glazed pumpkin spice cookies {gluten and dairy free!}

so when it's late at night and you're making those yummy and super easy gluten free and dairy free pumpkin spice cookies at the last minute {and forget to put the spice part in} here's how to fix it:

spiced glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice or:
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice

mix it all together in a small bowl and drizzle over your cooled cookies. on it's own, the glaze is pretty strong {it bites back!}, but once it melds into the cookies, it's just the right combo of sweet and spiced.

doing: november 2014

taking save-the-date photos

burning WoodWick's Pumpkin Butter candle

struggling with 5pm darkness

giving in and turning the heat on

driving to the arctic in-laws for faux-giving 

stitching, stitching, stitching my free time away

keeping up on my mileage {dark and cold be damned!}

pondering next years goals

consistently getting up early {yay!}

buying new running clothes

riding my bike to work {it's really not that bad}

organizing all of my sewing patterns and paperwork

deciding on next year's one little word

stitchin: frosted pewter rennie garb {inspiration}

you can check out sneak peeks of hers here

the last masterpiece outfit i created for my mom and her hubbie was inspired by their recent wedding.  the newlyweds wanted something light and airy, romantic and soft. they choose the floral and green material, and i found the perfect, crinkly gold taffeta at a local fabric store:

this time, multiple yards of a great pewter jacquard and matching grey faux suede arrived at my front door. the very anal {ahem} detail-oriented part of my brain kicked into overdrive, and i began to plan for all of the repeat pattern matching to come....

soon, the googled inspiration photos started flying back and forth via email:

 

{via}

{via}

based on the fabric that was sent, warmer, fall/winter weight outfits were quickly decided on, and with these pictures, a long, straight, low and square, corseted bodice for her. he sticks to the same waist-length doublet with full-ish sleeves. otherwise, i was free to do what i wanted {woohoo!}.

keep in mind, i'm not shooting for historical accuracy here, i just like to make pretty stuff  :)

around the interwebs: november 2014

these leaves are so pretty.

if you weren't aware already, tater tots are my fave.

are you giving your future self the shaft?

i can't decide between this festive gem or these scary beasts from Wonder Forest.

tick, tock, where's your body clock?

here's how to eat well on $4 a day.

oh, nobody likes being stuck in things.

sometimes, all you need is to pay the bills.

the lazy girls way to perfect brown rice

its been a long running joke that with having a gluten allergy all i can eat is rice and veggies. seriously, we eat a lot of rice and veggies. so much, that i make it one giant pan at a time, with no special equipment. here's the super easy way to make perfectly fluffy brown rice:

what you need:

• 3 cups of rice
• 5 cups of water
• oil or cooking spray
• spices (optional)
• 9x18 glass pan
• aluminum foil 
• large pot or tea kettle

preheat your oven to 350* and get your 5 cups of water boiling. make sure the oven is up to temp before your water is bubbling; it needs to be nice and toasty and ready to go.

run some oil or spray around the edges and across the bottom of the pan, to keep the rice from sticking to the sides.

pour your 3 cups of rice into the pan and sprinkle with the seasonings.  we're a huge fan of garlic and adobo seasoning or old bay. yummmmm. keep in mind though, no seasonings if you want to make rice milk with it.

get your foil and oven mitts ready.

very, very, very carefully pour your 5 cups of boiling water into the pan and cover tightly with foil right away. then very, very, very carefully move it all to the oven.

set the timer for 1 hour.

when time's up, take off the foil and fluff! tada!

hello november 2014

this fall has been quite the whirlwind, september was busy, and poor october was jumped right over. so november, let's get some sht done:

> run 40 miles: last month was a bit of a stretch, running-wise, so this month i'm going to work on maintaining at 40 miles, not to mention the inevitable sweatpants-on-the-couch-under-a-blanket struggle when the temps drop. update: 45 miles completed, efff yea!

> wake up early: no matter what time i get up in the morning, by 9:30 pm i'm wiped. it could be 4:30 or 6:30, but as the evening wears on, i put my cranky butt to bed. i don't mind getting up early, i actually feel better when i can get some stuff done before my day starts. update: this was surprisingly easy, instead of flipping and flopping around all morning, i'd get up, have some coffee, do some reading/writing, a nice slow start to the morning

> get my biz-ness paperwork in order: bow ties are awesome and pocket squares are cool, but receipts and paperwork are not. so before the pile of papers grows larger, it needs to be tamed. oh, and spreadsheets are my jam, so no fear there. #nojudgie update: nope, all i had on my mind this month was running and stitching.

> haha, third time's the charm. that is all. update: i'm over the hump on this one, i didn't get them completely finished before the month's end, but all of the major bits are done.  check out my progress here