I tried to be adventurous when making these cookies. I'm getting okayyy at creating my own recipes, but sometimes I fail, hard. These cookies are delish, but the frosting I made was so bad. Guys, it was so bad I could barely even eat it. Even Adam being so sweet couldn't keep in how bad the frosting was. I'm not even going to share it. If you want frosting for these bad boys, I suggest the frosting from my paleo chocolate cake. You can find that recipe here. 

The cookies are so good and so flavorful you hardly need frosting. 



Ingredients: 

• 2 cups almond flour
• 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup shredded carrots, squeezed of excess water

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with a silpat.
2. Combine the almond meal, coconut, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
3. Whisk together the egg, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla in a small bowl.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just incorporated. Fold in the carrots until combined.
5. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the batter onto the baking sheet into a cookie/disc shape.
6. Bake for 14 minutes, remove and let cool 1 minute (cookies will be soft upon removing from oven but will firm up as they cool) on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
7. Store cookies in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Enjoy, friends! Happy Tuesday, here's to a great week!

I used to be a morning person. When I was in high school, I would wake up at 530 am or earlier, blast Dashboard Confessional and spend 2 and a half hours getting ready. I didn't mind it at all, I mean, I had to look pretty in my school uniform and thick black eyeliner, right?

Now, I literally crawl out of bed (or Adam dragggssss me) one hour before I have to leave for work. I spend a good 20 minutes in bed before I get up, stretching and looking at my phone. Instagram is the best in the morning, I can't wait to catch up on what I missed. I'm a lazy piece in the am. Every one tells me once I have kids, it'll change, but man alive, mornings blow.

The only thing that saves me is when I hear the coffee machine start and the coffee brewing. Its as if someone put a line straight from the coffee machine to my vein. I envy people that pop out of bed fresh like a daisy ready to start their day. If it were up to me, days would start at 10am and end at 8pm. What can I say, I love my sleep and I love my bed.

Recently I started working out in the morning and it sucks. My alarm goes on at 510 am and it literally makes me want to throw the phone across the room. The only reason I get up and go is because if I don't cancel my class, they charge me $10. Ten bucks is a lot of morning guilt. I figured if this is my problem, it's probably someone elses too.

I've been asking around, asking friends, asking Adam how am I supposed to wake up early. How am I supposed to be awake enough to get dressed, fill my eyebrows in and get to class on time. It's not easy friends, but someone gotta do it.


1 . Set your alarm. Or if you are like me, set 10 alarms all within 2 minute increments of each other.  Make sure the alarm is either loud annoying music or screeching beeps. Bonus points if the alarms wake your husband and then he wants to murder your phone. Snooze all 9 alarms until the tenth one and then begrudgingly get up. Try to do so without throwing your phone on the ground.

2. Set your clothes out the night before. Or, when you wake up at 515 am, you decide you don't  want to wear those leggings, so you'll rummage around in the dark finding another pair that's better than the pair you picked out 12 hours ago.

3. Put your contacts in first because stubbing your toe sucks and glasses in pure barre do not work. Also, there is nothing like putting your fingers in your eye by the light of the moon.

4. Be quiet as to not wake others in your house. Or if you're like me, wake your husband and dogs up in the process. Be as loud as you can without trying. Accidenlty slam the drawers, stub your toe and curse and blow your nose. It helps when your bathroom doesn't have a door on it so the light streams through too.

5. Have a routine & stick to it. Wake up. Contacts. Eyebrows. Coffee. Drive to Pure Barre. Or, wake up, drop contact down the drain, forget one eyebrow and run around like a chicken with your head cut off. It helps if you misplace stuff.

6. Don't immediately look at your phone. If you're like me, checking Instagram at 5am is important business. This is when I start thinking about my Instagram caption for the day. And before I know it its 525 and you were supposed to leave 10 minutes ago.

7. Get bright light first thing. Or you are like me and you're waking up before the sun gets up. So that sucks. But try, it'll wake you up. Luckily Denver is getting brighter earlier. Lucky for be, not so lucky for Adam who is still trying to sleep in.

8. Reorganize your nighttime routine. Set out your clothes, contacts, pure barre socks, eyebrow pencil. Ya know, the important stuff. I don't care if it's just Pure Barre, I gotta have my brows on. For some reason, whenever I get up in the morning, I cannot seem to find where I put it in the am. It's like someone came in and moved it all while I was in REM sleep.

9. Keep your weekend sleep and your weekday sleep the same. This is literally impossible for me. I am sorry, but when Saturday morning comes around. getting up at 5am is the last thing I will ever do. Sorry tips I found on Pinterest, this one will not work for me.

10. No more nightcap. While I personally hate this rule, it's imperative to good sleep and bright mornings. Even with one glass of wine, I notice being a little more groggy than I am sans wine. But, whatever, a good shower makes me less groggy and then I can still have my wine.

How do you get up in the AM? What are you tips? Do you work out in the am or at night?

Tell me everything.

Last night as I was laying in bed writing this post, I showed Adam the picture I was putting on my Instagram and asked him if he thought it was cute. His response, "...super cute." I asked why he paused and he said, "You usually don't wear any color, so it's nice to see you in bright yellow." Welp, there ya have it people, even my husband recognizes how much I love black, and how much I need to branch out.



And, per my new years resolution, I was trying to wear more color this year, but apparently I'm failing. Resolutions start over every day right? I'll try again tomorrow.

Happy Tuesday! Today, I walked in the office and said Happy Wednesday to my co-worker and she looked at me like I was nuts and said, "Uh, Kristen, it's only Tuesday." Damn! Isn't that the worst feeling? I seriously thought it was Wednesday, which now means, my trip to Omaha and the weekend is one day further away than I thought this am.

When I was first approached by Ellie Kai, I was pumped! I love their stuff and I was so honored they wanted me to model their shirt! PS. Disclosure: I got this shirt for free, but my love for it is 100% authentic.

I love a good tank that doubles as a work shirt and a going out shirt. Today, I'm showing you some of my favorite ways to style this shirt. Please remember, 1) I am an attorney, so pencil skirts are my go-to and 2) black is my favorite color. When I wore this to work the other day, my boss said, "yellow uh?" This all black thing seems to be a problem.


I heard something on the radio the other day and the guy talking said, "Why is is so easy to degrade people, diminish accomplishments or be rude, when it's so much better to be good?" Whoa. Right? Like, why is it easier for me to complain that the barista messed up my americano, than to grab a manager and compliment the barista when it's super delicious? Why do I follow girls on Instagram that drive me nuts, when there are tons of others to follow that will inspire.

Maybe it's our self-degrading nature. Maybe it's sin. Maybe it's us. Today, I'm focusing on the super good and the super important things in life. I'm making it my goal to pick out the good, not bad. Remember, we are in control our of own happiness. Let's start acting like it. Let's check out all the good stuff going on in the world. Maybe, if just for a minute, we can forget the bad.

4. Bloopers are the best. This weekend my dear friend Ryann took hours out of her Saturday to take pictures with me. Ryann is a mama to a 6 month old, wife, lover of Jesus and a great friend. I am so grateful for her and her picture taking skills. I'm lucky for Ryann and all my best girls.

5. The cutest little lady named Winnie, living in England was celebrating her 100th birthday with no family. However, thousands of strangers sent her birthday cards, 16,000 to be exact. A radio station sponsored a surprise birthday party for her, complete with gifts refreshments and cards. What a jem. PS What do we think about Winnie for a baby name? Too Wonder Years?

6. Three years ago today I passed the Iowa Bar Exam. Thanks to Facebook I get to remember some amazing memories. THAT is a great memory. I remember, it was three days before we moved to Colorado and I was in my in-laws home with my mother in law. I was using her ipad, watching GMA and I kept refreshing the page. When it clicked, I totally skipped my name and assumed I failed. Then I got the text from B that all three of us (my best friends and I) had passed. My mother-in-law poured the champs and that was the first of many glasses that day. Oh, what a day.

7. A North Caroline Sheriff's deputy was challenged by a young boy to a dance off. It was a running man dance off and is the cutest thing you'll see all day. You can watch the video here. In the same spectrum as cops, a little 7 year old boy with an incurable brain tumor got initiated at the Dallas Police Department as a detective. He was greeted at the station with the full royal treatment. He received a uniform and a badge. Be still my heart.

8. My brother-in-law is getting married this weekend. Is there anything happier than watch two people commit their lives to each other? I am so excited to be a party to their day. PS. Follow me on Instagram Stories to see all the behind the scenes and some of my favorite Omaha spots.



Dear friends, happy Tuedsay. I hope this post made you smile and made you remember all the good things. What are some of the good things in your life?

If you missed my post yesterday about my adventure to Oil & Vinegar, you should check it out here. It's filled with an amazing opportunity for my Denver friends and is an amazing store you should check out!

One of the many many flavor combinations I tried was a roasted garlic oil mixed with a mango vinegar. I know what you are thinking. YUM! Great, I was thinking the same thing too. I knew I had to have these two flavors and that they would be perfect on shrimp.

I was right. Adam told me it was restaurant quality. Score one for me. These were so good and so easy to make. Perfect for a lazy Sunday like we had. My mouth is watering already. Let's get to it.


I think tacos are made better by a delicious slaw, so of course I had to share my go to slaw recipe with you. I could eat the slaw all by itself, it's that good!

Ingredients: 
Slaw

1 bag of cole slaw mix without the dressing 

handful of cilanto, chopped

juice of 2 limes

1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (maybe a little more based on taste)

1/2 teaspoon pepper (guestimate because I just crack pepper in it until it looks like enough) 

1 teaspoon of honey

Shrimp: 

40 shrimp, I bought teeny ones for tacos

2 tablespoons mango vinegar (from Oil & Vinegar) 

2 teaspoons roasted garlic oil (from Oil & Vinegar) 

salt

pepper

Toppings: (optional)