Amazing Ways to Spike Hot Cocoa

The best things about winter are not comfy sweaters and crisp white snow, or Santa Claus and holiday cheer. It all comes down to the best cup of hot cocoa and what to spike it with to warm you all the way down to your toes. Every once in a while I’ll pop on BuzzFeed at work and check out the latest to amuse myself. Today I spotted the best article yet. Follow text and images are courtesy of BuzzFeed.

15 Amazing Ways To Spike Hot Chocolate

AKA how to live life like a GOD.

Julia Pugachevsky

1. Pumpkin Pie Hot Chocolate

foodista.com

(White chocolate, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie liqueur)

Level of Boozy: Forgetting a lyric to Bette Midler’s solo song in Hocus Pocus.

Recipe here.

2. Mint Hot Chocolate

seriouseats.com

(Hot chocolate, tequila, and peppermint schnapps)

Level of Boozy: NOT drunk dialing that guy because you’re at an entirely different adult sleepover.

Recipe here.

3. Nutella Hot Chocolate

chow.com

(Hot chocolate, brandy, and Frangelico)

Level of Boozy: Silently listing of all the foods that are enhanced with Nutella in your head and feeling overwhelmed and a smidge anxious.

Recipe here.

4. El Dorado Hot Chocolate

foodnetwork.com

(Hot chocolate, rum, and cinnamon liqueur)

Level of Boozy: Insisting everyone watches The Road to El Dorado immediately, because nostalgia.

Recipe here.

5. Oaxaca Chaka Cocktail

cookingdistrict.com

(Hot chocolate, cinnamon, and tequila)

Level of Boozy: Tearing up over the Breaking Bad finale, again.

Recipe here.

6. Red Wine Hot Chocolate

saveur.com

(Bittersweet hot chocolate and red wine)

Level of Boozy: Two words: Couch coma.

Recipe here.

7. Hot Chocolate Martini

grouprecipes.com

(Hot chocolate, vanilla vodka, and Bailey’s)

Level of Boozy: Politely arguing over whether or not Carrie’s voiceover in Sex and the City adds or detracts from the show.

Recipe here.

8. Hot Mint Chocolate Toddy

hamptonroadshappyhour.com

(Hot chocolate, Kahlua, and peppermint schnapps)

Level of Boozy: Taking 20 minutes to decide on an Instagram filter.

Recipe here.

9. Frozen Hot Chocolate Margarita

daydreamerdesserts.com

(Frozen hot chocolate, tequila, Kahlua, and Grand Marnier)

Level of Boozy: Making a matching chocolate burrito at 3 a.m.

Recipe here.

10. Orange Hot Chocolate

seriouseats.com

(Hot chocolate, Pisco, and Grand Marnier)

Level of Boozy: Stealing a laptop to show everyone your photos from your study abroad trip in Peru and how you drank Pisco aaaaalll the tiiiiime.

Recipe here.

11. Coconut White Hot Chocolate

wearenotmartha.com

(White hot chocolate, coconut rum)

Level of Boozy: Looking up flights for spring break even though it’s October.

Recipe here.

12. Peppermint Hot Chocolate

theboysclub.net

(Hot chocolate, homemade peppermint schnapps)

Level of Boozy: Breaking out your “Premature Holiday” playlist on Spotify.

Recipe here.

13. “Grown Up” Hot Chocolate

howsweeteats.com

(Hot chocolate, marshmallow vodka, and homemade Bailey’s marshmallows)

Level of Boozy: Staring into the bottom of the cup and not talking to anyone because the best thing that’s ever happened to you is gone.

Recipe here.

14. Bacon and Hazelnut Hot Chocolate

seriouseats.com

(Hot chocolate, bacon, bourbon, and Frangelico)

Level of Boozy: Reevaluating your entire life because it never occurred to you that bacon strips could double as stirring spoons.

Recipe here.

15. Irish Hot Chocolate

seriouseats.com

(Hot chocolate, Guinness, whiskey, and Bailey’s)

Level of Boozy: Truly and inexplicably falling in love with a warm beverage, and not caring who knows.

Recipe here.

Burning Man

MiraBella plays host to a wonderful fall party to conclude the summer season and start anew. Running wild with the Burning Man theme, it is a chance to rid yourself of the past, events, negative feelings, or items and allow for new growth. It’s all very symbolic.

VK set a bonfire at the base of a wooden man and we watched as he erupted in smoke and flame. The fire slowly disintegrated him from the feet up. As smoke and sparks rose from the man, guests approached dropping items into the fire.

With a cast of characters in attendance and all the youngins gone home to bed, the party erupted with shot after shot of coconut tequila, heaven sent 1800. The bottle was soon empty.

Lots of rowdy behavior ensued. Then VK had a brilliant idea: Grass tubing! This fun sport consists of tying a snow tube to the back of an F450, hopping on and being dragged through the fields. It was awesome!! We flew across the grass, up and down slopes, over bumps. Somehow only one among us fell off. It was a wonderful night!

White Trash at MiraBella

My stable, the Stables at MiraBella, had a White Trash themed summer barbeque party this weekend. The costumes were ridiculous, food out of this world, and fun… well the pictures speak for themselves.

The following images courtesy of Vanessa Karlewicz.

Bachelorette Party – Lucky Chengs

An evening at Lucky Chengs, the “Drag Capital of the World!”

With a group of 14 stunning ladies, we headed to the 10pm show for a large crowd of rowdy women and men in lace and sequins.

The show was very amusing consisting of various interactive stints rather than a performance. Beginning with providing volunteers with lap dances (including our bride-to-be) part of which involved the dancer’s head between my cousin’s thighs and her bum in my cousin’s face in a mini handstand that involved quite a bit of grinding. This was of course after the balloon man created a very large vagina hat, clitoris included, for my cousin.

The night continued with a prefix meal at $32 a piece of what I imagine was supposed to be Chinese or Asian Fusion cuisine. The food was horrendous. Though I still managed to eat my money’s worth. Go for the show, not the food.

The show continued with selecting one member from each table to compete in a contest which was not immediately described. Of course we all nominated the bride. Then a gentleman was chosen from the crowd. It was then revealed that the ladies had to compete for best lap dance. The guy chosen was very very lucky. After the first girl went, two chicks quickly ran back to their tables in hopes of escape. Luckily they succeeded and another girl was chosen along with a young man who resembled Harry Potter. The competition winners came down to my cousin and Harry. Harry put on a spectacular, sexual performance with stroking and all sorts of kinky stuff. He seemed so meek and innocent. His efforts paid off and he won.

After a belly dance of some sort, the show concluded and we parted for the evening. The night was great fun and a wonderful chance to spend some time with my cousin and meet her friends.

New Year’s Eve Splendor

I always have these good intentions of taking photos when I go out and do things. Alas, yet another evening and only one photograph. It is better than the usual none. I should add that to my new year’s resolutions.

At my friend Caitlin's apartment. That is her on the left and me on the right.

My lovely friend Caitlin hosted an apartment party in her exquisite Upper West Side apartment. Do to being paupers, most of New York city’s extravagance was out of our budget. A great gathering of people arrived to a huge bowl of sangria loaded with cabernet sauvignon, a whole bottle of cointreau, some fruit juices, and bag of frozen whole strawberries. Delicious and deadly. Dubbed the Sweet Death by the guests due to its inherent potency hidden behind sweet strawberry goodness. There were also about ten different types of chips, all deliciously salty and artificial. People from my undergraduate attended as well as a couple from Burlington, Vermont who had met Caitlin while studying abroad in Australia, Caitlin’s boyfriend and his Yonkers friends, and two of my best friends from downtown.

Party began around 9PM with the arrival of guests and started with a kick-back of Pinnacle shots. Conversation ensued, chatting about a Mount Washington adventure, checking out Burlington, lots of outdoor adventure, and plans for the remainder of the evening. At one point myself and the downtown couple were out on the balcony, admiring the view, and the neighbor’s dog began to bark. All three of us began to howl along with him. All of us like wolves, beckoning the new year. Around midnight, we pulled up a live feed of the ball drop before heading out to the balcony to observe the fireworks over the river. Spectacular sight, bursts of red, blues, greens and golds lit up the sky and glistened off the surface of the water.

By this point, the apartment half of the evening was winding down, cute little Caitlin dropped her snazzy new smart phone down 9 floors, and most of the attendants were pretty intoxicated and ready to call it a night. My two downtown friends and I were not yet finished. In fact, we were quite disappointed with the languid attitude of most of the guests who were all ready to just hang out at home and go to sleep. How old are we? Though I can’t be too upset, they threw a wonderful party and I love them all. We decided to head downtown to their neighborhood, East Village, and hit up the bars.

The neighborhood was alive with glitter, music, and people milling about looking for their next New Year’s fix. We headed out to a bar nearby for some drinks, dancing and fun. My girlfriend and I were dancing, getting really into the music while her boyfriend hung out at the bar simply enjoying the show and the company of a friendly barkeep. Both her and I were decked out in our sequins. The barkeep eyed us, eyed her boyfriend, and gave him the classic thumbs up and a big grin.

After the bar there was another bar or two before we headed out to one of their local friend’s apartment party. Had a few more drinks, went up to the roof for a smoke (tsk tsk, never again) and to check out the view. At this point the sun began to rise and we decided to head back home, but we first made a pit stop for pizza. Delicious, hot and fresh Manhattan pizza. Nothing beats it.

Kyle and I talked on and off throughout the night. Probably not the best idea as I was intoxicated and entertaining the attention of quite a few single men looking for a good time knowing full well they would not get it, but relentless and hopeful nonetheless. We mainly chatted over Facebook  messages, him desperate to make sure I was okay, me taking 30 minutes to respond to him as I bounced between the bar and various conversations. It was stressful for him knowing that I was out, having fun, pretty tipsy and getting a fair amount of attention from the opposite sex. He called me once at midnight to wish me a happy New Year and about three more times throughout the evening. Most of these conversation I only vaguely recall. Between the constant, noise, being distracted by the events around me, and being a little drunk, they are in scattered bits and pieces. During one of them, there was another guy casually hitting on me while my boyfriend listened on the other line. This was at the apartment party downtown while we were up on the roof. He was telling me how old my hands were and offering to warm them up. Simple enough, but all it took to enrage Kyle. I was pretty much unaware of it, but it made Kyle anxious about the evening.

We did chat right before I went to bed and he seemed to be more comfortable about the events that transpired. New Year’s is something that is special to us. Him being deployed and unable to spend it with me this year was hard. We also got a chance to skype the other night. The video finally worked and he got to see my face. Crazy how much something so simple can impact someone. The man is crazy in love with me and insanely devoted to me. I know part of it is being so far away from home and me being his main connection to his old life. But it was intense. Really intense.

Razzle Dazzle ‘Em

New York City – Destination for New Year’s celebrations. Times Square is of course the first thought that comes to mind. However, standing in the freezing cold, packed like sardines with a bunch of tourists for hours on end waiting for a ball to drop does not entice me. Also, I have done it already. Well not exactly. Last year my boyfriend and I headed to Times Square around 11:30PM and he talked our way through the crowd and barricades by pulling the whole “in the army and deploying to Afghanistan” thing with all the police officers. We ended up right next to the stage little Justin Bieber sang on. Missed his performance though… thankfully? I don’t think I can hate him. Sorry.

Anyways, New York is the champion of exotic. Check out one of the many masquerade parties throughout the city, or the huge circus parties with lots of beautiful people and wild things covered in glitter. For the more adventurous, there are numerous kinky sex parties involving little to no clothes and rules are optional. Whatever the ultimate plan, these are a few essentials to get the night started.

New Year’s Eve Essentials:

• Sequin/Metallic dress – a must for any sexy lady on New Year’s. Simple LBD does not cut it. Any sequin or metallic finish is some super sexy flattering style is perfect. Aim high with glitz and glam.

Classy option – Aidan Mattox Bloused Cold Shoulder Sequin Dress found at Nordstrom

Frisky Option - Haute Hippie Sequin Halter Dress found at Nordstrom

Metallic - Herve Leger Metallic Bandage Dress found at Neiman Marcus, the back is simply stunning

• A luscious pair of heels to go with your crazy, shiny dress. Many of you may turn to the black as it is simple and complements such a wild dress. Do not be afraid to add more sparkle with the shoe or even a burst of fun color or detail.

Cinderella's sold by everlastinglifashion on etsy.com - these would look awesome with a colored sequin/metallic dress, maybe a red or purple!

If you're leaning more towards simple, snazz it up with some feathery or lacy detail. These peacock heels are done by Louisa Cash on etsy.com, check out TheHeadbandShoppe

If those are still too bold, go with a classy black bootie. Suede is great for winter. These are the Adena Bootie by MICHAEL Michael Kors and can be found at Piperlime.com.

• Now you have a few options. Depending on your plans for the evening and how elaborate your outfit already is, there are three options: Pretty jewelry, a masquerade mask, or a headdress/hair ornament. There are a bunch of masquerades throughout New York City for New Year’s as well as many other parties you may with to remain anonymous at.

Simple and sophisticated - thecraftychemist07 from etsy.com

Renaissance - BridalBijou etsy.com

I adore anything with a veil - HeadFullofFeathers on etsy.com

Peacock delight - BaroqueAndRoll on etsy.com

Simple and cute - byfato on etsy.com

In regards to jewelry, sequin and metallic dresses are done best with big, dangle earrings. Unless you’re wearing a sleeveless dress, I would skip the necklace and go straight for a statement making pair of gorgeous earrings.

Gorgeous! - delezhen on etsy.com

Edgy - Michael Spirito

Edgy - Michael Spirito

• Jumbo bottle of Grey Goose for home made martinis and fruity concoctions both for pregame and recovery tonics. Vodka is the nectar of the gods. Drink and enjoy responsibly.

Grey Goose Magnum – Can be found at the Whiskey Exchange, Masters of Malt and many local alcohol stores

• New Year’s Party Favors- Really? I honestly don’t think these are essential unless you’re having a house party in which it is kind of nice to have the tacky streamers and noise makers, but if you plan on going out, leave these home. It is extra nonsense to carry and for you ladies out there, best to bring as little as possible. Not many pockets in the tight, sexy dresses we plan on wearing.
• For a kinky end to the evening, edible panties are in order. I am not entirely serious about this one, more for fun. If you’re thinking of something special for a loved one, try something new together. The parties and alcohol loosen up the morals and allow for a greater intimacy with less inhibitions. Just remember to share a kiss as the clock strikes midnight.

Candy G-String from Babeland

New Year’s is about fun, adventure and welcoming the new year in style. Express yourself, be wild, be unafraid, and above all, LIVE.