Dear Spring

Dear Spring,

Please stay. I really love feeling the warm sun on my skin. I love soaking up your rays and falling asleep while I bask in your light. I think we've had enough winter for one year. Stop teasing me with days of warmth and sunshine and then laughing while I am soaked with wet snow and disappointment!!! Kthankyou. I would really appreciate it. I love seeing the flowers start to grow buds and people sprawled out around campus. I'm ready for you! So don't leave.
Love,
Katie


Last week my little brother Riley came and stayed with us! IT WAS AWESOME! He is the coolest, funniest, most awesomiest (yep) brother in the world. He is a giant at 6'2. He is a junior in high school and he was on spring break. We ate soo much delicious food. We went bowling, to the nicklecade, played board games, watched movies, went downtown, it was great!  I am sad he is going to be on a mission so soon but I know he'll be an awesome missionary. I just don't want to miss him for two years!   School is winding down and I feel like I can kind of breathe. Except then I'll head straight back into spring term and once again be drowning in papers and work. But luckily I will only be working one job spring term instead of two like this term .Working two jobs has been really difficult! I have not had enough time to study and I feel like I am stretched soo thin, so it will be nice to JUST focus on school and one job, instead of two. I'll be leaving the bookstore but returning Summer term. The classes I'm taking in spring include:

1) Math Ed.
2) Bowling (YES I AM SO EXCITED)
3) Astronomy (G.E)
4)TELL 440 (teaching english language lerarners--my minor)
total: 8.5 credits

Happiness

Chocolate Chip cookie in a jar

I love baking. LOVEEEE it. the only thing i don't like is how many dishes pile up when you bake (seriously, like 6-10 dishes for one batch of cookies!? ick!). Plus, I don't love shoving 2,000 calories into my body in a half hour (oh wait yes, i do love that). But i really love sweets. and I HAVE to eat something sweet at night after dinner. Jon does not understand this, but ohh man I love sweets. mmm. So instead of spending an hour making cookies tonight like I wanted to, i decided to make a chocolate chip cookie in a mug. Oh yes. It was delish. and it was just for me! (don't worry, I shared. kind of. one bite. he didn't want one!). Perfect portion and so delicious. So i want to share this yumminess:

• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 1 Tablespoon Granulated White Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon of firmly packed Dark Brown Sugar
• 3 Drops of Vanilla Extract
• Small Pinch of Kosher Salt
• 1 Egg Yolk (discard the egg white or save for different recipe)
• Scant ¼ of All Purpose Flour (slightly less than ¼ of a cup)
• 2 heaping tablespoons of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

melt butter in mug. I would say maybe add another 1/2 tbsp as mine was not enough.

mix in sugars, vanilla, and salt. add egg yolk. mix. add flour, and as many chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc, as you'd like. Microwave for 45-60 seconds. Add ice cream. or whipped cream. I don't care what you add, just make it already!

It's definitely not the real thing, but it sure hits the chocolate spot. don't overcook or it will be dry.

P.s. I would blog about my life but there's nothing blog worthy. So I'll get back to it in a few days after I teach my first P.E lesson

Tried & True Pinterest Tricks

So, my mom & I (and several other people) have concluded that we have yet to find a good recipe on pinterest. I pin so many, but more for the "idea" than the recipe, because yuck! I don't know who these bloggers are, but they definitely need to stay away from the kitchen.  However, I have found several "tips and tricks" that I have LOVED!

1. Baking Soda Exfoliant

I'll admit, I was skeptical about this one. Mix baking soda with a little water to form a paste. Use on (clean!) face as an exfoliant. Put on and rub in small circles for 1-2 minutes.

Results: MAGIC! Seriously. My blackheads are GONE. I have used a ton of face scrubs, and this is by the BEST I have ever used! My skin is clear and glowing. We'll see if it keeps oil down tomorrow, too.

2. Dawn & Vinegar Magic Shower cleaner

this is a legit before and after picture, people! This stuff is amazing. I hate cleaning the tub, but this WORKS. and you don't have to do anything. Mix a spray bottle with white vinegar and blue dawn dish soap (HAS to be BLUE! I don't know why, but everyone has said other colors don't work). Spray it in tub, shower, toilet, sink, etc. let sit for 5-10 minutes. Beware, it has an extremely strong scent so crack a window or leave the room. Spray down, and hooray! Your tub is now sparkling clean.

3. Cleaning with lemons

Lemons are alllll natural, which I like. chemicals are icky, which I don't like. Cleaning your sink with lemons (and your silver metal aka the faucet) will make them shine AND smell good! And you don't have to absorb ickiness through your skin as your clean.

Outfit Inspiration

Inspiration: fashion blog

My version: Opted out of a statement necklace because of the details around my cardigan. Terrible picture taken in a dark bathroom but I couldn't find any other full size mirrors. Looked so much cuter in real life!

Where have we been?

Sick.

That's where....

I got super sick with a cold/flu thingy that was TERRIBLE. So I'm like, oh I'll just drown myself with dayquil/nose spray/ claritin and i'll be all better right? NO! It turned me into a zombie. I honestly could not think straight or understand what people were saying. So on the 4th day I stopped taking it and I got sooo much better (not physically, mentally). I had to write two papers one night while I was in  my dayquil induced coma, and I was positive I had failed them. Luckily, i think heavenly father was very generous and helped me get A's on both because i was so sick. Then the day I started to feel better, Jon got super sick! It was so sad! He had a bad cold too :( It was not a fun week for either of us.

Valentines Day:
This year for valentine's day was icky because we both had school & work and our schedules aren't as flexbile as they were last year when we were still doing GE's. I had to work in the morning, and SURPRISE! My sweet husband surprised me by bringing roses and chocolates to my job! It was awesome ! I was totally surprised. He is soooo romantic and sweet. I had to go to class & my second job as well, come home & get ready for our date--I didn't know where we were going but Jon took us to P.F. Chang's.
OH YUM. I love that place! Lettuce wraps= my version of heaven. It was so so so delicious. And for dessert we got cakebites from the sweet tooth fairy. it was awesome! He is such a sweet, romantic, surprising, and loving husband. I seriously love this guy. Sometimes it makes me sad that when we have kids it won't be just the two of us...but I *think* they'll be worth it, right? So i'm just gonna soak in as much "us" time as we can before the time comes. But  I know he's gonna be such an incredible dad!
We subbed in nursery today and it was hilarious. SO many baby fights. I loved it because the lesson was on "sharing", and I just learned in my developmental class that 2 year olds are incapable of sharing or understanding the concept. oh well, i guess it's good to introduce it, right? THere's this famous theorist named Piaget who came up with 4 stages of development. Two year olds are in the "pre-operational stage" which means that they are absolutely incapable of seeing another person's point of view. In fact, they believe that everyone has the same goals and sees the same thing they see. Like, they will show a picture of a doll looking at the back of a house, and then they will show the child the front of the house and ask them to choose which side of the house the doll sees. they pick the front side because they think the doll sees what they see (even though the doll is at the back of the house). it's also funny to teach nursery because we say in child dev. that up until teenage years, a child has the attention span length in accordance with how many birthday's they've had. So, a two year old has a two minute attention span. Which means they need to MOVE, wiggle, etc, at least every two minutes. It's so funny to watch people try to get them to "behave". they aren't supposed to behave! They're two! they're supposed to act "naughty" even though it's not naughty. they are just egocentric at that age! I love child development, can you tell? it's absolutely fascinating.

Tomorrow I have to be at work at 6:45 to ? for inventory. we have to keep going until we're done . UGHH. Do not want to go!

Oh well. It's going to be 40 degrees on tuesday and I'm ecstatic. So ready for spring!

If we go on a vacation this spring, where should we go?
1) Chicago
2) Disneyland
3) Seattle
4)portland and coast

Those are my top picks right now, can't I just do all of them!?!?
P.S. 15 credits spring term, 12 summer. KILL ME NOW

Super Bowl!

Ok let's just start by saying....
I found a really nice pair of blue slacks at Banana Republic for $13 for Jon! SCORE! I love BR, wish I could afford it, but I really loveee their clearance rack! :)

Today we went to a superbowl party at our friend Ben and Chelsea's house. It was super fun!  It was SO FUN! We have a great group of friends.

We ate a ton of food.

Jon made Jalapeno poppers all by himself (he did an awesome job!)
and I made homemade mozzarella sticks (deep frying is annoying, they turned out delish though).

We played Uno while the lights were out and had a blast!