Hellooooooo weekend!

Happy Birthday, Krista B!! You are loved.

I made Chocolate Souffle Cupcakes with White Chocolate Mint Cream for Lo's little pre-birthday get together on Thursday night....YUM. Smitten Kitchen has not failed me yet =]

Easy art! I've been thinking of ways I wanted to decorate the walls of my new place and came up with this. Well, I had seen people put lyrics on their wall before. So I just printed some, put them in a clear frame, and added a postcard from Seattle.

lyrics from "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel.

So glad it's Sabbath! Man oh man.

Tomorrow morning apple muffins or apple pancakes???

On this gloomy Wednesday...

I have fallen in love with two things:

1)


It's been on repeat. I love it. They have several shows in LA in the new few months and they are all sold out. Hopefully, I can find a ticket somewhere...

2)
As an avid baker, I have fallen in love with the Build your own Smitten Kitchen guide. One day, my kitchen will contain all those contents!


Tomorrow=Lunch with Shannie, Baking, and Lo's pre-birthday bash. YESSSSS. All of course after a full day of studying cardiac and GI systems. Now that ,my friend, is lame.

A.C.B.

Happy Birthday to Alyssa Cheyenne Bishop.

You are so strong, beautiful, and passionate.

I hope you are having the most wonderful birthday.

Wish I could be there to celebrate with you.

May you have a million adventures in your new year of life.

I love you.

Breakfast

I love breakfast. Eggs, pancakes, coffee, stripples/turkey bacon, fruit... I just love it! This morning I had the pleasure of making breakfast with one of my best and truest friends, Shannie. We have one of those relationships that's so easy to pick up and we pretty much always understand how the other is feeling. It's lovely.

Instead of pancakes, I decided to make breakfast puffs. MMMM. Perfect with a cup of coffee. Not too sweet, but just enough.

Recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup milk

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggs

1 tbspn sugar

(I added 1 tspn of cinnamon too)

Preheat oven to 375

In a saucepan melt butter; add milk and bring to a boil. Add the flour all at once stirring vigorously. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball that does not seperate. Remove from heat; Cool for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute with a wooden spoon after each addition or until smooth. Divide dough evenly among 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle with sugar (and cinnamon, too!!). Bake about 30 minutes or until golden brown and puffy. Serve with honey.

You don't really need to serve it with honey if you have generous amounts of cinnamon sugar on top. MMM. I may just make them again tomorrow. So easy to make!

Honest Abe

Today I was reading the Principles of Uncertainty and stumbled upon this quote:

"The occasion is piled high with difficulty.

As our case is new, so must think anew, and act anew.

We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country."

- Abraham Lincoln 1862

i love it!

Coffee Shops

Napa Valley Coffee & Roasting Company

''i am sitting at the coffee shop where i come when i'm home, the one that's not Starbucks, the one that plays good music and makes the town feel almost like a city... i have a theory that people go to coffee shops - well, i'm sure we go for coffee - but i think we go to feel less alone. i could write this in my room but i choose to drive across town to sit among the people. i might not talk to anyone but somehow it's better to be here..." - jamie tworkowki

This is one of my favorite places in the whole wide world. It was basically my source of residence through nursing school! ahah. Not really, but I was often there studying. Though it has the most excellent coffee I have ever had, it is more than just a coffee shop to me. When I walk through the door, somehow everything falls into place. I feel welcome and at home. This may be because quite a few of the barista's are some of my best friends, but to tell the truth... I love just about all of them. They are sweet and helpful and a part of me thinks their coffee is so good because they put love into it!

There is nothing like Sunday mornings at the coffee shop. I always made sure to get there before 9 to get a decent studying spot and beat the rush, a dry cappuccino, and of course a delicious morning bunz. As I would enjoy my coffee, I would also enjoy the various people that came in to chat with their friends or family. I would smile as the kids ran throughout the coffee shop and was often lucky enough to have a friend there with me to enjoy this time.

I miss my coffee shop. I miss morning bunz. I miss perfect dry caps and lovely baristas.

So, when I am at home, I settle for Stel's. Not the best espresso I've ever had, but definitely the best in the few miles near me. I don't expect much from them, expect a great chai mix! However, today was just one of those days where I just needed a dry cap. Lo and behold, I got incredibly lucky and got a beautiful dry cap with the near perfect foam. It made my day.

+ As I was studying k, I saw two little girls playing in the rain. How fun! They were just splashing around in their pink rainboots. It was adorable. I wished I was them and got to play instead of study.

Maybe tomorrow I will get to play in the rain. If not, I will at least make some lemon pound cake.

Renee Yohe

I love how she writes. So full of emotion, so passionate.

"so. this is what if feels like. to tear apart. this. is what we risk when we throw our hearts out. so this is losing.

i see.

i wish there was truth when i stammered that i didn't care. i wish if i said it enough it would make everything feel better. but it doesn't, and it won't, and the overwhelming powerlessness of sitting through a feeling is keeping me there. in that moment. where it ended.

blink.

half believing if i blink hard enough the things before me will vanish when the shudders fly open. but they don't. they are just sitting there. in the corner. waiting for me.

and then the fury.

if only my fist flying into the door could distract my heart for a moment. if only i could punch it's wooden frame hard enough to shake this feeling off. if only..but, who am i kidding? my swollen knuckles weren't meant to be my crucifix.

i never learned how to do this.

so this is what it's like when you finally manage to allow people to matter. they were like sharks teeth to me. they were disposable.... why couldn't you be? i think i'd like it if, there was something wrong. with me. or you. i think it would make more sense. maybe. if you could yell. or be cruel. intolerable. or if i was a bitch.

i think maybe if you were poisonous i'd let go a little easier.

my sticky fingers make it hard. and somewhere along the lines i somehow fell. and now it's done. it's over. no more stupid fluttery things in my stomache. no more tangled hands. just my tangled heart.

and the question.

is it worth it.

is it.

worth.

this?

yes. (but i'd rather say no.)"

exactly!

A few favorites

1) I love ruffles. I love love love them. Now if only I could afford a duvet, or even a sham, from anthropologie because I am in love with this bed.

2) Have you guys heard of Allie Moss?

Apparently, I am a late bloomer...but I love her!!! Corners is on repeat right now...

3) A wonderful children's book about dreams available via internet. It's not published yet, at least I don't think so...but it is such a wonderful reminder of what are dreams are and what they should be. I read it to practically everyone I know...

P.s. Looking forward to some PUC loving and making lemon pound cake this weekend. Not sure if I should do a lemon or brown butter glaze... I will let you know!