Black and White Popcorn, the easy treat

 This year at our two awkward family Christmas Parties I decided to make and bring Black and White Popcorn, a delicious and super easy snack food! It's pretty too.

It takes about 10 minutes and only requires

making popcorn,

melting chocolate,

drizzling skills,

and a dash of salt.

Simple, no?

Yes!

Which is wonderful for me those of us who aren't what you would call culinary geniuses.

:)

I found this recipe on the little red house.

mmmmm tasty.

Hope you enjoy and Happy Holidays!

:)

Quote of the Week

12.26.11

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas with family and friends. Happy Holidays!

Photo reblogged from Le Love, love thie blog :)

A white christmas in Washington?

Sadly, no. It is not a white christmas in Washington (yet), but this morning I started the first official day of my christmas break off with watching Bing Crosby in White Christmas on the bigscreen with my sister and mother followed by 6 and a half hours of shopping at the mall.
My feet want to murder me.

On a good note though, I only embarassed myself a few times by attempting to give my drink to the waiter when it wasn't necessary and mistaking a woman's husband for her father... that was awkward. But I got some of my shopping done! (yes, less than a week until christmas and I'm just beginning my gift shopping-procrastinate much?)
I even scored sweet deals at Romy's. Oh holiday season how I love you!

Anywho, I then decorated our second christmas tree with my whole family and it was a party. Yes, a party. :) We stayed up until 11:30 pm decorating our house and trees because we're weird and do stuff at night instead of in the daylight like normal people. They're so funny.
But that is what this post is all about, something I am thankful for this holiday season is family. They'll love you forever and always, never leave you and stick by your side- even when you don't want them to.
It's kind of their biological obligation.
But it makes them great :)

Quote of the Week

12.18.11

Photo from The Kitchn  http://www.thekitchn.com

Quote of the Week

12.12.11

Can everyone think like this? :) It'd be wonderful if they did.

Hunting for Christmas Trees 2011.

Tree Hunting  [Tuh-ree Huhn-ting]
verb

1. The act of adventuring in the mountains to find the perfect wild christmas tree. Trees may be rather scrawny and windwarn from standing on the peaks overlooking valleys of green and being pelted by snow. Often times people view mountain hunted trees as being weak and undesirable, but no. They are the tough trees that must face nature at it's roughest and survive- they are the real trees that deserve to bear the name of christmas.
2.  How real men find  christmas trees.

 
Total Preparation Time: 1 hour finding puffy coats and tacky snow gear, loaded in the truck

Total Time:  app. 7 hours, about 4 on the mountain and 3 1/2 driving

Materials : 

• Gloves        
• Hat(s)
• Hot Cocoa [Loads]
• Cheap Blue Sledding Disk
• Blankets
• Wool Socks (ugly in a good way)
• Tired eyes in the morning
• Ganola Bars and Applesauce [power food!]
• Pocket Sized Sister and Carny Hands cousin

 Mission: Find, cut down and bring back intact two Luscious and beautious Christmas Trees to celebrate the season.

Weapons of Choice: Saw (to conquer the trees), Hot Chocolate (to chase away the chill), Sleds (to make it worthwhile)

A ceremonious stop at the same McDonalds every year for breakfast! 





The hunt came out successful.

Power Food! YUM





Yay for bad quality cell phone pictures

Mission Complete :)

My Amazon Sister

This is my sister.

She is quite amazing. With many talents ranging from funny stomach noises, scoring great deals while shopping to making the cutest funny faces she is really an interesting person. Despite many first impressions she secretly is tall when no ones looking. Her hair was long  in these pictures, but since then it's changed and is now short, around her shoulder length. Many people tell her she is exotic looking and that's why I often refer to her as my Amazon Woman :) She is someone I look up to and admire greatly, not to mention she's dang pretty and super hilarious to hangout with.

 She is my bestest friend and a major part of my life and I felt like sharing her with y'all.

Quote of the Week

12.8.11

Sorry it's a bit late, I haven't bee a very good blogger this week due to lots of homework and little time, but there you have it! Quote of the week.

More things to come soon :)

P.s. 200 views!!! Thanks to all of you who have looked at this page and contributed to the numbers, you are fantastic.

Quote of the Week

11.27.11

To be Thankful

Feasting Day.

Yes, it was here.

Thanksgiving.

And, as it was Thanksgiving, and I didn't post on that day I thought I might as well continue my post about all the things I'm thankful for, even if it is a day or two late.

I have a million and one things to be thankful for.

I am thankful for my family, the crazy, crazy, and awkward family I have. But as weird as they are, they're my kind of weird.

I am thankful for bestfriends. Together we come up with the best bad ideas, make the best waffles and have the best random dance parties ever. Bestfriends make my life a happier place and it wouldn't be nearly as exciting without them. 

(P.s. Happy 18th Birthday to one of my bestfriends, on last Wednesday :) )

I am thankful for my sister. She is my little big sister, quite literally as she 4 inches shorter than me and three years older. While we do get in little fights and bicker like an old married couple she will forever be my role model and gives the best advice. We've been through a lot but I wouldn't trade those memories of getting dislocated elbows, watching harry potter and being book nerds together for anything. :)

Done.
With the sappy things, that is.

Okay, now that I've shared the sappy things I am thankful for I can address the other, not so sappy things that most of us are thankful for but won't always say.

Let's be honest here.

I am thankful for T.V.  For without it, there would be no family night laughing at The Office, or Sienfeld, or Modern Family.

I am thankful for cookbooks. I know that sounds odd, but I would be lost without them. If they didn't exist I would probably be eating Ramen noodles and cereal for the rest of my life.

I am thankful for bathrooms. Yes, bathrooms. As a runner and avid participant in various camping and hiking trips, I know that a bathroom, even a Sandy Can or Honey Bucket (most of the time) beats peeing in the bushes. True Fact.

I am thankful for waffles. As I mentioned before, I am not the most creative at cooking and waffles are an easy breakfast I make almost everyday. In fact, I am eating one right now. And it's delicious. 

I am thankful for bobby pins. I have this hair that's got a nice cowlick on the right side of my head that deems my hair always to be messy and in my face, without bobby pins I would look something like Cousin It from the Adams family and probably wouldn't have any friends.

I am thankful for dictionary.com because of all the interesting things I learn from it. Like did you know a cowleech is really a cow doctor, one who heals the diseases of cows? Well now you do. And it's all thanks to dicitonary.com. You're welcome.

I am thankful for fingers and hands. Have you ever thought about what it would be like without them? I have. And you would just have nubs. Little nubs that you couldn't pick things up with, or really use unless you had to wack someone. And even then that's unpractical! So, I am thankful for fingers and hands because they allow us to hold hands, pick up mugs full of hot chocolate, greet people and express yourself.

I am thankful for couches, because sitting on the floor would just be awkward in large groups all the time.

And, lastly (but not really because I have sooooo much more to be thankful for), I am thankful for winter. Without winter there'd be no Christmas which is just around the corner and I'M SO EXCITED. :)

So, I honestly am thankful for all the sappy and meaningful things in my life, but I am also thankful for the little things. 

What are you thankful for?

Quote of the Week

11.21.11

Yes, beaver holes do exist.

So, if you really know me, you've probably heard of the beaver hole story. I have used this story at least twice for english papers, retold it numerous times around campfires on family camping trips and it is mentioned with a laugh at least twice each year in my house. Yes. The beaver hole story. First off, I would just like to mention that a beaver hole is little underground canal that a beaver digs directly from the river to inland  as an easier way to transport the logs, sticks and branches they drag back to their lodges. It makes perfect sense, right? I mean why wouldn't beavers make these tunnels and why wouldn't someone know about these things? Common sense, right? Wrong. I didn't know that there were such things as beaver holes. I had never heard of them and I don't know if anyone who doesn't live in idaho would either.
Once upon a time there was a family who was extremely outdoorsy and went on family camping trips every summer to isolated areas such as Wyoming, Idaho and Montana and stayed in isolated campgrounds because the parents didn't like social contact while on vacation. A bit odd, but it's home for me. So, as my family and I were camped beside a river in Deadwood Idaho one afternoon my father decided to go fishing up river and we bid him good luck, hoping he would catch a big one. Meanwhile my sister and I stayed at camp playing like any  awesome 7 and 10 year old would. We could smell the dinner Mom was cooking in the little red and white camper, and as it started getting dark we heard the familiar tune of my father whistling, coming into camp. Instantly my sister and I made eye contact, each knowing exactly what the other was thinking. "Race you!" was barely out of my sisters mouth before we started running. The goal was to get to my father the fastest, running down the road and onto the short path along the river. Alomost there, I was running as hard as I could, no stopping now. What's this? I could hear my sisters footsteps right behind me, she was gaining. So close to the trail, but she was over taking me! My little legs couldn't go any faster, she had three years on me! So, what did I do? I cheated like the true little kid I was. Yep. I cut the corner, running through the brush and getting ahead of her on the trail. I was so close, I could see my Dad stopped right there with his fishing pole! I was thinking how clever I was for taking that shortcut, beating my big sister for once! I really showed her. My dad standing there about to say something, just a few more feet and victory was mine... and then WHOOSH. The ground went out  from under me, pitch black and I couldn't see a thing! Yes. I had  fallen into a beaverhole. I don't even remember my feet hitting the ground before I shot back out of the dark void and back into the light. The gap had been smack-dab in the middle of my Dad and me, I didn't even notice it. I was balling my eyes out. One minute I had sweet victory in the palm of my hand and the next my whole world had been pulled from beneath my feet. All that was going through my mind was Dark. Light. Hole. Running. What? It was an eye opening and quite frankly a frightening experience for a seven year old. Looking back though, it was so funny. My Dad, who was just about to warn me before I fell about the beaver hole said that he just remembers me being there one second, disappearing and reappearing suddenly out of no where. Not many people can say they have fallen in a beaver hole before and I'm proud to have that experience :) But I guess I could say the moral of this story is don't cut corners. Karma gets you in the end and if you cut corners (in my case, quite literally) you may find yourself in a beaver hole.

:)

Toasty Tuesdays... at least in peacoats, anyway

Four reasons why this Tuesday was awesome:

1. Hot chocolate with bestfriends

2. Wearing peacoats in chilly weather

3. Simply lovely beaches

4. Meeting random but very kind and funny strangers with dogs named Billy.

Yeah, so this is what my best friend and I do with our free time on Tuesdays. Wear matching peacoats and take pictures on the beach in cold November weather. Fun Fun Fun. :)

Yes. Our buttons DO match.

Quote of the Week

11.15.11

Honoring those who have served

Yes, you have probably noticed that today is Veterans Day. A day to remember those we have lost and a time to honor those who have served. They sacrifice and have sacrificed a lot for our country and it wouldn't be the same without them. So, I challenge you to write a letter to a soldier overseas or just to tell a veteran in your life how much they mean to you, showing your gratification for what they've done for our country.  Remeber, Honor and Celebrate. :)

Harry Potter-no-more

Today is the day. The day that the last movie of the Harry Potter Series comes out on DVD and it is a sad day indeed. To those of you who are unfamiliar with my love of Harry Potter, well then you just won't understand this post and that's quite alright, just don't pay it any attention- I won't be offended. But to those of you who DO share my love and appreciation for this simply magical fictional series then this is for you. This is a farewell to the Harry Potter series, never again shall I dress up for a midnight premier of Harry Potter as Hermione and have gum thrown in my hair (peanut butter does work). Never again shall I have Harry Potter spell fights in the dressing rooms in drama at school or make my own wand with my harry Potter obsessed friends. Never agian shall I dream of recieving the letter of acceptance even though I'm quite a bit older than eleven (maybe it go lost in the mail...?). Oh, the good times I have had with HP. On a different note (but not completely seperate) this means my friends and I are going to have a super fun and amazing Harry Potter movie marathon! Again! Only this time with all seven movies! People, that is somewhere near SEVENTEEN hours of Harry Potter! Do you know how awesome that is? SO aswesome. That's how much. I don't even know if I can handle how much awesome that is.

This Weeks Happy

The past few weeks have been quite odd for me. Stress, confusion, messy bedrooms, strange phone calls and hearing my science teacher's voice saying "Peas and carrots!" over and over in my head, but in the mess I managed to create and terrify myself with there was definitely some happiness in it. So, here are a few of the happy things or people that are happy in my life and have been in the past  bizarre week 

This kid is fan-flippin-tastic. He practically makes my day everyday :) What a champ.

Fun new hairdos.

I am in love with peaunut butter and jelly sandwiches. I love love LOVE them! I don't know why.They're just so dang delicious, but all my friends look at me crazy when I get excited to eat my PB&J. I have a theory that involves me being deprived of their goodness as a child...

(I feel so unoriginal having to use an image from google, but I promise as soon as I get a new camera I will be as original as humanly possible!)

ORANGE JUICE. I like it. I love it. I can't possibly have more of it.

And of course, The Office. This show never fails to make me laugh.

Dwight : "Who is Justice Beaver?"

Jim : "It's a crime fighting beaver..."



Quote of the Week

11.7.11

The Feeling of Fall

Fall is finally here. Time to break out the colorful rainboots, umbrellas and warm coats in Washington. I'm so excited for this beautiful season because of the snuggling, the hot chocolate and the wonderful colors of the leaves. Not to mention puddle jumping with my best friend Red (who, by chance is my one and only follower right now) So the other day I decided to take a few pictures of the absolutely sprightly colorful leaves. Ahhh, life is good.