chocolate covered mint-oreo cookie balls!

I made these last weekend and thought I'd share since they are a good, simple idea for a dessert to bring to a holiday party.

The best part? 

Only 3 ingredients. Well, 4 if you wanna count the sprinkles.

1 8oz package of cream cheese

36 Cool Mint oreo cookies, finely crushed

16 oz. meltable chocolate

& Christmas-themed sprinkles!

Directions:

1. Mix cream cheese and cookie crumbs until blended. 

2. Shape into 48 1-inch balls. Freeze for 10 minutes. Then dip the balls into the melted chocolate and place in single layers on a pan. (I put mine on top of plastic wrap so they wouldn't stick. Use that or wax paper!)

I put the sprinkles on right when it was done being covered in chocolate, since the chocolate hardens really quickly and then the sprinkles won't stay on.

3. Refrigerate for one hour.

my recipe was adapted from here 

I actually only had 29 oreos when I made mine and I still used the full amount of cream cheese and I thought they were delicious. I imagine they'd be slightly less creamy if you use all 48 oreos, but still really good.

Enjoy!

The Long Weekend!

I knew these last 4 days would go by way too quickly, but they were so so good.

Cranberry sauce and turkey pops my sister and I made to bring to Thanksgiving dinner

Steve and I on Thanksgiving

Playdate with my nephew and my friend's son at the playground

Lots of snuggles on the couch with Olympia

Saturday would have been Daisy's 13th birthday. I was scared of being depressed all day but Steve and I went to IKEA and shopping all day to keep my mind occupied. I finally got my coffee table too.

 source

I worked out a whole lot and I feel awesome! It's so good to be back into it regularly. And tonight I have hot yoga.

I've been running every time at the gym and registered for a 5k "Reindeer Run" on December 1st.

This might just be leading up to something bigger for next May if I can get the necessary training in... :-)

I'm just happy to be so motivated and ready for a full transformation!

How was your Thanksgiving weekend?

linking up here: 



Weekend Update / Meeting Brenda

 

this weekend...

 

-Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

-Football Rice Krispie treats for a football party on Sunday (recipe found on this blog)

-Baking apples pies with mom

 

Friday night I went to Orange Leaf, which is a frozen yogurt place where you get a HUGE cup and fill it yourself with whatever flavors of frozen yogurt you want (I got plain and peanut butter) and then you go around the bar dumping whatever toppings you want onto it.

Well Steve called mine a "bucket" because it was so large and my bucket was overflowing with so much frozen yogurt and toppings it was ridiculous. I wish I had a picture. Just know that I finished the whole entire bucket. And I have a new favorite frozen yogurt place.

 

 

And then on Saturday this happened...

 

 

 

That woman with Olympia is Brenda.

 

Background on Olympia, in case you haven't read about her yet: I got her from a local rescue who gets their dogs from the South (Burmingham, Alabama) where Brenda is from, and they take on very, very horrendous cases and rehabilitate the dogs and get them homes.
Olympia was found in the woods by a woman who happened to be walking with her dog and 4 year old daughter and she heard Olympia crying.. she found her off the path laying next to her dead mother, who someone had killed, and they had cut Olympia's paw off and left her there to suffer and die. (this is real).
The woman brought her to the emergency vet where Brenda found out about her and took her case on.
Olympia had surgery and had to have her leg amputated since infection had spread,

and then she spent the 4 months recovering living at Brenda's.

Brenda loves this dog. She poured her heart and soul into her.
She would have kept her but in order to keep Sweet Paws running she has to let the dogs come here to get homes so she can take more in that need care until they're ready to go home.

 

Brenda was here in Mass from Alabama this weekend so her and Olympia got to reunite.

It was sad and amazing. Brenda said she didn't feel sad because this feels so right to her.

She knows how I am about dogs and how my relationship was with Daisy and I think we both feel blessed that it ended up this way.

 

Before we left she was laying on the couch with Olympia saying bye and telling her how much she loves her and thinks about her every day, and then she grabbed her Ipad and said she had to do one more thing.

 

She said in all her years of doing this for a living, she's never had "a song" with a dog.

Well she had a song with Olympia and she put it on to play for her and it was the song,

"Ooh Child"

Ooh child things are gonna get easier

just you wait and see

things will get brighter

 

She said she played this song on repeat to Olympia the whole way to transport for her to be brought to Massachusetts.

She told her things would get better and that this is her "right now" - the now she was promised she would get, when things would be better and easier.

 

I.was.a.mess.

But meeting Brenda was life-changing and I know her and I will continue to be great friends.

We both share a great love for this miracle dog and I'm so thankful for her and the heart-breaking work she does every day to save these dogs lives.

 

linking up:

 

 



 

Don't forget to enter my giveaway- it ends tomorrow!

Gift card for amazing Blue Bird Bride jewelry :)
just click here!

Healthy 3-Ingredient Cookies

 

I love these "cookies" because they're easy, healthy, and have protein. I eat them for breakfast, or as a snack in place of a granola bar. They also serve as a vegan cookie option if you're looking to cut out dairy or animal products and still have a treat.

This recipe is from Tone it Up so all credit goes to them.

 

 

Ingredients

 

2 medium-ripe bananas

1 Cup of Oats

1 Scoop protein powder

(I also sometimes add a tablespoon of pumpkin puree to make them pumpkin-flavored! They're versatile so you could really add anything you want to)

 

 

Directions

 

Mash up your bananas with a fork really well. Once mashed, add your scoop of protein powder and mix all together. Then, mix in the oats.

 

Coat a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and drop the dough onto the pan with a spoon. For me this mixture usually makes about 7 cookies.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes (I have done 20 minutes every time)/until golden brown.

 

That's it! A "cookie" with protein, fruit, and oats!

 

Happy Friday! And don't forget to enter the giveaway I posted yesterday to win some amazing jewelry!

The Happy Day Project: A Recap!

This weekend I decided to try to do as many of the prompts from the Life Rearranged blog’s “The Happy Day Project” as I could. I really enjoyed this, and honestly wish it went on even longer than a week. It required me to go out of my comfort zone and grow on a personal level, as well as to think more about others and their circumstances and ways to brighten their lives

 

Prompt: Appreciate those in service.

My sister and I baked some really good cookies for someone I used to work with. When I saw this prompt I immediately thought of him. He finished a really long tour in Afghanistan recently and just got back from NY after the hurricane, and is one of the most genuine, wonderful people I know. His wife and children are so strong too. We gave him a card with the cookies and I was able to bring them to his house and spend some time with him and his family.

Prompt: Handwritten Note/ Treat Someone

I combined these two. Steve had been having kind of a rough day so I wrote him a note and got one of his favorite kinds of cupcakes.

The printables for the project



Treat Someone:

Operation Christmas Child shoebox collection week is coming up, so on the “treat someone” theme my sister and I went shopping for things to fill our shoeboxes with for children who would not get any Christmas gifts otherwise. This is always one of my favorite parts of the holiday season.

 

The two prompts I didn’t get to are giftcard for the homeless and blessing bags for the homeless. I still intend on doing these since there is a large homeless population around my office and school, and it’s especially upsetting now that it’s getting so cold out.

I also plan to carry this theme of brightening someone’s day beyond the week of this project. I think it’s a great way to live and you can learn so much from it... and for someone like me who is constantly trying to overcome my shyness it is a great way to be pushed out of my comfort zone.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

001. mugs of hot chocolate while relaxing on the couch

 

 

002. The cake I made for Steve after he broke his finger playing football

 

 

003. Little pumpkins and these giant flowers my sister brought home from our half-brother's garden. Perfect mix of summer & fall.

 

 

004. This girl.

 

 

 

You guys. I have no words. Except that I love her and hadn't realized how much I needed her in my life until I got her. She is the most calm, gentle dog I have ever seen and all she wants to do is be held and snuggled into you as close as she can possibly get all.the.time. She bonded to my sister and I so fast. Given what she went through, it's truly amazing to see how loving she is.
(you can read her story here).

 

linking up here

xo



The Amazing Story of Olympia, My New Family Member.

 

If you know me at all, you'll know that the one thing I love above all else is dogs. My biggest passion in life is dog rescue. I'm a chairperson of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund at my law school and want to practice animal law. You'll know that Daisy saved me and was the biggest spot of happiness in my life and that losing her this summer was the worst thing to happen to me. But you'll also know that I promised her that I'd start saving dogs in her honor. And finally my biggest dream is coming true.

 

 

Enter the newest member of my family. Olympia. Olly or Lia for short, or whatever crazy nicknames she picks up along the way. I will be picking this amazing girl up tomorrow. Wanna know why she is amazing?

 

 

 

 

She was found as a puppy in the woods, laying next to her dead mother. But the person who killed her mother and left her there didn't stop at that. They also cut off one of Olympia's paws,

And left her there to die. Luckily she was found and brought to an emergency vet.

And you know what she did when the rescuer found her and approached her?

She wagged her tail.

She had just been maimed and left for dead. She could have growled. Bitten. Been too afraid to let the woman approach. But she still just loved.

By the time she was found infection had set in and spread through her whole leg.
Her leg had to be amputated.

 

 

It's now about 7 months later and she is happy and well-adjusted, but she still has a long way to go. Her foster mom told me she's still too scared to go walking anywhere on the leash. She has a lot of trouble with stairs. But I can't wait to work with her and watch her learn to trust.

She is a snuggler and sleeps in her foster mom's bed every night. She loves the couch and giving kisses.

I can't wait to give her all the love that she deserves!

 

And, the president of the student animal legal defense fund and I are in the beginning stages of starting a project involving dog rescue and promoting the rescue Olympia is from.

And she is going to be the face of it.

 

So many exciting things to come.



weekend recap

Happy October friends! This weekend was a good one, minus the fact that it went by way too fast!

Friday night Steve met me in Boston after work and we had a nice dinner in the North End, stocked up on pastries from Mike's pastries, then had a drink at Anthem before grabbing my sister from school and having an interesting ride home that consisted of me singing every song at the top of my lungs and dancing which may or may not have been a result of my first time ever drinking wine.

 

Saturday was my kid-filled day. My sister and I went to my friend Kate's son's 3rd birthday party. She's insanely creative so I knew it would be amazing, and it was! Then we spent the rest of the day with my niece and nephew. Sunday morning my sister made pancakes and homefries for us and then we watched a movie and spent the whole day relaxing.

 

the birthday party theme was "under the sea," these are the cupcakes Kate made!

and her decorations

 



 

me and my sister with the birthday boy

Anton in boyfriend's police car. He refused to get out and when I asked him if he wanted to be a policeman he said yes, ha

my babies. and that's Anton's face when you tell him to smile :)

cuddling and watching tv. love.

 

 

linking up here:



Relaunching. . .

cause life is too awesome not to share.