Two Years

So I just found out that today is my two year blogiversary!!! Wow! I can't believe it!!!!

I've definitely had times where I posted more than others....I've switched from wordpress to blogspot.....joined the daring bakers (!!)...the entire blog has changed and grown so much in the past two years that it is almost as if this weren't even the same blog. I've grown up some, and have learned a lot!

I may not have the biggest and definitely not the best blog ever, but I have loved the experience and "meeting" several people through the blog world!!! To celebrate my two years of blogging, here's a yummy smoothie recipe that I've been working on! I was inspired when I saw a post somewhere a while back on an orange push up smoothie, and adapted it to fit what is available here!!

Creamsicle Smoothie (makes two or three smaller smoothies...or one really huge one!)

Ingredients:

• 200g frozen citrus juice concentrate (ours comes in little pouches of 100 grams each...I used tangerine, though orange, mango or anything like that would work)
• 2/3-1 cup milk (depending on the consistency you want your smoothie)
• 1/3 cup sugar 
• 1/2 to 1 cup ice

Directions:

1. Combine your frozen concentrate, milk and sugar in a blender. 
2. Blend until fairly smooth and the sugar has dissolved.
3. Add ice and blend until smooth.
4. Pour into glasses and enjoy!!!! 

A Very Special Day

Morning, everyone!!!!
So yesterday was my mom's birthday!!!!!!!! We hung out, sang happy birthday, and went out for dinner!! It was a good day. I'm sooo thankful for my mom and for everything that she has done and it was really great to get to spend some time with her on her birthday! :D

So a couple of  days ago, I made up a new superset workout while at the gym and ended up really liking it! It was pretty tough and I tried to focus on the legs this time around because usually when I work out I feel like I never actually work my legs very much....typically I focus on arms, abs, back, etc. So, I decided to switch things up a little and loved it! Here ya go:

You'll probably notice that the word "squat" is featured in almost every superset....the hardest were definitely the bulgarian split squats...ouch! 

So yesterday I was alone for part of the afternoon...getting some studying done (finals are coming up). Well, the kitten must have been helping me study or something because after a while, I found her passed out asleep on the couch! She lives such a hard life! 

I don't know why anyone would say that we spoil our cats...do you? hahahaha 

Well, I'm going to get back to studying...see ya'll later!!

What have you been up to this week? 

Very Special Day

Morning!!
Today is a veeery special day in this house! It is my sister's birthday!!!!!! After school, she and her best friend are coming here for dinner and then the two of them, my mom and I will go to the premiere of The Hunger Games later on tonight! Then tomorrow, we're going to have a little bit of a family celebration! So, so excited!!!! :D

Well, in other news, I have a yummy breakfast recipe to share with you guys today! It is another coffee cake....this time with chocolate!

Chocolate Swirl Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 3 T sugar (only if cocoa is unsweetened)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. 
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. 
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In another bowl, combine milk and vanilla. 
4. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, then add about 1/3 of the milk to that. Continue alternating between adding flour and milk to the butter mixture until everything is incorporated. 
5. Combine cocoa and sugar. In a greased 9x9x2 pan, pour about 1/3 of the batter. Sprinkle about 1/2 of the cocoa mixture on top of the batter. Spread another 1/3 of the batter on top, sprinkle on the rest of the cocoa, finish with the remaining batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cake tests done with a toothpick.

We all liked this cake because the cocoa isn't to sweet and balances out the cake very nicely. Also, the cake itself was very easy to assemble and was pretty, too! Gotta love cute food! :D 

I don't think that I've got too much going on today....school, spin and Hunger Games is pretty much it, I believe! SO glad that today is Friday!!! I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend! What do you have going on this weekend? Tomorrow we're going to watch the Memphis Grizzlies game here at home and celebrate my sister's birthday some more! Speaking of her birthday, check out what I made her (it was her idea originally) last night:

A homemade gummy!! I googled the recipe and combined a couple to make this! Anyone who knows my sister knows that she LOVES gummy anything, and so I made her one with her favorite fruit flavor (passion fruit)! It was actually super easy and took about 30 minutes start to finish, so if anyone wants to make gummies, let me know! :D

Well, that's about it for today....see ya'll later! 

Awesome Weekend and Oatmeal Cream Pies

Hey everyone!!!! How was your weekend??? Ours was great!!! It felt like it went by a little bit too fast, though and no one was really happy about today being Monday...:P

Saturday we went up into the community for the ladies' afternoon. It was so much fun!!! There was a devotional time in the beginning, and then we took a picture of each of the ladies and let them make their own "picture frames" so that they could have a nice picture at home. Then we came home and pretty much just hung out.

Yesterday was my dad's birthday!!!! We started out the day with egg and cheese sandwiches and blueberry muffins (his favorites), and really just spent the rest of the day around the house, which is what he wanted to do.
To surprise him, my sister and I made him some homemade oatmeal cream pies, from this recipe. They were soooo yummy!!!!! Whenever we're in the States, Dad always gets cream pies, so when we saw this recipe, we immediately thought of him! :D I'll type out the recipe here for ya'll!!!

Oatmeal Cream Pies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 T honey
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups oatmeal (quick)

Directions:

1. Cream together butter, brown sugar and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and honey and beat until everything is incorporated. 
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add flour mixture to the wet ingredients until everything is combined. Stir in the oats and mix until they are evenly distributed. Place batter in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. 
3. Take chilled dough and drop by tablespoon onto baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350. The cookies might look a little undercooked or moist in the middle, but they will set. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely. To make the cream pies, spread some filling on half of the cookies and sandwich them with the plain cookies.

Marshmallow Creme Filling

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. In a double boiler, combine egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar. Heat until the egg whites are frothy and the sugar is completely dissolved (about 160 degrees). 
2. Transfer egg white mixture to the small bowl of a mixer, and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold in the vanilla extract. 

This did make a little more marshmallow creme than we needed, but we just put the leftover in the fridge to use with other things!!! :D 

What did you do this weekend?

Well, I should probably start on school...see ya'll later! :D 

Happy 1/2 Birthday to my Sister! :D

Anyone else glad that its Friday? I feel like this week has just flown by! My poor sister has been stuck doing tests all week long. Brazilian schools are like that....they schedule a "test week" instead of the teachers choosing the test days. You only really have 1 or 2 tests per class each quarter, and they're a major part of your grade. While its nice to know that after the week is over, you won't have to worry about tests for a while, the whole process can definitely get exhausting!

So anyway, since last year we have celebrated half birthdays. The story behind that is that my sister never gets to celebrate her actual birthday in the US....we always go on furlough during the second half of the year. So I came up with the idea to take her out to eat and celebrate her half birthday! I actually kept the whole thing a secret and she never suspected anything! Of course, by the time we actually got to the restaurant, I was about to spontaneously combust from keeping the secret for an extended period of time, but we had fun! Then, in June, she planned a surprise dinner for my half birthday. So now, its a tradition. Can't say what I'm making for her yet, because I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I'm really excited! Do ya'll celebrate half birthdays?


In other news, I just caught my kitten playing with a plastic bag....it was pretty funny! Here's a pic:

Aaand I'm glad to say that I'm finally figuring out how to edit and upload videos, so here's one of the cat playing.. Please excuse the crappy quality...it was taken with my camera. Hopefully though, the fact that I'm learning the whole video thing means that I'll actually get that vlog that I've been talking about up! 

Well, that's about it for now......see ya'll later! :D 

What are your weekend plans?

Do you have any questions or anything that you would like me to talk about on a future vlog?

Healing

First of all, I want to wish my lovely sister a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! She's 13 today, and yes, taller than me. Actually, when we found out that she was taller last week, she jumped up and down and shouted: "YES! I've been waiting 13 years for this!". I, on the other hand, was not so enthusiastic. :P

This morning, I made Katie's Single Lady Carrot Cake Cupcake for her, and she LOVED it!! Tonight, we're taking the group out to her favorite restaurant, and then we're all coming back to the apartment for a dessert time!!!!!

Now, I'd like to share the recipe that I promised. You've probably all seen a variation of it before, but its a family fav, so here ya go:

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Oatmeal Bake

3 C oatmeal

2 t baking powder

1 t salt

1 t cinnamon

1 C brown sugar

1/2 C oil

2 eggs

1 C milk

Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Combine all ingredients and bake in lightly greased 9X9 baking dish at 350 F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. On and I usually sprinkle some more cinnamon on top! That's all there is to it! :D

Yumminess! :D

The past couple of days have been sort of an emotional roller coaster, but I feel that once things settle down a little bit, I'll definitely stabilize. Thank you all for your sweet words of encouragement!This is a great part of blogging!

Oh, and before I forget, last night, I had half of a MONSTER of a sweet 'tater! I weighed it and it came in at about 14 ounces!!!!!!! Here's what it looked like:



Wrapped in plastic, so you can't really see how huge it was, but believe me, it tasted sooo good! Now, I'm trying to think of a way to use up the other half...any ideas? I usually just eat it baked with cinnamon, but I've been looking for something a little different to do, and figured that this was the perfect opportunity! :D

I had better get going....bout to do some strength training!!!!!!

Jam-Packed Day

Hey!

Today started off with a little bit of apple cinnamon tea in my faaavorite cup:



[caption id="attachment_331" align="alignnone" width="455" caption="Isn't it cute? =D"][/caption]

Today is the day where we head out on a trip to have a Brazil missions conference with the rest of the missionaries from our agency! We'll be gone a week and I don't know how often I'll have internet access.....

Sooo, I wanted to go ahead and wish Janae a happy early birthday!! I looove your blog and you've been a great inspiration to me these past couple of months, girl! =D

Guess who else has a birthday this week?

[caption id="attachment_332" align="alignnone" width="455" caption="The HC cat!"][/caption]

He's a valentine's day baby! =D

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

What are your weekend plans?

Taco Night (take two)

Good morning!!!!

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for stopping by to say happy birthday yesterday! =D Thanks, Janae for the birthday shout-out!!!! I had an awesome day!! We hung out at home, then went out to eat and rented a movie to watch! =D

So tonight, we're going to go to my dad's side of the family's house to celebrate a late Christmas and to eat tacos! =D We were originally going to go a few days before Christmas, but my aunt was sick, so we postponed. She's feeling much better now, and we decided to get together tonight! =D It'll be fun!!!!

 

Oh I have a question for ya'll. Some friends gave both my sister and me a Nook for Christmas. Its sort of like the Amazon Kindle, but Barnes and Noble makes it. Anyway, since I live out of the country most of the time, I have no idea what books to get. What are some good books that you've read recently? I've already downloaded John Grisham's latest, "The Confession", because I had already read some of his books before. Its pretty good!

Oh last night I tried Edy's Apple Pie Ice Cream, and it was ok, but I think I'll stick with good old Double Fudge Brownie from now on. Apple Pie had like chunks of cinnamon apples and pie crust in vanilla ice cream. So really it wasn't very pie-like in flavor....mostly just vanilla. Not bad, but in my world, chocolate trumps vanilla everytime. =D Just a matter of personal preference,I guess.

Well, I have to get going....

Happy Wednesday! =D

Birthday Workout

Good morning!!!!

Yes, I'm working out on my birthday. Wanna know why? It is Tuesday. I workout on Tuesdays. Creature of habit and all. I probably need to work on the whole flexibility thing.

Well, anyway, in honor of my birthday, I chose some new vids, so here are the links:

Booty Burn: (its Cindy Whitmarsh, and I have loved all of her workouts so far)

http://www.exercisetv.tv/workout-videos/body-sculpting/booty-burn-s9799

Sculpt and Burn:

http://www.exercisetv.tv/workout-videos/cardio/cardio-sculpt-and-burn-9880

And one of the 10 minute cardio workouts....I haven't decided yet.

So I really have no idea what I'm going to be doing today....except go out to eat........and eat ice cream. I've never been a big fan of birthday cake....I mean, I'll eat it, but I was the one with the giant chocolate chip cookie instead of a cake. Or fondue. Or in today's case, ice cream. And maybe some chocolate something or another...because surprisingly, my ice cream has absolutely NO chocolate in it. But it's Apple Pie ice cream, which sounded good.

ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!!!

Do you like birthday cake, or do you eat some other sweet on your birthday?

I've already had my party, so today's just going to be relaxed, I think. I might even read the driver's manual at some point (ack!). I have to take that test before January 11th....so I'll probably just end up spending the day in my pjs studying. Fun stuff. I honestly have no idea why anyone even reads this blog, seeing as I'm so incredibly boring. But you do, and as long as someone reads this, I'll be here. =D

Well, I should probably get going.....what with my busy schedule, I just don't know what to do first today! =D

Happy Tuesday!

Party Fun Stuff

This post will be quick because I can barely think straight, and when I mix sleepiness and blogging, its not pretty.

Last night was super-duper fun! We had Jimmy John's (I got the Turkey Tom unwich), and then lots and lots of fondue! Played Apples to Apples and watched part of a movie. Bought popsicles and a pint of Blue Bell Vanilla w/ strawberries ice cream. We randomly made a trip to the workout room at 11 PM, just for the heck of it. Consumed lots and lots of caffeine. Scared the other people staying at the hotel. Lots of fun! =D

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!!!!! I promise that tomorrow's post will be back to normal! =D

A Cold, Snowy Day

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!!!!!!! We went to church at 11:30 on Christmas eve, and the service was awesome!!!!!!!!!!! Jesus is the true reason for the season!!!!

So its snowing right now, and I'm absolutely freezing!!!! I'm already small, and I get cold really easily, so now I feel like a popsicle!!!! I have a pedometer/pulse thing and my fingers are so cold that it doesn't even register a pulse for me. So basically, according to my pedometer, I'm either dead or a vampire! =D

Today's my birthday party, too!!!!! I'm going to a hotel with a couple of close friends and we're going to watch movies and have fondue!! I bought slippers as a party favor! =D Its going to be a lot of fun!!!!!!!!!! I bought pretzels, apples, bananas, pineapple, and marshmellows to dunk in the chocolate. We actually have 3 different "recipes" for fondue, so if one doesn't work, we have a backup. The first is evaporated milk, cocoa and sugar, the second is just some melted chocolate bark, and the last is chocolate chips that will be melted in something or another....maybe some evaporated milk or something! =D Anyway, I'm super excited!!!!!!!

So what did ya'll do on Christmas?????

I haven't been blogging for very long, but I already love it!!!! I just want to thank everyone who reads this blog!!!!! =D

Hope you have a good rest of the day!!!!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Well, all of my family's plans for yesterday basically went out the window. My aunt is feeling really sick, so we didn't go to my dad's side's house for taco night. But, we did pick up my beeeeest friend and had an awesome afternoon and went to her house for our Christmas celebration there. And we had mexican, which I sort of think is funny.

So yesterday my friend asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I jokingly said "world peace". So then we went window shopping and tried on sone stuff, and later we went to Gracie Bleu's frozen yogurt. It was our first time there, but it was like a self serve froyo place, and the guy working there gave us a TON of those little ketchup containers so that we could taste all the different flavors. Their setup was pretty cool, with about 4 stations with 2 separate flavors and 1 mixture of the two each. For example, there was a strawberry froyo and a birthday cake flavor, and the mixture was strawberry shortcake. Then there were tons of toppings and stuff to choose from. While we were sitting, my friend handed me a box with a bracelet inside. She then said that when we went into one of the stores that we visited, there were "world peace bracelets" at the front door for sale. So guess what I am now wearing? I got world peace for my birthday! =D

World peace! =D

So today, we're hanging out for most of the day and tonight we have church, which will be nice!!!!!

So, recently I've been thinking about going vegetarian. However, my family is pretty much worried that I won't get enough key nutrients. Because of this, I've decided to pick one day a week to be a vegetarian to sort of show everyone that I would be able to eat a balanced diet. I'm thinking that the day might be today, but I still have to actually talk with my parents. And once or twice a week vegetarianism might be all I can do for now, I want to see how it works out for me personally, though.

Well, what are your Christmas/Christmas eve plans?

Happy Christmas Eve!!!!

Birthday Coupon

I had signed up for the "DeliGrams" McAlister's email thing a while back in hopes of getting a coupon at the time. Well, yesterday, I checked my email and there was one from McAlister's. I got $5 off our next meal there!!So guess where we had dinner last night???????? Hello, Chicken Tortilla Soup! =D Oh and because I had signed up for the On The Border email club back when we took my sister there, also hoping to get a coupon then, I also have a free brownie sundae from there!

    So yesterday we visited with my grandmother. She's out of the hospital now and doing better! We had a fun time!

    Today my sister and I are going to our church to work on a video thing that the youth leader is shooting. We're going to be filming separately, and each video will take 30 minutes to an hour. So we'll be at the church from 1 to 3, more or less. I don't know what the videos are about yet, but when I do, I'll let you know.

    I really haven't been able to bake even half as much as I wanted to. And now, there are even more recipes that I have bookmarked! I guess that's the way it works when you don't actually have any money and a lot of your recipes call for special ingredients that your parents have never heard of. Oh well. I'll probably still bake a little bit. =P

 =D

    Oh guess what? I made Erika's Single Lady Sugar Cookie, inspired by Katie's recipe, for my sister!!! Actually, I've made both versions for her! =D Of course, I always come up with the idea to make one right after I've had a snack, but that doesn't mean that a few bites trip and fall into my mouth. Stupid cookie. =D Anyway, I've actually made these in the microwave, and they turned out pretty good. I just combined all of the ingredients and nuked for about a minute. That, my friends, is the lazy version of this cookie, because I didn't feel like turning the oven on. Oh and in the chocolate chip one, I added some melted pb in place of about 1/3 of the oil, and it turned out really tasty!!!!

Well, that's about all I've got for now!

Got my SAT Scores!!

I just got my SAT scores this morning!!!!! Ya'll are the first to know. =D

Here they are

Critical Reading: 740            98th percentile

Math: 600                                  75th percentile

Writing: 620                              86th percentile

Multiple choice: 63 (score range 20-80)

Essay: 8 (score range 2-12)

It all adds up to be 2031!! Not bad for a 10th grader, I think...especially when you don't do so well on timed tests.=P Anyway, at least now I know what the SAT is like and could probably do better next time. Especially on the Math section.

Anyway, I'm gonna workout today, but will probably just use videos that I already have: The Bootcamp Body Makeover from Exercise TV and the Jump Rope Cardio from Sparkpeople. I must say that I really like the bootcamp, because it really worked my entire body, and the next day I felt sore. Which to me, is a positive thing! =P

So I've decided on fondue for the party!!! (Thanks Erica! soo sorry! =P) I still need a good recipe though. I've seen ones that use evaporated milk and marshmellows with chocolate, and I've seen heavy cream and chocolate.....what is the best way to make fondue?

How's that for a deep, thought-provoking question, huh? =P

Oh and I just wanted to thank everyone who commented yesterday and told me what their faaavorite Christmas movie is!!!! I now have a list of movies to watch! =D

Gotta run....have an awesome day!

Christmas is Near!

I just can't believe that Christmas is Saturday!!!! Still in shock, here. =D Saturday at 11:30 my church does a midnight service, and I think we'll be going to that. It is soo awesome!!! And then, on Christmas morning, I have a special surprise planned for my family! (Can't say what it is yet for fear that someone will read....but I'm soo excited!)

Last night we visited with some friends, and guess what? We ended up making those holiday pretzels again! Thanks for the recipe Julie! We love it! =P

Last night I also borrowed a book from my friend, "A Walk to Remember" by Nicolas Sparks. Have any of ya'll ever read it???? I've seen the movie, which I loved, and am super excited to read the book!

So next Tuesday is my birthday and next Sunday is my party. My best friend, her mom, my mom, and I will go to a nice hotel nearby and watch girly movies, eat plenty of chocolate...that sort of thing. One thing I can't decide on is what I want for my dessert: fondue or chocolate cobbler???? Both sound sooo yummy!!! I might have to do one for the party and one on my actual birthday. Hmmmm....which sounds better to ya'll?? Does anyone have a tried and true fondue recipe? =D

I am finally going to be done with school today......and I'm super glad about that!! =D  All that I have to do is write an essay about the 3 key things that I learned from taking my SAT prep course.

1. Never, ever take a prep course again.

2. I learned not to reccommend the SAT prep to anyone.

3. I hate taking long tests.

Sorry about the negative list....my teacher apparently couldn't come up with a final, so he basically lumped together all of the work I've done this semester into 7 parts and called it a test. Section 2 had me online taking 25 practice tests which basically took up my whole day from 11 AM to 4 PM. Exactly what I wanted to do during my Christmas break. Oh well, at least it will be done and over with....

A couple more random questions for ya'll:

What is your favorite Christmas movie?

I really have no idea....we just watched The Family Man and that was cute, but I don't know if I have an all-time favorite. =P

What are some of your family's Christmastime traditions?

  Well, we usually spend Christmas day at home. My sister and I get an ornament every year. Whenever we're in the States we go to the 11:30 Christmas eve service.

Well, I have to go write an essay...

Happy Monday! =P

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Yep, today is my dad's birthday!!!!!!! Gettin' ooooold now.....=D!  We're just going to relax today, and later we're going to a friend's house so dad can watch a football game. So really, just a nice, relaxing day! Yesterday we stopped by Gigi's cupcakes and picked out 4 of them. Mom and I were going to go today and surprise Dad, but he ended up going there himself! Oh well....we still have his presents!!!!!!!

    Well anyway, I've been in a breakfast rut lately. Not so much food, (I do switch around my oats, grits and nutrigrain waffles =D), but I've been drinking the same coffee protein "shake" every day. I just pour some freshly brewed coffe into my gargantuan mug (It holds like more than two cups!!!) and add a serving of protein powder. Right now, I happen to have Aria chocolate protein, which isn't too bad in coffee. Alone, its yucky. Anyhow, coffee and chocolate? I'm so there.

Oh, 1 question. I absolutely love Larabars, but they're sooooo expensive. Anyone have a good recipe to make homemade ones that I could use?

Well, that's about all I've got for now............

Ya'll have a great Saturday!!!!