Want to know a great gift idea?
Hot cocoa and all the goodies! Dave’s cousin stopped by with his wife, precious little 3 month old twins and an adorable gift bag for us. I wish I had snapped a photo of the babes, but passing around two infants was busy (especially when 1 out of 4 of the adults in the room is afraid of holding babies). There was raspberry coffee cake too, but it didn’t last long.
I’ve been wanting a typewriter for a while.
I saw this photo over two years ago and thought, “Yep. Need it.”
But turns out it wasn’t cheap. I’ve seen similar ones on etsy recently for $450 and even as high as $600.
Thinking that I’d never get to own the beautiful teal typewriter, I mentioned to my mom over the summer that if she ever saw an inexpensive typewriter, I’d like one. She’s the queen of garage sales and usually can find what I’m looking for. About a month later, she found me this:
Pretty neat.
But it’s about a million years old and it doesn’t work. Oh well.
Having never read my blog and knowing nothing about the specifics of what kind of typewriter I really wanted, my mom had found another typewriter for me a few weeks later and it looks like this…
It has an adorable carrying case. Works perfectly. And she got it for $5!!! Aren’t moms the best?
This weekend I got a friendly suggestion from my sister-in-law to start blogging again. Where to start? I was looking back at some of my posts and remembered why I started blogging in the first place. It’s a place for me to document/keep track/organize some of my favorite moments and favorite things.
So here are a few highlights from 2011: A Year of Firsts…
January 2011: I faced my fears and drove out to the middle of a lake and had my first ice fishing experience.
February 2011: My parents took our family on a trip to Mexico. There were 11 of us in tow!
Took my first trip to Vegas to celebrate a dear friend’s 30th birthday.
March 2011: Embraced the cold and attended my First Bockfest experience at Schell’s Brewery in New Ulm, MN with my sister, Ashley.
Imagine camouflage, flannel, blaze orange, snow pants, boots, and creative ways to carry drinks…
April 2011: Dexter obsession begins.
May 2011: Reluctantly traded my cruiser in for my first road bike but quickly realized it was a good decision. I realized how much I have to be thankful for when a tornado swept through the neighborhood I was teaching in leaving many of my students displaced.
June 2011: A friend visited from Atlanta and we soaked in Pride Weekend and the Delta Block Party.
July 2011: Friends from Cincinnati visited and I organized my first bike pub crawl across Minneapolis. I also took my first trip to Colorado to visit my little sister, Rachel.
August 2011: I applied for jobs like a mad woman, freaked out about it and cut 8 inches of my hair off.
September 2011: I celebrated 2 years of marriage. I found out my best friend is pregnant with twins (due Feb). I started my first grown up job.
October 2011: Dave and I bought our first house!!
November 2011: I turned 28 years young and began to settle into life as a homeowner.
December 2011: In December I realized the importance of family when I found out that my mom has cancer.
After ten days of agonizing over the worst case scenarios, we found out that she has a smoldering case of Multiple Myeloma. We think this means that she doesn’t have any problems and her cancer is not progressing, but has a 50% chance that it could in the next couple of years. If she does get a full blown case of multiple myeloma, her blood will create too much plasma for her body to handle and it will eventually break down her bones and they can become brittle and break easily.
She’s getting a second opinion next month, but it was a wake up call for my entire family not to take each other for granted. Make time for phone calls. Give more hugs and kisses. Tell each other, “I love you.”
Three Ingredient Nutella Cookies by Kirbie’s Cravings
Yield: 10 cookies
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 8 mins
ingredients:
1 cup of Nutella
1 cup of flour
1 eggdirections:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Mix all ingredients with a large spoon until a dough batter forms. The batter may be slightly crumbly, but should come together for the most part. . Form into 1 inch balls. Place on a cookie sheet. Press the balls down with the palm of your hand until they are round and flat. I smoothed out the edges of the cookies after flattening them. Space them about 1 inch apart. Bake for 7-8 minutes for the cookies to set.
Cookies and cream cheesecake by The Girl Who Ate Everything
(adapted from Martha Stewart)
42 Oreos, 30 left whole and 12 coarsely chopped
2 pounds (32 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 275°. Line standard muffin pans with liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each liner.
Beat cream cheese at medium speed using an electric mixer. Gradually add the sugar, beating until combined. Beat in vanilla.
Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.
Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving. Best served really cold! You can garnish with fresh whipped cream and crumbled Oreos if desired.
Makes 30 cheesecakes.
Woah!
First spelling test of the year. Check out #2, the word was “shipment”.
