Last year I started Thrift Store Thursday, but it sort of melted away after a couple of weeks. I think I had too many weekly themes to keep up with and just got burnt out.

But, a new year brings a fresh start; I’ve dropped all the other weekly themes and will be picking up Thrift Store Thursday again. To get things started, I thought I’d link up two of my favorite finds that I shared last year – this pair of adorable vintage tap shoes, and these gorgeous lace pillowcases.

Next week I’ll start posting new finds again. In the meantime, I’d love to hear about your recent thrifting adventures! Leave a note, or a link to your own blog post, in the comments.

If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve probably seen some vague updates lately, alluding to a big event happening here in March. I’ll be sharing the details on February 1, but here’s just a little more information to pique your interest.

• The event will last the entire month of March.
• It will include writing . . .
• And photography.
• It might involve sprinkles.
• There will be fun challenges . . .
• And lots of giveaways.
• I’m really excited about it!
• So you should be, too.

Curious yet?

 

I’ve been wanting to make chocolate chip cookies for several days, but the butter just wouldn’t soften! (I don’t like to microwave my butter to soften it, as it usually melts some and then the cookie dough isn’t the right consistency.) After four days, it was finally to a reasonable mush-level . . . then I realized that the brown sugar had gotten left in the car, which Michael had at work.

Nothing, however, was going to stop me from making cookies. So I went on a search for brown sugar-less cookies and found these. They looked sooo tasty, and I had all the ingredients on-hand. Or so I thought.

Apparently we used the last of the baking soda (along with the last of the vinegar), while unclogging sinks recently. Which meant I didn’t have the proper leavening.

Not one to give up easily, especially when I already have half the ingredients mixed together, I decided to try a substitution. I know, I know, there isn’t a substitute for baking soda. But I went ahead and added more baking powder and figured it was worth a try. If it didn’t work, the worst that would happen would be flat cookies.

But it wasn’t a failure! The baking powder worked! Actually, when Michael came home, after he came back from Cloud 9 when he tasted the first one, he asked how I made the cookies so fluffy. Success!

I made the cookies 4 different ways – with m&m’s, with white chocolate chips, with miniature chocolate chips, and plain. The ones with white chocolate chips look the prettiest, but our favorite is the miniature chocolate chip version. I also want to try them with chopped bits of Andes mints. Mmmmm. That sounds delicious.

The original recipe can be found here, but I made a couple of very small tweaks to my batter and cooking time to come up with this:

Double Chocolate Cookies

• 1 C. soft butter (not melted)
• 1 1/2 C. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 tsp. vanilla
• 2 C. flour
• 2/3 C. cocoa
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• mix-ins, as desired

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Beat together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla till creamy.

Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Gradually stir into the butter mixture.

Mix in the chocolate chips, candies, nuts, etc.

Shape into 1″ balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for a minute after removing them from the oven, then let them finish cooling on a wire rack.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and I’ve been thinking about making cards. It’s been a few years since I’ve made my own Valentines and, quite frankly, I miss it! Making Valentines is fun!

I want to share that fun with you, so one reader is going to win part of my craft stash – supplies for making at least half a dozen cards – and my copy of the February 2012 Family Fun magazine, which is full of more great Valentine’s Day ideas.

So what’s included?

• 6 pink gift tags
• Red, black, pink, and patterned tissue paper
• Miniature clothespins
• 12 white cupcake liners
• 6 white envelopes
• 3 pages of sheet music with various love songs
• 6 small pieces of patterned paper
• 6 bookmark-sized pieces of scrapbook paper
• Red and pink heart confetti
• Ribbon, lace, and twine
• Hershey’s Kisses (A Valentine’s package HAS to have chocolate!)
• Anything else I may find to include between now and February 1
• February 2012 Family Fun magazine

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2012 is Tangerine Tango. (Yep, that’s it above as RGB numbers 226, 73, 47.) It’s not quite as orange-y as I expected, which I rather like. Will you be using this color in your home decor or wardrobe? What colors will you pair it with?

We had our 20-week ultrasound yesterday. It was absolutely incredible to see the baby. We got to watch his heart beating, and see him wiggling around, his hands up over his face as if he were trying to hide from the paparazzi. I had to fight not to cry, since the tears were blurring my vision so that I couldn’t see the screen.

Seeing our little one has taken away the feelings of surrealism, those moments when I’ve wondered, “Have I just been dreaming and I’m going to wake up soon and realize I’m not actually pregnant?” It’s made it more real for Michael as well . . . last night he began really talking to the baby (which, of course, sent tears spilling down my cheeks). And being able to refer to our little one by name, rather than as “he or she,” or even as “the baby,” is also amazing.

Here are the very first pictures of our beautifully knit together little boy.

It doesn’t take fancy supplies to send someone a letter, but they sure do make the process more fun! Here’s a very tiny taste of the letter writing supplies available on Etsy.

• Letterpress Monogram Stationery from Dahlia Press Shop
• Blotting Paper Booklet from Wiccked
• Envelope Seals from AngelaYoung1
• Custom Turned Fountain Pens by Esscott1
• Personalized Note Cards by Sweetgrassprints
• Kraft Envelopes from StraightHome
• Custom Address Stamp by Foryoo
• Wax Seal Set from KatrinaAlana