From the Mind of Katie

sharing time

2012-02-15T18:03:00.002-07:00

Three more thoughts for today:

1. I really loved this series of essays by C. Jane about her past relationships. You ought to read them.

2. Cooking mishap: Tortillas will stick to tin foil, and you will get really frustrated with your tin foil-studded enchiladas.

2. Cooking win: Yesterday we had a successful salmon and cheesecake experience (though not at the same time). Two birds with one holiday, guys! Salmon recipe here, chocolate cheesecake found here.

You got any links you want to share?

xo

2012-02-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a little known fact about Aaron:

He loves puzzles.

When we were first dating we put together the bottom puzzle (3,000 pieces). After moving to Philly last summer and not having a ton going on we did the top puzzle (4,000 pieces). It's currently on our wall in our study. Over the break Aaron's parents got two 1,000 piece puzzles for Christmas, which we did, along with the 1,000 piece puzzle of the Sistine Chapel they brought back from Europe. Figuring out which pinky-peach angel skin went with which angel was freaking hard. This summer, Aaron plans on buying a 5,000 piece puzzle of some sort of Roman scene. We'll hang that one on the wall too.

Here is another little known fact about Aaron: one time he watched Fiddler on the Roof on youtube in 15 minute clips. The entire three hours. I'm still not really sure why.

Sometimes, I just have no idea what he's going to do next. Being married to him makes life pretty darn exciting, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Love you A Sauce. Happy [late ] Valentine's Day everyone!

what a show!

2012-02-09T19:24:00.002-07:00

I'm pretty sure I watched Arthur up through high school. I probably still would if we had any sort of cable (not even PBS or Spanish soap operas at our house!).

Oh, and: computer is fixed thanks to Aaron making the trek from Penn to the Apple store in Center City and finagling his way into a new hard drive for free! Yay Aaron! Yay recovered documents! Yay significantly improved outlook on life!

irrational

2012-02-07T21:24:00.002-07:00

Dear MacBook,

You suck, and I want my powerpoint presentation and two papers back because they are due in two days.

-Katie

have you seen this yet?

2012-02-05T12:41:00.000-07:00

4 clips of Avatar: The Legend of Korra

sooooexcited. But I haven't been able to find an actual air date yet. When I was stranded in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport all night, I watched the last three episodes of this series via my mom's Netflix account. Is there anything more epic than the agni kai between Azula and Zuko? Than the showdown between Phoenix King Ozai and Aang? I submit that there is not. Except maybe this exchange, which is probably my favorite:

Sokka: My first girlfriend turned into the moon.

Zuko: That's rough buddy.

pin #123891412374

2012-02-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

Remember this post about ridiculous pinterest images?

Somehow my posting of that picture of the framed tv ended up getting repinned to pinterest and has given me a small boost in traffic. It's currently my top referring site. I find this extremely amusing as the people who've pinned it have put things like "love this idea" in the caption. I was making fun of that idea, guys! I think it's ridiculous to frame a tv! Obviously, that person didn't read my post. Or they did, but don't trust my judgment on home decor.

Here's a new gem:

My first thought upon seeing this: that Kitchenaid is about to drill into that baby's skull.

Pleasant!

Keep it classy, readers.
Have a good weekend!

on goldfish and apple jacks

2012-02-02T12:27:00.002-07:00

I bought one of those giant things of goldfish crackers at Target last weekend with three huge packs of fishys, and we have already eaten 2 of them. That dang box was supposed to last us a month! The same thing always seems to happen with cereal, too. I'll buy 4 boxes when it's on sale, and we'll go through them in a week and a half. I don't know how we'll ever be able to afford to feed anyone but ourselves.

Moral of the story: buying things in bulk is not actually cheaper for us. We just consume more food in the same amount of time. I would be frustrated, but, I really like goldfish.

favorites

2012-02-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

I have two people to introduce to you:

1. Aaron and his med school journey of hope and wonder!

2. Becky and her ponytail!

My husband and sister both recently joined the blogging community, and they are both really entertaining. And they are two of my most favorite people in the world. So why don't you give them a read? :)

a lesson in sentence types

2012-01-28T08:32:00.001-07:00

Question: Is it worth it to make bagels and vanilla extract from scratch?

Statement: I am officially in a lab studying bioinorganic chemistry.

Exclamation: I have my own desk with a key so it's like I'm a real life grad student!!!!!

Command: Have a good weekend!

haiku for you

2012-01-25T18:56:00.002-07:00

like cherry blossoms
in the spring
let us fall
clean and radiant

Clean and radiant. Doesn't that sound nice? Clean and radiant and free of grief.

A wish for spring.

(Have you heard this song? It sounds like the haiku to me.)

hiding beet sugar or cane sugar? also, everglades.

2012-01-23T21:53:00.001-07:00

Right now I wish I had four roommates so we could get some great discussion going about tonight's Republican debate and the fact that Harrison Ford is slated to play Colonel Graff in the Ender's Game movie coming out next year! Since Aaron is buried in study materials, all I've done is posted a couple lame tweets, texted my mom, and contemplated sharing a link on facebook. I haven't felt this socially deprived since I lived in France and no one could understand me.

Tell me how excited you are for this movie/how weird Newt's hair is/how lame the questions were at the debate/why did Romney use the word self-deportation/the girl from "True Grit" is also in "Ender's Game"/the director of "Ender's Game" is also responsible for its screenplay and that X-men Wolverine movie which is a little concerning/I am soooo needy.

Or maybe I just don't feel like reading a paper for bioinorganic that's not due until Thursday anyway.

so you'd like to eat in philly...

2012-01-21T10:57:00.002-07:00

Aaron and I went out to eat last night, and I thought about chronicling our experience through photos. But you know what, I feel really awkward taking pictures of my food in restaurants. It's one thing to take pictures when you're with a bunch of friends, and it's some huge outing. If it's just me and Aaron, though, it's kind of weird. How do bloggers do it all the time?

Anyway, instead of giving you a million darkened photos of Indian food, I'm giving you a list of mine and Aaron's favorite Philadelphia eats! Wahoo! I now have six months of Philly experience, and I like food. These are my qualifications. Enjoy:

The Indian Restaurant. Yes, that's the actual name. It makes it really hard to find on google. But the food is excellent, the price is right (around $13 for an entree), and you get free rice pudding. I don't like rice pudding, but if you do, plus for you! Our favorites include chicken korma (Aaron), chicken tikka masala, and chicken makhani (Katie).

Sabrina's Cafe. Right next to the Italian Market, Sabrina's Cafe is this kind of funky little...cafe...with delicious banana-cream cheese stuffed French toast. It's cheap ($10 entree) and cute and I really want to try everything on their brunch menu (dinner is also great).

Sugar Philly dessert truck. I have to admit I've never bought anything from them except their macarons (although I've been meaning to try their creme brulee) because they are that good. The French sandwich cookies are incredible. You can't go wrong with milk and honey, chocolate ganache, salted caramel, or chocolate hazelnut. If you're lucky, it'll be a pomegranate lemon or pistachio day and then you'll really be in heaven.

El Vez. You get what you pay for at this place. It's pretty expensive (Aaron, his mom and I spent $70 here), but it's so good. Cough up the $12 for the guacamole. You will not regret it. Also recommended: pork tacos. Delicious. It's also in a kind of fun part of town with a lot of cute little stores nearby. Only con is that it's really noisy.

Giorgio on Pine. This is an adorable little Italian restaurant with amazing Italian food. I swear I will always remember that tortelli with the tomato-basil cream sauce. And, Giorgio himself gave us free dessert (chocolate cake >>> rice pudding), so hello, I love you.

Capogiro Gelato. Proclaimed the best ice cream place in the world by National Geographic, these guys are legit. I am the champion of pairing flavors at this place, probably because everything is so delicious that it's impossible to go wrong. Winning combos include: chocolate hazelnut + pistachio (I love pistachio) or blood orange + ultra dark chocolate.

Jims. I can't believe I almost forgot this one. This is the best cheesesteak place in Philly (Tina Fey, Billy Joel, and Denzel Washington from the 80s agree with me). For the full Philly experience you'll have to get it with whiz, not pansy provolone cheese.

There you go! Are you drooling yet? Are you searching for flights on Expedia? Our guest bedroom is calling your name (but Capogiro is screaming it)!

i'm mostly here for the pretty colors

2012-01-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

This is just your friendly reminder that chemistry is awesome.

Bismuth crystal. Isn't it gorgeous?! It looks like stairs! I want one on a necklace.

Cobalt chloride crystals that are the same color as the pair of jeans Nordstrom just shipped me.

Cobalt blue! So great!

pumpkin bread, ramekins, and a new semester

2012-01-15T15:01:00.000-07:00

Quick breads, for whatever reason (maybe my banana bread attempt that turned up a still gummy middle but burned crust? or maybe because of Amanda's highly entertaining posts like this), tend to scare me more than yeast breads, but yesterday I stood up to that fear and made pumpkin bread using this recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. It was delish! Not burned! Also, I made glazed carrots using this Martha Stewart recipe (minus the red wine vinegar because I didn't have any), and oh. my. gosh. Never have carrots tasted so good. Even Aaron liked them, and that my friends, is saying a lot.

I think I've made some cooking progress this year trying scary things like

a lot of yeast breads (but no homemade bread actually),

a roast (do you know how expensive roasts are, though?! I will probably not make another one for a long time),

a roux for homemade macaroni and this amazing tomato-basil parmesan soup

caramels with the scary candy thermometer!

I think this year I want to make a cheesecake (since I own two springform pans that have never been used), pie crust, chicken en papillote, and cook salmon. Salmon scares me because it is expensive, and I will never forgive myself if I screw up $12 worth of fish. Oh, and maybe creme brulee since I also own a set of ramekins, but have been using them to serve toppings for Hawaiian haystacks and melt butter in the microwave.

Obviously, I am a master chef.

In other news, we're back at school, and it's been surprisingly low key. Even Aaron is done with studying before 7 PM, and we've watched half of the first season of "Community" in the past two days. I'm just biding my time until I find out what lab I'm in, actually have to start doing lab work and TAing, and my inorganic chemistry class starts kicking my butt. Until then, grad school is the best!

Do you have any recipes you're excited to try out this year? Has school been deceptively easy for you too? Are you officially done with school forever and your life is amazing?! Tell me about it. :)

thumbs up for mint green nail polish and reddish/brown hair

2012-01-10T13:42:00.003-07:00

Oh, and I gone dyed my hair!

and took an indie shot of it. Also, do you like my black and white throw pillow? because I do, a lot.

Also, my body looks really oddly proportioned, like my arms are teeny and my hand and knees are enormous. I don't think this is entirely true in real life.

the break

2012-01-10T11:22:00.001-07:00

Christmas break was unexpectedly really wonderful. It was so great to be with Aaron's family for Christmas and New Year's and play with our three year old niece Brooklyn and just relax. Everything was very low key, and just....healing? I think is the right word? Since Aaron started school last week, he came back to Philly, but I don't start until tomorrow, so I stayed another week with my family. That was also great. We ice skated, dance partied, made caramels, went out to eat way too many times (all my favorites that aren't in Philly: Cafe Rio, Kneaders, In-N-Out, Zupas), hung out on Temple Square, went to my dad's chem 101 class, played games, visited old friends, went shopping with my mom. Now that Jeff is off preaching away in France I finally realized that there are a lot of girls in my family (me + 3 sisters + mom). And they are the best.

hurts like heaven

2012-01-08T14:04:00.000-07:00

Four weeks ago today Zach, we got the news of your death, and I think I finally have something worth posting about you.

This is Zach, lover of drums, karate, and golf, thirteen years old, random and crazy as ever. The video sums him up better than I ever could in words, but here are a few words' attempt anyway.

I didn't know Zach for very long, as Aaron and I have only been married a year, and we spent half of it living 2,000 miles away. One of my memories of him though, was from when we were in North Carolina for our beach vacation in June. He was always out on the boogie board, even when the waves were big enough that I was too freaked out to go out that far. He had this red beanie that he always had to be wearing. One time he came in from swimming, put it on his wet head, took a nap, and the beanie bled red dye all over the white pillowcase. We thought that was the funniest thing. Another memory is from the chemistry department brunch after graduation in April. Zach and I were in line for food, and I was talking to one of my former professors. She asked Zach what he wanted to be when he grew up, and I forget exactly what he said, but it had something to do with the stock market. He then went into a detailed (and quite accurate) explanation of how the stock market worked. Did you know how the stock market worked at the age of 12? And would you have had the guts to explain it to someone much older than you? That was Zach. He wasn't afraid of anything.

On our anniversary, we watched our wedding video, and there you were Zach, wishing us a good marriage at the luncheon and thanking Aaron for "letting me be in your wedding group", dancing with your sisters at the reception, smiling, happy, alive. We cried.
I have spent the last three weeks wishing I could undo December 11th. But for whatever reason, it was your time to go. Zach, we miss you and love you so much. We look forward to when we can be with you again.

joy to the world! i am free of airports!

2011-12-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

After a long day and a half by myself in Philly (Aaron's flight left the day before mine, I know, the world's smallest violin is playing a sad song right now), I finally got to fly home! Until I missed my connecting flight in Dallas and had to spend the night in that wretched, freezing, mouse-ridden, eternally bright airport courtesy of American Airlines. No, I'm not bitter at all.

But I finally made it home to hang out with Aaron's family for Christmas and New Year's! The older I get, the more I appreciate being home and with family. This year is no exception.

Merry Christmas to you all!

one reason to celebrate:

2011-12-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

A year ago today I married my best friend, and what a year it has been.
I love you Aaron!

brooklyn loves watching the silly elephants

2011-12-18T08:55:00.002-07:00

I think I have more I want to say, but until I figure out how, this was one of Zach's favorite songs. And the music video is perfect for him:

Paradise by Coldplay

paradise

2011-12-14T08:57:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for your outpouring of love and support. We are in awe of the kindness we've received from so many. Thank you for the comments, tweets, messages, phone calls, emails and prayers. They have made a world of difference.

We feel so blessed not only to have such a wonderful support group, but also to know that we will be with Zach again. Life does not end with death, but continues on because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He truly has borne all of our sorrows, and He knows perfectly what we are feeling. I echo Nephi's words: I do not know the meaning of all things, I do not understand why this happened, but I know that God loves His children.

Romans 8 "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to^aseparate us from the ^blove of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Slowly but surely, we are finding peace.

there are no words

2011-12-12T05:39:00.000-07:00

Aaron's little brother passed away last night. Our hearts are so broken, and I just keep hoping we will wake up from this nightmare.

Please, please, please keep us and his family in your prayers. We need all the help we can get.

my nail polish is really chipped. maybe that's why i'm so annoyed.

2011-12-09T18:29:00.001-07:00

Found on facebook:

Yeah, I'm a girl. I push doors that CLEARLY say pull. I laugh harder when I'm trying to explain WHY I'm laughing. I walk into a room and forget why I even went in there. I count on my fingers for math. I hide my pain from my loved ones. I say it's a long story, when it's really NOT, just to get out of having to tell it. I cry a lot more than you think I do. I care about people who don't care about me. I am strong because I HAVE to be, not because I want to be. I listen to you, even when you DON'T listen to me. And yes, a hug will ALWAYS help♥.

"I count on my fingers for math."

Really? Sucking at math is a feminine characteristic?
Or is this just a random list of non-gender specific character traits that I've seen reposted by multiple girls?
Maybe they should just go buy one of those shirts JC Penney pulled offline proclaiming "I'm too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me!"

Yay girls! Yay equality!

a gift to the world

2011-12-04T21:15:00.001-07:00

With Christmas fast approaching, maybe you could take 10 minutes and watch this video and remember what the holiday is really all about?

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

What are you doing to make Christmas special this year?

blue ornaments everywhere

2011-11-25T12:40:00.001-07:00

Today, I am thankful for books organized by color, and Aaron's discovery of ornament hooks in the ornament boxes.

I am thankful for leftover orange rolls and candied nuts from Thursday's feast.

I am thankful for Skype and Facetime so we could feel like we shared Thanksgiving with our families 2,000 miles away.

I am thankful for good people in our branch and the opportunity to give a talk in church about...what else...gratitude on Sunday.

I am grateful for the Pandora Christmas music station.

Mostly though, I am thankful for people: Aaron, family, friends, and God.

Happy [late] Thanksgiving!

this is not cool graphic design

2011-11-23T16:44:00.001-07:00

I dislike it when people switch up the color of text randomly, and also the font size:

Red words read: ADMIT IT Floor Lava couches Survive

Right.

Also dislike: Keep Calm and [insert anything you want here] posters. I like the original, and I even liked the "Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake" the first time I saw it. But after seeing about a million versions of this on Pinterest ("Keep Calm and Love Cows" really?!), I hate it.

The end.

jumped the gun

2011-11-23T10:44:00.001-07:00

Merry Thanksgiving!

We got invited to one of the other young couple's houses in our branch, so we we'll be partying it up tomorrow afternoon!

(Those are atom ornaments, a wedding gift from one of our favorite chemistry professors at BYU. )

on repeat:

2011-11-21T11:37:00.001-07:00

"Anchor" by Mindy Gledhill

(inspired by this post)

What are you listening to lately? (besides Christmas music, right? except Amanda :) )

confession: i started listening to christmas music today.

2011-11-20T12:51:00.001-07:00

via

Aaron and I are staying in Philly for Thanksgiving. We're making ourselves dinner on Thursday, and I'm sure it will be quite the adventure. Any suggestions for what to make? Aaron's already requested banana cream pie (and I'll be using the recipe Amanda recently posted...excellent timing, friend), and I am requesting mashed potatoes. Rolls + turkey breast (cannot handle entire turkey) + green beans + gravy +...?

This just occurred to me: we will finally get to use that gravy boat we own but broke the handle off during the move!

What are your Thanksgiving plans?

pinterest gems

2011-11-18T19:14:00.001-07:00

Here are some classic ridiculous pinterest images I've found lately. Enjoy.

Dress up your ugly thermostat by calling a ton of attention to it via pseudo-vintage frame!!!!

Flat screen wall-mounted TVs are just not beautiful enough on their own without a frame!!!!

|Frame EVERYTHING!!!| (I tried to frame that text.)

I'm not entirely sure if this photo was supposed to be a joke. I'm going to hope it's a joke.

Shirtless dad covered in naked babies is creepy.

mac and cheese please

2011-11-14T14:56:00.001-07:00

I'm pretty sure someone should start a blog highlighting things found on Pinterest that are just out there enough to really weird me out. (Like painting and monogramming your knife block. That is a crafter gone way too far. What's next? Vinyl lettering your funky lime green Kitchenaid?)

Found today:

"How to make your own Velveeta without all the gross chemicals: colby, gelatin, milk."

[picture of grilled cheese sandwich disgustingly oozing cheese]

Why not use the colby cheese as is?! Why bother adulterating it with gelatin? Me being weirded out by this probably has to do with my hatred of Velveeta. One time, Aaron made the shells and cheddar boxed Velveeta for me, and while I was touched by the gesture, I could not finish that meal. I will eat Kraft macaroni and cheese from the blue box without qualms, but that Velveeta crap, no way.

So why would someone take a dang chunk of colby cheese and try to replicate that?!
Am I crazy or do you hate processed cheese product too?

christmas wishing

2011-11-12T14:09:00.001-07:00

This was an experiment by me, using the share on Blogger option from Polyvore. Sort of cool? Except I don't like all the labels it stuck on this post. "Steven by Steve Madden"? When am I ever going to use that label again? And "fashion". Guys, this is a post about FASHION. Just look at those last (2?) season boots and little blue stud earrings. I am at the height of fashion.

christmas wishing by kwpulsipher featuring rose stud earrings

Steven by Steve Madden wrap boots
$149 - piperlime.gap.com

Rose stud earrings
oliverbonas.com

Ikea Kajsa Träd
$7 - ikea.com

Ikea Hemnes
$180 - ikea.com

i ate plutonium

2011-11-06T16:15:00.000-07:00

This Saturday a bunch of chemists and I got together and baked the periodic table. That's 118 cookies guys! And you know what's really awesome? We were able to pipe the lettering for every element except the Uux ones from memory.

I think someone should just give us our PhDs now.

(By the way, Mindy Kaling's book was really good! I read it all in one sitting yesterday afternoon and couldn't stop laughing. It was just the thing to cheer me up after my disastrous organometallics test.)

amazon prime, i miss you.

2011-11-01T21:29:00.001-06:00

Based solely on the back cover, I really want to read Mindy Kaling's new book.

"The author as child star of the TLC series Androgynous Kids and Puppets, the less-successful predecessor of Toddlers and Tiaras."

That picture. Oh man.

the grand finale to my halloween

2011-10-31T18:40:00.001-06:00

kind of like this...

happy halloween!

2011-10-31T08:49:00.001-06:00

Love, us + pumpkin Jack Skellington

(no pictures from our party because I still can't find my camera charger and I didn't want to whip out the photobooth. It's okay though, because my costume was lame (Bones from "Bones"). But, Aaron's was good (3 hole punch Jim from "The Office."))

it's party time.

2011-10-29T14:37:00.000-06:00

Things are getting spooky at our home...

Bat idea from here.

Don't mind the crappy spider webbing. Did you know how hard it is to use that stuff?

the more i write, the more i think the whole premise of my proposal is flawed

2011-10-27T21:54:00.001-06:00

You know what's a bad idea? Telling a professor that you're interested in a career in science writing when you're going to have to turn in a nice little 5 page paper of science writing and you know you're going to end up still writing it at midnight the night before.

Not my best science writing tonight, guys. Oh well, oh well! My concern for this is decreasing exponentially with time.

How's your school life been lately?

spooky

2011-10-24T08:22:00.002-06:00

Aaron and I are throwing a Halloween party this weekend. And it has been a long time since I've thrown an awesome theme party, so I need some help here! Any great Halloween party ideas? Treats, activities, etc.? (I don't even really know what people do at parties these days...?)

Also, costumes. Not being near my family I am sadly separated from some really great dress ups. What are you being for Halloween? (what costume idea can I steal from you?)

Any thoughts would be much appreciated! :)

(oh, and update on my last post. James Franco tickets are all sold out. So no James Franco for me. :( Boo.)

reason 1203493 why i love penn

2011-10-20T13:40:00.003-06:00

Oh, hello James Franco.

Did you want to come speak at my school on November 6th?

Okay, great.

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

i need a photobooth intervention

2011-10-19T11:19:00.002-06:00

This is kind of how I feel today. Whaddaya mean I have to walk to class in the rain and TA lab? I just want to sit at home and pretend this is a fashion blog:

My posing skills are unparalleled.

too much hulu

2011-10-15T13:56:00.000-06:00

The guy in "Terra Nova" reminds me a lot of Will Schuster from "Glee". This makes me think they're going to burst into song right after they figure out the structure of a natural product and then synthesize a kilogram batch of it in two hours to draw away the evil reptile/bird/dinosaurs.
Sometimes, I think I'm obnoxious to watch shows with.

yesterday i listened to a glee coldplay cover 4 times. too much!

2011-10-12T15:12:00.000-06:00

Lately, Aaron has been staying on campus fairly late, but I'm done with class around noon, so I've been coming home. With no human contact for a few hours, I usually end up listening to this week's Glee songs or Dr. Horrible on youtube and singing along really loudly.

I bet my neighbors think a singing crazy lives in our house. I haven't figured out yet how well you can hear through walls in this place, but I do know we can hear our neighbors perfectly in our bedroom when they're having outside patio parties at 1:00 AM (doesn't happen that often, so we're not too annoyed). But, we never hear our neighbors when they're inside (thank goodness/much less awkward than our Provo apartment?). Maybe they're really quiet when they're indoors and sober? I dunno.

This is to say, does anyone have any music recommendations? I have a $100 iTunes gift card from buying my laptop and nothing I want to spend it on. Suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

(Oh, and random aside, I just noticed that I'm wearing the same striped t-shirt in four of my facebook profile pictures from the last year. I didn't realize I wear it that often/my wearing always coincides with picture-worthy events? I bet everyone thinks I can't afford to buy clothing! This is only mostly true.)

I sense a theme here...

i did it. i forked over $7.50 for a dang pumpkin.

2011-10-10T22:03:00.001-06:00

Behold. The spirit of Halloween lives in our house.

I got this pumpkin last weekend somewhere in Manyunk (maybe? or a town that started with an R) on my way home from an outreach activity with PAGES (Philadelphia Area Girls Enjoying Science). A bunch of female grad students put together some demos and hands-on experiments for 60 6th grade girls to do, and it was a blast. Those girls had so much enthusiasm! I have hope for the future now. And another sentence to add about broader impacts in my NSF essay.

Getting out of deep Philly was kind of nice, too. (Not that I don't love the city, I really do.) I saw lawns and garages and beautiful trees and hills. It's too bad the leaves haven't really turned color yet or it would have been perfect. We've had a spurt of great weather lately (mid 70's), and it's been awesome.

Aaron has tests this week, but when he finishes on Friday, we are carving that pumpkin and roasting its seeds. After that, all it'll take for me to recreate an Andrus Halloween is a hideous plastic pumpkin centerpiece with fall leaves growing out the top of it. Scary!

Edit: This is the crazy centerpiece. Posted by my mom on Facebook this morning.

Does anyone have any great sugar cookie recipes? My chemistry friends and I are baking 118 sugar cookies to make the periodic table this weekend, and we want it to be a delicious experience.

Happy Monday!

the view from the quiet zone of the chemistry library

2011-10-03T14:23:00.002-06:00

On your left we have the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), the med school's translational research building in the middle, Penn tower (hotel for patients' families) on the right, and dome building on the far right is part of the anthropologie museum. Since this was taken using photobooth, everything is reversed in real life. Hope that doesn't confuse you when you come to visit us.

I am determined to get some falafel this week. I am also determined to carve pumpkins because it is October! ($6 for one pumpkin be darned!) I am also determined to make candy corn-themed dessert, carmel popcorn, and apple cider! It is fall! And it finally feels like it, too. No more 90% humidity and 75 degrees outside. Today was a beautiful, crisp 55. In a couple more days conference talks will be online, which is great because I am never able to catch everything I want to the first time around. (but you can already re-watch here. and I highly recommend you do if you need a pick me up.)And by tomorrow, my first grad school [take home] test will be out of my hands, and there will be nothing else I can do with it. Hooorah!

So, the first time I published this post, I had [/randomness] only with little arrow brackets like this: < >, like html code, except blogger took it as something real, and it didn't show up. Funny. The end.

/random

the rainbow fish

2011-09-30T09:33:00.001-06:00

When I was eight, I wanted to be a marine biologist. Isn't that funny? I was terrified of the ocean until I was 15. Every summer when we went to the beach on our California vacation, I would never venture deeper than ankle-high water, but I thought marine biology would be awesome. I had all of these books with pictures of tropical fish. I thought they were so beautiful, or fascinatingly ugly, like the ones that are only found super deep down. I remember trying to draw pictures of the fish, and my mom drew me a picture of a dolphin. I was so impressed by that dolphin picture! (Do you remember this, Mom?) I distinctly remember thinking my mom was such a good artist.

That is pretty much all I have to say about that. I'm trying to write a personal statement for a fellowship application essay, and I think I'm going to point back to that early career goal as my original love for science or something. Who knows. Too bad I don't have any dramatic deaths in my family or some compelling story about being the first college grad in my family of 10 children living below the poverty line with a sick mother dying of a disease I am now determined to cure as a grad student.

Dolphin pictures it is.

lemon crinkle cookies

2011-09-24T17:51:00.000-06:00

I think I am getting better at making cookies (but not better at taking pictures of them). I just have to go against every instinct screaming at me to leave the cookies in the oven for another 3 minutes. These were really delightful, super lemony and soft cookies. Yummmmm.

Since I'm getting over my cookie issues, and also my fear of making yeast bread (these french-like baguettes were super fast and really delicious), I think maybe I should work on my fear of meat. I pretty much only ever cook with chicken or ground turkey because large hunks of beef or pork or whole chickens (!!!) freak me out a bit. I'm going to work on that...starting with this pot roast a la Pioneer Woman.

Anyway, cookies!

Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Makes 2-3 dozen

Ingredients:
½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest*
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Recipe from LDS Living

*I did not have any of those fancy fresh lemons sitting around, so I just used a lot of lemon juice. This led to some rather runny cookie batter, but it still worked and they were delicious. Imagine how great they'd be if you followed the recipe!

boo.

2011-09-23T19:49:00.003-06:00

Here is a story about the time when I came home from school and Aaron was all, hey, you wanna go out to dinner or maybe go see "Contagion"? and I was like, hmmm, maybe? We all know I love new restaurants and movies about disease! But, I didn't really feel like walking anywhere since it was pouring rain outside, and then I fell asleep on the couch. (I fall asleep at the worst times!)

We had hamburger helper for dinner and watched hulu instead.
Date night fail.

Also, ever since Aaron started his anatomy class last weekend, he somehow ends up telling me about what he cut up on his cadaver during dinner. Two nicks in the colon today. You don't even want to know what is in the colon of a dead person. Especially while you're eating hamburger helper.

On that lovely thought, have a great weekend!

called to serve

2011-09-20T18:45:00.002-06:00

This weekend I flew home to visit my family and to see this guy for the last time for two whole years:

Isn't my brother so cute? He is going to be an awesome missionary out in France. It was so nice to be home and see everyone, both friends and family. The day before I left I was starting to get really...freaked out? I guess is the right word? The weight of the expectations of grad school have just started to sink in, and it's not that I have to do a lot of things, it's that I need to know/teach myself a lot of things. And guys, lemme tell you, teaching yourself how MRI works and trying to come up with an idea for an NSF fellowship application dealing with a protein and nanoparticles is not easy (not a biochemist). Anyway, it was just wonderful being home, a welcome relief from scary grad school and scary life.

Thanks for the plane ticket, Mom and Dad!

the saga continues!

2011-09-12T21:22:00.000-06:00

I found a way to memorize the lanthanoids too! And Aaron is not nearly as impressed with this as I think he should be, so naturally, I'm blogging about it. (also, my pictures improved! look at that trembling yak!)

story one: LaCe (lanthanum and cerium) pros (praseodymium) need (neodymium) Prometheus (promethium) to save 'em (samarium, which is abbreviated Sm) in Europe (europium).

random interlude: MRI!!! (gadolinium...which is used in MRI contrast agents, and I couldn't fit it into either story well. It's sort of like an interjection in a Teen Girl Squad cartoon. MRI'ed!!!!!! DIED!!!!)

story two: In a turbulent (terbium), dystopian (dysprosium) society, ho hos (holmium) send people to the ER (erbium, abbreviated Er), where they tremor (thulium, or Tm) like yaks (ytterbium...do you know of any words that feature a y and a b? me neither.) at a luau (lutetium).

Okay, so this was significantly harder than the actinoids and story two gets a little crazy at the end, but it totally worked.

F-block metals, you are memorized.

a list for your monday

2011-09-12T10:51:00.001-06:00

Someday, I can't wait to be able to afford:

salmon
steak
fresh berries
name brand bagels and bread (and whole wheat bread that hasn't been dyed with molasses)
dinner at El Vez
a garage
real parmesan cheese

Isn't it great to be young and poor?

ten years later

2011-09-11T13:45:00.000-06:00

I HEAR America singing, the varied carols I hear;
Those of mechanics—each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong;
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work;
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat—the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck;	5
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench—the hatter singing as he stands;
The wood-cutter’s song—the ploughboy’s, on his way in the morning, or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;
The delicious singing of the mother—or of the young wife at work—or of the girl sewing or washing—Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else;
The day what belongs to the day—At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs. -Walt Whitman photo from Old City in Philly

sprinkles!!

2011-09-10T20:38:00.000-06:00

This is what my first week of grad school looked like:

Diet Coke, gummy bears, too much o chem

This is what my surviving-first-week-of-grad-school and way-to-go-on-getting-that-cake-stand-today-at-Pier-1-with-wedding-gift-cards cake looks like:

wilton skills = totally out the window

Aaron's first set of tests are next week, so we haven't been too exciting this weekend. But last weekend, what a thrill! We blew half of our budgeted fun money on a great Italian restaurant (Giorgio on Pine, if you're ever in the area) and going to lunch with Aaron's med school learning team at a delicious Indian restaurant (the name of which I sadly can't remember). We also watched the BYU game with some fellow alumni and then decided we need to get cable so that people can come over to our house and watch games and be our friends.

What's your weekend been like?

turns out i have to memorize the f-block too.

2011-09-08T20:03:00.001-06:00

Sometimes, this is how I study. I draw pich-AHS!

Everything is reversed in the photo, unfortunately, because the order is the whole point! This is how I have memorized the actinoids in two stories:

An actor (actinium) acting as Thor (thorium) is protecting (protactinium) his uranium (...uranium) from evil Neptune (neptunium). All of this happens on the planet Pluto (plutonium), which has a frowny face because it's not actually a planet anymore.

In America (americium), Marie Curie (curium) goes to Berkeley (berkelium) in California (californium). While there, she chats with Einstein (einsteinium), Enrico Fermi (fermium), and Mendeleev (mendelevium). She wins the Nobel prize (nobelium) and gives it to her dog, Lawrence (lawrencium).

Now I just need to come up with one for the lanthanoids and a better way to remember transition metals instead of trying to make sounds with their symbols (TiZr Huf Ruf, anyone?)

the world is a mess, and i just need to rule it.

2011-09-08T18:47:00.000-06:00

Today I made a life goal to get together a group of people and dress up like the Evil League of Evil for Halloween. If that never pans out, well, I'll just be Dr. Horrible by myself.

Here are your costume choices!

Fake Thomas Jefferson, Professor Normal, Fury Leika, Snakebite, Dead Bowie, Tie-Die, and Bad Horse (who is not pictured, but is an actual dark brown horse).

What am I even talking about? Watch the videos.
(bad quality, if you have Hulu Plus, you can watch them all there high quality.)

do you know any jokes about sodium hypobromite?

2011-09-07T13:02:00.000-06:00

Today was my very first day of grad school classes. I say classes, but I actually only had one today: organometallics (carbon bonding with metals). It wasn't too bad yet...but...we got a homework assignment. And I cannot do a single problem without pulling out my sophomore o chem textbook. BAh. Oh, and we have to memorize the periodic table. No big. There are only 118 elements. (Although there is a separate class dealing with the f-block metals, and no one really does anything with elements 109-118, so that gives us 81.)

It's cool though because I AM A GRAD STUDENT AND I CAN TOTALLY HANDLE THIS.

famous last words.

But let's end on a happy note. How excited are you for this movie?!

raised eyebrow

2011-09-03T21:56:00.000-06:00

For some reason this is my post with the most views. More than twice the amount of page views as the next highest.

I am confused.

Who are you who loves this post so much?

we we we so excited. we so excited.

2011-09-02T07:26:00.000-06:00

The Last Airbender: The Legend of Korra trailer!!!

Nerd!

Excited!

Still no release date.

But excited!

this was typed with a lot of restraint

2011-08-31T19:04:00.000-06:00

People who question why people would "want to ingest all those chemicals in coke" make me want to inform them that actually, everything you ingest is made of chemicals.

I would also like to inform those who justify drinking raw milk by saying people have been doing it for 1,000s of years that before pasteurization the average life expectancy was somewhere around 40 years.

Vaccines do not cause autism.

Genetically modified food will not kill you.

The end.

pretty philly

2011-08-30T10:06:00.000-06:00

When Becky was visiting, we hit up a lot of historical sites. One of the more random was Elfreth's Alley. It's the oldest continuously inhabited street in the US or something like that. Basically, it's just a really cute pedestrian street (where people still live).

A lot of Old City looks like this. It's really quite beautiful to walk around. When you visit, you shall see. :)

(thank you for the picnik suggestion! doesn't the spacing look so much better on this collage?)

far far

2011-08-29T18:00:00.000-06:00

We survived Irene, and our power never even went out. This experience taught me how difficult it is to purchase matches and flashlights, and also how scary the dollar store is near ShopRite (never again, never again).

Orientation started today for us incoming grad students. It made me want to just jump right in already. Enough talking about, wondering about, waiting about becoming a grad student. Let's just do this thing! All of the current students we talked to this afternoon told us that the first year is the hardest, because you're taking difficult classes, you're TAing classes, and you're trying to figure out which research group to join. Personally, I am tired of spending all my time baking and pinterest-ing. I could use a little organometallics to kick my butt (which it will).

Also, I got nominated for a blog award by the lovely Jackie from Sweet and Wild! She has a beautiful blog, and she even spent her summer in France (!!!!! so I am epically jealous, of course. check out her blog and show her some love, mmk?). The award is the Liebster Award, and it's meant to highlight blogs with up to 200 followers.

The rules:
Link back to the blogger who gave you the award to keep the chain going
Choose your top five and leave them a comment to let them know

Without further ado, here are five blogs that I think you all ought to check out because they are awesome:

start something new...
[a liberation broadcast]
welcome to my blog.
Crumbs From My Table
Redhead Cuisine

Happy reading!

sometimes i ruin a great shakespeare quote by throwing a crazy youtube video in at the end.

2011-08-26T19:29:00.000-06:00

Our doubts are traitors,
And make us lose the good we oft might win,
By fearing to attempt.

-Shakespeare
(found in the book Genome by Matt Ridley)

A good thought after coming home from a fairly intimidating fellowship workshop. That Shakespeare, he was pretty good, huh?

As good as Dr. Seuss though?!

Go do something fun for your weekend.
Me and Aaron, we will read about science or something. And hunker down for HURRICANE IRENE! First an earthquake, now this?! Natural disasters abound! Welcome to Philadelphia!

a dilemma

2011-08-25T07:04:00.000-06:00

Also, turtlenecks:

am I the only one who still likes them? I almost bought a black long sleeved one at H&M, but then I thought to myself, "do people even wear turtlenecks anymore?"

So, I ask you, reader, do people even wear turtlenecks anymore?

Cause I have a $5 off coupon, and I need to use it on something.

we love visitors, yes we do!

2011-08-25T06:44:00.003-06:00

This past weekend my cousin Sasha came and visited us from Massachusetts! And then, the day before she left, my sister Becky flew in to visit too! I can't even tell you all how nice it was to have them here. Like having friends again!

Cue photo evidence:

(i made this collage using powerpoint. how ghetto is that? any suggestions for better software to use for this sort of thing?)

We did all the required Philly things: Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, cheesesteak at Jim's. And then we did all sorts of other great things like getting caught in a rainstorm after eating crepes in University City, walking through an earthquake on our way to Betsy Ross's house and Elfreth's Alley, buying a Donna Summer record and a record hot pad at the Italian Market, throwing pennies on Ben Franklin's grave, lots of shopping (thank you thank you thank you Mom for the back to school shopping money!), taking touristy photos with the historically dressed people at Independence Hall, playing plenty of Dance Central on the Kinect, making coca cola cake, and watching "Raising Hope".

A perfect way to end the summer, really.

(Orientation starts on Monday!)

How was your last week of freedom?

death be not proud

2011-08-18T20:54:00.002-06:00

Today in Aaron's doctor-patient relations class they watched a video chronicling an English professor's struggle with stage 4 ovarian cancer. Since all of his lectures get posted online, I got to watch it too, at home. It was heartbreaking. And it reminded me of my grandma and visiting her in the hospital, so you know, I was practically sobbing in half of it. This poem by John Donne was mentioned over and over:

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, death, thou shalt die.

The last two lines are especially beautiful. "...wee wake eternally" isn't that the truth? Because of Jesus Christ, death is dead. It is overcome, and we live forever.
Beautiful.

i am studying potions, after all.

2011-08-18T13:35:00.001-06:00

I am currently blogging from the Fisher Fine Arts Library of Penn's campus.

Guys.

This is Hogwarts.

This was the closest image I could find on google, but believe you me, it is even better in real life. It has a wrought iron spiral staircase leading to what looks like the restricted section of the library where they keep all the dark arts books. It has beautiful arches. The entry has this incredible peacock stained glass window. I may never leave.

This may make it impossible to earn my PhD, but my inner witch will be so happy.

edit: I had to add another photo.

Gryffindor common room (with slightly more study tables than I usually imagine it with)!!! Hello!!!

first world problems

2011-08-17T18:13:00.000-06:00

Dear Penn,

Please stop being an enabler for my husband's compulsive studying habits. By posting videos online of every lecture along with the slides, and by giving him a stack of notes a foot tall, you have encouraged him to spend every minute from noon until 11:00 PM cooped up in our study.

The bored wife downstairs is not happy!

Sincerely,

Your only chemistry PhD student from BYU

disclaimer: I usually do a good job keeping myself entertained, and once school starts I will look back fondly on these bored days and wish with all my heart that I had nothing to do.

Also, thank you for all of the fashion blog suggestions! Now I have lots more reading to do, which helps take the edge off the boredom!

i miss back to school shopping

2011-08-16T06:39:00.000-06:00

Lately I've discovered some great style blogs, and I wanted to share my discoveries with all of you! I love these blogs because most of the outfits they feature feel like something I could actually wear, instead of being so high fashion that I would feel completely ridiculous wearing it. And, all of them are quite well-written, which makes reading even more fun.

Kendi Everyday

Married Kendi decided to have a blog instead of a baby. Ha. She always has great outfits and incredible photography.

Sidewalk Ready

Hairstylist, photographer, and fashion maven Kayley blogs about her life with husband while wearing great clothes. She also has a ton of great hair tutorials (hello, she's a cosmetologist).

The Other Emily

Recently graduated from grad school in architecture, Emily is currently traveling the world with her boyfriend for nine months on a design fellowship and manages to look fabulous while living out of a suitcase.

What Would a Nerd Wear

Tania is a British literature grad student (so all of her posts are exceptionally well-written). I particularly love her blog because she features a lot of outfits that are dressy enough for teaching/TAing a class, but casual enough to be comfortable.

Have you found any fashion blogs that you enjoy perusing? Do tell!

(This post is slightly inspired by the fact that my sister is coming to visit this Saturday, and I will finally have a shopping partner!!! I've gotten a lot of inspiration from these sites.)

we all hold dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and the kingdom of the sick*

2011-08-15T12:30:00.000-06:00

I just finished reading The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee a couple of days ago, and guys, you've got to read this book. Chances are, if you don't get cancer, someone you know will. One in three American women and one in two American men will develop cancer at some point in their lives. Isn't that insane?

This book gives an excellent history of our understanding of the disease and the evolution of treatment for it. It's very well-written (it won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize), and does a really great job of making highly technical things accessible to a non-scientist. Mukherjee also does a great job of capturing how complex cancer is while still making it understandable.

One of the things that stood out to me the most is the almost brutal natural of cancer treatment, even 20 years ago. In the early 1900s treating breast cancer meant not only a mastectomy but carving out most of the chest muscles and going up into the neck, leaving the patient partially paralyzed and highly disfigured. And the cancer still came back. Chemotherapy, even today, is devastating, because you end up killing your own cells in the attempt to destroy the cancer. Reading the case studies in the book made me want to cry several times, reading about what people went through. I couldn't hold back tears listening to a physician speak about her struggle with leukemia during Aaron's white coat ceremony.

Anyway, I loved this book. I can't get it out of my head. It's made me seriously consider doing cancer research for grad school.
You should read it too. :)

*paraphrased from Susan Sontag

an official med school student

2011-08-14T11:55:00.000-06:00

This weekend was the Parents and Partners Day at Penn Med, so I got to attend and get a mini look at what med school will be like for Aaron. (plus, we got free parking in the middle of University City. that'll never happen again!) It was neat to hear about the curriculum, see some demonstrations of their simulators and standardized patients, and go to the white coat ceremony. This was when Aaron got his shorty student white coat (once you get an MD you've earned the right to a full length coat) and legit stethoscope, and recited the Hippocratic Oath.

I know I've already bragged about how great of a med school Penn is, but that was really reaffirmed to me yesterday listening to all of the great things and research they're doing there. I'm really grateful for the chance that Aaron has to get this awesome education. We feel very lucky for all of the opportunities we know this will entail. It was incredible because during the white coat ceremony all 166 entering med school students got up and introduced themselves- name, hometown, university attended, major, year graduated- and nearly all of them had attended Ivy League schools, or universities of equal prestige (UC Berkeley, MIT, etc.). Maybe 30% had also graduated with multiple degrees.
Folks, we're not in Kansas anymore.

putting his white coat on!

look at that nifty stethoscope! a $160 value!

roy's chocolate souffle

2011-08-12T05:37:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I made these chocolate souffles/molten lava cakes for me and Aaron. It was great because ever since I stuck ramekins on our wedding registry and someone got them for us, I've been looking for a use for them! (I don't own a creme brulee torch or a little propane torch, so the obvious is out.) Aaron and I got all excited about the idea of souffles after watching an episode of Masterchef recently, except they made cheese souffles. I discovered this recipe and decided to give it a try. I halved it because I didn't have enough chocolate, it worked just fine (in case you ever just want to make two-Valentine's dinner, hmm?)

It was like heaven in a ramekin. So, so good, and so easy too!

ramekins (4) or a muffin tin with cupcake liners (chocolate souffle cupcakes? how cute!)
parchment paper

Soufflé Batter:

8 oz. good quality semi-sweet dark chocolate (i.e. Guittard, Vahlrona, Callebeaut-pretty sure my supermarket doesn't carry any of those brands, so I just went with Hershey's)
12 Tbs butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbs cornstarch
4 whole eggs plus 4 egg yolks

For the batter, mix sugar and cornstarch together in mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and yolks. In a saucepan, melt the butter until it begins to simmer. Add the chocolate and mix until smooth and the chocolate simmers along the edges. Pour the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until combined. Add the eggs and mix at low speed until smooth and sugar is dissolved. Transfer into bowl and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 400°. (I don't know if our fridge is just way cold, but the batter was much more solid the day after, like more solid than brownie batter. I let the bowl sit on the oven while it heated up, and it thawed a little, but it definitely wasn't as liquidy as the first day. My lack of patience in waiting for it to come to room temperature probably added to the baking time, but it still worked!) Line the bottom of the ramekins with a circle piece of parchment paper, and the sides with a long strip. (I used cooking spray to help the parchment stick to the walls a little easier.)

Fill each ring mold or ramekin with soufflé batter ¾ of the way full. Bake on top oven rack for 26-28 minutes. You want the top to be set, but the middle to still be gooey. (and actually, even for me, the overbaker, our middles turned out perfectly gooey! So you can make these without fear!) Remove baking sheet from oven. You can run a knife along the edges of your ramekin and invert it on a plate and dust with powdered sugar for a pretty presentation, but we just ate them straight out of the ramekin because we're lazy like that.

Partake and be happy!
Recipe source: The Girl Who Ate Everything, who got it from Roy's Restaurant (like she emailed them and asked, "What's your chocolate souffle recipe?" and they told her! Cool!)

the top started caving in they were so gooey

"and that's why we always leave a note!"

2011-08-12T05:16:00.000-06:00

Philadelphia taught me a lesson yesterday: always, always carry cash with you because you never know when you're accidentally going to get on the freeway to New Jersey, have to turn around in New Jersey, and then pay a toll to re-enter Philly.

(and not have cash and have to dart across 5 lanes of morning commute traffic to park on the side of the road and talk to the supervisor. and then be told (as you're nearly sobbing), that it's okay, you can just go. whhhhheeewwww)

Also, our builders painted our entire house in flat paint, which I discovered yesterday will come off with not only Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, but also plain water. When you are painting your house, never, never ever use flat paint. It is almost impossible to clean, especially if your builders didn't prime it correctly.

Lessons learned? Awesome.

[insert witty title here]

2011-08-10T15:16:00.000-06:00

Today was full of more adventures. Drove Aaron to school without a hitch (early! he had to be there at 7 this morning for a day full of team building exercises). Walked all the way to Reading Terminal Market, and stopped along the way at H&M, Urban Outfitters, Gap (their body clearance is not nearly as good as Provo's!), and the Paper Source. It was lovely! I didn't even buy anything except $6 worth of fruits and vegetables at the market. Sometimes I have really awesome self-control.

(or maybe I felt guilty that I spent $10 on rainy cupcakes yesterday.)

Road the bus home, which is always an adventure. I would've rather walked, but I was carrying too much stuff, and it was too hot outside. Played Dance Central on the Kinect. Did laundry. Read The Emperor of All Maladies. Glued a puzzle. Got a package from my mom!

Probably this was the best part of my day. I opened it up and there were two books on the New Testament, a note from my mom, a note from my sister Jenny, and some candy! I read Jenny's note and started to cry. (surprise, surprise) It was nice to feel remembered and have a little piece of home in my hands.

garlic knot rolls

2011-08-09T11:45:00.000-06:00

I made these rolls yesterday afternoon, while waiting in terror to extricate myself from a parallel parking spot and drive back to University City to pick up Aaron. I was almost out of flour, so I halved the recipe, and it worked just fine.

Oops, size uniformity is not my forte. And, the one on the right had a much more successful knot.

Dough:
3 cups bread flour (or I just used all purpose, and it was fine)
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. instant yeast (I used dry active yeast and just proofed it before by putting the sugar into the warm water and then adding the yeast to it and letting it sit for 5ish minutes)
1¼ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. olive oil
¼ cup milk
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. lukewarm water (I used warmer than lukewarm water to help activate the yeast)

glaze:
2 cloves garlic
3 tbsp. melted butter
½ tsp. Italian seasoning

For the dough, combine the dry ingredient in a stand mixer. Add the olive oil, milk and water. Mix until ingredients have formed a dough. Knead on low speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Move the dough to an oiled bowl, flip the dough to oil both sides, and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size. Once the dough has risen, divide it into 10-12 equally-sized pieces. Roll each piece out to about 10" long and then tie in a knot. I sort of just tucked the ends on the side of the roll. Put the rolls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cover, and let rise for another 45 minutes. To make the glaze, finely mince the garlic, or press with a garlic press. Add to the melted butter, along with the Italian seasoning. Brush over rolls when ready to bake. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes.

These turned out quite good! They had a nice crust to them but were really soft on the inside. Next time, I think I'd try using garlic powder instead of minced garlic because I don't think my basting brush picked up very much garlic when I was brushing the glaze over the rolls. I'd definitely make these again.

Recipe taken from Annie's Eats (she got it from Amber’s Delectable Delights originally from King Arthur Flour). Her explanation has great photos to show how to tie the rolls into cute knots.

coconut frosting, all over the box

2011-08-09T11:26:00.000-06:00

I think you're going to see an increase in blogging from me in the next couple weeks, since Aaron is at orientation/class all day, and I am ~~being really productive~~ watching Masterchef on Hulu! Also, I am practicing baking. (see last cookie post, and soon to come garlic knot roll post.)

So far, today has been fairly exciting. This morning I dropped Aaron off at school by way of a different bridge than yesterday. Then, I drove over to Target to buy some much needed hangers (we broke some in the move/never had enough?) and an alarm clock. I then went to ShopRite for groceries and found ground turkey for $2.65 for 1.25 lbs!!!! Wow!!! Excitement!!! We keep finding it for no cheaper than $3.50, so this was a big deal. Next up, laying in bed trying to fall back asleep (it was only 10:00 AM, and I had nothing else to do). When that didn't pan out (too excited over ground turkey!!!), I watched last night's episode of Masterchef, which was more like an episode of Hell's Kitchen.

But wait, this day gets even better! Aaron and I had seen a little dry cleaner place and a cupcake place not too far from where we live, and I thought to myself, I have owned that Express cheetah-lined pencil skirt for two years now and have never cleaned it. This is maybe gross. So what did I do? Grabbed my skirt and went to the dry cleaners! It was raining a little bit, but it was a good thing because it meant it wasn't 90 degrees outside. After the cleaners I went to the cupcake place which had a $10 minimum credit card purchase, and all I had was a dollar cash, so 4 cupcakes it was! I was really excited about these cupcakes because I hadn't bought a cupcake since I dragged Aaron to the Sweet Tooth Fairy back in Provo months ago. But right as I walked out of the store, it started pouring. I started running. But I was too slow, and my house was too far, and my cupcake box got all rainy, and my cupcakes got all smooshed.

really attractive me and a smashed carrot cake cupcake (carrot cupcake?)

It was okay though, because I felt like I really live here (if dry cleaning doesn't say permanence, I don't know what does). It was also nice to get out of the house again, and it was actually sort of pleasant being rained on.

Aaron won't get home until around 7:00 tonight, so who knows what other adventures I'll have!
Have you had any adventures lately?

maybe you should make these

2011-08-08T10:25:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, I made these delicious shortbread/almond cookies. I love them because a) they are impossible to screw up, even for me and my tendency to overcook everything, and b) they aren't overly sugary, so you feel like you can eat 12 of them guilt-free (you can't, there's a ton of butter in them).

Back in the day, my old roomie Kellie, who gave me this recipe, and I would make these until we ran out of almond extract. It was the best.

1 c butter
1/3 c white sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
1 small egg
1 Tbsp almond extract
2 1/2 to 3 c white flour

Cream the butter and the sugar. Add the egg and flavoring. Add and stir in the flour and knead by hand a little. Dough should be firm enough to form into a ball and hold a shape. Bake for 10 min or so in 400 degree oven.

(note: I actually never knead by hand because I'm too lazy, and they turn out just fine. Also, they don't spread very much in the oven, so whatever shape you stick them in as is what they're coming out as.)

Bon appetit!

my gps took a long time to find a satellite signal

2011-08-08T07:54:00.001-06:00

We did not end up getting to hang out in DC. Some people in our branch needed a ride to the temple, and we were the only ones with extra seats. So to the temple we went! But not into the actual city (where I was going to meet up with my old roomie Kristen).

Maybe I cried a little bit behind my sunglasses, sitting in the front seat. I like planning things, and I'm not too happy when things don't work out.

But I did not cry during our first sunday school lesson yesterday, so that was good!

But then I cried after I got home from driving Aaron to orientation this morning, so I'm back to square one. Parallel parking is not so easy, especially when you have an angry cabbie behind you annoyed that you're blocking the road.

On days like this, I like to listen to this song:

I dream of driveways and garages and lawns. The end.

mint

2011-08-04T08:38:00.002-06:00

France, France, France, when can I go back to you?

How about in two years when my brother gets done with his mission to Paris?

Yes. (okay, Mom?)

(side note: I want to paint my nails the color of that scooter. annnd photo from last summer's toulouse adventure.)

we unpacked in one day. we were very tired the next.

2011-08-02T16:29:00.000-06:00

Welcome to our home! Sorry about the crappy photography, I don't know anything about it and my Nikon's been freaking out lately, so we have a double problem.

Clockwise from top left: kitchen, study, master bath (yeah...that tub has jets in it. how did we get so lucky?), the view from our roof deck, one of three staircases in the house, living/dining area, master bedroom, roof deck (thanks for the patio furniture Mom!). middle: laundry room! possibly my favorite room in the whole house, and my washer sings a song when it's done, so what could be happier than that? (thanks for the washer and dryer Wendy!)

I sort of feel a little guilty, because we are supposed to be poor students (and we are, we're $25,000 in debt plus $12 of interest we accrued this week) but we have some realllllyyyyy nice stuff. Like the entire house (all the floors are wood! ah, it's beautiful!). And our furniture. And the washer and dryer. And our tv and sound system (good job Aaron on being spendy with the electronics while you were still single).

Anyway. The house is actually a lot prettier and brighter than the photos make it look. But why take my word for it? Come visit and see for yourself. :)

lately

2011-08-02T11:15:00.000-06:00

We have been put right to work in our branch. We sort of love it. (note use of litote.) Already we feel so much more welcome than we ever did in our ward back in Utah. We were in the ward for almost seven months, never got callings, never spoke in church, made like two friends. Probably we could've been more social, but we just weren't feeling it. Here, within two weeks we've been called as the new Gospel Doctrine teachers (ahhh!!!! I never took the second half of New Testament at BYU! And...maybe I have never even read the entire second half of the New Testament!) and we spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday. And, Aaron went teaching with the missionaries last week, and we're going on the branch temple trip this Saturday. It is nice to feel needed.

Temple trip = day trip to Washington, DC so my friends who have spent some time in the glorious capital, what should we do with ourselves? Good places to eat, must-see museums/monuments? What would you do if you had, say 2 PM to 8 PM free in the city?

Also, today I ordered a new book from Amazon (my free Amazon Prime membership ends next week, so I have to use it while I can!). It's this year's Pulitzer Prize winner in nonfiction, and it's called The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. I think medical nonfiction is fascinating (if you haven't read Better or Complications by Atul Gawande, you should!), so I'm quite excited for this book to arrive.

Tips for DC? Books you've been reading lately? You love your ward too?
Tell me about it. :)

it is all matter

2011-07-30T20:32:00.001-06:00

"There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes. We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter."

Doctrine and Covenants 131:7-8

What a cool set of verses! All I know is, there is some rad chemistry going on there, and when I die, I'm going to ask God all about it.

kitchen table! chairs! a couch! books!

2011-07-30T12:40:00.000-06:00

The moving truck came earlier than we were expecting! And they knocked off $100!

(bad quality photo taken with photobooth. this is harder to do than i had expected.)

More photos to come once we get everything unpacked and reassembled.

Happy Saturday!

this is when we realized we needed to get lives

2011-07-27T19:33:00.001-06:00

thanks hulu.

a new shredder and some frames for our diplomas!

2011-07-26T19:00:00.000-06:00

I do not understand desserts that look like savory dishes- cupcakes decorated to be spaghetti and meatballs or corn on the cob, or cakes that look like hamburgers-this is not appetizing to me at all.

Also, some of the desserts on pinterest that are like an insane mashup of six different desserts are not appealing either. Example: chocolate chip cookie crust, oreo layer, brownie mix on top. Come on. That is borderline disgusting sugar overload (and I love sugar, just look at how many of my posts are about macaron cookies).

This is just to say, I spend waaaay too much time on pinterest.

But we did have a fun excursion to New Jersey today to visit Bed, Bath, and Beyond. And we also got Italian ice and people/dog watched at Rittenhouse Square, so it was a more interesting day than most.

And. Our stuff may be arriving on Friday. Yay Friday! Yay stuff!

I still don't like you Allied!

supermassive black hole

2011-07-25T19:58:00.001-06:00

This week my mom flew out from Utah and stayed with us for a few days. It was awesome! We love having moms visit us!!! We participated in a variety of activities including:

walking/melting around University City, seeing pretty Penn/Hogwarts campus
cheesesteaks with cheese whiz at Jim's Steaks
more guac at El Vez
Rodin Museum!
Franklin Institute!
Independence Hall, Congress Hall, Liberty Bell
leaving pennies on Ben Franklin's grave (he founded our school!)
Home Depot for patio furniture and materials to make a 2x4 garden planter
Captain America!
discovering a pizza place down the street that wasn't half bad
watching a lot of "Raising Hope" on hulu*
getting a parking ticket and just barely avoiding getting towed!

It has been incredibly hot the past week. Temperatures have been over a hundred, and with the humidity the heat index has been around 115 degrees. A hundred and fifteen!!! Thus, we tried to do things in the morning before it got too hot and all we wanted to do was crash on the [one] bed in our house.

I can't even describe how nice it was to have my mom here. She reminded me that I can do this whole move to a big city and get a chemistry PhD, and I believe her.

me and my mom and Ben Franklin on Penn campus

*If you have not seen "Raising Hope", you really should. We were laughing so hard we were crying during the first episode.

who only takes checks and money orders?! this is the 21st century, there's an app for debit card transactions!

2011-07-19T14:42:00.000-06:00

I am really loving living here, and Aaron and I have done a lot of fun things, but the traffic/driving in general is just not fun. And after a particularly horrendous afternoon at the DMV (we had to find a place to get a money order, the money order wasn't for the right amount, a fight broke out in the parking lot and everyone started freaking out, we left without Pennsylvania drivers licenses), I have to vent.

There is a Target 1 mile away from our house. Guess how long it takes us to get there? Back in Utah, it'd be 3 minutes. Here, it takes us TWENTY. Basically, the lights aren't timed at all, so you stop at every single light at every single block. Because there isn't any street parking available, if people want to stop at a little shop or make a delivery, they just park their car with their flashers on in the right lane. This makes things even worse because everyone driving in the right lane all of a sudden has to get over to get around the dang car parked in the middle of the road! How is this legal, people?!

This is more odd than it is irritating, but because parking is so limited people park in the middle of the street, like in the median lane where people normally turn left. It was really weird seeing that for the first time. I expected to see drivers in all of these supposedly left turning cars, but nope, they were parked and driver-free.

Another thing that's sort of funny is that on really, really narrow streets all of the parked cars will have the rearview mirror on the street side pushed all the way in toward the car body so that cars that drive past don't smack it off. The cars that have the mirrors still sticking out have scratch marks and nicks all over.

That's all for now, folks. My mom is flying in tomorrow night, and we are going to go to the Rodin Museum! I am recreating my French experience here in Philadelphia, people. I can't help it.

i do not know how to say macaron in america. mac-ar-oan? or mac-ar-oon?

2011-07-18T16:04:00.000-06:00

And then we went and bought uh-maz-ing macaron cookies from the SugarPhilly truck and a MacBook Pro at the bookstore, and things were suddenly a-ok.

When you come visit me, we will go all the way out to University City for those cookies. Just warning you.

we got ourselves allied with the wrong moving company. heh, heh.

2011-07-18T09:35:00.000-06:00

I feel very materialistic right now, but you know what, I want my stuff back. All the things we put in the moving truck, all of our furniture, the rest of my clothes (dress shoes! where did you go?), our kitchen gadgets, office supplies/printer, my books,* our tv, even our welcome mats! I want them all to fill our very empty and echo-y house.
And we were supposed to get them at the very latest by next week, July 25th. Instead, we will not be getting anything until August 2nd at the earliest! HELLO. The entire reason we packed up and left Provo and our families and friends so early in the summer was so our stuff could get here and we could unpack everything and get everything set up before Aaron starts med school. Now we're going to have like 3 days to do that in the best case scenario.

We want some compensation here, Allied. And you do not seem concerned at all that the actual arrival date of our things is at least OVER A WEEK later than the date we originally got. We are concerned, and we are freaking ticked.

The end.

*I've been reading Sense and Sensibility out of the beautiful 7 novel by Jane Austen collection my parents gave me for Christmas. I love me some Pride and Prejudice, but I can't get into this book at all. I am neither entertained nor intellectually stimulated by it. And I want our five boxes of books to get here so I can read about something else besides so and so's social engagements and frolics in the English countryside. Jane Austen lovers-defend?

OOohh, I'm feeling choleric today.

ground control to major tom

2011-07-16T17:50:00.000-06:00

We are alive and well and have thoroughly enjoyed our [almost] first week in Philadelphia!

It was a little crazy and overwhelming driving into the city on Monday afternoon, especially going down sketchy Washington Ave for the first time. Luckily, Aaron's mom flew in to close on our house, and she helped us settle in. She was a lifesaver in taking the edge off the initial shell shock of moving 2,100 miles across the country. I seriously don't know what we would've done without her. Probably sat on the bare (and very dirty) floor of the house and cried.

While she was here we got a bed for the guest room (our moving truck won't be here with all of our furniture until next week at the earliest), cleaned all the floors and bathrooms on our hands and freaking knees, stocked up on food, ate at the most amazing Mexican/fine dining restaurant called El Vez and had the best guacamole, got gelato at Capogiro (which I have been missing greatly since Maestro's closed back home), and went to Target like 8 times. We took care of business! (and ate great food.)

After Aaron's mom left, we went and saw U2 at the stadium where the Eagles play. It was packed! It was an awesome concert! It was almost as entertaining to watch all the older ladies rocking out (probably slightly drunk) in the audience as it was to watch Bono (who, at 51 is wayy cooler than I will ever be at 22). Unfortunately, the memory card in my camera got corrupted somehow, and I lost all my photos from the concert! All my pictures of the claw (really expensive and time consuming to set up stage)!!! All the pictures I made Aaron take of the two of us!!! All my pictures of cool Bono!!! Alas, maybe I'll figure out how to get them back sometime.

Aaron and I also went and saw Harry Potter the second day it was out. We got there 30 minutes early because we were nervous it might be sold out, but we were like the 5th and 6th people in the theatre. We're not in the land of Potter Enthusiasm anymore...Today we walked all over the place downtown, going to the bank, buying bus tokens, touring Independence Hall, and visiting Reading Terminal Market. It was most enjoyable! (and good exercise after sitting in a car 10 hours a day for four days straight)

Tomorrow we look forward to attending our branch for the first time and having dinner with my friend Jen from ballroom who lives in the city with her husband! And on Monday, we shall explore University City and their macaron cookie truck!!!!!!!! Blessed day!!!!

i love my rand mcnally atlas. thank you grandpa!

2011-07-10T18:58:00.000-06:00

We are nearly done with our East Coast exodus, our never ending tour of I-80. Here's a brief recap of the trip so far:

Day 1: Utah-Wyoming-Nebraska

I have almost nothing to say about this day, except, why would anyone hold a basketball camp in Kearney, NE and take up all the hotel rooms in the middle of nowhere city?

Day 2: Nebraska-Iowa-Illinois-Indiana

We ate pizza at Giordano's, a little south of Chicago in Orland Park. Delish. That thing is filled with cheese! Probably about 2,000 calories a slice, but so worth it. Also, I saw lightning bugs for the first time in 14 years (since we moved from Indiana), and they are just as cool as I remember them as an 8 year old.

Day 3: Indiana-Ohio-PENNSYLVANIA!!!

Being only around 11 hours from our final destination, we decided to do some sightseeing. We stopped in Kirtland, OH and visited church history sites. We toured the Kirtland Temple and the Newel K. Whitney store. We would've seen a few more buildings (sawmill, ashery, historic houses, etc.) but our tour ran a little long, and we were getting starving, not having eaten since pizza the night before. So we drove onward to PA! Our GPS took us in sort of a roundabout, through residential areas way to get back to I-80 so we got to see some Amish country! Horses and buggies! Little kids in bonnets! It was awesome, and well worth the detour.

And we are currently in western Pennsylvania, having eaten at a terrible Applebee's down the street from our hotel. (ever since we started watching Masterchef-does anyone else love that show? because I watched every episode on hulu last week-I sort of feel a need to critique meals as if I were Gordon Ramsey.)

We look forward to a 4 hour drive to Philly tomorrow morning, and reuniting with Aaron's mom who's flying in! Woo!!

for purple mountain majesties

2011-07-03T21:21:00.003-06:00

So, not Independence Day related per se, but guys, how awesome is the Gettysburg Address? I'm planning on making Aaron drive out to Gettysburg with me when we get to Pennsylvania so we can stand on that hallowed ground:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

(emphasis added)

As American citizens, we have such a huge obligation to those who've sacrificed their lives for this country. It is up to us to make sure they didn't die in vain.

Happy 4th of July everyone. God bless America.

(mild annoyance: sometimes blogger's html gets really messed up by trying to format in the compose tab, and it drives me crazy!!!!! thank goodness for neopets for teaching me basic html so my post has a consistent font and size...)

so long, so long

2011-07-03T21:14:00.000-06:00

We leave town in five days. I suddenly find myself scrambling to cram in more time with friends and family- movies with sisters-in-law, earring making night with friends, lunch with Grandpa, trip up the canyon with family, BBQ party, it is not enough.

The truth is, I have never moved more than 15 miles away from my family, except for the two months I spent in Europe last summer. I am a sheltered, naive Utah girl. And now I find myself driving 2000 miles away to do the scariest thing I've ever done in my life (attempt to get a PhD), without my mom, without my sister, without my friends. I can feel myself mentally digging in my heels, getting a little desperate to stay a little while longer, feel comfortable and safe a little longer, but on Friday, time is up. Life is moving on, and we are moving to Philly.

i am also hungry. maybe that's why i'm so cranky.

2011-06-28T14:45:00.001-06:00

When I was in high school, I took a lot of AP classes. I also did a bunch of distance learning classes, earning college credit. I came to college with 42 hours of credit already earned. If I had known this was going to cost me $2500, maybe I would've thought twice about being an overachiever.

To qualify for a government education grant, you have to meet certain requirements, including being below 180 credit hours. I think the point of that is to stop handing out money to people who just sit in college forever, taking classes but not making any progress toward graduation. And that makes sense to me. But I have not been in college forever. I graduated in 8 semesters and one term (which is much fewer than many people). There was only 1 semester I took less than 15 credit hours. I was on the ballroom dance team. I had a French minor. I was a freaking chemistry major!

I am just frustrated. Silly me, thinking I should try to learn as much as possible and do as much as possible in school. Should've dropped the French minor like my advisor told me. (not. I loved my French classes.)

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

roses

2011-06-27T21:54:00.000-06:00

Today was our last cake decorating class, and I finally made a cake that doesn't look like it belongs on Cake Wrecks! I was feeling really awesome about it until Aaron and I started watching Cake Boss tonight, and Buddy made a gigantic Transformers cake. Yeah...my basic Wilton cake decorating skills got nothing on that.

cue random photo of Brooklyn trying to save Aaron from being buried in sand

Five books later we're back from North Carolina (isn't summer the best? I love having time to read for fun again!). I miss listening to the waves as I fall asleep. I do not miss the sun entering my room at 6 am every morning and waking me up.

I do miss not having to pack! Ugh. We do not like this packing thing. We've made good progress on everything except the kitchen. There is so much stuff in our kitchen! And packing all that dinnerware is a pain in the butt. Bleh bleh bleh bleh.

[insert vague song lyrics here]

2011-06-21T11:30:00.001-06:00

When TOMS donates shoes to kids in developing countries, I hope they don't donate their shoes. They seem kinda flimsy to me. TOMS lovers, confirm or deny?

Also, just for the record, my ex-roomie Laura had TOMS wayyyyyy before every Provo hipster thought they were cool. Which makes her actually cool, instead of brainlessly following trends wanting to be cool. (sorry, I think I just don't like TOMS? Probably because I do think they're cute, but I feel like I can never buy them because everyone else on campus wears them.)

In other news, I finished an awesome book today-"The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest". I definitely wouldn't recommend it to just anyone (strong language, although tamer than the first two in the trilogy (probably because the main character spends 350 pages in the hospital not speaking to anyone), and some disturbing material (again less horrible than the first two, probably for the same reason)). The character that Larsson has created in Salander should be totally unlikable, but you come out of these books in love with her. She's irresponsible, she's promiscuous, she's completely unsociable, but you want her to win! You want her to crush all of her enemies! There is so much girl power in these books, it's a feminist's dream.

Anyone else ever read them? I would be gushing to Aaron, but he's golfing and didn't take his phone. So I am gushing to the world wide web instead!

amnesia

2011-06-21T07:39:00.000-06:00

After a day that started at 3:30 AM and ended at 10:30 PM, we made it to our North Carolina beach house! (we have a ton of luggage. including three more suitcases not shown in the picture.)

And when I say beach house, I mean the beach is our backyard. It is unbelievable!

We've been hanging out here everyday. I've been racking up the freckles and the pink (red) skin. Typical.

And we went boogie boarding! My participation has caused me to be labeled the cool wife. Yesssss.

Probably Aaron and I should just live here permanently. Med/grad school? Psch.

life as of late

2011-06-16T08:57:00.000-06:00

So, I decorated my greenish-blue cakes in cake decorating class on Monday. Let me tell you, cake decorating is harder than it looks, especially if your icing is too thin and you put too much in between your cakes so the top layer starts slowly sliding off the bottom layer. I forgot to bring my camera...and then I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of it when I got home because it was just not cute. Not cute, people!

But that's okay, because I am determined to decorate my next cake like this (for some reason the photo won't load, but go to the link to see the most beautiful rose covered cake you've ever seen, a la i am baker).

In the meantime, Aaron and I have left for St. George, and on Saturday we'll be flying to North Carolina to stay in a beach house for a week with the rest of his family! Yay vacation! We are super psyched.

Oh, and I'm done with my undergraduate schooling! I took both my biochem and psychology finals yesterday and I am done. And so ready to take a three month break until I become a grad student!

childish rant.

2011-06-14T11:48:00.000-06:00

I do not like psychology. I do not like my stupid ebook. I do not like my weekly quizzes. I do not like my detail oriented tests. I do not think it is a science, despite the lecture designed to convince us it is.
If dream analysis is still considered a valid activity, then I am so out of here.

Get out of my life, Sigmund Freud!!!!

color wheel

2011-06-13T16:28:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, I went figuratively back to elementary school art class and learned

yellow cake + blue gel colorant = greenish. not duke blue.

Oh well! Aqua is close enough for me. I'm going to learn how to properly ice the cake tonight at cake decorating class, so that should be fun.

Edit: photo of cakes in all their blue/green glory

sidenote: is anyone else sick to death of their blog layout/overall look? I realllllyyyyy am. So I made some small font changes. Mostly, I'm sick of all the little lines and boxes all over this page. Oh, and I need a new header. I think it will have to wait until finals are over on Wednesday (my last undergrad finals week ever!!!!!!)

also, I'm feeling a little bored about all of my posts lately. I can't seem to find the effort to write something thoughtful or interesting, I just keep slapping up some photos with a couple sentences. Not a fan! Pull your writing self together, Katie!

b is for bowling. and brooklyn.

2011-06-12T22:05:00.000-06:00

Meet Brooklyn. She is 3. And she beat us all (her parents/my brother and sister-in-law, Aaron, my other sister-in-law, and me) at bowling:

(Her score is the top one. It says RARA because it was Rachel playing but she had to leave before the second game started for a murder mystery party.)

And Brooklyn finally likes Aaron!

And we all liked eating ice cream afterward! (probably for the last time at the creamery? Graham canyon, I will miss you.)