To do this Week

Hello!! I'm feeling pretty alive at the moment (not sure where that came from). I went to the Brewer game last night (they won! yay!) and I was up until almost 11:30pm. That may not seem too bad, but that's late for me!

I couldn't get up this morning. It's a good thing I didn't have class, I slept until 10:30.. that's the latest I've slept in a long time! Anyway, so I'm posting my goals even though it's Wednesday. Deal with it. ;)

My goals from the last week or so:

Personal:
-Cook at least 3 times this week
-Find my sister a birthday present
-Find time to read a book just for fun
-Learn how to cut hair - Mitchell is going to be my guinea pig ;)  (I did it, it was very difficult, but I think it will go better next time. On the upside, it looked pretty good!)

Financial:
-Clip coupons and deal hunt for grocery shopping this week
-Organize my coupons - cuz they be a mess!
-Finish Budget for June (eh... kinda)
-Go to bank
-Pay WE Energies
-Finalize info for Car
-Call Insurance company
-Figure out benefits/insurance for new job

Blog:
-Blog twice this week (Fail.)

School:
-Read book review book and complete presentation
-International Finance presentation & Homework
-Study for and dominate Managerial Econ Exam  (Didn't quite dominate.. more studying next time!)

Home:
-Clean Living Room and Dining Room
-Keep my room organized

My Goals for THIS week:

Personal:
-Make Dr. Appointment
-Reserve a U-Haul for moving
-Make a meal plan for next week
-Research benefits for work

School:
-RSVP to Honors Ceremony
-International business project
-Scholars Final Paper
-Mgmt. company portfolio

Financial:
-Clip coupons/plan shopping list
-Set up credit card payment
-Finalize budget with new expenses

Home:
-Clean the bathroom
-Keep my room organized

Blog:
Pizza post from two weeks ago now...

Happy Wednesday and Good luck with your goals! :)

Birthdays and stuff

This past week has been busy busy busy! With school wrapping up, I'm loaded with stuff to do.

I got my new car last week! It was an exciting, nervous, frustrating, happy, amazing time! Pretty much all emotions wrapped up in this whole experience. But it feels so amazing to drive something that it is all my own (and the fact that I'm not afraid it's going to fall apart is nice too)!

My little sister turned two last week also. So I went home for her birthday party over the weekend. She has quite an attitude, so in about 10 years or so... Watch out world! We spent the day trying to get a good picture of her, but she purposely frowns if she knows you're trying. Hence the following pictures. The only semi-good ones I got were while distracting her with my phone while the camera was faced towards her.

It was also Mitchell's dads birthday on Saturday, so we stopped at his house for dinner on the way home. He made ham. I love when he makes ham. Best ham I have ever had! It was a good time, until I was forced to play wrestling with Mitchell's little cousin. She has two older brothers who wrestle and she like to pretend like them. It's so cute! She brought out all these wrestling guys and an arena thing. I'm not good at playing wrestling. That is all.

This week is looking up so far, I'm going to a brewers game tomorrow- first of the season for me! Class on Wednesday morning is optional - so I'm obviously not going. And I have no major projects did this week! Holla!

Happy Monday!

To Do this week

Hello!

I realize it's Wednesday, and it's partly through the week already, however, I'm still going to post my goals for the week. Better late than never, right?

If it's any consolation, I did make the list on Monday with every intention of posting, but I got caught up studying for an exam. An exam that I didn't realize I had until the day before... guess I should show up at my night class more often. But let's be honest, it's SO boring.

This week is busy, exciting, stressful, and so much more and honestly I'm just looking forward to getting it over with. I'm (hopefully) getting my car on Saturday which is very exciting. I can stop driving Mitchell's gas guzzler to work. But, I'm a little nervous about it. It's such a large purchase and although I've done the math and I know I can afford it with my job, but I'm still nervous.. so any prayers would be appreciated! :)

My Goals from last week a couple weeks ago:

Personal:

-Cook a real dinner at least 3 times this week (Honestly, I don't remember...)

-Read the daily verses from church everyday

-Apartment showing Friday at 2pm (I need to find a place to live by June 1st) *I found a place!!!!*

-Read some of my new books over break! (Money Saving Mom's Budget, Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey!, and Redeeming Love) **Completely finished Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey! and it was a really great couponing book, I really learned a LOT! Got through 3 chapters of Money Saving Mom's Budget**

Financial:

-Pay WE Energies bill

-Do not go out to eat at all this week

-Create a budget for June 1st - after graduation (It's in progress.. planning on completing tonight!!)

-Clip coupons and check for deals (Grocery shopping this week)

Blog:

-Blog at least twice (one - cupcakes!)

School:

-Group paper for Friday

-SPRING BREAK is next week!!

-Do some reading over break

-Try to get a good start on my paper

-Start reading my book review book before it's too late

Home:

-Keep organized

-Deep clean my room over break (I cleaned, just not deeply...)

-Clean the bathroom

-Start going through my stuff in the basement (See my previous post, but I got rid of so much stuff!!)

My goals for THIS week:

Personal:

-Cook at least 3 times this week

-Find my sister a birthday present

-Find time to read a book just for fun

-Learn how to cut hair - Mitchell is going to be my guinea pig ;)

Financial:

-Clip coupons and deal hunt for grocery shopping this week

-Organize my coupons - cuz they be a mess!

-Finish Budget for June

-Go to bank

-Pay WE Energies

-Finalize info for Car

-Call Insurance company

-Figure out benefits/insurance for new job

Blog:

-Blog twice this week

School:

-Read book review book and complete presentation

-International Finance presentation & Homework

-Study for and dominate Managerial Econ Exam

Home:

-Clean Living Room and Dining Room

-Keep my room organized

Good luck on your goals this week! :)

Not Goals and Other Random Happenings

So I realize that I didn't post this week's goals... oh well. That seems to be my attitude for a lot of things lately. Oh. Well. Graduation is in 48 days (Someone else counted, not me.)! I can't believe it!

To fill you in on what happened in the last week:
-It was Spring Break, I didn't go anywhere. (Except back home, for a funeral)
-I worked most of the week.
-Some good things did happen though!
#1: I officially signed for my full time position after Graduation! I'm a big girl now! So excited!
#2: I found an apartment that I love and I applied for it, AND I was approved! I just got the lease in the mail yesterday, and I'm sending it back this week! Oh Happy Day!
-My car sucks even more. Check this picture out (and yes, that is a pool of water):

-I was productive on Friday and went through all my stuff in my room and the basement and I donated 2 boxes, a bag, and other random shaped items to Goodwill. I also threw away a bag or so of trash, and I'm organized now and I've moved from 3 stuffed bins and other random bags, to only 2 semi-filled bins and a few other random things. Success!

-I got my hair cut - and it was the haircut from Hell... seriously I looked worse coming out than I did going in. Luckily it was fixable and I'm somewhat still happy with the way it turned out. Needless to say, I am looking for a new hair salon!

Overall, I would say it was a pretty good Spring Break. Saturday morning, Mitchell and I watched the Pioneer Woman's show on the Food Network. It was the first time I actually remembered to tune in. It was wonderful! She made eggs benedict and it made Mitchell and I very hungry, so.... off to the store we went and picked up some ingredients!

It was the first time I had ever poached an egg, and it went surprisingly well. Ree had a great tip on her show, and it was actually very simple! The breakfast was pretty darn delicious if I do say so myself.

I would love to stay and chat, but the oven is beeping. Goat cheese and Canadian Bacon stuffed Chicken  breasts! Divine! Oh and by the way, I de-ribbed the breasts myself... pretty proud ;)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I spent my St. Patrick's Day lounging around and I loved it! I didn't go out nor am I planning on it. (I did wear a green Packers shirt though.)

I spent over half the day on the couch, watching HGTV for hours, and sleeping on and off. But then, I realized it was super nice outside and I couldn't waste the day just sitting inside. So, Mitchell and I went for a walk for a while.

Then, I made these:

Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Chocolate Ganache filling and Bailey's Buttercream Frosting

These are amazing! I've been seeing recipes for Irish Car Bomb cupcakes, but I'm not a fan of beer. And I wasn't sure how I would like beer in cupcakes. So, I decided to make my own version. I started with seriously the best chocolate cupcake I think I've ever had. Then I added a chocolate ganache filling and buttercream frosting both spiked with Mint Chocolate Baileys.

Chocolate Ganache. Sounds scary. Honestly, I really had no idea what it was or how to make it, but after making this according to the recipe - it's not that hard at all. You should try it.

Look at that beauty!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Chocolate Ganache filling and Bailey's Buttercream Frosting

Cupcake Recipe from Cupcakes Take the Cake

Cupcake Ingredients:

½ stick Butter, room temperature

½ c. + 2T. Sugar

1 Egg, room temperature

3/8 (or ¼ +2 T.) C. Flour

½ t. Baking Powder

1/8 t. Salt

1/4 C. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

* You always hear people say this, but truly, using the best cocoa powder you can afford makes a world of difference...

1/4 C. Whole Milk

1/2 t. Vanilla

Yield: 6-7 cupcakes

Method: Preheat oven to 375 degrees, then turn it down to 350 just prior to baking

1. Beat the butter with an electric mixer until it is soft, then add sugar. Beat about 3 minutes.

2. Add the eggs, one at a time beating until they are well combined.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and whisk them to incorporate them.

4. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar and beat it just to combine. Add 1/2 of the liquids (milk & vanilla), scrape down bowl and beat to combine. Continue adding the dry and wet ingredients alternately making sure you END WITH THE DRY.

5. Fill muffin tins 2/3's of the way and bake for about 20-22 minutes. Allow to cool, then frost.

For the Bailey’s ganache filling:

2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 T. + 2 t. cup heavy cream

1/2 tbsp. butter, at room temperature

1 ½ tsp. Bailey’s Mint Chocolate Irish cream

To make the ganache filling, place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  Heat the cream in a small saucepan until simmering, then pour it over the chocolate.  Let sit for one minute and then whisk until smooth.  If the chocolate is not completely melted, place the bowl over a double boiler or give it a very short burst in the microwave (15-20 seconds).  Add the butter and Bailey’s and stir until combined.

Set aside to let the ganache cool until it is thick enough to be piped.  (You can use the refrigerator to speed the cooling process, but be sure to stir every 10 minutes or so to ensure even cooling.)  Meanwhile, cut out a portion from the center of the cupcake using the cone method (a small paring knife works best for this).  Once the ganache has reached the correct consistency, transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a wide tip and pipe it into the cupcakes.

For the Bailey’s buttercream frosting:

5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 ½ tbsp. Bailey’s Mint Chocolate Irish cream

To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Gradually add the powdered sugar until it is all incorporated.  Mix in the Bailey’s until smooth.  Add more if necessary until the frosting has reached a good consistency for piping or spreading.  Frost the cupcakes as desired.

*Ganache/Frosting recipes adapted from Annie's Eats

Happy Monday! My first week of goal setting, and I have to say I didn't do too badly. I did better than I thought I would. And I'm actually excited to have new goals this week! Check out how I did:


My Goals from last week:

Personal:
-Cook a real dinner at least 3 times this week
-Read the daily verses from church everyday (I got off track right at the beginning of the week...I'm gonna try again)

Financial:
-Get to the bank  - twice actually!
-Do not go out to eat at all this week - most difficult by far, but I did it and saved $$!
-Clip coupons and check for deals - although I really wanted to get the Sunday paper, and I forgot...

Blog:
-Finish my next post - "My 51" - you should read it!

School:
-Finish homework due next week
-Study for exam next week
-Actually read for class this week - normally I don't even finish by the end of the weekend (or at all) but I got all the reading done on Sunday!
-Get an early start on my paper
-Start reading my book review book before it's too late

Home:
-Do laundry sometime during the week
-Take out the trash on time
-Clean the kitchen
-Keep my room organized - an extra incentive to do this...we had two house showings today to try to rent our apartment, but I did keep it fairly organized all week!


Whew! I feel productive! Now for next week's goals:


My Goals for this week:

Personal:
-Cook a real dinner at least 3 times this week
-Read the daily verses from church everyday
-Apartment showing Friday at 2pm (I need to find a place to live by June 1st)
-Read some of my new books over break! (Money Saving Mom's Budget, Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey!, and Redeeming Love)

Financial:
-Pay WE Energies bill
-Do not go out to eat at all this week
-Create a budget for June 1st - after graduation
-Clip coupons and check for deals (Grocery shopping this week)

Blog:
-Blog at least twice (one - cupcakes!)

School:
-Group paper for Friday
-SPRING BREAK is next week!!
-Do some reading over break
-Try to get a good start on my paper
-Start reading my book review book before it's too late

Home:
-Keep organized
-Deep clean my room over break
-Clean the bathroom
-Start going through my stuff in the basement

Have a happy, productive week!! :)

My 51

“My 51”

As I was searching through a lovely blog the other day and drooling over her wonderful recipes, I came across an idea that inspired me. She has this list of 100 items that she wanted to try. And then she crosses them off when she finishes.

I thought “what a great idea!” as I stuffed my mouth with Girl Scout cookies (peanut butter patties if you must know). I always find a million recipes that I would love to make, or I think of things but don’t have a recipe for. And yes I know that’s what Pinterest is for, and I have dozens of recipes pinned to my “Delish!” board, but wouldn’t it be great to just have a list so I can cross things off?

I (kinda) like lists. They make me get things done, but then if I have a list it means I have things to get done. Sometimes I wish I didn’t have a list. What I do love though, is crossing things off a list. That makes me feel productive, accomplished, and just downright happy.

Now, her list was a little more complicated; she mostly invents recipes or re-invents them at least. Mine is going to be a mix of links to foods I want to make that I found recipes for, and foods that I want to make but don’t have a recipe for as of yet.

So, here it is (in no particular order, and yes I know it’s only 51 – you gotta start somewhere!). If you have made any of these things or have really good recipes for them, please let me know! :)

1. Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza

2. Mocha cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream frosting

3. Homemade peanut butter cups

4. Baileys cupcakes

5. Mini cheesecakes

6. Tiramisu

7. Doughnuts

8. Salted Caramel chocolate cupcakes

9. Pumpkin cupcakes with Salted Caramel buttercream

10. Banana Bread cupcakes with Butterscotch chip frosting

11. Caramel Macchiatto Tiramisu

12. Meyer Lemon Bread with blood orange glaze

13. Sushi

14. Pumpkin pie made with a real pumpkin

15. Stuffed Pepper Soup

16. Homemade pesto

17. Red velvet anything

18. A new kind of cookie I’ve never made

19. Shrimp something

20. Flowers out of apples - like these!

21. A new kind of pancake

22. Homemade ice cream

23. New type of Dip

24. Braided pie crust

25. Homemade pretzels/pretzel bites

26. Maple fudge

27. Roasted chickpeas

28. Baked apples

29. Homemade biscuits

30. Crispy Fried Cauliflower

31. New Crockpot recipe

32. Oven baked chicken wings

33. Bagels

34. Scones

35. Thin Mints

36. New kind of truffle

37. Cake balls (or pops)

38. A really awesomely decorated cake

39. Caramel brownies

40. Refried beans

41. Ham

42. A Thanksgiving turkey

43. Grilled something (Steaks?)

44. Torte

45. Banana cream pie

46. Spring Rolls

47. Dumplings

48. Pineapple Fried Rice

49. A Refreshing drink (to get in the summer mood – since it’s been so nice out lately!)

50. Twice Baked Potatoes

51. Homemade mashed potatoes

To Do this week

I discovered a new blog today, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Coupons. And the blogger's name is Amanda! (How neat is that?!) She posts weekly to-do lists and although I have seen blogger's do that before, this time I decided I should do that.

This isn't necessarily for anyone in particular, except me. But, I figured writing things down on a white-board or piece of paper is good, but if I don't do them no one will know. So this is my way of trying to keep myself on track and accountable. If you think this might help you, I encourage you to try it to!

My Goals for this week:

Personal:
-Cook a real dinner at least 3 times this week
-Read the daily verses from church everyday

Financial:
-Get to the bank
-Do not go out to eat at all this week
-Clip coupons and check for deals

Blog:
-Finish my next post

School:
-Finish homework due next week
-Study for exam next week
-Actually read for class this week
-Get an early start on my paper
-Start reading my book review book before it's too late

Home:
-Do laundry sometime during the week
-Take out the trash on time
-Clean the kitchen
-Keep my room organized


Wish me luck!

The last few weeks...

So, I think this semester is the busiest one of my whole college career...and I think I'm feeling the least committed to it. I wish I had more time to blog. I think about blogging a lot.. does that count? I'm not even spending much time on Pinterest anymore.. :(

Mitchell's birthday was a couple weeks ago, he turned 21. Finally. It's not like we go out very often, but there's certain times that it would just make things a little easier. The last few weekends have been...eventful. My birthday surprise for him was awesome if I do say so myself (and I do). I took him to dinner at the Melting Pot (he had never been) and then to a brewery tour at Lakefront Brewery. Then we finished up the night at Potowatami because why not?! (We didn't win anything, but we only spent barely over half of what we brought with us to spend).

That weekend I was up past midnight Friday and Saturday nights...I am normally in bed by 10pm.. at the latest! I need my sleep. So it's been crazy, and busy, and fun, but mostly just really crazy. I'm not sure my life is ready for this much excitement!

Side note: I am planning a great treat for St. Patrick's Day and I'll be sure to share the recipe!

One thing I have not missed out on these last few weeks is movies. Mitchell and I watch a lot of movies. I recently re-started my Netflix subscription after an email telling me I could have a free 30-day trial again. I don't want to talk about the experience so far, however, except to say that I was finally able to watch 'The Help'.

So. Good. I know everyone has been raving about the book/movie for a while now, but it normally takes me a while to see movies. See, I'm too cheap and poor, but mostly cheap, to go to the movies because it's too dang expensive! I did see 'One for the Money' in theaters not too long ago, but I got a Groupon and it was only $11 I think for two tickets which is a great deal!

One movie I am planning on going to see in theaters is the Hunger Games. I had no idea what it even was, but I remember everyone freaking out over the books and then the movie was coming out and I was just all sorts of confused. So a friend bought the books and he let me read them when he was done. I read the first book in 3 days. So. Good. I'm excited for the movie!

I haven't had time to read the other two books yet, but I'm going to get to it...someday. I'll let you know what I think of the movie when I go see it!

Happy First full week of March! :)

Hot wheels

My poor car. It's falling apart more each day. I, well actually Mitchell, had to replace my brakes on one of my tires a couple months ago. And a few weeks ago the same tire locked up and wouldn't rotate. I had to get a new wheel cylinder and new hardware.

I fear she's nearing the end of her days. She's 11 years old now, we've had some great times together. Now it's looking into the next steps.

I really want a Ford Escape. I really want a larger vehicle. The escape has decent gas mileage for an suv. And it's bigger than my dodge neon, which is nice.

But THEN, Mitchell's roommate came home from the Auto show in Chicago. Dodge Dart. It's not an suv, but it's cool looking and has tons of customizable features. And it's not too high in price. AND it comes in an awesome grey color which I love.

It comes out this May, so feel free to send it to me for my birthday ;)

Who likes cake?

I know I do! I look forward to a good celebration for a nice slice, but why wait for a special occasion when you can bake one up today! That's exactly what I did a week or so ago. (Apologies for it taking me so long to post this.) I was looking up cakes to make for Mitchell's birthday, of course on Pinterest, and I stumbled across this beauty. I couldn't wait until Mitchell's birthday to bake this one up, so in the oven it went!

Nilla Wafer Banana Caramel Cake
adapted from seriouseats.com

What you'll need:

First, melt some butter in a pan,

Meanwhile, mash up the bananas,

Add the bananas to the pan with the butter along with some brown sugar. Cook for about 10 minutes until the bananas cook down to a paste. Set them aside and let it cool.

Meanwhile, crush up the Nilla wafers.

Mix the cookie crumbs together with flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

In another bowl, combine buttermilk, vanilla, and the bananas.

Now, with either a hand mixer or a stand mixer (I love any chance I get to use mine, even if it's not a KitchenAid...yet!), beat two sticks of butter and brown sugar together. Then add eggs, one at a time.

Then add about a third of the cookie crumb mixture to the mixer.

Then add a third of the banana mixture. Repeat until both mixtures are fully combined.

This is where I realized after the fact that I wanted to add caramel to the cake. Looking back I would have added more than I did. And I would have added it to the mixture to combine it more. You can add caramel now if you wish.

Then pour the batter into a greased cake pan. I used two 9" round pans so I could make a stacked cake. You can choose your preference, but the cook times will vary. (The times used in the recipe are for two round pans.)

I poured caramel over the top of the batter in the pans. I would use a lot more if I did this recipe again. You could use as much as you like, but the taste is very faint if you use just a little.

Use a knife to swirl the caramel throughout the cake batter (for full flavor enhancement!)

Then comes my favorite part, the taste test! Make sure you lick those beaters clean. ;)

Pardon my poor decorating skills, it's part I cut the whole in my "piping bag" (aka ziploc) way too big and part I just have no real experience decorating. That is soon to change though, I had some Amazon credit from trading in some text books and I ordered a decorating kit and a book with tips on how to improve. But anyways, behold the finished product! It tasted amazing!! Try it, I dare you!

Get the full recipe here. (Don't forget to add caramel, you won't regret it!)

Tuesday's are the worst

So I admit I have been less than awesome at keeping up my blog after my 30 days were over. I thought they said it was going to be easy?!? Oh well, I am still determined to blog regularly I just have so many things going on.
I think it was a good decision to start while I was on winter break because if I was to try and blog everyday I would fail for sure. The only reason I'm blogging today is because I have this completely unbearable night class that I'm struggling to stay awake in.
Let me just give you a snapshot of my day: I woke up at 6:45 to get ready for work. Walked out the door at 7:30 to get to work on time at 8am. I left work at 12:30pm and sped home because I had to meet a group for a project due today at 1pm. It takes a good 20-30 minutes to get from my work to my house and then 15 minutes to walk from my house to class. I got to campus at 1:04. Take that.
I'm currently running on a small bowl of oatmeal and a half baggie of pretzels at this point. So we have our group meeting and we manage to turn in our assignment at 1:29, the Dropbox closed at 1:30. Whew!
Then off to class. Scarf down a cereal bar and the rest of my bag of pretzels during class. We're supposed to have time to work on the next part of our group project at the end of class. Well she gave us like a half hour which was hardly enough. Class ends at 4:40 and were not done, not even close. So we stay to finish instead of getting everyone together again. We finished at 5:15pm.
That would be not so bad really, except that I have class at 5:30 and that was my dinner break. I gave up two meals today for this group project - we better get a good grade.
So here I am now sitting in my class that doesn't end until 8:10pm and I'm cursing Tuesday under my breath.
I can't wait to go home and sleep, oh wait I have homework that is still due in the morning.

Oh the joys of college... Have I mentioned I can't wait to graduate?

The last 30 days..

For some reason I was thinking tomorrow was my last day of the blog challenge because it's the end of the month, however, today is actually my last day. 30 Days! I can't believe it's been 30 days already.

Now, I don't know if I can say I officially passed (I did technically miss two days), but to me I succeeded. I started something I wanted to do and I made a thorough effort to keep it up every day. So here are my high and lows from this challenge:

Highs:
-I really enjoyed blogging every day (almost)
-I think I learned something about blogging and I really respect the people who do it every day for a living, and multiple times a day at that!
-In general, I completed a challenge and stuck to it and didn't give up!
-I'm excited at the end of this to continue this challenge for a long time and I actually feel motivated to continue (doesn't really happen to me a lot.. motivation doesn't come easy)

Lows:
-It's hard! I haven't mastered how to start a post yet, I'm still in the awkward stage. I try to be humorous (you probably can't tell) and it's harder than I thought!
-I didn't really tell anyone about my blog so I only have one follower (whom I love!!), and I really don't know if anyone even enjoys reading my blog (haha!)
-I'm not that creative... I don't know what to say sometimes and I think that is going to be my biggest challenge in continuing this blog, what to write about. (glimpse into the future: lots of food!)
-Some of the topics I originally picked I decided not to do because they were too hard to think of things or I just was being lazy. I want to continue to challenge myself and push myself out of my comfort zone. It may actually help me in other areas too.

A picture of me

So this is sort of a combination of today's post and a post that I skipped out on earlier. It's a picture of me and what I wore today. :)

Plus stay tuned for a very yummy recipe that's oober easy and awesome!

Wishing for cake...

So I'm really excited! For two reasons that are actually really only one reason but still. So (1a) is the delicious Nilla Wafer Banana Caramel Cake in my kitchen that is currently cooling and waiting for a nice blanket of delicious cream cheese frosting. (1b) is that I'm preparing to do my first ever blog post with step by step pictures of this amazing cake recipe. I adapted the recipe from SeriousEats.com and basically I followed it step by step but added my own little twist at the end. You will have to just wait for the post, though ;)

I can't believe it has already been almost a month since I started this challenge. It's been fun, I've forgotten some posts, but that's okay. And I think I'm learning a bit too. Today's post is whether or not I wish for something at 11:11. I really don't. Sometimes if I realize it's 11:11 I might wish for something, but I don't make a point of it. I may wish for something good to happen that day, or to ace a test, maybe happen across a bunch of money. :) Do you wish for anything special?

Happy Saturday, hope you're hungry for cake!

Warm and Fuzzy

The little things that make me feel warm and fuzzy. I think those are the things that make the world go round. The things that make us happy; the things that get us through the day. The things that make us laugh and smile, the things that light up the world.

What are some of those things? Well, you know besides butterflies and rainbows, I think hugs is a big one. Big bear hugs from people you love. And kisses, after a long and exhausting day. Blankets. Mainly because most of mine literally are warm and fuzzy, but still they just make me happy.

I realized this today, and I'm not sure it qualifies as warm and fuzzy, but it does give me this little happy feeling inside. Honking at someone. It may seem strange, but when someone is being a rude driver or cuts me off and I honk at them it makes me feel excited a little. I don't honk every time because I try to be a calm and nice driver, but I have those days like I'm sure everyone else does when I just want to be first in line and when someone challenges my spot I get a little riled up. When I honk my horn I get this little feeling of satisfaction. Yea that's right sir, I did use my horn and it was aimed at you. I expressed how I felt about your actions. And then I can't help but to smile a little.

Chocolate, ice cream, sweets and snacks. Board games, spending time with loved ones, cooking and baking. These are the things that make my world go round. These are the things I look forward to every day. That and the weekend, and mine happens to have started at 4:30pm today! Gotta love not having classes Thursday and Friday and not working Fridays!

Happy Weekend to everyone! :)

In other news...

I have a pet peeve to add to my previous list. I cannot CANNOT stand when I'm sitting in a classroom in those stupid connecting seats (don't get me started..) and someone starts shaking there leg. You know, guys do it all the time. It annoys me so much.

I'm trying to pay attention and the only thing I can concentrate on is how I feel like I'm on a wooden roller coaster. I feel like I'm gonna get seat sick.

Anyways, rant over. :)
Happy Wednesday!

Economics is fun

Ha! That's a lie. I hate economics. Guess what class I have at night? Econ. Guess which class I'm in right now? Yup.. Econ.

Can you take a guess as to why I'm posting this now? Because I'm bored. And I hate Econ.

I have two 3 hour classes in a row today. I don't know what I was thinking...Zzzzzz... Sorry, almost lost it there.

So today's post (I know I skipped yesterday, don't hate.) is 7 things that cross my mind a lot. I wish anything would cross my mind right now except anything dealing with economics.

1. Food. Probably most definitely number one. Eating, cooking, baking, shopping for, you name it.
2. Mitchell. Cuz I wubb him (Awww....)
3. Living everywhere but in Wisconsin. That's not true at all. Correction: anywhere warmer than Wisconsin.
4. What I have to get done. I always feel like there is a never ending to-do list in my head.
5. Money. Sad, but true. Do I have enough? When do I get paid? Do I have enough money for this or that?
6. Pinterest. It's calmed down a bit, but I used to spend all my days thinking about what to pin on there or pins I want to find or just when I get to go on next.
7. This blog. Now that I started this 30 day challenge I am thinking about what time I have to be able to blog, if I like the topic or not. If I want to add a new topic or if I have something else I want to write about. And hopefully that I will keep blogging after these 30 days are up.

Well that killed a little bit of time.. I only have an hour and 11 minutes... HELP!!!

Ugh...

So today's post is supposed to be a picture of what I wore today. You don't want to see that. Let's just say today wasn't a good day to document what I was wearing. I barely got out of bed, spent the day on the couch and am still lounging. I didn't feel good today; I had a horrible headache.

On a positive note, Mitchell fixed my car today! It now drives forward and backwards! Yay! :)

On a less positive note, school starts tomorrow. And not only do I have to go to school, I have to get up and still by to work by 8am. *Whine whine* I am not prepared for this. We were walking through Wal-mart today looking for brake fluid for my car and I realized I hadn't bought notebooks yet, oops. I have none of my books. Most are in the mail, I ordered one from the bookstore on campus today, but still I have yet to receive any. I just printed and color-coded my schedule so I at least know what classes I am attending tomorrow. Stressed already...

Last semester. I can do it. I can't wait to graduate!!! (Have I mentioned that yet? Maybe a couple times? Sorry...)

The perfect date

If I were to describe my perfect date it would go something like this...

First I spend a good amount of time getting ready so I can look great. Then Mitchell picks me up and opens the door for me (cuz I like that sort of thing). Then we do something crazy and different. Maybe outside in the summertime. Not your typical dinner and a movie.

It should be very creative and all thought out by him. He can surprise me everywhere we go. I wouldn't mine going to a restaurant afterwards. Or maybe somewhere in between. Nothing too fancy but a decent place would be nice. Maybe we could get shakes or ice cream sundaes.

That would a fantastic date for me. Nothing super expensive or fancy, just different, fun and exciting! I just want to spend time with the one I love. (Awww...)

From Country to Hip Hop

My all time favorite concert was when I was maybe 7 or 8. Kenny Chesney came to the Rock County 4-H Fair. He sang "She thinks my Tractor's Sexy" and I pretty much fell in love. Since then I've owned almost all of his CDs, and know almost all the words to all the songs on them. I've always wanted to go to another one of his concerts. He came to Summerfest in Milwaukee 2 years ago, but I couldn't find anyone to go with me. 

I really haven't been to many concerts other than that. I went to a few Christian concerts when I was in High School. I remember one in particular was one of my favorite artists, Peder Eide. It was his Christmas concert and he asked for a volunteer to come on stage and help him sing a song. Well, my friends thought it would be a great idea to get me on stage to sing with him. Let's make this clear right away.. I'm not a good singer. Not at all. And at that point, to make it even worse, I was unable to get my voice high in a reasonable girl's singing range so I sang basically a tenor part. I sounded like a creepy man. So what happens next? I'm sure you already know. Yup, I'm up on stage with him. Star struck. Scared out of my mind. And thinking what are these people going to do when I start singing? 

There were about 200 people at this concert, it was in a small auditorium at a nearby church. So not too much of an audience, but still not comforting. I'm the girl who took speech class online because I hate hate hate speaking in front of people. (I know what your thinking.. You can take speech online? Doesn't that defeat the purpose? Yes and Yes.) Well I start singing Walking in a Winter Wonderland and Peder himself starts laughing. Yup. Total Humiliation. Thanks friends! Don't worry though, it gets better. Peder told me I could pick another friend to come up on stage and help out with some actions. So I picked my friend James who would just totally hate every part of this. Payback. So the two of us made complete fools out of ourselves and it's a great story I have to tell for the rest of my life!

Other than those two, I don't have any other exciting concert stories. I've been to Pantherfest (campus kick off at my university) twice once I saw Lupe Fiasco and the second time it was Shiny Toy Guns followed by Kid Cudi. I saw Pitbull at Summerfest and OAR the same year. And last year at Summerfest I only went for a couple hours with my roommate and I saw a band that I can't quite recall the name of... It was her idea. Something about airplanes maybe? Anyway they were really good! Different, but good nonetheless. 

On another note, I went to Metro Market in Milwaukee today. It was the first time I had actually been through the whole store. I had ran in to get something real quick a couple times, but I never fully experienced all it has to offer until today! If you have never been and live in the area, you need to go! It's owned by Pick N Save, but it has a HUGE deli/meats/salad bar/sushi bar/coffee shop/juice bar/bakery/anything you could ever want PLUS free samples you can get full from! The reason for going there was to try to find blood oranges which have been a huge thing for me lately!

I have been loving the Blood Orange Soda from World Market. And lately I've been seeing a TON of recipes with blood oranges on Pinterest. So, obviously, I needed some. So I went there and found them (success!) and a few other things. (If you want an easy drink recipe - I juiced one orange and mixed with some Reisling.. Perfection!) Spinach Feta Focaccia and Apple Smoked Cheddar Cheese, both of which are A-Mazing! And I got some wine that was on sale with a coupon attached, win!

I was in Foodie heaven! In fact, I'm going to enjoy a delicious snack right now.. ;)

The Next Great Blogger

I feel like a failure. I was so disappointed that I missed a day of blogging, and then I go and do it again. Ugh! Well anyways, it was a pretty great weekend. Unfortunately, this morning ended that great streak. 

I was on my way out the door to head to work (almost fell on the ice by the way, not cool) and I started my car let it warm up a bit and started to drive away. Well, something wasn't quite right. It was driving really weird, like my tires were not moving, but nothing was wedged in the tires, no ice. Nothing. So I tried again. Nope. Definitely not working right. So I pulled into a driveway by UWM and called Mitchell who was already at work. He had to punch out at work and come out and help me. We figured out it was my back driver's side tire. It was locked and wouldn't spin. He called his friend who is a mechanic and asked him what may be causing it. He gave him a few things to look at and he said it would be okay if we drove real slow and skidded the car to my boyfriend's house which was a couple blocks away. 

The weird thing is the tire would spin normally if I was reversing, but not if I was driving forward. Once I backed up into the street and tried to drive away to his house, the tire unlocked and I made it almost all the way to his house with no problem. Once I was turning to pull into his parking spot the tire locked up again. Great. So I took his car to work and it was out of my hands until 5pm.

Mitchell just got inside from looking at my car (he was probably out there on and off for 2 hours..poor thing! He must really love me!). No luck. Nothing is off or loose. The e-brake is working fine. The other back tire seems to be working the same way, yet it has no issues. 

His friend is coming to look at it tomorrow night, and if he can't figure it out...I have to tow it to a car shop and they have to fix it. I have no idea what this will cost me. I just hope my little car will keep working for a little while longer. I don't know what I would do without it. My work is too far away and I don't know of any bus lines I could take that go out that way. Plus they probably wouldn't even run early enough for me to get there on time. Sigh. 

Anyways, that is not what this post is supposed to be about. Yesterday's was the TV show I am addicted to right now. The Next Great Baker. I love that show. There are some really annoying people on the show and there have been moments that I wanted to rip their heads off, but I am so into every challenge. I get so nervous for the contestants when they have to face Buddy's criticism. I just love it. I want Nadine to win. She's so cute and I think she really deserves it. I really want Ryan to go home. He is arrogant and has a horrible temper and he's really just not that great.

Today's post is about all the places I have lived. This will be a very short and sweet list:

Janesville, WI (from birth til 18)

Milwaukee, WI (UWM Dorms) my freshman year

Milwaukee, WI - 2 blocks from the dorms Sophomore and Junior year. I lived in three different rooms in the same house. The first year was fun living with 8 girls. By the end, I was ready to shoot someone, I needed out.

So then I moved in with 2 girls (from the previous house who also wanted to shoot someone, just not me) a few more blocks from campus. This is where I currently live. It's a very cute house and we have cleaned it up very nicely. However, it is freezing beyond belief and our upstairs neighbors are elephants (and by that I mean that they are quite possibly the loudest people I have ever met in my life). Literally, they are. It sounds like they are dropping bowling balls on the floor all the time. One time I was in a dead sleep and it sounded like they dropped a large microwave (I couldn't think of anything else to compare it to) on the floor above me. I literally almost hit the ceiling from jumping so high. I was scared to death I thought someone was breaking in. So, if you are my neighbor and you are reading this... please be quiet!! Love, Downstairs.

Sorry for that rant... I'm gonna go get Mitchell some dinner for working on my car. Later! :)

I can't believe it...

I didn't blog yesterday! I had every intention to, I really did. I was going to blog about my amazing dinner last night.

Mitchell and Matt were going grocery shopping and I was on my way home from work. Matt calls me and asks if we should make lasagna or enchiladas. I have no idea what to say. They both sounded amazing! We eventually decide on lasagna and I look up a recipe on my computer for lasagna. This is the recipe we made. It's from the Pioneer Woman and it's entitled "The Best Lasagna. Ever." Well folks, the shoe fits. Ohh Emm Gee it was awesome!

We didn't follow the recipe exactly, it called for cottage cheese but we used ricotta. (Mitch couldn't handle the thought of cottage cheese in lasagna, even though he loves the stuff!) We used fresh tomatoes instead of from the can and we used mild italian sausage instead of hot breakfast sausage.

It was super good. Please make this. If you use the cottage cheese, let me know. I'd like to know how it turns out. I had it for dinner last night, lunch today, and probably dinner again tonight (It makes a lot - serves 12 it says!)

After my awesome meal I pretty much passed out the rest of the night, which explains why I didn't blog. Food coma. (That and the internet was in and out all night.)

Anyways, I'm supposed to be blogging about what I want my future to look like. Can I say I don't know? I have a big picture, but I don't have a lot of specifics. It's kind of fuzzy.

I want to work for a while after graduation. I want to get married. I want to own a house and a new car and have kids (maybe 3 or 4?). I want to be able to be a stay at home mom. I want to save a lot now to be able live comfortably and not be stressed about money someday. I want my family to be close and I want to be a good mother. I would really like to move out of state (Colorado to be exact) for at least a little while. I would like to travel. A lot.

So the basics. Paints a pretty picture I guess. I'm more interested to see how my life really turns out. I have a feeling it won't be all pretty pictures. :)

2012

I'm blogging before 8pm; this is new! The last two nights I stayed up past midnight. It may not seem like much, but that's a rare occasion for me. I usually hit the hay around 10-1030 on weeknights so I can get out of bed for work in the morning. Weekends I try to stay up later, but I just get into a routine and it's hard to get out of.

Today's post is my goals for this year. I'm not one for writing down goals. I just started a little to-do list on my dry erase calendar and that's about as good as I get. I'm not even sure what my goals are, but I guess it's time to figure it out!

1. Graduate college. I'm graduating in May, and I can't wait!! I just need to stay focused this last semester of classes and get good grades. Then, real world here I come!

2. Get a job. This one is hopefully going to be easy. I should be working for the company I work for now, but it's not technically official yet. My boss is supposed to be giving me all the deets during this break, hasn't happened yet, but it's because she's probably the busiest person at the company right now. We're behind on a lot of things, and it's not pretty all the time, but I enjoy what I do and the people I work with. 

3. Find a really awesome apartment for a good price. This one is going to be hard. I really want to have my own place after I graduate. I feel like it's part of growing up or something, it may just all be in my head. Nevertheless, I'm excited to have my very own space and to make it my own. I've been looking online a little bit at places in the area, but it's way too early to actually find anything (my lease is up in August). 

That's all my big goals for 2012, I could think of more for the future (like buy a new car and get a cat). 

Oh, and maybe I would add learn to cook some new recipes and maybe take a cooking class to my list. I really want to take a cooking class, I think it would be super fun! (So, if you ever want to send me a present.. hint hint.. hehe..)

I wonder if anyone has any really strange goals for 2012? Anything out of the ordinary? If you do, I would like to hear!

Go Packers!

I couldn't imagine life without...

A Picture of someone I couldn't imagine life without:

Mitchell. I love him. He's quite possibly the most amazing person I've ever known. He knows exactly how to deal with every emotion I have. He calms me down when I'm upset, he cheers me up when I'm down. I couldn't imagine life without him.

We had an amazing day together today. We went shopping at World Market (we both love that place!) and then he put up with me at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We went board game shopping at Toys R Us (a very disappointing selection!). He took me to Petco to see the little animals. It was his first time there and it took some convincing to get him to take me, but he admitted he liked it!

Then he took me to dinner at Sobelman's Pub and Grill and we had a fantastic (although crowded) dinner, and after we went to Target (more shopping!!) and we finally found two board games we wanted to try. We bought them both: Life - Extreme Adventures (if you like the original Game of Life, you will like this one!) and Over Under.

Then we spent the remainder of the night drinking root beer and playing the games. Now I'm barely awake as I'm typing this, but I got in my blog post for the day! :)

Nighty night!

What I ate today.

Technically, this post may not make it on Friday, but it's really close. I just got back from a going away party for my friend who's going back to Korea. Very sad :( I will miss her a lot.

So back to what I ate today:
For breakfast I had eggo waffles and some orange juice.
For lunch I had taco bell. A chicken quesadilla and a beefy crunch burrito to be exact.
For dinner I snacked at the party. My friend made really good Korean food. Bulgogi was amazing! And I had some sticky rice and some other things tht looked like sushi rolls but they weren't sushi (can't remember the name). And a huge brownie (it was fantastic)!

And that's it, simple.

Oh, and I may have had a hunk of cookie dough as a midday snack (shhh don't tell!)

Goodnight! :)

To Do

Today my weekend starts! I love not working on Fridays. Granted it only lasts for the next week and then school is starting again. Ugh.. I can't believe it. I am not ready for school again. At least it's my last semester though!

My to-do list for this weekend includes:
1. Go to the bank. Long overdue, I need to deposit some checks so I can pay our electric bill.
2. Ship my books back to Amazon. Thanks to their book trade in, I'm getting all my books for next semester for free! And I might even have some money left over!
3. A friend is leaving soon to go back to Korea where she is from, it's a very sad time. She's been here for about a year and she's a really awesome person, I'm so glad I got to know her. Her going away party is tomorrow, so I'm going to that.
4. Clean the bathroom - my chore for the week.
5. Find something to cook on Sunday so I have leftovers to take to work next week!
6. Maybe go to Sobelman's because we have a groupon we need to use and it expires next week.
7. Blog everyday this weekend!
8. Last but certainly not least - sleep in tomorrow!!!! (and then probably shovel from the first real snowfall we got this winter)

Let the weekend begin! Being it on to-do list!! :)

Don't give up.

What is my favorite quote? That's a good question... I'm gonna refer to Pinterest on this one to see if I have any good quotes saved.

Well, I have three different quotes pinned on my Arttt. board. They are all good and I don't really have a quote that is my all time favorite. There is one on my board that I really like. I don't know who said it, or wrote it, but it's an awesome reminder and if I read it everyday when I woke up I would probably start having a lot more good days!

"Having a rough morning? Place your hand over your heart. Feel that? That's called purpose. You're alive for a reason. Don't give up."

Love it! It just makes my soul feel happy. Ahhhh :)

My first recipe post!

The title gives it all away...well, not all. What recipe is it you ask? Hot Cocoa Brownies! I was really in the mood for brownies one night and I normally always used a box mix (I know! But, it's so easy!). I didn't have a box mix at home though, so I looked up a recipe online. I found one that had everything I already had at home...or so I thought! 


When I was gathering the ingredients, I realized I didn't have cocoa powder! How could I make brownies without cocoa powder?! Now here is where I would normally run to the store and just pick some up, but if I was in the mood to run to the store I would have already been home with a box mix in my hand. So time to consider my options.


1. I could skip the brownies (ya right!) or 2. I could improvise. Improvise it is! I looked online to see what I could use instead and I started thinking, what about hot cocoa mix? It's basically the same thing, right? Someone said online that I could substitute hot cocoa mix for cocoa powder, but I needed to reduce the sugar because there was already a lot of added sugar in the mix.


Well, I tried it and it must be good because I'm sharing it with you! Let me tell you, they were the best brownies I ever had! So ooey and gooey and delicious. And putting chocolate chips in makes them so much richer and just amazing! Please try it! You won't regret it. ;)

Homemade Hot Cocoa Brownies


1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup hot cocoa powder
3 eggs
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


Mix together sugar, flour, salt (if using unsalted butter), eggs, butter, and hot chocolate powder. Combine by hand. Stir in Chocolate chips. Pour into greased 9x13 pan.


Bake at 325 degrees for 20-30 minutes.


It's that easy! Seriously, I'm not using a box mix anymore!