pep-pep-peppermint mocha

Homemade coffee creamer. O. M. G.

Anyone else spend a small fortune on Starbucks every month? I can't help myself, I live by caffeine. Without it I would die never get anything done. 

I stopped buying coffeemate over a year ago and switched to half & half. A month or two of that and I started thinking I might be pregnant... And then confirmed it was juuuust the fat giving me a baby belly. 

So I went to whole, then 2% and then I was bored. Plain coffee, errrryday. Even the flavored coffee wasn't cutting it. So I randomly looked up homemade creamers on Pinterest and clearly Pinterest delivered. When doesn't it? 

I found over forty flavors!! Insane. It was tough picking my first one but peppermint mocha hit my chocolate nerve and I only needed two ingredients from the store. 

Can I just tell you? This is seriously worth making. It lasted the entire week (and more if Ian hadn't found it) and tasted just as good as my morning cup of fancy Joe from the drive thru Bucks up the road. I topped it off with whipped cream - a must - and peppermint pieces. 

It's healthier - no additives! - and you can make it with the milk of your choice. (I used 2% .)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1-1/2 cups milk

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Mix it all in a resealable container and use by the date on your milk! I just tried vanilla caramel this morning and so far the peppermint mocha wins by a long shot. Enjoy and happy weekend :)

(another) snow day

This weekend was a glorious three days and then we got bonus snow days yesterday and today! I spent most of yesterday pretending that it wasn't the middle of January.

I gave myself a little beach glow with this self tanner that I found on one of my faaavorite beauty blogs. First, Cara is absolutely gorgeous so I'd try anything she recommends. It comes out of the bottle almost black which is absolutely terrifying but leaves your face with a look that's a lot cuter than that of a vampire (my current state). I definitely need to work on my application - you have to move fast - but it's a keeper. I bought mine off of Amazon for only $11!

Feeling all aglow, I did a little online shopping... for spring clothes. Because nothing says snow day like ordering a white maxi dress. I haven't always been a big fan of online shopping because the hassle of things fitting and sending it back if it doesn't just seemed like a lot of work. But I've hit a super lucky streak recently and now I'm all in. All. In. Ian doesn't seem as thrilled about it as I am. I will say, I can see why it's a dangerous thing. All you do is throw stuff in your cart and somehow it feels like you're not spending real money even though unfortunately, you are. 

And then I think I had actually convinced myself that it wasn't in fact winter because I decided I had to try frozen hot chocolate. Which is amazingly delicious by the way. For sure I thought it would be like a chocolate milkshake or a frosty or anything chocolaty and frozen that I had before. But. it. wasn't. It was surprisingly good so do yourself a favor and pretend it's July and try one :) The recipe I used is below!

Frozen Hot Chocolate

6 ounces of milk

2 packets of hot chocolate mix

1 1/2 cups of ice

whipped cream

marshmallows

Throw the milk, mix and ice in a blender and... blend! So hard, right? Then add the marshmallows and whipped cream.

Happy Wednesday, y'all!