this week's clicks: merry christmas!

get your week off to a colorful start...
SWOON.

Victoria Elizabeth Photography via Wedding Chicks

• So cute and romantic: a surprise tree farm engagement!
• A fairytale coastal wedding from Found Vintage Rentals.
• From SMP, an intimate New England Christmas wedding.

SMILE.

• The Habits of Highly Successful Women, from Darling.
• These DIY mini star cake toppers would be great for NYE.
• The actual best New Year's resolutions, via A Cup of Jo.

FLASHBACK.

• 2016: millenial pink inspiration for New Year's Eve, remembering Carrie Fisher, my  favorite things from December
• 2015: rose gold NYE inspiration, Literary Junkies, December in Instagram, my most popular posts of 2015 and my personal favorite posts.
• 2014: most popular posts of 2014 and personal favorites.
• 2013: most popular posts of 2013, personal favorites, and a NYE tablescape.
• 2012: favorite posts of 2012, gold and blush NYE inspiration, favorite movies and books of 2012, and organization goals for 2013.
• 2011: gold/champagne inspiration for New Year's Eve and organization goals for 2012.

#5FandomFriday: Favorite Fictional Foods

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. This week, I'm rounding up fictional foods I would love to try!

1. Butterbeer from Harry Potter

J.K. Rowling is so, so good at writing about food that reading the dining hall scenes at Hogwarts always made me need to take a kitchen break. Of all the magical things the characters enjoy, the one that seems to inspire the purest elation is butterbeer. I know that Universal Studios serves their own version of the treat, and some people think Starbucks' new butterscotch creations are the closest we Muggles may get to the real thing.

2. November cakes from The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater

One of the many reasons Maggie is my favorite YA author: when she decided to invent a special roll that the denizens of her fictional Celtic island, Thisby, bake to celebrate the annual super-deadly water horse race, she felt like she actually had to bake them , and took it upon herself to create a recipe. That is some next-level universe building right there.

3. Rey's bread from Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Science fiction foods get me every time, especially for their usually instant nature - I was also kind of obsessed with all of the different dehydrated meals Tally had in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. In The Force Awakens, Rey's bread was a practical effect accomplished with a balloon, but the folks at Star Wars have come up with a recipe that apparently comes close to instant bread and has an appropriately unappetizing shade of green.

4. Abby's Caf-Pows from NCIS

Sure, a Caf-Pow is just the NCIS universe's version of a Big Gulp from 7-11, but it is also the magical fuel that helps Abby Sciuto solve crimes! Imagine how much I would get done in a day with Caf-Pow running through my veins!

5. Coffee of Doom's specials from Questionable Content

I've been reading this webcomic since college - it's cute and I like the characters - and one of the best running gags Jeph Jacques includes are really strange specials on the chalkboard at the coffee shop. A recent strip featured Earl Grey tea that made Bubbles (who is an AI and can only smell tea) see a unicorn. Totally normal in QC-land.

#5FandomFriday: Holiday {Recipe} Recommendations

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. You can see the upcoming prompts here at the Female Geek Bloggers community. This week's #5FandomFriday topic isn't specifically geeky, and it was so broad I really wasn't sure what I wanted to write about. 

Christmas cookies from my 2013 holiday home tour

After checking out a few other geek girls' posts, I decided to round up some of my favorite tried and true dessert recipes to make for the holidays - perfect for taking to parties and giving to friends! All pictures are from the recipes' original authors, so if you want to add them to your Pinterest boards please click the links and pin from the source.

5. Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups from Baker Chick - Look, I'm not saying I kept a container of this frosting and ate it with a spoon after I made the cookies, but I'm not saying I didn't.

4. Mini Hard Cider Cupcakes from Hungry Girl Por Vida - Perfect for adult holiday parties, like an ugly sweater bash, these cupcakes can be made with your favorite cider and are topped with yummy cream cheese icing. They're the perfect little bites.

3. Hershey's Cocoa Crinkle Cookies - A classic for a reason, these are basically brownie cookies topped with powdered sugar and they are absolutely delicious.

2. Soft Baked Funfetti Sprinkle Sugar Cookies from The Dwelling Tree - Delicious, easy, and adaptable for any holiday or occasion just by changing the sprinkle colors!

1. Brownie Peppermint Cookies from Cooking Classy - Another easy recipe, since it starts with brownie mix, topped with a melt-in-your mouth dreamy icing with crushed candy canes (I recommend using a food processor for that part).

What's your favorite holiday dessert recipe? Tell us 

about it in the comments so we can all try it out!