The first of the lasts..

Anyone else having a hard time doing everything you want to do before the end of the semester? I feel like I'm trying to squeeze in everything all at once!

That being said, I've hardly had time to eat anything that isn't PB&J. So, when I have had time to cook something up, I've been making extras so that I can heat it up later. Two meals with one stone, if you will.

This week I tried something new and I have to say that it was one of the best meals I've ever made.  These shrimp quesadillas are SO easy to make and SO delicious!

I didn't have any white onions or peppers on hand, but I added in some green onion and avocado and I think it was just as good as what it would've been. I also baked it for about 5 minutes longer than what the recipe called for. But that's just to my taste!

I paired it with some corn on the cob and a salad. I definitely will be making this again soon. :)

This weekend was also my sorority's date party. We went to the Basket Case, a karaoke bar in Peoria. It's literally a hole in the wall, but so much fun!

Not only that, but this week is also senior week for my sorority. We have little events/bonding throughout the week to celebrate our graduation and all of the work we've done in the last 4 years. I've already cried several times, but that's not surprising.

My best friends.

Anyone got fun weekend plans?! Hopefully you get a chance to go outside today to enjoy the gorgeous weather!

New social media!

Up until this weekend, I was thoroughly confused by this new fad "Vine". It's a new form of social media that allows you to take videos adding up to 20 seconds, for one large but short video montage.

I downloaded it and was definitely doing something wrong right away. My videos can be best described as an epileptic's nightmare. I wasn't holding down my finger for long enough and I thought that since the video was fast, everything happening also had to be fast. The product was not good.

Eventually one of my roommates realized what I was doing wrong and taught me how to make much better videos.

I feel like this trend is normal for social media though. No one really knows what they're doing right away and then you get used to it! It starts to come so easily that you wonder how you ever didn't get it. Know what I mean?

What new social media have you tried lately? Anything worth joining?! Help a sista out!

Happy Monday everyone! Be productive and look forward to the nice weather we're supposed to have this weekend!

The search for the perfect cookie..

You may or may not know this by now, but I really like to bake. My COM 400 group was holding a focus group, so I was first to volunteer to bake for the group.

As much as I love to bake, I'm really picky about what recipes I'll use. My theory is is that if you don't want another piece of whatever you just ate, you didn't make it right. That being said, I've never found a cookie recipe that I was over the moon about.

At the risk of sounding like a housewife, I've been searching for the perfect cookie recipe. I think I found one that will hold me over until that day comes.

I searched via Google for a chocolate chip cookie recipe and stumbled upon the Nestle Tollhouse website. I decided to go with this recipe, apparently known as the Original chocolate chip cookie.

The dough was delicious. It was a little salty, so I was worried that the cookies would come out that way too, but they turned out fine. All I had on hand was mini-chocolate chips, so I added them 1/2 cup at a time. Turns out, 1 1/2 cups of those was just enough, rather than the 2 cups of regular sized chips.

I also decided to omit the nuts that the recipe called for. I was afraid that people would be allergic and have nothing to snack on at the focus group!

The recipe says that it yields 60 cookies, but as you can see from the picture, I tend to make larger cookies that most people. I got 45 cookies out of this recipe, and they were all gone at the end of the focus group!

I hope you all had a great weekend! I know I did. :)

The final stretch.

Graduation is only 1 month and 8 days away. So naturally part of me is panicking, part of me is hysterical, and the other part of me is just going to have as much fun as possible until I find an actual job.

Luckily, there is a ton to look forward to from here until the end of the semester!

This weekend is parent's weekend and I can't wait. My parents are bringing my dog down to Peoria with them and we're going to see my brother's off campus house for next year while they're here. Hopefully it's nice out too, because we were planning on grilling out!

This little girl is making her way to Peoria this weekend!

The following weekend is my boyfriend's fraternity's formal. We're going to Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort in Utica, Illinois. It's the same place we went last year, but we get to spend an extra day and night there this year. The villas are awesome and I can't wait to spend all weekend with a great group of people. 

The rest of the semester includes my sorority's karaoke themed date party, senior send-off activities, senior walk, and of course graduation. I'm really excited and looking forward to everything the rest of the semester has to offer!

On a completely unrelated note, I met up with two of my friends from my floor freshman year. We went to One World Cafe in Peoria and I had some of the best falafel I've ever tried.

When I worked at Subway, we had falafel as a specialty sandwich and they haven't brought it back since then. I've been craving it like CRAZY lately so I was so excited to see this on the menu when we went out to eat! You can get it in a wrap or on pita bread and I chose the pita. It also came with hummus and the cucumber dressing. So. Delicious. It also had a little kick to it, but I like spicy food so it didn't bother me at all.

For those of you that don't know, falafel is a vegetarian patty made up of chick peas, garbanzo beans, and a variety of spices to make a protein-packed, vegetarian delight. I really recommend trying it once, I don't think you'll regret it! I've found a recipe to make my own, but it's definitely a task that needs a lot of preparation and time, which I just don't have at the moment. Hopefully soon, though!

Happy Wednesday! I hope you're all enjoying this great Spring weather!

Weekend Slowdown

Happy Easter to those who celebrate! Eat lots of candy guilt-free today!

Lots of people on Bradley's campus went home for the holiday weekend, so it has seemed like a very slow, chill weekend to me. Yesterday with not much to do, I decided to tackle not one.. not two.. but THREE Pinterest recipes that I've been sitting on for a while. 

I don't think I've mentioned this before on here, but I don't eat red meat. Over the last 2 years I've removed red meat from my diet completely. I never really liked it to begin with, so I've just become more conscious of what I prepare. It's super easy to replace most red meat with leaner white meat and this spicy chicken burger is just one example! 

The recipe is incredibly easy to follow and I already had almost everything I needed for it in my pantry. I decided to halve the recipe, since I was only cooking for 2. I got 4 burgers out of the recipe and they turned out really delicious! I hate the texture of pineapple, so I went without that part of the recipe, but I can imagine if you love pineapple you'll love these burgers with it!

As a side, these no-fry fries really got the job done. They were delicious and SO easy to make! For me, fries are one of those foods that just makes me feel guilty as soon as I eat them. There are definitely other foods that are healthier, but I had these without feeling bad about it, since I knew exactly what had gone into them- which wasn't much!

After making the alfredo sauce from my last post with Greek yogurt, I'm starting to try to find conversions and everyday recipes to use Greek yogurt in. You can't even taste the difference and making it a habit can make dishes a little better for you. I forgot to take a picture of this one, but this altered version of a boxed cake tastes BETTER with Greek yogurt. Instead of following the directions on the box, you just add the cake mix with a cup of vanilla Greek yogurt and a cup of water.

It's THAT easy! And it turned out delicious. One of my roommates had it for breakfast this morning, so I'd call that a testimonial to how Greek yogurt can be your best friend. 

On a completely unrelated note, I'm sitting in the library working on this, and I just downloaded the new OneRepublic album Native. They've been one of my favorite bands for years and I really recommend this one, so far. 

Check it out!

Get out and enjoy this nice weather before we have to get back to the reality of the work week tomorrow! 

Post Spring break blues..

We have officially been back from Spring break for 3 days now and it's safe to say that I'm ready to go back to Florida. The weather was gorgeous, the group I was with was a blast, and at this point anywhere is better than school.

Panama City Beach was beautiful and was by far the most memorable Spring break I've had in college.

This was the view from our hotel room. What's not to like?!

BUT as we all know, time demands that we return to all of our responsibilities and for me that includes trying to figure out what to make myself to eat so that I'm not living off of cereal.

I went grocery shopping yesterday and went with the goal of getting things for a few different recipes.

This broccoli chicken alfredo was pretty good! Definitely worth having again. My sauce didn't thicken quite as much as I expected it to, but once you add the pasta to the mix you can't even tell the difference.

FYI: make sure you read the Greek yogurt label and be sure you get plain, not vanilla. :P

I also was looking to make something that I could snack on between meals. I pinned these strawberry chocolate chip muffins awhile back and I thought I'd try them out this week. They're delicious!

These don't look as fancy as the ones in the pictures on the blog, but they're still really good. And they won't break the calorie bank! At 140 calories they're a guilt-free snack! I had one for breakfast with a banana this morning.

Doing a little cooking helped with the winter blues that we've still got going on here in Illinois, have you tried any new recipes lately that have been a hit?!

Happy Hump Day! :)

Where in the World?

I think I'm starting to go stir crazy.

Lately, I've been itching to travel somewhere new. I realize that there's school, graduation, and ya know.. money that are all stopping me from being able to pick up and leave. That doesn't mean that I can't plan, though!

In winter of 2008 I visited Italy, which is absolutely breathtaking.

Everything is ancient there. It was really weird to realize how young the United States compared to the rest of the world.

In the summer of 2012, I travelled to Spain.

Spain had a much different beauty than Italy. I'm glad I got to be outdoors so much when I was here.

The more I experience other countries, the more I want to see. So, I've just had some ideas in mind whenever the opportunity comes up again for me to travel.

I've always been fascinated by the UK. They speak the same language as we do, but lead such different lifestyles that I can't help but want to experience it. 

The United Kingdom is made up of 4 different countries: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. All places I would fly to at the drop of a hat. I've never been to another country that had English as a first language, so I think that my experiences in other places would work to my benefit as far as getting around. 

My dream would be to spend a month in the UK, spending enough time in each place to feed my appetite, but I'll settle for 2 weeks split between them all!

London

Scotland

Ireland

Hopefully this dream becomes a reality! I'd like to go before starting a family, so let's hope this job search works out for me! If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Where are your favorite places in the world?

Have a great day!

Soaking up some Vitamin D!

This week has been so crazy! I've had multiple job and internship interviews and midterms all week, so there's nothing I'm looking forward to more than heading South for Florida on Friday! It seems like Spring Break has snuck up on me this semester, so I have yet to get many of my travel necessities like shampoo and such.

One thing that I have already invested in is some sun screen. My skin is naturally incredibly pale and sensitive to the sun, which kind of comes with the eczema that I talked about in an earlier post. When I went to Spain in June, I got sun poisoning because we were so much closer to the sun than America is, so I've learned the hard way what a lack of sunscreen can do! Here are some tips for all of you beach-goers to take advantage of!

The rules that I live by when it comes to my skin and the sun is that more is more. You can never have too much sunscreen. Most bottles recommend that you re-apply your sunscreen every 2 hours, and it's important to follow this because every time you re-apply, you're missing spots. Even if you put your sunblock on in the morning before you go to the beach and once later in the afternoon, you're exposing the places on your skin that you missed to dangerous rays. I always have a friend get my back and shoulders to make sure I'm getting coverage everywhere.

Another rule that I generally follow is that a high SPF really does make the difference. I've heard that after SPF 50 or 60 the strength doesn't really change, they're just trying to market different kinds to us pale people. But, an SPF 50 is going to do you much better than SPF 15 if you tend to burn. My mom always used Water Babies by Coppertone on us when we were kids and I still use it to this day. 

What's better than sunblock that's meant for a baby's precious skin?! 

I use SPF 50 and it works for me. What's great about Coppertone is that they make so many different products in this line. There's one that looks like a glue-stick for applying to your face and spray bottles that are waterproof for kids that don't sit still long enough to let you rub it in and let it dry.

I found some great articles with helpful advice on how to take care of your skin on the beach.

This one  has useful tips and facts about how dangerous the sun is when you're on the beach and this article provides very insightful ways to take care of your body when you come home from the beach. #5 is my favorite. There's nothing worse than chapped lips after getting some serious sun time!

Only 2 more days until Spring Break! Hang in there, everyone!

There's no place like home..

I'm going to be in Florida for spring break this year, so this past weekend I went back home to get away from the Bradley bubble for a few days. 

It just so happens that this was also the weekend of the annual Irish Fest in Manhattan. Because so many immigrants came to Manhattan from Ireland and the heritage has stuck since then, there's a celebration every year with family-friendly events for kids, a parade chock full of bagpipes, and adult festivities at night. I think the history is pretty cool, but then again it's my hometown, so I may be a little biased.

This was the first year since I've been 21 that I was home for the event, so I was excited to experience the beer tents and authentic, live music.

I went with my mom and our family friends on Friday night to hear who the Grand Marshall of the parade would be. No judging, please. There really is a grand marshall.

After I came back on Sunday afternoon, all I wanted was another warm, cooked meal. My mom sent me back with leftovers, but I was saving them for a day when I had to eat dinner at work.

So, here's what I made for dinner on Sunday night! These green beans are delicious, super easy, and good for you! I've made them a few times since I found the recipe and haven't changed a thing on it. 

The chicken was absolutely delicious. My boyfriend and I had gone to HyVee that day so I could get groceries, and he mentioned that he wanted to try these Kraft FreshTakes. They're so easy to add to basically any meat and the chicken turned out delicious! The package comes with basic directions on how to add the seasoning to chicken, but it also comes with several other non-traditional recipes. On the inside of the one we bought, there was a recipe for some baked mac-n-cheese! The packages are in the dairy aisle, so I really recommend trying it for dinner sometime soon!

That's it for today! Only 9 days until Spring Break! :)

The Bradley Fund

So I was sitting at work trying to decide what to blog about and one of my co-workers said "Well what do you do with your time?!" So of course I lamely said that I spend all of my time at the Bradley Fund..

Thus my first post about work.

As lame as it sounds, I really love my job. I've met some great friends through the Bradley Fund and I've picked up invaluable skills that have helped me out in multiple facets of my life. 

It's so strange though, because many people on campus have at one point worked here and really disliked it. I mean REALLY disliked it. I've come to the conclusion that fundraising via the phone isn't really for everyone. And that's okay. :)

For those of you that don't know, the Bradley Fund is made up entirely of student fundraisers that call alumni and parents of the university in order to obtain donations. Past initiatives of the Bradley fund include the Markin Center, the Alumni Center, and the GCC when it was new.

What's great about the Bradley Fund is that alumni have the opportunity to designate their donations to any place on campus. A good portion of donations go directly to students via scholarship funds. Without the support of these alumni, our tuition would be a lot higher than what we pay right now! When you get your call, be friendly and consider donating! :)

 

I've been working here since my freshman year and have kind of worked my way up ever since then. It's really starting to hit me that I won't be working here next semester and that thought isn't a fun one, so let's just enjoy the rest of college while we can!

"Me time".

Today, one of my co-workers and I were talking about "me time". That time you spend doing what it is that you want to do, at your own pace, without anyone else around. 

I am totally guilty of being that person that has plans with someone, looking forward to it all week, and just not feeling it so much by the time it actually comes. My co-worker said that I shouldn't feel guilty about doing that..

I'm just in need of some "me time".

Anytime that I can actually justify doing what I want, when I want regardless of what others expect me to be doing, I'm down for it.

I'm a big fan of "me time", now.

We got to talking more and I immediately knew exactly what my favorite "me time" activity is: Reading!

I've recently started working on a list of books for girls in their 20's. I'm loving it so far. They are exactly what I need to be exposed to at this point in my life.

At least I like to think so.

Right now I'm reading a great book called Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close.

I bought this book for my Kindle Fire on Sunday evening and I'm about 90% through it. I don't want to make this all a book review, but it's about a group of girlfriends that are out of college and everything that they're doing with their lives in their 20s. 

Honestly, it's starting to make me feel a little bit better and less anxious about my job search. Life isn't perfect and "me time" is helping me realize that, thank goodness.

What do you do for your "me time"? If you had a whole day of "me time", how would you spend it?

Goodnight! :)

Stopping the itch.. Literally.

Up until now I've been posting some of my adventures in baking and cooking. This time around, I wanted to post a little bit about something I deal with on a day to day basis. Sorry if you find it gross. :P

I have a skin condition called eczema. The way I explain is that it's kind of like EXTRA dry and itchy skin that leads to visible irritation on different parts of the body. WebMD does a better job explaining it than I do. 

This is pretty mild eczema on the forearm. (Not mine, for the record.)

Generally, kids are born with it and then outgrow it. One of my brothers developed eczema as a kid and as far as I know doesn't have any problems with it anymore. Unfortunately, mine has developed and gotten worse since I was 20.

In the summer time, it is really mild. I spend a lot of time out in the sunshine and that helps tremendously. I just moisturize regularly with hypoallergenic lotion and that takes care of all of my symptoms. (I've read online that people find tanning a great treatment for eczema. I'm as pale as you can get and tanning does not bode well for my skin. It's also dangerous. You're putting yourself at risk for many skin conditions just to help with one. Seems weird to me.)

The winter time is a beast all it's own. My eczema gets out of control once it starts to stay below 40 degrees on a regular basis. When I was 20, it developed in a small patch on my stomach and in a small cluster on my shins. It was really easy to take care of and hardly was noticeable to someone who wasn't knowingly looking for it. Think of it like any other allergy: when the weather changes, so does my eczema. When the weather is like it has been lately (Mother Nature PMSing), everyone's allergies go haywire. So does my eczema.

Every winter since I developed it however, it has gotten much worse. To the point that I have to use lotion multiple times a day and that it interferes with my daily functioning. It has also developed on different parts of my legs, arms, and the back of my neck. 

So, since I've had many encounters with eczema, you can guess that I've also tried out all of the lotions that are out there. I decided to do a little review of some of the lotions that I've used and what has worked for me and what hasn't.

This is by far the worst lotion I have ever used, even for a daily moisturizer. It is greasy and leaves behind a residue wherever you apply it that eventually turns flakey. As far as helping repair eczema, I saw no results. That could be because I stopped using it pretty quickly based on the immediate results I saw. It was incredibly baffling to me, but the bottle that I have is basically full because of my lack of use. I wouldn't recommend this one for any use at all, even outside of helping eczema.

I generally find that men's products are better for my skin than women's. A man's razor is much gentler on my skin and does a better job of shaving! This product did a great job as a moisturizer and did a good job of keeping my eczema from getting worse, but I don't feel like it was helping reduce the look of my symptoms. I use this one every day, but as an all over body lotion.

Outside of a prescription lotion, this is the best stuff I've used to help my eczema. It's a little on the pricey side, $8 for this 3.5 oz. bottle, but it's getting the job done. I've been using this for about a week or so and I've already seen improvement in my symptoms and my skin rarely itches during the day if I apply this in the mornings.

Outside of lots of special lotions, I keep everything that I buy as hypoallergenic as possible. Detergent, dryer sheets, soap, shaving cream, and even loofas come in a 'sensitive skin' version that are much gentler on the skin. I avoid any of the lotions from places like Bath & Body Works or Victoria's Secret because there are so many scents and chemicals in those. It makes everything much easier and comfortable for me. :)

That's it for today! I hope you learned something that you didn't know before! If not, I hope this didn't gross you out.

Happy Monday!

Bite your tongue!

Well. I guess I spoke too soon in my last post.

It is very possible for things to come out of the crock pot and not be delightful.

The orange chicken turned out less than desirable, but for the record, I blame the recipe rather than myself. If you're going to try this recipe, I would AT LEAST halve the orange juice concentrate that it calls for. When we tried the orange chicken for dinner, it tasted like chicken WITH oranges. Not so tasty.

The chicken also cooked a lot faster than I anticipated. I don't know if one of the ingredients made the cooking process go faster, but I put the chicken in raw and it was charred after just a few hours on low.

The whole thing was very strange and frustrating.

In a fit to produce something satisfying, I decided to bake something rather than eat dinner. I made chocolate chip banana bread. This was much more successful and a lot tastier, if I do say so myself.

It turned out looking pretty good, too! My roommates (allegedly) really liked it, so I think this one is a keeper.

This weekend I also made some sugar cookies and homemade frosting for my boyfriend's fraternity. I forgot to take pictures of this one, but they turned out alright, as well! If I had to change anything I would definitely watch how thick the dough is when you're rolling it, because there is a fine line between satisfying and too doughy.

If you're going to try the frosting, I would gradually add the powdered sugar and milk in small doses. If I could go back, I wouldn't have used so much powdered sugar. It made the frosting too grainy, but adding a little milk at a time helps that.

I hope you had a great weekend! Please enjoy this picture of my dog. :)

"Fine Dining"

I LOVE to bake. I'd like to think that I have a knack for baking, too. Over winter break, I baked on a regular basis for my family. Not just brownies from a box, but homemade cupcakes and homemade frosting. There's just something really satisfying about making something special for someone you love, whether it's their birthday or just a Wednesday. I've recently gotten more interested in the decorating tools that are out there, too. I'm just waiting for an excuse to bake dozens of cupcakes to try out some of the ones that I didn't do over break.

Unfortunately, I do not think that I have the same knack for cooking. I generally don't have the patience to chop up ingredients for hours and hours to only get some sort of fancy pasta out of it. Cupcakes have a much more desirable outcome. Which is why I LOVE the crock pot. I throw whatever I need into the crock pot, spend all day in class and at work, and I come back to dinner.

It's magical.

There are also very few ways to completely ruin dinner when it's cooking in the crock pot. I'm not saying it's impossible, but most things come out of there edible and quite delightful.

This morning, I got up with the urge to try one of my (many) pinned recipes that I've been looking back at a few times. 

This is the link to the orange chicken I'm trying tonight. 

It's not the healthiest recipe I've ever found, but there can definitely be worse. As I type, it's simmering away in my crock pot, awaiting my return from work later.

Hopefully it turns out okay! Have a wonderful day!

My first post.. EVER!

As part of my Social Media Marketing class, we've been instructed to start a personal blog. I plan on posting about whatever happens in my day to day life, so hopefully you enjoy pictures of my roommates, my random hobbies, and my dog! 

The roommates of 501.