1. No ‘Fat Talk’ in 2012 Yes, you heard me right. I’m instituting a no ‘fat talk’ policy for the entire year. When the idea first came to my mind, I thought there was no way I could go a whole year without verbally saying things like “I look fat” or “my thighs look huge”. But as hard as it may be, I think it’s worth pursuing. That’s not to say that I’m planning on becoming complacent with my fitness goals. … Read More

{At one point in the evening, we were dressed presentably. However, it didn’t take us long to switch into sweats and our most comfortable tops. No sparkles at this party.} {Amber, Baylen and Jake enjoying appetizers at Lonski’s in Grinnell.} {Showing off Joey’s office space to our siblings. Since our apartment is a loft, it’s nice to have some work-life separation by renting an office space.}  {The soon-to-be newlyweds, Jason and Ali.} {Happy 2012!} As you can see, we laid … Read More

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and got a chance to spend a little quality time with friends and family. Joey and I spent the last five days back home in northwest Iowa and packed in as much time with loved ones as humanly possible.  Maybe we spent a little too much time on the go, because this morning I woke up with a terrible sore throat and just felt pretty crummy overall. I’m hoping that a little extra … Read More

Today is a special day because my mom, Marilyn, has agreed to do a guest post for me! She worked a little Christmas magic in our apartment this year and was kind enough to share a little heart-warming Christmas story to celebrate the holidays.  How fun is this – guest blogging?  I love this time of year, and as followers of Espresso and Cream, I thought you might enjoy hearing how Madison and Joe’s loft apartment was decorated for their … Read More

Lately, I’ve been trying to do a better job about documenting how Joey and I eat together as a mixed vegetarian and omnivore family. With so few hours of daylight these days, there have been a lot of meals that have gone undocumented, since I have yet to master the art of photographing food in artificial light. That said, once in a while I manage to snap a photo of a lunch or dinner here and there. Last week this … Read More

Happy Friday, everyone! I don’t know about you, but I’m almost as excited about this weekend as I am about Christmas. Joey and I have been traveling on the weekends like crazy people – I think we’ve been gone five out of the last six weekends and a majority of the weekends this fall. So this weekend, we have a lazy weekend planned at home. We’ll also be hosting a pre-Christmas dinner party with some of our friends from Bible … Read More

I created these recipes a while back to share as part of a Christmas cookie exchange on Amy’s blog. Amy and I have a mutual friend: her cousin, Emily, happens to be a good high school friend of mine. When Amy asked if I would take part in her ’25 Days of Cookies’ I was excited to have another reason to bake and create something special. These cookies really do deliver on the special. Instead of making traditional sugar cookies … Read More

A couple of months ago, the amazing people over at Hotel Chocolat offered to send over some chocolates from their holiday collection for me to review. Of course, I said yes! I mean the opportunity to eat free chocolate? Count me in.  I wasn’t exactly sure what I would be reviewing, so imagine my delight when I unwrapped this amazing beautiful box of gourmet chocolates. My mom was visiting when I received the chocolates, so of course I took photos … Read More

I can hardly believe that Joe and I have already been married for close to five months. In the months leading up to the wedding there was only one thing I was a bit unsettled about: changing my last name. I have an unusually strong attachment to my last name, in part because of the connection I feel it gives me to my family’s heritage, and in part because I love the way it sounds. For as long as I … Read More

Source If you’ve been an Espresso and Cream reader for a while, then you may have noticed that giveaways have been a little sparse around here lately. I think the last giveaway I did was back during the beginning of October. I’ve been a little bit busy, sure, but the real reason I’ve been holding back on the giveaways is because I wanted to make December’s giveaway something really special. When I turned 18 my mom gave me the best … Read More

  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of delicious food and plenty of dessert. And if you are a little bit crazy (like my family is), then I hope you got some amazing Black Friday deals, too!  We arrived back home to Orange City on Wednesday night and got to prepping for the Thanksgiving meal right away. My mom had already set the tables and had the turkey soaking in a brine, but there was plenty to … Read More

As promised, I filmed a video tutorial this week on how to make the infinity scarf I posted a couple weeks back after getting a number of people asking me for the pattern I used. The thing is, I didn’t use a pattern, I just sort of flew by the seat of my pants and made it up as I go. Before you watch the video, know that:a. I know very little about crocheting, so my verbage and explanations are … Read More