Happy Thanksgiving + 50 Days of The Little Things Reveal

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I've got my pumpkin pies made, my Brussels sprouts & bacon dish ready to go, and my Grandma Mary's famous cranberry mold setting in the fridge. Oh and my stretchy pants and fancy top are all laid out and ready to be worn.

I'm so happy today. In addition to eating copious amounts of delicious food today, I am also so excited to take a moment to reflect on the 50 Days of the Little Things! I decided last month to participate in Julie @ Savvy Eats' Little Things Challenge and I have really loved doing this.

For every day over the last 50 days, I've taken a moment to realize a small thing making me smile, and taking note of it. Even on a tough day, just doing this simple act brought a big smile to my face, so thank you to Julie for this wonderful idea! Though I never got around to making my cute 'Little Things' jar, I still kept a tally in a very non-cute Google docs spreadsheet. So without further ado, here's are my 50 Little Things!

1. Shaun took me to Minetta Tavern

2. Jackson Browne 'For a Dancer' on my iPod

3. Nothing quite like being hooked on a good book series

4. Reading on the couch in the morning

5. Spending the day sewing with Mom

6. A successful shopping trip with Kimberly

7. Fun mid-week hang out session with Kristen!

8. Haircut = me as a new person

9. Impromptu drinks with Shaun

10. Perfect autumn weather & bon fire!

11. Having the family over for football

12. Finally getting our overhead lighting put in...I'm unnaturally happy right now.

13. Have a great hair day...take that!

14. Leaving on a jet plane to New Mexico

15. Going for a little hike in the desert

16. Gorgeous turquoise necklace find in Santa Fe

17. Celebrating my cousin's wedding! The entire family is together...nothing better :)

18. Hitting a Texas BBQ spot during our Dallas layover

19. Though I'm completely & utterly spent from the weekend and no sleep, I'm happy to realize that my apartment is 100% clean

20. Putting together a package of 21st birthday goodies for Christine Bean

21. Having the house to myself for a few hours...getting to eat cheese & crackers for dinner + catching up on Parenthood!

22. Eyeliner. 'Nuff said.

23. A night at home on the couch, homemade pizza, red wine and my husband

24. It's snowing! and I like it!

25. Staying in my pajamas until 5pm...taking a shower, and getting back into pajamas

26. Seeing hoards of adorable children dressed up for Halloween...the cuteness is unreal!

27. Happy hour at a fun new spot

28. Having lunch with Kimberly to celebrate her passing the NY Bar Exam (!!!)

29. My new autumn wreath candle, making the house smell like holiday heaven

30. Coffee = my savior

31. Impromptu dinner with both sets of parents!

32. Running a 5K with friends for a great cause

33. Feeling the burn from said 5K

34. Celebrating Kim & Nick passing the NY Bar with dinner @ Tavern on Jane, one of my fave NYC spots

35. Endless frosting & batter sampling while getting my cupcake on with a class at Butter Lane

36. For incredible readers of my blog, making me smile everyday

37. Smells of warm stock simmering, apple whoopie pies baking and a cool breeze coming in the window

38. Our first Sweatsgiving! Hopefully the first of many

39. Staying in sweats/pajamas until 5pm and catching up with American Horror Story...an obsession is a'brewin'!

40. Sweet leftovers = I don't have to cook dinner

41. Our apartment is completely painted! It looks incredible!

42. Shaun packed an egg white sandwich for me for breakfast. Love that man.

43. My new iPhone (yay!)

44. OPI's My Kind of Brown making my nails feel very in season

45. Spending time with my mom and sisters in NYC!

46. Luscious upside down cranberry cake

47. Sleepover/being silly with my sisters & cute turkey cupcakes @ Whole Foods!

48. Having fantastic co-workers who had Thanksgiving pot luck at the office, participate in afternoon skateboarding, attend afternoon field trips and make working not so bad.

49. Feeling like a kid again at The Muppets movie

50. So incredibly blessed to have a happy and healthy husband and family, and we are all lucky to have the holiday season together!

So there you have it...50 Little Things that have made me smile over the last 50 days. I hope you enjoyed!

What is making you smile today?

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!

Much love & happy eating,

Rachel

Five Things Friday

Another week has come and gone, and that means it's Friday! Woo hoo! And Friday {aside from equalling only 10 more hours until freedom} means Five Things!

Pumpkin Bars.

These bars are oh-so-moist, pumpkiny and perfect for the season. I made them for our Halloween party, but these would also be a perfect Thanksgiving dessert. I can't wait to share the recipe with you next week!

 

The Little Things: An Update.

I started Julie's challenge almost 30 days ago, and I haven't given you an update since then! Though I had originally planned to be all cute and make a sweet jar filled with gorgeous paper clippings of Little Things, somehow a month has passed and I haven't yet done it. I realized the utilitarian route was better for me so I started keeping a Google documents spreadsheet {you can say it...Nerd Alert!} for my little things.

Here's a few from the list:

Having a great hair day

Perfect autumn weather & a bon fire!

Spending a day sewing with my mom

A solo night at home = cheese & crackers for dinner and Parenthood catch up sesh!

Planning a Thanksgiving dinner.

Next weekend, we are having a mini-pre-Thanksgiving dinner with a couple of friends. I adore Thanksgiving food and am excited to get some sampling in before the big day, which we spend with our families! I also love planning parties and hosting, so I've been hard at work on the details.

Autumn Wreath candle, Yankee Candle.

I picked up this guy at Bed Bath & Beyond (with a coupon!) and have been lighting it every evening. It makes our entire home smell like warm autumn flavors...as though I roasted a turkey, baked a pumpkin pie, lit a fireplace and cuddled under a blanket. You know, if all of that shared one gorgeous scent.

Essie's Poor Little Rich Girl

Though this is an older color in Essie's arsenal, it's one of my favorites for Fall (and you can still get it at drug stores or via Amazon.com). It's perfectly red and has just a small bit of wild flair. I will be painting my nails this weekend!

So there you have it...my Five Things for this Friday! I hope you all have a truly fantastic weekend!

Quesitons of the Day:

What are you loving this week?

What is your favorite scent?

50 Days of The Little Things + Pepper Jack & Pimento Dip

Hi friends! Thanks for sharing your blogging stories with me yesterday :)

I'm super sad this morning over the news of Steve Jobs passing last night. He was a revolutionary, a visionary, and who knows what else he might have changed in our world in the future. I shout the praises of my Macbook non-stop (especially to Shaun, who's a PC), use my iPod every single day, and am currently coveting an iPhone (rather than my horrible Blackberry) and an iPad. What a horrible day for the world :(

Ok now I'm crying. I do that a lot.

It's strange that his death falls yesterday and my plans for today were to tell you all about The Little Things Challenge, a small way to appreciate all the tiny bits happiness in life - something that I fear many of us do not do enough. Julie @ Savvy Eats started this challenge last November. She encouraged her readers to keep a tally of a Little Thing each day in November (until Thanksgiving) that made you smile. This year, she's upping The Little Things Challenge to 50 days, ending on Thanksgiving. That means that the challenge starts today!

Thanksgiving, 2009. The dress I'm wearing from Anthropologie makes me happy!

Last year, I kept a list of little things in my notebook. I filled it with everything from being excited about a new nail polish color or enjoying a pumpkin spice latte to Shaun packing my lunch for me or my building concierge holding the shuttle bus for me one morning. You can see my entire list of Little Things here. It was so fun to look back on these on Thanksgiving morning and to share them on the blog.

It's amazing what a mood changer this was for me. Simply picking out something that made me smile, even on a morning when I was unhappy over work, the weather, an argument, etc...searching for one bit of happiness was a total 180 degree turn for my mood. It makes me wonder why I wouldn't just do this every day? Maybe I will.

So I'm super excited to join in this challenge, and I hope you will too! I plan to make a Little Things jar this year to collect my pieces of happiness over the next 50 days (and beyond?). Since I dropped the ball and didn't get it set up yet, I'll start today in my notebook and make my jar this weekend. I can't wait to share it with all of you. Make sure to head over to Savvy Eats to see Julie's full write up about the challenge. I hope you'll join! Maybe we could link up and share them each week or something. What do you think?

I can't wait to tell you about what's making me happy this week. I made a new dip for the last 2 football Sundays that is seriously so easy and sooooo tasty. It was Shaun's idea to make a pimento dip. I honestly didn't know what pimentos were (it turns out that they are cured roasted peppers!), but I was willing to give it a go. I adapted a recipe from a very old issue of Food Network Magazine and it's quickly become a staple in my appetizer recipe arsenal.

Pepper Jack & Pimento Dip
1 C pepper jack cheese, shredded
1 C sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
¼ C reduced fat mayonnaise
¼ C reduced fat sour cream
3 Tbsp diced pimentos
1 Tbsp Worceshire sauce
kosher salt, for seasoning
black pepper, for seasoning.
cooking spray
tortilla chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together. Spray a small baking dish or ramekin with cooking spray. Pour mixture into dish and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until the dip is melty and bubbly. Serve with tortilla chips.

Could that be easier? Cheesy, slightly tangy and a little kick from the pepper jack cheese. Yum!

So that's what's going on with me today!

Questions of the Day:

Will you participate in 50 Days of The Little Things? You know I am!

Are you a crier? I am a born & bred crier!