A Day With Celia

Today was a fun day. I got to spend a few hours with eight month old Celia. She is absolutely adorable and such a sweet baby. My mom and I went over to visit early this afternoon.

And of course we brought some goodies. I made a chocolate wacky cake last night and my mom made her wing-it icing this morning. Wacky cake is one of my favorite things to make. It takes hardly any time to prepare and always comes out wonderful. And the best part is that it is low calorie, until of course my mom makes her wing-it icing, which is yummy too.

I also made some spaghetti sauce with ground beef in it for another one of my mom's friends who just had twins. But I made a double batch so we brought some over for Caroline and Celia.

Anyways, Celia and I sat on the floor with her caterpillar train and piano and played for a bit, while my mom and Caroline were drinking coffee and eating wacky cake. This was of course after she stuck her hand in the cake. Her reaction was really funny. She touched it and then started to cry because she didn't know what it was. She is so adorable.

Then a little later we went for a walk. I got to push her in the stroller. She loves being outside. And after about five minutes she fell asleep. We walked for about a half an hour and the second we got back to Caroline's house she woke up. I guess she knew she was home.

And the Summer Begins

I finally finished my Spring term about 2 weeks ago. Finals went well and I was very happy with all of my grades. Getting a week off was just what I needed. The ten weeks of Spring term seemed like they lasted forever.

Adam flew up the day after his birthday and we celebrated with Chinese food and a berry trifle that night. I know, an interesting combination, but both are so yummy we just had to have them.

We went to Auxi and CG's wedding the next night and partied until almost two in the morning. It was a fun night.

Then on Sunday we went to the Phillies game with my two dads. We had great seats, three rows behind first base, right behind the Phillies dugout. It was fun, especially the eating cheesesteaks part. Good thing there were a lot of clouds that day, otherwise we all would have been roasting even more than we already were.

Monday afternoon we flew back down south and that night we went to Babineaus for a friends goodbye party. And then the rest of the week, we hung around Raleigh and just relaxed.

Friday morning, we got up really early and drove to the beach. It was beautiful. We spent the next three days walking up and down the beach, playing in the ocean, going on boat rides, and eating some yummy food Adam's mom made.

Sunday night I flew back home and Tuesday I started classes again. I just love taking classes in the summer. Although, I guess if I didn't have any classes I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I guess I always have to be doing something.

A Weekend Without Homework

Friday at 10:45am marked the end of my week. I jumped on the train to the airport and hopped on a plane to North Carolina. I spent some time writing notes while I was waiting for my flight and for about 20 minutes on the flight. Then I stopped. I put my five-subject, purple binder in my bag and did not touch it all weekend. It felt awesome.

Adam picked me up from the airport, gave me a hug and a kiss, and I instantly felt relaxed. I did not think about going into the freezer and screaming once this weekend. It was nice.

On our way back to his place, we made a quick stop at Neomonde to say hi to Degaulle and pick up some hummus and pita bread. Mmmmmm, yummy. I think I could eat hummus and falafel every day.

After our quick stop, we went back to Adam's place and just relaxed. We watched tv, ate some hummus, and spent some time cuddling together.

Later that night we went over to Babs and saw my sister, brother in-law, and some other friends. We wound up playing cribbage and having a hilarious time until about 2am.

Saturday we slept in and the drove to Adam's family's house, about two hours away. His mom had made some yummy brownies for us. One batch was oatmeal butterscotch and the other was a triple chocolate. Adam claimed the oatmeal ones and I claimed the chocolate ones.

We wound up playing Super Jeopardy with his brother and sister until really late. I don't even remember what time we went to sleep. All I know is that we got all the way up to the final round and then Adam hit a wrong button and we had to start from the beginning again.

Sunday was Kelley and Jason's wedding. We went with Adam's roommate, Beth, and two of his friends from high school, Lauren and Megan. We had a good time. The ceremony was in a cute little chapel and the reception was very pretty. We danced the night away and had a good time.

Monday we slept in and played Dance Dance Revolution for hours. It was beautiful outside, but for some reason we decided to stay in a play video games. Oh well.

Today I flew home and the homework began once again. I don't think it will ever end.

Planting Flowers with Mom!!!

On Saturday my mom and I bought $88 dollars worth of beautiful flowers and decided to fill the whole front yard with them. As we were leaving the house my dad insisted that we buy marigolds, of course. But we could not just buy marigolds. How boring would that be? So we bought a few marigolds and lots and lots of other flowers. We stuck with red, orange, and yellow flowers and I have no idea what
types of other annuals we bought. We bought whatever looked pretty.

We started digging holes all over the front yard. It looked like deer had trampled on all the dirt. There were tons of worms, at least 3 per hole I dug. Then we discovered some weird looking spiders with white egg thingys coming out of their butts. We weren't sure if we should help them pull the white things off or just leave them alone.

Anyways, we scattered all the flowers throughout the yard, alternating colors as we went. Each individual flower has its own name thanks to my mom. Bartholomew, Henry, and George were some of her favorites. She had a conversation with every plant she put in the ground. I wonder if she is going to go out every day and continue on with her conversations with them.

Then she decided to plant some sunflower seeds on one side of the house. And when I say some, I really mean like 10-12. They are the sunflowers that are supposed to be 12 feet tall too. Should be interesting.

I can't wait to see all of them in a few weeks when they start to grow and fill in. The front yard should look really pretty, especially if my mom keeps talking to all of them!!!

It's Been A While

I've been so busy with school lately that I haven't had a chance to relax. Most of my days have been spent on the 6th floor of the Academic Building. Last week I spent a lot of time in the walk-in freezer searching for food that I could create a lunch from.

My Thursday class, A La Carte, requires that we create a lunch for 40+ people with only food that we have in house. The challenge is that we are not allowed to order anything. Hence my spending lots of time in the walk-in freezer.

The theme was Mother's Day. Originally we had wanted to go with a flower theme, having edible flowers in every dish. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. Edible flowers were not in season yet so we had to totally revamp the menu. I think it still turned out pretty well. All of our guests seemed to enjoy our food, especially my carrot cake, which had little carrots piped on top. Which of course was just another excuse to make orange and green icing.

Happy Birthday Hershey!!!!

Today is the 102nd birthday of Hershey Park. And for this special day, my friend Devon created this amazing three course lunch which chocolate in every course. Everything was delicious. One of the best lunches I've had at the Academic Bistro.

The first course was a chocolate chicken satay. A rectangular plate was brought out with two skewers of grilled chicken that had been dusted with cocoa and other spices, and was served with a Reese's peanut dipping sauce. Yummy! The chicken was cooked perfectly. It just fell of the skewer when you put your fork in it. And the sauce complemented it wonderfully.

The second course was a zesty flank steak salad. I thought it was a wise choice for a lunch and was refreshing, since it was warm outside. The flank steak was dusted with cocoa powder before cooked and the flavors were great. The salad of mixed greens and corn had a delicious tomato chocolate basil vinaigrette which I thought made the dish even yummier.

And for dessert, a Heath bar chocolate caramel tart. How yummy does that sound? I was helping her make them the other day and I couldn't stop eating all the scraps. She made a chocolate tart and then topped it with caramel, chocolate ganache, and crushed Heath bars. It was a great ending to a great meal. Milk was also served in cute little glasses that had been rimmed with cocoa powder. So cute :)

Good job Devon!!!!

It's Finally 70 and Sunny!!

I feel like its been rainy for the past month. There weren't many pretty days in March or the beginning of April. Today its 70 and beautiful. Walking back and forth to school was lovely. Even on my second trip.

I had class this morning from 9-10. Then I had to run home and take an online exam, that was only open for a short amount of time, ah. On my way back, Devon called me and asked if I could pick her up 15 bananas. Apparently there bananas for the bananas foster went missing and lunch was being served at noon. So I went home, took my exam, which only took about 30 minutes, and then ran to the grocery store to pick up bananas. I think the lady at the checkout thought I was nuts. Oh well.

So with the 15 bananas, I walked back to school. Got there just in time. They were cutting up the few bananas they had found. The things we do for school!!

Anyways, walking all over the place was really nice. I love being outside when its 70 and sunny. I hope this warm weather stays!!