I hope you all had a very, Merry Christmas! My favorite gift this year was being able to come home from school and spend the holidays with my amazing family and friends. My second favorite gift was the awesome heart-shaped waffle maker I received (thanks to my rad boyfriend). It's a CucinaPro from Crate and Barrel and I'm totally in love with it. 

Tasty (and *somewhat* healthy - score!) gingerbread cookies that are sure to spice up any special event. The best part is that gingerbread cookies taste GREAT all year 'round... well, all cookies do... BUT, the decorations can easily be tweaked to suit any holiday or fun-filled occasion that calls for some yummy treats!

Christmas is one of my absolute favorite holidays to decorate for. I was in full Christmas mode come the end of November and decided to start decorating before Thanksgiving even came. Yes, my house looked like a Christmas wonderland on Thanksgiving. There's just something so whimsical about Christmas and I love spreading the cheer throughout the entire house.

It's pouring outside and there's only eight days left until Christmas... I think today is the perfect day to stay cozied up with some hot cocoa and my PJs definitely aren't going anywhere anytime soon. I made a nice and warm cup of my favorite peppermint bark hot chocolate from Williams-Sonoma and I've got a big stack of Christmas movies all set and ready to go. Let the fun begin!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! I figured I'd get a head start on wrapping presents this year because I was still finishing the last of mine on Christmas morning last year... oopsie! I love adding the perfect warm touches to gifts to really make them pop (even though they'll sadly just be ripped to shreds come Christmas day). Butttt, it's also really exciting to see them sitting under the tree lookin' all pretty, so I always take a little extra time to make them special.

Well, December snuck up in the blink of an eye and my favorite season is slowly coming to an end. I'm sad to say goodbye to all of the gorgeous leaves and pupmkin err'thing, but I've been listening to Christmas music every day since the beginning of November and am ready for some festive cheer! Here's a few lovely, 'fall-y' shots I snapped! Farewell, fall. See ya next year!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! Today was nothing shy of perfect - a wonderful day spent with loved ones, gorgeous, sunshiny weather, and fabulous food. I am the absolute queen of procrastination and made my first (and only) Thanksgiving grocery store trip at 12:00 PM when I had to meet my dinner for family at 4:00 PM. One day I'll get it together... but honestly, everything tastes better when it's made at the last minute (okay... I just made that up... but just pretend it makes sense).

My roommate, Kiara, will be graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University in just a few short weeks. We took advantage of a gorgeous spot just around the corner from our house in Richmond (Byrd Park) that was filled with colorful, fallen leaves - EVERYWHERE! I had an awesome time working with her and she made my 'job' pretty darn easy! Graduation sessions are always my favorite because the happiness and excitement from the wonderful, soon-to-be graduates always radiates throughout each fun-filled session.

So normally when I make desserts, I try to make them as healthified (word check?) as possible, but I'm guilty for eating wayyyy too many sugary, sinful treats this month. My roommates and I have baked a ton of yummy goodies - pumpkin cheesecake, peach fritters, cupcakes, cookies - UGH, I'm definitely going to need to hit the gym ASAP. But hey, you gotta live a little sometimes! Plus it's my favorite month, so I'll just pretend all of these calories never happened...

Happy Halloweeeeek! I can't believe Halloween will be here in just a short week - the month of October flew right by! I'm excited for the trick or treating, the spooky costumes, and oh yeah - it's my birthday! I'm a Halloween baby and will be turning the big 2-2 Saturday. Yippee! Even if my birthday wasn't this month, I'm almost 100% sure October would still be my favorite. I'm a complete, googly-eyed sucker for everything fall has to offer - mums and pumpkins are my fave - but I'm literally obsessed with it all.

Fall is here and it's the bessssst time of the year! Fall is without a doubt my favorite season for many, many reasons - but I think the most notable one is because I get to create/indulge in tasty, festive treats! Today I made something I like to call 'baked cinnamon-apple poppers' - because even though they're a little too large to physically 'pop' into your mouth, they're ohhhh so tasty and you'll surely wish you could devour them in just one bite!

Adventuring is something that I hold near and dear to my heart. My bucket list pretty much has no end and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t dream about getting to check each and every adventure off of the list. I’m in no hurry and think experiences are always more fun when they are spontaneous and have no set plan, but seeing as how life is oh so short, getting a head start is A-Okay with me.

So, I'm in laying in bed... about to go to sleep for the night. I'm all tucked in, lights out, and ready to catch some Z's before having to wake up for class at 9 AM. Then apparently, there was some kind of strange bug in my bed that bit me and made me decide to get up and make a cheesecake... at almost 12 AM. But I didn't just decide that I wanted to make a regular cheesecake - I wanted to try making a RAW cheesecake for the first time.

Hey, guys! I've decided that I want to start sharing deeper, more meaningful posts on my blog. I'm going to let my heart do the talking and share advice/thoughts/random spurts of meaningful words that I hope does not only help keep me inspired, but help inspire others as well.

Today is one my favorite days of the entire year. It's a day to be surrounded by the great company of family and friends. It's a day to be festive and wear a cute outfit equipped with the perfect touches of red, white, and blue. It's a day to spend the morning splashing around by the pool, the afternoon grilling yummy food, and the evening doing tricks with sparklers and watching fireworks light up the sky.

Hello there, beautiful souls! This has been the longest I have gone without blogging since I started this blog *sheds a tear*, but I just have been super busy lately! My last post was right around when summer first started, and since then I have been loaded with summer classes at my university and working.

It's the best time of the year - summertime! Summer signifies the end of cold weather and a long year of school work and the start of relaxation and countless days of soaking up the sun. What better way to celebrate than with a refreshing, coconut smoothie bowl?! Seriously, what better way to celebrate than with a refreshing, coconut smoothie bowl?!