Polka dots were all over the runways for spring, and really, how can you not feel more peppy when you’re rockin’ the dots? There’s just something about polka dots that are fun, flirty and innocent. And there are plenty of options out there to let you have your fun without looking like Minnie Mouse at a house party.

Here are some pieces that are perfect for the warmer months.

This skirt may be mini, but it’s huge on style: it rocks the dots, it reeks of ’90s style (which is huge right now), and it is amazingly cute for all spring and summer occasions.

Going out for the evening and don’t want to bring a coat? Brighten up those nippy nights with this adorable dotted cardi. It will look just right over a long white tank and a dark pair of skinnies.

This dress is dainty, darling and perfect for spring BBQs.

The cut of this top is flattering for all body types (we love cinched waists around here and you can always add a belt for more flair), and the gray and coral combo is a big y-e-s for spring.

If you want to add just a touch of dotted fun to your spring/summer wardrobe, these shoes are a must-have. They’ll be tres cute with shorts, sundresses, skirts or boyfriend jeans.

Quilted purses are timeless and this one is particularly cute. The navy/red combo just screams spring and would look completely fresh and fabulous with everything from a white sundress to a tank and jeans.

April showers won’t be nearly as bleak with this bright and fun umbrella. Bring on those May flowers!

It takes a while for the nights to warm up, but have no fear! Bust out one of those sexy mini dresses with these tights and you’ll be set.

So imagine my delight when I saw a recipe for them that was simple enough to do in a dorm kitchen!

What You Need:

* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

It’s Cookie Time:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

2. Grab an hand mixer and a large bowl and cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets. (Or roll that dough out and cut out some fun little shamrocks for a late night, post green beer snack on Wednesday!)

3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

These little pieces of Heaven are sure to garner you a dorm fan club. Just be sure to keep them safely hidden…

[Recipe provided via Allrecipes]

Sometimes, when I’m really bored and don’t feel like dealing with the pile of work on my desk, I look up recipes for chocolate cake.

In real life, I’m not much of a cook, but in my fantasy life (you know, where I’m married to Christian Bale and own a giant mansion and can ran a half-marathon in 4 inch heels?), I am a f&*cking fantastic baker.

And there really isn’t anything in this life that’s better than a bite of amazing chocolate goodness (except maybe sex. But I mean…the jury’s still out on that one).

It seems like today is one of those days where I am PMSing to the max refuse to be responsible and instead want to drown myself in whipped cream fantasy. The recipe I’m about to share with you I actually experienced, and let me just say, I almost had to excuse myself it was so good.

Plus, it’s easy. No Food Network experience required!

Easy Fudge Pudding Cake

Cake:
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 2 tablespoons cocoa
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup milk
* 2 tablespoons melted shortening
* 1/2 cup chopped pecans
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sauce:
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1/3 cup cocoa
* 1 cup hot water

Bake:

1. Sift flour with dry ingredients

2. Stir in milk and shortening. Then add pecans and vanilla.

3. Mix until well combined then pour into a generously greased 8 x 8-inch square pan.

4. Combine sauce ingredients; pour over cake batter.

5. Bake the cake in a preheated 350 degree F. oven for 40 minutes. Set on a rack to cool slightly (do not remove the cake from the pan). The fudgy, gooey, delicious sauce will end up on the bottom of the pan.

6. Cut (or just dig in with a fork) and serve hot or cold.

[Recipe courtesy of a long Saturday afternoon on About.com)

It’s a weird habit of mine, but being Italian, I tend to think of food more than it’s probably recommended, and going through all my favorite dishes in my head is pure heaven—especially when I exist mostly on sandwiches and coffee in real life.

One of the things that will most definitely appear at my last meal are caramel apples.

Now that it’s fall, I walk past the (ridiculously expensive) Farmer’s Market and see them all the time, glistening in their plastic wrapped and ribboned packages.

If you enjoy turning something healthy into something deliriously sugar-packed as much as I do and you’re looking for a fun activity for a dreary Fall day, here’s a fool proof recipe guaranteed to make you the most popular kid on your hall.

The Goodies:
12 Granny Smith (or Macintosh) apples
12 lollipop sticks
1 pound Caramel
Saran Wrap
Melted dark, white or milk chocolate
1/2 cup nuts
1/2 cup M&M’s or favorite candy topping (or more if you’re like me and can never have too much chocolate)
Waxed paper

The Instructions:
1. Insert lollipop sticks into core of apples.

2. Heat caramel until it becomes liquid (Use stove top or microwave). Once slightly cool, pour caramel onto one large piece of Saran Wrap and cover with another piece of the same size.

3. Roll out caramel in between the 2 pieces of plastic wrap to flatten. Cut caramel into long strips, about 4 inches long, to fit around apple.

4. Wrap caramel strips around apple. Stand upright on waxed paper and let set for 15 to 20 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, melt dark, white or milk chocolate (careful not to burn it! Burnt chocolate smells horrible, tastes worse, and ruins cookware!). Pour melted chocolate into a metal bowl. Dip apples into chocolate.

6. Sprinkle chocolate covered apple with nuts, M&M’s or your favorite topping (I’m a sucker for crushed Butterfinger…). Place decorated apples onto wax paper, standing upright. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

…Once you take these babies out of the fridge, you’ll be amazed at how many friends you suddenly have…

[Recipe courtesy of the geniuses over at The Food Network.]

Ok, so maybe having some hottie do it for you would be nice, but you’ll forget all about that once you bite into these badboys.

This recipe is slightly complicated, but it’s nothing a relatively cheap trip the neighborhood grocery store and 30 minutes in the kitchen won’t fix.

And, like that thick trainer at my gym always says, “no pain, no gain.” I’m pretty sure he’s talking about a 45-minute run on the treadmill, but I just think it means all that cooking will be worth it when you’re filled with 2 lbs of pumpkin pancake bliss.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
4 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vegetable oil
Maple syrup

What to Do:

1. Whisk first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Whisk milk, pumpkin, egg yolks, melted butter and vanilla in a medium bowl.

3. Add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients; whisk just until smooth (batter will be thick).

4. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into batter in 2 batches.

5. Brush large nonstick skillet with oil; heat over medium heat. Pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls into skillet.

6. Cook until bubbles form on surface of pancakes and bottoms are brown, about 1 1/2 minutes per side.

7. Repeat with remaining batter, brushing skillet with oil between batches.

8. Serve with syrup…and fall in love. Then go back for seconds. And thirds. We won’t tell.

[Make-up is wonderful, but it can also be confusing. There are so many shades and colors and sheens and reasons to wear it, that a girl can get completely lost attempting to find what fits her face best. What’s the best blush color for a redhead? How do you really put on lip-liner? Is there such a thing as too much eyeshadow?In this weekly series, actress / model and fabulous CC blogger, Jen, will be using her makeup know-how to teach us all how to look flawless in class, out at a party, or grabbing coffee with that cutie from Psych 101.]Makeup usually tends to focus on the exterior, but there are some products out there that can enhance your beauty from the inside out. A body spray that can help you live your best life? It exists, and Jen found it.

I love October 28th.

In honor of this awesome (and, quite frankly, random) holiday, I decided to throw together some ridiculously good cookies. These little guys are the perfect way to celebrate my new favorite holiday. So, skip class and eat celebrate; it is a national holiday, after all.

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

Whatcha Need:

1 cup organic unsalted peanut butter (doesn’t have to be organic, but, you know…it tastes better if it is)

¾ cup granulated cane sugar

1 large egg, slightly beaten

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

¾ cup dark chocolate, roughly chopped

½ cup roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped

Whatcha Do:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottoms of two 12-by-18-inch sheet pans with parchment paper (this is to prevent sticking. Greasing these flourless beauties won’t work as well, but it’s still an option)

2. In a bowl, stir the peanut butter, sugar, egg, baking soda and kosher salt until combined. Chop and then stir in the chocolate and peanuts.

3. Using a small ice cream scoop or spoon, measure out the dough into teaspoon sized balls. Place the dough on the prepared pans, spacing them so when they grow in the oven they don’t connect.

4. Bake on the middle shelves of the oven, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time, until lightly golden, about 12 to 14 minutes.

5. Eat while writing that paper you don’t want to write.

[recipe and photo from Dessert Magazine]

“They can’t bear to live with the pretense any longer,” claims “a friend” of the couple to The Sun newspaper. “[Madonna and Guy] can now barely bring themselves to say two words to each other.”

Besides the fact that if a “friend” of mine ever spilled my break-up rumors to a national paper I’d personally make sure they suffered, most of us saw this divorce coming. Sometimes opposites attract, sure, but it seemed pretty clear that Guy Richie just wanted to make Snatch remakes and stay chill while Madonna wanted to work out until she was strong enough to become cyborg-like and finish taking over the world.

I’m sure we’ll hear a song set to a techno beat that details all the tribulations, and see a movie about a sad-sack English bloke who lost his high-powered girl, later on this year.

Madonna is dressed to kill…literally

Bush hates pirates

Getting sick in college for dummies

McCain doesn’t roll on Shabbos

Don’t worry!! She’s still a size 0!!

Who’s got a hate-on for Tom Brady?

Angelina teaches kids to play with knives

Marcia was a ho — and other secrets

Why don’t know why she’s famous either

Miley has lived such a full life…

An America by any other name would just be Georgina

Natalie Portman will ALWAYS be better than you

Troubs for Sam and LiLo?!

Audrina poses in a bikini to stay famous

Apparently sick and tired with what the media is doing to his image — crafting him into a stupid redneck who accidentally got Sarah Palin’s daughter preggo — Johnston decided to talk to the Associated Press about everything from his love of Bristol to what he really thinks of Barack.

“We both love each other,” Johnston told the AP about Bristol. “We both want to marry each other. And that’s what we are going to do.” When it comes to his new baby (due in December), Johnston seems just as equally “excited.”

“I’m looking forward to having [the baby], I’m going to take him hunting and fishing. He’ll be everywhere with me.”

As for that Myspace page that claimed Johnston was a proud redneck and didn’t want kids? Turns out his friends made it a year ago as a joke and he had nothing to do with it — I mean, so he says.

The author of the AP article writes that Levi is a “soft-spoken” scruffy hottie who’s also an “avid hunter” — he’s got animal skulls littering his Alaskan home. After learning that his gf was pregnant, Levi dropped out of high school and now works in the oil fields as an apprentice technician, doing all he can to make the dolla dolla bills for his new family.

As for being thrust into the spotlight so suddenly? Johnston claims nonchalance. “At first, I was nervous, then I was like, ‘Whatever’.”

Even though everyone is all Levi Johnston you’re so famous now!, the 18-year-old is totes taking his new life in stride. “I’m still the same old boy. I’m just a workin’ man.”

Obviously, Johnston wants Sarah Palin and McCain to win this election (esp if he values his life and future), but unlike a lot of McCain/Palin supporters, he’s not rabidly against Obama. “[Barack] seems like a good guy. I like him.”

[Should you desire to read more mind-altering quotes from Johnston, see the full article HERE]