my resolutions 2.0

Posted on December 27, 2011 | 4 Comments

[By the way, I think I'm really witty by writing "2.0" all the time now. It is like I finally caught up to 1999 and understand computer-ish speak.]

So January 2012 is just moments away and resolution fever has hit the blogosphere and the TV commercial airwaves like wildfire.

Last year, I posted my resolutions on here for y’all to see. I think I did pretty well, having gotten better at flossing my teeth and I did manage to lose 10 lbs, which puts me back at my pre-Texas weight. However, without real access to a grill, I did not master the open flame. I also did not post a how-to video, but only because I learned that WordPress charges obscene amounts of money for videos. And I’m too cool for YouTube, let’s be honest.

So what are my new New Year Resolutions?

1. Stop correcting people for putting the apostrophe-s on “New Year’s”, as in “Happy New Year’s”.

2. Complete my first half marathon (planned for February 19th!) and run the Army 10-miler in October in DC, for my brother!

3. Lose another 15 lbs and finally finish what I started 3 years ago.

4. Continue to floss teeth more regularly.

5. Increase savings account by 50%, despite another cross-country move (in May) and no employment over the coming summer.

What are your resolutions for 2012? Anything interesting or different? 

And now, I shall leave you with a picture of me + Zack Efron hanging out at my family’s White Elephant gift exchange.

 

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Posted in deep thinking, holiday, let's be real

my contribution to the holidays

Posted on December 21, 2011 | 4 Comments

I’m very iffy on Christmas spirit this year. One second I’m loving Christmas and the time I finally have to relax and visit some family. I’m known for sneaking looks at my presents and not sleeping the night before Christmas. But another second, I’m ready for it to be over. There’s so much drama related to Christmas and I don’t have the energy to assign dishes, wrap presents, and figure out the ever-changing plan for when everyone is showing up at everyone else’s house.

Too much work.

Plus, my mom is verbally not looking forward to the holidays since my brother Hunter is deployed. Last year he was deployed in Korea, this year in Afghanistan. And apparently I’m chopped liver. I kid, I kid.

Well yesterday I made an attempt at being spirited and finally made the sugar cookies my mom had been begging me to make. The pictures are a little sparse because a) I forgot to take them and b) I got distracted and went skiing halfway through making them (no joke).

I’d like to thank my best friend Tiffany’s husband, Johnny, for lending me an extra jacket!

But here they are, in all of their sorta holiday glory! Get out your butter!

Peppermint Sugar Cookies (makes 15-20 cookies)
For cookies:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 egg
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup flour
For icing:
1 stick butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1-2 T heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1-2 drops green food coloring (optional)
In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. When well combined, mix in the vanilla, peppermint, and egg. In another mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mixing slowly, incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until a dough has formed. Roll the dough into balls (smaller or larger to suit your taste, but I recommend ping-pong size) and place onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes until edges are just brown. Remove from oven and cool on a cookie sheet. They will be nice a chewy! After the cookies have completely cooled, beat together butter, powdered sugar, and peppermint extract for the icing, drizzling in heavy whipping cream to give it the perfect icing consistency. Once satisfied with the texture, add in the food coloring (optional) and mix well. Spread icing on cookies — lay it on thick! Enjoy!

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Posted in baking, butter, cookies, dessert, family, friends, holiday, recipe

The Versatile Blogger Award

Posted on December 9, 2011 | 4 Comments

Big thanks to my friend Hayley for passing the The Versatile Blogger Award down to me! She’s a great person who I’ve known since college (freshman year?) and we always ran in the same random social circles. She is also super crafty and witty and you will like her!

Here are the rules:

  • Nominate 10-15 fellow bloggers
  • Inform the bloggers of their nomination
  • Share 7 random things about yourself
  • Thank the blogger who nominated you (that’s right, suck up to me)
  • Add the VBA picture/badge to your blog posts:

Without further ado, here are my nominations: Cely, Carla, Ben (another college friend), Angry Runner, Rachel, Alicia, Bess, Laura, Kendra, and Sarah (another college friend!)… Some I know in person, some I know via other blog projects, some I babysit for, and some I just find hysterical and blog-stalk.

7 things about me you may or may not know (and may or may not want to know):

1. This summer, when Rahul moved to DC, I started teaching myself Hindi. You’d be surprised what you can find on the Internet for free! And being the total language nerd that I am (I speak 3 foreign languages — Spanish, French, and Portuguese), I got really excited for verb conjugations. Once I learned enough and practiced the script, I wrote Rahul a short letter as a surprise! He was pretty impressed.

2. The following situations give me incredible anxiety: the dentist, taking off and landing in a plane, stepping onto an escalator, the parking lot at the Austin Whole Foods, and using Saran wrap.

3. For several years, I was convinced that the lyrics of TLC’s “Waterfalls” song went something like this… “Don’t go, Jason Waterfalls. Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to.” Jason Waterfalls. Recently, Rahul & I discovered we both misunderstood the lyric as Jason Waterfalls in our youths! I thought this was common so I asked some friends and they think that we’re absolutely stupid for thinking that. I guess that makes it true love?

4. I need to eat breakfast almost immediately when I wake up, and have been this way ever since I was a baby. There is an old family joke about how one of my first words was “braffix” which I would scream from my crib until I was fed. I’m still pretty unintelligible within the first hour of the day if I don’t eat, even if it is just a piece of fruit.

5. I love pickles. Love, love, love them. I have a giant jar of dill spears in my fridge right now… a flavor I’ve only recently started to like. Bread and butter will always and forever be my true pickle love.

6. I’m up to 9.5 miles in my half marathon training (group run). I’ve already developed a really attractive dance to “Pumped Up Kicks” that I like to do when I run. I also have one that I do for “Fly Like Paper, Get High Like Planes” that was developed with my friend Megan while cruising the streets of Richmond in college on the prowl for men Thai food.

7. I am terrible (TERRIBLE) at video games! I have zero hand-eye coordination and I get really frustrated in high-anxiety situations. I make my brother beat all the bosses in games and I just make my character frolic around collecting money and slashing grass with swords.

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Posted in Uncategorized

so good, they’ll disappear

Posted on December 6, 2011 | 5 Comments

Yesterday, I really needed to bake something. In addition to a 4-day-long rain storm (which caused my roof to leak into my apartment) and it being finals week for my graduate program, I found out my brother’s deployment to Afghanistan was being moved up by a week. He’s leaving tomorrow, not the 15th. Like I said, I needed to bake something.

And what does any other emotionally (un)stable woman in her 20′s do when in need of cookies? Why, she bakes ninjabread men and constructs battle scenes on her dining room table while eating their heads.

Normal, right?

(FYI, these epic ninjabread men cookie cutters were a gift for Rahul and he handed them down to me for my own enjoyment. But you can find them here!)

Ninjabread Men (Gingerbread cookies) — makes 24-36 cookies
1 egg
3/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1 stick butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 T cinnamon
1 T baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 3/4 cup white flour
In a mixing bowl, combine softened butter, egg, brown sugar, and molasses. When well combined, add in the spices, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix well. Slowly beat in the flour until a thick dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour until chilled and firm. (I divided the dough in 2 and froze the other half to use later). When dough has been chilling for at least 1 hour, preheat the oven to 375*. Roll out the dough on a well floured surface with a floured rolling pin and use cookie cutters to cut into desired shape. Bake for 10 minutes for softer cookies, 12 for crispier cookies. Decorate as desired.

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Posted in Uncategorized

a most perfect Thanksgiving

Posted on November 26, 2011 | 4 Comments

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to all!

Tuesday I flew out to DC to spend my Thanksgiving break with Rahul. After several hours stuck in traffic, he finally got to the airport and whisked me away and since then, I’ve been deeply involved in cooking preparations, folding his laundry, and planning our (failed) Black Friday plan of attack.

We had a Living Social deal for Whole Foods and spent way too much money on a Thanksgiving feast for 2 people, but it was so much fun to cook Thanksgiving for him! If you read me regularly, you’ll know that Rahul is from India, so I made several un-PC jokes about pilgrims and Indians.

My Thanksgiving feast last year was for 8 people and very busy so making a simple turkey breast (with this recipe — I definitely recommend it!!) and traditional sides was really enjoyable. And the DC weather was so great that we went for a run pre-cooking and ended up taking our stuff outside for a picnic.

I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving as well! I am currently spending my last couple days in DC soaking up the vacation bliss — semester finals are coming up and I’m trying to not think of them. I’ll be back next week with some kind of food. If I ever find room in my stomach again.

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Posted in cooking, dinner, epic win, food I love, holiday, poultry, things that make me happy, travel

another year

Posted on November 21, 2011 | 4 Comments

Today marks the 3 year anniversary of my father’s suicide. I cannot believe it has been 3 years. Some days it feels like yesterday, some days it feels like a lifetime ago. November 21, 2008 changed my life forever.

For the past 3 years, I have cried nearly every day. Sometimes, there were happy tears upon remembering a stupid joke my dad told. Sometimes, there were big, heaving sobs of pure grief and sadness. But in the past 3 years there’s been one feeling that has stayed with me: guilt.

I have felt incredibly and inexplicably guilty for my father’s death. The day I found out that he had willingly ended his own life, I started to believe it was my fault. I started regretting all the things I could have done, all the signs I had ignored. I was miserable knowing that he had been so miserable and I had done nothing to help.

In the past year, I’ve come a long way with accepting his death and releasing myself from guilt. Sure, I still have days where I cry about what has happened and fail to understand why it did. But most of the time, I am happy knowing my dad is at peace at last and is smiling down on me, cheering me on with everything I do. I bet he really likes Rahul, even though he’ll never get to meet him. I bet he thinks I’m crazy for running a half marathon. I bet he’s so proud of me for going to graduate school.

3 years ago today, when I was told that my dad was dead, I was on the way to DC, a weekend trip to visit the National Zoo and some museums. Tomorrow, I leave on a plane to go to DC and visit the man who I am desperately in love with. He lives 3 blocks from the National Zoo. Life is funny, isn’t it?

Tomorrow I touch down in DC and complete what I was incapable of doing 3 years ago. Today I forgive my father and myself. Today I take another step further in a life I now have to live without my father. Today I try to be happy and remember what an amazing man he was. 

Rest in peace Daddy. I will always love you.

<3 Christopher Arthur Gleason 2/10/63 — 11/21/08

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Posted in deep thinking, family, let's be real

recipe shout out

Posted on November 15, 2011 | 2 Comments

I left my camera at my mom’s house in Virginia this weekend! Oh no! I’ll get it back over Christmas, rather than have her waste money sending it to me. But until then, I’m very glad I had a few posts written ahead of time with real pictures! When I run out, I’ll have to dig my point-and-shoot out of the depths of my closet… Until then, enjoy this recipe shout out!

I’d like to give a recipe shout out to Back to Her Root’s recent recipe for No Bake Butterfinger and Pretzel Cheesecake.

My friend Mary came over and I swung by the grocery store for the ingredients (including Texas shaped pretzels!) and gave it a try.

It was delicious, but apparently I’m illiterate as I misread a critical step and my filling was way more liquidy than it should have been. Also, my crust may have baked too long so it was pretty hard. It was delicious, but since it doesn’t stay together when not frozen, I’ve been slowly picking at the leftovers straight from the freezer and they’re divine. Make it (correctly) and love it!

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Posted in chocolate, dessert, recipe, shout-out

happy Veteran’s Day!

Posted on November 11, 2011 | 1 Comment

Happy Veteran’s Day to all those who have served and are currently serving our country! 

Today is particularly bittersweet to me as my own brother, Hunter, is a soldier! He’s deploying to Afghanistan in a matter of weeks so I am taking a quick trip home to Virginia this weekend to send him off right! We’re doing this the Southern way: too much food, beer, and crazy relatives.

Fun fact: this picture was taken in May 2010…. which was also the last time I saw him! I cannot believe I’ve gone a year and a half without seeing him! 

Have a great weekend!

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Posted in awwww, family, holiday, things that make me happy, travel

old school tacos

Posted on November 9, 2011 | 2 Comments

When I was growing up, about once a week we had Taco Night, and it was one of my favorite nights of the week.

My mom would buy a packet of taco seasoning from the grocery store that she mixed with ground beef. My brother and I were in charge of preparing the condiments, so we would pull out all the bowls in the cabinet and fill them with shredded cheddar cheese, iceberg lettuce, tomato, and sour cream. We always had soft taco shells (for my brother, Hunter) and hard taco shells for me!

Now, as an adult, I tend to go to the grocery store and buy random things without meals in mind. As I stared at the ground turkey I had in the refrigerator, visions of Taco Night swam in my head and I knew I had to find a way to make my own taco meat!

Now, in essence, this isn’t a difficult dish and hardly a “recipe”, but simply because it took me straight back to childhood I had to share it with y’all. It was delicious with whole wheat tortillas in tacos and even better the next day as a healthy taco salad!

Taco Night Turkey (serves 4)
1 lb lean (93/7) ground turkey
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 T chili powder
1/2 T cumin
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp cayenne (add more or less for spice)
salt & pepper
In a skillet, combine raw turkey and onions over medium heat. Stir occasionally, browning the meat and cooking the onions. When the turkey is almost fully browned, after about 5-7 minutes, stir in the spices, adding salt & pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly and reduce the heat to medium-low, mincing the meat into small crumbles as you stir. When the meat is fully browned, about 10 minutes total after starting, and the spices are uniformly mixed. Serve hot in tacos or cold in a taco salad!

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Posted in epic win, family, food I love, poultry, things that make me happy

no fun november

Posted on November 2, 2011 | 2 Comments

Apparently people are participating in No-Shave November by growing beards and lovely lady leg hair.

I will not be participating in that. However, I will be participating in No Fun November in an effort to push myself to do something not fun, but which will help me.

With the input of some friends and a few ideas of my own, here are my No Fun November goals:

1. Do 15 push ups every day with correct form <— I usually wimp out and do the girl push ups;

2. No fried foods (as in, deep fried);

3. Find a way to get back into yoga, no matter what;

4. Drink 8 glasses of water every day!

Are you going to make any No Fun November personal goals?

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Posted in deep thinking, let's be real, motivation, random