Pass the pumpkin

There's nothing I love more than a good themed party. All the details really get me excited, so for our Halloween party this year I wanted everything to go well together from the decorations to the food. One of the fall-themed food dishes I can't wait to try is pumpkin pie dip. I included a similar recipe below so you can wow your friends too if you have a Halloween get together to hit up this weekend.

Taste of Home

Recipe from Taste of Home.

What You Need

1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, softened

2 cups of confectioners' sugar

1 cup of canned pumpkin

1/2 cup of sour cream

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger

How You Make It

-In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until it's smooth.

-Beat in the pumpkin, sour cream, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and ginger until blended.

-Serve with ginger snaps or shortbread (really anything you want).

Keeping it Cozy

With superstorm Sandy wreaking havoc across the country, I thought I would share one of my cold, rainy weather staples. Woodwick candles — they're normal wax candles with wicks made of wood — make you feel like you're sitting next to the fireplace as it cracks and pops. 

I love these so much. It makes any space so cozy.

Modern adornments

I'm loving the jewelry from shopAHC on Etsy. Simple, elegant and modern - the perfect compliment to any outfit.

Weekly tune-up: Red

If my co-workers have noticed that I've been listening to nothing but this album all week, they've been kind enough to not say anything about it. And I know you all aren't surprised that this is the weekly tune-up, but on Monday Taylor Swift released her latest album - Red.

I was a little nervous for this album, some of the songs released off it were different than her previous work and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. But like I said, I've been listening to nothing but this album all week. I can't even pick a favorite track off the album so far, but I will tell you that the title track, "Red," "Stay," and "Begin Again" have been stuck in my head today. I definitely think it's worth the purchase, and you can do that right here.

Hanging jewelry box

Made this really cool jewelry hanger from a picture frame. I found the idea on Real Simple.

Here are the supplies you need:

• An old frame
•  foam batting
• about half a yard of material
• and straight pins
• staples

First off I cut the foam batting to make the backing in the size of the frame (I just put it around the back that came with the frame). I made an 8×10 for this one.

I cut the fabric  to match the size of the foam batting, wrap it around the batted back and staple it.

The insert it into the frame and started placing the straight pins hanging my jewelery from those.

Cooking with apples

I'm going to be honest with you all - I don't do a lot of cooking, and that's mostly out of laziness. I really enjoy cooking, but by the time I get home from work I just want to veg. Saturday though was an exception being the weekend and because my little sister was staying with me. So we made sautéed chicken with apples, and it was very simple and very delicious.

Photo from Real Simple.com

I used a recipe from Real Simple's website, which I've provided for you below with some of my notes. I think this is a great meal for the cooler weather and a nice way to use some delicious fall apples.

What You Need

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 firm apple, cored and cut into 1/2-inch slices

1 cup of apple juice

1 large onion, thinly sliced (I only used part of an onion)

1 garlic clove, minced (I used pre-minced garlic from a jar)

1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme leaves (I didn't use)

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard (I substituted stadium mustard because it was all I had)

How You Make It

-Place each chicken breast between two sheets of wax paper and pound with a meat mallet until they're about 3/4 inch thick. (I skipped this step due to lack of a meat mallet - chicken just needs to sauté longer)

-Heat the oil (you can use butter, too) in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

-Sauté the chicken until golden brown on each side (3 minutes per side, or longer if the chicken is thicker)

-Add apple slices, onion slices, garlic, apple juice, thyme and a dash of salt and pepper.

-Cover and simmer for 6-8 minutes, or until chicken is fork-tender.

-Remove chicken, apple slices and onion slices to a serving platter or plate and keep warm.

-Bring sauce to boil for 5 minutes, or until slightly reduced.

-Whisk in mustard.

-Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

Orange you glad

Here are some of my picks for perfect orange wear to add to your wardrobe for fall.

boyfriend sweater from Urban Outfitters

a sweater dress from Gap

burnt orange pants from Old Navy

fashion scarf from Target

TGIF: Lovely Ohio

A friend shared this poster with me a couple weeks ago and I love it (thanks, Kelly!). I wish I could order a print of it to hang next to our Akron blimp in the living room.

 My boyfriend recently moved into a new apartment so I've been searching for some awesome artwork for the walls. So I'm super excited that Minted, a freelance designer collective, is having a sale on some of their prints. Above, are some of my favorites.

Tristan Prettyman - I Was Gonna Marry You

I've become a pretty big fan of Tristan's voice and have had this song on repeat for the past week, so I thought I would share. Enjoy!

Caramel apple addiction

From Real Simple

It's caramel apple season again. I just made my first batch of the year ... here is my favorite, easiest recipe yet.

Makes 10 caramel apples| Hands-On Time: 30m| Total Time: 1hr 00m

Ingredients

            2  pounds of apples

            1  pound of caramel squares

            10  wooden sticks

Directions

1.              Wash and completely dry the apples. Insert a wooden stick into the top end of each. Line a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside.

2.              In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the caramels with ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons water. Cook until smooth, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

While the caramel is hot, dip the apples in, swirling to coat evenly. Let the excess caramel drip off and place the apples on the lined baking sheet. Place in the refrigerator to harden, about 1 hour.

Can you have too many scarves?

At the first sign of fall, I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate scarves into my wardrobe. The other day I felt like adding a new scarf to my closet - you can never have too many right?

Mossimo Supply Co. ($14.99 at Target)

Are you even surprised I bought this from Target? Probably not. I fell in love with the colors immediately and thought they'd be the perfect addition of color to my fall outfits. Mossimo Supply Co. also had a scarf with the same pattern in more fall colors . . .

Mossimo Supply Co. ($14.99 at Target)

A little taste of fall

I owe my sister a huge thank you for this one, and you will too after you try it out. On her recommendation I bought four fall-colored ramekins from Target this week. Also on her recommendation, I christened them by baking individual apple crisps in each one.

Basically, fall in a delicious bowl. You can see why I love it. Not only was it delicious (and impressive if you're having guests over), it was super simple to put together and it can bake while you're eating dinner. Too easy!

The recipe she sent me from the Food Network is below, I improvised a tiny bit and didn't use pecans and I also didn't broil it at the end, as suggested. Try it out and you'll be thanking my sister too.

What You Need

2/3 cup of rolled oats

1/3 cup of all-purpose flour

1/3 cup of brown sugar

1/3 cup of pecans, toasted and chopped (optional)

Pinch of salt

6 tablespoons of cold butter, chopped into bits

4 medium baking apples (Golden Delicious, Rome, etc. - there's a handy apple chart at the grocery store you can use)

Vanilla ice cream (optional, but highly recommended)

Caramel sauce (also optional, but also highly recommended)

How You Make It

-Preheat the oven to 375

-Lightly butter your six (or four) ramekins

-Whisk the oats, flour, brown sugar, pecans and salt in a medium bowl

-Rub in the butter with your fingertips until it's evenly distributed, in pea-size pieces

-Peel, core and coarsely chop the apples and divide them between your ramekins

-Scatter the crisp topping over the fruit in each ramekin evenly

-Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and cook until fruit bubbles around the sides and the top is golden  (about 30 minutes)

-If you decide to broil: Preheat the broiler and place the ramekins four inches underneath the broiler until the tops are golden brown (about 30 seconds)

-Top with whipped cream or ice cream and caramel sauce and serve!

Hitch or Ditch: Red Skinnies

OK, so I know I go on and on about colored skinny jeans all the time. I mean, you could search skinny black jeans on this blog and like 27 rants about how much I love them will come up.
Here's  the dilemma, I have state golf this weekend and all I want to cover one of the longest days in my year is some red skinny jeans. Come on — with a blazer? So cute.
But I tried them on at the Old Navy and they may just be too much.
I just don't know. I'm so torn.

A little tea leaf

I was at a pretty adorable wedding this weekend and discovered probably one of the best favors I've ever seen. The bride and groom are big tea drinkers and put one of the these Tea by Tea Forte tea bags at each place setting.

Don't you just want a cup of tea with one of these little tea leaves poking out. 

TGIF: Desk swag

I love office supplies and school supply shopping was one of my favorite things. There's nothing better than a brand-new pen and a clean sheet of notebook paper. Now that I don't need to shop for school supplies, I've been looking a lot lately at items to spruce up my desk at work and fill that void. My first purchase is from illustrator and designer Molly Jacques.

I can't wait to start using this notepad at work. Molly's work is simply amazing and I can't wait to purchase more from her shop. She's also offering a calligraphy and lettering workshops in Ann Arbor, Michigan tomorrow. I hope she decides to do some more workshops because the next time I see one on her blog, there will be a road trip in order.

A Thank You for You

So this might be the most busy week I've ever had in the real world. It is only Thursday and I have already worked enough hours for the whole week and then some. 

The highlight of the week was when I a super cute thank you card from some crazy people.

Check out these cute cards from Rifle Paper Co.

Weekly tune-up: Fall playlist

As the weather shifts, so does my taste in music. When it gets colder outside, I find myself gravitating toward slower songs. I put together this small Spotify playlist to celebrate the beginning of one of my favorite months, which just so happens to fall within my favorite season. Enjoy!

Photo from here.

Cross body

When I switched to a cross-body bag, it was hard to go back. Luckily, when I went looking for a new purse the cross-body selection did not disappoint and I'm in love with the bag I bought from Kohl's.

Relic Erica cross-body, $32.40 at Kohl's

It's the perfect size and shape, it has a ton of room and lots of pockets which I love (that's also bad because I constantly misplace things, but still who doesn't love pockets?). Even though it has a lot of space, it's so sleek that it hides how much it can hold. Not to mention the burnt orange color I went with - perfect for fall and made with such soft (faux) leather. Honestly, this is an all-around winning choice if you're looking for a cross-body bag. Plus, it comes in a lot of other colors (my mom has the chocolate brown one and it's gorgeous too) so be sure to check them out at Kohl's.