it's beginning to look a lot like christmas ...

despite our crazy holiday schedule (oh - and packing to move!), we took some time off this past weekend to hang out w/ photographer alissa saylor. we are so blessed to have talented friends.

as excited as we are to have our very first home - i have to admit it's a little bittersweet packing up our apartment. we have so many memories of our first 2 years of marriage here - and we will definitely miss mornings in our little kitchen. not to mention i nearly cried telling our wonderful neighbor jerry (and his kitty lily) that we were moving out. *enter watery eyes again* ... we were so very thankful that alissa could capture pictures of us at both our brand new home & at our current apartment.

i especially love w/ the pictures of us decorating cookies --- a vickroy family tradition that we will someday pass along to our kiddos.

per wade's usual, he makes one, eats one. :) which yes - means all our of christmas cookies have already been consumed. an excuse to make more!?! (can i find time - and get this house packed!?!)

head on over to alissa saylor photography to see more of our pictures & more of her amazing work!

ps - here's my gfree sugar cookie recipe! definitely the yummiest gfree sugar cookies - and to be honest ... we like the better than the glutinous ones we ate before we realized my allergy. these are sooo delicious bc of the oat flour! and this time i substituted almond extract for vanilla. let's all say it together ... yum!

my week: 3 random things

i dropped by the office just now and there's paint on the walls! :) hooray. i am pretty excited to see it finished. they've promised me that i'll be back in the office monday morning. until then - i leave you with another 3 random things for this week:

1 // the super bowl was almost a full week ago and i never shared my cookies! i found then modified the yummiest gfree sugar cookie recipe. i'll make valentine's cookies and share the recipe next week, promise! {i don't mean to be a tease, i just don't have the recipe on me at this time.} in my own opinion, the cookies turned out as adorable as they were yummy ...

{our failed attempt to put a helmet on chris}

2 // speaking of failed photography attempts ... how's everyone doing on the "31 days to a better photo" challenge? we're 10 days in (get it - it's february 10th) but you're not too late to catch up. link up your test shoots @ the bottom of this post! i've concluded 2 things: 1// i really want this 50mm lens. 2 // i need to find a model as my pics have been pretty lame thus far. of course, not too lame to share:

{larger aperture - f/3.5}

{smaller aperture - f/22}

3 // last but not least, remember that box my boots came in?

well ... it's no longer a box. a little chop chop here and there, a few jumbo paper clips and it's my fancy schmancy new fabric organizer:

though the rest of the closet needs a lot of prayer, one shelf down! here's the before and after:

before:

 after:

share your "31 days" progress! 

link to your aperture experiment post specifically (not your entire blog!).

on the 3rd day of g-free christmas ...

if i had to limit all of my holiday baking to one type of christmas cookie, i would most definitely opt for sugar cookies. since as far back as i remember, it has been a tradition in our home to decorate cookies at christmas (and every holiday in between!). despite being gfree, the tradition must live on w/ wade and i and our future family!

  {my brother ross, sisters brooke & leigh, me and bro-in-law josh - christmas 1999}

{wade - christmas 2009}

thankfully, i just happened to stumble on the yummiest gluten-free sugar cookie recipe via gluten-free girl & the chef. it is absolutely a winner! (oprah.com, gourmet.com, and bonappetit.com having voted their blog one of the best food blogs in the world ... all w/o a hint of gluten.) three cheers! 

the perfect sugar cookie (not too sweet) + powdered sugar icing (way too sweet) = my ultimate favorite christmas treat:

my mom would wrangle all of us into the kitchen to decorate. she taught us how to carefully use pastry bags so that they wouldn't burst and which tips worked best. but most of all she encouraged us to be creative (why yes that is a "christmas cow"). then when our hands were tired, we would grab a big glass of milk and pick out our least impressive cookie to "taste test"!

nowadays when we are all back in town for christmas, we still decorate! that makes it officially christmas! my sister discovered these decorator bottles from pampered chef which are perfect for beginners and kids (and husbands).

 what's your ultimate favorite christmas treat?

on the 1st day of g-free christmas ...

hi lovelies! yesterday i mentioned that wade and i went to our first class (besides yoga) @ our gym. we attend a rock climbing gym where the average attendee has to be a 25 year old dude (aka - not me!). the classes are super intimidating. after 2 weeks in hawaii w/ my sister who woke herself and her 2 little guys up @ 6.00am 2 days a week to attend a boot camp, we decided it was time. this particular class was a 15 station circuit complete w/ lunges, stair running, kettle bell swinging ... and SORE MUSCLES! (muscles that i didn't even know existed hurt, in fact!).


and the point ... it's christmas season, y'all. and that means there's an excuse to eat around every corner. best of all - christmas cookies! can i get a "woot woot"? this thanksgiving was my first g-free thanksgiving and i had to go w/o my ultimate favorite thanksgiving dish - old-fashioned egg noodles (purchased in IL over the summer, stored in nashville, and carried on the plane to hawaii)! sad day. w/ invites left + right to cookie swaps and christmas parties ... i'm determined to not go w/o @ christmas bc of a silly allergy. presenting ...

today we'll start off easy-peasy w/ dark chocolate peppermint bark:



ingredients:
1 12oz bag of dark chocolate chips
1 12oz bag of white chocolate chips
8 peppermint candy canes



triple check to make sure that your chocolate chips are g-free. though you might not see any wheat products on the label, gluten is often hidden in "natural or artificial flavors". i used kroger's private selection brand - verified as gfree here. here is a list of verified gluten-free chips from nestle: milk chocolate chips, semi sweet morsels, chocolate chunks, semi sweet mini morsels, milk chocolate morsels, premier white morsels, peanut butter & milk morsels, milk chocolate & peanut butter swirled morsels and semi sweet & premier white swirled morsels. and a list from hersheys: butterscotch chips, special dark chips, cinnamon chips, semi sweet chips and milk chocolate chips. for a gluten-free, dairy-free, peanut-free, tree-nut free, soy free, egg free and casein free option, check out enjoy life.

1 // prepare a cookie sheet w/ a piece of aluminum foil. 

2 // unwrap the candy canes. place them in your food processor and chop until crushed into small pieces.

3 // place the dark chocolate chips in a pot and melt over medium heat while stirring. be careful not to let the chocolate burn. pour the melted chocolate onto the prepared cookie sheet. using your spatula spread it to an even thickness (about an 1/8"). place the cookie sheet in the fridge to firm.

4 // place the white chocolate chips in a pot and melt over medium heat while stirring. again be careful not to let the chocolate burn. stir in about half of the crushed candy canes. remove the cookie sheet from the refrigerator, and pour the melted chocolate/peppermint mixture over the dark chocolate. spread it to an even thickness over the dark chocolate layer quickly so that the dark chocolate doesn't melt.

5 // while the white chocolate is still wet, sprinkle the remaining peppermint pieces over the white chocolate/peppermint layer. press down w/ your spatula to secure the pieces. then return to the refrigerator until firm (about 30 minutes).

6 // once the bark has cooled, the final step is to break into pieces. make sure to peel away the aluminum foil as you go ... enjoy!