In the kitchen....

It turns out I'm not entirely useless in the kitchen after all!! I decided to get in there and practice making some cookies this weekend. I even bought a handheld mixer and a food processor for the festivities, thinking that maybe I would use them again someday (not holding my breath though!).

I made two different kinds. The first batch on Saturday was White Chocolate Macadamia Nut. I found the recipe online on some random person's blog (thanks to whoever it was for the recipe!). These are not my favorite, just because I think they are really rich, but they were tasty! Here is the recipe I used (is this plagarism? I hope not! I did reference the blog, I just don't know the name of it...):

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking soda10 ounces white chocolate (chips or bars cut in chunks)
1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped into chunks

Directions:
Heat oven to 375 F. In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt with electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, beat well. Stir together flour, and the baking soda; gradually add to butter mixture,beating until well blended. Stir in white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. (Edges are golden brown and center is set.) Cool slightly, remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool completely.



Yesterday I made "Neiman Marcus" cookies. Now these are tasty! We have enjoyed these cookies for years in my family. I actually didn't grate the entire chocolate bar like you are supposed to, mainly because I got tired of grating it, but they still turned out very well! Here is that recipe:

“Neiman Marcus” Cookies
2 cups butter
4 cups flour
2 tsp soda
2 cups sugar
5 cups blended oatmeal
24 oz. chocolate chips
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 8oz. dark chocolate bar, grated
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)

Measure oatmeal and then blend in a blender or food processor to a fine powder. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and soda. Add chocolate chips, shaved chocolate nuts and stir until combined. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes between 50-80 cookies.

I definitely staged the pictures, but I kind of think they could be magazine worthy! And for the record, I did not burn a single cookie! Not ONE! I was so proud of myself. Most likely I didn't burn them because I set the oven for 325-350 for both because I really think my oven cooks fast! My kitchen was a mess and I had tons of dishes to do, but overall I enjoyed the baking. Maybe I'll keep it up! Hope you all have a very wonderful day!

Just because I can...

I saw this on one of my friend's blogs. Now that school is over, I don't feel guilty about doing things that are a complete waste of time. So, just because I can, here are a few other random things about me!

10 years ago...
1. I was a sophomore at Big Spring High School.
2. Basketball was my life.
3. I was even more naive than I am now, if you can believe that!
4. We had one of those cell phones that had a box and a cord.
5. I never would have guessed that I would get to do all that I have done!

5 things on today's list
1. Wrap some Christmas presents.
2. Work on my Christmas cards.
3. Relax.
4. Make a lunch for work.
5. Go to Starbucks before work.

If I were a Millionaire
1. Pay completely out of debt.
2. Travel the world!
3. Work only one day a week.
4. Volunteer time at nursing homes or children's homes.
5. Give my nephew anything he wanted (sorry Mel!).

5 Places I have lived (actually only lived in 2 places)
1. Big Spring
2. Lubbock
3. Dallas
4. New York
5. Houston

5 Jobs I have had
1. United Supermarket
2. Covenant (Rehab, SICU)
3. UMC NICU
4. NY Presbyterian Weill Cornell NICU
5. Baylor NICU

I tag Melanie to do this next! Love you!

I'm thankful for...

This is kind of cliche, but I have really been thinking a lot over the last few weeks about all the wonderful people and things in my life. Here is an "I'm thankful for..." list, just for fun!

- time spent with family and close friends
- a job I absolutely love
- my experience in NYC this time last year
- the opportunities I have had to travel
- school is over!!!!!!!!!!!
- my health and the health of my family
- T ;)
- lazy days
- freedom
- the cinnamon dolce latte at Starbuck's
- clean sheets
- laughing
- books
- CHRISTMAS!!!

And the list goes on and on! I hope you all have a wonderful, Happy Thanksgiving!

Wish I could have taken a picture...

So I went to the grocery store today to pick up a few things. I was talking to Melanie on the phone in my car before I went in. Right after we hung up, I heard this extremely LOUD rap music, loud enough to shake my car. So I turn around expecting to find some ghetto-fabulous Caddy with spinning wheels and hydraulics....only I find this brand new, shiny, red VW bug convertible with an old, bald, white guy at the wheel!!! Hahahaha, it was hilarious! He was completely straight faced, music blaring! I was trying so hard not to laugh because he was 3 feet from me, but I know that I didn't have straight face! Hope you all got a great laugh out of that, I know I did! Have a great week!

Christmas

I started getting my Christmas decorations out the other day, even though it's October and still about 90 degrees outside. :) I'm so super excited about it, it's not even funny! I turned up the Christmas tunes (Amy Grant's White Christmas, my favorite) and unpacked the festiveness! Honestly, my apartment is not big enough for all the decorations I have, so I'm having a hard time deciding where to put things. I like that this is going to end up being a several week long process. That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

My apartment this year is also not big enough for my 9 foot Christmas tree (I'm fighting back tears as I type). So my options are to use it anyway and have Christmas Mr. Willaby style, leave it in the box until next year (SO sad) and get a smaller artificial tree, or wait until the first of December and go get a real tree for this year. I would love the smell of a real tree, but I can't carry one by myself (nudge nudge, Melanie!) and I'm not sure I would be good at remembering to water it. I would hate for it to die before Christmas. I also don't like to wait until December to put up my tree. Christmas is just too much fun to enjoy for only one month! But I also don't want to spend tons of money on another artificial tree when I have a perfect one in the closet!! Any ideas? What should I do?

And just for fun, here are a few pictures of Christmas in New York last year! Happy Holidays!

Making cookies for the Christmas Cookie Party.

Cohen and I when they came to visit...he was so small!!

Fun family photo (not sure where Christian was...sorry!)

The beautiful tree in Rockefeller Center!

Tony Bennett warming up for the tree lighting performance.

The Rockefeller tree all lit up!!!

My kitchen Christmas tree...

My living room Christmas tree... :)

I hope you all have a fun and festive decorating season!!!

Night Shift

Kyle called me out for not posting anything for awhile. Working nights, I tend to be up at all kinds of weird hours. It's 3 am, and I have nothing to do, so I'm going to post some random thoughts that have popped into my head lately.

- I need a day job.
- I confess that I like the Beach Boys.
- When school is over, I'm going to need a hobby. Any ideas?
- It's almost time to start listening to Christmas music! Maybe I'll do that this week...
- I really should start going to the gym again.
- I recently discovered Silver Jeans. Love them!
- Anyone remember The Judds? I'm pretty sure we had their final concert on VHS tape.
- I went to get a mighty meal at McDonald's with a friend of mine tonight. When the lady handed us our food, we asked for ketchup. She told us it was in the bag. We asked if it was a lot. She said, "it's enough for your small fries" and shut the window!! Seriously?! Is that allowed?
- I'm going to see NKOTB in a few weeks.
- Watching the news is depressing. So I just don't do it.
- All of these things remind me of visits to see grandparents when I was growing up: fruit roll-ups, trampoline, big brown pillow, Silly Silly Sandwich, cinnamon toast, homemade rolls, nachos, Single Women Rich Men, frosted Cokes, square dancing skirts, bear pancakes, cheesecake, and My Country, 'Tis of Thee.
- Sometimes I really miss New York.
- This one is just so I can see what the word 'discombobulated' looks like. I'm not sure if I spelled it right though.
- It makes me sad when I look at my schedule and realize that I won't get any significant amount of sleep for the next few weeks.
- I am very interested to see how Grey's Anatomy turns out this season.

Pretty random. Sometimes I wonder how I function in life when this many different things can cross my mind in such a short time frame. :) I hope you all have a great day!

Boston

Last weekend, I went to Boston to visit my friend Kate. She and I were travelers together in New York, and she is now on a travel assignment in Boston. I was able to meet up with my friend Meghan as well. She is also there on a travel assignment. It was so much fun! The weather was perfect, the people were great, and the history of the city is fascinating! I'm going to try to post some pictures, but I've never done this before, so if it doesn't work....I guess I will figure it out some other time. Hope you all have a great week!

Kate & I

We went on a whale watching tour. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen! We saw a total of 6 humpback whales. They were jumping out of the water, and our guide told us they only actually do that on one out of every ten tours! Here is a view of Boston from the boat.

Kate & I on the boat...it was really windy!


Way out there in the middle of the picture is a whale out of the water. It was hard to catch them in the air, but truly amazing to see!

Now a few random Boston sights. Fenway Park...

Paul Revere...

USS Constitution. This is a ship that was built in the late 1700s and is still used sometimes! They offer tours of the inside, but we didn't make it in time. Still, I think it's pretty cool to see!

I hope you all have a great week!