February 14

Occasionally, my awesome boss and friend Janelle and I will make something fun to surprise the office with, and today was one of those wonderful days! Janelle and I both took the day off of work to recoup from having worked all day Saturday, and we met up for a few hours to make these fantastic treats, inspired by this awesome blog. Here are our instructions, slightly modified from the blog, based on the materials we were able to find. (Check out the original post for other fun options!)

Materials:
Wax Paper
Rolling Pin
Knife
Scissors
Fold-top Sandwich Bags
Heart-shaped Stickers
Tape
Assorted chocolate bars (we used Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Three Musketeers bars, Hershey’s Cookies & Creme bars, and Hershey’s Chocolate bars)
Laffy Taffy
Airheads Candy
Tiny Valentine-themed Cookie Cutters (we used the inserts for a linzer cookie cutter)
Toothpicks
Valentine-themed nonpareils (sidenote: How do you pronounce this word, anyway?)

Step 1: Separate the candy bars into desired sizes
We cut the Three Musketeers bars into fourths, broke the Hershey bars into groups of three at the natural breaking points, and didn’t do anything to the Reese’s cups - they’re cool as they are.

Step 2: Prepare the taffy candies
We heated the Laffy Taffy candies in the microwave for 7 seconds (or less) to make them more pliable, then rolled them out onto the wax paper with the rolling pin to make them thinner. Wepressed nonpareils into some of the candies BEFORE cutting out the desired shapes, and found it easiest to press the round sprinkles and the sugars into the taffy by pouring them onto the wax paper THEN pushing the taffy down into the sprinkles/sugars, whereas the larger nonpareils were easier to push in with your fingers.

Step 3: Use the valentine-themed cookie cutters to cut out shapes from the taffy candies
We tried using Walton’s heart-shaped fondant cutters first, but found it harder to get the taffy out of the shapes, so we used the inserts from the Walton’s linzer cookie cutters instead, which was much easier. For especially sticky issues, we used toothpicks to help remove the candy.

Step 4: Press the taffy shapes onto the chocolate candies
Be careful not to smash the Three Musketeers or Reese’s cups, and not to break the Hershey bars!

Step 5: Cut about half of the fold over sandwich bags off of the open end, and use the remainder to bag the candies
We used tape to secure the remainder of the bag to the back of the candies, then placed heart-shaped stickers on top to finish it off. The original blog had some GREAT bagging ideas that look fancier than ours, but we were satisfied with our result.

We’ll be bringing these delightful treats to the office tomorrow, and sharing with friends and colleagues for the big day. Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all! <3 

Oh, how I LOVE this book!

bookmania:

from Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

<3

(Source: raaaahhhhhh)

<3

wegoteachotheroutofallthis:

Fox has Glee Valentine’s Day cards

February 8 - Thankful

We just returned from watching Kelly Clarkson’s Stronger tour, and I am completely blown away by her talent! Kelly has LONG been my all-time favorite artist - I mean, my car is named after her - and I had never had the opportunity to see her live until tonight! Shawn and Marianne bought me the ticket as an early birthday present, and the three of us went with Phillip to the concert.

Matt Nathanson opened (I mean really, could it GET any better?!?), and played ALL of my favorites, including the gorgeous duet of Run. He is so incredibly funny, and really has a blast on stage. He’s also wicked hot, which always helps. ;)

Kelly’s performances were incredible - that woman has PIPES - and I am always so impressed by the depth of her lyrics and the emotional quality behind the performances (aside for Einstein, of course… which appeals to the nerd in me, but is also completely ridiculous.). Along with many of my favorite KC classics (How I Feel, The Trouble With Love, Mr. Know-It-All, Miss Independent, and Because of You, among others…), Kelly also belted out three AMAZING covers, including Carrie Underwood’s I Know You Won’t. I am still completely on a high from this concert, and probably will be for weeks. :)

The ONLY song from her newest album I wish she’d sang was You Can’t Win, which is a strong contender for my all-time-favorite Kelly songs. The lyrics are brilliant, and the song is very motivating, in Kelly’s typical in-your-face fashion. Enjoy!

If you go, they’ll say you’re following
If you don’t, then you’re too good for them
If you smile, you must be ignorant
If you don’t, what’s your problem
If you’re down, so ungrateful, and
if your happy, why so selfish?
And You Can’t Win, no
You Can’t Win, no

The one who doesn’t quite fit in
Underdressed under your skin, oh
A walking disaster
Every time you try to fly
you end up falling out of line, oh
You can’t, You Can’t Win, no

If you’re thin, poor little walking disease
If you’re not, they’re all screaming obese
If you’re straight, why aren’t you married yet?
If you’re gay, why aren’t you waving a flag?
If it’s wrong, you’ll never hit
If it’s right, you’ll always miss
You Can’t Win, no,
You Can’t Win, no

The one who doesn’t quite fit in
Underdressed under your skin, oh
A walking disaster
Every time you try to fly
you end up falling out of line, oh
You can’t, You Can’t Win, no

And you try, you try so hard
But it’s wearing out your heart
And you play, you play the game
But you pay, you pay for it
You Can’t Win, no,
You Can’t Win, no

If you speak, you’ll only piss them off
If you don’t, your another robot
If you stop, they’ll just say you quit
If you don’t, you might lose your sh..
You Can’t Win, no
You Can’t Win, no

You Can’t Win, no

The one who doesn’t quite fit in
Underdressed under your skin, oh
A walking disaster
Every time you try to fly
you end up falling out of line, oh
You can’t, You Can’t Win, no

I can’t win

The one who doesn’t quite fit in
Underdressed under your skin, oh
A walking disaster
Every time you try to fly
you end up falling out of line, oh
You can’t, You Can’t Win, no

You can’t, you can’t, You Can’t Win, no
You can’t, you can’t, You Can’t Win, no
You can’t, you can’t, You Can’t Win, no
You can’t, you can’t, You Can’t Win, no

I love this new blog I found via a facebook wall post on The Ripples Project - another thing I love!! :) Y’all should check out the blog, as well as check out Ripples. Now.

 dailypeptalk:

Pep Talk: It’s time to stop thinking about drama from yesterday. You’ve rehashed it enough and there is nothing more to see there. This moment, right now, has the potential to make you happier than you can imagine and, to get here, the cost of admission is your attention, which must be payed. Exit the past, enter the present, and breathe in the world as it is.
Today remind yourself: I’m paying attention.

I love iPhones. Thanks to the New York Times app, I received an alert today that made me smile from ear to ear. 

In case you haven’t heard… Proposition 8 - the 2008 state of California ballot measure that effectively halted statewide gay marriage (and resulted in MAJOR nationwide conversations, rallies, protests, advocacy work, and chatter) was ruled as unconstitutional by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. While marriage between same-sex couples will not immediately resume, there is hope that the decision will be taken to the U.S. Supreme Court for an ultimate decision that would impact the entire nation. There’s plenty of speculation as to whether or not the U.S. Supreme Court would take the case, but that is yet to be known.

What is known, however, is that this is one more step toward my ability to marry my future husband - and that is awesome.

Happy Birthday, DC! <3

I’ll admit, this hasn’t been my best week ever. Far from it, actually. I’ve been feeling ill all week, but not to the point of needing to not be at work - just your run-of-the-mill under-the-weather type of feeling. Additionally, being understaffed has been trying over the past six months, and this week in particular felt like ten crammed into one. There is so much to do, and I am finding that my ability to be super human and make everything perfect is being challenged by the fact that I am actually regular human and only capable of so much.

I’ve been down a lot this week, and have had a crummy attitude overall. (sidenote: is that supposed to read, ‘crumby’? And if so, what does that even mean?) I’ve also noticed myself acting/reacting in ways that I don’t typically advocate others to do, and then beating myself up about it later. “Way to set a positive example, jerkface!” Like I said, not my best week.

Despite my high stress, upset stomach, and headache-y week, when I stop to really consider it, I actually have quite a few gems that should really stand out more this week. I’ve had three fantastic one-on-one chats with students past and present throughout the week that have reminded me of exactly why I do what I do, and why I care so much about it.

This morning, I met up with a student I worked with in the past who bought me a surprise coffee and shared a lot of wonderful things with me over our brief coffee date. She is such an impressive young woman, and has been through some very significant life experiences that have left her stronger than before, and I really enjoyed the chance to catch up and hear how things have been going lately. Additionally, one of my current students saw straight through my not-so-affective everything-is-fine mask today and sent me a wonderful email afterward to tell me how much I am appreciated - which totally and completely blew me away at the impeccable timing of the message.

I ended the day watching 75+ students meet for the first time, and move quickly into talking and laughing comfortably with each other in a little over an hour, and - thanks to my amazing supervisor’s perfect-as-always in-the-moment comments - I was able to take a step back and just enjoy the moment that was created for these students in part by my work.

I’ve committed this year to reflect on the purpose and meaning behind my job more frequently, and I am so blessed to have my supervisor (and best friend) help me stop for a moment and see the bigger picture. I guess it wasn’t such a bad week, after all.