Pumpkin [piano] party!

Dear Reader,

Third Sundays after church we have a ward potluck, and last Sunday's theme was "Try something new." I found a recipe for pumpkin garlic knots and they sounded so intriguing I decided to make them.

I'm sharing the recipe with you because the rolls turned out to be really, really good. You can find the recipe here!

Since I had a ton of pumpkin left over after the rolls, I used some of it to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies as a thank you to the four men who helped move a piano into my apartment yesterday. (Yes! You read that correctly. I am now the proud owner of a beautiful piano. And those four men [the elders, Bishop, and executive secretary] moved the piano, without a dolly, down a flight of stairs that had a landing and up another flight of stairs. And no one got hurt. I'm impressed.)

This is a different recipe than I've used before, and I have to say, I love it! You can find it here.

I love recipes on blogs. Mostly because there are pictures included. :)

So long, 2011!

Dear Reader,

2011 is over! Sometimes it's hard to believe. And then other times I feel like it's already about October 2012, since that's where my brain is at Highlights. (We work 10 months ahead.)

This year has been exciting. Let's relive it!

January:
I began my LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE. This was both exciting and terrifying, partly because I'd missed school during my eight-months-of-internships break and partly because I would be graduating soon, and mostly because I had no idea what I was doing with the rest of my life after graduating happened.

February:
February was slow. Like Februarys usually are. But I did make lasagna with Natalie.

March:
I participated in the Divine Comedy music video "Firebolt" which proves that wizards are real. If wizards are college students running around with sparklers and stuffed owls.

April:
I GRADUATED!!! And then left Provo for Michigan. And then had an interview with Highlights for an internship, which I guess went well because they gave me the job!

May:
I moved to Honesdale and began my internship at Highlights! I also took a trip to DC to visit Natalie on my birthday weekend when I turned 23. And I found the apartment I was going to live at in Honesdale which meant I didn't need to live in the Highlights cabins anymore:

June:
I went to NYC with Natalie and Amber! And I adopted Bailey.

July:
I hit up DC for the fourth. Nothing like Independence day in the capitol! Especially when it rains really, really, really hard. I went to Chautauqua Writer's Conference for work where I spent 8 days on staff working really, really hard while mingling with awesome people.

August:
I went to Philly to a Death Cab Concert and then visited Natalie and the temple in DC.

September:
Natalie came to visit me in Honesdale!! And I went to pick her up in Philly.

October:
It was finally fall! My favorite season. And I went to a pumpkin patch, ate cider donuts and drank cider. It was the perfect fall experience!

November: 

I went to Portland to go with Natalie through the temple! This trip was long-awaited and sooo worth it! Yay Powell's!!

December:
I helped plan and throw the ward Christmas party, oversaw the craft room at Highlight's Holiday Open House, and then drove home to spend Christmas and New Years with my family!

So I got a college degree, landed the most awesome internship, and traveled to some of the country's most awesome cities all in one year! I think it was an excellently productive year. Here's to 2012! May it be just as exciting--and even better (if that's even possible!).

Happy Halloween!

Aaaaarrrr!

Snow Day

Dear Reader,

So this was my day:

While the cats slept (the extra cat on the right is here because I'm petsitting her. She and Bailey are like BFFs now), outside it was doing this:

I mean SERIOUSLY?? It's not even Halloween yet!!! The snow has been coming ALL DAY. Yeah, it's pretty. But I'm pretty sure that's because I haven't gone outside all day. Instead I...

baked sugar cookies for a ward Halloween party that was cancelled because of the aforementioned blizzard. So now I've got a bunch of sugar cookies in my freezer. And someone is going to benefit from this. Could it be people at work? Or the ward if the party is ever rescheduled? Only time will tell.

I also cooked some pumpkin seeds

and did laundry! The reason this is exciting is because....I now have a washing machine!!! I could clean my clothes without even leaving the house! Thanks to my bishop for hooking me up with the machine--and then hooking the machine up for me. :) 

After awhile the kittens decided to move from the kitchen to my bed. They pretty much just slept all day. Typical.

Oh what a year.

Dear Reader,

Well, it looks like 2010 is just about over. Yeah, you know what's coming. It's flashback time:

1. At the beginning of the year, in February, I hit up Vegas with some friends. It was my first time.

I loved it.

2. I went to Park City during Sundance season. Also a first. Didn't see a movie, but we did have a great photo shoot with Natalie's amazing camera.

3. The Festival of Colors. A lovely, chalky mess.

4. I interned at Deseret Book over the summer. I worked on 55 books, including President Monson's biography!

5. In May I turned 22! And I got to go home to Michigan for a few days.

6. Over the summer I went to Arches with some friends. And yes . . . it was another first.

7. I was called to be the Relief Society secretary. Best. Calling. Ever!

8. Cousin Cami got married. Cousin Laura and I took pictures of ourselves while we waited outside the Salt Lake Temple for the wedding to be over.

9. I hit up Michigan again at the end of summer (thank you frequent flier miles). Seriously, I haven't been to Michigan this many times in a year in like forever.

While I was there we saw Lake Michigan.

10. Drama, drama, drama, and . . . at the beginning of September I moved! I like my new bed a lot. But I didn't spend nearly enough time sleeping in it last semester as I wanted/needed to.

11. During the fall I interned at the Friend! And I loved it.

12. I also became a baking fiend. You may have picked up on that.

13. Halloween rolled around and Natalie and I carved pumpkins. And I dressed up as Lois Lane.

14. Concerts, concerts, and more concerts. The favorite being: Ingrid Michaelson.

15. Diwali, festival of lights, happened too. Of course, Natalie and I were there.

16. Last week I got endowed in the Detroit Temple! It was a good day. :)

17. So now I am home again in Michigan, ringing the new year in with this lovable fur ball.

It's been a . . . productive year. Very stressful. Very educational. But in the end it turned out wonderful!

So here's to 2011. My last semester of college. Graduation. Getting a real job.

Yeah . . .

Please don't be as scary as I think you're going to be.

This is Halloween.

Dear Reader,

So Halloween happened this last weekend. But I'm sure you figured that out on your own.

Natalie and I carved pumpkins on Saturday. This is one of my favorite parts of Halloween. I love scooping the ooey gooey innards out of the pumpkin.

Yum.

The finished products. Harry Potter on the left (mine) and the happiest vampire you will ever see on the right (Natalie's).

That night I went to Natalie's ward party. She was a gypsy and I was Lois Lane. The thing was this was a dance party and I was wearing stilettos. Ouch.

And Sam was Ariel. The fork was my idea.

Sunday was Kelsy's Halloween food-fest. She made the most delicious pumpkin bars I have ever eaten. I'm serious. They were heavenly. Oh, and she was a cocker spaniel. Love it.

Sugar Rush

Dear Reader,

Last week I decided to become a baker. And by become a baker I mean I made muffins and cookies.

But still, it was a long process.

First it was the muffins. We had a Halloween potluck at work, and I decided (mainly based on my lack of butter) that pumpkin muffins were a good idea.

By the way: the recipe was super good. Here it is if you're interested:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins/Detail.aspx

Next I decided to make sugar cookies to bring in to work and for Kelsy's Halloween party. This was a very VERY long process. Making the cookies was one night's project:

The frosting of the cookies was another night's.

I think the finished product turned out okay for my first try with this recipe.

Let's just say it was a sugary week.

In case you're interested in this recipe, also, here it is (from friend Jana):

deb child’s sugar cookies

2 c. butter

1 1/2 c. sugar

4 egg yolks

2 t. vanilla

4 1/2 c. flour

first, cream butter and sugar. then, add egg yolks and vanilla. add flour to mixture gradually. the dough will roll out best if it has been chilled for a few hours. roll out cookie dough to 1/2 inch thick, and cut into desired shapes. place cookies on a buttered cookie sheet or a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. DO NOT OVERCOOK. remove the cookies from the oven as soon as they are the slightest bit golden on the bottom or edges.

icing

2 lb. bag of powdered sugar

3 T. powdered meringue

1 t. clear vanilla

1 t. butter flavoring

1/2 t. almond flavoring (optional)

mix ingredients. [seriously, that’s about it]. Add water to the mixture incredibly slowly, until the icing is at the proper consistency for piping through a bag – but it should still be pretty thick. then, feel free to add some color. color frosting as desired. divide the frosting. use one portion to pipe outlines on the cookie with a piping bag. thin the remaining icing with a small amount of water and “flood” the inside of the outline with the thinned icing using a spoon. let cookies sit overnight for the icing to set.

Quest for Pumpkin

Dear Reader,

I made pumpkin cupcakes a few weeks ago. They looked a little something like this:

Whenever I eat pumpkin cupcakes a get nostalgic about London (Natalie, you know what I'm talking about) and a certain cupcake shop named Hummingbird Bakery.

As I'm sure most of you remember, I went to London in the fall. And as most of you are probably aware, pumpkin is a popular food to eat during that particular season.

Except, apparently, in London. And I found this out the hard way.

Natalie and I searched all over the city and found nothing. NOTHING. I almost doubted London's being the greatest city of all time, but I got a hold of myself before things got too out of hand.

[I should make the disclaimer that there were pumpkin pie type things (very rare, but we found them once or twice), but we were jonesing for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin cupcakes, or something of that nature.]

So for two months we looked in every bakery and food stand we walked past--but to no avail. We had pretty much lost all hope until, on the second to last day in London, Natalie was inspired to stop by Hummingbird Bakery on Portobello Road. Pumpkin cupcakes were the cupcake of the day. Was it fate? I think so. Needless to say, she bought one and shared it with me, and there was much rejoicing. This is kind of what that looked like:

We were clearly all about the product placement.

Natalie also got a red velvet cupcake. That's the one on the right. A very good choice.

This is it. The coveted pumpkin cupcake. It's so beautiful.

It was totally worth the wait.

The cupcakes I made last month were no where near as magical as the London cupcake, but I'm gonna say that's because I didn't have to wait 2 months to eat them.

P.S. Before you get confused and think that I'm good at photography, Natalie took the Hummingbird cupcake pictures. (Well...except for the one of her. I took that.)