How to Style Your Bar for the Holidays

This post is sponsored by Coca-Cola Licensing.

Holiday cookie exchanges, open houses, parties and intimate gatherings...Chances are you will either host or attend a holiday party this season. If you are hosting, you will most likely have to put together a spread of goodies on a table, island or bar top. Today I'm going to share with you how to make your spread look special for your event.

1| Set your food and drinks out first. You'll want to make sure you have enough room for everything. Keep the sweets with sweets and savory with savory.

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2| Place any utensils you may need next to the food. Don't forget the bottle openers! I always forget those, but how can I forget this cute one by Coca-Cola? You can even have some drinks already poured into glasses with straws just like we did with the Coca-Cola Heritage Glasses.

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3| Go back through and add design elements that very in height and size. You may want to add different sized vases, candles or maybe even create a fun winter scene with figurines, fake snow and an old crate like this one from Coca-Cola. We also created winter terrariums to add dimension and spirit to the space.

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4| Add some sparkle - Place ornaments, glitter or tinsel around the area. We hung ornaments above our bar to draw the eyes upward to our chalkboard wall. Think about what you can add above or below too.

5| Add some live greens or flowers - Fresh flowers or even fresh pine is a nice way to liven things up. If you don't feel confident arranging bouquets, simply add branches of pine in vases.

Photos by Melissa Jill, Art Direction by Alex Evjen, Florals by Hoot and Holler, Chalk writing by Katie Sterbenz

Wear Your Gym Clothes All Day and Look Stylish

This post is sponsored by Mountainside Fitness.

Let's be honest...Sometimes what can keep us from the gym is simply the fact that we have errands to run before and after our workout, and we don't want to look a hot mess. I totally get it, and getting sweaty and stinky can definitely be an inconvenience, especially when you're in a time crunch. So, I thought I'd share with you how I wear my gym leggings and sports bra while running around before the gym. To help, I've included before and after photos. After this post you won't have an excuse not to hit the gym!

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When I wear my gym leggings I also choose boots and a tunic top to wear along with them. You could also choose a long sweater as well, and look fall ready in a snap. I don't wear too much makeup because I don't like to workout with a ton of product on my face. So, I simply wear tinted moisturizer, concealer, blush, eye primer, mascara and lipstick. You are set for the day and in style.

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When I get to the gym all i have to do is change my shoes and my top.

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After my workout I'm all sweaty, but I don't always have time to take a shower and do my hair. This might sound really gross to you, but I blow dry the sweat out of my hair. It acts as natural sea salt spray and gives me a ton of volume. I just go back through with dry shampoo to make sure I'm not too stinky. If you carry face wipes with you, just go ahead and wipe your face, armpits and chest with them and then apply some body spray and deodorant. Then apply your 2 minute face like I mentioned above.

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Lastly, put your other top and shoes back on, and you're set to go run more errands or even meet friends for dinner.

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Photos by Sarah Gray Portraits.

Toffee Caramel Bundt Cake

This post is sponsored by Coca-Cola.

"It's a cake!" Name that movie!...

It's from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which happens to be one of my favorite movies. In the movie the Greek family is trying to understand what a bundt cake is. All I know is that once you try one you will always remember it. Bundt cakes are a popular sweet to make during the holidays. Today, I have a yummy recipe to share with you that you can make the day before your party so that you are stress free and you can enjoy every moment of your gathering.

You can't go wrong with toffee and caramel, and this cake recipe has both. Mmm! It's a moist cake, especially with the caramel, and use can use the extra caramel drizzle for apple slices.

Toffee Caramel Bundt Cake (adapted from Lady Behind the Curtain)

Ingredients:

• Non-stick cooking spray with flour
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 6 oz. toffee pieces (about ¾ bag of Heath chips)
• ½ cup pecans bits
• Caramel Drizzle (see below)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a 12-cup bundt pan with non-stick spray with flour.

In a medium bowl, wisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Measure out milk in a liquid measuring cup and then add the vanilla to the same cup. Alternate mixing in flour and milk, until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.

Fold in toffee chips and pecans by hand with a spatula until distributed through batter. Spoon batter into the prepared bundt pan.

Bake for about 75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cover top of cake with foil to prevent excess browning if necessary

Remove from oven and cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes, then carefully invert the pan onto a wire and allow the cake to cool completely.

After the cake has cooled, make the caramel drizzle below.

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Caramel Drizzle:

• 14 ounces (1 can) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Photography by Melissa Jill, Art Direction by A.V.E. Styles, Food created and styled by Nicky Vender

Holiday Party Favors

This post is sponsored by Coca-Cola.

When hosting a party, you always want to give your guests a little something special to take home. We've come up with a cute and festive gift that is inexpensive and easy to make yourself.

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Kissing beneath the mistletoe is a longstanding tradition during the holidays. So, what better way to remind your friends and family that you love them than mistletoe bundles? We even created "xoxo" tags to go with them, and paired them with a classic bottle of Coca-Cola.

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Mistletoe isn't easy to come by, so you can use any type of white berry or holly to take the place of mistletoe. Simply tie some string around your little bundle and hot glue your handmade "xoxo" tag to it. Vintage soda crates make the perfect display, and I particularly love this vintage Coca-Cola one. You could place ornaments in it for some sparkle.

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For more holiday entertaining ideas, check out this other post.

Photography by Melissa Jill, art direction and styling by A.V.E. Styles, florals by Hoot and Holler and calligraphy by Katie Sterbenz Design.

Holiday Monogram

This post is brought to you by Coca-Cola.

Everyone has a different way of decorating their home for the holidays. Your choice of a green tree or a white tree is a personal expression of the celebration of the season. A great way to make your decorating even more personal is to use monograms.

My last name is Evjen, so the letter 'E' has a lot of significance in our home. It's also the first letter of our daughter Elle's name. I found this metal E that was once part of a neon sign at a vintage market. It has been sitting in my closet for almost a whole year collecting dust. This year I thought I would use it to attempt a Pinterest inspired DIY I saw a ways back. It was a letter filled with succulents, and I thought it was the coolest thing.

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With the help of my friend Malori from Hoot and Holler we schemed up an idea to put holly berries and pine into this metal E. It turned out great. All you need is your metal letter, floral foam, and your choice of greens. Rosemary and herbs would smell and look amazing too. I like the pop of red the berries bring, but you could choose white berries if you don't use red too much in your home.

1| Cut the foam blocks to size so that they fit snuggly in the letter

2| Wet the foam

3| Start placing your stems of greens tightly packed together into the foam

4| Fill until you are happy with it.

Photos by Melissa Jill, Florals by Hoot and Holler, Art Direction by A.V.E. Styles