Christmas Recap

Okay, so often when I begin to write a blog entry, I pause and think, "doesn't this sound a little self-centered?" I am really paranoid about coming off as conceited, so I'm a little awkward about sharing things about myself with others sometimes.

Buttttt then I remember that it is MY blog, after all. It's cool if I talk mostly about myself, right? And so then I just try not to worry about it and write whatever I feel like. Without further ado, let me share with you the highlights of Christmas gifts I received this year. Oh, and do feel free to share what you got in the comments section :)

The thing I was most excited about was a new iPod nano! Have you seen the new teeny tiny ones? They are SO stinkin' miniscule! Luckily it has a clip on the back so it can be clipped on a pocket or something, otherwise I'd be scared to death of losing it. This is going to be great for taking to the gym. No more big, bulky, first generation iPod touch. Woohoo!

i did not receive the entire array of colors, unfortunately.

Also good for taking to the gym?

New Nike shorts and running shoes! This is gross but I've been wearing the same pair of tennis shoes since freshman year of high school. (Can you believe I had size 10 feet at age 13? Yikes.) They are absolutely broken in and comfortable and wearable but they are also absolutely filthy. There's chunks of candy and dried ice cream embedded into the sole, very likely things I picked up off the floor from my high school job at Cold Stone. Yuck. I was sorely in need of a newer, nicer pair. I tested the new ones out on the treadmill today and I really like them!

The Glee Christmas album. Yes, I am a Gleek. I LOVE their renditions of "Baby It's Cold Outside" and "Last Christmas." I've actually been hearing the latter getting a lot of airplay on the Christmas station here in Columbus. The station that is now back to broadcasting regular music, sadly :( But at least I have my CD.

Hello Kitty alarm clock. This is actually my second Hello Kitty alarm clock, but a certain parent of mine dropped the original one on the icy, hard pavement outside my dorm when he picked me up for winter break two weeks ago. Very thoughtfully, however, he bought me a new one. Thanks Dad :)

An Anrthopologie cardigan from my boyfriend. We went shopping last Monday and I spotted this, but forgot about it after we went home. And a few days later it showed up at my house. I loooove it. Just my style. It's a little more drape-y than it looks in the above picture. The boyfriend enjoyed his dinner by the way. It was a fairly simple recipe that I'll definitely be making again!

OATMEAL. A gift from my grandmother; she knows me well. As much as I love frou-frou presents like teacup-shaped alarm clocks with a Hello Kitty sitting on top, I do enjoy a good practical gift. I was honestly thrilled to get oatmeal. And rather disappointed no one got me socks this year. I love socks. I've been getting holes in all my socks lately and I am in dire need of new ones. I suppose this can mean only one thing: Target trip!

I also wanted to share a couple picture from my visit to my mom's parents' house, plus Christmas day: cookie decorating, grandparents acting goofy, family pic by the Christmas tree, etc :)

my mom frosting a snowman cut-out cookie.

excess frosting = chubby/pregnant reindeer

grandparents hamming it up :)

my brother chris and me on christmas day.

our cat brandy enjoying the wrapping paper and boxes.

haha... just testing the self timer.

me, my dad, and chris.

Well, I can't believe this is my last week of break. Times flies. Three weeks go by pretty darn quickly. Still much to do in the next week however before going back to school. Over the next few days I'm hoping to get together with friends I haven't yet seen. And on Thursday my mom is hosting a holiday open house with appetizers and desserts, for which I'm helping her prepare. Friday night is new year's eve, of course, and some plans have materialized; I'll be going to a campus party with my boyfriend. Every single year I hope I'll get to go to some classy new year's eve event that necessitates a fancy cocktail dressy, heels, maybe some diamond chandelier earrings, and a limo to take me there, but it hasn't come up yet. And probably won't so long as I'm a college student. Oh well. Girl can dream. Maybe in a few more years. What are your new year's eve plans?

Enjoy the last several days of 2010! It's crazy that this year is almost over!

Merry Christmas!

Dearest bloggie friends,

I hope your Christmas day is a happy one, spent with family and friends, and full of joy and laughter. I'm heading up to northern Ohio to visit some relatives for the day. Anyone else who is traveling today, please be safe! Happy holidays!

Lots of love, Kate ♥

Cake Balls! And Oreo Truffles Too

When Laura Wynn guessed that I was making cake balls, she was 100% correct! Now, having never made cake balls before, I don't think they turned out quite as well as they could have. But they were definitely edible and at least they look pretty! The cake balls are the ones covered in white chocolate, the dark chocolate ones are Oreo truffles :)

The cake balls were inspired by this recipe. What I did was make a simple cake by mixing a box of yellow cake mix with canned pumpkin, a pinch of cinnamon, and apple juice. Normally, I would not have used the apple juice but I realized I didn't have 15 oz. worth of pumpkin left, and I needed some extra moisture in the batter. The cake was baked and I let it cool over night.

The next day, I mashed it up and stirred in 3/4 a can of creamy vanilla frosting. This is where things went wrong!!! I soon realized that the consistency was NOT right; it was far too moist. The cake itself was already quite moist by itself, so next time I'd probably just mush up the cake and add only 1-2 Tbsp of frosting. To salvage my cake balls, I crumbled up some graham crackers and mixed those in, which helped a bit. Last, I formed 1" balls of cake, then put them in the freezer to firm up before attempting to dip them in chocolate.

Surprisingly, from there on out, things went surprisingly smoothly. I just melted the chocolate (Baker's squares) in the microwave, dropped the cake balls in the dish, ladled a bit of chocolate on top, then fished the cake ball out with a spoon and set it on wax paper to dry--Bakerella's method (see comment number 28). Worked like a charm! I used that same process to chocolate-coat the Oreo truffles.

The pumpkin "cake balls" were good, verrrry sweet! But I served them to my family as "pumpkin truffles" instead, just because of the textural difference. Next time, less frosting will be used. Have you tried making cake balls before? Oreo truffles?? I do love experimenting in the kitchen, even if things don't come out exactly right.

Tonight I'm trying out a Barefoot Contessa recipe on my boyfriend, who requested a simple Christmas dinner as part of his Christmas gift. I'll serve it with garlic bread and a salad. Fingers crossed it goes off without a hitch! I haven't cooked a full meal in a while. He is a boy though, and fortunately that means he will eat pretty much anything I serve him.

Questions of the day! Have you finished your Christmas shopping? I still have to get something for my dad, ahhh! I'm thinking Inception on Blu-ray. Did you see the eclipse last night? Alas, I did not, but I hear it was pretty cool. Anyone remember the solar eclipse on Christmas day in the year 2000? I recall getting these special glasses to look at it.

Have a fab first day of winter!

Now THIS Is What I Call Break

Although I've technically been home three days now, today feels like my first official day of winter break. My dad picked me up from my dorm on Sunday morning and we headed for Whole Foods to get a delicious lunch. I snagged a monster salad, as usual.

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Whole Foods = the bomb. They were giving samples of these amazing pretzel crisps dipped in white chocolate, with crushed peppermint candy sprinkled on top. INCREDIBLE. Oh god. We bought two bags and I could have eaten them both by myself. Look for these at your Whole Foods store! Likewise, you could even make these in your own kitchen--just three ingredients.

After a little relaxation at home, I was off to work at 8pm. We got some crazy snow on Sunday, and the driving conditions by the time I came home at 3 in the morning were treacherous to say the least. Luckily I made it home safely :) Monday morning it was back to work from 11-4. Would you believe I turned in for bed at 8:30pm? That's WAY early for me but my body was calling out for sleep. I ended up sleeping for 13 hours! And it felt GREAT.

I worked again yesterday and to my delight, I got to cashier the whole time. I really enjoy working at the cash wrap. I feel like I get a better chance to connect with the customers, as opposed to working on the floor, trying to hawk products to the disinterested teenage girls who shop in PINK. I love the satisfaction of seeing a customer leave with a smile on their face. *dork* I'm serious!!!!

SO. That brings us up to speed. Since I finally get a day off today, I am lounging on the couch, my cat Coco at my side, tuned in to Top Chef reruns. (Anyone else watching Top Chef: All Stars?) My mom decorated a gorgeous Christmas tree in our living room and of course I have the lights turned on to enjoy it!

I love the little tree topper idea she came up with.

There are garlands strung up along the banisters.

And another lovely tree decorated in the front room of our house. Sorry for the lower quality pictures, I accidentally left my camera at school so I'm using my phone.

Today I'm up to something fun, and it involves this, which I baked last night. Any guesses??

I'll report back with the results soon :) Have a stellar day!

Back In Business

Autumn quarter is over, thank goodness! :) The finals week stress has subsided, and what a great feeling that is. But now I'm all alone in my dorm, trying to figure out what to do with myself all day. Hmmm. I'm staying through tomorrow because I'm working at the front desk tonight (the dorm officially closes at 6 p.m. on Sunday).

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Since the number of people still in the building has dropped to approximately 10, I've just been hanging out with the other office assistants who are also staying to work. Two nights ago we watched "10 Things I Hate About You" and "When Harry Met Sally" -- love WHMS, by the way. One of the best movies ever. And last night we watched "Accepted" which was funny, but not my favorite.

Inconveniently, all the campus dining locations have closed for the quarter and don't accept meal plan payments anymore. Boo. On a whim, I ended up ordering from Pita Pit last night for dinner. I'd never tried it before and it was actually really good! My garden wrap tasted very fresh and healthy, just what I was craving.

Confession time: I've gained 5-10 pounds since the school year started. Shocked? I know I was. I thought the infamous college weight gain was called the freshman fifteen, not the sophomore ten! Anyhoo, I saw a number I was definitely NOT expecting when I hopped on the scale about a week and a half ago. Kind of depressing.

But here's the deal: I was working out nearly every day for the first couple weeks of the school year, and eating pretty well. But as my life became more and more busy--studying, working odd hours, sorority stuff, etc.--I found it increasingly difficult to fit in gym time, and I also started stress eating. In a few words, a lethal combination.

With the holidays come up, it's more difficult than ever to eat healthy. But when I'm at home, I feel more in control of my life, and I find it easier to make good choices in regards to my health. I'm thinking about buying a month's membership for the gym I went to over the summer, so I can get back on track and get back to feeling as healthy and fit as I did at the end of the summer :)

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Changing subjects. IT'S WINTER BREAK! And there is so much to be excited about, beyond the fact that I do not have to think about chemistry for even a split second. Here's the breakdown of my next couple weeks:

• Tomorrow: going home finally. I guess I'll need to do some packing today... ew, dislike. To keep myself preoccupied while packing I think I shall watch a few more episodes of The O.C. (Finished the first season yesterday, by the way. Now on to season two! Srsly obsessed with this show y'all. WATCH IT.)
• This week: WORK! Almost every day. I'm going back to my job at VS, but luckily all my shifts are short ones, just like 5-6 hours each. I know, that sounds like no fun. But interspersed with work, I get to lounge at home, finished knitting my Slytherin scarf, get coffee with high school friends, cook/bake with my mom, and eat home-cooked food. Oh, god, the home-cooked food. I miss that. Until you get to college and have to be on a meal plan, you never truly appreciate how wonderful home-made food really is! Amiright?
• Next week: visiting my grandparents December 21-24. It's my mom's parents and I always look forward to seeing them over the holidays. I foresee several games of Pictionary, eating dough making frosted cut-out cookies, watching "White Christmas," and visiting with more extended family who live in the area. On Christmas Day, I'll visit with my dad's side of the family.
• The following week: who knows? I'll probably get scheduled several more shifts at work, and hopefully I'll get to spend a little more time with my friends. And New Year's Eve is that Friday... no plans yet but I would looove to spend that evening with my boyfriend so I can have a new year's kiss at midnight :) Last year for New Year's Eve I was in Disney World, and while watching the fireworks going off all throughout the park with pretty cool, I was seriously missing my guy. We did talk on the phone at midnight though, so he was the first person I spoke to in 2010. 

One last item of importance! Not all my final grades have been posted yet, BUT...... guess who got an A in organic chemistry! AHHHHHHH! I guess all the craziness was worth it. It's a good feeling knowing that I worked hard for it, and all the time spent doing practice problem after practice problem paid off.

Have a fabulous weekend, you guys. And thanks for being patient this past week while I had to focus on school ♥ Are you up to anything exciting today?

Finals, yuck.

Hey all! I'm still here! I'm just devoting all my time to studying for finals. One more week and I'll be headed home to relax for the holidays... until then, wish me luck!

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So on a related note, Christmas is quickly approaching! I can hardly wait. Is everyone feeling the holiday spirit? I know I am! This truly is the most wonderful time of the year ♥ What is your favorite thing about the holiday season?