texas fight

CONGRATULATIONS 

 to my rockstar baby brother who was officially accepted to THE University of Texas at Austin! I am so proud of my new fellow longhorn! I could not be happier for him. 

I also could not be happier to have a valid reason to visit atx excessively for the next 4 years, but this is about him, not me! :) 

nothing else like it. 

I love you AJ!

Hook 'em <3

valentine's love

I must apologize to my thousands of three faithful readers for not giving a more timely Valentine's Day wish! Luckily, I spent the entire weekend stuffing my face with so much chocolate that I went up a jean size making delicious Valentine's Day treats and proceeded to ignore ALL schoolwork. Therefore, this week has been spent making up for the button that popped off my pants catching up on all the papers I should have been writing prior to thirty minutes before they were due.

My favorite person in the world (sister) was here for the weekend and she is the best Valentine a girl could hope for. I don't know if I can say she is as committed to chocolate as I am, but she comes pretty close so we had some delicious hours moments in the kitchen.

We spent Friday night making our traditional Sara-is-in-town trip to Chipotle, watching AJ ball (he is a rockstar), and eating pizza. 

Saturday morning was incredible. Run4Justice was a 5k our church put on to raise money to help stop sex trafficking in Cambodia. Over 1,000 runners and $133,000. Perfect sunshine, genuine attitudes, beautiful people. GOD IS GOOD.

We spent the rest of the day bathing in chocolate. Red velvet and milk chocolate strawberry cake balls, mocha toffee brownie torte (headed up by daddy), triple chocolate pink moose munch, and chocolate covered strawberries were on the menu. 

Because I am the furthest one can possibly be from artsy, I think I use cooking and baking to express the right side of my brain. Or maybe I just love food. Either way.

 That nibble that is missing was solely for picture-taking purposes. You know there is no way I ate those balls in any way other than finishing the whole thing off in one glorious bite.

 I would just like to point out that the brownie layers alone were made with a pound of chocolate as well as a pound of butter as well as 8 eggs. Literally. Let's not even think about the entire gallon of heavy whipping cream and two tubs of mascarpone cheese that went into the filling. Die.

 Cutest thing I have ever seen. Of all these delicious treats, my father's 5yearold sophisticated palette favored this dynamic salty sweet snack.

Before we knew it, it was dinner time and we OBVIOUSLY could not skip dinner since consuming 7,302 calories in chocolate is not enough for one day. Since no one was hungry, but skipping dinner was not an option, we squeezed in a quick Insanity workout to work up an appetite. Insanity was literally insanity. By the end of the 5 hour long 40 minute workout, I was in crouched position ready to punch the TV if I heard him say "faster", "deeper", or "harder" one more time. 

We made our way over to Haltom City to try out a new Thai joint recently recommended to me. Best decision of the day. Definitely a far better idea than the idea to participate in anything called Insanity.

We ordered 4 different dishes and we all ate off all of the plates like savages polite taste-testers. 

 Look at that perfect rice ball! Good thing we ordered brown rice to balance out the 20 pounds of chocolate I had eaten 30 minutes earlier.

 Pad Thai. This unanimously won first place.

 Pineapple Fried Rice. A close second.

 Drunken Noodles

Chicken and Broccoli with Peanut Sauce. 

I spent the rest of the night in stretchy pants, crawling/rolling from room to room in my house since I clearly could not walk.

Church Sunday morning then I made MIGAS for everyone for brunch. I have never wanted a Paris Texas Platter more than after being reminded of how heavenly migas are. 

My Valentine's weekend was full of love and I am so incredibly grateful for all of the loves in my life. You all make me a very happy girl woman. (That's for Dr. Mollen.)

I hope you had a lovely day of love!

<3

P.S. As wonderful as this weekend was, I could not help but miss my traditional celebration with my two main squeezes who are now on opposite ends of the earth from me.

Notes to self:

1. If the temperature outside has not risen since yesterday, the temperature of the workout room will also not have risen since yesterday. Therefore, attempting to inhale the same icy air while running will still be just as likely to induce a nose-bleed.

2. I know you think the workout room exists solely for you and roomie since you are the only people you ever see using it, but your fellow residents, who are also stuck in their apartments for the millionththird day in a row, are as equally as bored as you are and are therefore allowed to use the workout room as a last resort boredom-buster. Please be patient and learn to share. 

3. When you are snowediced into your apartment, and therefore unable to acquire groceries, you should refrain from finishing off your entire batch of peanut butter cookies in two days since you used the only cookie ingredients you had for that batch. You will not be happy when the only sweets you have left are a stale bag of mini marshmallows and three Starbursts.

4. Not unlike your need for better rationing of your dessert, you should also practice better rationing of your toilet paper when you are three quarters of the way through your last roll. 

5. You are going to severely regret not using all of your free time more wisely when you have 923084029384 chapters to read and papers to write next week. At least your finger nails will be spectacularly polished and you will be completely up to date on all of the happenings of your favorite bloggers' lives.

<3

February: you are not doing much better than January

In case there was any confusion at all, I DO NOT LIKE snow, ice, or freezing temperatures. Actually, snow is okay. Ice and freezing temperatures are not. Luckily, I'm pretty sure you must have ice and freezing temperatures to have snow.

Don't get me wrong. I can seriously appreciate a chilly day filled with hot chocolate, a fire, and soup or chili. Keep in mind, however, that I consider any temperature under 70 degrees to be a chilly day. Thus, I DO NOT NEED a ten degree day to enjoy my four bowls of soup.

I am going into my 43rd hour of being trapped in my box and it is seriously starting to take its toll. I just lit 5 candles for fun. Next on my list: organizing the pantry, cabinets, and freezer. I have never wanted a fresh vegetable so badly. Namely, my daily dose of butternut squash. My frost-bitten green beans that taste like watered down grass are just NOT cutting it. 

Thankfully, roomie and I did scrounge up the ingredients (minus the baking soda- exactly what does that do?) for peanut butter m&m cookies last night, which has served as the one delicious part of this entire fiasco.

In case you are wondering how I will be spending the remainder of this hellaciouscozy snow-in, take a gander at the above picture (imagine it in my mouth) and the following picture (imagine it in my dreams).

<3

P.S. If you have to wear long johns and gloves in your gym to prevent developing frost bite, just turn around and go back home. It's NOT happening.

P.P.S. Congratulations to Naomi and Josh!! I cannot wait to count the number of blog entries posted before one is not centered around the babyandhowmuchyouloveherandhowmuchshehaschangedyourlifeforeverandhowyoucannotdoanythingwithoutherandyouhavenoideahowyoueverlivedwithouther.

January is not my favorite

I am so annoyed with myself for not updating sooner because I hate when my favorite bloggers skip even a day, let alone an entire month. The beginning of January is awful because it means Christmas is officially over. There is nothing to console that loss except FREEZING cold weather and the start of school. Which are equally terrible unpleasant. 

But January is over which helps me have a much better attitude.

One positive thing that came out of my least favorite month was my discovery of butternut squash. Consider it officially added to my list of favorite foods. I could eat it every single day and never get bored. In fact, I pretty much have. :)

We attended a wedding a few weeks ago. I loved the center pieces. 

And the dessert table.

This past weekend we celebrated my dad's 50th birthday! I cannot believe he is 50, it sounds so old, yet he seems so young. Best dad in the world, and I'm not just saying that. 

We went to a Mavs game. I always forget how much fun they are until I go to one again. SO SO FUN! My boys JJ and Jet were as sexyfine as ever. Missed Sara lots.

My dad practicing "the pose" that my mom still cannot seem to master.

The birthday cake I made him. Peanut butter and chocolate, his favorite! :)

Most delicious day of my life.

Yum. Looking at that makes me want more. Now.

February started off with a bang. SNOW and NO class! :) I have a grand total of two pictures to show for it because let's just put it this way, when the temperature outside is 18 degrees and the wind chill is -1, NOTHING motivates me to leave my down comforter except for 3 bowls of Honey Bunches of Oats with Cinnamon Clusters.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

And Happy February to all. We are that much closer to more appropriate temperatures! :)

<3