probably won't see it for a while, but it's fun to scroll through online!  I'm kind of addicted to making books now, though.  I think I might do a photo book of my Brave trip.  I have a ton of awesome film photos that would be fun to compile into a little coffee table book.  Since our coffee table is now just a coffee table instead of a coffee table/sewing table/dining table/desk I want to have some fun coffee table books for guests to flip through.  I always enjoy looking at interesting picture books that people have on their coffee tables. A few of us lady friends got together last month and had a little clothing swap.  There wasn't really enough of us to have it be a huge success, but hopefully we'll expand and get more people at the next one (maybe in January?).  I did get this sweater, though, which is such a great little winter sweater.  I love pretty much anything with toggles.  Plus, the pattern in the knit is so wintery.  Love!

moorea seal giveaway!

I'm super excited about this giveaway, mostly because I wish I could win it!  Moorea Seal is offering this beautiful triple quartz spike necklace to one lucky reader!  I have one of Moorea's trademark chevron necklaces, but this necklace is definitely next on my list.  I don't wear a lot of jewelry, but necklaces are the one thing I do enjoy wearing, so I'm always on the lookout for interesting, statement pieces, and Moorea makes great conversation-starter jewelry.

To enter the giveaway just follow the instructions in the box at the bottom of this post!  You've got three ways to enter, so you can increase your chances of winning this beaut'!  The giveaway will be open for entries until 11:59 pm on Saturday, December 15th.




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