Baking, Baking, and oh Look, More Baking

I've been home alone the past few days. I dropped my mom off at the airport on Saturday and went to the grocery store that afternoon to pick up all my essentials in case I wouldn't be able to later or didn't want to. Since she's in New York (my grandpa's doing okay, thankfully) I have the house to myself. A little scary because it's my first time staying home alone, and a little weird to be alone since I'm a people person, but not too bad. I had plans (ex- baking) and people to see during the day. However, that Saturday night I started my first mission: peppermint bark.

(yes, these are actual pictures of the bark i made)

Was it as pretty as the real stuff?? No. Did it tase just as great?? Yes :) I was quite pleased with myself. My only piece of advice to anyone making this is to make sure you really crush the peppermints.

Then tonight one of my best friends from high school, Amanda, came over. We went to see the movie Love and Other Drugs (I cried but the ending was totally sweet and I loved it. I majorly reccommend it. Plus Jake and Anne are amazing) Afterwards we made sugar cookies. (From here on out these are my pictures, but I promise my food will look just as good, if not better!!) We did have a minor problem at first. Too little flour in the dough caused major stickiness and a big mess. We did manage to fix it really quickly and had fun decorating. I'm a sucker for anything artsy and creative like that. Give me some icing, a few bottles of sprinkles, and I'm good to go!!

Tomorrow (as well as the rest of the week) the baking continues. I plan on making 2 of my favorite old stand-bys, peanut butter blossoms and chocolate chip, as well as a new addtion. Last Christmas I tried a Snickerdoodle for the first time in awhile and discovered how much I really like them. They seem pretty easy to make and I love baking, obviously, so I figure I'll try them out as well sometime this week. To balance out all these cookies I plan on making a second batch of peppermint bark (this time to share!!...maybe) and some chocolate covered pretzels as well. So much fun and super yummy too!!

I plan on taking some more pictures of my tasty creations as the week. I also have a few new etsy items I plan on listing. I just need to wait till tomorrow so I can get some sunlight to take photos. And of course, I am so excited for Christmas!! :) :) Until then,

xoxo, Lauren