Good lord, I love hotels.
I have a hotel in my future - two nights in Miami, specifically (eeeeeee) - and can barely contain my excitement about the prospect of room service, and a king-size bed all to myself, and...
ba da dum...
SLEEPING IN.
I love candy corn as much as the next girl, but sometimes you want something a little less sugar-saturated on Halloween. Maybe even – dare I say it? – a tiny bit healthy (and no, I’m not advising you to hand out boxes of raisins to trick o’ treaters instead of Snickers bars – I’m not that much of a Scrooge).
Presenting: a festive – and at least semi-good-for-you – twist on a seasonal favorite. The dark chocolate contains antioxidants that help to protect your skin from UV damage and fight free radicals, and the pumpkin seeds contain zinc and selenium to help boost your skin’s collagen production and protect against environmental pollution. To get even more skin protection (yes, even in the cool weather), don’t forget to moisturize with an SPF-containing product like Simple Skincare Protecting Light Moisturizer SPF 15.
A dessert that’s addictively delicious and phenomenal for your face? Win.
OK, so you've probably gathered by now that I'm a semi-obsessive home scenter, but as much as I love candles, they're not always ideal - when entertaining large, multi-child-inclusive crowds, for example, open flames aren't particularly advisable. As a flame-free alternative to keeping your home smelling lovely, potpourri works…but if the nuts-and-dried-flowers thing isn't exactly in line with your aesthetic, how about something a little prettier and more modern-looking?
I've posted a couple of times about my black lava rock potpourri, and the other day reader Heather asked for a more affordable alternative. At your service! I made this scented rock potpourri with sea glass, but any unscented (porous) rocks would work, and you can find lots of options at craft stores. Just dye them whatever color you like, add the fragrance of your choice, and put them in a pretty container (I especially like the idea of a rustic iron container like Mad et Len's), and presto: a perfumed home for just pennies.
An addition to my roster of blink-and-they're done dinners: these. We're talking ten minutes. (Well, ten minutes if you don't include a couple of hours of zero-labor marinating…which I suppose you don't have to do, but it makes a huge difference.)
I've been making these minimum once a week lately, mostly to take advantage of these last few weeks of grilling-outdoors weather, but you can totally make them on a stovetop grill, no problem (because they're made with thinly sliced skirt steak, they cook up super-fast). They're great for an easy weeknight dinner, but if you just double (or triple) the ingredients you can just as easily serve dinner to a whole party (which is what I did last night - and the best part is that you really don't need any side dishes with these; just add prosecco and everyone will be happy).
What You Need:
I've seen those gorgeous "how to style your coffee table" tutorials, too. Thing is, I don't own a carefully curated selection of stunning art books. Any adorable little trinkets that I set out may or may not be immediately shattered. And I have sixty thousand remotes, all of which are apparently necessary to make our television function (whyyyy?).
So as lovely as those tutorials are, they do not apply to a life that contains far more toy cars than crystal candleholders.
Presenting: my kind of coffee table display.
