fallin'

Okay, so this season has been the best. I love fall, but you see... Texas doesn't do the "seasons" concept very well, and the last two "falls" were spent under extreme situations regarding unpleasantry. ANYWAY, this fall has been amazing! My apartment has always had the fall color/decor, which makes it extra festive.

 I get to take the residents through various fall traditions. I just love it. I wish that I could post pictures of them, but I can't. :( Here are some boring, non-resident, work pictures. Just know that my oldies are super awesome and the pictures I took are super adorable. I know, super.









To start off, we went camping last weekend. But that's another blog post... once I get Amanda's pictures that she took. ;) I really enjoyed the 15 hours we spent there, and I can't wait to go again! These people are pretty cool. I'm not an incredibly social person, but I really liked hanging out with this group of people. Here is a preview...

I've been baking like crazy... and I'll post that stuff later, too.

Anyway, even though it hasn't rained very much, being a Texan, I still think that the leaves look amazing. So Antho and I went to the nature center yesterday to go for a walk.

We did a bit of trespassing... WE DO DANGEROUS THINGS BECAUSE WE ARE DANGEROUS PEOPLE. Just kidding. I just wanted a picture. Thank goodness I didn't get poison ivy.

We stopped to get pumpkins for Lindsey and Brendan's birthday party today... HUGE! I lost ten pounds carrying it to the car.

(I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THEM!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!)

I got home to my mail box and found this:

It's official!!!!!! I have a degree!!!!! I actually did it!!!! I was so scared that some fluke would keep me from graduating. But no- it is October, and I have official looking proof that I did indeed graduate in August!!YAHOO.

In other news, I've been baking, playing WoW with Anthony...



... watching Community, which is a hilarious show. WATCH THIS. (I only started watching it a week ago, and then Suzy posted a video a few days ago... it was a sign. I was meant to watch it. Ha.)

... and enjoying life in any way I can. My family is coming to Springfield for Thanksgiving, and I cannot wait. I'm surrounded by people I love, and everything is beautiful this time of year. This was extremely picture heavy, so I'm sorry that I just dumped a month's worth of stuff into one post. Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

I want Sa-mo...a

I've been fairly absent, lately, and I haven't even been catching up on my most favorite blogs. As some of you may know, I graduate on Friday!! I cannot wait, but it's been an incredibly busy couple of weeks. Between traveling, working, going to school, and dealing with my car break-in, I haven't had a lot of spare time for writing. Any spare moments I've had have been spent with my friends and Anthony, and I think that's how it should be. 

Anyway, I'll be back to writing my DEEP, THOUGHTFUL, INSIGHTFUL posts, soon... ;) ha

But until then, here is my very successful recipe for Samoas/Caramel Delights that I made for Anthony's birthday. They were a huge hit, but I cannot take the credit for them. One of my new favorite sites, Baking Bites, had this recipe, and I found it, thanks to Pinterest. So here you go! Everything written below here was copy and pasted from the site.

Homemade Samoas Bars

Cookie Base:

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

First, make the crust.

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan, or line with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly, like wet sand. The dough does not need to come together. Pour crumbly dough into prepapred pan and press into an even layer.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.

Topping

3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

12-oz good-quality chewy caramels

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp milk

10 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.

Put dollops of the topping all over the shortbread base. Using the spatula, spread topping into an even layer. Let topping set until cooled.

When cooled, cut into 30 bars with a large knife or a pizza cutter (it’s easy to get it through the topping).

Once bars are cut, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle bars with chocolate to finish.

Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes 30 bar cookies.

Okay, there you go! I hope you liked the recipe. I promise that it's worth baking!

Hello/Aloe!

I thought that summer was going to bring me a lot of excess time, but I guess it's safe to say that I'm as busy as I ever was. HOWEVER, I am busy doing the things that I love: working with my oldies, hanging out with my good friends and reading. It has been a great couple of weeks since school let out, and I am unfortunately dreading the beginning of summer school in another couple of weeks. It will be all over soon enough, though.

So... I've told this story to a ton of people, but it's too good not to share with anyone who reads this. At least, I thought it was hilarious.

I'm in a resident's room at work washing my hands in her bathroom.  I noticed in the mirror that I had a weird crease on my boob. (Do I not have a mirror in my house?? I must not use it, because too often I leave the house with strange stains on my shirts or awkward makeup catastrophes.)  I stuck my hand up my shirt to try and smooth it out, and it only made it worse! I could not figure out what it was, so I looked around quickly to make sure that nobody could see me, and I lifted up my shirt.  Lo and behold I find a sock. A sock?!?! How the whatsit did I go ALL DAY with a sock between my bra and my shirt and not notice it?! And thanks, my so-called friends, for letting me know that I had an awkward growth.

Moving on, this Sunday, Anthony and I went to Busiek with Amy, Dave, Lindsey and Bren. It was so much fun! You can check out her blog, here.

Amy, I'm stealing a picture, because I have a feeling that some electronically challenged people *cough, mom* don't click on my links.

I hung out with Brendan for most of the adventure, because I was his "rescuer lifer." I carried him through all of the "deep water" or when his feet hurt. I love my little buddy...

We floated in the creek through some of the more rapid water and it was loads of fun, despite a few scraped bottoms/backs.  We tried hiking back to the car, but we got stuck at a dead end... only after wading through horse crap and mud up to our ankles.  It was gross, but hey- if we can get through literal crap together, I'm guessing we can handle most things.

I got super sunburned. I don't know why sunscreen didn't cross my mind, but aloe is my new best friend.



We went back to Amy and Dave's for steak, potatoes and salad, and then Anthony, Lindsey and I made strawberry limeades.  I got the idea off of a picture on pinterest. We changed it up a bit, but basically, you blend up a bunch of strawberries, add a bunch of lime juice, sugar and soda water. Tada-- delicious!

As I wrote in an earlier post, I've been buying Lindsey books. I love to read, so I'm trying to get her hooked on the books I used to read as a kid. Well, I guess Amy told Linds to write me a letter:



Dear Liz your asome because you tot me how to read amelia Bedlia Books. I think yell be a graet ant. Will you come to my Birthday? If you come bring anthiny to OK. Your the best. did you have fun at Busic? That water was cold hu? When it was olmost grandparents celebrachin I tawled to my grandma Valla for 30 minits! Esint it Asome? thank you for giving me 5 Amelia Bedelia Books. I only have 2 that I havint read yet. I love the jack and anni Books to. Your graet I mean graet Love Lindsey


Those kids make my heart feel squishy.

Today, Antho and I went on a date to Cheddar's, and then we shopped around a bit where there were sales going on for Memorial Day. I SAW SO MANY OLD PEOPLE TODAY!!! It was the greatest thing, ever! Gah, they were so cute.  I snuck pictures of a few couples, but I'd feel like the next level of creeper if I were to post them; trust me, I considered it.

Speaking of oldies, here's a drawing that my friend/resident drew. She used to be quite the artist.

After she finished, she said, "... She isn't from the United States."
BAHHAAHAA

Anyway, I bought a cookie jar today! I've been on the lookout for the perfect one ever since I moved into my own place, and today was the day!

Naturally, I had to bake cookies so I had cookies to go in the jar. I have the most logical logic, I think. I baked chocolate chip cookies, minus the chocolate chips, plus Heath bar bits and white chocolate covered pretzels. They are delicious.

Right now I'm listening to Pandora while Anthony reads "The Hunger Games." (I read the entire trilogy over three days last week in between work/other stuff. Read them!) We are going to have smoothies later and watch more Buffy. :) :)

Cheers!

PS- It is hotter than hell in my house right now. My air conditioner is a joke, and this girl is about ready to jump into a freezer.