One Pot Pasta and Fall Favorites

Due to some changes happening over on my main blog I am going to be posting over here for a temporary time. I had originally considered not posting at all but I am not sure how long this will be so I figured this will be my best option. I apologize for any inconvenience and I will be sure to keep you up to date when I am back to using my regular platform.

Now onto the actual post!

Last week I posted a photo on my Instagram showing this one pot Italian pasta. As promised I have the recipe (although a little later than I wanted) so here it is! With the stove top set on low you start by adding 4 cups of vegetable broth and 1 cup of chicken broth to a large stockpot. Then add 1 can of undrained diced tomatoes, 1 pack of frozen spinach (10 o.z.), about 15 mini portobello mushrooms (sliced), 1/2 a medium white onion (chopped thin), fettuccine noodles, 1 tablespoon oregano, 1 tablespoon dried basil, and 2 garlic cloves. Bring it all to a boil and mix it up good. After it is at a boil reduce heat and cover until the noodles are cooked to how you like. If the noodles are the perfect texture and there is still some broth leftover carefully drain it out. Top with fresh parmesan and dig in! It makes a ton so if you only have a couple mouths to feed you will have leftovers for days!

Originally I was going to do this post Friday so I could make it a Friday’s Favorites, but that obviously didn’t work so I decided to just do some transitioning from fall favorites. Since October and Halloween have come and gone my mind is now in full Holiday mode. I love everything about this time of the year and I think the only thing keeping me from putting out the Christmas tree is the fact that it is still 70 here ( come on Ohio). This time of the year has me thinking of all my favorite Holiday goodies so I wanted to share some of them with you!

I first have to tell you that my absolute favorite tea is back in stores at Teavana! I am so addicted to this white chocolate peppermint tea that I think I could live the rest of my life drinking nothing but this. If you have never tried it I recommend going out and buying some, it’s like the Holiday’s in a mug.

Next up on the list is this layered top from Athleta. I love how it keeps you warm without  being so thick that it suffocates you, plus the opening in the back is perfect to keep you cool through a workout.

I am so in love with this jeweled top from J.Crew. The color is perfect and the jewels at the top are nice because they add a little something. I could definitely see myself wearing this to Thanksgiving dinner.

Lastly it would not be a favorites post if I didn’t mention some candles. Bath and Body Works has all of their “wintery” scented candles back in stores and I am so excited. I love all of the scents but there are a few that are a staple of mine. The candle Winter is probably the best thing I have ever smelled, I usually end up getting all of my hand soaps in this scent as well. I also love Frosted Cranberry and Salted Caramel.

Let me know what some of your favorite’s are at the moment! Have a great Tuesday!

Bar Cart Essentials

Currently there is a huge bar cart craze going around, you can’t log into Pinterest or read a blog without seeing one! Luckily I am super into this craze, I have been considering creating one of my own for a while now and wanted to share some of my essentials with you all!

Of course you have to start with the cart itself, and I am absolutely in love with everything about this one from Chairish! I especially love the wheels and the vintage look to it!

I think the most important thing with styling a bar cart is picking a theme and sticking to it. Make sure it is something that will look good i whatever room you put it in and try to keep the colors all matching. Now onto the goodies that go on it!

1) You can’t have a bar cart without a champagne bucket. I love the gold stripes this one has and it goes great with the vintage theme! (Found on Chairish)

2) Every bar car must have some fresh flowers to go with it!

3) Cocktail glasses are obviously a must, these ones from Chairish fit perfectly with my theme!

4) You always have to have a cute shaker and I have been drooling over this Kate Spade shaker for a while now and think I may be ready to purchase.

5) A tray is perfect if you want to move something to a different room without wheeling the whole cart! This gold one from Chairish goes great with my theme!

6) A book of different cocktails is always needed for those days you just can’t think of what to make.

7) I love having pitchers for when you have a large group of friends all sharing a drink and the gold accents in this one made it perfect!

8) Sparkly gold coasters. Enough said.

9) Drink stirrers like these are always nice to have, plus they help make your drink photo ready(;

10) I am a sucker for always having candles lit so of course I would want to have some that went nicely with my bar cart!

Then all that is needed is some drink and your bar cart is ready to go! I hope that you guys liked these ideas, let me know what some of your favorite essentials are!

Fall Cravings

Make sure you go follow my new blog, I will no longer be using this one! Simplythechiclife.com

This past week all I have been able to think about it Fall. It is crazy because it is still about 90 degrees here, but I am so desperately ready for Fall that it has been the only thing on my mind. If you follow my Pinterest then I am sure you’ve noticed I am seriously craving it. In honor of all my Fall cravings I decided to stop into Bath and Body Works to check out the new candles, bad idea. They had ALL of my favorites. It was impossible to not buy at least one of each.

Of course when I got home I regretted how much I spent on candles, but they smell delicious enough to make up for it.

I have the apple scented one burning in the living room and it was giving me a serious craving for some type of apple dessert so I decided to make an apple crumble pie, which I was nervous about because I have never made one, but thankfully it turned out SO good.

It was super simple to make. Pre heat your oven to 400° then take a pie crust and unroll it into whatever pie dish you want to use, then chop up 5 apples total(I used 3 granny smith and 2 red galas). Make sure the apples are diced and not sliced! Mix them up and throw them in the pie pan. In a little bowl mix 1/2 cup of brown sugar (I used light) and about a teaspoon of cinnamon. Once it is mixed together good sprinkle it all over the apples. In another bowl mix 1/2 a stick of butter (leave it cold), 3/4 cup of flour, and 3/4 cup of brown sugar. Make sure you mix this up really good and that the pieces for into a “crumbly” look. Sprinkle these crumbs all over the top of the pie and make sure they cover it all good. Bake it for about 35-40 minutes until the top is a light crispy brown look. Then dig in! (You should probably let it cool first because the inside is scalding hot, but you can try a piece of the top while it’s cooling.)

Is it weird that we paired this with fish tacos for dinner? Maybe a little, I will admit it’s not the most ideal combo, but either way everything turned out good. Now it’s time for me to accept that it is still warm outside and go do some yard work, have a good day loves!

Don’t forget to go follow me on my new blog, I will no longer be doing posts on this one!  Simplythechiclife.com

Site Switch

So remember a long time ago when I said I would be switching over to wordpress.org and no longer be on this site? Well that time has FINALLY come. After countless hours of headache and eventually quitting I decided to give it a go again this morning, and it worked! I will officially be posting at simplythechiclife.com so be sure to head over there to follow along! Thank you so much for the time and patience, I can’t wait to play around with my new site(:

Cheers to 6 Years

If you follow me on Instagram (@madisonpaige342) then I am sure that you seen that this weekend Josh and I celebrated six years of being together. It’s crazy to think about, it seems like I have known him all my life, but at the same time it seems like we got together only a year ago. I am so thankful to have him in my life, for all the years we have spent together, and I am so ready to spend many, many more with him. I am feeling a little nostalgic for when we first got together so here are a few photos of young us.

It is so funny for me to look at the old photos, we look like such children in them. To celebrate our weekend we went to our favorite local restaurant and then came home and binge watched episodes of The Vampire Diaries while drinking some delicious sangria.

It was so simple to make and it turned out so good. I used a bottle of pink moscato, rosè, 1 cup of club soda, a package of raspberries, 1 mango, and a package of strawberries. Sugar your glasses rim, pour over ice, and drink while imagining you are on the beach.

Yesterday I had to go in for a meeting at wok and then came home to help Josh do some work outside. I wanted to wear something that was cute but comfortable enough to work in so of course I went with one of my favorites, combats and a flannel!

We are trying to fix up our driveway and we are getting ready to get a back patio set up. We are debating between just pouring concrete or using stone, of course I would love to go with the stone, but we have to out way the costs before we make any decisions. I can’t wait to get it all finished and share it with you all! We are shooting for it to be done by the beginning of Fall.

Happy Monday and have a great week loves.

Life Lately

Blog I have abandoned you once again. First it was vacation, then it was a new job, and then I realized it was just more excuses. Honestly the main reason I have not been posting is because I have really had anything to post about. No good pictures, no good outfits to post about. Life has been pretty much the same as always. I have made it a vow to myself though to get back to it, so hopefully you will be seeing a lot more posts from me from now on! (Fingers crossed!)

So here is a little life update:

I got a new job, no more server life for me!

I have recently become utterly obsessed with Stephen King books, which is probably a big part of the reason why life has been so uneventful lately. Posts about the pages I have been reading wouldn’t be too entertaining.

Josh and I have been debating back and forth between selling the house and finding a new one, or just staying where we are. We love the home, but the location is terrible. Our big goal is to move south to Georgia or North Carolina once I graduate, so we are leaning more towards just staying where we are for a few more years.

Josh turned 23 last week, he’s getting to be an old man(;

Well that pretty much sums it up, really eventful right?

Happy Wednesday loves!

Vacation Wish List

Untitled #4 by maddiepaige11 featuring beach tote bags

With vacation quickly approaching I have started packing my bags and planning outfits for the week. I may be the only one who does this, but every single time I begin to pack for somewhere I start to dream of the items I wish I had to take with me, and it usually leads to a last minute shopping trip before we go. I decided to share the items I have been drooling over this time around so maybe other beach-goers can drool over them as well!

1. This Kate Spade tote is so perfect for the beach, it is chic without being over done and large enough to hold all of your beach items.

2. Another Kate Spade item I am dying to get my hands on is the adorable glass water bottles. I love the gold glitter one!

3. I love a good new pair of sandals, and these ones are to die for!

4. I have a serious love for rompers at the beach, they are so easy to throw on and when done right they can look so chic. This one from j.crew can be done casually over a bikini or dressed up for dinner which makes it totally convenient!

5. Obviously I have had an obsession with Kate Spade here lately so it is natural that I would want this beach towel to go along with everything else!

6. What is a beach wish list without a new bikini? I know none of you are new to the Triangl bikini trend and I must say at first I didn’t bite, but after seeing this beauty I had to jump on board.

Hopefully you all are dying over these items as much as I am now. Let me know what some of your beach must haves are and have a great summer lovelies!

Fresh Start

It has been officially a month since my last post and I feel terrible. I have always promised myself that I would never become one of those bloggers that disappeared and then popped back up with a million excuses as to why they stopped writing, but here I am. Honestly I couldn’t find the right balance between my social media presence and the “real world” and decided taking a short break would be the best thing for me to do. I feel confident that it helped, I was able to get out and have some fun and now I feel refreshed and full of new ideas.

Another thing I need to address is the website change I mentioned in a previous post, I am still working on it and am hoping to have it up and running within the next week, thank you for sticking around and being patient with me!

If you have been keeping up with my Instagram ( @madisonpaige342) then you have probably noticed my current obsession with patterned shorts and pants for the summer! My current favorites have been from the Cynthia Rowley line at TjMaxx, the patterns and colors are amazing.

I couldn’t find a place online where you could buy these but I am sure if you check out your nearest TjMaxx you will find some you love!

Lastly I want to talk about a book. It is no secret I lose inspiration and motivation pretty easily and here lately I have been working very hard to change that. I have started looking into internships and ways that I can better help myself succeed. In all this research I stumbled across a pretty popular book at the moment, Leave Your Mark, by Aliza Licht. After reading the amazing reviews I ordered it and cracked it open as soon as it arrived. I am about half way through and to say I am inspired would not do justice, this book is great. If you are looking for some super inspiration tips this is a must read!

Have a great evening loves!

Spa Night

Untitled #3 by maddiepaige11 featuring a pink nail polish

With this week bringing the stress of finals I was relieved to have an evening where I could just relax and have a spa night, which is obviously my favorite type of night to have. I take spa nights pretty seriously and have a few products I religiously use so I figured I would share them with ya’ll! I may switch some of these out from time to time but for the most part these are my must-haves!

1. GlamGlow is my holy grail face mask company. I know they are pricey but invest the money, they are SO worth it. My favorite one to use is the SuperMud mask, it helps fight breakouts and works wonders for your skin!

2. It’s not a spa night unless you paint your nails, and Essie is always my top pick.

3. What is a relaxing evening without a good book? I just started reading Psychos by Babe Walker and I am hooked already!

4. This is a new addition to my routine but I am so obsessed with it already, my mom got me a Clarisonic for my birthday and holy cow does it clean your face. This is an every night use for me so I could not leave it out!

5. I know, I know, more GlamGlow, I am not kidding when I say this company is amazing! I got a sample for the eye treatment with a purchase of mine a while ago and I love it! It leaves your eyes feeling so refreshed!

6. You can not forget a great smelling lotion and this one from Victoria’s Secret is my favorite. It smells so warm and yummy and leaves you feeling cozy all night.

7. Relaxing evenings start with great smelling candles and for this time of the year I love fruity smelling ones like Pink Sangria from Bath and Body Works. Unfortunately they are not selling this one right now but another favorite of mine is Watermelon Lemonade.

8. I love using sugar scrubs and this one from Soap and Glory is my go to at the moment, not only does it smell great it also leaves your skin feeling awesome.

9. It would just absolutely not be a spa night without some Lush products! I always have to use either a bath bomb or a bath melt, they just make everything so relaxing and it doesn’t hurt that they leave the water pretty colors. One of my favorites is the Rose Queen bomb, it leave little rose petals after is dissolves.

Let me know what some of your favorite products are for spa nights and have a great week loves!

Transferring

Oh blogging world, in .05 seconds my computer is going to be out the window. I know that is a great way to start a post, but that is how I am feeling at the moment. I had planned on doing a post today all about my birthday this past weekend but instead I am going to complain a little. I woke up this morning and decided I wanted to get more serious about this blog and that I wanted to switch over to wordpress.org so I could have my own domain. Great idea right? Well after spending five hours today trying to figure everything out I am almost to the point of giving up, I am having such a headache with this. I created a domain but can not get my site to pop up and I don’t understand what I am doing wrong, I have even been following videos and forums but I am totally stumped at this point. I am hoping to soon be bringing posts to you from simplythechiclife.com and I will keep you posted on when I am able to get it up and running (if ever). I have a feeling this is going to be one of those nights where I get very little sleep, wish me luck!