Do you have those go-to recipes in your head that you can just make with your eyes closed? You know that pinch of this and a dash of that are the perfect measurements, no need for measuring cups or recipe cards. That’s my chili recipe — honed over the years to be both classic and at the same time totally unique to me. For example, I alway do half beef, half ground turkey — you still get the flavor of the beef but it cuts down on fat; I also feel strongly that all chili should be made with tasty golden kernels of corn (fire roasted is the way to go!) and simmered for hours in a sturdy cast iron dutch oven (I love our Martha Stewart one.). And my secret ingredient — a trick my dad taught me as a kid — is to add a can of baked beans into the mixture for a little punch of sweetness to balance out the spice. A few weeks back my sister pointed out that even though I make this 2x a month all winter long, I never posted about it before on the blog. So here it is, finally written in stone for her to use (and hopefully you too!). 
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How is it already 5 days into the New Year? I feel like I was in a mad sprint at the end of the year with work, holidays, and getting tons of projects done for our annual New Year’s Eve party. This was the first time hosting it out at our house, so we made New Year’s Eve an official housewarming party since many of our friends hadn’t seen our new place yet (and plus, it guilted them to drive out to the ‘burbs for the night, #realtalk). It was a totally different experience throwing this party than our past 5 years of apartment hosting. For starters, it takes a lot more time to clean and prep a whole house than it did an apartment; we also had quite a few guests sleepover so we had lots to do to fix up guest bedrooms and freshen bedding. On top of all of that, I didn’t have my party flow down — you know: the spot you always put the bar, the place you always set out the food — all of that was trial and error this time around. Oh and one more thing: we had construction going on in our kitchen and wet paint in our dining room up until about 20 hours before the party started — can you hear my panicked laugh?!
One of the projects I tackled during my time off over the holidays was sending out my 2nd annual “happy new year” cards. I mailed them out to folks I collaborated with over the course of the year, and some of my favorite ‘cheerleaders’ that have supported me as I’ve worked to grow my business. After a fun photo shoot with the Improper Bostonian, I knew the picture of my pink bar cart had to be involved in the mailer. I worked with Posh + Prep to design the cards and wanted to add in a few little treats, so Julie illustrated two of my favorite #domestikatedishes cocktail recipes — and I tucked festive drink stirrers into the envelope for some cocktail flair. I would love to send one of these cards to every single one of my readers, but since I can’t I thought I would do the next best thing: share the recipe cards here so you can download and use them at home. Hope you enjoy a festive cocktail after making it through your first day back at work after the holidays — cheers! 
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It’s here! It’s here! My favorite holiday of the year! I know people get all grumpy about New Year’s Eve because it usually involves an overly expensive dinner or a crowded bar, but that’s why I decided a long time ago to throw my own New Years bash and give all my friends the perfect plan for sending out the year in style and kicking off the new one just right. Call me a sap, but I love the idea of starting the new year with my best friends, doing what I love most: entertaining. It’s also one of my favorite holidays because it involves all things glitter and sparkle and confetti-filled. So if you’re hosting your own soiree this year, or need to add a little pop of celebration to a night in watching the ball drop, I’ve got a few last minute DIY ideas you can craft up. I worked on these with Julie of Posh and Prep who lent her expert calligraphy skills to make them a little extra special! 
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I’ve been on a major Moscow Mule kick lately, and have been trying different spins on the classic recipe (like an apple and vanilla vodka version that is amazing!), testing new ginger beers (obsessed with Picketts Ginger Beer Syrup), and all around getting lots of use out of my favorite copper mugs. When I saw that IZZE had a sparkling cherry-lime flavor, inspiration struck for another variation. I mixed this one up with ginger syrup, fresh lime juice, and vodka. Full recipe below. 
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After all of the fun we had putting together some DIY details for Thanksgiving, Julie from Posh & Prep and I got crafty and created a few fun handmade elements to add your Christmas parties and celebrations. Julie lent her fabulous hand-lettering to create the easiest place card favor: a classic christmas ornament personalized with gold ink calligraphy in each guests name.
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I finally feel like we have our first ‘complete’ room in our house after a mini-makeover of our downstairs bathroom. Of course this is the one room in our house that I forgot to take ‘before’ pictures of, so you’ll just have to trust me when I say that these small projects made a huge impact on this little space. The bathroom was a dark rust color and had a huge dark wood cabinet on the wall and a beat-up, yellowed laminate vanity. Our first order of business was giving it a fresh coat of paint with a really rich blue color — Hamilton Blue by Benjamin Moore — I love how it looks. Once we started painting, it made the laminate flooring look so dingy and gross, so I made a brave decision to try to tile the bathroom floor myself. I did lots of research online, and got some advice from a friendly sales associate at Home Depot, and managed to do a pretty solid looking job of installing a marbled hexagon penny tile. 
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‘Tis the season for holiday spirit, and drinking those holiday spirits! One of my favorite parts of getting ready to entertain is setting up my bar cart with festive accents. I pulled together tons of inspiration for bringing pops of metallics and lots of fun details to your own holiday bar cart (all of which are under $75!). Add a classic bar cart — this one is a steal from Target — to get your entertaining game in tip-top-shape before Christmas and New Years.
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This is our very first year with a full-sized Christmas tree! I loved my little apartment-sized bookshelf trees we had in years past, but gosh is it fun to decorate a big tree in our new home — it feels just a little more like the holidays seeing it in our breakfast nook. One challenge with upgrading from a mini-tree to a 7ft tall tree is we never really owned full-sized ornaments. I have been on the hunt for the perfect colored glass balls to fill in the gaps between our smaller, more sentimental ornaments. Of course, I gravitated right to bright-colors and expensive price tags (like these and these), but couldn’t justify breaking the bank when I knew I needed lots of them. So I DIY’ed my own in the simplest way possible!
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Just a few days after we had moved into our new house in October I got an email to participate in one of the most fun photo shoots I’ve worked on to date — a holiday entertaining piece in the Improper Bostonian. We had a tiny window to shoot this holiday DIY feature and by some amazing luck, a group of talented, creative ladies got together with me to help pull it off (with stacks of my unpacked belongings in the nearby background). Below are a few pictures from the shoot (and two more behind-the-scenes pictures from that day); you can read the full article here: Improper Bostonian – Home for the Holidays.
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I'm Kate, and I like to
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