I'm excited to share something new.... drum roll..... 'My Favorite Things'! In case you were wondering there may be some crisp apple strudels or bright copper kettles from time to time.. Did you get it? The Sound of Music? Any who I will be sharing My Favorite Things each week. 

This week with the holiday I have been ever so patriotic. 

A) I absolutely love these mason jars! You can use these for barbecue's all summer long or as a vase for cut flowers. To replicate this I would paint the striped ones white first and then use tape to cover strips and paint the red on. For the stars I would paint the jar blue and then make a potato stamp (more to come on these!!) and stamp the stars. You can then use some sand paper to make it look distressed.

B) I LOVE this idea. Making stars and stripes on nails can be very difficult and somewhat childish if done wrong but this idea is adult, fun, and super easy. 

C) I really like the idea of having door decorations for all seasons and holidays. This monogram is awesome and if you were feeling crafty you could just paint a letter from the craft store using a similar technique as the mason jars for the stars and attach some burlap ribbon with hot glue to get a similar look. 

D) Another great door decoration and this one only requires inexpensive clothes pins, a wire hanger, hot glue to make sure the pins don't wiggle, and some paint. You could do this with any color scheme. 

Happy Fourth! 

xoxo Moumsy

Yum | Chocolate Walnut Fudge | Step by Step

I couple of months ago I bought sweetened condensed milk from the wholesale store and I have still have a ton left over and I have no idea what to do with it.

I read somewhere a while back you can make fudge by just mixing sweetened condensed milk and chocolate together... I don't remember where or when but I thought I'd give it a try.

I just used what I had in my pantry and today it was some milk chocolate from a Trader Joe's pound plus bar (love those!!) and some Nestle chocolate chips. I used around 12 ounces which is about a normal sized bag of chocolate chips.

I put those to melt in a double boiler. Doesn't it look so yummy?

You melt that down until it is smooth and then add the sweetened condensed milk and mix until it is all combined. 

That's it! You know have a base for your fudge and you can add anything you'd like to it i.e. walnuts, chocolate chips, marshmallows, graham crackers... you name it! I decided to go with walnuts because it is a crime not to add them in this house. I want it to be eaten. 

This next part I did not think through and next time I will do differently because it really effected the final product. I used a pan that was way too big so my fudge is very thin. I used a 9x13 and should have used a 9x9 or 8x8 square. It really doesn't matter but I wanted to make cubes....

Spread the fudge into a pan with either parchment or wax paper and put it into the refrigerator until it sets, most likely 4 or more hours depending on your refrigerator and the temperature that day. 

 Here is the final product which tastes amazing for taking only 2 basic ingredients and 10 minutes.

Ingredients: 

12 oz. chocolate

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1-2 tsp. vanilla 

toppings of your choosing

Steps:

1) Melt chocolate in a double boiler and then combine with sweetened condensed milk until smooth.

2) Add your toppings.

3) Prepare pan with parchment paper or wax paper and spread fudge in an even layer. 

4) Refrigerate until set- approximately 4 hours.

5) Enjoy!

xoxo Moumsy

Look of the Week- NYC Style

Here's to my first Look of the Week post- inspired by my day trip to New York City.

What do you think?

1)Kate Spade Scarf 2) Midi Rings 3) TOM Wedges 4) H&M Dress

xoxo Moumsy

New York City Day Trip- Itinerary Idea

This past weekend I was lucky enough to play chauffeur tour guide to my little cousin on her first trip to NYC. I've been to the city zillions of times and never turn down a reason to go.

But just because you have been somewhere many times doesn't mean you can't get excited or make it a fun and different. With every different person you go- you have a uniquely different experience.

One thing I like doing when I have out of time guests or am planning a trip somewhere is make an itinerary. I usually send it around before hand to get everyone excited. It is so easy to do and you don't have to have times necessarily... it can just be a list of all the spots you will visit.

Here is a snapshot of the one I put together for my day trip to NYC. It is so easy to make I just downloaded some cool free fonts from Pinterest and typed it up in Word. Easy as pie!

I love the mix of fonts and its so easy to do just a few easy steps:

1. Find your favorite font online (I love Pinterest)- download it 
2. Save the TrueType font file to your desktop 
3. Go to Control Panel and open the Font folder
4. Copy/Paste the TrueType font file into the Control Panel folder
5. Enjoy your new font! 

xoxo Moumsy

Sweet Potato Pie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Being Greek-American we find ourselves eating essentially two Thanksgivings. We have our American foods and out Greek good either one alone would be a complete meal. 

What will you find on the table this year, you ask? Here you go: turkey, sausage leek stuffing, ritz cracker shrimp stuffing, homemade gravy, glazed green beans with bacon, cheesy baked mashed potatoes, corn, spanakopita, stuffed grape  leaves, tzatziki, salad, and I am pretty sure I am missing something. 

That is so much food that you could just do without dessert all together but that wouldn't be fun so we are having two Greek desserts. I thought well we have definitely embraced a real Thanksgiving meal but we haven't added anything American (store bought apple pie doesn't count) to the menu. 

Since my fiancé loves sweet potatoes he suggested I make a sweet potato pie. At first I wasn't too sure but I figured it he wants one then Ill make it for him. 

I began researching recipes and came across Martha Stewart's recipe and figured that Martha hasn't steered me wring yet so I went for it. 

Martha Stewart calls for homemade pie dough but because I wasn't convinced the pie would be any good I decided against it and bought ready made dough.  

I just rolled it on to a 9" glass pie pan and  trimmed the edges. 

Since this was my first pie I didn't know what to do with the edges so I did some research on Pinterest and I came across the decorative pie crusts using fondant/mini cookie cutters so I jumped on it.

I had small flowers so I started cutting out flowers out of the other piece of pie dough and attaching them using water. 

I added some holes with a fork because I think I heard of Food Network at some point you should. This part really didn't take a lot of time. 

During this time I was baking my sweet potatoes. They were in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes then I got tired of waiting and popped them in the microwave for 5 minutes and they were perfect! I peeled the skins of and let them cool off. 

I don't have pictures of the next part because I am new to this blogging thing. But I will explain! The recipe says to beat the sweet potatoes in a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment and the stringy pieces will wrap around the paddle and you can toss them. This did not happen for me... I am not sure if many my sweet potatoes maybe didn't have strings? Not sure but it looked fine.

From there I followed the directions exactly. Except for when I forgot the lemon juice... Its ok though I doubt anyone will notice. 

The pie baked at 375 for about 55 minutes and it looks beautiful! 

We haven't tried it yet but I hope my very American dessert makes the cut! 

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Have an awesome Thanksgiving! 

xoxo Moumsy

Vintage Market

For some time now I have wanted to visit the SoWa Open Market in Boston but really haven't had the chance, I have heard awesome things about it. In the warmer months it is an indoor/outdoor market with lots of vendors selling anything from vintage clothes to large furniture pieces. In the winter they have the market in a large indoor space in the South End of Boston, which was amazing!

I was so inspired after walking around and I can't wait to have a place of my own to decorate and incorporate some of the awesome vintage and repurposed items that are on the market today! 

I came across these suitcases and wished I could have brought them home. I think they would be amazing for storage as well as a statement piece. You could store throws, photos, flatware, anything really! I loved these and I would have never though to stack suitcases. 

 As soon as I walked away from the suitcases I came across this beautiful hutch. It is metal and distressed and amazing. I think it might have been love at first sight. I sat there thinking about all my future china and stemware that I could put in there. Then reality set in and since I live at home and have already filled the attic and basement with things I probably shouldn't buy it. I was a little sad to see it go!

Don't feel too bad for me, I was able to bring something home with me! I found the most gorgeous sugar and creamer. They are 1950's milk glass and I already have two other pieces to match that I found in New Hampshire at an antique store. I cannot wait to use these.

I recommend SoWa to anyone it was really a great time and I plan on going again in the next few weeks to see new things. 

http://www.sowaopenmarket.com/

Has anyone else been to SoWa? Did you love it? I bet you did. 

xoxo Moumsy

Weekend Baking Ideas

I love to bake. Statement. So much that I will make anything. My family does always say that I make things that even I don't like or eat. The only problem is that they don't mean its because it is inedible it's because I am so picky that I just bake things that they love and I just don't care for.

Doesn't sound like such a bad thing, huh? Especially if you are them...

So this weekend I know I want to bake something but I can't decide what. I am between an apple braid which is the fan favorite but not so much mine. (Weird dislike of apple products. Not the tech kind.) Or...

Funfetti cake batter (baked) donuts. These are so cute and are so easy to make... And I LOVE donuts. So I must decide if I should go with the group's tummy or my own? :)

What would you do?

xo Moumsy