6-25-09

Unreal.

Best Day!

I'm having a great week!! Today was an exceptionally great day! I started work at Enterprise and I love my boss, coworkers, and job. I drove about 20 or so cars today out in the sunshine and met a ton of new people. I wash the cars too so I spent a lot of time outdoors today. Perfect job for me for right now!

I also checked my grades today to see if my final grades are in AND I HAVE A 4.0! I am beyond stoked on that. Last semester I made Dean's list with all A's but one grade. I got a C in a class. This semester I got straight A's and I am so happy. I love school.

Also Bill has been cooking out of this new cookbook (How To Cook Everything) and everything he has made has been amazing. Plus it's awesome when anyone else cooks for me, especially when it's this good. I highly suggest this book to any cooks out there. Here's the link: http://www.howtocookeverything.tv/

I had to chance to move back to Boca this August, but I am going to stay another year in Bloomington since I am doing so well in school. I don't want to transfer right now and risk messing it up. As sad as I am that I am not going to be living with Grammy there is some good news.

I signed for my apartment for next year and it's amazing!! My friends MJ and Sara needed roommates too and we looked around for some three bedroom units. Every one bedroom and most three bedroom places were way more than I was looking to spend considering how little I have paid the last two years for rent. Then Sara found a place that was considerably cheaper than the rest.

Turns out this is the nicest apartment I've looked at yet in Bloomington. It is attached to a local business and the landlords run that business. Either they don't know how much other people are charging for rent or they don't care. The apartment (and building) is only a few years old. It's a three bedroom three full bath apartment with sliding glass door access from each bedroom to our balcony. We have a sky lite in the kitchen and an island. The floors are porcelain tile, the cupboards are oak and the counter tops are marble. We have a flat range stove and built in microwave. A side by side fridge with the water and ice on the door (ha, I'm excited about that. don't judge me!) It has a garbage disposal, dishwasher, and washer/dryer. AND it's in the location we were all wanting that is across the street from a health food market and near all our friends. I really am excited about it.

Really everything has been amazing lately and I couldn't be happier :)

H1N1 influenza A

Am I missing something?? At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist I have to say...

Why is everyone donning masks which doesn't stop the spread of 'swine flu' anyway (although I've never seen someone in a mask, so is that all media hype too??) and freaking out over the flu?!?!?! I understand we have no natural defense against H1N1, but it's only going to kill you if the common flu would. Did you know that 200,000 people a year are hospitalized for the common flu and 35,000 of those people sadly don't make it through flu season? And those figures only apply to the United States. There are 9 confirmed deaths from H1N1 and 658 cases that span across 16 countries. I don't understand why people are freaking out and I feel like I'm missing something. This is why I refuse to watch or read the news very often and when I do watch I look around in the neighborhood I'm in and talk to other people about their geographic locations to see if they see anything the news is talking about where they live. 9 times out of 10 it's just desperate attempts by the media to gain viewers.

Don't believe the hype.

C is for cookie and cookie is for me. nom nom nom

I have been making these cookies for about a month now. I made up the recipe after eating Insomnia's peanut butter cup deluxe cookies and I think these are pretty close to the same thing. I love making them and sharing them with my friends. yea yea. anyway. I looked up as many baking secrets as I could find to throw into this recipe and I am glad I did. If you bake and wanna give them a go here is the recipe.

Cookies!!
yields about 16-18 medium to large cookies
nutritional facts: Instant diabetes

Ingredients

* 2 cups all purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 cup unsalted real butter, melted
* 1 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 3 Tablespoons real vanilla extract
* 1 egg room temp
* 1 egg yolk room temp
* 1 cup peanut butter chips
* 1 cup milk chocolate chips
* 8 Reese's pb cups cut in fourths and frozen (you can buy a package of 8 for under $2)

Directions

1. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar by hand until well blended. Stir in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. By hand mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the pb chips and the chocolate chips.
3. Refrigerate for an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 325.
5. line cookie sheets with parchment paper and drop cookie dough balls onto sheet. Leave 2 inches between cookies.
6. Bake for 13 minutes or until the cookies look just slightly undercooked and remove from oven. They wont seem like you cooked them long enough at first, but they will set.
7. Pull the parchment paper off the sheet with the cookies still on the paper and set on cold counter top. Immediately place one or two pieces of a frozen pb cup on top and push down into cookie.
8. Run cookie sheet under cold tap water until it's room temperature and then line with parchment paper and drop the next set of cookies. It is really important that the sheets be at room temperature.
9. Leave the cooling cookies on the paper on the counter until the next batch is almost ready to come out of the oven. Then transfer them to a cooling rack and take the ones from the cooling rack and move them to a tray or tummy or wherever you're going to keep the cookies.

and parchment paper can be reused over and over until the cookies stick on it. :)

awesome video

People have been posting a lot of music videos on facebook lately and I actually really loved two of them. So thanks for sharing everyone and here are the ones that I loved...

logic

Mexico and beyond

I just got back from an amazing two week vacation to Boca Raton, Florida and then off on a 5 day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. Isn't it funny how vacation can give you a whole new perspective on...everything?!

I got to spend time with Grandma back at home in Boca which I needed more than I realized. My friends Madison and Jake just happen to be in the area and stopped down for a visit. Jake and I hit up Armani and he got some new swim trunks and I got a new silk dress and a shirt. I love them :)

I got to go to Gumbo Limbo to see the nature conservatory. My favorite thing to do. I also got to go to Bookwise and get some books. My favorite book store. I am currently reading "On Intelligence" and I highly reccomend it for research style readers. It's no novel. It is written by Jeff Hawkins who invented the palm pilot and is about neuroscience and intelligence.

Grandma and I took a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas to Cozumel to see the ancient Mayan Ruins which was extra fun for me since I am studying that in World Civilization right now. I also signed up for the safari through the jungle and snorkeling. Cozumel's Punta Sur is supposed to be the 2nd best place for snorkeling in the world. The coral and reefs were beautiful and I saw a lot of tropical fish, but the part that was the most exciting was the barracuda that were swimming with me!!!! AHHH!!!!

I am the proud new owner of seven new pieces of art from the art auction. John the auctioneer and my new friend gave them to me for free :) They are large lithiograph's of these works:

• Anatole Krasnyansky's Officer's Celebration #7
• Emile Bellet's Quietude Bleue Au Chat (my 2nd Emile Bellet)
• Itzchak Tarkay's Little Round Table #7
• Linda Le Kinff's Romane
• Marcus Glenn's Floatin with the Mojo
• Charles Lee's Mythical Rose

I am waiting for them to arrive then I need to figure out how to frame them.

They had the best piano player/singer I have ever heard on the ship. He was better than some of the originals and he wasn't bad on the eyes either. He was putting on wigs and goofing around and was a great performer. Sitting and listening to him play with grandma and sometimes alone is how I made most of the friends I met on the trip including Kory the piano man. There is a picture of Kory and I together at the bottom of this post.

The food was amazing. I hear Royal Caribbean is the only cruise line with good food. I tried Mahi Mahi Tempura, escargot, duck, lamb, shrimp cocktails...among sooo many other things. Escargot was surprisingly delicious by the way.

I made a ton of new friends on the ship and I had a fantastic time. There is nothing I love more than being on ship. We had an ocean view stateroom with a porthole. The food was amazing. Everything was amazing :)

Neuroscience

I've been getting books on Amazon about this social and affective neuroscience and neuropsychology. I have been watching talks on Ted.com about them too (I recommend Jeff Hawkins' talks) so I have all this on the brain. (Ba-ZING)

We don't see the affects of ourselves on other people at all. (Emotional contagion) When someone is told they brighten a room just by walking into it that person will never know what the person telling them knows about their affect on people. All they will ever know is what the room is like after they have entered it. They don't see the change from what it was like before they get into the room or what it is like after they leave it. Even if they were to watch themselves on video they wouldn't feel the affects they are having on the people in the room. That affect we have on people is so powerful! People that take the time to develop their social intelligence truly have an upper hand in life.

I want to do this

I want to work in neuroscience so badly... and sociology. Together. Social Neuroscience. I also want to study Affective Neuroscience. I wonder if I can make up my own Major in college and make it that??? I'm looking at you IU!

I made the Dean's List

I just got a certificate in the mail from my college saying I am on the Dean's List!!! I am so unbelievably proud of myself right now!!

Chess Club

I love chess and I'm always trying to find people that play...and I never do. I am a new member of the "Robert A. Martin Memorial Chess Club Ladies' Auxiliary" and I'm in the middle of my first chess tournament. If you play chess too come get your nerd on with me at www.chess.com my screen name on there is 2mellymel

Lauren Eargle!

Lauren Eargle went to middle school and high school with me until our junior year when she moved away. I hadn't seen her in eight years until this past weekend when she drove from the Dub-V to see me!! I had such a great weekend with her!! It felt like we hadn't been apart.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Watch out for products with High Fructose Corn Syrup. It has been found to contain Mercury which is dangerous to humans in any quantity and it's in almost everything processed....

A Washington Post's Article from January 2009:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601831.html

Look Around You

For Emilie

This is a great music video from a great tv show (How I Met Your Mother) for my great cousin...because it sums our homemade videos up...perfectly.

This is what I do in my spare time

I will never get enough of Ted Talks...

Everyone knows how I feel about Kevin Bacon

I need to make a dance video STAT! If you make one to this song and post it on youtube you could win the chance to !!!!!!be on stage with the Bacon Brothers!!!!!! and be in the official video. I'm just saying... GAH!

The upsides to the economy failing

There are a lot of upsides to our economy taking a hit. I'm excited to see people enjoying the simple things in life again and spending more time with each other...in person...not via the internet or text.

Maybe people will get back to living within their means and using cash instead of credit cards. Learning to budget has helped me immensely. I budget for the entire year so there are no surprises and I don't try to do anything beyond what I know I can afford.

Maybe people will get into the LDS food storage and 72 hour kits that helped people in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. (click food storage or 72 hour kit above to read about them, the LDS know what's up!)

Maybe people will get back into feeding the birds and the squirrels, playing with their garden hose instead of going to big water parks, growing gardens for food, making homemade cards and sending snail mail, baking bread, reading books instead of paying $10 for a movie, reading books in the grass in the sun under the clouds, playing in the grass and finding bugs to look at, fishing, taking walks, picking fruit and veggies at their local farms and orchards, looking at the stars, going to $5 carload night at their local drive-in theater, potluck picnics, cooking, using their imaginations, making makeshift kites and climbing trees. The list of free and amazing things to do is endless!! Get out there!

I hope people are forced to get back to the free pleasures in life and I hope they get back into these things together.

speaking of the bright sides to the recession... http://www.brightsideoftherecession.com/

Turn that frown upside down

I'm glad my heart's been broken.

It means I get to fall in love again!

track your eco footprint

All of us affect the world around us in more ways than we realize. Smiling at a stranger could change the entire tone of that strangers day. Not texting someone back (my biggest pet peeve) might not seem like anything to you, but it might be a lot to the person waiting on the text. Taking the extra minute to hold open a door will not only make you feel better, but it'll make the person you held the door open for feel better too. Those are all such simple things you can do to affect the world around you.

Another way we affect the world around us is our Eco Footprint and just like all the things I mentioned above every little thing you do has a big impact...and not just on yourself. I wish people were more aware of the things they do and how it affects everything and everyone around them.

Take a minute to answer a few questions and see how much you are affecting the world around you...ecologically speaking. Then take a minute to smile at a stranger or make that call you've been meaning to make to your parents, or your grandparents, or your friend... they aren't going to be around forever, you know.

http://www.earthday.net/footprint/flash.html

Happy New Year! double oh nine!

This year I will be keeping with tradition and doing something that scares me or that is new to me every day. This can be anything from studying a topic that normally wouldn't interest me or picking up a new book, Skydiving to taking a break dancing class to trying caviar. It's great motivation to do all those things I kind of wish I would do or that I'm a little afraid to try.

Plus I've found out a lot about myself doing this. There are things I would have never known I was good at or liked had I not tried. Like Yoga. In 2004 or 2005 I decided to step into the yoga class at my gym in Boca Raton because it was getting late and I hadn't done anything new that day. I ended up becoming a certified instructor. I would have never had the guts to go into that class alone if it wasn't for me pushing myself with this resolution. It made me realize the truth in the saying "The first step to success is showing up".

My new challenge with this resolution (since I've had it for three or four years) is to write down my new thing in my calendar every day to keep me motivated to find exciting things to try.

I have other resolutions too.
This year:
-I will say 'I love you' more
-worry less
-enjoy myself as a person more
-work harder
-spend less time on the net
-and read more

among other personal goals.

"Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold."

"There is nothing more important than goals and direction. What you obtain along the way will always be more valuable than the goal itself."

Hoosier Heights

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINA!!!

We ended up going to Hoosier Heights Indoor Climbing Facility today for Christina's birthday. I have climbed before in Utah in the mountains and in Pennsylvania at a few spots. Indoor climbing seems A LOT harder to me. Here's a video for you to enjoying and laugh at while I cling on for dear life. I finally made it to the top with the help of Bill, Christina, and some kind strangers. Hahahah

LA

I'm finally catching up from my trip to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving! Highlights of the trip-
*Thanksgiving with Adam and friends
*Meeting Adam Goldstein aka DJ AM and getting a picture (the guy in the plane crash with Travis Barker for those who don't know him by name.)


*Eating breakfast at Kitchen 24 and Adam Levine from Maroon 5 sitting behind meeee


*Seeing the House of Blues offices
*people in tents DAYS before the Jonas Brothers concert across the street
*hiking Runyon (it's better when it's called Funyon) Canyon and gagging when I got to the top! ha! And seeing the city and the sign from up there.

*Seeing the Temptations!!!!!!!!!! at Universal Studios!!!! "It was just my imaginaAation"
they had killer dance moves!


*Seeing our friend DJ Sleeper work his magic on the tables that night with friends.
*Sergio the cab driver that "bumped good rap" for us! BAH!
*Shopping on Melrose!!!!!!
*Seeing Big Black ride by on his motorcycle


*My new plaid dress that I've wanted FOREVER that Adam got me for my birthday while shopping :)


*Touring The Roosevelt Hotel where my friend Steph's dad was staying. ( I did not see Marylin Monroe's ghost in her mirror)


*Getting listed at The Kress and having security clear a path so we could walk in.
*Seeing a Phantom in the parking lot
*seeing a 360 view of the city from the rooftop lounge
*dancing on the 3rd floor
*the bacon wrapped hotdog from the kart lady in the parking lot. nom nom nom
*The amazing flea market on Sunday
*Astro burger ::droll:: and a traditional Sunday with Adam
*Lunch at a Thai place next door to LA Ink and accidentally being spotted by Kat Von D while taking pictures ::blush::


*Girl time with Miss Julie Moe


*Seeing the Hollywood sign at sunset and a great view of the city at sunset



*Seeing the Chinese Theater and all the freakishly small hand and feet prints of the stars



*Seeing the stars in the sidewalk!! Britney Spears and Kevin Bacon!!! GAH!


*Saw the Kodak Theater Where the Oscars are held


*Seeing and sneaking into Charlie Chaplin's House hehehe it was like a little hobbit villiage.


*and eating at the Mexican place Heidi and Spencer frequent haha, thank goodness they weren't there!




and so much more! I had such a wonderful trip! :)