Last week, I went to the mall with my mother-in-law and was totally surprised to see holiday decorations everywhere and Christmas music playing in every store. In Uptown Charlotte, wreaths are adorning all the street lights and people are taking horse-drawn carriage rides everywhere. Ready or not, the holidays are on their way, and even in my own home, I have a stack of gorgeous cards from Minted to prove it.

I was super excited about our holiday cards this year for several reasons: wedding photos, a new last name, and last but certainly not least, dreamy rose gold foil. Once I had designed our cards, I decided to take advantage of The Minted Envelope, which prints your recipients' addresses in one of many gorgeous designs. It took a fraction of the time it would for me to hand-write them, and now my envelopes are ready and totally professional-looking. I think Regina Spektor is going to be really impressed when she gets hers.

I am such a fan of Minted and I love using them for everything--our wedding invitations, personalized stationary, art prints as gifts--but my favorite thing has to be their holiday cards. I look forward to seeing, choosing, and sending them every year.

This post is brought to you in partnership with Minted. This year, we're sending out the New Adventures Foil-Pressed Holiday Cards in Rose Gold. Save 10% on your order and get free shipping until November 17th with the code FRECKLED10FS.

Happy Friday! I'm posting much later than usual today because I've been running errands all morning and packing this afternoon! Here are some links for your weekend:

To Read

• Such an interesting piece--Listening to Young Atheists: Lessons for a Stronger Christianity.
• I made a list for Relay Foods last month--The Basic Essentials for a Paleo Pantry. Did I leave any out?
• I absolutely love reading about food trends. Here's a great one: How the French Macaron Became American.
• Will Disney Get Race and Culture Right with Moana? I guess we can always hope for the best!

Wish List

• This looks like the perfect skirt.
• This looks like the perfect top.
• This looks like it could be the perfect jumpsuit, but I'm still not sure.

To Watch

• Jimmy Fallon does Wheel of Impressions with Kevin Spacey. Love them both.
• I'm sure you've seen or at least read about this already. I have mixed feelings at this point, but here it is: Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism. 
• And while we're talking about mixed feelings, there's this: The Perfect Proposal. Don't get me wrong, I cried like a baby throughout almost all of it, but let's get real--sometimes less is more.
• Finally, because why not (and because it happened half a year ago already and I think that's insane), our wedding video.

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Rob and I are off to Roanoke this evening for the weekend. As always, feel free to follow along on Instagram! What are you up to this weekend? Hope you have a great one!

Photo by Winona Grey, one year ago in Minneapolis.

I share a lot of Paleo recipes on Freckled Italian, and while a lot of my snacks and side dishes are naturally vegetarian, I realize that I might sometimes alienate some of my vegan and vegetarian readers. So when Kate and Adam from The Florkens offered to contribute a vegetarian dinner recipe, I jumped at the chance to showcase something delicious from a different dietary lifestyle.

Spaghetti Squash with Falafel & Lentil Patties

Ingredients:

• One spaghetti squash
• Several tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 cup of cooked lentils
• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• One 15-oz can of drained chickpeas
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
• 2 tablespoons applesauce
• 1 clove of minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon each of onion powder, cumin, and chili powder
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Carefully cut the spaghetti squash in half, scoop out the insides, and season well with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake for about an hour at 400.
2. In a food processor, combine the lentils, oatmeal, chickpeas, tahini, applesauce, garlic, onion powder, cumin, chili powder, and about a teaspoon each of salt and pepper. If you have picky vegetable eaters in your family, this is a great stage to add any "secret ingredients," like broccoli. Blend until ingredients form a paste. (If it's too runny, you can add some more oats; if it's too dry, add a splash of water.)
3. Form the paste into patties and cook for three minutes on each side over medium heat in a bit of olive oil. Set patties aside.
4. Once your spaghetti squash has cooked and cooled enough to handle, use a fork to scrape the squash out into noodles. Heat another tablespoon or so of olive oil, add some garlic, and combine with the spaghetti squash over medium heat. Add the nutritional yeast and mix well.
5. Remove spaghetti squash from heat and plate with a couple of the patties. Enjoy!

Adam and Kate plan to share more vegetarian recipes on their blog in the future, but in the meantime, you can get to know them a bit more right here. Thanks so much for the recipe, you guys!