I wasn't joking either, those of you who are friends with my on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, know that I have blown up your feeds with all my free yummy goodness. ;)
I should have a birthday every month.
I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to start cooking for myself again...
[Food from: Jason's Deli (Royale Club), Marble Slab (Butter Pecan!), Papa John's and Moe's Southwest Grill (Chicken Nachos)]
Speaking of cooking for myself..
Before I launched my birthday celebration, I attempted a couple of new pitnerest recipes... all of which fell very flat, and are still sitting in my refrigerate waiting to be thrown out, or something.
My first attempt was cake balls. We've all seen those delectiable cakey goodness floating around pinterest, and have all, at one time or another, thought: Those look simple to make!
Let me tell you this:
The potential to be simple IS there
But it really isn't THAT simple
At least not for me.
Perhaps that is because I decided not to follow the recipe exactly
(as I'm want to do)
And .. yeah.. well I'll let the pictures speak for me.
For those of you who can't see the picture, what we have here is a try of cake balls, two of which are sitting in a pool of chocolately goo, otherwise known as "Erin's attempt at chocolate icing". The original recipe calls for chocolate CANDY, but I thought I'd be cheap and go with icing. Unfortunately icing just soaks into the cake (at least my kind does any how) and pools at the bottom of the ball instead of looking nice and candy like.
So the moral of this story is: Follow the directions. The end.
The other attempt I made, looks a bazzillion times better and didn't taste too bad, but I just had a few nit picky things I would change before attempting to make them again.
Personal Pan Pizzas
The Good:
The recipe was fairly simply, and easy to follow.
Its pizza how can you go wrong, right?
The Bad:
TOO.MUCH.OIL.
Honestly who needs FOUR OUNCES of oil just to keep the dough from sticking to the pan?
Also, when they say place a PLATE on top of the dough to let it rise.. well definitely make sure you grease the TOP of the dough well before you do that. Trust me on this one ok?
Too Thick... will stick.
My biggest beef with this recipe was how thick and bread like the dough was. I felt like I was eating a roll with cheese and pepperoni, verses a pizza. Next time I think I will ...... cut the amount of dough in half per pizza, or research some other pizza dough recipes to see if there is anyway to make it less like bread.
So that's been my adventures over the last few weeks.
Have you tried any recipes lately? I would love to hear about it!
817 miles + 72 Hours + 3 States + 16+ friends = Exhaustion
You wanna talk about Zombies? This girl is a zombie.
This weekend we (Myself, my sister Robyn, my brother Evan, and friend Rebekah) drove to Alabama (then to GA, back to AL, then back to TN), to celebrate my (our) friend Kim's 26th birthday with food, fun, and Six Flags. :)
We had a blast, but honestly that was the.most. exhausting trip I've been on in a while.
Friday happened like this:
Got up at 7:20 AM, rushed the dogs out of the house, threw clothes on, bagged up last minute trip things, fed dogs, made sure all their "supplies" were in an obvious place, thinking about getting something to eat, realizing I don't have time, do "something" to my hair and dash out the door.
Get to work, get everything done within the hour, and then find things to do until its time to leave. Field multiple random questions from my dear dear brother through out the next five hours.
2:00PM - Change back into street clothes, and race to the nearest gas station to re-inflate my tires and vacuum my car a bit.
2:10PM - Drive to a near by music school to pick up my brother.
2:15PM - Drive back to my job and pick up friend
2:30PM - Drive to Papa John's a pick up a pizza for my brother
2:45PM - Drive to friends job and pick up my sister.
3:00PM - Stop and get some food and hit the road.
Once we got on the road, we were fighting traffic and the random heavy rain storms all the way to Alabama. I hate driving in the rain anyway, but I was hyper vigilant after nearly crashing my car that morning. Oh.. I didn't tell you about that? Yeah.
Did I mention my car is not insured? Don't ask ok? Just.don't.ask.
We can all be thankful to God that nothing happened on the way down or back.
INTIWAYS.
We arrived at the pre-birthday celebration picnic, exhausted, tired, but happy to see familiar faces. The grills had just been fired up, the food was laid out.....when it started to rain. Complete with lightning and thunder.
".. and the Rain, Rain, Rain came Down, Down, Downin Rushing Rising Rivlets, till theRiver crept out of its bed, and crept right into Piglets....."
Noo Piglet wasn't there. You guys are so silly.
So we crammed lots of people and kids into the house and noisy craziness ensued. Finally around 12PM we decided to head home, since we had a 5:30AM departure time. As soon as we got to Kim's house as soon as I could politely remove myself, I climbed into bed and went to sleep.
Next thing I know, someone is banging on my door, and lights are being flicked on. Can I just take a moment and say how much I hate it when that happens? It is THE most annoying way to be woke up.
My mother used to do that to us all the time. It drove.me.crazy. Luckily I have matured past that point and can handle these things with more, grace, shall we say. So instead of strangling whomever woke me up, I just pulled the covers back over my head and stayed in bed until the last possible second.
TAKE THAT. WHOMEVER.
:-P Thats maturity right there.
Anyway once I was up, I was awake and ready to get on the road. However, when you are traveling with multiple people.... well lets just say it took us a while to decide who was riding where, how many cars were going etc.. etc.. Once that was solidified we took to the road like white on rice.
Right.
Four hours, a bathroom stop, and a breakfast break later we arrived at Six Flags over Georgia.
Did you know that Six Flags strictly enforces their clothing policies? And if they deem your T-shirt offensive they Will.NOT let you into the park unless you purchase another one? Yeah.. apparently pictures of guns qualifies.
That held us up for a while.
As we started into the park, it came out that I am vehemently against roller coasters. Let me tell you something (those of you who don't have roller coaster loving friends) roller coaster lovers feel personally affronted if they have a non-roller coaster lover in their group.
"You don't like roller-coasters?"
"You're not going to ride this one? You're sure?"
"We need to get you on a ride Erin!"
"Why don't you like roller-coasters?"
"WHAT!?! YOU DON'T LIKE ROLLER COASTERS? DO YOU KNOW YOU COULD DIE IN A CAR WRECK FASTER THAN YOU COULD ON A ROLLER COASTER?" Yes all the caps were necessary. That would be my brother who is talking like that. :)
"What are you going to do? You came all this way and you're not going to ride anything?"
"Oo! You should ride this one, that's not too bad.." Hmm the one that says MAXIMUM THRILL/FEAR FACTOR? Forgive me if I'm highly skeptical of your roller-coaster loving opinion. :)
However, halfway through the park I decided I was going to face my fear and PERHAPS get on one ride. I also decided that instead of sitting on a bench while everyone stood in line, I was going to make them carry all their OWN bags and I'd stand with them, and walk to the other side should I decide not to ride a particular ride.
Sixteen people have a lot of bags.
After standing in line for an hour, I decided that Batman: The Ride was going to my thrill ride of choice. After all it met my many requirements for a roller coaster.
Height: It only had one initial drop which is my biggest point of contention with roller coasters, and stayed fairly low to the ground.
Length: It was a pretty short coaster, so should I be out of my mind scared it was going to be over quickly.
Safety: Was I going to feel like I was going to fall out?
I didn't actually decide to ride until the last possible second and I had to have a moment while waiting for a car to come available (otherwise known as pounding heart, sweating hands, tears and deep breaths), but once it was actually my turn to get on the ride, I was calm (aka not hyperventilating), and once I realized how secure the safety measures felt, my confidence levels went way up, and I actually looked down as we were being pulled up the initial climb.
The first drop was the scariest part of the whole ride. It literally felt like my stomach, intestines, kidneys, liver etc..etc. were attempting to force themselves into my chest cavity, which was THE WEIRDEST feeling ever. I was too busy trying to breathing to remember the rest of that first part, but once we hit the loops and I wasn't feeling as if I were slipping towards the earth below, I realized that it was actually pretty fun.
And then it was done; and I found myself surrounded by my friends who were congratulating me for actually doing it.
Then I was on the other end of the emotional scale, tearing up that I actually did something I "swore" (in a sense of that word) I'd NEVER do. Roller coasters? You have GOT.TO.BE.KIDDING.ME.
Oh yeah, I just did that.
Whaaaaaaaat?!
After that, the day just involved a lot more line standing.
Standing in line for lunch. (btw on WHAT PLANET Is $39.99 a DEAL for a meal?!?!)
Standing in line for Thunder River (or whatever that clothes soaking water ride was)
Standing in line for the Great American Scream Machine (well OK, actually i was back hanging with the bags again, but I had some company this time)
Standing and watching some friends do the free fall ride thingy.
Standing in line for the Sky Buckets
Sitting through a Erin Hill Band concert while waiting for everyone else to ride Dare Devil Dive
Standing and watching some of our group ride the Georgia Scorcher
Standing outside the closing park trying to decide where to go eat.
Standing in line at Wendy's for a hour because there was no other place close/open.
My legs ached so badly by the time we headed home, even sitting didn't bring any relief.
We got home our 1:30AM and immediately crashed, knowing we had to be up in time for church the next day.
Sunday we stayed for church, lunch, another service, and dinner before tearing ourselves away and hitting the road home.
We got home in excellent time considering, my dogs were happy I was home, I was happy to see my bed. It was a good time all around.....
In celebration of another year in my dear friends life, we (My sister, Rebekah, Jennifer and David ) road tripped it to Chattanooga TN to explore their downtown. Despite spending most of our time waiting for a seat in a restaurant, we had a great time!
The following is a mixture of iPhone and my "real" camera pics.
I'm still not in love with it. But it was practice, and made me realize some things.
So its been over a week since my parents picked up and moved their internet miles away from me.
I'm surviving.
Barely.
The first couple of days were the hardest, I spent hours playing Diner Dash, Angry Birds and Spider Solitaire simply because my computers were there and I didn't know what else to do.
Pathetic really.
Then I decided I would cook something new.
Except all my recipes where on the internet.
Then I decided I would start thinking of things for my room.
But there was no internet.
Than I remembered I needed to see when my library books were due.
Oh wait. No internet.
Add something to my calender?
No Internet
Check out a video link someone sent me..
No Internet.
I think you can see where this is going; I quickly found myself increasing frustrated at how much of my life was on the internet.
So I did the only thing one CAN do when they are in a situation like this.
Cleaned my house.
Scrubbed my bathroom from top to bottom, cleaned most of my kitchen, vacuumed, and than packed up my laptop and went to Panera.
How COULD my parents do this too me!?
In other news:
Yesterday was my birthday.
I was sick through it.
"Its my party and I can cry if I want too..."
However my dogs were super nice to me, and didn't chew up anything, have any accidents or annoy me while I rested.
I fact..all of them SLEPT while I did.
This may not seem like a big thing to most of you, but if you know Rob, you know he doesn't just "sleep" in the middle of the day, for hours, all by himself, without a crate.
So this was a blessing in disguise.
Today, I'm still not feeling the greatest but am throwing the worlds best Pizza party at my house, or my neighbors house..(depends on which one's cleaner) and living it up.
Until 11PM, then I'm going to bed, cause I've got to work football tomorrow.
Bah-Humbug.
However, I can't deny the overtime will be music to my bank account.
$$$$$$$$KA-CHING! $$$$$
School is going great, love all my classes yada yada.
Happy Birthday Kristen!! I can't believe she's 16 now! On Second thought, I'm very happy she's 16! Our relationship has been...well rocky, she was bossy and I didn't want my YOUNGER sister bossing me. So that resulted in a lot of......"heated discussion" Daily. Hourly. Especially if we were around each other for more than a couple of hours. Thank God for separate rooms. We've since moved on a forged a great friendship. :)
First a Big Happy Birthday to my 3rd sister Kristen!
Though it "pains" me to say this..(lol) I love my sister, and don't know what I'd do without her. Our relationship is probably at the best point ever; we've both are maturing, and able to get along!
God of course plays a big part in this, but we can be in the car with each other for a couple of hours without arguing! BIG STEP THERE PEOPLE!!!
The "girls" and I surprised her by taking her to see a play (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) done by a community theater in Oak Ridge TN.
It lasted about 2 hours, and was very cute.(Despite having to wrestle with a 6mo puppy) I was dying for some candy afterward though!
It was about 10PM when we left the play, which meant our meal options were limited too Taco Bell. (uh. NO.) and Applebee's.
We chose Applebees, needless to say I don't really recommend going there late at night...while the food was good...we were suspicious that our waitress had been sampling the alcoholic beverages in the back....that and there was this guy who was sitting alone just staring at our table. I'm hoping it was just because we had a dog with us. *shudders*
We had a good time though despite that.
Saturday, I canceled my appointments and was looking forward to my first day home..in about 2 months.
I had just started into full relaxation mode (aka cleaning) when my dear sister comes down the hill. My older siblings (older than the younger ones, as I am the oldest) rarely come to my house and visit me. So I knew something was up.
Sure enough, there was "something on her mind". She and my other sister Robyn were scheduled to babysit for a couple; that they've worked for in the past. Well Robyn had gone and got herself sick; and Kristen didn't want to cancel out on these people again. (She switched last night to go out with us)So Naturally I was the next candidate for the job, with the added benefit of having a car..
Now I haven't babysat in about 3 years; with good reason too. There are some kids that just really turn you off of babysitting, and unfortunately I've come in contact with quite a few.
So the thought of spending the rest of my evening, and into the morning babysitting....uh....well...
But I decided to go, since I knew she would like the money. (I'm SUCH a good sister)
Our little charges were 3 young boys, 9, 7 and 4; and they were VERY excited to have a babysitter. When we arrived the litterally were bouning off the walls; and soooo cute.
Once their parents left they settled down...only marginally enough to play their PS2. After getting bored with that, we played hide-n-seek; then Twister (which was really funny because at one point we had the 4yo read the spinner....except for one simple fact. "WELL I CAN'T READ!")
After that went up stairs with the littlest ones, and starting reading a ghost story, but quickly ditched it for Calvin and Hobbs...which they TOTALLY did not get; but it was a great winder downer.
They went on to bed, while the oldest played his new Star Wars Game. Since we are awesome babysitters we gave him 30 EXTRA MINUTES, before sending him to bed.
After that we talked/played the PS2 until the parents came home at 2AM, and then got lost on the way home.
Believe me, the backwoods of TN is NOT where I want to be at 2AM; but I found my way back quickly(THANKFULLY), and went home and dropped into bed.
I'll definatly babysit for them again if needed; they boys were boys, but they listened, and respected us. Their perfect in my book!
In other news. Tomorrow is a big day for me. Can't say much but Pray for God's WIll.
I have just found out that Rei's partner has died this week. I am saddened and shocked by this.
Rei will be returning to the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, where she will be reevaluated and placed as with a new handler. If everything goes as it should. Who knows maybe I"ll get to go to this graduation!
And because I barely get to see my parents any more these days, the deadline for late registration and AB-TECH has passed, and I'm still classless, so it is official. I won't be going to school this semester. ::sigh::
Next week, I'm getting full-time hours which is kind of good. I really need the money right now.
I've almost got my camera paid off now, I've got up to $248 saved. Which means as soon as I hand over $500 to my mom, I'm set to start saving for a new car! Woooo!!! Mine is slowly falling apart; as of now, the windshield wipers don't work, two brake lights are out, the Air Conditioning doesn't work, one head light works, only if on bright, the back seat is faded at the top, the roof is coming apart, and the insulation on the doors is falling off. My front door automatically locks when ever you slam it hard, and to start the car you have to shift it too neutral. BUT. It runs. And it gets me from point A to point B. And thats really all I NEED it too do.
Which leads me into my next topic: My Birthday :-) I will be nineteen years old, in just ..........four weeks!! (sorry had to go check exactly when my birthday was ha ha.)
Now I believe that nineteen is an age where the birthday presents go from small things like, books, or shoes or clothes to things....like well...CARS lets say..
::heh heh:: On my WISH list for this year are:
2005 Nissan Pathfinder
2006 Kia Rondo
2004 Acura MDX
Now the common element between all of these photos are, the cars are big and spacious.
I'm not really a little car, type of girl. One because I have a big family, and I will need to have room to fit, if not all, at least MOST of them. Two because I have dogs, and when you have a large family and are also a puppy walker you need to have room for the people and dogs to fit COMFORTABLY. As of now...that ain't happening.
Three, well I just like the cars! The Pathfinder we rented last year for our trip to Congress, LOVE THAT CAR!!! And the Rondo we drove this year, also a DREAM car. I know Kia has had some bad raps, and I know that the guys at my church would argue me under the table about the cons, of that car, but hey, If I like it, and have the money........ I'll read a bunch of reviews before I get it! ::GRINS::
Also on my wish list is this:
You may OOO and AAAH.
LG VOYAGER :-)
Now when you compare the price of the cars vs. the cell phone...hmmm...I think thats affordale!
I love you Mom and Dad!!!
.......I'd better start saving my money..............
Forget the www.wordpress.com one, that site is cooky. Almost everytime I try to log on I have to get a new password..its just more trouble then its worth, so back to good 'ol www.blogspot.com.
And our last subject for the day, and my favorite: SCRAPBOOKING!!
I have been working diligently to clog up my computer as fully and completely as I can, with Scrapbooking stuff; I still have 47.50GBS to go!
And that concludes this post! My brain is dead now and I can barely see straight. Its time for me to hit the hay ::smiles::
