Thanksgiving, Better Late than Never!

Maybe you're sick of logging onto Facebook and being bombarded with people's statuses about what they are thankful for - but I'm not, so get ready.  I read something online the other day that really made me stop and think for a moment: What if tomorrow you woke up and only had the things you thanked God for yesterday?

Most days I would wake up with nothing.  Why is it that we only give ourselves one day each year to really be aware of just how lucky and blessed we are?  Being home, surrounded by family and friends, has been such a wonderful reminder of just how much I should be thankful for - every single day.

I started making a list of things I was thankful for the night I got home and it has only gotten longer each day.  Of course I was thankful for my mom since she came into Logan at midnight to pick me up from the airport even though she asked me while I sat in four hours of traffic trying to get to the airport if I could please try and get on an earlier flight...  I was thankful that my temper did not get the best of me at the airport McDonald's where they were out of nuggets and Diet Coke.  Really?  Just close up for the night if you don't have the essentials.  I guess I'm thankful they still had sweet and sour sauce - it's the little things in life.

My dog - I hadn't realized just how much I missed her (I mean she is the best dog in the world).  My clothes - I opened my closet to visit some old friends and red wool coat, I've missed you and I'm thankful for you.  My mattress - I am so thankful for the pillow-top cloud I get to sleep on for a few nights before heading back to Fredericksburg.  Mattress at school, you fail.  I am always thankful for a good night's sleep.


The next morning my dad didn't wait long before joking with me at breakfast and messing up my hair.  Dad, I'm thankful that I got your sense of humor, Chump - I mean Champ!  Never gets old, right Dad?  Oh by the way Timmay, all my friends are asking about you.  They want to know how the Big Guy's doing!


Speaking of friends, I'm thankful for my friends back here in MA.  Sometimes it seems like you guys know me better than I know myself.  It always amazes me and makes me insanely happy that despite going months between seeing each other, we can just pick up right where we left off.  What would I do without all of you?


Family.  I have a lot of you and I think we're all a little bit kooky - in a good way.  I'm thankful for every story we shared and the laughter that didn't seem to stop the entire time you were all here for Thanksgiving dinner.  Next year we need more pies though.  Yes, definitely more pie.  Growing up with an extended family like ours is a bit of an anomaly these days and it's one of the things I am most thankful for.  May the "Idiot Wave" live on forever.

So there you have it.  Just a handful of things I am thankful for but enough to warrant a blog post.  Maybe I am sick of all those Facebook statuses after all...they aren't long enough!  What are you thankful for?

Do You Feel that Draft?

I've got eight, count 'em, EIGHT posts sitting as drafts in my good old blogger account.  Bad news: they might stay there for a while.  Good news: this new one is going all the way to "Publish"!  There are lots of things I'd love to blog about but it seems like there are many times when I start writing a post only to suddenly second guess myself and put it on the back burner.  And then this little habit develops, it's called ignoring your blog, which is lame.  I am guilty of this and hanging my head in shame as I type.  Really though, if I'm going to make the assumption that something I write deserves a spot somewhere on the web, shouldn't I actually post something then?

And this brings us to my goal of the week.  That's right, I have a goal of the week.  Don't judge me, maybe that should be your goal of the week.  My roommate (oh hey, Lindsay!) and I are really awesome sometimes like to have little chats before hitting the hay and a few nights ago we decided that we should each pick a small goal to strive for this week.  My goal, can you guess it?  Stop second guessing myself...so much, maybe?  I don't know, should this be my goal - just kidding!  But that's me showing you an example of how I second guess myself.  Really though, the amount of times I stop myself from saying or doing something because I'm afraid of other people's judgment is just silly.  Silly!  It's time to stop all the second guessing.  Now, how am I going to achieve this goal?  Well that little tidbit is still in the works.  Posting this baby is a good way to start though.  Now it's your turn.  What's your goal of the week?  Try out a new recipe?  Talk to the kid beside you in class?  Actually make your bed in the morning?  Actually come up with a goal of the week?  Whatever it is, let's all be goal-setter go-getters!

P.S. - Blogger had some technical issues when I was typing this and logged me out twice.  So this post ended up being saved as a draft...sometimes it's hard to break habits!

Triple Threat

I happen to believe that there is a direct correlation between quantity of butter shown and quality of a post written.  Butter is better - can I get an "Amen, Paula Deen!"?  There's a lot of butter in this post - it might just knock your socks off.  

Exhibit A: Yup, it's confirmed, get ready for an awesome post 

and an even better recipe.

Just in case three sticks of butter wasn't convincing enough, how about a GIANT bowl of milk chocolate chips, bittersweet chocolate chips, and peanut butter chips?  Three kinds of chips = a triple threat.  Get it?

 Oh you weren't sure just how big the bowl of chips was?  Let's compare it with the bowl of cookie dough.  Who doesn't love an equal ratio of dough to chips?!?

(Disclaimer: All that butter in the first picture was not just for one recipe.  I used it to make a huge batch of cookies as well as a small batch of muffins.) 

 Here are some of the finished cookies.  Did you know that muffins and cookies like to hang out on cooling racks together and discuss current events.  

On this particular day they debated about the use of applesauce as an oil substitute in brownie recipes.  They also spent a bit of time talking about the pros and cons of silicone cupcake liners - sure they can be used again and again but they can be a pain to clean!

As good as these cookies look, they tasted about a million times more delicious.  This is one of my new favorite cookie recipes and it came from someone who knows just a bit about baking -

Bakerella - the queen of cake pops!

You should really try her recipe.  I used peanut butter and bittersweet chips instead of white chocolate and butterscotch ones but try whatever combination you want - customize your cookies!