homemade celebration station.

who says you have to go out to celebrate something big?

because we didn't.

we decided to stay home and celebrate our anniversary for a variety of reasons...

1. we wanted to watch our videos.

2. we've been spending a lot of money lately... and we always feel guilty when we spend money (that's probably a good thing, right?)

so instead. we had a restaurant-quality-meal-at-home.

here's how you do it.

step 1: roses.

step 2: nice steaks (that i conveniently got on ridiculously good sale...)

step 3: a willing person to cook... i am this willing person.

 step 4: steaks. gourmet mac and cheese (recipe at the end--ridiculously amazing). asparagus sauteed with garlic and stuff. 

step 5: peace out. or happy 2 years. take your pick.

step 6: delicious dessert. homemade chocolate covered strawberries and cookies and cream cupcakes.

step 7: stuff selves. then get emo watching wedding videos.

that's a great night.

as a side note...

mac and cheese recipe:

7 oz 2% sharp cheddar

3ish tablespoons margarine

2 tablespoons flour

2.5 cups milk

a bunch of parm (who knows how much was in there)

1/2 a box of macaroni

homemade bread crumbs mixed with parm.

1. make a roux with the margarine and flour (basically, cook it together until it turns light brown... and yes, i watched a youtube video on it).  add the milk. a while later, add the shredded cheese... mix that trash until it all thickens together.

2. meanwhile, boil macaroni. tough stuff.

3. pour cheese sauce over mac, mix it up, cover with bread crumbs and cook for 20-30 minutes or so in a 350 degree oven (i covered it with foil for half the time because i don't love stuff that browns).

GOOD LUCK!

12 people in 800 square feet.

welp.

my co-leader and i are having a small group sleep over.

with our soon-to-be junior girls.

in my apartment.

meaning... 10 high schoolers, my co-leader, and i in a one-bedroom apartment.

so of course i had to make cupcakes!

i used my now go-to vanilla cupcake recipe (see my cherry filled cupcake recipe)

then, i added about 4 ounces of crumbled oreos.

then, i put a mini oreo at the bottom of the mini cupcake tin, added the cupcake batter, and baked!

(a little less time and heat since they're minis)

then, i made my vanilla buttercream from memory--a little vanilla, a little milk, 2 sticks butter, about 7 cups powdered sugar.

i put cookie crumbles on top and drizzled milk chocolate.

here's the result!

 mini cupcake tin with mini oreos at the bottom...

 the batter.

 regular sized version...

 mini kind!

 you can't see it, but there's a cookie at the bottom of each of these!

 the finished product.

 umm. yum.

i've been told this is the best yet.

you should try it.

in other news, every time i've cooked on the stovetop, it smells like burning. i found out why...

that used to be a noodle. whoops!

GREAT SUCCESS.

i did it.

i made cake pops.

they're not the most beautiful in the world, but they WORKED.

here are the keys:

smaller cake balls.

more frosting.

nearly frozen.

freeze the stick (dipped in chocolate) and make sure the cake ball didn't split.

then, dip away!

i got a container of bakers chocolate that came in a microwaveable container.

is that cheating?

maybe a little.

but i wanted to make it work!

and check it out.

great success.

take that, starbucks.

and grad school project.

 (what i was supposed to be doing when i decided to do this instead).

2 years. 2 best friends.

2 years ago, i married my best friend.

this guy.

(that was when we accidentally gave him a mullet. not when we got married. but this is funnier).


great things that have happened in the past year?
to name a few...


-we moved to an awesome apartment.
-i learned to roll my r's.
-we are more in love than ever before.
-i have sort of stopped being a backseat driver.
-he has NOT stopped tapping constantly on the steering wheel.
-we still constantly repeat the same phrases over and over. our most current phrase? "bee bop ba loo la, that's my baby... bee bop a loo la, i don't mean maybe."
-i always sing the above song off key. on purpose. really!
-matt made it through second year of med school.
-i made it through second year of med school.
-we still watch friends on an incredibly frequent basis.


overall, 2 years ago was the best day i've had to date... but every day since has been pretty dang wonderful.

thank you, Jesus.

life is good.

happy anniversary to us!

birthday happenings.

i had my birthday.

and man, did we celebrate!

warning: i have a billion pictures. prepare thyself.

 free HUGE starbucks drink.

notes allll over the apartment from this guy i live with. i sort of love him.

then, love from my students...

then, celebrated with matt with a fun, nice dinner.

 filet for matt... since he rocked his exam!

 and for me? my current favorite food. incredible salads.

 cupcake store for dessert? yes, please!

(with a blessing from God in that we had no change and the meter was already filled!)

then, brother ben came for harry potter.

at 3 a.m.

in imax 3D.

 much, much needed.

 brother. standing proud.

 and me. man alive, 3 a.m. harry potter in imax was unmatched.

the next day, we went shopping!

 california pizza kitchen. yummmm.

of course. a stop at cupcake station. so i could get inspired.

and, the last event of birthday week:

a trip home and then to west lafayette for cousin tara's wedding!

 there's my dog's butt. just for an extra special treat for you.

 weddings! we love them!

okay. that's just a perfect picture. 

and here ends my birthday week/weekend!

joy to the world.

things that make my day.

these things makes long days like today better:


-early morning talks with best friends.
-free starbucks drinks to start the day off.
-having my amazing student with downs learn to say the number 11.
(i literally teared up and we hugged about a hundred times).
-having a student read a passage: "jabbed him in the ribbons" that should have been "jabbed him in the ribs."
-students who bring their puppies to tutoring to bring me a little extra joy.
-seeing 6 and 7 year olds that i sincerely love even in the summer.
-a diet dr pepper when i get home.
-birthday cards in the mail. (it's true, i'm 24 tomorrow!)
-playing with my puggle.
-cleaning and it only taking 20 minutes.
-finally finishing papers that were threatening to kill me.
-watching friends while finishing those said terrible papers.
-getting to talk to matt and having interesting stories to share with each other.


so, though these past few days have been terribly long, thank the Lord for the good parts, eh?

cake pop attempt numero uno.

welp.
i decided to attempt cake pops.
difficult.


here's what you do, according to bakerella... the woman who sort of invented the cake pop!

step one: bake a cake. i just did a box cake mix because it was easy. strawberry kind.

step two: crumb the cake, mix with frosting, make cake balls.

hey, be mature. you can say cake balls and not giggle.

step 3: prepare the rest of the ingredients.

this is where things went downhill...

step 4: dip the end of the stick in chocolate and stick it in the cakeballs, then refrigerate for a while.

step 5: where it fell apart. you're supposed to do the double boil method, melt the chocolate, and dip the cake balls in the chocolate and then in the sprinkles.

but. they were too heavy. or maybe didn't have enough frosting in the cake ball. or maybe the stick wasn't far enough in.

(so many that's what she said jokes exist in here. it's okay. you can say it.)

nonetheless. 5 of them completely fell apart. and the ones that worked, i couldn't fully dip or they would have fallen apart. so, another try is in order. when i get time. i will conquer these!

i'll keep you updated. it is a battle.