bakezilla!

so the holidays are THE BEST time to bake for several reasons:
- an excuse to give away the baked goods
- people will eat said baked goods knowing that new years resolutions are right around the corner
- it's cold out; the warm oven is a beautiful thing -- may not seem important to some of you, but baking in houston in the summer is MISERABLE.
- lovely seasonal recipes like gingerbread men (currently fresh out of my oven)
- baking is made infintely better when christmas music is playing in the background and the tree is twinkling in the living room

if you're anything like me, you are starting up a list of the must-have holiday baked goods. christmas is only a week away, and i've got to make sure to churn out all my favs :)

so far i've tackled:
- iced sugar cookies
- peanut-butter blossoms (personal fav)
- gingerbread men
- puppy chow
- white trash

possible upcoming adventures:
- snickerdoodles
- more white trash
- chocolate chip cookies (not seasonal but always welcome!)
- peppermint bark
- ... and currently searching for more inspiration

anyway, i thought i would share one of my favorite (and easiest) recipes: WHITE TRASH!

ingredients needed:
- chex
- m&m's
- pretzels
- peanuts
- white (vanilla?) almond bark

1) melt the almond bark in the microwave
2) stir in the other ingredients until coated
3) arrange in single layer on wax paper
4) allow to dry - if you can handle waiting
5) consume!

you can vary up the recipes and use different cereals and stuff - just make sure to get the sweet + salty in there!


anyway, happy baking! it's probably a good thing i have to work Mon-Thurs this week, or else I'd probably have dozens upon dozens of cookies in my kitchen!

H2O

so one thing i've consistently failed at is drinking the recommended amount of water each day. i've heard a hundred different recommendations: 8 glasses, one ounce per pound of body weight, etc. anyway, one of my coworkers challenged me (as well as herself) to drink a gallon of water a day. today was day one, and aside from the bazillion bathroom runs, it went well! not only did it generate conversation at work, it also kept me fuller. i generally start getting antzy for lunch around 11:30am (aka: way too early), but today I held out until 1pm, and even then, i wasn't starving as usual.

of course, calorie cutting is certainly NOT the only benefit of being well-hydrated. for those of you who care, here are the health benefits i dug up (article from organic facts.net) -- sorry, had to do it -- it's the future doc in me...

1) PH Balance

2) Metabolism

3) Prevention of: Constipation, Heartburn, Migraine, Gastritis and Ulcers, Rheumatoid Arthritis, CV disease, Backache

4) Avoiding Kidney Stones

5) Maintaining good Kidney Function

These are just to name a few... hooray for H2O -- gotta love our universal solvent!

p.s. - i totally may revoke this entry if i wake-up 184839358 times tonight...

so my impulsive move

of the week was to book a trip to dubai. nothing sounds sketchier than a 22 year old female going to the middle east alone, but in all reality, i'll be staying with family. though i may omit the family part to keep the shock factor :)... bring on the camel riding, arabic food, and outdoor markets!

anyway, you would think booking that ticket would momentarily quell my travel bug, but it has instead magnified it. i'm suddenly attempting to plan spring break in spain or summer in peru or camping in colorado. i don't know what is wrong with me, but then again, i love still being at that point in life where my idealism hasn't quite caught up with reality. at such a young age, it is easy to assume that i'll have time to eventually travel everywhere and conquer the world. and if i get my way, i certainly plan on doing both :)

hello, december

so i realize i have failed at blogging lately, so here i am, attempting to redeem myself...

just got back from thanksgiving in pennsylvania - it was a glorious 10-day break from work... which made going back to work today especially hard! after days of lounging and doing as you please, it is rather difficult to once again sit still and take orders, but i guess that's part of the deal

anyway, instead of a boring recap of my trip, i'm going to go with random thoughts:
- i love online shopping. if i never have to set foot in a store again, that would be okay with me. current favorite website: endless.com -- may or may not have ordered another pair of boots... but they were the deal of the day! 50% off, no tax, and overnight delivery? yes please.
- online shopping aside, i did go out for black friday. we hit up walmart at 12:01 am. the best part: i only bought a pair of sheets. granted, they are silk sateen 500 threadcount for $19.88, but really, who goes to walmart at midnight for sheets? tv? yes. sheets? no.
- totally fell off the diet bandwagon over vacation. probably ate a whole stick of butter on thanksgiving. didn't run at all. fail fail fail. despite that minor (major) set-back, i'm back on track. for now at least... until the christmas cookies show their ugly faces...
- witnessed a hit&run today. the car in front of me rear-ended the car in front of it and drove off like a crazy person. they almost hit me while they were trying to change lanes and get-away. so thankful i wasn't the one hit! esp after my little incident 2 months ago...
- i like christmas music just as much as the next person, but i feel like starting to play it on the radio 24/7 ALREADY is a little out-of-control. i was forced to listen to it for 7 hours straight at work today. i think i'm one of those people that can't enjoy it until the week of christmas. 3 weeks away + it still feels like fall + no snow + not doing holidayish things = not ready for jingle bells.

anyway, off to job #2... 10 hours of work a day is really too much