2010, filled with zen

Every New Year's, I get very nostalgic. I mean, it's a holiday devoted to vowing to make yourself better at life! and who needs stupid goals about working out? (I totally have this goal, against my better judgment and knowledge that I will FAIL). I am also going to try to be more zen. What do you mean, Mara?

Every year, our high school student council advisor has a reunion. All of the student body officers from years past come and gets nostalgic about high school, is pretty much what happens. We find out what everyone is up to now that they OH MY GOSH, are so old. The picture albums from the days of yore (way back in the 1990s) and everyone looks through them. In our year, there was a final we had to take covering the events over the year. My fellow officers looked at it together. There was a question about who did the most work every day in the StuCo office. And we were all, WHO WAS IT? It wasn't Sparks. Was it me? Libby? Andrew? No one knew!

This brings up such crazy implications. There were so many times in high school when I would have a mental breakdown or go into cardiac arrest because of.... I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER. I distinctly remember these freakouts but CANNOT, for the life of me, remember why! It was such a huge deal then, but, in retrospect, did not matter at all.

This is something I definitely wish I could remember when I face my next problem. Unfortunately, if anyone were to remind me of this and confirm that this, in fact, was not a big deal, I may, in fact, kill them. It's one of those dangerous statements that would put one in the direct path of The Crazy. So I am going to make it a New Year's resolution to try to handle things a bit more calmly, with a bit more zen, and look at the big picture in my life.

So what was one of the StuCo final questions that we did all remember four years after the fact? That the officer that ripped her beltloop and couldn't make it up the wall at the challenge course.... was me.

Awesome.

Happy New Year, all.

models in training

Saylor and Sophia did their makeup, so we had a photoshoot. I told them that a lot of models do the pouty face when they get pictures taken. Here are their future headshots.

go bake!

I can't recall whether I've blogged about this or not............ I should really start tagging. But there is this fantastic food blog called Annie's Eats where she creates another fantastic concoction every day and is breathtaking at life. She recently put up a recipe for Pumpkin Blondies. It was at the beginning of the pumpkin shortage, and I was trying to find the perfect pumpkin thing to make with my only can. It shouldn't be surprising that the pumpkin, butterscotch, and ooey-gooeyness of this dessert was phenomenal. I keep waiting for another excuse to make them! Since making and eating them myself is frowned upon.


You can find the link here.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¼ cups granulated sugar (or brown sugar)
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
½ cup chopped, toasted nuts (optional)

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 9×13-inch baking dish with foil. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Stir together and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined. Mix in the pumpkin puree. With the mixer on low speed add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Fold in the white chocolate and butterscotch chips (and nuts, if using) with a rubber spatula.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs, about 35-40 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before cutting.
To serve, lift the cake from the pan using the foil and transfer to a cutting board. Peel off the foil and using a sharp knife, cut into 24 squares.




P.S. Brown Eyed Baker is doing a KitchenAid giveaway for holiday recipes! Check it out and look at all of the yummy Christmas traditions people have entered.

soooo..... K BYE!

hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!