Fall Findings

Okay, okay.  It's been forever since my last post, but cut me a little slack, October has been one heck-of-a-month. I'm going to spare you all the boring details about how much I practiced, how many hours of homework I completed, etc. and simply talk about today.

Today.
By far the best day I've had since moving to Waco. At 9:00 AM Amy picked me up and we drove off to the SLC to get in our usual Saturday workout. Then it was home to shower before we got back in the car and drove to Homestead Cafe. I diiiiiiie. Feel free to drool over the pictures that follow:

South of the Border Burger. This was my lunch selection. Artisan whole wheat bun with organic, farm-raised beef and fresh artisan jack cheese, fresh lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado, and a made-from scratch dressing. All served up with a side of freshly cut sweet potato fries. By far the best meal I've had in Waco.

Quesadilla Burger. This is what Amy feasted on. I'm not really sure what all is on it, but she claims it was simply heavenly, and I may have stolen some of the guacamole, and I may be able to say that it was divine.

So after lunch we ventured to Farm Day at the World Hunger Farm here in Waco. It was pretty neat, and I snagged two mum plants for $1!!! What a steal. If you want to hear more about our fabulous adventures in the Wack, you should check out Amy's Blog! B-T-Dubs, the title of that post is totally a quote from yours truly. You know, giving myself the credit.

Je ne sais pas.

Oh my goodness, Friday at last! Who would have thought that a 4-day week could move as slow as a glacier? Right now I'm in the library enjoying a Soy Vanilla Latte and writing this post instead of practicing, studying or doing anything else that could be mildly productive. Actually, this week has, for the most part, been mildly unproductive. I'm a good student, I promise, but sometimes I just get bit by the procrastination bug. Maybe I was just too productive over the summer? I don't know.

Anyway, the real reason I'm not practicing right now is because I have a 4-hour rehearsal for choir tonight, and I'd rather not over-work myself. I'm not even sure I'll sing much at said rehearsal, but most of the people in choir have caught the PLAGUE that is afflicting the majority of Baylor's population, so it will probably be obvious if I'm just mouthing the words.

Last night I went to Katie's Custard with Amy, Janna, and my lovely roommate Rheagan to get FREE FROZEN CUSTARD. Best. Idea. Ever. Amy got a shiny new automobile this past weekend, so she drove us over there, and to show off her aaaahmazing sound system, we listened to Dubstep. I am so hooked. If you are like me and live under a rock, you probably have never heard of the genre before. That's okay. Just go look up the song "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" by Skrillix. Now.

Please enjoy this picture of the boyfrann eating a sandwich.

Time for class! Keep it classy, sandwich eaters!

Serious Buisness

Yay school? Seriously, it's been crazy around here. Aside from moving into my apartment 3 weeks ago, classes started and life just got crazy. My friend Charles decided to cut all ties with his family on August 6, 2011, and all of his family and friends have been severely affected. You can read about his story and his mother's heart-wrenching thoughts on her blog The Charles Easterly Project or follow the story on Twitter @CEasterlyProj. Awareness needs to be raised about cult followings and especially one-on-one cultic relationships. This is serious stuff, y'all.

Now I'm really sad and don't feel like writing any more. Try and keep it classy, friends and don't do anything foolish.

Summer Wrap-Up

Things I Learned From Shopping With My Mother

Yesterday my mother and I set out in the wee hours of the morning (9:00) to run some errands that we had both been avoiding for the past couple of months. What started off as an innocent morning of making returns and exchanges turned into something way bigger... a FULL BLOWN SHOPPING EXCURSION!!! As our trip progressed, my mother took the time to teach me a few lessons about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happy shopping:

• That lady from the Tide commercial who wears yoga pants because she's too lazy for real pants? Story. Of. My. Life.
• If it has "hypoallergenic" and "oil-reducing" on the label, the cosmetic is worth buying.
• "Buy two, get one FREE" nail polish deals are the best invention since sliced cheese.
• Awkwardly staring at a woman across the restaurant until you figure out if you know her or not is a perfectly acceptable social habit.
• It's okay to buy your kid's mouth guard and chin strap for football, but when the word "support" is involved, the responsibility of the purchase is immediately shifted to Daddy.
• Nike shorts are severely over-priced.
• But neon Nike shorts are really, really cool.
• Going through two different lines at Hobby Lobby in order to use two 40% off coupons is perfectly acceptable.
• Anyone who finds a really awesome cupcake liner should do a happy dance.
• You shouldn't buy a new swimsuit you're totally in love with if you are planning to lose (or gain...) any weight. If you do, you probably won't get to wear the suit of your dreams for very long.
• If the girl selling you makeup is wearing a lot of the stuff, chances are you will leave the store wearing the same amount, if not more, makeup than she is.
• If the waiter says, "Bonjour!" with a terrible American accent, you are not allowed to order your entire meal in French. That's just rude.
• Being late to pick up your brother when he returns from a mission trip is not a legitimate reason to rush through shopping.
• Cheetah-print nails are super-classy, even when they're not.



Note: this isn't my hand, but this is what my fingernails look like!

• You can never have too many white v-necks.
• The purchase of new soap will result in a long bath upon returning home.
• Buying brightly colored underwear is advised, as long as for every 5 colored pairs purchased a really boring, tan pair is also bought.
• Going to the Verizon store with phone issues may result in an phone upgrade.

Shop classily, my friends.

Facelift

I gave zee bloggity a makeover! Honestly, I was getting really tired of the old layout; it was all mismatched and very unoriginal, etc., etc., etc. For your reading pleasure, here are some cosmetic surgery fun-facts (source):

• The top 5 cosmetic surgery procedures for 2010, with number completed, are as follows:
• Breast augmentation (318,123) -- I assume these are mostly women...
• Liposuction (289,016)
• Eyelid surgery (152,123)
• Abdominoplasty (144,929)
• Breast Reduction (138,152)
• Almost 1,000,000 people had a laser hair removal procedure in 2010. That is a lot of hair being removed.
• "Americans spent nearly $10.7 billion on cosmetic procedures in 2010. Of that total almost $6.6 billion was spent on surgical procedures; $1.9 billion was spent on injectable procedures; $1.8 billion was spent on skin rejuvenation procedures; and almost $500 million was spent on other nonsurgical procedures including laser hair removal and laser treatment of leg veins."
• White people are the leading majority in plastic surgery procedures (81%), followed closely by Hispanics at 8%.
• Only 19% of these cosmetic procedures occurred in a hospital. 56% of patients went to a private office, and the other 24% went to a free-standing surgicenter. That's a lot of sketchy surgery going on!

Enjoy the new layout and keep all of your future cosmetic procedures classy!

June Bug

Okay, okay! It's been a while. But I've been a wee bit busy, you know, singing and...stuff. Mostly stuff. Here's the low-down:

Summer Skool

Yes, I know you're jealous. I get to write 4 essays and go to 2.25 hours of class a day. It's awesome. Who needs sleeping in and the beach when you can have a freezing cold classroom and boredom. Yeah, be jealous.

Conditioning

So as you may know, I tore my meniscus right before Spring Break this year, and I wasn't cleared by my doctor to run until the start of summer. When I was cleared, the PT suggested that I follow the c25k plan. All of those crazy letters actually stand for "Couch Potato to 5K," which is a fancy title for "getyourbuttofthecouchandlearntorun." I'm currently working on my second round of Week 3; in order to insure that I'm not injuring myself again, if I feel even the slightest amount of fatigue in my knees, I re-do the week. Sure, it might take a long time, but I'd really not like to tear my meniscus again, no thanks.

This is what happens when it's humid and I run outside.

Embrace the blurriness of this photo.

Embrace the awkward face I'm making

Embrace the white-girl fro.

Om nom nomming

I like food so naturally, I've been a bit busy in the kitchen this summer! This week alone I made muffins, pancakes, and delicious raspberry tarts with a nommy whipped cream. I fully intend on making the tarts again. In fact, they were so good that my family ate them all before I had the chance to take a picture! So instead, I will delight your eyes with pictures of my brancakes (that's bran-pancakes for those of you who didn't know). They tasted terrible. But they looked darn good.

The bananas are happy to see you! (Please enjoy how creepily awkward that last statement was)

Yummo? Not so much...

Bird Sitting...

So I've been bird sitting for a family I know. Thank goodness the birds are low-maintenance because I don't think I could handle a crazy Alfred Hitchcock-esque sitting job. However, one of the birds was looking a bit funky, so Hannah and I just HAD to draw a picture of it.

Isn't it cute? Yeah, I know I suck at drawing. Don't judge.

Hannah decided that she needed to draw a gangster bird.

She told me that he was too cool for me to comprehend.

Must be true because I just don't get it...

So that's basically my month of June in a nutshell. I hope I find more to blog about in July (Like MY BIRTHDAY) that will be slightly more entertaining.

Keep those birds classy, folks.

Raspberries!

No, I'm not talking about the awkward kind where you vibrate your lips and make weird sounds... (even trying to describe it sounds awkward...) I'm talking 'bout THIS kind:

Woah. Don't those look delicious? Yeah, I know they do. And I ate them ALL for my lunch today. Well, not all of them, but a good amount. Check out how friggin GIGANTIC they are!!!

That is one massive raspberry, and that isn't even the largest one! Needless to say, they were delicious and I gobbled mine down in no time at all. Om nom nom...

True to my word, I got off my lazy bum and PRACTICED yesterday! *silent applause* Nothing to strenuous, just a simple warm-up followed by my Lutgen Vocalises and some interval exercises. I should take a picture of where I have to practice when I'm at home. You would all weep with sadness at the smallness of the space, the electric keyboard, and the fact that there is a gigantic map of the Gulf Coast of Texas right above the keyboard. To make matters worse, I have to awkwardly face away from the wall while singing or else the sound bounces back to me too quickly and my eardrums bleed. Not a pretty sight, to be sure!

BUT, I didn't practice today. *boo hisssss* I actually ended up at my grandparent's house this afternoon to work on some of the furniture that I'll be taking back to the Wack with me in August. I sanded my dresser, filled in all the nooks and nail holes with wood putty, painted the dresser, sanded the chairs for the dining set, and then painted those too. You'll never guess the name of the paint I used. ULTRA PURE WHITE. Yes, folks, that's an actual paint color. What is this world coming tooooooooo? All in all, it was a very productive afternoon and I'll hopefully have pictures for you when I finish with all of my furniture!

I'm off to write a classy literary analysis!

Rain On the Mown Grass

"He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth."

Psalms 72:6

This verse is ironic for one reason and one reason only: it was because of the rain that our grass did not get "mown." BUT, more importantly, it did rain. And the rain was much needed, but it certainly did not rain enough to even dampen the cracked dirt and burnt grass that I currently call my yard. Can I get a "Woo-hoo!" for droughts, y'all? Even thought it rained, and the rain was less than satisfactory, I did get some rockin pictures of the plants in the rain! Check it:

Totally tubular, right? Okay, not really. But honestly, if you hadn't seen rain in months, you'd be pretty excited, too!

In other news, I got really bored on Friday morning and the empty fridge was laughing at my grumbling tummy, so naturally I decided to bake Vegan Whole Wheat Chocolate Cupcakes with Spiced ‘Buttercream’. The recipe's all there (I'm far to lazy to type it out for you, but a big thanks to Angela for being a vegan baker who likes to share. Mad props.) but I made a few "modifications." By modifications, I mean I didn't use anything healthy and they're hardly vegan. I have a boat load of whole wheat flour a mi casa, but no whole wheat PASTRY flour, so I just made do with the all-purpose version. Plus, I wasn't going to send my very southern father out on a wild goose chase for non-dairy butter, so I just whimpered a little and added in the real thing for the frosting. But it was only half a stick, so that's not too bad, right? Anyway, let the pictures commence!

This is zee batter. Or, most of it. This is actually all of the wet ingredients post being mixed together. You can't even tell that there aren't any eggs in there because the vinegar adds the bubbly that eggs are usually used for!

Zee actual batter. With the chocolate powder and stuff. And by stuff, I mean all the other ingredients.

The cupcakes, fresh from the oven. Not gonna lie to you, they smelled disgusting. Imagine a cocktail of vinegar and chocolate. Throw up a little in your mouth. That's the smell.

Finally! The finished product. Don't it look purty? Okay, maybe not. But a girl can try. I'm not sure how they taste, because I haven't had one yet *gasp*, but my parents and BabyBrother all confirm that they taste awesome for something that is sorta-vegan. Sorta.

Before I wrap this sucker up, I feel like I should inform you all that I took the month of May off from singing to recover mentally and physically from a grueling semester. That month has turned in to a month and a half. I have promised myself that I'll start practicing on Monday after my English class, and then I'll probably feel better about my self and won't feel the need to bake so much in order to fill the empty void that was singing. But don't hold me to it.

Keep it classy and cool!

P.S. Cho, if you're reading this, I've been practicing for 3 hours a day, every day since school let out. No breaks for this little sangar! (My dad's word, not mine...)

A Year Of Free Music!!

Oh goodness, what a day it has been! Today I received conformation that the majority of the people in our Year of Free Music group received their CDs!!! Confused about what exactly I'm so happy about? Check it:

"So here's the idea! We all love music, and who doesn't love free music? So basically each person is assigned a month. You make 11 copies of a mixed CD filled with various music from your collection, on your assigned month. Then, you distribute the CDs to the members of the group, and by the end of the year you have a whole lot of new music! make sense? :)" source

Sounds totally awesome, right??? Well, June was my month so I made a CD of 18 of my favorite songs (trust me, there were so many more...) Bet you're dying to know which songs out of my massive collection I chose to put on such a short CD. Wait no more! And, as an added bonus, I'll even give you some epic commentary!

•  Overture/About To Crash-- Dream Theater (First two Tracks) I really wish I could have put all of DT's album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence on this CD, but I had to limit myself to only the first two songs :( My dad has been listening to Dream Theater since they started their band in the early 90s. All of the members of the band hold degrees from Julliard Conservatory or Berkley School of Music in their respective instruments (except the singer. His degree is in clarinet, which he plays on a few songs from other albums). In a nut shell, this is by far one of my most favorite bands for their ability to write good MUSIC.
• Invincible-- Pat Benatar Pat Benatar= my hero. To me, she is the female version of Freddy Mercury. Well, not really. But I love her voice a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot. Though not her most famous, this song happens to be my favorite of hers. I'm not entirely sure why, but it probably has something to do with the epicness of it all. Look up the lyrics if you want. You won't regret it.
• Ain't No Rest for the Wicked-- Cage the Elephant I am currently obsessed with Cage the Elephant, and this song has a really great message. You may recognize the instrumental breaks from the trailer of the movie The Blindside. Great movie, great song.
• Man of la Mancha-- Linda Eder Oh. My. God. I want have a vocal chord transplant from this woman. Enjoy the Spanish flair, but when you get to 2:11, be prepared to pee yourself.
• Change Nothing-- I Nine My dad actually got me hooked on I Nine about a year ago. 1:52 is where it's at for this song. Lead singer Carmen Keigans "has a serious set of pipes," as my dad would say. And the song's not too bad, either :P
• When I Think of You-- Michael W Smith and the African Children's Choir Michael W Smith is by far my favorite modern composer and singer. He is my inspiration for getting into music in the first place. I saw him live for the first time when I was 3 or 4 and begged my mom to put me piano lessons. The rest is history. This song is my favorite praise/worship song EVER. Even if I've had a suck-tastic day, I could listen to this song and it's guaranteed that a smile will cross my face. If you don't smile when watching this, I'm just going to assume you have no heart.
• Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)-- Eurythmics Annie Lennox is the queen of rock (sorry, Pat). She started off as an opera singer, but quit that to form Eurythmics and become one of the most famous rock bands of all time. Secretly, I want to follow in her footsteps and form an epic rock band. Hey, a girl can dream, right?
• Roam-- The B-52s You say, "Party band," and I say, "B-52s." Their absurd lyrics and funky beats are so catchy! This is one of their more "normal" songs, but is sure is a goodie (probably because lead singer, Fred, doesn't open his mouth much)! Just watch the video for all of the innuendo, if nothing else. Also by the B-52s- "Love Shack" and "Rock Lobster." Hilarious.
• The Prophet's Song-- Queen (Freddy Mercury) Freddy Mercury. Oh my gosh, what a man. It's a shame he died so young, because Lord only knows what other amazingess could have come from such a throat. This song is criminally under-rated by listeners of Queen. Much like their chart-topping hit "Bohemian Rhapsody" (which was actually a flop when it fist came out), Freddy uses what little technology was available in the early 80s to put this track together. Did I mention that he did ALL OF THE FREAKIN' VOCALS. If that's not awesome on it's own, I don't know what is.
• German Sparkle Party-- The Something Experience I suggest that you don't actually watch the video. You should just listen to the song and throw your own personal dance party. It helps that I am half German, and the friend who introduced me to this song is also half German. We have a dance. Nobigdeal.
• Pinball Wizard-- The Who This song is from the Who's rock opera Tommy. By far the most famous rock opera ever written. This song was originally written for the fabulous Elton John, but I couldn't find my dad's recording of the movie in time to put the Elton John version on the CD. Sadness. However, The Who's version is just as good :P
• Big Scary Animal-- Belinda Carlisle I really am not a huge fan of Belinda Carlisle, but I actually like this song of hers. It came on my iPod randomly one day and I started dancing to it. Kinda random, but it's a feel-good song, so I put it on. I was going to change it out with Phil Collins' True Colors, but my computer crashed while I was trying to re-upload the CD and I didn't get it in time.
• Johnny America-- Five for Fighting This song makes me actually like America a little bit. It's an inspirational, feel-good piece and it makes me smile a little.
• If This Room Could Move Another epic I Nine song? Yes, I do believe so! This one has a faster beat than "Change Nothing," but the vocals are just as solid.
• Hot Mess-- Cobra Starship Yes, I listen to Cobra Starship. No, I'm not embarrassed about it. I love running to this song; it gets stuck in my head for days on end...
• Son of Man-- Phil Collins Okay, okay. There's a lot of Phil Collins in this post. But I am admittedly obsessed. That probably has something to do with the fact that my fist concert ever was a Phil Collins concert. My mom was very pregnant with me when she, my dad, our pastor, and his wife went to his concert in Houston. Mr. Collins holds a special place in my heart, and as cheesy as it is, this is one of my favorite songs that he does.
• The Gambler-- Fun. I could go on and on about this song, but all I will say is that I cry every time I hear it.

So, that's my CD! I hope you enjoy my musical selection and don't vote me off the island as far as musical taste goes. I tried to keep it as classy as possible!

Nut Butter

Here's my new obsession. Nut butter. Specifically almond butter. It's delicious. If you haven't yet, you should totally try it. Best of all, it doesn't make my stomach all wonky like peanut butter does! Om nom nom nom!

In other news: I've finally entered the world of Twitter and there's no going back! Follow me @solangesings. Seriously, you won't regret it one bit. And I wouldn't mind the attention.

Now, feast your eyes on this deliciousness. Cranberry muffins!! These are certainly a winner in my book. You want a recipe? Well, here ya go:
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 3/4 cups soft brown sugar
- 9 tbsp butter (melted)
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup milk (I used almond milk)
- 1 and 1/4 cup CRASINS!!
Instructions

• Preheat oven to 415* F
• Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in sugar and make a well in the center
• Add the combined melted butter, eggs and milk all at once, and fold until just combined. DO NOT OVER MIX. The batter should still be quite lumpy!
• Fold in the CRASINS. Spoon the batter into a well-greased muffin tin (I ended up using the normal sized muffin tin and got about 18 muffins)
• Bake for 20 minutes and then let cool on a wire rack.
• Nom down.

Enjoy the muffins and the nut butter and have a classy evening!

P.S. I start summer school tomorrow. Blech.

Bronze Goddess

Okay, okay! I apologize for not posting the afore mentioned adorable pictures of the BabyBrother. He played the part of "Hansel" in his little class play and had 3 lines!!! (That's pretty big stuff for the class jock!) So, instead of pictures of him in his adorable lederhosen, here are some pictures of the BabyBrother when he was actually a baby and, you know, not ten years old... enjoy :)

Look at da baby, how cute!

He was trying to eat me...

Last one, I promise!!!

Yep. That's the Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile. We're officially awesome.

So, in other news, the BabyBrother had a baseball tournament today. Because sitting outside in 107 degrees with full sun is obviously my favorite thing to do (NOT), I told my father that I would be in attendance this weekend to nullify the other baseball parent's suspicions that I do not, in fact, actually exist. College student, for the wiiiiin! Thanks to the full sun and lack of shade supplied by trees or overhangs at the ball park, everyone in my family managed to get sufficiently sunburned, so now we are all miserable, hot, and sore beyond belief. Thank goodness for:

Chandler Farm Body Butter.
This stuff is literally a God-send. The second ingredient is aloe vera, but is has a lovely creamy texture an smells like lavender, so I'm not sticky and stinky with actual aloe vera juices.

Fun Fact:
~For the first time in my life I have managed to get the worst burn out of all the sunburns in my family. My charming madre, however, turned brown. Like, seriously. Brown. She can finally certify her claim to her Mexican heritage!!!*

Mantener elegante, mis amigos!!

 

*my mother is in no way, shape, or form Mexican. It's a joke, and if you don't get it, well too bad for you! Anyway, don't call her Mexican, she'll get offended. That woman is straight up German and prooooud of it!

ACC: pronounced [ak:k]

You'd seriously think I was intentionally avoiding blogging! Lies, I've just been dealing with the wonderful world of community college... Nothing against the institution in itself or the people who work at/attend the small-scale collegiate education centers. I JUST HATE ADMISSIONSSSSSSS.

Rewind: Yesterday I phoned A. Community College to find out what the heck was wrong with my application and to try to register for classes. Over the phone, a huffy lady flatly told me that because I had not provided SAT scores, my admission into the college had been put on hold.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. FREEZE.

Not to brag, but I attend Baylor freakin' University.
Wouldn't it make sense that if I were attending a PRIVATE school of higher education on a loverly academic scholarship, that I would be qualified to attend a small college in HickTown, USA? Apparently not. So, I spent the better part of my morning at the ACC Office of Admissions and Registration arguing with an admissions officer over how legit the SAT scores CollegeBoard had mailed to me 3 years ago are. It's an official letter; I'd say pretty legit. She said not so much...

I return tomorrow for part two of my perilous quest to attend Community College.

On a brighter note, BabyBrother has his school play this afternoon, which the mother and I will attend. If it's super-cute, I might post pictures. Get excited.

Stay classy, my friends.

Illness

Sorry for not posting in so long. Obviously, nothing exciting has been going on in my life of late. For the past two days I've been rather sickie-poo so all I've accomplished in the past 48 hours consists of sitting on the couch and sleeping. Party-party-fun-fun. Not. At. All.

The weather here is FABULOUS, and I wish I felt better so I could go and be active outdoors.

Keep it klassy.

Unpacking

Whew, what a day! I managed to wake up super-duper late this morning (10:00) and therefore had to forgo my morning walk/jog. Sadness. But my day was slightly brightend when I walked to the kitchen and saw these:

A lovely, wonderfully-smelling gift from the boyfrann! Thanks, Dan! Anyway, as much as I would have liked, I did not get to ogle over my beautiful flowers all morning. I mean, my tummy was grumbling, so I had to eat at some point, right? So, for my very late breakfast, I nommed down on some OVER-NIGHT OATS IN A JAR!!! Let the pictures ensue.

Delicious, I know! After my oats began a day of unpacking, pretending to be unpacking, obviously not unpacking, and napping. Pretty un-productive day, as per usual. In the evening my mother forced me to take my youngest brother to baseball practice across town. Blech. So afterwards, I treated myself to one of these bad-boys:

What's in it, you ask? Simple, dear Watson! 1 frozen banana, lots of frozen strawberries, and some almond milk to liquefy it all. Pop it in the food processor and WHA-BAMMM! Instant frozen-fruit-thingy. Smoothie? I guess it's a smoothie.

Do you make your own smoothies? If so, what kind?

Please, kids. Keep it classy.

Summertime

Goodbye freshman year, hello SUMMER!!

In a nutshell: finished my last final on Saturday and drove back to f-wood on Sunday (just in time for mother's day!) accompanied by 472983 lbs. of laundry and an awesome mix CD courtesy of Mr. May, Derek Rogers! This morning I woke up feelin' oh-so-fine and decided to take a nice short walk/jog on the treadmill; I'm still not allowed to do much on concrete on account of my angry meniscus, and I say walk/jog because I only did about a minute of jogging, and 29 minutes of highly inclined, fast-paced walking. But hey, I'm getting somewhere! After that lovely morning workout I quickly showered up and made a delicious breakfast of...

OATS.

And let me tell you, they were delicious! Inspired by FitFoodieFinds, I created my own twist on Lee's Perfect Banana Oats. How did I do it? Here it is:

• BAM! 1 packet of instant oatmeal.
• WHAM! 1/2 cup water.
• FOOM! 1/2 sliced banana
• KA-POW! cinnamon to taste
• PLOP! Nutella. nooooooom
• SHAZAM!! Perfection.

I'll let you check out Lee's blog for more detailed instructions on making this bowl of gloopy awesomeness, but for now, feast your eyes on the greatness that was my breakfast! I plan on eating oats as much as I can over the summer, and hopefully into the school year; they're so fantastic and pretty easy to make. Luckily, I had a slow and relaxing morning so I had the time to test this one out. But, for tomorrow's breakfast... Well, I'll give you a hint...

Let's just say I ran out of Nutella this morning after making my delicious breakfast, and now I am re-using this jar in my second breakfast experiment! Nom nom nom...

Here's what I love about Houston humidity: what it does for my hair! As strange as it sounds, my hair works best either a bone-dry climate, or Houston humidity. It probably also has something to do with the quality of the water her in H-Town, but no matter! My hair looked fabulous today, just the same. Which is a really good thing because I spent the afternoon with the boyfrann, catchin' up and watching Disney's Tangled and such. We had a great time!

Wowzers folks! It's about time for "Dancing With the Stars" to come on!! Tune in tomorrow to hear how my second breakfast concoction went!

Blueberries and Star Fruits

Hello, blog. It's been a while. What with juries right around the corner and a gargantuine Christian Heritage final looming over my noggin, I haven't been paying you much attention, which is rather unfair of me. I admit, I have found other ways of distracting myself from the awesomeness that is the Church from 1545 (Council of Trent) to 1891 (merging of the Particular and General Baptists), but that's no excuse for what I'm about to do. Contrary to popular belief, I do have a life outside of school, and I regret dear blog, to inform the general public (the 7 of you trusty bloggers who are following my hodge-podge musings) of the exciting happenings of my life outside of the practice room while using your domain and web address. So sit back, relax, and GET OVER IT!

Now that that is over with, here's what I actually spent my time doing this weekend:

Thursday was a very, very long day for me as I attended 2 concerts on top of my already full day of classes. As terrible as that sounds, I suffered quietly through 2 hours of fantastic music sung by Baylor's Chamber Singers at 7th and James Baptist Church. You'd have to be an idiot to ask the address of that church. Just sayin'. Then me and "The Group" went to 3 Spoons to celebrate and unwind; but mostly, we went for the yogurt. It's delisssssh.

Friday morning I woke up super-early to watch the Royal Wedding with my lovely future roomie, Miss Rheagan! What a beautiful wedding; I enjoyed every minute of it! And I don't even like weddings all that much! Fun fact: Catherine's dress looked EXACTLY like my mom's wedding dress. Sort of. My mother's dress had lace all the way down the skirt and train, and her bodice didn't dip down to show cleavage... I'm not sure how I felt about that on Kate's dress. Later that night, "The Group" went to this Mediterranean restaurant our music theory teacher suggested to us. It was really sketch but really yummy! Here's photo evidence:

Aren't we so cute?

Anywhooooo... Afterward we made the dangerous trek to none other than... (surprise!) 3 SPOONS!

All that you need to know about the exciting rest of my weekend is that I studied lots and went to 3 Spoons a few more times. I really should be embarrassed about that, but for some reason, I'm really not. It's DELICIOUS!

Now I absolutely have to get back to studying the history of Christianity.

BYE FRANCIS!!!

EasterCakes

Alright, alright! I know I haven't been blogging of late, but don't blame me! I went home last weekend to spend a "quiet, peaceful" Easter weekend with the family and the ChuckAnn. PSYCH! Not a peaceful, restful, quiet weekend at all! But it wasn't all bad... Chuck and I spent lots of quality time together (some of it with the amazing Hana!), we studied a bit, and I got to see the boyfrann every day!

I'm not blogging today to tell you about my Easter break. No, my intention is to SHOW you my Easter break! Check it out:



A family of bunnies for the boyfrann!



Curly-Q bunny with ears made of leftover chocolate

Demented Jack-a-Lope. They really exist, folks!



One lonely turtle, also for the boyfrann.



A wonderful pack of turtles, all nicely arranged on a doily.

EASTER CHICKENS!!

A flock of EASTER CHICKENS!!

How to make delicious looking BunnyCakes and EASTER CHICKENS:

1) Make your cupcakes. I am a super-fan of Pillsbury's Fun-Fetti cake mix. Seriously, LOVE

2) While your cupcakes are getting cooked in the oven, melt yourself some brown/orange almond bark, depending on your cupcake-creature of choice, and put it in a pastry bag and prepare to decorate!

3) Pipe yourself some orange beaks and feat/brown bunny ears onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Then stick 'em in the fridge to solidify for a few minutes.

4) Once your cupcakes are good and cooked, let them cool and then take them out of the wrappers, flip 'em upside-down and chop off the muffin-top! Slim those suckers down :P

5) Nom down on leftover muffin-tops!

6) Take 3 blocks of almond bark and using a cheese grater, grate them to look like Parmesan cheese.

7) Take your muffin-topless cakes and cover 'em up with frosting. All over. WARNING: this part gets really messy. Be prepared for lots of finger-licking!

8) Dump your frosted cake into the shredded almond bark to give it some feathers/fur. I apologize for how blurry this picture is. My model (CHUCKANN) kept moving.

9) Let the icing set, add eyes, beak, and feet (or ears, eyes, nose and mouth for a bunny) annnnnd...

10) Viola! You have yourself a super-cute EASTER CHICKEN! Or BunnyCake. Either one.

 Keep it Klassy, Easter Bunnies!