Amid the havoc...

Well, I hope everyone had a lovely, wonderful Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate; or if you don't celebrate at all, I hope you had a nice weekend!). My Christmas was great. It was a little strange, because it was the first Christmas in my whole life that I didn't spend Christmas Eve night in my parents' house... Teddy and I are house/dog-sitting for our professor, so we had to go down to their house to let the dog out that night and on Christmas morning. We drove up to my parents' house around 9:00, and then started the festivities. We opened presents and played some games that we got...Apples to Apples (new favorite game!!) and Band Hero for the Wii. We totally rocked on Spice Girls!!

I hate to even talk about presents, because I really feel like Christmas is becoming more and more of a 'department store holiday', but the topic really can't be avoided. I truly do prefer to GIVE gifts more than RECEIVE, but of course I do enjoy the receiving part! I really didn't ask for anything this year because I don't really need anything (I actually need FEWER things, since I'm moving back in with my parents!), but I got some really wonderful gifts. Here are a few of the presents I got (pictures to come later):

- a netbook (eensy-weensie little laptop!), from which I am posting this very moment

- 2 gorgeous turquoise neckaces from Teddy

- a GPS, which I really didn't want, but now I'm actually kind of excited to have

- a new camera, yay!

- Fuzzy slippers, which I have been desperately in need of

- An awesome cattle bone necklace from my sister's travels to New Zealand

- A necklace handmade by my youngest sister, which I was admiring a few days before Christmas; she's sneaky!

- A new vegan cookbook from Teddy's mom

And some other stuff, all wonderful! I will have to take some pictures of the jewelry and things in the next few days, but for now we're super-busy packing up and cleaning the apartment! We have 2 days until the big move!! We're taking a little break right now so Teddy can watch the soccer game, and I can do a blog catch-up, haha. Back to work!

What did you all do for Christmas?

Christmas Eve-Eve

So, its the day before the day before Christmas! I wish I could say that I've done something festive today, but unfortunately all I've done is run a few errands (finally got the Post Office!!!, bought some toilet paper, haha), pack up some more things at the apartment, and walk my professor's dog (who slipped out of his collar and ran amuck around the neighborhood before I was able to catch him, grrr).

The pictures are from my parents' house. Their kitten Rosie has decided that she makes a better ornament than a housecat, and has taken her place amongst the highest branches of the tree to wait for Santa.

Wintry.

I totally forgot about the Winter Solstice until today! I guess the 16 inches of snow that we got a few days ago are fitting, then....

This is what we woke up to Saturday morning at Justin's house:

The roads were pretty bad, but luckily Teddy has 4-wheel drive, and we just drove extra slow. It took us an extra 45 minutes to drive home from Justin's house, but it wasn't too bad. We did see where a lot of other cars had run off the road, and we even had to call 911 once to report an accident that happened right in front of us (nobody was hurt), but we just took our time and didn't go any faster than 35 mph, haha.

Teddy was in his element.

Looks like we'll definitely be having a white Christmas!

I've spent the last couple of days going back and forth between my apartment and my parents' house, packing stuff up from there, unpacking it here. I'm kind of at a stand-still now, because Teddy is out of town, and I need his Jeep to be able to bring the rest of my stuff to my parents' house. I've got a cozy little room here (it needs a little bit of redecorating, but all in good time), and I think it'll work just fine. I'm just really not looking forward to the living-without-Teddy-for-eight-months part....but nevermind that. Everything will be OK, and I'm going to concentrate on the bright side. At least I have both of my doggies again, both of whom insist on sleeping with me in this tiny twin-size bed. Haha!

Is everyone ready for Christmas? I got a few last-minute little things for Teddy today. I can't help myself; I just love giving presents. I think he's worried that he's not giving me 'enough' gifts, but I really don't care at all. I truly love giving gifts waaayyyy more than getting them. Not that I don't like getting presents, just that I don't expect to get a gift back for every gift that I give.

Maple Butter Blondies

My vegan Maple Butter Blondies were a big hit at Justin's Christmas party over the weekend. They're one of my favorite recipes to make, from this fantastic cookbook (I highly recommend it! It was a gift from Teddy a while back). They're pretty quick and easy to make, so they would be a great treat to take to a holiday party!

The recipe is actually for "Macadamia Blondies with Caramel-Maple Topping", but Teddy doesn't like nuts, so I've tweaked the recipe a little to create:

Maple Butter Blondies

FOR THE BLONDIES:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces firm silken tofu (this is a half-package of the vacuum-packed kind; I know they sell it at Giant on the Organic/Specialty aisle!)
1/4 cup soy milk
1/3 cup canola oil
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups finely chopped macadamias (or walnuts) *optional

FOR THE TOPPING
1/4 cup margarine
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I use walnuts) *optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

To prepare the dough:
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a blender (or if you're like me, and you don't have a blender, you can use a mixing bowl and a whisk, just make sure you beat it to very smooth!) whiz the tofu with the rice milk until smooth. Add the oil, sugar, and vanilla, and blend again. Pour the tofu mixture into the flour mixture and use a firm wooden spoon to combine everything well. Fold in the nuts. The batter will be thick and have a cookie dough consistency. Spread in the baking pan and bake for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the topping.

To prepare the topping:
In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the margarine, brown sugar, and maple syrup, and heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to bring to a boil for 1 minute. Stir in the nuts. Remove from heat.
Remove the blondies from oven and pour the topping over them (*I usually keep the topping separate, the blondies are easier to re-heat and don't get soggy, either), return to oven, and bake for 10 more minutes.
Let cool completely before serving. The topping should harden to a caramel-like consistency. Cut into squares and serve!

Sparkle and Shine

Lately I find myself drawn to things that sparkle, especially if they're wearable! Teddy's mom took us to a gem shop in Colorado to pick out our Christmas presents (yay!!); it was sooo hard to pick anything out because everything was so pretty!

Here are a few recent additions to my Etsy favorites:

click on the picture for a link

I feel like these would probably be my most favorite earrings ever, if I owned them. Everything about them is just perfect. Drooooool.

This necklace is really different from my 'normal' style, but there's just something about it... I think it would look really nice with a monochromatic outfit.

I love, love, loooove this ring. I wish the band was white gold instead of silver, though. Then it would be PERFECT, and I would demand that Teddy buy it for me and ask me to marry him right away. ;)

This ring is wild! I have never seen anything like it. Its just fun.

And, if I had $3,000 lying around, I would totally buy this for Teddy. This ring is him to a T (ha-ha). The red is actually fossilized dinosaur bone. How cool is that?

OK, I'm done filling my need to gaze longingly at sparklies. Now, I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for Teddy to finish grading finals so we can get some stuff done around here. We have HEAPS of recyclables to drop off, and then we're going to run some errands around town, including doing a little Christmas shopping in the cute little boutiques downtown. I've never been to them, but I drive by them every day on my way home from school, so it seems like a good time to stop in and check them out. We have to find a present for my mama.

The rest of the day will be spent cleaning house, and packing Teddy up. He hasn't packed at all, and we're leaving for TX in 12 days. Yikes.

400th post!

Wow, can you believe it? 400 posts! That's a lot!

Anyway, I'd love to reminisce some, but today has been, and still is, a busy, busy day. I have a Soils (yes, as in DIRT) final this evening at 8:30. I think that's entirely too late in the day to have to take an exam about anything, really, but especially pertaining to soil. Not much to look forward to there...

But, I'm kind of glad that my exam is in the evening because I've had all day to study and even get other stuff done. Teddy and I slept in until 9:00 this morning, then got up and ran errands 'til around 11:00. Teddy has (finally!!) officially chosen an apartment to move into in Texas. I went to the Post Office to send out his lease agreement this afternoon and was absolutely SHOCKED to find NOBODY waiting in line. That is the first time that has EVER happened at this Shippenburg P.O. I dread having to go there because it usually takes at least 20 minutes of waiting in line. This little treasure is on its way to Arizona now... maybe its a Christmas gift for a little girl? I think it would be a sweet gift for someone just learning to sew.

I also did a little bit of Christmas shopping this afternoon (while taking a little break from studying, of course). I'm almost done now....just have to find something for my mom. She's tough to buy for! I bought for my dad, sisters, and grandma in Colorado. Teddy is sort-of hard to buy for, too. We haven't discussed a spending cap or anything, but I told him it doesn't really matter. He knows about his main gift - my parents and I are going in halves to get him a Wii. But I like surprises, so I had to get him some more gifts, of course. And stocking stuffers.... that's the best part! I'm really excited!

It's cooooold in Colorado!

We had a wonderful time visiting Teddy's mom, aunt, and aunt's family in Colorado over the weekend. It was coooooold! Eight degrees is cold enough, but the day before we arrived, it was -20 degrees!! Can you believe that?!

Teddy's mom scraped the windshield for us...

I think my favorite part of the whole trip was driving into Big Thompson Canyon and seeing all of the awesome geologic forms. We don't have this stuff on the East coast!

We drove into Estes Park and did some Christmas shopping. We ate at the most amazing authentic Nepalese restaurant; it was so good!

On Saturday, Teddy's Aunt Nancy graduated from college. That was the real reason for our little visit. Nancy turned 50 last week (but doesn't look a day over 35), had her 3oth wedding anniversary, and earned her Bachelor's Degree! Yay, Nancy! Anyway, we went to her graduation Saturday afternoon, and then went to a massive party at her house to celebrate.

We flew back home yesterday. Denver Airport is so strange looking....the 'teepees' are actually made of canvas, and I've heard that they actually collapsed a few years ago from snow weight!

The flight home was beautiful.

You can see the rest of the pictures from our trip here.

Now today marks the first day of Finals Week, bleh. I'm supposed to be studying for an Ichthyology final, but I need a little time in the a.m. to get my head together, especially after a long day of travelling yesterday.

I just can't wait to get through the next couple of days. I'm really not stressing at all about finals. I'm done by Wednesday, and all of my exams should be pretty easy, really. I just can't wait for this weekend. Friday, we're going to Teddy's best friend's house for a big get-together. Its pretty much the last time that Teddy and all of his college buddies can get together before Teddy moves to Texas, and some of the other friends are moving away soon too. I'm excited because it will be the first time I've met most of them, so it will be good to finally put faces to all of the names.

Saturday, we're coming home from Justin's and going straight to my parents' house so my dad and Teddy can do some work on Teddy's car, and my mom and I can wrap some Christmas presents. I kind of want to start moving a few things into the room I'll be staying in for the next few months, too. So much to do in so little time! We pick up the U-Haul in exactly 2 weeks from today! Yikes!!

I suppose I should get a move on things and start studying for my 3:30 Ichy final, since I haven't studied AT ALL yet......wish me luck! Best of luck to anyone else who has finals this week or next!!

New bracelets

2 new bracelets in the shop!

I especially love the pink one...its just really....funky. The pictures really don't do it justice!

Happy December

So today has been na perfect mix of procrastination and initiation. I have a big exam at 5:00 today (Historical Geology) that I just can't seem to motivate myself to study for...yet. But I spent my morning taking care of pertinent business. I called our cable and gas companies to let them know to cancel our service at the end of this month, drove my scooter to the post office and mailed some stuff, and spent some time with Teddy's mom. We walked to a thrift store but didn't find anything cool....she's walking to another thrift store that's further from here, but I decided to *try* to get some studying done. See how far that's getting me? ;)

Oh, I also emailed a few of my professors about getting some letters of recommendation for the summer internship I'm applying for, here. I've been told I have a pretty decent chance of getting in, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed about that! And!! I finally got my grad. check back yesterday, and it looks like the plan that I have made for myself is going to work out just perfectly. I just have to make it through next semester in one piece, complete a 9-credit internship over the summer, and I'll be set to go...all except for 1 class of either Chem or Physics, but I can take that in the fall at Texas. So that's great. At least now we can definitely say that its only going to be 7 months that we're living apart. Its nice to have a cap on that.

What else? I'm trying to figure out the logistics of packing up our entire apartment, PLUS a bunch of (really nice) furniture/stuff that Alexis gave us when we helped her move out of her apartment last week..... this move is just at a really bad time of the year. I hate that I can't decorate our apartment for Christmas, our first Christmas together, because we're packing everything up and driving to Texas 3 days later. Sigh.