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New Year, New… POST!!!

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We’ve said sayonara to 2018, and we have big goals for 2019! None of this “new year, new me” stuff… more like new year, new ideas. We set a goal this January to focus on “total health”. Not just a healthy diet, but really taking a look at how we can improve our overall lifestyle choices in order to lead a healthy life! Take a look below at what exactly that means to each one of us.

STEPHI:

When I think of the term “healthy”, the first things that come to mind are diet and exercise. For the past few years, I have exercised pretty regularly and overall, I keep a fairly healthy diet (with the exception of my love for diet coke– a very nasty habit I’ve recently kicked). However, I rarely take time to focus on the mind and soul part of health. I’ve noticed that when I start my mornings with accomplishing a few small tasks, I feel productive. That feeling of productivity carries throughout the day, and those days typically end up leaving me feeling great! My plan for this month is to start my day with the intention to be productive! First step… I bought a new planner to help me organize my daily intentions! It may be a small step, but I’m feeling pretty jazzy about it 😉 . Stick around throughout the month though, and see how the self-care evolves!

SUZI:

What does Total Health mean to me? It’s a big question. In my world, my health has to start from the inside out and there is definitely a trickle down effect. I will be totally honest… I visit my therapist weekly. When I am working through the crazy in my head, everything else seem to work better! I have also done meditation, yoga, journal-ling. I am just really a fan of taking care of the brain. But, I also really believe in the power of endorphins and I LOVE the feeling of a crazy good work out. Spin, Barry’s, even a good Just Dance marathon! I just really love to sweat! Then, when I am working out, I crave good food. And I love to cook, so eating well is fun for me. And last, but not least, (I am a chick after all), when I am doing all those things, my body responds. See, trickle down! I am really excited for a month of focusing on what makes us healthy and happy.

What are you doing to take care of yourself lately? It’s not easy to do with demanding schedules and people the need your constant attention. However, it is vital to overall health! Stick with us this month and let’s work on it together!

xoxo,

Suzi and Stephi

Last Minute Gift Guide!

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We’ve all been there… Actually, we are there.  Like, right now.  6 more sleeps till the big day and we are definitely not all done with our lists

So, here are a few options for you that might lessen a bit of that stress and make the hardest ones to shop for happy! Some are still available for rush shipping but only until the end of today, so GO!!!


We HAD to include this adorable little neon sign on our list!  And to be honest, we both kinda want one for ourselves.  This would be super cute in a kids’ bedroom, office or really anywhere!  Make sure to order today with rush shipping to receive by Christmas. 

Winter time means dry air which also means DRY SKIN!  Your skin can stay touchable and lovable with this Tata Harper Revitalizing Body Oil.  It smells delicious and feels totally luxurious. The perfect gift! 

Pampering is always a good idea!  So, consider a gift card for a mani pedi!  We are kinda dying to try a new spot here in Dallas called Verbena Salon, which is a non-toxic, fume-free nail bar, salon and cafe (meaning they rub your feet and pour wine!  WINNING!)

Who doesn’t love to cuddle up with a cozy blanket when it’s cold outside?  We love this cream-colored option from Anthropologie and it can be found at lots of local stores.  Plus, there’s still time for shipping!

Is there a traveler in your life?  This universal travel adapter is a life saver for any and all kinds of electronics! We think it makes a great little stocking stuff and Amazon Prime will have it to you before Christmas! 

Who doesn’t love a good fuzzy slipper?! These lovelies are basically the Tempurpedic mattress of footwear!  As you wear them, they actually mold to your foot and provide support.  Don’t judge when we roll through carpool rocking a pair of these.  Most colors still available! 

Sometimes, your favorite people are the hardest to shop for.  So, why not honor them by donating to those who really need your support?  We have a pretty amazing friend who fronts The Huckleberry Foundation.  Lift up those with special needs while honoring those who are fortunate enough to give to others by donating in their name. 

All the Glam!

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It’s officially holiday season, and many of us will have a holiday party (or two ) to attend! We thought we would round up a few fun, festive outfit ideas in order to have you feeling chic and glam at any holiday event!

When we think of holiday party attire, we think “Glitz & Glam”. It’s that time of year that you can get away with wearing allll the sequins and sparkle! 

Pair a sequin skirt with a solid bodysuit and heels for a buttoned up look, or a graphic tee and sneaks for a fun funky girls lunch! 
Sequin topshop dress 
We are totally obsessed with this pencil skirt is to die for. It can be super dressed up with something like the heels ( below ) and a silk top, or you could rock this with a cool graphic sweatshirt and chucks for a laid back look that is sure to impress!

Not a sparkle kinda girl?  Throw on a fun jewel tone, or a bolder print! 

Pair a bold blazer with a black pants for a dressier occasion, or wide flare jeans and wedges for a casual holiday lunch!
Topshop dress
This is the classic holiday party dress but the style is still fresh. If you are headed to a more conservative event, this dress is the perfect option.

For most of y’all, it’s actually cold out, so why not top your outfit off with a fun coat or jacket that’s just a little bit extra??? If you can’t be extra during the holidays, when can you (am I right?)?

Leopard Jacket
Ivory Coat with Faux Fur Trim

An instant way to make ANY outfit feel instantly festive is added a red lip!!

Our favorite red, courtesy of Chanel, lasts all night… even under the mistletoe!

We adore a jumpsuit and this red Alice & Olivia number gives off all the holiday feels. It’s festive, sassy and sophisticated. Plus, you can absolutely work this into your wardrobe year-round!!! 

Sometimes, all you need is a sassy little heel to make even the most simple outfit festive and fun. Another way to make an outfit instantly festive is to pair a bold bootie in a metallic or bright color! 

I love this furry take on the classic black heel!

This Louise et Cie bootie is not only perfect to spruce up any outfit for the holidays, but its on sale for $59.98

In the same way that a pair of shoes can make a simple outfit pop, a fabulous bag can up the ante on a what could be a plain outfit otherwise. The colorful pop of this box clutch makes it a chic addition to any color ensemble!

Happy holidays Loves! Comment/e-mail/DM us on insta for any personal styling tips!! 

xoxo,

Suzi and Stephi

Grateful for Girls

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We have posted a lot about of Friendsgiving celebration last week. Between menu planning, tablescapes, grocery shopping and cooking, we totally wore ourselves out!

November is a month where people traditionally focus on gratitude. We love that because we are both glass half full sort of gals. Grateful and thankful are words that we use all the time, especially with our kiddos who are growing up in a crazy world. But, as we sat and reflected on our Friendsgiving day after everyone had gone, we realized how truly grateful we really are.

Since the dining table held 8 people, we decided we would each invite 3 friends. We had both met each other’s friends, but Stephi’s friends had never met Suzi’s invitees and vice versa. We weren’t nervous about it but hoped everyone would gel. Well, if you watch our IGTV (total shameless plus!!), you will see that our group of 8 women almost immediately acted like we had been friends for years. Everyone found commonalities in kids, jobs, hometowns, laughter. It was truly a beautiful thing to see.

So, in the spirit of gratitude, we want to express how truly grateful we are for our friends. Personally, we talk a lot about how amazing it is that we somehow ended up living next door to one another and have truly formed a sister-like bond. It’s special. We bring out the best in each other and we celebrate it. We love each other at our worst and lift each other up through tough times. And most important, we laugh. Hysterically. All the time. And it is so good for the soul.

Not only that, but now, we have been surrounded by this little tribe of women, these ride or die, bury the body and never discuss, love unconditionally and always tell you the truth sort of women. To say that we are grateful for our friends is an understatement. We weren’t able to invite every friend to our Friendsgiving this year for lots of reasons, but we hope that as we grow this blog, we can make it a bigger party every year to celebrate more and more of our awesome girl tribe!

But it bears repeating…. Becky, Jamie, Laci, Paige, Rachel and Sha, thank you so much for being the amazing women that you are and sharing that day with us! We love you!!

Friendsgiving Menu

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We both absolutely love to cook, so planning a menu for some of our best friends for Friendsgiving was so much fun! 

We did a lot of online research…. thinking about our guests, their preferences and most importantly, that we didn’t want to simply serve a typical Thanksgiving meal.  We wanted to use seasonal ingredients and flavors that echo the the holidays, but we will all be eating ourselves silly in just one week and we didn’t want to start too early 😉

Epicurious was a huge source of help for the menu.  They actually have a whole Friendsgiving post here that we used as a big source of inspiration.  You could literally use this entire menu for the most perfect party!

One of the big hits of the party were the Parsnip-Wrapped Devils on Horseback.  Despite the hilarious name, these little babies were CRAZY good and our guests loved them!  Bonus:  they are vegetarian, so a great option for anyone.  They are stuffed with blue cheese, but we think you could totally use goat cheese or something more mild if you don’t like the strong taste of the blue. 

For the main meal, we served the Stuffed Turkey Breast with Butternut Squash, Kale and Sausage from Epicurious along side these fabulous Candied Sweet Potatoes with Bourbon and the most beautiful salad ever created, the Persimmon and Burrata Salad with Sesame Candy, both courtesy of Food & Wine

The flavors were perfection together and no one felt overly full after this gorgeous meal.  A couple of tips that we learned:

  • The turkey recipe calls for boneless, skin on turkey breast.  When we go ours, one of the breasts was split in half and the other, the 2 breasts were attached.  (I mean, could we say breast anymore?!) The breasts (there we go!) that were attached rolled up much better and came out looking absolutely gorgeous!  The ones that were not attached were equally as delicious but the presentation wasn’t quite as pretty.  
  • We actually had planned to make the Shredded Brussels Sprouts Ricotta Toast, but in the chaos of the day, we totally mismanaged our time and about 10 minutes before the girls arrived, we hadn’t even started them yet!  WHOOPS!  We both wished that we could have had that brussells sprouts element in the day, but with how good the dates were, we don’t think anyone missed them.  And we definitely had plenty of food. 
  • Speaking of plenty of food, one of the best lessons we learned with this is to keep it simple.  Party planning is fun but it is also really stressful at times.  So, KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid!  Look at each recipe, take the timing into account, make as much as you can ahead of time and drink plenty of wine to get you through it 😉

Holiday Crowd-Pleasers

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We have officially entered holiday season, and with holiday fun comes holiday FOOD! We have decided to cook up our two favorite holiday appetizers for y’all and we are confident they will please any crowd!!

First up:

Suzi shared Tootsie’s (her mom)  famous Sausage and Cheese balls!

Recipe:

2 lbs. room temp Jimmy Dean’s sausage

1.5 cups of bisquick

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Spicy pepper jelly for dipping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix it all together evenly, by hand. Place parchment paper on baking pan. Roll sausage mixture into 1″ balls. Place sausage balls evenly onto baking pan. Put in oven on 350 degrees for 20 min.

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** Insider tip: You can freeze these little guys for up to 1 month!  In the event some surprise guests pop over, bust these bad boys out, and heat up for widespread enjoyment!

 

Next up:

Stephi’s famous spinach artichoke dip!!

Recipe:

2 packs of plain cream cheese (room temp).

1.5 cups of DUKE’s mayonaise

2 cups of fresh chopped spinach

1 can of artichoke hearts, chopped

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 package of shredded low-moisture part-skim mozzarella

1 package of parmesan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put room temperature cream cheese into an 8″ square baking dish. Stir in mayo. Mix in the chopped spinach and artichokes. Next mix in 3/4 the mozz, and 3/4 parm. Sprinkle in garlic powder and stir misture to your hearts content (or until evenly mixed. Sprinkle the remainder of the cheese on top and place in oven to bake for about 20 mins (or until cheese is very lightly browned on top). Now devour!!!

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Enjoy!

xoxo,

Stephi and Suzi

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Fave Fall Cocktails

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We have made it pretty clear that we love a good margarita! But as fall weather has FINALLY reached us in Dallas, we have been on a hunt to incorporate some of those fall flavors into our favorite drink.

There was a clear winner for looks, because let’s be honest, we want these babies to look good, but there was a clear winner for taste too…. but you will have to go watch our IGTV (@cup_of_sugar_dallas) to find out the final results!

In the meantime, click the links below to each of our recipes. And then, head over to Insta to watch all the fun!

Stephi’s recipe: Pom + Cider Margarita

Suzi’s recipe: Autumn Cran-Orange Margarita

Our Top 9 Stocking Stuffers for Girls!

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If you are anything like us, stocking stuffers can be a difficult task and always seem to be a last minute scramble!  So, to help you out this year, we have put together our favorite ideas for girls ages 4-12.  And the best part?  They are ALL available on Amazon Prime!

  1.  Custom Pop Socket – We LOVE the pop sockets on our phone and the personalized version would be so cute for your little lady’s phone or iPod!
  2. LOL Surprise Under Wraps Doll – Our littlest ones (5 &6) can’t get enough of the LOL Doll craze!  These fun little capsule-shaped series include a surprise doll that kids get to feel like a detective to discover.
  3. Hello Kitty Pez Dispenser – Who doesn’t love Pez?!  This cute little Gift Tin has 4 different Hello Kitty-themed dispensers and candy included.
  4. iTunes Gift Card – Our kids are constantly asking us to buy things on their phones and iPads.  Why not give them a little independence to choose on their own?  An iTunes gift card not only makes your life easier, but is also a great way to teach your kids about finances.
  5. Unicorn Puff Ball Keychain – Each one of our girls loves to attach cute little keychains to their backpacks and it makes it easier for us too because we can tell them apart in the sea of backpacks after school!  These cute little faux fur puff balls come in lots of colors, too.
  6. Emoji Wet Brush – Whether your munchkins have short or long hair, the Wet Brush is the ultimate pain-free detangler!
  7. Lil’ Gleemerz Doll – The Lil’ Gleemerz dolls are promising to be one of this year’s hottest holiday items.  They are adorable!  And their little light-up tails make for a great night light.
  8. Unicorn Snot Lip Gloss – Our girls are OBSESSED with makeup!  We love the unicorn branding but even more, we love that this is a cruelty-free product that we can feel totally comfortable with our little people putting on.  We *might* be accused of “sharing” it with them from time to time!
  9. Bath Bombs – Bath time can be a struggle sometimes, but when you offer the option of a rainbow colored, yummy smelling bath bomb it gets easier!  We love this big combo pack so that they last longer too.

We hope this list helps make Santa’s job easier this year! Happy shopping!

xoxo,

Stephi and Suzi

stocking stuffers