Three Muffins One Box

On Sunday night I was feeling ambitious so I decided to make breakfast for the rest of the week. I'm an oatmeal girl through and through but I do have a soft spot for muffins. I decided to whip up a batch for me and the hubs for the week. I bought a box of muffin mix because I wasn't ambitious enough to do it from scratch. Being gluten intolerant, it can be hard to find the right kind of flour mixture that tastes great. Being that it was a last minute decision to make muffins in the first place, the box was going to have to do. Don't judge. I wanted to use random fruit I had laying around the kitchen instead of buying extra ingredients and spending money I don't need to.

As I was mixing the mix I thought that it would be pretty sad to eat the same damn muffin every morning. SO I came up with a solution.

First I separated the completed mix into three equal parts.

For the first mix I added about 4 tablespoons of Nutella. I then poured the Nutella muffin mix into a lined muffin tin, 4 compartments to be exact. Then, I thinly sliced some strawberries and layed them on top.

For the second mix I added half a cup of cranberries and half a cup of dried coconut.

The third was kind of a mash up of sorts. I really wanted a snickerdoodle type muffin BUT I had a banana that was starting to rot so I felt obligated to use it. So I ended up mashing the banana and adding it to the last bowl of mix with a handful of walnuts. Then I sprinkled in some cinnamon and dished it into the remaining empty compartments on the muffin tray. While the muffins were baking I made a brown sugar and maple sugar mix. Once the muffins were done and still hot, I lightly rolled the banana muffins in the sugar coating. So I ended up with a banana maple snickerdoodle muffin.

There you  have it... three muffins one box.

Happy Tuesday!!

Hi my name is Maxine and I am addicted to scarves.

Scarves scarves and more scarves...I have a healthy obsession. For as long as I can remember I've been wearing them. They're cozy and comforting. Most importantly, they take the attention off two of my least favorite body parts. My ladies...boobs...ta tas...whatever you want to call them. To all the gals out there who are large chested I know you can relate. Scarves also add a little extra somethin somethin to an outfit rather than adorning yourself with a statement necklace. Don't get me wrong though, I love a good flashy piece every once in a while. Since moving to frigid New Hampshire, I find that shrinking up like a turtle inside of my scarf is a nice way to embrace a cold gust of sub zero temperatures while walking to my car. Completely unrelated to NH...Scarves also offer a good place to hide when an unexpected emotional student come into my office and starts yelling. As a side note, others at work have noticed my obsession. I have been known to be called "scarf lady" from time to time by students and other teachers. I do however get many compliments on them and find that wearing a scarf gives me an edge and shows that I have some sense of style. I think. Funnily enough, recently a parent of a student wrote a letter to the local newspapers column saying how she felt that the teachers style at our school was sub par and recommended "the ladies pick up a recent issue of Vogue". I like to think she just hasn't seen me strutting my stuff down the runway hallway. 

Recently I've been feeling like my scarves are taking over my closet. I had originally been looping them around the rod which then resulted in all of my clothes being squished to one side...yes I do have that many. SO I did a little research on Pinterest and came up with a solution. A VERY cheap solution.

First, I bought two packs of shower curtain hooks. 

Home Depot - $1.16 for 12 hooks

Then I found a hanger that I wasn't already using and that has some strength to it.

Then I attached all of the rings to the hanger and then thread the scarves through them. For infinity scarves I just undid the ring first, put the scarf on it, and then clipped the ring on the hanger. Voila! Scarf cluster f*** in my closet solved. 

You may be thinking this chic does not have that big of a problem that's only like 20 scarves...To clarify, these images DO NOT include my wooly scarf collection. 

Have a great weekend!

Valentines Day

I couldn't be more excited for Valentines Day which is just around the corner. I've started to put up a few decorations around the house. I took a couple hints from Pinterest for my newest v-day creations.

Here is one of the jars I painted.

Yes...that babies breath is dried and yes it's left over from our wedding. Recycle much?

And of course no holiday would be complete in this cabin with a change of the chalkboard. So here it is...

More decorations to follow on the next post. 

Travels

Well we just got back from an AMAZING trip to England and Paris. It's so hard to sum up all the amazing things that we got to see and do. We spent most of our time in England with the hubby's family. He is originally from the mother land so when we go "home" to visit, it's always filled with so much love from all of his friends and family and of course food. His parents love to cook big meals for the big family and its always fun for me to get to indulge in some english cuisine. Yes...sometimes that does mean a tikka or another curry dish. We also got to go to Paris to visit my grandmother and help her celebrate her 50th year living in Paris. She threw a huge black tie party in true parisian style. It was so much fun getting all of our family together in the city of love.

Paris truly is the city of love. The beau and I spent hours upon hours walking the small streets of paris holding hands all the way through. Even though the weather was somewhat crummy, it being late December, the city was absolutely beautiful and romantic. Paris holds many memories of my childhood. Starting at a very young age, my parents would take my brother and sister and I there to visit my grandmother. It also reminded me of how much I miss living in the city and being able to walk to the nearest coffee house and sit for hours people watching. Now a days I "snowmobile watch" out of my kitchen window. Not as exciting.

My sister walking the streets with us.

Cafes cafes everywhere! Since it was chilly, heat lamps were above the outdoor tables so you could still enjoy the fresh air.

Color inspiration

My beautiful sister looking very Parisian.

Taking a cafe au lait break during one of our long walks.

The Eiffel Tower of course.

This was in England...well done silly coffee shop. 

Overall it was definitely a trip to remember. So sad that its over but I can't wait til next year when we go back again for new years for a BIG family wedding. 

Back to real life friends.