little drops of random happiness

southern california is back in a stay-at-home order because the covid numbers keep climbing higher and higher and people apparently just can't do what they're asked to.  it's super frustrating, especially when no one is enforcing the order so they just don't care.  ugh.

let's just do a random photos dump because that's kind of where my head is right now anyway.  and we can start with this - the best toaster strudel ever made.  it came at the perfect time too, because the old lady and i had tickets to a "mean girls"-themed boozy brunch that was, of course, postponed due to covid.

oh!  and look what's back...just in time to help save 2020.

the advent calendar that i'd ordered for the bean that i was most excited to give her arrived just in time.  and when she realized what it was she was just as excited as me:

it contains all sorts of fun little BTS trinkets, like photo cards and an "army" necklace and a lanyard and some sort of light-up something or other.  in any case, she's super stoked with everything she's gotten from it.  

as am i, with my own two advent calendars.  the "friends" themed one has yielded silly little things, like ornaments and a cute mini-block of post-its and a little button with a picture of marcel the monkey on it.  i was really excited to find a little card with the recipe for monica's "little drops of heaven" printed on it, but it's so not the right recipe.  on the show she says at one point that she's waiting for the chocolate to cool, and this recipe contains no chocolate.  IMPOSTOR.  hmph.  

the cookie making advent calendar has come through with some great stuff, though.  you get a handful of ingredients and then every 5th day is a recipe that uses those ingredients.  the first day was this little packet of cocoa powder, followed by espresso powder and white chocolate chips.  and then the recipe was for peppermint mocha cookies - which we promptly made that very afternoon.

they're super delicious, by the way, and the recipe is definitely a keeper.

speaking of cookies, i've actually had a couple of orders from friends.  gingerbread men were a little challenging because the link i've saved for years to the foolproof recipe i love is broken.  i found what i thought was a similar one, but it's not the same at all.  no worries though, because they still turned out super delicious.

and i was really excited at how these turned out.  they're for one of the bean's dance friends, and her mom tells me that she loved the colors and the sparkle.

the bean captured this comical photo of stevie that makes me laugh every time i look at it:

oh!  and after over a year of trying, we finally got teddy to "shake!"

of course, his reluctance to learning new tricks probably stems from his disgust at me doing stuff like this to him:

cocoa gets it too.  she runs to the bean for comfort, which she happily provides.

although these dogs really are loved.  and spoiled, like with these freshly baked treats i ordered from a local high school senior trying to make a few bucks.  

and lastly, i love these bracelets from my barre instructor friend.  i've been wearing bracelets from her practically every day.

and now i'm off to wrap more presents.  i gotta say, it's pretty awesome to be ahead of the game this year - we're 99% done with shopping and the old lady has helped me tremendously with getting almost all of it wrapped and ready to put under the tree.  we're usually up till midnight on christmas eve with the wrapping paper, so this year we can just relax in our christmas pajamas and sip on some hot cocoa.

10 days!  i can't wait!