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Sunday Funday

Happy third Sunday of Easter! Today I wore a new dress that I just got from the on-post thrift shop for only $4! I was super excited to find something springy! It is still really cold here (we had a few snow flurries this morning) so I also wore the 100% wool pink blazer that I got a few weeks ago. I wore one of my pink scarves while I was outside, because of the cold.

I hope you all have a great Sunday!

Starbucks Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Today I made copy-cat Starbucks Oatmeal Raisin cookies found on Pinterest (I'm addicted). I have to say, these were delicious. They are very close to the Starbucks cookie; the only thing missing is the chemicals! ;) I did modify the recipe a little bit. It called for regular raisins, golden raisins, and cranberries, but I didn't have golden raisins or cranberries, so I just used the same amount of normal raisins. Let me know what you think!

Starbucks Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
1 1/2 C Old-Fashioned Oatmeal (don't use quick oats)
1/2 C Flour
1/2 C Dark Raisins
1/2 C Golden Raisins
1/4 C Dried Cranberries
1/4 t Baking Powder
1/4 t Baking Soda
6 T Butter, room temperature
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1/4 C Granulated Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 t Cinnamon
1 t Vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix together oats, flour, 1/4 C each of dark and golden raisins, cranberries, baking powder, and baking soda. In a separate bowl mix butter, sugars, and egg. Add oat mixture to butter mixture and mix until combined. Add cinnamon and vanilla. I made mine pretty big, probably at least 2 T of dough per cookie. They do spread, so make sure you place them at least an inch apart for small cookies and two inches apart for large cookies. Top with left over raisins. You will have to flatten the cookie dough a little to make sure the raisins don't fall off. Bake on a foiled pan for 12-16 minutes or until brown around the edges but still chewy in the middle. Enjoy!

Peachy Green

I'm so proud of myself for blogging again! I'm really getting the hang of this. :) I just bought a new jacket/blazer from the on-post thrift shop. It used to have a button, but it is now lost, and it would be too small to button anyway, but for $1, I thought it was worth it! It fits very nicely around my shoulders (I have really broad shoulders...), and it stays closed even without a button. Also, these are my very first self-taken photos to go on my blog!

I'm still getting the hang of camera (instead of phone) selfies. I'm not so much a fan of this face, but I really like the way you can see my earrings blowing in the wind.

This is the button on the sleeve. Super cute and sparkly!

The lining has an adorable flower pattern

And no outfit is complete without a cute pair of cowgirl boots! Also bought at a thrift shop for only $6!

My grandma will be very proud that the jacket is corduroy; she has been trying to convince me for quite some time now that corduroy is the height of fashion. I am starting to believe her! So what do you think of the outfit? Plus, any tips on taking better camera selfies?

Brownie Cupcakes

I actually made these quite a while ago and I just haven't had a chance to post them. That happens sometimes when all I do is load the pictures onto my computer. I forget about them and then a month later I remember that I haven't told y'all how to make deliciousness in a while, and then I remember these cupcakes! Anyway, they are dark chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. (side-note: my dad hates frosting. He won't eat it. He scrapes it off his cake and gives it to my mom. But he likes this icing! That's got to tell you it's good, right?) Back to the cupcakes. They taste a little like brownies spread with creamy peanut butter. Bottom line, they're delicious.

I got the recipe here, but I'll type it out for you too, so you don't have to go to two links. I don't know about you, but I find that annoying, so I try not to do it.

For the Cupcakes:

1 Stick Butter

2 oz Chocolate Chips

1/2 C Cocoa Powder

3/4 C Flour

1/2 t Baking Soda

3/4 t Baking Powder

2 Eggs

3/4 C Sugar

1 t Vanilla Extract

1/2 t Salt

1/2 C Sour Cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat butter, chocolate chips, and cocoa on medium heat until melted and combined. Stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix together eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add chocolate mixture. Add flour mixture and sour cream alternately. Bake 18-20 minutes.

For the Peanut Butter Frosting:

1 C Powdered Sugar

1 C Peanut Butter

5 T Butter

3/4 t Vanilla Extract

1/4 t Salt

1/3 C Heavy Cream

Mix all ingredients except the cream on medium-low speed until creamy. Add the heavy cream and mix. If you want thicker icing you can add more powdered sugar. If you want thinner icing add more heavy cream. Enjoy!

Reminiscing

So I was looking through my pictures and realized that although I wore this outfit a while back, I still hadn't posted it! I suppose this is a good start to my April goal of getting on top of blogging! I'm also researching how to add different side-bars and things like that to my blog, so be on the lookout for some new things coming soon! Anyway, back to the outfit. I like this outfit despite the fact that I threw it on before going last minute prom dress shopping with my friend Gabby. There are some amazing thrift stores here in New York, and I recently got this red blazer at one of them for only $4! I'm also wearing one of the scarves I got in London, rose earrings, black ankle boots, and jeans. Hope you have a great Tuesday! 

Holiday Roundup

So I'm pretty awful at blogging at the right time, so I'll just have to put St Patrick's Day and Easter together in one post. St Patty's was really fun! I ran in the 5 mile race (and surprisingly my time was only 55:50!), made rainbow cupcakes, and watched my best friend's little sister in her Irish Dance Recital!

Before the race

All the dancing was VERY impressive!

Apparently I don't have a finished picture of the cupcakes. They were beautiful. And delicious!

Just my dad, being a dork as always!

And on to Easter! Easter was actually on my birthday this year, which was super fun! The picture is a little blurry, but it's the only one I have so that's what you get! ;) Here's what I wore:

I wore my black dress with pink, purple, and orange flowers on top. The only problem was that the sleeves are cap sleeves and it only comes to my knees. It's still snowing here in the arctic so I couldn't wear the dress alone. I added tights, black heels, and a 100% wool, bright pink blazer that I found at a thrift shop for $1 last week. I wore a purple scarf when I went out because it's really cold.

I hope you all had a great Easter!

March Report Card and April Goals

So I am very pleased to announce that I did fantastically on my March Goals!

1) Put $200 towards my trip to the Dominican Republic: A++
I had almost $200 saved before I received birthday money, but afterwards I was able to put in a total of over $400!! I am getting so close now! I can hardly wait until June!

2) Finish English with an A: A+
I was REALLY worried about English because of on grade that I got on the first paper I wrote, but I worked really hard and ended the class with an A! I actually got a 100 on the research paper, which is a really big deal for me, because I often make small grammar mistakes that cost lots of points.

3) Catch up on Economics and Physics: A
After finishing English I had a week or so to get caught up on my other subjects, and I actually stayed motivated! Surprise, I know. :)

4) Run three times a week: B
I was able to keep up with this for the first couple weeks of March, which was great! Then I ran my first 5 mile run for St. Patrick's Day, which was super fun! Unfortunately, because I wasn't used to running that far, I got minor shin splints in my leg, and I had to take a break for the next couple weeks. But I'm better now and will go back to running this month!

Do you like my St Patty's Outfit? The socks are my favorite!

And now for my April Goals:

1) Put $100 towards my trip to the DR (I would say more but I'm going home this month and so I won't be able to work)

2) Don't go crazy waiting for April 16th

3) Keep my room clean; stop just dumping stuff on the extra bed

4) Get on top of blogging! No more of this blog after the fact!