true snow day.

this is what a true snow day should look like:

 sipping hot cocoa from matching love mugs.

never leaving sweatpants all the day long.

side note:

i mastered the cinnamon pinwheel today.

tips: 

-don't use the sugar cookie recipe on real simple. it's too buttery and sticky and doesn't firm up well. use your own.

-let it harden in the fridge for a loooong time.

-cut thin disks when you're to the cutting stage.

-actually use parchment paper. it really did make a difference.

here's the finished product!

i added red sprinkles for christmas joy. 

goodie bags. ready to be tied and labeled.

that's about it.

happy snow day to all. and to all a good night.

season's eatings.

today was baking day.

like crazy.

matt was gone all day, so i made it happen.

first, i made some cookie mixes to give as gifts. check them out:

 the inside of the tag.

 the finished products, pre-tagging.

 close up. they're ball jars that my mom let me have. fun, huh? authentically old and everything. don't worry, i cleaned them out first.

with tag. done deal.

then, i began the baking. i'm going to give cookies to coworkers, so i thought i should have a theme for the cookies... like i couldn't combine peanut butter cookies with sugar cookies in the same bag. so my theme? cinnamon. who doesn't like cinnamon?

here's my snickerdoodle recipe and here's my cinnamon pinwheel recipe.

 the bins of finished snickerdoodles, waiting to be packed into bags.

 finished cinnamon pinwheels. not as good as what the picture on real simple looks like, but they taste amazing, so i'll survive.

 bags of pinwheels ready to go.

 the dough was complicated. i kept having to re-roll them on the cookie sheet. but here they are.

yummmmm.

at that point, i was on a roll.

so i decided that i was going to plan a whole week's meals, incorporate new recipes, and stick to it... buying groceries for those things only.

tonight's meal was a new recipe: chicken pot pie. matt loves it, i'm not generally a huge fan... therefore, it has never made an appearance. 

but. i did it. and here it is.

surprisingly good!

as a side note, bailey likes to be near whoever is home. since i was in the kitchen all day, this is how she laid, right at the edge of the kitchen.

just try and tell me there's a cuter dog in this world. it's not possible.

baking day was a success! i wish every day was baking day... i can't get enough. but alas, i would weigh a trillion pounds. i have no self control. eh, what can you do.

week of activities!

normally, my life is somewhat boring. but this past week, i've been quite a busy beaver!  here's the rundown of the fun things that happened this week:


susan came to visit!! we went downtown to pizzapapolis (she has the pictures of that, though...), made puppy chow, watched friends, and made the first fire we've ever made in our fireplace!

there she is. we did have a minor issue with not knowing if the chimney was open or closed... we accidentally filled our apartment with smoke and matt had to reach through FLAMES to save us all from carbon monoxide poisoning. okay, i'm exaggerating, but to a lesser degree, this all happened.


the next day, susan became miss susan and came to my school. the students LOVED her and asked her all kinds of questions about being a missionary.  however, the question that got the most response?


student: what's your favorite color?
susan: green
class: EXPLODED WITH NOISE. one girl yelled: my uncle's favorite color is GREEN! 


that's first grade for you. twas glorious.


REDWINGS GAME. 


matt and i never win things.
ever.


and matt won two tickets to a redwings game.
fourth row.


now, the redwings lost.
but we won.
BIG TIME.


we were on the jumbotron FOUR SEPARATE TIMES. i kid you not. we're famous. the camera guy was near us videoing the game, and he kept filming us. i'd like to think it's because we're hilarious. but it may be because we're ridiculous. i take it back. i'm okay with ridiculous.


here we are!

 what's a game without a hot dog? it was $1 hot dog night. we took advantage.

 there it is. my first time!

 free calendar night, too! chaaaa-ching.

that's how close we were. no joke. glorious.

retreating.

well, it's blog update time... i haven't had much free time lately, so here's to a massive catchup!


last weekend, we had a small group girl's retreat... just for our small group of sophomore girls.  we ended up having 7 girls go on the trip, me and my co-leader, rachel, and a WHOLE LOT of luggage and food.


we borrowed a 12 passenger van and a family's 2nd gigantic house out past lansing, and went retreating!


it turned out to be an incredible weekend.  we did a lot of hanging out, but some organized activities, like the following... 

 we gave the girls a bunch of ingredients, and they had to work together to make us all dinner and dessert on saturday night. they did an amazing job!


we also did a lot of Bible reading and deep discussion... but i don't have pictures of that stuff :)

it was SO good for me, too... i feel like i really got to know these girls! 

whataweekend.