february goals, long winded

first things first, i never really do new years resolutions because i never commit to them for more then a week or two at most. however i think if you start things in the middle of the week instead of the first day of the week you'll be more likely to continue that habit or change in your life. example im horrible at remembering to take my medicine/vitamins however i always try but it never works, and then one day i just started taking them everyday mostly because i hate having a cold for 3 weeks but it helps to start the day after most people would and setting an alarm on your phone to take them helps to.

so a few things i want to do this year:
01. take my vitamins everyday
02. read one nonschool book a month
03. get all my readings done for classes before the class starts
04. bake bake bake
05. start the couch to 5k program so i can bake and still stay in shape
06. try to make jam

in reference to number 4 and my total ocd, type a dorky personality i printed out a calendar and started filling in things i wanted to bake each month. so for june and the summer months i'll be focusing on jam, and fruit desserts because i also want to start cooking and baking more seasonally and locally once may hits it will be a whole lot easier because i'll be home.

for february:
01. wear skirts and dresses more
02. perhaps go to virginia to visit my best friend
03. bake red velvet cupcakes and remake the oh baby bars
04. reread my life in france
05. make/send valentines for my penpals anyone want one?
06. try eating different foods, i eat pasta the majority of the week and decided i need to mix it up a bit. any suggestions are welcome :)

quote of the week

There are two kinds of love…in the safe kind you look for someone who’s exactly like you. It’s what most folks settle for. But then there’s the other kind of love. Everyone’s born with a ragged edge, and some folks crave that piece that’s a perfect fit. You’ll search for it forever, if you have to. And if you’re lucky enough to find it, it looks so right, you start to tear at your own seams, thinking, maybe I could look just as perfect. But then, of course, when you try to get close to their other half, you don’t fit anymore. That kind of love…you come out of it a different person than you were when you started.
— Jodi Picoult

(found here)

tomorrow im going to be posting my february bucket list stay tuned and have a relaxing sunday.

awards and lovely bloggers

laura from this is keeping my fingers crossed recently gave me this award:



you can see and read my first seven facts from when the other laura of a pretty plethora gave it to me here.

but id like to tell you seven more facts about me now:

1. lately all i've been listening to is the soundtrack from country strong, im not a huge fan of leighton meesters singing voice, garrett hedlund's on the other hand is beautiful and cant stop listening to the songs he recorded for the soundtrack.

2. in march for my birthday (march 9th if you wanna know) a family friend and i are planning to go to le cordon bleu school for one of their non-professional cooking classes to learn all about artisan breads. this is the website if your interested. im still trying to decide between pittsburgh and boston, although the majority of my friends say boston. id love to hear which city you guys would choose, we plan to make it a weekend trip.

3. right now im thinking after i get done my undergrad and grad programs, i want to maybe attend a school like johnson and wales or le cordon bleu for professional culinary arts training but im not sure how serious i am right now about it.

4. my pseudo family is my life, they really are the greatest. i babysit their two kids finn and mac who i post pictures of incessantly on here. but theyre more like my nieces and nephews and their parents are more like my older siblings. its great we have family dinners together and i wouldnt trade it for anything in the world. lately their father and i have become really close, whenever im having problems hes always there to vent to no matter what time of the day and theres no judgement at all its wonderful.

5. sometimes when i take the kids i babysit places people think they are mine. usually i only have one with me but they just assume its mine. im almost 20 and finn is 2 and mac is 3 they are not my children! my boyfriend finds it sooo funny.

6. lately im reading alot of food memoirs and love them, i just reread a homemade life. in the past i've read my life in france and animal vegetable miracle. any suggestions for some other good ones?

7. i have a twitter account.


im passing this award onto:

courtney of vintch: i know you already go this but your blog is the one i look forward to reading everyday, its so beautifully written and you are so sweet!

ashley of the chic line: her photography is gorgeous and i want to try all of the recipes shes posted

marian of escaping the single life: she is soooo funny and her wedding was beautiful

apirl of april maybe: i love that she speaks her mind and some of her posts always make me laugh

finally abbie of abbiebabble: id love to get to know more about her

national compliment day

when i was looking at my agenda (vera bradley of course) in class today i realized it was national compliment day, i would now like to take the time to thank and compliment all of my readers. you all are so sweet, kind and beautiful! reading your comments everyday makes my days a little brighter! thank you all so much for your support!

you need to know

hey anthro

im still available if you need me to model especially for these lovely things:









hope everyone has a lovely weekend :)

what i've been up to recently

my last couple of days home before school were kinda crazy. i tried to fit in everything i had forgotten to do until the last week. some of these things included seeing my friends and family for the last time, craft shopping and clothing shopping with my mom, buying things for my school apartment, attempting to buy textbooks, cleaning my room and closet. but lets talk about some of the more exciting things i did:

i made 3 loaves of delicious bread:

once i type up the recipe i will post it because its sooooo good and super easy, however i feel awful because i dont remember for the life of me where and who i got the recipe from

i made homemade butter with my sister:


another simple recipe from joy the baker

i made another batch of whole wheat chocolate chip cookies from this lady and didnt even get a chance to eat them after giving them to my grandmother, great aunt and my family devouring them

i also made lentil soup thats my great aunts recipe. she said she had been making it for a few years and one day she told her husband she was making it and he finally admitted he didnt really like it one bit however he had ate 2 bowls of it whenever she made it up to that point

a recipe will be posted soon because i think its too good not to share

my parents made dutch bread


and finally i made little bits of heaven aka oh baby bars aka peanut butter cups


and finally i started working on organizing all the recipes i've printed out and putting them in a pretty binder if you have any great recipes let me know im always looking to try new ones out.

now im at school and still trying to get back into the school mode, i keep thinking it really hasnt started yet. hope you have a lovely wednesday :)

yesterday

yesterday i posted a quote because i was hoping if i read it enough and thought about it enough and said it enough every crappy thing that was going on would somehow disappear. i keep telling myself that if i close my eyes it will but it looks like neither one of those things are working and reality is sinking in. im going back to college tomorrow, and probably the least bit prepared for it, books arent ordered, bags arent packed and then i was hit with it, no driving back to school because of the supposed snow my mother and i will be taking the train making it even more difficult to bring all the unpacked bags (there are at least 8) so now i have to cut down and hope that eventually i'll somehow be able to bring the rest up. on top of all that i am attempting to hang out with my boyfriend, best friend and family all today before i head back. yesterday my truck started smoking up and smelling and we havent even had it for a whole month. and did i say i dont have ANY books for the semester because none of them are posted on the website. so all of this combined has caused the beginnings of a panic attack that im sure will last all week. so this is the quote i feel that really, truly describes this week:

It sucks, you know. When everything is doing fine then, it all crashes again. And the worst part is, I really don’t want to try and put it all back together again, but I have to.

quote of the week

Grant me the serenity to accept things we cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Patience for the things that take time. Appreciation for all that I have, and tolerance for those with different struggles. Freedom to live beyond the limitations of our past ways, the ability to feel love for myself and love for others and the strength to get up and try again even when we feel it is hopeless.
(found here)

cookies

lately baking has become my new favorite hobby, last night i made my first loaf of bread from scratch and i cant wait to make it again and before christmas i made some cookies with my favorite children.

recipe found here, not my favorite recipe they lacked alot of flavor

i think she got excited because she thought it was chocolate

cutting the cookies

please ignore the hot mess i am in the picture

later that week i made these, whole wheat chocolate chip cookies and they were heavenly so heavenly i might have ate all of them on my own....

my cute apron with ruffles and comfy slippers

ingredients

entertainment while i wait for the cookies to be done

the cutest cookie of the entire batch

quote of the week

"Sometimes in life there really are bonds formed that can never be broken. Sometimes you really can find that one person who will stand by you no matter what; maybe you’ll find it in a spouse and celebrate it with your dream wedding, but there is also the chance that the one person you can count on for a lifetime, the one person who knows you, sometimes better than you know yourself, is the same person who's been standing beside you all along."
-bride wars

new years eve

usually i dont even make out of the house new years eve, so me staying up til midnight to see the ball drop usually doesnt happen either, this year however was totally different from the usual stay at home and watch a movie. my mom, brother, sister, lovebutton and i went over to the lovebugs house and had a lovely night with them:

celebrating with the lovebugs!

getting dressed up as buzz, totally normal

let the dance parties begin

impromptu guitar lessons

sabering the champagne bottle

midnight toasts

tomorrow its back to normal posting, most likely recipes for the cookies i made and eventually the soup i made today!

christmas

christmas eve at my moms best friend's house and christmas morning opening presents, late night visits from santa, snow and opening presents with my lovebugs:

christmas eve

sharing a bed; traditional

waiting to be able to see our presents

new truck!

santa visits

lovebugs

lovebutton

snow!

christmas prep

a few things we always do before celebrating christmas and to get us ready for christmas:

picking a tree

my personal choice

dance break

gingerbread house competition

picture with santa