bits of new york via iphone pictures

and i'm back from visiting my best friend, katie, in new york.  i got to take a nice long weekend to fly up and see her and explore the city. and man, it was a good weekend. now i've got to try to get back into the swing of things here in south carolina...after a full day of traveling and plane delays, i feel a bit like a zombie this morning. so hopefully this dark cup of coffee in hand will do the trick.

i'll share some more pictures from the real camera soon. hope you've had a good weekend / beginning of the week!

--

you can follow along on instagram here

at the christmas tree farm

it's the first week of christmas and we already have our christmas tree up! this is a record for us...the queen and king of procrastination [we're working on getting better!]. we recently found a christmas tree farm near by and headed to it with our friends, courtney and turner. turner is the worship leader at the church where we go, and where scofield is also the children and student ministry director. it's really pretty comical because scofield and turner are close to the same height...right around that 5'5 mark... and they have the same build - stocky and strong. courtney's a little taller than me, but put us in our heels and we're both taller than our husbands. a girl in our youth group made the comment to her mom once, "scofield and turner are both really short, but they have these tall, beautiful wives." ha! we couldn't help but laugh about that one. 

now that the tree is in the house, next up, decorating! one thing i didn't think about when we got married were things like christmas decorations. we have virtually no christmas decorations, so i'm trying to get creative by crafting some things...but i know i'm gonna have to break down and just go get some stuff from the store. we've been doing so good....let's hope we don't procrastinate on that.

white chocolate pumpkin cheesecake

and now, for some pumpkin cheesecake, as promised...

thanksgiving may be over, but christmas is just around the corner and this recipe is perfect to get you in the holiday spirit. it's like one giant slice of cheer.

white chocolate pumpkin cheesecake

ingredients:

• 4 8-oz. packages light cream cheese, softened
• 1 15-oz. can pumpkin 
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• pinch of cloves
• pinch of cardamom
• 1/4 tsp. salt 
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 
  

graham cracker crust:

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

preheat oven to 350 F. prepare spring form pan by spraying with cooking spray. start by preparing the crust. in a small bowl, mix the graham cracker, melted butter, and sugar. once combined, transfer to the springform pan and form into a crust by smoothing it out with your hands. press the crust about one inch up the side of the pan. bake in the oven for 12 minutes, until golden brown. remove from heat and let cool.

while the crust is cooling, beat together the cream cheese and sugar with a hand mixer. once creamy, add the pumpkin and continue to beat until combined. next, add the eggs one at a time, mixing well with each egg. add the bourbon, vanilla extract, and melted white chocolate. fully mix. finish by adding all the spices, salt, and flour [and then mix, of course]. pour the batter slowly on top of the prepared crust. bake in the oven at 350 F for 1 hour and 20 minutes. when you take it out of the oven, it should still be a little jiggly in the middle. let cool for one hour and then transfer to the refrigerator to chill overnight, or for 8 hours.

to add  the white chocolate glaze, melt 1 cup of white chocolate chips with 2 tbsp. of cream. microwave in 20 second increments, mixing between each. once melted pour over the whole cheesecake, or each individual piece as pictured.

enjoy! :)

giving thanks

our thanksgiving day could not have been any more wonderful. well, maybe if i got to watch the parade  [my favorite part of the day!], but the boys were watching soccer. i'll catch it next year! 

scofield and i arrived at my parent's house late morning, and we cooked, lingered over conversation, and relaxed all.day.long. [okay, relaxed after the cooking] mom tried a new recipe for the turkey and had to get a little creative in the brining process. holidays..always an adventure in the king household...seriously. i remember one year when we sat down to eat thanksgiving dinner, only to realize my mom had forgotten to turn on the oven ;). never a dull moment. i would have more photos of the food but we didn't eat until about 6 pm and it was already dark. the lighting just wasn't working for me. but i did snag a few pictures of the pumpkin cheesecake....

^my new favorite hobby: setting the table. my younger self would never believe it...

^white chocolate pumpkin cheesecake! recipe coming soon...

^ still loving my west elm candles. they're perfect for the holidays.

our thanksgiving menu: blue cheese macaroni and cheese [hands down best mac&cheese i've ever had], sweet potato casserole, maple glazed brussels sprouts, pineapple casserole, sweet potato and rosemary biscuits, stuffing bread, broccoli casserole, and of course, turkey.

and because i can't help but blabber about all i'm thankful for, here it goes:

1. my loving husband and best friend. he fights for our marriage every day, pushes me to be the best version of myself, and makes me laugh all.the.time.

2. my family that is close by and always willing to help and support us

3. a church community where special friendships have been made and where i'm taught the truth every week, and every day [through my husband, who is poured into by his colleagues/boss and then pours into me]

4. the lord's provision in our life...he never fails... when i stop and think about it, i can't help but give thanks every day

5. this little life we're building and all that it consists of - our home, our routines, our new traditions...

pumpkin and chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich

i made these little guys for my birthday. my mom was astounded...she was all " what, you don't want a birthday cake?" and "you want to make your own dessert?" yep. i guess i'm strange for that... but sometimes i'm not feeling cake, you know? sometimes you just need a cookie. so i followed this chocolate chip cookie recipe here. i also went out and bought some blue bell spiced pumpkin ice cream...which is the creamiest and most delicious ice cream i've ever had from the store. and wow, there were so many christmas flavors available, too. maybe i'll make another batch of these with a holiday ice cream soon. 

once the cookies were baked and cooled, i scooped some ice cream on half of them and topped them with the other half. then they went in the freezer for a couple of hours to really solidify. 

now, scofield isn't the biggest pumpkin ice cream fan, but he really loves these. success!

a day in the mountains, part 2.

     ^oh, hello handsome!!

i've been wanting to make it up to the blue ridge parkway since october. i was really hoping to see the mountains with all the colorful leaves, but we with our crazy schedules, we just couldn't get up there until now. i suspected all of the leaves would be off the trees [and they were] but it was just as beautiful. the day was chilly and overcast, so there weren't a lot of people out. it felt like we had the parkway all to ourselves. we stopped at a couple different overlooks, hopped on a few hiking trails, and just drove - listening to nickel creek, john mayer, and christmas music. it was a good day.

thank you for the best birthday, my husband! i love you!

a day in the mountains, part 1.

birthday number 23 sure was a good one. scofield and i were both off from work [whaaaat, that never happens!] which was a birthday present in and of itself. so we grabbed lattes from starbucks and drove up to brevard - the cutest little mountain town right off the blue ridge parkway. we spent a summer working here as camp counselors, so it brought back a lot of special memories for us...like how that was the summer i knew scofield was the man i was going to marry. [tender]

we ate lunch at a little restaurant called square root. we found this hot spot on one of our "nights off" when we were counselors and decided to go back. it was just as lovely as we remembered...

i order black bean soup and their sweet potato chips...yumm.

right across the street from the restaurant was a little chocolate shop. so, of course we decided to head in there after lunch.

so many choices! but i went with the pumpkin truffle and the dark chocolate lavender truffle. scofield ordered the coffee and dark chocolate truffle. we were in heaven...

and ohhh, the decorations around town and the little christmas shops got me so excited for the holidays. the most wonderful time of the year is just around the corner. eeek!

i'll share some more pictures from our drive tomorrow. hope your weekend was swell!

and a happy, happy weekend to you!

i don't know about you, but i am super excited about this weekend. my birthday is tomorrow [eeek!]. 23, baby. so we will be celebrating all weekend long...starting today. the husband and i are both off from work this afternoon, so we're packing up and going on a little mountain drive. tomorrow we're heading to dinner with my family, and then sunday we have thanksgiving dinner with our small group. i already know my heart is going to be so full come monday. and then thanksgiving is next week - life is good.

my current yoga playlist.

music can make or break my practice. i have tons of yoga playlists i've put together on my computer. but lately, i keep coming back to this one. these songs [paired with my practice] do wonders for my soul. maybe they'll do the same for you...

happy wednesday!