not necessarily in this order

  an in-office Thursday (which doesn’t happen every week), feelings, and short pants  6:24  Wake with a start that I missed my  6:35  alarm. Decide to turn it and my backup alarms off, go and put my contacts in, and shower.   6:4? : LM comes into the bathroom and emotionally rants about state testing. All I can say is “I hear you, girlfriend” while I rinse my hair.   6:55 : Moisturize, deodorize, take meds, scrunch the curls and hope for the best with air drying, put on the outfit I had in mind and regret how short the pants seem, remember jewelry AND the notes I had on my work from home desk. Head downstairs.    7:05 : Give LM and Bella their hellos. Pour my coffee and make my smoothie while it cools off. Consider the weather (it’s a rainy nor’easter and flooding is a possibility) and get myself moving faster. Tell the Mr. to give LM a fun extra for breakfast to ease her state testing anxiety. She squeals when he gives her a brownie with her...

holiday baking edition The four cookies of this Christmas! Not only did we make cookie tins for close friends, but I also  dared not to make a centerpiece dessert for Christmas day , and instead  went all in on these four cookies  - which we’ve gone on to enjoy all vacation week*! high . #2 (top right) for the underdog surprise of this Christmas for us! Lil’ Momma asked me to find a Norwegian cookie to make to honor her and Brian’s heritage. I found this recipe for a Sandnøtter Christmas Cookies with Lemon , which was perfect as my girl loves lemon. However, I paused when it came time to bake them on Christmas Eve; they seemed too simple and the only lemon flavor came from zest; would that be enough? I went for it, though, and these are absolutely amazing - all 3 of us loved them ! The outside is crisp and the inside is as light as clouds; they dissolve in your mouth. Even better, they have a ton of lemon flavor! I will make these forever, and with all different types o...