Caffeine Detox - Winter '09/'10

I'm taking a month off from coffee between the Fall & Spring semesters. EEK! :D

Day 1

A Saturday - LOTS of sleep, LOTS of black tea, and a bit of advil. :)

Day 2

Sunday - Church snowed out. More sleep. More black tea. Went shopping at Montgomery Mall and had to take advil and buy a bubble tea to combat a headache - reminded me of one of the reasons I'm doing this detox: it's annoying to have to stop and buy caffeine every 4 hours.

Day 3

Monday - Work closed due to the snow. Again, lots of sleep. Black tea throughout the day. I basically just sip it allll day.

Day 4

Tuesday - Less sleep because of work. Black tea in the morning. Evening was really hard...caved and had 6 advil and a cup of pepsi all in one evening. :P

Day 5

Wednesday - Again, up semi-early for work. Black tea in the morning only and just one dosage of advil around noon. :)

Day 6

Thursday - CHRISTMAS EVE!

Up early for work, this time at CLC not Archives. Making my tea right now at work... And it's already 9:30! :) Only slight signs of a headache coming. And for once I'm kind of excited about the fact that I get to choose to drink tea - I'm not forced to drink coffee.

--

Goals for the coming days:

Day 7: CHRISTMAS. So I can have some tea. :)

Day 8: Saturday - No tea. Lots of Advil.

Day 9: Sunday - I'll be up early for tech. Driving to NJ in the afternoon. Soda for the drive is ok.

Day 10: Monday - In NJ. Tea ok.

Day 11: Tuesday - In NJ. Tea ok.

Day 12: Wednesday. Back from NJ. No tea/coffee/anything.

Day 13: Thursday. Coffee. :) Because I'm doing Kate's wedding reception and I always drink caffeine when I do a wedding job...It's just better for everyone involved. :P :D

Day 14: Two week marker. No tea/coffee/anything from now on until the 1st day of school.

multi-layered/multi-colored cake.

ohhh i want to make this!

via: springcart.typepad.com

friday stuff.

Today was a BAD day to not bring a coat to school with me. (pouring, pouring rain).

I'm using this as an excuse to:

- drink lots of coffee

- eat lots of warm brownies

- sit here looking at blogs.

I always LOVE when people do this at their wedding reception:

from Green Wedding Shoes:

And then this is just the happiest photo I've seen today:

(via: Cup of Jo)

autumn wedding idea - cinnabons

I'm ALL for traditional wedding cakes, but I wouldn't do it only because it's traditional. I'd want to find something that I really loved both in appearance and taste.

That being said, I'm also ALL for alternatives..

Here's one I hadn't thought of before:

woodgrain!

I've fallen in love with woodgrain patterns.

Woodgrain Journal by Red Velvet Art:

--

HunterGatherer Laptop Sleeve by Incase:

(For Macbook Pro 15")($60)

--

Woodgrain Tote, again from Red Velvet Art:

Peach Pie:

LOVE the peach pie recipe my mom taught me years ago:

(photo credit)

1 T. Cold Butter
4 C. Sliced Peaches
1 T. Lemon Juice
3 T. Tapioca
3 Drops of Peach Flavoring Oil*
½ C. Sugar
¼ C. Brown Sugar
¼ t. Nutmeg
½ t. Cinnamon
Double Crust for 9 inch pan

Mix peaches, peach flavoring and lemon juice in a large bowl. Set aside
Mix tapioca, sugar, brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon.
Pour dry mix over peaches and stir.
Pour into prepared crust. Top with butter.
Cover with second prepared crust.
Flute edges, vent and cook at 375 for 40-45 minutes.
--Best with vanilla ice cream.--

*The "Peach Oil" is essentially just really strong concentrate.
Mine is purchased from LorAnn Oils.

Make your own gift bow.

Found on How About Orange -

tutorial for making your own gift bows. :-)

caramel apples

Up late - fingernail polish drying. I can type but not go to bed 'cuz then the sheets will mess them up. (Did that the other night - thought they were dry enough and woke up with funny creases all over them.)

So...going through my google reader. :)

Found this on A Beautiful Mess.

September

1 month & 1 day since last post.

* Started college. University of Maryland!!

* Moved to college. (It was a really last minute decision..happened 2nd week of school.)

* Fall began!!!

And just for fun - a midnight studying photo from reading literature last night.

Letterpress calendar.

Love this.
(HT: Elise Blaha.)

Summer 2009

Strawberry/banana smoothie,
Peach-Orange-Banana smoothie,
NJ ocean,
Root beer floats on vacation.

Wisdom teeth. part 2.

Everything was going SO smoothly - by day 3 I was able to eat a hot dog. THEN, the infection came. Now I can barely open my mouth. :P Day 9 after removal and I am still on smoothies, soup, & scrambled eggs.

Wisdom teeth.

My wisdom teeth were yanked on Friday morning.
This is me with chipmunk cheeks. I've been living on Smoothie King & clam chowder. Good stuff. :) :)

Website...

...for great christian quotes & online books.

http://gracegems.org/
Check it out! :)

Room decor.

My friend Erin just got a new room.
I was looking online to find some ideas/stuff for it. It was the guest room & really needs a new look. :) These items were inspired by the colors in her comforter & the school desk in her room. :D

Thought Bubble Chalk Board
https://www.redvelvetart.com/home-decor/thought-bubble-chalkboard-1


















Wall art from this blog - http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/
(Blog of the artist whose website sells that chalkboard.) :D

Birthday book.

I'm going to do this for year 18. (begins next March...)
Click the following photo to enlarge & see what I'm talking about.



She is selling custom kits:
(ps - LOVE her blog. you should follow it.)
http://eliseblaha.typepad.com/golden/2009/08/custom-birthday-books.html

My new Macbook 15"

2 weeks ago I bought a Mac – my very first one.
15” Macbook Pro. With a free iPod touch (apple for education deal). 
I hope I never have to go back to Windows.

People always say things about Mac like “more user friendly.” To me, that always just meant that Macs were computers for, well, people who would read Computers for Dummies, Volume 1. I don’t know about this who user friendly thing – as someone who grew up clicking around on an old PC, I found them quite easy to navigate. Macs, however, are simply more efficient: I do what I do faster and with better tools on my new Mac.

July Highlights

Posts coming on my July highlights

* Recovered from June
* Got a Macbook Pro 15" & an iPod touch
* College orientation
* Helping Janet with a wedding reception (crazy times)
* Beach!! (Point Pleasant, NJ)

June

Since my last post (June 15), lots of fun stuff has happened.
:D :D

::June 22-26::
Administrated a kids camp at my church called Summer Celebration. It was our best year ever. We had 460 kids and about 140 of them were kids whose parents weren't members of the church.


::June 27::
Coordinated wedding receptions for Mary & Jimmy Wilson.

::June 28::
Went up to NJ for a few days to spend time w/ my awesome cousins & sister Sequoia.

Journal

I am writing this post to remind myself that my next journal is not going to have lines in it.

:D

More favorite things.

* The new car is now SUPER clean thanks to 2.5 full hours of vacuuming, windexing and disinfecting. It smells good and it sparkles.

* Those groups on facebook where people ask you for your phone numbers because their phone died somehow. They are the funniest.

* This wedding dress (by Manuel Mota) is THE BEST EVER.
I love it. {HT: snippet & ink}

a few of my favorite things.

It's 12:30pm and, although I should hit the hay, I want to say a few things so that I will remember them later.

1. I might as well live life to the fullest -
enjoying each situation and season rather than worrying about or living only for the next one.

2. Pink lemonade rocks.

3. I don't want to freak out over dumb things.

celebrate color

It makes me LOVE color.

And I even might paint my room...
(I've been putting it off because of the work involved... might do something like the color of the R on the end. I have a lot of accent items in the yellow color..)

Iced Coffee.

Is it iced coffee weather? Find out here. HT: How About Orange.

I love the Starbucks iced coffee w/ milk - $1.95. yum! :D

Hard Graft - Cases for iPods, Macbooks, iPhones, etc.

I LOVE this company's stuff: http://shop.hardgraft.com/

I'm going to be a Terp!

This past Friday I made the decision to go to University of Maryland, College Park, for all 4 years of college (rather than going to the community college near here for 2 years first.)

SUPER excited. :)

Wedding Idea - Old Navy Flip Flops

I ran across this super idea on 2 Excited Nests, a blog written by two sisters who got married within 4 months of each other and now share a blog.

At one of their weddings, they had a basket of Old Navy flip flops (check out the 2 pairs for $2.50 ones). The guests in high heels could pop these on at the reception and have a comfy fun time on the dance floor.

Mini Stools from Pottery Barn

So cute! Found these in the Pottery Barn April 2009 catalog today.
Looks like they're a limited item.

I think I'd put it on top of a stack of nice big books on top of my dresser, and then lean a photo frame on top of the little stool, against the wall. :D All next to a jar with wildflowers? Yes. :)

I really think I might by this...

Another use for binder clips.

I was looking through one of the lists of "New uses for everyday items" that Real Simple has on its website when I came across this.

Using binder clips to hold up photos [or index cards with verses, quotes, agendas, sticky pad reminders, and so on..]

Most of their ideas were pretty straightforward (for example, use a sticky pad to write driving instructions and put it on your steering wheel.) While this binder clip idea won't keep me from every buying a frame again, I do think it's a neat way to display something on your desk, without buying one of those "page up" dealies that come in bad colors.

Goals

My Spring semester has been getting busier and busier over the last weeks, and will continue to do so. One thing I've been thinking about is how I want to "thrive not just survive." At care group last night we were talking about making scripture reading a priority. This is something I have really let slip, and so it's going to be at the top of my list. For me to "thrive not just survive" means that my time is spent intentionally, I have priorities and the important things are getting time and attention, etc. I want to look back on this time and not just remember that it was busy, but also remember that I grew in certain areas, ate well, and focused on things that mattered.

Here's stuff I want to work on:

1. Getting up at a consistent time.
   I tend to get up as late as I can, leaving the minimum time to get ready for my day. This results in skipping breakfast, running late for class, not making my bed, stress, not being able to take time to read any scripture in the morning, etc.
   Specific Goal = 6 or 6:30am each day. (6:30 at first, then 6 as I get used to the adjustment.)
2. Make Scripture a Priority
   Specific Goal = Spend 20 minutes of the 6:30-7:30am hour with my Bible.
   (And that will be the 6-7am hour later on when I get up at 6.)
   And then I'll try to make time later in the day to read more, etc. but this way I'm at least getting some core reading in each morning as I get going with my day.
   
3. Get to classes 5 minutes early. Yea, I guess that's specific. :)
   The getting up earlier thing will be really key in making this one work. ;D
   
4. Eating healthy. The thing that's hard for me isn't eating healthy foods (which I love) - it's eating.
   For me, eating healthy means making meals, especially breakfast and lunch, a priority.
5. Keeping my room clean
6. Memorizing Scripture

Towards the end of the list, I have less specifics but I'm going to add to this list.
For this week, my main focus is on #1 and #2. I'll keep you posted on progress. :)

Customer Service Website & Pink Lady Apples @ Whole Foods

The other day, I stumbled upon a super website called Get Satisfaction.
This site says it provides "Real conversations with company employees and other customers who will answer your questions..."

From the small amount I've used the site and spent time browsing it, it seems to deliver as advertised.
Also, there are a good number of companies that use the site that I have products/services from:
- Google (+gmail, etc.),
- Twitter, Apple,
- Adobe
- and even stores like Whole Foods.

Even though I wasn't having an issue with an account or product, I wanted to try the service out.
And so I decided to ask Whole Foods a question about Pink Lady Apples. :)
I haven't been to Whole Foods more then a couple times, and I wondered if they carried Pink Lady apples year round. Safeway and Giant have them now, but not all year and the ones at Giant are icky.

Anyway, here's what the employee said in reply to my question. :D

Pink Lady Apples @ Whole Foods.

The Pink Lady apple (also known as Cripps Pink) is a late season apple and is among the last varieties to come off the trees in the fall. Pink Lady apples tend to have a starchy flavor right off of the tree (this may be what you are experiencing occasionally when the fruit is just not right) and because of this we like to wait 8 weeks or so after harvest to promote them. The domestic season starts in late October and the fruit is usually gone by May. However our product experts tell me that US-grown Pink Lady apples taste the best from January through April.

We also get imported Pink Lady apples in the summer from Chile and New Zealand that start to arrive about the time the domestic fruit goes away (late May). Imported fruit in the early part of the season will have the same starchy flavor as the early season domestic fruit, so you may want to wait until later in the season (July-September) to purchase the best tasting fruit from the imported crops.

Pink Lady apples are one of a kind, so it is difficult to recommend a substitute. Our produce experts suggest Honey Crisp or Jonagold apples (both are excellent from September all the way to late December) but there is no real match in flavor and texture for a Pink Lady during the right time of the year.

--
So yeah. :)
I'll be at Whole Foods soon. ( i LOVE pink lady apples )

Baggu

I am going to have get me one of these. :D

Strawberry Cake

This strawberry cake recipe comes from a cookbook called The Cake Mix Doctor. I got this cookbook as a birthday gift years ago and would HIGHLY recommend it as something to buy for yourself or for a friend. Anyway, last night I made this cake with a friend, in a lovely heart shaped pan, to celebrate Valentines Day. It turned out great, and I thought I'd stick the recipe on here. :)


Strawberry Cake

Solid vegetable oil & flour to grease and dust the pan.
1 pack (18.25 oz.) plain white cake mix
1 pack strawberry jello (3 oz.)
1 cup blended strawberries
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup whole milk (or 1/4 c half & half with a 1/4 cup skim or 2% milk)
4 eggs
optional: 1 cup thawed grated coconut and/or 1/2 cup chopped pecans.

Preheat to 350 degrees. Grease & flour pan. Combine all ingredients in bowl and mix! :) If you're going to use a mixer, do low speed 1 minute and medium speed 2 minutes, and be sure to insert the coconut and pecans after blending and just mix those items in with a spoon. Pour batter into pan(s) and place on center rack in oven. Bake for 28-30 min. After 10 minutes of cooling in the pan, remove the cake. Allow to fully cool before icing with cream cheese frosting. :)

Mini-Recycling Bin

So, for the longest time I've been searching for a mini recycling bin to have in my room. No, this isn't because I'm such an eco-chic, it's because I'm lazy. I don't want to take my plastic bottles and masses of old paper down to the main recycling bins. SO, after little success finding stuff online that I actually like, I've decided to make my own.

I'm going to order a decal/sticker online -
http://www.recyclingsupply.com/recycledecals.html

And then I'm going to buy a nice small white trash bin, like this one -
http://www.oxo.com/OA_HTML/xxoxo_ibeCCtpOXOPrdDtl.jsp?section=10038&item=50876&minisite=10024&respid=53057

:)

Cord Manager

• On my desk I have a cord for my computer, lamp, speakers, iPod and phone. Mostly I just shove the excess cord behind the white board that sits on my desk leaning against the wall. That, however, only works so well.

• I was looking online today and found this little guy - http://www.roomandboard.com/rnb/product/detail.do?productGroup=19195&category=rm_accessories&subcategory=acc_org.
  

• At $9 for just one, it's not cheap, but it looks like it'll be worth it. I especially like the looks of this one because I can use it to keep cords together AND to make sure they don't fall down under my desk when not in use - something I have been using tape for these past couple of years. :D