I'm in Love!

Yup! I have finally found the love of my life. I have wanted one forever. Everyone I know has one. Thursday was the magical day. And I have my sister Kim to thank for it! She (and her fam) were visiting me. We went to Kohl's last Saturday. We shopped. She bought. Then that night she dreamed and thought about everything she should have bought. So we went back- to a different Kohl's on Thursday- the day before she flew home. As she searched and shopped and scavenged through the children's clothes I checked out all the clearance sections. And there waiting for me was my long awaited love...

(sorry- it's a little tipsy!) There it is!! It was only $120.00. Regularly $349.99! I was so tempted to buy 2! I am not in love with the color. But yet it is kind of fun! Now it needs a name. I think it needs to be a her though... because of the color. So maybe I will have a contest.

I was so excited to use it. But the first time had to be for something special. And delicious. I chose these:

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

1 8 oz. cream cheese, room temp

1 stick of butter, room temp

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 (18 oz) Chocolate Cake mix

Powdered Sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until creamy. Beat in egg. Then beat in vanilla. Beat in cake mix. Cover and chill in refrigerator for a couple of hours, 'til firm.

Roll batter into tablespoon sized balls. (the dough is still sticky- if you wet hands it will stick less). Roll in powdered sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. Cookies will be soft.

Cool completely. Can dust with more powdered sugar.

So good. Make them now. I think I need to go eat a few... dozen!

Oh Happy Day!

So there I am.... walking up and down the aisle of Safeway. Earlier this evening I really wanted to go to bed. But then I remembered that Safeway was having a really good sale on cereal and grapes. So instead of getting in my jammies, I get into my car. I grab a flyer incase there is some other deal I am missing out of. What? No grape deal? No cereal on sale? This couldn't be! I look- the sale ended YESTERDAY! Sheesh. No worries though. I managed to spend some money. I bought LOTS of fruit for my quest to eat healthy... and some chocolate milk for my nephew (and maybe sister and brother-in-law) if it is still around when they arrive on Saturday. And a few other things. As I was checking out I thought to myself "I better check out the cereal aisle JUST IN CASE." You never know what you might find. So there I go with my cart full of paid & bagged groceries. Nope- no big deals... but wait a second. Doth my eyes deceive me? No they doth not!

I thought these were gone... for good. I hadn't seen them in ages. And they were on sale. 2 for $6. Not a GREAT deal. But for my long lost loves- a GOOD deal. I only bought 2. I really wanted to buy 20. Just in case they are no longer being made and they just found a crate of them in the back and decided to put them out. Maybe I should go back. I love them so much, I bought each member in my family a box of them for Christmas. I don't think they loved them as much as I do. I am trying to resist eating a bowl of it right now. I wonder what it would taste like with chocolate milk?

Banana Cupcakes

I made these this summer. So yummy. The recipe is from my sister Kristi's mil. We like to call them muffins.... sounds a little healthier. And the frosting... let's call it glaze! Mmmm.

Banana Cupcakes

1/2 cup margarine

1 cup sugar

1 cup mashed bananas

1 egg- beaten

1 teaspoon baking soda- dissolved in ½ cup hot water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.

Ice with Butter or cream cheese icing!

Makes 18 muffins.

ENJOY! I think I might need to go make some... since I finally bought some flour AND sugar!

This has nothing to do with food...

but I promise I will post about food soon.
The first day of school was yesterday! What a day. I only have 97 students!! That is amazing as I average about 130! Let's just hope they are 97 angels!! So far... so good! But they usually don't let their true colors show for the first few days!
So you may remember my quest for display case assistance last year... so all summer I have been dreaming up something new! With the help of my sister Jill and my roomie Elaine- this is what I came up with!I was going to cover the back... maybe I still should. I will take any suggestions as to what I can change it too in a few months! I hope it makes sense!!

I am sorry.

I am sorry that my blog is so boring. And it is boring because I am bored with it... and so if anyone reads it anymore- you MUST be bored with it. I think about my blog all the time. And I come up with the coolest posts in my head. But then when it comes time to post... not soo cool and all the ideas are gone. I was going to post a recipe from my sister Kristi for Banana cupcakes. So yummy. But then I remembered my camera is in my car and I will have to walk down and back up a flight of stairs to get it. And it is Sunday. My day of rest. I also really want to bake something too. But I have no flour or sugar. I can't even make gorilla poops. No oats. Sheesh. I need to go shopping. But don't worry- I will go to my car and get my camera. And maybe I will borrow some flour from my roommate. But until then, a little taggage from my friend Mikaela. (I am going to switch it up a little though... combine it with one another friend did!)

4 Jobs I’ve had
1. 411 Operator

2. Filer at Doctor's office

3. Call center for Turbo Tax

4. KWBH 91.5 News director

4 Movies I Can Watch Over and Over
1. Fever Pitch

2. Ferris Buehler's Day Off (edited version)

3. Ella Enchanted

4. You've Got Mail

4 Places I’ve Lived
1. Las Vegas

2. Halifax, Nova Scotia

3. Rexburg, Idaho

4. Reston, Virginia

4 TV Shows I Enjoy
1. the office

2. Amazing Race

3. Lost

4. Regis & Kelly- it's true

4 Places I’ve Been on Vacation
1. Duck Beach, North Carolina

2. Sherwood Park, Alberta- it's a hot spot!!

3. Rexburg, Idaho

4. New York City

4 Favorite Restaurants
1. chipotle

2. Sonic

3. DQ (blizzards...mmmm)

4. In-n-Out

4 Websites I Visit Daily
1. hotmail

2. the blogs listed at the right

3. Air Canada (looking for a cheap flight for Christmas)

4. I don't know...

4 Places I’d Rather Be Right Now
1. at my parent's house for Sunday dinner

2. Disneyland

3. Disneyworld

4. Chipotle

Canada vs. United States

People are always asking me if I like Canada or the States better... It is hard for me to decide because I love them both- in different ways.
Here is the ultimate Canada vs. US food show down...

Canada-
1) The Real Canadian Superstore. Now THIS is a grocery store. I love it in every possible way. From the workers on rollerblades, the fact that they encourage you to recycle plastic bags, the AWESOME bulk section, to all the stinking food options. NOTHING I have seen in any other place I have lived has anything like this. Oh how I wish they had this store EVERYWHERE!

2) Chocolate Bars- pretty much they rock. Sure I love the basics like Snickers, twix, etc that you can get anywhere- but there is nothing like a Mint Aero, Mr. Big or Wunder Bar. Mmmmm.

3) Real Fruit Gummies- So these have been spotted at Target... but Canada gets the points because they make them and had them first. They are the ultimate gummies and made with REAL fruit.


United States-
1) Chipotle- LOVE IT. I have only tried the chicken burrito- but I think that is all that I really need. I am counting down the days until I can eat there again... 5!! Life is burrito-ful!

2) Girl Scout Cookies- Don't get me wrong. I love Girl Guide cookies (the Canadian version) but there are only 2 kinds- vanilla & chocolate. But I am infatuated with Girl Scout cookies. Especially samoas. Holy cow- They are going to have those in Heaven!!

3) Betty Crocker Lemon Poppyseed Muffin Mix- These will also be in Heaven- already made though! So good. and they come with a lemon drizzle. I am drolling just thinking about them.


This is all I can think about right now... but the ultimate challenge will continue. But until then- it's a 3-3 tie. But I have a feeling Canada will come out on top! :)

Education

My sister Andrea tagged me. So here's 8 random things about my education...

1. I went to Ricks College 2 weeks after I graduated from High School. I got accepted for the Fall only if I started in the summer.

2. I took a Bowling class my first semester at Ricks. It was the best. I still don't know how to keep score- thank goodness for bowling technology!! We had the dance teacher for our teacher so all we did was bowl- EVERYDAY. Then the last day we had a final written test. Didn't do so well on that.

3. I wanted to be a sign language interpreter when I first started. But they didn't have the major at Ricks... so I switched to Broadcasting. Loved it. But haven't done a day of Broadcasting since I graduated.

4. For my radio broadcasting class we had to do 2 shifts a week on the Ricks radio station- KWBH 91.5. We had to play a certain percentage of LDS music and the rest was "normal" music. SO funny. It is so hard to be funny and entertaining when you are sitting in a room by yourself and have no idea who- if anyone is listening. In fact we would have prizes to give away- like Blizzard's and Sandwiches, etc and often no one would call in... so I would call my roommates and tell them to call in. Ha ha. Once I even pretended to be my roommate because no one was calling into my friends show. (employees weren't allowed to win!)

5. I had an evening show with my friend Jeff called "Top 20 countdown with Jeff & Shelley" or something like that! But we couldn't play very many of the top 20 songs- because they had references to breaking the word of wisdom or law of chastity.

6. I applied and got rejected to BYU 3 times. I really wanted to go... but now- I am glad that it worked out how it did.

7. I went to BYU-IDAHO after my mission and LOVED it. I decided to major in Family and Consumer Sciences Education (Home Ec) because of my mission (long story). I was a little hesitant because I didn't want to be in all girl classes. But that ended up being the best thing ever. I loved my classes.

8. My Master's is the next step... but I just have to decide where and what in. Too many choices.

I thought that would be hard to think of 8... but now I wish it was a higher number because there is still so much to share!! Ahh... the memories. I am going to Rexburg on Thursday and am so excited to see everything and everyone (that is still there). It will be hard to leave.

Sorry once again for taking so long to post. My sister came to visit and were busy hanging out in NYC, DC, Chicago and all the Targets, Kohl's and Chipotle's that we could find. More about that later ( I left my camera in Virginia so it is being mailed to me...) but until then- a little piece of heaven-
Cheesy Biscuits

I was first introduced to these in South Carolina. Kind of an interesting story but I will spare you the details. I actually didn't eat them because I was too full from the HUGE baked potato I ordered but my friend Ben ate them and raved about how delicious they were. So I googled them and found a recipe- tried them out... and have been in love ever since. I seriously have made them for every dinner party/ bbq I have gone to since the big discovery. And now I share them with you. They are sweet- which I didn't expect. The original recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar- but I tried putting a little less and they are just as good. I even made it with splenda and it is also good. I would recommend cheddar cheese rather than mozzarella- not as much flavor with the mozzarella- and I have yet to try it with sharp cheddar but I am sure that is even more flavor. Enough of my rambling... here is the recipe you MUST try... or invite me over for dinner and I will bring them! :)

Cheesy Biscuits (from Jim N’ Nicks)

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup milk

1 egg-beaten

4 Tablespoons margarine- softened

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Mix ingredients dry ingredients together. Mix liquid ingredients together. Mix together until just moist. Pour into greased muffin tin. Bake at 400° for about 20 minutes.

(I have only used mini muffin tins- but I am sure the big ones will work just as well)

Try them and let me know what you think!!