IDS

I just wrote my first article for the Indiana Daily Student! It's just a first copy, and needs some additions, but I'm super excited!

Since I don't know what to write...25 random facts about me:

1. I can't be president because I was born in Belgium.
2. I don't like to be in the ocean- the possiblity that something could come at me from any direction and I wouldn't be able to see it is really unappealing.
3. I want to work for a magazine. Maybe Cosmopolitain or Sports Illustrated? I would love to be in it too! Of course!
4. I love to watch movies: I just love getting involved in the plot; I feel whatever emotion the directors are trying to get you to feel. Armageddon is my favorite!
5. I'm from Cincinnati and Greater's ice cream is one of the best things in the world. Hands down.
6. My life motto: "work hard, play harder" and if I had to pick a second, it would be "no regrets".
7. My life is about me. I have to do what makes me happy. It's the simplest thing in the world, and hardly anyone understands that your own life is about your happiness. A lot of friends end up coming to me for advice, and it's always "do what makes YOU happy".
8. I will try almost anything once.
9. I really hate crying in front of people. I guess I really just don't want to appear weak. It's very rare for me to cry and open up to someone.
10. I play volleyball. I come back banged up and with nasty bruises/cuts/etc and I love it. Battle wounds are great. And I'm a tough girl- I can handle it.
11. I'm blonde, but I'm not stupid. My biggest pet peeve is when someone thinks that I'm dumb or can't do something because I'm blonde, or worse, because I'm a woman
12. I get really bent out of shape when someone doesn't like me. Yes, I dislike people, but I don't go around saying so. When someone talks bad about me, it really gets to me.
13. Very few people are very close to me (or at least they think they're not close) because I have a hard time trusting people. When I meet someone for the first time, I choose to believe that I can trust them, but if they mess that up, it is one of the hardest things in the world to get that back. I have to say that I'm not sure anyone has ever done that. Maybe one.
14. I have never had a dog. I have lots of cats, but the one I remember the most (from when I was little) is Willie. My parents told me he ran away, but he got hit by a car while I was at school. I just found this out a few years ago. Surprise! lol
15. I am really just a big kid. I love to play. I am very easily amused and choose to find joy in the smallest of things. Childish, but when I'm happy, I feel like it's the happiest any person has been.
16. Things are really black/white for me. Things are either right or wrong, good or bad, happy or sad. I don't have a lot of grey area. Makes things exciting: the highs are really high, but the few lows are really low.
17. I want to have two chocolate labs when I'm older. One of them will be named Bodie. I would also like a race horse haha but that's a little less realistic. Although, if I had one, I would name it Zuzu's Petals.
18. I hate going to the doctor, so I avoid it until I'm literally almost dead or my leg is about to fall off or something. I have a really high pain tolerance too, so when it hurts... it REALLY hurts, and I'm not kidding. No fake injuries from me.
19. I love to go to the horse races. My friends and I will be going to the Kentucky derby later in the spring, but not as the fancy big-hat gamblers. We'll be the rowdy college kids in the infield. lol
20. I cannot drive a stick shift. I only know a little bit about cars, and to be honest I wish I knew more. And I wish I knew how to drive a stick- I like to be able to feel the car.
21. I don't do well with guys that try to control me. I need my freedom. I'm not terribly rebellious, but you bet your ass that if you tell me I can't do something, I'm going to do it. Always have been that way. I've actually met a guy that isn't trying to control me for once, and this is the calmest I have ever been- I have no urge to rebel.
22. My favorite food is pasta! I love love love it! I could eat it every day, and I pretty much do. I cannot get enough of it. Ice cream and pasta- I could completely live off that. Kraft Mac-and-Cheese is amazing as well- and that's not even legit pasta
23. I want kids once I'm married. I definitely want to adopt one- I always have. But I want to have one or two of my own as well. I really want little kids running around that look like me! That would be amazing.
24. When I'm old, I want to play tennis. And do yoga.
25. I don't want to be a housewife. I definitely want a really great job that makes me happy and makes a lot of money. I DON'T want to be the dependent wife that has to rely on her husband, and if something were to happen, be totally screwed.

I hope this was somewhat entertaining! It was actually pretty fun to write... and definitely got easier as I went.

One year later...

To be completely honest, I forgot that I had this blog. I originally made it to fulfill a requirement that I had for a term paper in my senior year of highschool. But, since nothing ever leaves cyberspace, my blog was still out there!

I am now a student at Indiana University where I play on the volleyball team. I am a Journalism major, and that is what inspired me to clean up my blog page. The media is ever shifting towards entirely internet based, and a blog is a fun easy way to at least pretend like you're connected to the world. Haha. And I know that I can write about my life at college here, and my mom can read it. Hi mom. Yes, I know, I should be doing homework right now... you don't need to tell me. :)

So here I am, with a newly created blog, unsure of what to write about, and a bunch of baking posts preceding this. This will be interesting if nothing else.

March Challenge

I'm going on Spring Break tomorrow so I won't be able to post the results of this month's challenge on the 30th as was decided. So here they are- but don't worry, I managed to mess up my camera and lose my pictures so I won't spoil what it looks like (it wasn't the greatest looking cake anyhow).
It tasted amazing and I have to give props to the maker of this recipe! Unfortunately I didn't make the buttercream quite right, so it was a lot runnier than it was supposed to be and just dripped down the sides. (I forgot to cool the sugar mixture before putting the butter in). The cakes themselves turned out wonderfully- I normally have a hard time getting the cake to come out of the pan in one flawless piece, but these came out beautifully. Overall a ten (maybe not on my presentation, but it tasted so good!)
Oh and remember how I joined daring bakers for that term paper I was writing? Well we got our grades back; I got an A!
Happy Spring Break!

Busy Busy Busy

Hey!
I unfortunately will not be able to participate in this month's challenge. Everything has been crazy busy, and I just don't have time to take a day out to make this month's challenge. As far as what's going on with me, I just committed to going to Indiana University in the fall to play volleyball (I signed about a week ago) so that's really exciting. Club volleyball is picking up and so we've had tournaments the last couple weekends and I've met a couple of the girls that will be playing on my team next year!

I turned in my I-Search paper (that was on baking) and I didn't get a grade yet, but it looks great! I took pictures of all the things that I baked and included them in the paper and it looked really awesome, so I just thought that everyone should know it was a hit!

Good luck with this challenge! Count me in next time!

Lemon Meringue Pie

I had never made a lemon meringue pie before this, but it was really quite good! The meringue turned out beautifully. Unfortunately I was impatient and I cut into the pie before the lemon filling was completely set, so it ended up running, but it did eventually set so I guess I did it right. I used real lemons and made juice from them and it made the pie very flavorful, and a little tart (it had a nice zing! as my dad would say). As a first challenge I would have to say that this went very well and it tasted amazing- I already have requests to make another one for the people who didn’t get to taste it the first time!

Cheese Crowns

My first creation for my I-Search paper came from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook: Cheese Crowns. They have a fillo dough pastry and a layer on the bottom that is pecans and brown sugar topped with a creme cheese filling. They turned out really well. You actually weren't supposed to use fillo dough, but puff pastry (i accidentally bought the wrong thing, but I used it anyhow and it ended up working out). I topped them with raspberries and sometimes chocolate sauce as well.

They were surprisingly easy to make and tasted fantastic. I used fat free creme cheese so there were fewer calories; probably rounding off at about 300 calories per crown. They only keep in the fridge for about 2 days, but they're normally gone before they can go bad.