Buy Local

A few weeks ago, my friend posted to Facebook asking any friends who own their own business or are consultants for direct sales (e.g., Thirty-one) to send her links so she could buy local. I love this idea! You're not just buying from brick and mortar stores, but directly from your friends!

Below is a list of my friends who I hope to buy from this year or in the future. Feel free to use these as ideas and ask your friends and family. And if you don't know someone local who sells something below, feel free to use my friends!! (Feel free to comment if I'm missing some of my friends' businesses!)

Beautiful Mesh

• Designer: Lauren Simmons
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeautifulMesh/?fref=ts
• Etsy Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/beautifulmesh
• Description: Handmade, original and unique wreaths for all occasions! Multiple kinds of wreaths available - including deco mesh, burlap, grapevine, floral and yarn. Custom orders welcome and encouraged!

Fit4Mom Falls Church Vienna Fairfax

• Franchise Owner: Jaclyn Robertson
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fit4MomFallsChurchVienna/?fref=ts
• Website: http://fallschurchvienna.fit4mom.com/
• Description: At Fit4Mom we believe in: building community, raising healthy children, nurturing connections, inspiring positive energy. empowering women, the power of moms, cultivating healthy homes, supporting each other, motivating transformation. We believe in you.

Usborne Books

• Consultant: Hillary Hultman-Lee
• Website: http://www.HHLlearning.com
• Description: Usborne Books & More is a division of Educational Development Corporation (EDC), a well-established company that has twice been recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of The 200 Best Small Companies in America and three times by Fortune Magazine as one of America’s 100 Fastest Growing Small Companies, and has been in existence for over 30 years. Usborne and Kane Miller books are the most exciting, engaging, and educational books on the market today. They are high quality, innovative, lavishly-illustrated and best of all they are the books kids love to read. Choose from over 1800 bright colorful and fun titles covering a wide variety of subjects.

Thirty-One Gifts

• Consultant: Natacha Moore, Moore Bags for You
• Website: https://www.mythirtyone.com/moorebagsforyou/info/home?verify=true
• Description: Thirty-One Gifts was founded in 2003 with one simple goal in mind - to help women by giving them the opportunity to run their own successful business. Not only do the fashionable, functional products make life easier – they also help independent business owners across the country support their families and reach their dreams.

Perfectly Posh

• Consultant: Stacey Vance
• Website: http://www.Perfectlyposh.com/poshwithstacey
• Description: Perfectly Posh is a pampering brand. If you love great products that are as fun as they are good for you then you're going to love us. We were founded on some very simple principles: 1) We simply pamper. Nothing complicated, tiresome, or mundane here. Come and be taken care of. 2) The best ingredients. We know if you want a product to feel great when you use it, it should be made of great things. We use the very best and most natural ingredients available so you can be proud to wear and share it.

Eliza Kirchner Photography

• Photographer: Eliza Kirchner
• Website: http://www.ElizaKirchnerPhotography.com
• Description: I have always been interested and involved in creative pursuits. A longtime interest in photography has recently turned into a more serious endeavor. I am excited about the opportunity to capture your moments and memories in a picture.

India Hicks

• Ambassador: Gail Legaspi Gaull
• Website: http://www.indiahicks.com/rep/gaillegaspigaull
• Description: India Hicks founded the company in early 2015 with two experienced business-minded partners, Konstantin Glasmacher, a serial entrepreneur and developer of innovative and disruptive business models, and Nicholas Keuper, former Managing Director with The Boston Consulting Group. After years of creating collections for traditional retail, she decided to take a different, and far more personal, route in launching her own brand. “I didn’t want my product sitting cold on the shelves of a Bergdorf Goodman.” Rather, the exclusive collections of well-crafted gifts, beauty and accessories are sold through networks of entrepreneurial women, creating a more meaningful shopping experience. Each piece, designed by India and inspired by her British heritage, island life, and madcap daydreams, has a story. These stories (and collections) are shared by our Ambassadors, with friends old and new… Building strong, solid businesses without ever having to go into an office again.

LuLaRoe

• Consultant: Bevin Coffee
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LuLaRoeBevinCoffee
• Description: TBD

Holiday Cookie #2: Almond Balls

Every Christmas, my grandmother would make at least 10 kinds of cookies, multiple batches of each, store them in tins stacked up in the dining room, and the tins would probably be stacked 7-8 tins long and 4-5 tins high!

Some of the cookies I distinctly remember were pizzelles (nothing like the kind you can buy or make, her's were super thin and crispy), almond balls, pecan balls, and orange cookies.

While it's not the holidays according to most Americans, tomorrow is the Epiphany when the three wise men visited Jesus and brought gifts. It's celebrated in Italy (where all my family is from) and in Armenia (a small portion of my husband's background, and I believe in France as well (my husband is half French). So I figure it's still a holiday cookie!

Grandma  Emma Licamele's Almond Balls

1 cup butter (2 sticks butter) creamed with 1/4 cup confectionery sugar
Add the following and mix:
           1 tsp. Vanilla
           1 cup finely ground almonds (Trader Joe's sells it pre-ground)
           1/2 cups sugar
           2 cups flour
Roll into 1"balls  Bake @ 325 for 20 minutes
While slightly warm (but not hot) roll in confectionery sugar and store in air tight container

They seemed to have turned out well looks-wise, and taste like I remember!

Holiday Cookie #1: Buckeye Bark

Tonight I found a recipe for Buckeyes but in bark form. Given that my mom's from Ohio (Lima, setting of Glee!), and my husband LOVES peanut butter and chocolate, I gave it a shot with my own twist.

Buckeye Bark

Ingredients:

10 oz. Ghiradelli 60% Chocolate Baking Chips

2 teas coconut oil

5 oz smooth peanut butter

2 Tbs butter, melted

1/2 c + 2 Tbs powdered sugar

1/4 teas vanilla extract 

Sprinkle of sea salt (optional)

Directions:

1. Prep an 8" square pan by lining with parchment paper

2. Chocolate Layer #1: Melt 1/2 the chocolate with 1 teas coconut oil in the microwave. Start with 30 seconds, stir and add time in short intervals until almost melted. Once at that point, take the chocolate out and stir until melted. Add in 1 Tbs of powdered sugar. Pour into the pan and put into the freezer. 

3. Peanut Butter Layer: In a mixing bowl, beat together the peanut butter, melted butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Once the chocolate is hardened, spread the peanut butter mixture on top of the first chocolate layer. Refeeze. 

4. Chocolate Layer #2: Melt the rest of the chocolate with 1 teas coconut oil in the microwave, using the same process as before. Once melted, add the last Tbs of powdered sugar. Pour over the peanut butter layer. If you choose, lightly sprinkle a bit of sea salt over the top. Refeeze. 

5. Once solid, take out and cut into 16 pieces. Store in the refrigerator until consumed. 

Notes: 

• The coconut oil helps the chocolate harden in the freezer, and keeps it more hardened as you store in the fridge.

• You can choose to use milk chocolate chips, but if you do, eliminate the Tbs of powdered sugar that goes in the chocolate.