Holiday


I love December—full of holiday baking, parties and decorating. I also love the opportunity to buy a flirty and feminine holiday dress for Christmas parties or New Year’s Eve. I generally don’t endorse buying items that aren’t versatile, but I fully support buying one special party dress per year that you can wear to a holiday party (and New Year’s Eve, if you pick wisely).

My husband’s first Father’s Day was the perfect excuse to make his favorite summer dessert, peach cobbler. There is no shortage of peach cobbler recipes online, with endless variations on the theme. My husband reassured me that recipes, in general but especially for this dish, were guides and not the gospel, as his “Big Mama” pretty much went by taste. I decided to adapt this recipe. It had a strong rating even after over 1400 reviews. How could I go wrong?

Party dresses are all about sparkle, sequins and tastefully showing a little skin. With New Year’s Eve simultaneously being the last and first party of the year, you could probably justify spending twice your normal budget to ring in the new year. However, with the plethora of great options at reasonable price points, you don’t have to break the bank to look fabulous. Below are just a handful of great New Year’s Eve party dresses for under $100.

I love holiday parties because they gave me an excuse to wear a glittery, shimmery, ultra feminine dress. I hardly ever suggest buying clothes that aren’t versatile, but holiday party dresses do not apply. This is the one time of year where I think it’s totally OK to buy a dress you might only wear once or twice because it’s the holidays.

I’m really looking forward to 2016 and my 36th year on this planet (my birthday is this week). The next 360-ish days will definitely include a lot of travel, thanks to my awesome day job. I also look forward to the end of diapers! Rocco learned to potty train in 2015, and I am sure Gigi will be quick behind him this year.

When I told my hubby about this blog story idea, he laughed at me. So moms are going to organize crafts for their kids to make to give to themselves? Silly hubby! There are so many other people who are looking for cute ideas for Mothers day crafts on Pinterest. I was looking for ideas because I thought it would be cute for my kids to make something for their grandmothers. I think any mom would appreciate these DIY Mothers day crafts, no matter who made it for them.

Have you heard of La Befana and the feast of the Epiphany? I hadn’t until a few days ago. I’m always looking for more ways to connect to my Italian heritage. My birthday is on Three Kings Day – aka Epiphany, so I researched ideas of traditional Italian desserts and that’s how I learned about befanini cookies.












