Raspberry Swizzles

Kendra and I got to hang out a few days ago and catch up. She invited me to come over and make dinner, and since I LOVE food I didn't hesitate to accept the offer. She made a recipe she found on Pinterest, and for dessert I made this recipe I found on Pinterest. It is very simple and tastes like a creamsicle.

What you need:

• Frozen raspberries (they are kind of expensive, so one day I'm going to experiement with just plain raspberries)
• Vanilla ice cream
• Sparkling raspberry juice (the recipe called for sparkling apple juice, but Kroger had every kind of sparkling juice but apple - it still tasted delicious!)

Directions:

1. Heat the frozen raspberries until runny.
2. Scoop yourself some ice cream into a cup with layers of  raspberries.
3. Top off buy pouring the sparkling juice over top making sure not to make the mixture to liquidy.
4. Swizzle together and enjoy!

Currently

My cousins and me on the cruise we went to in the Bahamas in 2004.

Loving: The dog I'm pet sitting for a few hours today. It's actually Haley's dog! He's so adorable and put me in such a good mood today! I love dogs so much.

Thinking about: My job interview tomorrow! I still feel like I'm not prepared to answer questions or that I haven't researched every single minute detail about the company. Crazy, right? I also received a call from them today too confirming my appointment. I hope these phone calls get back to the recruiting staff because I'm always happy when they call and am in a good mood!

Anticipating: Again, my interview tomorrow. I could be offered the job on the spot if they like me enough! They told me to be prepared to accept an offer. This means my job search is over and eventually I will start making some adult money! :) That would also mean I would have to move (to Charlotte, I believe). I'm so ready for a life change!

Listening to: Silversun Pickups Pandora station. Seriously  the best Pandora station. They play all my favorites: Silversun Pickups (obviously), Death Cab for Cutie, Ellie Goulding, Metric, Phoenix, and others!

Eating: Nothing. I'm trying to hold off until I meet Haley for lunch, but I think I might end up making a cucumber and cream cheese sandwich when I'm done with this. If you've never had one you are clearly missing out. They are delicious!

Wishing: I would get the job tomorrow! Also, that I would stumble across mass amounts of money. Maybe win the lottery? I have too many loans to pay back. 

Job Interview

I realized that the last 5 of 6 posts were about food. I promise this one is not about food!

I only have a day before my first adult job interview. Am I nervous? I'm more nervous about missing my flight than the actual interview. Although I will probably be super nervous the day of the interview. My flight leaves at 6:55 from the Dayton Airport which means I am planning on waking up at 4 in order to get dressed and be at the airport by 5:30/45. I guess another thing I'm nervous about is getting stuck in security. These are the things I worry about. I'm so weird.

My interview is in Charlotte, NC. I'm guessing that if I get the job I will be moved to Charlotte. No complaints. I'm actually excited to leave Cincinnati and start fresh. Plus, I'm completely looking forward to living by myself. Not that I don't pretty much live by myself now, but it will be nice to do whatever I want whenever I want and keep a nice clean apartment. :)

I spent last night studying up on possible interview questions and looking up information on US Airways. I've been through interviews before but not for something as important as this one. Not to mention I actually had to buy a suit. This was a complete nightmare. For one I couldn't find ANYONE to go with me. Second, I went to H&M because they had cheap suits, but none that went together so it was impossible to find a matching skirt and blazer. However, I finally settled on an outfit. The blazer is shinier than the skirt, but it's much better than the one I had before. My outfit:

What do you think? I'll try to get a picture of me wearing it, but I can't make any promises. Still not sure how I'm going to do my hair either. If it's humid than I can't wear it down because my hair poofs out in the slightest of humidity. We'll see though. By the way, I also had to buy those heels because I don't own heels and they were SUPER cheap at Payless, not to mention super comfortable. Hate on Payless all you want but with the amount I spent on the reset of the outfit I was not going to spend much on shoes.

Anyway, wish me luck! I'll definitely need it!

Coffee Cake in a Mug

I made this delicious mug of coffee cake which I found on Prudent Baby. I will let her instructions do the explaining because they are much prettier than any photo I could ever attempt! The recipe can be found here!

Framed Map Silhouettes

I made this piece a while ago and put it on my Tumblr, but I decide to move it over and put it on this blog. I wish I had an entire picture tutorial to show, but I don't.

Anyways, I started off with two oval frames with these ugly (but kind of cute) duck pictures in it. I didn't take a picture of the frames ahead of time, but they were gold and ugly. That's all you really need to know. I have kind of an obsession with frames and spray painting them so when I bought these frames I really had no idea what to do with them.

Not only do I love painting frames, but I also love silhouettes. I decided that was what I wanted to put in these frames. I've seen silhouette's like this around the web and new I wanted to do something along these lines. I searched Pinterest for ideas and came across like the one I used. I used Microsoft Word to make the picture big enough to fit into the space.

It was kind of awkward because they were holding hands in the picture so when I cut it out I kind of messed it up, but it was okay because it was covered by the frame.
**Hint: Be careful about what silhouettes you use! You have the advantage because you know what the original looked like. Try looking at your new piece with a new set of eyes. You may be surprised that it doesn't look like what you had thought.

After cutting out the silhouettes I traced them onto a map and then cut them out. Again you have to be very careful here because you don't want too much ocean. Unless you do, then forget I said anything! :)

I then used black origami paper for the back ground. I glued it onto the ducks and then cut off the extra sides. I then placed my figures on the black and used the frames to see how they would look. When I officially decided how I wanted them to be placed I glued them onto the black paper.

Then when the frames we dried I put it all together and it turned out like the picture below!

Green Tea Frappe

So, this is the third recipe I made yesterday. I decided to post it today so I didn't bombard you all with food recipes. I decided to make this because I had all the ingredients except milk and sugar but I was already planning on buying sugar! I found this recipe on Pinterest and the original link can be found here!

What you need:

• 5 green tea bags
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup crushed ice
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions:

1. Heat sugar and water in a small sauce pan, stirring often.
   
2. Bring to a boil and add vanilla. Let boil for about 30 seconds, and remove from heat.
   
   
3. Immediately add in 3 green tea bags, and let tea bags steep in syrup until syrup has cooled completely; remove tea bags.
   
4. Brew a cup of green tea. I used the other two tea bags to make it extra strong like the recipe I read. Let tea cool completely. I put it in a window so the breeze would cool it.
   
5. Crush ice in a blender until it is fine enough to be consumed with a straw.*
6. Fill a cup with crushed ice. Pour 1/2 cup of green tea, 1/2 cup milk, and 1/4 cup green tea syrup; stir. Adjust to your liking*
7. Enjoy!
   

*It turned out pretty watery, but it still tasted good. I experimented a bit on the second batch and just put everything right in with the ice and blended it all together. It turned out better but I think the syrup and tea should be refrigerated so it doesn't melt the ice so fast.

Avocado Pie

The simplest pie you will ever make! I found it first on Lauren's blog but you can find the real recipe on How About Orange. If you are a blog reader like I am you should definitely check out Lauren's blog. It is my new favorite! She has a lot of DIY and recipes!

Anyway, I figured I would try this out since I had 2 of the 4 ingredients. I was a little skeptical at first. I mean avocado as dessert? Plus, since I gave up desserts for Lent I figured it was a way around it. I'm eating a vegetable! ;)

What you need:

• 2 peeled avocados
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• graham cracker crust (I used reduced fat and it was still delicious!)
• whipped cream (optional -- I didn't use it)
  

Directions:

1. In a blender put the peeled avocado and lemon juice. Pulse a couple of times. I had to scrape the edges and mix the avocado a few times.
   
   
2. Add condensed milk and blend until creamy.
   
3. Pour into pie shell and refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. Enjoy! It's super easy and delicious!
   

Sweet Potato Skins

So, today I felt a little bit like Betty Crocker. I made a few delicious things for lunch. I needed to go to Kroger anyway to buy some food. Since it was a nice day I decided to walk. Ever since I got my car it has been a real struggle to get me to walk anywhere, but it was super nice so I sucked it up. Since I was walking I knew I couldn't buy a lot of things so I found some recipes that only required me to buy a little bit because I had the other ingredients. The first thing I made was sweet potato skins. I found the recipe here!

What you need:

• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 1 1/2 tbsp butter
• 1 shallot minced (I used a sweet onion because Kroghetto didn't have shallots)
• 1 bag fresh baby spinach
• 1/4 cup light sour cream
• 2 oz light cream cheese
• 1 cup chickpeas
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. I rinsed the sweet potatoes off and then wrapped them in foil. I baked them at 350F for 1 hour, or until fork tender.
   
   
2. Cut the sweet potatoes in half and let cool for 5-10 minutes
3. While the sweet potatoes are cooling, saute the shallots with butter over medium heat until translucent. Add fresh spinach and heat for 2-3 minutes, until spinach as cooked down. I bought a bigger things of spinach so I think I used about 5 handfuls. Set aside.
   
   
   
4. Scrape the sweet potato out of the peel leaving a thin layer inside with the peel so that it can stand up on its own. I had the most difficulty with this part. It left me with only 2 potato skins because I completely destroyed the other one.
5. Mash sweet potato with cream cheese and sour cream. Stir in chickpeas, spinach, and salt and pepper.
   
   
6. Coat the potato skins with a drizzle of oil and bake for 5 minutes to get crispier.
   
7. Remove from oven and fill each skin with sweet potato mixture and top with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake again for 10-15 minutes.
   
8. Enjoy!
   

Crispy Roasted Chickpeas

I found this delicious recipe on Pinterest but you can find the original post here!

What you need:

• 1 can chickpeas
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Additional spices 

Directions:

1. Drain the chickpeas and rinse with water.
   
2. Use a paper towel to dry the chickpeas. I didn't have a paper towel so I used a clean towel. Feel free to remove the skins. I removed some of them, but I didn't make a big deal about it.
   
3. Drizzle olive oil over the chickpeas on a oven safe baking sheet. Then shake them around so they are evenly coated.
   
4. Put in the oven at 400F for 30-40 minutes. Make sure they are crunchy, not chewy.
   
5. Season with salt and any other spices you would like.
   
   
6. Enjoy!
   

North Carolina

This past weekend my friend, Tom, and I went to visit my cousin Catherine in North Carolina. I've been wanting to visit her for a while and now that I finally have a car I was able to do it!

Friday, March 16: We left about 1 pm because Tom wanted to go into work for a half day. Usually when I am excited to go on a trip time seems to go so slow but the morning went surprisingly fast. I took over the first part of the driving, but we weren't even out of Kentucky before I let him drive. I have RLS (restless leg syndrome) so it was really hard for me to drive for some reason.

My favorite part of the drive was driving through West Virginia and Virginia. I love the mountains. We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel right before we entered Virginia. Cracker Barrel is a restaurant you HAVE to visit on a road trip! I also love Charleston, WV for some reason. I always remember the gold capitol building on drives to NC years ago.

I also forgot how many toll booths your drive through on your way there. It wasn't too bad though. The worst part was driving through NC with it raining really hard. Luckily, Tom was driving, but I was a nervous wreck in the passenger seat. I get nervous too easily!

Saturday, March 17:  On Saturday my cousin had some ideas of where she wanted to take us. We headed into Raleigh to a flea market. I love flea markets and I wanted to buy a lot of antique furniture and stuff but I had to be realistic. I bought a really cute ring though! I was determined to buy a ring. Ring shopping is always a pain because I have really small fingers so usually when I like a ring they don't have it in my size.

Afterwards we headed to a bar-b-que place called The Pit. It was definitely a nicer restaurant, but the food was delicious and they gave you a lot. Then my cousin wanted us to go to a antique store called Father and Sons because she thought it would be something I liked. She was right I fell in love with the place. They sold all kinds of old things. I ended up buying an owl figurine holder because I love owls, although I wish I could have bought more!

We then headed back to her place and hung out and had some drinks before we went to dinner. The morning flew by and we did a lot so it was nice to just go back and relax. I took pictures of her dog while we were there. I love dogs so much and hers was so cute. She actually brought it back from Africa where she spent two years in the Peace Corps. Her name is Chapati.

Around 8 we headed to a bar/restaurant called Tyler's. It was a nice night so we ate outside. I ate some pretzels because I was still full from lunch. We just sat and talked. Eventually my rls was acting up so my cousin's friend said she would walk with me. We walked around the area. It was actually really neat. There was a river in the middle of the area and we walked across some stones to the other side. I wish I would have taken pictures, but I guess that means I HAVE to go back. Darn.

Had to take a picture for our grandma!

Sunday, March 18: We woke up and talked a bit then got ready to leave. We left about 11 and I started the drive. I'm kind of a fast driver so Tom and I were watching the estimated arrival time go down on the gps. He was bored so I let him use my cell phone to take pictures and he went crazy. Sorry for the black specks on the pictures. I don't know why they are there but it is probably from dropping my phone or something. We were doing so well and we thought we were going to make it back to Ohio in good time, but that was until we stopped in Charlotte for lunch.

It took us forever to find somewhere to eat and both our gps's were acting crazy. We eventually found a mall and ate at Chili's. I have the Four Square app on my cell phone and when I checked in I got us free chips and salsa! You should all download the app! We ate outside and when we first got there we were the only ones outside. It was kind of creepy, but then the outside soon was packed.

After we ate we headed back on the road with Tom driving this time. Then his gps decided to take us off the highway and we were so confused on why we were taking back roads through West Virginia. It was scenic though so that was good. But his gps and my gps were both giving me a headache. I just wanted to get home. Thank goodness Tom is a lot more patient than I am. We eventually made it though!

You can see more pictures from my trip here!

I wish we could have spent more time in NC, but it was a really fun weekend anyways. I needed to get out of Cincinnati for a bit. The funny thing though is that I'm going back to North Carolina next week! I'm going to Charlotte though and not Durham, so I won't see my cousin. However, I am going for my job interview so it could really be a turning point in my life.