changes in life

unexpectedly happen all the time.

Mother's Cookies is closing down. I could care less except that they sell little gingerbread men cookies at Christmastime. My mom has gotten bags of them every year for as long as I can remember, and I can't consider it Christmas unless we have gingerbread man cookies and milk every night during the break. Click here for the whole story. Mom, if they already have the gingerbread men for sale, get like 50 bags. Not even kidding. I will eat old, stale gingerbread men until July if it's the last time I'll ever get them for the rest of my life.

I changed my major. Well, I guess you could say decided on a bachelor's. I still want to do School Psychology, but I had no idea how to get there. But last week, there was a major fair in the ballroom on campus. I found the School Psychology grad program, and asked what undergrad they accept. They lady suggested Special Ed... to which I quickly decided no. But she also recommended Elementary Education. I looked into it, and I'm pretty sure that's what I want to do. I think it's a really good path. I have to be accepted into the major, but I should get in... I hope. They accept most applicants.

To piggy back the previous decision... I've changed summer plans. I was going to stay up in Utah all spring to take classes, and all summer to be an EFY counselor. But now I think I'm going to sell my sp/s contract and go home. I want to volunteer at the elementary school my mom works at to get lots of really good hours for my Elem. Ed. program application. Those hours are so incredibly important. You want to look serious and have some experience with kids. Also, I'll be saving a lot of money from rent/utilities/groceries by living at home. I want to get a job so I can save up for next year. I need that money.

And lastly, I don't want love. It's complicated, time consuming, distracting and stressful to worry about. Please, just leave me alone to my baking and school work. But the Lord knows I need friends! Let's all be friends.

food of the gods

Peanut butter. Is my favorite. It brings such joy to my life. The best things are made with peanut butter:

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Fast Break Bars

Peanut Butter M&Ms

Reese's Pieces

See's Candies peanut butter patties

Peanut Butter Patty Girl Scout cookies

Peanut butter milkshakes

English muffin with peanut butter

Peanut butter in celery

Chocolate chip pancakes topped with peanut butter

Peanut butter on waffles

Peanut butter cupcakes

Reese's Puff cereal

Peanut butter cracker sandwiches, like Ritz minis

Muddy Buddies

Although my mom has suggested to stay away from peanut butter pie... I bet I'd love it.

Peanut butter and pomegranate jelly sandwiches

Peanut butter, banana, and chocolate syrup sandwiches

or just peanut butter banana sandwiches

Peanut butter cup ice cream

Peanut butter ice cream with chocolate swirls

Just sucking on a spoonful of peanut butter

Peanut butter cookies...

which brings me to my next point. Try this recipe. I was skeptical at first but they are delicious and take literally 15 minutes from prep to finish.

EASY PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup peanut butter
12 miniature Reese’s Peanut butter Cups

Combine sugar and egg with a hand mixer until well blended. This is important to get a non-grainy texture. Add peanut butter. This part is easy to do by hand. Grease cookie sheet and drop dough to make 12 cookies. I flattened them slightly, just so the middle wouldn't be too doughy. Bake 350 degrees for 10-11 minutes. When you take them out of the oven, press a peanut butter cup into the center. It crackles the cookie a little when you do this and looks much nicer.

Pretty simple, huh?

I didn't have peanut butter cups, so I just arranged 5 milk chocolate chips in the shape of a flower on the top. Also, they were really big, so I'd split the cookies in half and make 24 instead of 12 because they are really rich and sugary.

If you try this recipe, let me know what you think!

Oh, so I better get back to studying, huh? Break's over.

fishiness

So, I like salmon. I've never really had it before because my family doesn't like it. But I think it's delicious. I like fish. Grilled fish. Did you know it's healthy for you? And hardly anything in it. Yum.


Quote of the Day:

Me: "I know you are drunk, but you can't tackle people in the middle of the store."

3 am ramblings

Do you sometimes wish that you could take back something you did because it makes you feel awful?

Or find a corner to sit in and be completely alone for a good space of time? Just to unwind?

Or just drop out of existence for a while?

I so can't get to sleep right now. I hate that. When your mind won't shut up and let you have some peace. So you just lay there, letting your mind reel, thinking of everything, ragging on yourself, worrying about everything, and planning every aspect and detail of the next day. Why can't you just tell it to shut up and leave you alone? Sometimes one's own self is the hardest person to run away from, don't you think?

Holy crow, it's cold.

So, sometimes you just need to have a blog to write out weird things that you're feeling... all of my blogs lately have been peppy happy, and I just wanted a real one to bring it back down to earth. Sorry if it was depressing... I sounded really emo lol.

I just got a strange desire to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show...


Quotes of the Day:

Wistie: "Do you want to be on top or bottom?"
*fits of giggles*
Me: "It doesn't matter to me. I like both ways."

and

Wistie: About TCU's mascot: "Ew. Who would want to be a Horny Frog?"
Me: "Just think of the double meaning of that word... buahaha!"

i had a very productive day

Did scripture reading and journal this morning.

Did my hair all curly gorgeous.

Went to my D&C class- very inspiring lesson.

Went to Statistics- very confusing lesson.

Called my mommy who has bought my plane ticket home for Christmas! She was thrilled when I told her I was for sure going home for Thanksgiving.

Set some personal goals.

Walked Rachel home from campus.

Had an hour long talk with Ty Ty! It made me so happy! PS his favorite cookies are chocolate chip. Note to self: must find delicious, easy, gooey chocolate chip cookie recipe. Any suggestions? I'm going to be sending cookies to him regularly while he's in the MTC. By the way, he'll be going in a week from tomorrow! I am so incredibly proud of that amazing boy.

Wistie stopped by and said hello on her way home from work.

Took my D&C midterm on Blackboard. It took me about an hour and a half to answer 34 questions. And I got a B!

Cleaned the bathroom

And now, at 9:30 PM, I think I will relax and take the rest on the night off and watch The Nightmare Before Christmas :)

Adieu.


Quotes of the Day:

Professor Reese: "So in Spain last week... Wait, where is my 'MEAT IS MURDER!' girl student? Oh, there you are. You'll love this story... I had the most delicious dish for dinner. I'm adventurous, so I just told them to bring me something good. And it was amazing! So I asked what it was, and it was baby lamb... Kind of sad. Sorry, but it was delicious!"
a few minutes later
"You want to do the wave in class again today? Wait, is Dr. Blades here? If she's here we can't do the wave. Oh, hi, Dr. Blades! So I am being evaluated today. Oh. *Laughs at himself hysterically* You know the best part of this whole thing? She's a vegetarian!!! Okay, here we go! Don't watch us, Dr.! We're doing the wave!"

and

Me: "Maybe the professor is really retarded?"
This one, by the way, was unrelated to the above quote...

preparing a lesson

I wonder how long it would take if I just had the girls read the whole manual. Probably 10 minutes. I can't just do that. That would be boring. And I'd be done 30 minutes early. Do you think I could have a 30 minute long testimony meeting?

I wish I had Halloween cookie cutters. I could take Halloween sugar cookies.

I should just make some sort of treat. At least if the lesson is bad the sugar can make up for it.

If it's bad at least no one will remember it in a few days.

I wonder if I could pass out pictures of the Degrees of Glory and have them color it. Like Primary again.

D&C 76 is not that hard. Just do it!

OH maybe I can make "Celestial cupcakes!" I want to make Celestial cupcakes! I need to go to the store. FINISH the lesson first! AHH

As you can tell, I was a bit flustered with this lesson at first. But once I got organized, I started flying through it. And yes, I even had time to make my Celestial cupcakes!

Celestial suns, Terrestrial moons, and Telestial stars. Making these made me so happy. Once again, I will say it. If I could just decorate cakes the rest of my life, I would be the happiest woman on earth. Baking and decorating just makes me so happy for some reason!

Christina and Drew, thank you so much again for that cake decorating kit you gave me for Christmas. I used it to make my cupcakes.

The suns are rosettes with little "arms" coming out (Rachel, I was thinking about you the whole time I was decorating these suns! They are dedicated to you). Then I made the moons from little stars... I guess that's what they are. I just know it's tip number 16. And the stars (my favorite) are just with writing tip 3 with squigglies. And then some stars around them. These make me so happy :) And, of course, I had to make real buttercream frosting. Just like cake deserves.

The leftovers:

Quotes of the Day:

Amber: "Everyone should know to not leave things out on the table because Allie will mess with it."

i heart your blog

Christina! Thank you so much! I love your blog, too! It's always fun to read what you guys are up to. A lot easier since we both have such busy lives.

The Rules:
1. The winners put the sticky sticker of uber stickiness up on their blog to say "Look at me! I'm COOL... or at least someone else thinks so!"
2. Then, they get to link back to me.
3. Nominate a few of their own winners! Spread the love!
4. Leave a little note on the chosen blogs so they're not left in the dark.


My winners!

Wistie I looove your blog. It makes me happy! I always think your thoughts are so interesting. And I like that you don't just run through what you do in a day. Mostly because I see you every day and you tell me in person. So it would just be repetitive. I like that you write out what you're thinking, or a new discovery you made. I never know what to expect from your creative mind.

Rachel! You are always so cheerful and optimistic! It makes me so happy to see you so happy. You have an amazing look on life and I can tell how much you love it. It's good to know that someone is busy busy busy in their life and still has time to love the simple things.

Amanda you make me laugh. Your blogs are always so hilarious! True, a lot of stuff is inside jokes between us, so it's probably funnier to me... but it always cheers me up. You are one of the funniest people I know and I can see that in your writing.

Bishop Higgins I have no idea who you are. But this is the absolute funniest thing I've ever read. He's a bishop of a ward somewhere, and his whole blog is dedicated to making fun of his ward and other random things in the church. It's always good to be able to make fun of yourself!

I read so many blogs, but I put my absolute favorites on here. My best friends :) I love you all!

chocolate as it should be

Gelato. That's all I have to say.

Cheese ravioli in meat Ragu sauce, Caesar salad, and chocolate gelato for dessert. I don't think I've eaten that much in ages. I feel almost guilty about it... Top it off with a long walk through Provo Downtown, ending with the movie Chicago, and you have yourself a perfect evening. Last night was a lot of fun :)

Let me recommend a little place. It's called Gloria's Little Italy on 300 S. 300 E. Provo. I had heard of this place, and Amanda has talked about it a lot. So when my Biology partner (no, his name is not Edward Cullen... but I wish...), Jordan, told me he went with his sister once, I was surprised. It's one of those hidden away places. Then, when he asked me if he could take me there, I was excited. It was finally time to see if it met my expectations. Uh, yeah, it did. It was better than Olive Garden. It was all homemade, authentic Italian pasta. I guess the owner is Italian and opened up this place herself. Ravioli are my favorite, so I had to order them. It came with a lot, so I brought a lot of it home for later. Which made me excited. Then he insisted on getting gelato. It was absolutely delicious. Gelato is a heck of a lot better than ice cream, and probably twice the amount of sugar ;) So, if you're in Provo, check this place out.


Quotes of the Day:

Jordan: "I just don't like that they kill themselves at the end. It's supposed to be all romantic and stuff, but I think it was just teenage hormones."
Me: "Romeo and Juliet were emo!"

and

A boy in Biology: "What are the chances of a man being a woman?"

and

Me: "I won! Well, my team won for me..."

congealed mess of my current life

General Conference was SO awesome. Before, my ward had a breakfast party. The Elder's Quorum cooked breakfast for whoever wanted to come. It was nice because it wasn't a ward activity. It was a volunteer thing. So I ate a waffle, and then stayed and watched Conference with some of the cooks. They even invited me back for the afternoon session! So I came home, relaxed a bit, grabbed some M&Ms to share, and went back to watch the afternoon.

I loved both of the sessions. Although, if I had to chose one or the other as my favorite, I'd definitely go with the afternoon. Two of my top three talks came from the afternoon session.

1) Elder Holland's talk about angels. Incredible. I loved the message about Heavenly angels, and how they still come to the Earth today. They did during biblical and Book of Mormon times. So why not today? The world is full of adversity and the angels have just as big of a reason to be here as any other time. That they are here whether they are seen or unseen. And I also love that he said we all have our mortal "angels." Angelic people in our lives who are sent to us in times of trial and who shine with the light of Christ and his love and charity. That made me really happy. I love angels.

2) Elder Corbridge talking about Christ being the only way. He said that Christ's way is the only way to true happiness, and joy, light, and eternal life. And that any other way is just madness. We can choose between two ways in life Christ's way of happiness, or any way else- one of despair, sadness, darkness, (and pretty much every bad term but I couldn't write fast enough). It opened up a lot to me and I heard a lot that I needed to hear. It actually caused a very big change in me, and helped me make a really hard decision that will change a lot in my life.

And this last talk was the very first talk of Conference in the morning session.

3) Elder Perry's talk about a simple life. The essential things for life: food, clothing, and shelter. I loved that he used the Strength for the Youth pamphlet a lot. It was back to the very basics, and nice reminder for everyone, especially the youth of the important, simple things in life. And truly, if you follow those three things according to the gospel, life will be simple, and joyful.

I cannot wait for the sessions tomorrow. The morning should be great while I have a waffle party with Wistie and my roommate Megan, and then I'm going up to Salt Lake to watch in person for the afternoon! Rachel Ann, Wistie, Amanda, and I are all going up together. I can't wait! :D

I love General Conference!

Mmm... I don't think anything could be tastier than chilled, sliced, sweet apples.

Wistie is over and we are watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding. That is one of Wistie's favorite movies. After Fools Rush In, of course. And excellent choice.

Blech I ate like a pig today. I feel sick. It's back to my normal eating schedule tomorrow. I got ingredients for a new recipe I found. It's a bean bake. It's a bunch of canned beans, an onion, green pepper, and green chilis in a tomato sauce. It's like a casserole type thing that you put in a dish and bake it in the oven. Then there is a cornbread crust on the top. Although, there wasn't a recipe for that part, so I think I'll just bake the bread and eat it on the side. If it's good, I'll let you know. I'm also dying to try a butternut squash soup recipe I found. If I ever make that (it's a bit expensive because of all the spices in it... I don't have any of them and spices can be a lot), I'll let you know how that is. I think I will go on a binge one day and just try it.

So I'm going to homecoming! I'm excited! I got a dress last weekend. It's long, and black, and one of the most gorgeous dresses ever. It's being altered right now. I'm just sad because it was a lot be altered. The dress itself was a steal! I love Ross. But to get it altered was about double of the dress price. Ouch. I want to get my hair done at the salon here on campus, but we'll see if I can get an appointment. They might be full. And I'll see how much it is.

I'm reading Midnight Sun. Well, I'm reading the draft that Stephenie posted. The half of the story. I really wish she would finish it. I think she's a brat. She should just finish the book and publish it. I don't care that it got leaked out on the internet. People will still buy the finished copy. It's really good so far. I'm in chapter three.

Quotes of the Day:

Me typing on this blog entry: "General Conference was SO tried-"
Me: "What was I trying to say?"

and

Kellie: "I have a friend who puts her baby in the suitcase when they travel."

and

Wistie: "You have to milk the cow or else it will explode!"

only thursday?

I am burned out. I need my weekend. I took three tests this week. I'm so done. I'm just so glad I have a great weekend to look forward to! I'm so excited for conference :)

And I'm mad that The Office isn't on tonight :( Stupid Presidential debate. I want to watch The Office.

Quote of the Day:

Dr. Reese: "Raise your hands if you think this line is strong. DON'T raise your hands!!!"