Birthday Wishlist

 Happy March!

Spring is almost here, bring on the flowers and the sunshine!

March also means my birthday is right around the corner (the 8th!) so eating cake all day is perfectly acceptable.  I started off the month of bday celebrating strong with a trip to Blackbird Doughnuts last weekend.  Sprinkles & raspberry chocolate for the win!

I really don't need anything for my birthday this year.  It's been a rollercoaster few months & my friends & family have done more than enough for me and I continue to be so blessed.  It's always fun to look at pretty things, so I've rounded up a few things I'm currently coveting and thinking spring!  

          Guinea pig salt & pepper shakers?! The cutest!!

Elephants and gold detail tops are sweet and quirky

                                                        Gold polka dot glasses, fun & chic - cheers!

I can already think of five ways to style this skirt

                                         Hello scallop and bold tote, a great pop of color

              As a fan of snail mail, these terrarium cards would help my collection grow (get it ;) )

Obsessed with this bag & seriously saving my pennies.  Love the color & structure.

                                              I'm all about foam in my coffee, this way I can make it from home

                        A white dress with a pineapple print, so sweet!

 I'm heading to Newport, RI for the weekend with my bestie - her bday is a few days before so we have a lot to celebrate!

What are you currently coveting for spring?

xo Sara

Saturday Snaps

^a snappy sushi feast :) spicy salmon & tuna gone wild roll

Happy Weekend!

Recently it was my Dad's birthday (Feb 19th) so I headed home to celebrate! 

^a punny bday card

^sweet treats from the South End Buttery-  red velvet cupcake, chocolate/vanilla cupcake, s'mores bite, brownie bite with peanut butter frosting & a chocolate salted caramel tart.  Mom whipped up a delicious lime chili spiced scallop & rice dinner & these sweets followed shortly after. Yum!

^not a recent picture (Father's Day actually), but with all the food we got distracted & didn't take a picture.  Plus Jeff's in it & my Mom's taking the picture.

^ Queen B taking up 80% of my bed.  She's too cute to tell her to get off!

^reunited with my main squeeze!  Being greeted by Bailey makes me so happy, she runs around the house trying to find a toy, sock, hat etc & bring it over.  Even as she's 10 years old, she's such a puppy at heart.  She lounges around the house and just looks adorable all day, ah the life of a dog.

^ Mom's homemade blueberry banana walnut bread.  Gimme gimme.  Ah this bread is so good.  A few ripe bananas and an hour later this magic loaf appeared on the counter... And was demolished in a day. #noshame

^Academy Awards!  Aka the day I sat on my couch for 5 hours and at a lot of snacks.  My favorite part of any award show is the red carpet.  Jennifer Anniston  in Versace, Emma Stone in Elie Saab & Lupita Nyong'o in Calvin Klein are my top picks.  Rosamund Pike in Givenchy was my runner up!  Over the weekend I saw Still Alice with my Mom.  A very well done, sad movie & Julianne Moore definitely deserved that Oscar.  I really want to see the other movies that were nominated as well - especially The Theory of Everything. 

^and I got a haircut!  Woohoo, time to freshen up (it's always under a hat these days) I've been going to Mia at Rock Paper Scissors for years - she's awesome!

And finally, are you team black & blue or team white & gold?

^the fugly poly dress that has divided the nation😂

xo Sara

Honey Salted Peanut Butter

Oh hello sweet salty creamy peanut butter.  You are so beautiful to me.  Have you made nut butter?  It's SO easy, only three ingredients!  Plus it's cheaper & healthier than buying copious amounts at the store.  Another perk?  It's totally customizable.  Some days you want straight up pb, other times you want almond butter with a handful of honey roasted peanuts.  Other days you want this chocolate covered pretzel peanut butter (everyday)

I'm not going to lie the weather has got me so down lately.  This has been a long, cold winter & I'm getting a bit of cabin fever.  I love frolicking around the city, but when it's -5 and gusts of wind, going for a walk is more like slow torture.  So much snow everywhere, commutes are at least twice as long and the whole city is pretty grumpy.  I really don't like being so negative, and I actually enjoy the snow, I feel like a kid Christmas morning at the sight of flakes.  Lately I've been feeling like a kid whose math teacher decides to have a pop quiz on a Friday every time I see more flakes.  One of the good parts about spending more time inside is more time for recipe testing (and eating) plus I just started watching Scandal... And I'm slightly addicted. 

So now that I have you thinking about what you're going to whip together & what you're going to put it on (or eat it out of the jar) here's a sweet, salty peanut butter that I can't get enough of.  

Ingredients

- 1 lb (16 oz) roasted & unsalted peanut butter 

- 1/4 tsp sea salt

- 1 tsp honey

1. Pour peanuts in food processor.  Blend until creamy, about 8 minutes.  Scrape down sides with spatula to make sure everything is combined

2. Add salt & honey, blend for another 2 minutes.  Grab a spoon & enjoy!

What nut butters are you crazy about?

Stay warm & creative!

xo Sara

Friday Favorites - 2.13.15 - NYFW

                             (fresh blooms for my apartment)

Boston is still over it's head in snow (and only getting more) and while I've been dreaming of tropical vacations, New York Fashion Week seems like a more reasonable escape.  Buying flowers & eating froyo help the winter blues too!  I enjoy reading about designers visions and how they portray them on the runway.  The Fall/Winter 2015 collections are looking very whimsical and colorful so far and I love it!  Here's a round up of my favorites so far.

Love & Hedgehugs

I love making cards.  Holidays, birthdays, hellos, making cards makes me so happy.  I get almost all my card supplies from Papersource.  Seriously can I just move in there?  I feel endlessly inspired whenever I pop in, it's like my creative juices surge & I have to run home and craft.  I tend to use a lot of cut paper and layering and the messiest of glitters.  I'm still vacuuming glitter off my rug from Christmas cards!  Last week I was going through my art bins and stumbled upon my watercolor set & suddenly wanted to paint all the things.  The cards I use (size A2, luxe white) are essentially watercolor paper, slightly textured and thick enough to absorb the water.  I found a paintbrush and started playing around with colors and lettering.

Mint Chocolate Mousse

Mousse brings back memories of special events at home, holidays spent in the kitchen with my Mom showing me how to whisk eggs into oblivion.  With lots of ingredients (heavy cream and a million eggs) I assumed mousse was a difficult and time consuming dessert to make.  A few years ago I started experimenting with coconut milk, and this new mousse was born.  It's the same creamy consistency, but so easy and only requires 3 ingredients!  It's super customizable - the chocolate provides a great base to add mint, raspberries, peanut butter, anything your sweet tooth desires!  This dessert can be made in about 10 minutes (although it needs to be chilled for an hour) so whip this up an impress your friends, roommates, girl/boyfriend, or yourself!  

This is a super easy recipe, you just need to plan a little ahead -- You'll need to refrigerate the can of coconut milk overnight.

Mint Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients-

1 15 oz can of full fat coconut milk or coconut cream

1 heaping cup of chopped semi sweet chocolate 

1/4 tsp peppermint extract 

Directions-

1. Coconut milk needs to be refrigerated overnight.  Scoop the solid white part of the coconut milk into a bowl.  It will naturally seperate in the can, I save the liquid for smoothies.  Using a handheld mixer, whip until creamy & smooth

2.  Place bowl filled with chocolate over sauce pan filled with water, over medium heat until melted.  You can also do this in the microwave in 30 second increments

3. Pour melted chocolate into coconut cream.  Whip until combined.  Add peppermint extract, whip until fully combined.

4.  Dish out into 4 ramekins, cover & place in fridge for an hour to set.  Decorate before serving.  M&M's lose their color in the fridge when placed on mousse, so if you're refrigerating and saving it for later, leave candies off until right before serving :)

Enjoy!

      A mismatched double boiler.... Mmmmmm melted chocolate 

Melted whipped coconut chocolate, que the drooling

I just had to add a touch of pink & red for Valentine's Day!

Thanks for reading!

Xo Sara

Friday Favorites 2.6.15

(Constant winter thoughts) 

Happy February!  The month started off great with the Patriots winning the Super Bowl!! Yippeeeee!!! I was working during the game, but I made it home right in time to see the win! :) 

Friday Favorites 1.30.15 - Juno

Did Juno Boston got a lot of snow this week?!

This week has been a big blur.  A big white snowy blur.  Snowmageddon Juno hit hard Monday & Tuesday shutting down the city and bringing a magical charm to the streets.  That is unless you had to shovel out your snow mound of a car or do a lot of shoveling of the sidewalk.   I stocked up on plenty of food Monday & spent all of Tuesday inside with my roommates cooking, watching movies and sipping champagne - it was great!  We lost wifi, so my Netflix binge was out of the question, but we made do with TV - lots of cheesy lifetime movies.  We were going to explore but kept hearing the wind whipping at the windows and decided to stay cozy inside.  Wednesday I ventured out & took a walk to check out the serene scene - it was beautiful!

Celebration Cookies

Snowmageddon 2015 is coming for Boston & all practically all of MA, CT & NY for the next few days.  FEET OF SNOW.  So while you're at the grocery store grabbing the essentials - bread, eggs, milk, wine (duh) I suggest you grab the ingredients to make these cookies.  Fresh baked cookies & binge watching Netflix in bed, is there a better way to celebrate a snow storm?!  I love snow... Granted I live in the city, don't have a car and don't need to shovel, but I just think it's so pretty and fun!  It also makes the winter bearable instead of 5 months devoid of all tree life.  I can't wait to prance around in the snow & walk around my neighborhood.  Stay safe!!

Onto cookies! 

The first Christmas I had an apartment in Boston my Mom typed up a few of my favorite recipes, laminated, and wrapped them up for me to recreate home in my new kitchen.  It's one of my favorite gifts I've ever received, and making these family recipes transports me home again.  Among the list of family recipes are Scandinavian Spritz Cookies.  I will always associate these with Christmas because that's the only time we make them, but it's essentially a sugar cookie and can totally (and should) be made all year round!  Last year we made them for the 4th of July and they're now "Celebration Cookies" perfect for all seasons!  This past holiday we made a few batches of reindeer, snowflake and star cookies, all with bright sugar.  You have to plan a little ahead with these cookies as they have to chill out in the fridge for 30 minutes while the almond flavor really melts together.  My brother and I used to (*cough* still do) sneak bites of the dough in the fridge, yum!

Friday Favorites 1.23 - Live Colorfully

For those who know me, you know I'm obsessed with all things Kate Spade.  I love the whimsical, yet polished looks, full of bright color and fun prints.  There's something very quirky about Kate Spade, she knows how to laugh at herself.  When in doubt, throw on something bright - Live Colorfully!

I always look forward to checking out the theme of the new collection and this week I was especially delighted!  Plus it means we're inching closer to spring, warmer weather, longer days, ah I need it!  Here's a line up of a few of my favorites -up up and away, hot air balloons all the way!

Valentine's Day Love List - Under $25

Valentine's Day is right around the corner... 

Some people have mixed feeling on Valentine's - that it's lame or super hyped up or "singles awareness day" or the best day ever or if their significant other doesn't book dinner they're doomed.  I love pink and love and telling people I care about how wonderful they are to me, so I happen to like this little holiday.  Last year I spent Valentine's morning in snow covered Boston at The Paramount eating blueberry pancakes with my Mom - it was perfect.

Personally I think the best Valentine's gifts are homemade cards & crafts

Here are a few sweet things to give to the special lady in your life/sister/friend/mom etc without breaking the bank!

Caramelized Banana Chia Seed Oatmeal

I love oats.  Check out this post for a granola bar recipe I made a year ago.  A year later, the love for oats has only grown stronger.  For breakfast I rotate between oatmeal or a smoothie with eggs (I need something to chew on)  There's so many variations to oatmeal & SO many toppings.  Oh the toppings.  You really can customize it however you'd like.  At the moment my favorite combo is frozen blueberries & salted honey topped with gingerbread granola.  Yup that's right - oat on oats.  Oatmeal is such a warming comforting meal and keeps me full until lunch.

Have you tried chia seeds?  I always put some in my oatmeal & smoothies.  Throw them in cereal, yogurt, salad dressing, you can even make chia pudding!  These tiny seeds - they look like black poppy seeds - are full of omega 3 fatty acid which is super important for brain health and fiber to keep you full for longer & keep me energized for hours.  Read more about these superfood seeds here

Friday Favorites 1.16.15

Happy Friday!  It's been a long, but very productive week - looking forward to an exciting weekend!

Ten Boston Winter Activities

After the Christmas buzz wears off and the twinkling lights come down (and we're paying off our credit card bills from holiday shopping), Boston in the winter is a polar vortex and it often feels like there's no warmth in the future.  While it's easy to stay in, eat copious amounts of soup & binge on Netflix (I just finished Orange Is The New Black) there's lots of fun - inexpensive - things to do in this wonderful city.  I've compiled a list of a few of my favorite activities, and a couple I want to try!  So put down the remote, put away the take out, grab your down coat, mittens - hat - scarf and have some fun!

Peanut Butter Banana Kale Smoothie

I love breakfast.  Lezzbehonest, I think about breakfast before I go to bed.  I mean the quicker you go to sleep, the quicker you can eat again, right?  I have a few favorite breakfasts, and this smoothie has been in regular rotation.  There's something so refreshing and nourishing about getting all these nutrients in first thing in the morning.  Smoothies are really great anytime of day, there are so many yummy things you can cram in your blender, the possibilities are endless! 

Friday Favorites

I hope everyone's first week of 2015 is going well!  Still keeping up with those resolutions?  In an effort to nourish my body & stay healthy (and detox from the mountains of Christmas cookies I've consumed) I've been eating kale salads like crazy and I love it!  I have a delicious salad recipe up my sleeve I'll share with you after a few more tweaks.

Anyways, here are a few of my Friday Favorites to start your weekend off right

BHLDN released their spring bridal line and it's as gorg as ever.  Tulle and lace and beads, oh my.  Major swoon - check out the Winnie gown

Back in action!

Hey hi hello, I'm back!  I started this little blog of mine almost a year ago because I wanted to share my love for crafting, fashion and food with others.  Unfortunately life took over (as it often does) I had a million excuses and Sweet Sarandipity took a haitus.  Here's a look back on my year to put you back on track!  Snaps of trips, eats, sunsets & dogs yippee!

Weekly reflections 3.2

Happy March!

It's hard to believe a new month is ahead of us, February flew by!  I'm especially excited for March because it's my birthday month and it means spring is near!  I'm so ready for warmer weather, flowers and No. More. Snow.  I love the snow, but this winter has been particularly brutal.  

This past week has not been a very exciting one.  I caught a terrible cold and was pretty much a hermit until this past weekend.  I'm feeling much better and looking forward to my birthday week!

- March words of wisdom 

- lots of homemade veggie soup - soup cure for the win! 

- I celebrated my 1 year of managing this past Friday.  It's been an exciting, challenging, rewarding and at times overwhelming year, but I've done it and I'm proud of myself!  I'm very excited to see what's in store for the future.

-One of my favorite parts of my week was watching my cousin, Arielle, perform in a hip hop dance competition with teams Static Noyze & Project Nailz.  The performances were all incredible - I was I blown away!  It was especially wonderful to spend time with my family.  The highlight of the night was that Arielle's teams won both first and third place! So exciting!!

- Let's be real, I watch the Oscars mainly for the dresses.  These are a few of my favorites.  Cate Blanchett is dazzling in this nude Giorgio  Armani gown.  I absolutely love the simplicity and the icy blue color of Lupita Nyong'o dress.  Her supporting actress speech almost brought me to tears, I always get excited when new people win.  Kate Hudson looks beautiful all the time and this dress is no exeption.  The pleat, the drape, she looks flawless.  I have a list of movies to watch, but I've only made it through a few.  I saw Blue Jasmine recently and Cate Blanchett was incredible as usual.  I also watched Captain Philips, I was at the edge of my seat the entire time.  If you haven't seen these I'd definitely recommend them.

- oh Ellen, you always make me laugh. Best dresses award 2014.  She should host all award shows - along with Tina & Amy of course!

Have a wonderful week!

Xx Sara

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in sweet tooth heaven.  They're the perfect mix of salty and sweet, rich and creamy.  There's just really nothing that compares.

That is, until now.  Move over peanut butter there's a new nut in town - almond butter.  I may or may not have a slight obsession with almond butter.  I put it on my oatmeal, in smoothies... Pretty much anything I would eat with peanut butter.

I just bought a jar of almond butter and was craving cookies (duh) so obviously I decided to make almond butter cookies with chocolate chips!  I stumbled upon this recipe and it looked so easy I had to give it a go, sweet success!

Currently Coveting - Birthday Edition

Hello & happy Wednesday!

With my birthday next week, I've been doing online 'window' shopping more than usual.  Spring is just around the corner and I'm being drawn to color - especially pastels.  Here's a round up of a few things I'm currently coveting.

bag // blouse // dress  // dress //

 bag // necklace // planter // polish 

 // candle  //necklace // jar // book