Things I'm Loving (v.22)

Beautiful drawings of the female form, A Gift Guide for People You Hate, the joys of mint chocolate, cute festive window decorations & data privacy while travelling.

And we're back to our regularly scheduled Things I'm Loving!! I'll dive right in.

Something for beauty

I've been lucky enough to watch these beautiful ladies as Theresia's drawn them and then turned them into stationary that you can frame as a print or send to a beloved…

There's something magical about them, isn't there?

I immediately claimed one of the prints she had available a few weeks back and I can't wait to order some of the packs of cards so I can mail them to clients.

You can find more info about them here.

Something to make you laugh

I've had this “Gift Guide for People You Hate” saved for a few years now, waiting to share it with y’all. This year feels like the right moment.

If you enjoy satire, this is for you.

Hopefully you're not “of the people grudgingly buying an obligatory and hopefully inexpensive gift for someone they can’t stand.”

PSsssss: If you are, remember— you don't have to!

Something to savor

I don't know about you, but I absolutely love the flavor combo of Mint + Chocolate. In fact, my favorite candy bar evvveeerrrrr is the ever-elusive, usually not-in-production Hershey's Cookie 'N’ Mint bar.

My sister may have bought me a full box of them at Wal-Mart one year when they were brought back for a short time. That box lived in my freezer for over a year(!) as I enjoyed them slowly.

Alas. They are not back.

But, I've found a frighteningly close runner-up for my fav combo of this flavor profile.

It's the Fannie May Mint Meltaways. One of my friends brought them back for me after a trip to Chicago.

Ya’ll. They are divine. Smooth doesn't begin to capture how silky they feel in your mouth. And the flavor is the perfect balance of mint/chocolate without an overpowering mint or an underwhelming mint. That's HARD to do.

Something to help you relax

Over the past few weeks I've had a few stressful things happening.

Instead of turning to video games, books, food, or movement, I turned to decorating for the winter early.

For the first time ever, I discovered WINDOW CLINGS. And I have to say, I am a convert. They're all over the windows in my home and I'm going to leave them up through a chunk of March, probably.

Here's a picture of the upstairs window at the front of my house:

And here is my back dining room area:

And finally, here's my guest room (which I got ready for my brother who was staying overnight during Thanksgiving week).

I purchased an inordinate amount of these, but I figure that they're good for many years to come. You can find them all over, but the village was hard to find, so I'll share that one with you!

Something to help you slow down

One easy meal that I've been enjoying the past few weeks is homemade wonton soup. I found a discounted bag of pre-made wontons and have been adding them to my own broth. It's a quick meal — the only real waiting time is for the flavors to meld together in the broth.

I've been using a combination of this recipe, this recipe, and this recipe, along with my own add-ins from other sites.

Here's my rough approximation in case you'd like to try:

Pull out chicken stock and pour into pot (I use my own frozen/pre-made, but you can also purchase in store).

Gather the following:

1. soy sauce

2. sesame oil (dark or toasted is great)

3. sriracha

4. salt/ pepper

5. fresh ginger

6. green onions / scallions

Add to broth to taste. For me I had the highest amount of soy sauce, a few swirls of sesame oil, a good squirt of sriracha and a giant chunk of (sliced) ginger. The ginger is an addition from a local Chinese restaurant's recipe.

Adjust each time you make until you land on the perfect combo for your palate.

Bring broth to a boil and add wontons. If desired, add fresh greens (spinach, kale, collards, etc) at the very end.

Although I haven't gotten the recipe to 100%, it's pretty close and I'm really pleased with it.

Wildcard: Something to protect your privacy

Finally, if you're interested in protecting your biometric (and other) data, especially with holiday travel, you'll want to check out this site.

Someone I follow on Instagram created it, and I've found it super helpful. I used the languaging they recommend when I traveled over the summer to and from Italy, to opt out of having my face scanned at Customs and at the airport security line.

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Hope your next two weeks have some moments of calm and joy, despite the holiday hustle that's been creeping up on us since October.

~M