teacups and cinnamon

Bread and Butter Pickles  Broccoli Salad with Cranberries and Sunflower Seeds Creamy Carrot and Coconut Milk Thai Soup Cheddar Bay Biscuits Lentil Vegetable Soup Minestrone Soup Potato Leek Soup Pumpkin Turkey Chili Salmon Tacos w/ Lime Slaw and Mango Salsa Soft Pretzels Spicy Chicken Tortilla Roll-Ups Sweet Cornbread Pudding Tomato Soup

Twice Baked Stuffed Potatoes Turkey Chili Tzatziki Sauce Vegan Quinoa Chili

coming soon

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Hi there! Today I have a fun Christmas Gift Tag DIY. I didn't use these for gifts, persay, but I did use them as little tags/instruction cards for my peppermint hot chocolate mason jars DIY. But whatever you use them for, these gift tags are incredibly cute and easy to make! I found these tags here. Her blog always gives out cute freebies and downloadables!

Hi there! So this week my friend Kayla and I have been working on my upcoming Christmas party and after a lot of debating, we decided to make hot chocolate in jars for party favors! And not just hot chocolate, peppermint hot chocolate!! Mint and chocolate have to be one of the best combinations ever. Anywho, we looked around on pinterest and found many ideas but we designed the jars and made the recipe on our own, to our liking. And let me tell ya, I like these! They are incredibly cute, very festive and most of all, the contents inside the jar make a pretty darn good cup of cocoa. What's better than hot cocoa on a cold winter night? Nothing. ;) We made these jars as party favors, but they would make a wonderful Christmas gift as well! They are so cute and dainty, and don't forget delicious! They are cheap to make and fun to give :) A simple jar of hot chocolate is a great DIY gift and people always enjoy receiving things people made :)

So today I decided to make cookies (YAY!) I wanted to make something simple, and I had seen these around the internet lately, so I decided to make Spritz cookies! I guess they are called spritz cookies because they are squeezed through a cookie press. So they're spritzed (?)! They were really easy to make. I used one bowl and there were only a few ingredients (which is awesome). The only thing I didn't have and had to buy was the cookie press. It was really simple to use, but it took me a little while to get used to it. Several times the dough would stick to it and not make the cookie, but that was alright because i would scrape off the dough and put it back into the cookie press. SO EASY!

So there's this tiny little coffee shop in my town that I love oh so much and it's called Anthem Coffee and Tea (though they have alcoholic drinks as well). I've been going to this coffee shop for years!! Every time I go I see familiar faces (small town it is). It used to be a forza, and to be honest, it was nicer and more cozy, but I guess Forza decided to quit and it became "Anthem" and the decor changed. But the atmosphere did not! Nor did the drinks (which are delicious!) Anthem is probably the most popular coffee shop in the city, it's always packed! You'll be lucky to get a couch, and sometimes even a table. I love the decor, it's so cozy. It's a mix of rustic and modern and urban, it's interesting, but really nice nonetheless. But the drinks are the BEST. Especially the White Chocolate Caramel Mochas, which is what my friend and I had. So creamy and rich and delicious. My mouth is watering as I type.

Yes I made my pup some cookies. I just love baking soooo much that I decided to share my love and give my doggy a treat!:-) Am I crazy?!

These were very simple to make, only a few ingredients--whole wheat flour, oats, peanut butter and water. That's it! So simple. I found the recipe here I only made half the recipe, since i don't want my dog to get fat ;P He seemed to really enjoy them.

Funny story, my dad ate one, thinking they were human cookies. LOL. I left the house and they were nicely placed on a plate in the kitchen, looking oh so cute. So he ate one, and that's it. He asked me if I forgot to put in sugar or if I left them in the oven too long (since they're pretty hard and crunchy). Lol no dad, they're for Fedya! (thats my dog's name.. it's a russian guy's name, but we decided to name my doggy that!)

These would make an awesome Christmas present for your dog :) Here are a couple pictures of the dog treats. I'll try to take some pictures of Fedya eating them, and I'll post them later ;P

Peanut Butter Oat Dog Treats

Ingredients:
-2 cups whole wheat flour (i used whole wheat pastry flour)
-1 cup rolled oats
-1/3 cup of peanut butter, chunky or smooth (i used smooth and i also used more)
-1 1/4 cup hot water
-additional flour for rolling

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit
2) Mix the dry ingredients together
3) Mix in peanut butter and water
4) Knead the dough well
5) Roll the dough into 1/4" thickness and cut into shapes
6) Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet for 40 minutes.
7) Cool completely on a wire rack.

My puppy really enjoyed these! Hope yours do too :)

Hi there :) So last week my boyfriend Vitali and I went up to Bellevue, WA to see the snowflake lane. I've always heard it was a fun Christmas activity and from pictures, it looked like a pretty thing. Well.......... it wasn't that great. Ok, if you're a little kid it would be great. But really, there was nothing really to it. It's just a couple of goofy guys dressed up playing drums and dancing, a few ladies dressed up walking through the crowds, and loud christmas music. I guess that could be fun if you're really into drumming and christmas music and overcrowded sidewalks. Well I'm not. The one thing that was pretty awesome, I have to admit, was the fake snow. They literally made it snow! Well it was just foam. But it looked like snow and it was pretty. That part was special :) Oh and the girl that was dressed up like some type of snow princess, that was pretty cool too. But other than that, it wasn't that special.

So these are a few of the pictures I took.. So sorry for the poor quality, but everything was moving so fast and since i'm a beginner I hadn't set up my camera to take awesome pics. Oh well. Enjoy!

Hi there, thanks for visiting my blog! My name is Mariya and I'm 21 years old. I am currently a junior at Seattle Pacific University studying Dietetics/Nutrition and I love it! I decided to make a blog just for fun. Well, more specifically, to have a place to post things going on in my not-so-exciting life that I don't want to post to facebook. This blog will mainly be focused on my hobbies (baking, cooking, eating, hiking), places I go and see, things that I enjoy and things that inspire me.

About me:
-i love love love to bake
-i have the biggest sweet tooth
-i'm starting to get into photography
-i love reading but don't read as much as i should
-i have the best fiancé in the world
-i'm a terrible procrastinator
-i'm a perfectionist and like to say i'm slightly OCD
-i'm addicted to youtube and pinterest
-i love hot weather and get cold easily
-i'm crazy about ray lamontagne 

So I suppose that's all for now. I'll be sharing for facts about myself later ;) Anywho, thanks again for visiting my blog!