My First Win and The Crazy Things I Do

So, first up on the menu, I need to tell you all that I am now an award winning cupcake baker. So you can rest assured that all the recipes I post here are safe and will not kill you.

What is this award that I won? Well, let me tell you! I won the sweets category at the Comfort Food Challenge at the house I live in. Please don't ask me how many entries there were in the sweets category, because then I might have to tell you that there were only 4. Oops. Me and my big mouth.

The deathly white apparition on the left is me, just fyi.

But really, it was a for-fun competition and there were lots of awesome people and awesome comfort foods there.

This is my entry:

I made 3 different kinds of mini cupcakes: a breakfast one, a lunch/dinner one, and a dessert one. I was going to make 4, but alas, time was not on my side, so I had to settle for chocolate drizzled on the plate to disguise the missing 4th cupcake. And no one said to me, "Gee Leanna, your plate looks dumb with only 3 cupcakes on it," so I must have succeeded on my mission.

From left to right, we have a French Toast cupcake with Maple buttercream frosting and crispy bacon on top, a Cheddar and Herb bread with goat cheese topping, and a classic Red Velvet Cupcake with cream cheese frosting and a pecan on top.

Let me describe them for you using one word for each:
Yum.
Yum.
and
Yum.

Let me tell you, if you've never had a cupcake with bacon on it, get your butt away from the computer right this second and go make one. It will change your life. Forever.

I have plans to do individual posts for each of these recipes, so hang tight for a week or two while I get my act together. I ended up going off-recipe a bit and didn't actually write down any of the changes I made, so I'm still not entirely sure how I'll put the posts together. It'll happen, though. Just don't hold that breath of yours.

So that's it for the first part of the post. Now onto the second part, which I shall entitle:

This is SO Not Worth 10% Extra Credit.

Right now I'm on Day 4 of a one week long extra credit assignment for my Globalization class. The assignment? Live on $2 a day. I don't know how many of you have been grocery shopping lately, but what this loosely translates to is "Eat Top Ramen for a week".

Actually, it's not that bad. I went to Fred Meyer's and bought all my food at once and actually got a fair amount. And by fair amount I really mean:
-7 Packages of Top Ramen
-4 Packages Instant Mashed Potatoes
-3 Cans Tomato Soup
-7 Cups of Yogurt
-1/2 Dozen Eggs
-1 Box of "Spread" (I don't know what's in it, nor do I want to. It was cheap and I bought it).
-1 Loaf of White Bread
-6 Bananas. This was my one splurge item... I really love bananas and couldn't imagine going a week without them. I had $1.26 left in my budget and they ended up weighing in at $1.22. I took this as a sign from God that I was supposed to buy them.

What I did NOT buy:
-Coffee
-Milk
-Tea
-Juice
-Any other liquid

We're allowed to drink water for free, but no other liquids unless we buy them. This sucks. I don't like water. I never, ever just drink water, and literally had to write myself a note to drink some today so I wouldn't forget to drink like I did yesterday. It occurred to me last night as I was getting into bed that I hadn't gone to the bathroom since I woke up in the morning. TMI? Yes. But now you know how awful I am at drinking water.

This honestly is a lot harder than I thought it would be. In reality, it's enough food and I've never been hungry, but I'm having a hard time mentally. No, I'm not going crazy. But I am finding myself craving to eat all the time, just because I know that I can't. And the other day I was waiting at my busstop, which is next to McDonald's, and I was just itching to go in and get something.

DID YOU READ THAT? I WANTED MCDONALD'S!
I was so ashamed.

The hardest part though, at least so far, is definitely the coffee. I wanntttt coffffeeeeeee. The second my week is over, I'm going out and buying a Venti mocha at Starbucks. Yeah, it'll probably cost the equivalent of my entire food budget for this past week, but the heck with it. I. Want. Coffee.

Obviously on this budget I can't afford to make cupcakes, but rest assured I'll be back on that ASAP. I've got like a gazillion new recipes that I've bookmarked, so be expecting a lot of yummy things to come your way soon.

Where I've Been:

You may have noticed a few things lately:

1. No outfit posts
2. OK, so basically no posts at all.

Those of you who read every post word for word (which isn't many, I know. Don't worry, I've been known to skim, too) will already know that I'm no longer working, so I don't have a reason to get all dressed up every day. My boss, who had been going through some very serious medical issues, is back to work now so I'm no longer needed 6 days a week. I thought my life would get calmer and more relaxed as a result of not working, but instead it's only gotten busier, leaving even less time to blog then I had before. I am especially missing blog reading! If you haven't gotten any comments from me in a while, I swear it's nothing personal.

Anyways, I thought I'd put a blog post together and let you guys know what I've been up to these past 2 weeks to prove that I actually do have a good excuse for not posting much as of late. Brace yourself, this might be kind of long.

In no particular order:

1. Meet Up with Lea

I was so thrilled to be able to meet Lea of Pretty Prudent last Tuesday. She was sweet enough to show me around Portland and take me to her favorite thrift shop, especially considering it was the day before her final critique for class and I'm sure there were many far more productive things she could have been doing than moseying around with me. We had a great time together and I really enjoyed it. So far I have met 2 people from the internet in real life and both of them have been delightfully not creepy. That's a pretty good record, if I must say so.


2. Perfecting the Art of Having a Brother

 A while back I mentioned that we got a last minute exchange student, and that is still going quite well. Granted, things were a teensy weird at first because I have absolutely zero experience living with a male besides my dad, but I got over it quickly and now me and Gabe are basically super siblings. We both like to play piano so we've been hammering out some duets, he's been learning how to play tennis is is basically as good as I am after only a few outings (dang natural talent, you know), we both like to play dumb games like Mario Kart and Age of Empires so we play those together, and generally speaking we have a very similar sense of humor.

I have to say goodbye to Gabe on Monday, and I'm not looking forward to that at all. I'm going to miss him like heck. Well, at least until the next exchange student anyways. (Just kidding, Gabe, because I know you're reading this. I'm superly going to miss you. Come visit me every summer!)

3. Going to the Beach

The prettiest beach I've ever had the pleasure of walking along would have to be Cannon Beach. I've been there plenty of times over the years, and we went there again on Wednesday to show it to Gabe. We had lunch at Bagels by the Sea, strolled down Cannon Beach down to Haystack Rock, walked back through town, got candy at Bruce's Candy Shop, and the swung by the Tillamook Cheese Factory on the way home to get ice cream.
Oh, and of course, taking goofy pics on the beach:

Gabe, Me, and my oldest Lindsey.

Gabe did the crazy tourist thing and ran into the water. For those of you not familiar with the Oregon coast, you should know that the water here is never, and I repeat never, a suitable temperature to swim in, and you shouldn't stay in there longer than 2 seconds or you risk certain death by hypothermia. Just saying.

On our drive we had to stop at one of the view points and risk our lives standing on the rocky ledge. Believe me, you wouldn't want to fall off this thing. It's a loooong way down and not much to stop you along the way.

 We also scoped out a random cave in which Gabe and I stood and acted like dummies for pictures.

I know it's difficult to read, but the following sand message says "Leanna + Phil = <3". Gabe wrote it for me. The interesting thing, though, is that I don't know anyone named Phil, and neither does he. Perhaps Gabe is going into the prophesy business? I'll let you know if I ever marry anyone named Phil and then Gabe can start making beach predictions as a career.

4. Taking and Editing Picture after Picture after Picture.
Amanda from Anthropomorphity asked me to do her senior pictures (we played tennis together 2 years ago so that's how I know her), and we had a grand time. I ended up with over 600 pictures and have been having the hardest time narrowing it down to under 100 to edit. Seriously, she is just so dang cute and photogenic...
Here's one of my favorite pics so far:

As if having Amanda's senior pics to edit wasn't enough for me to obsess over, Gabe also wanted a few pics to print off as wallets to give to friends at his graduation party. My favorites of his:

On top of that, Gabe's friend Katey tagged along to get a few pictures as well:

Ooh, and did I tell you they needed some pictures together as well (they had their graduation party together)? Because they did.

AND one of my other buddies Micky came as well because he wanted a picture for his new blog.

I'm all done with everyone except Amanda's. I still have about 50 more of hers that I want to edit.

5. Making a Cake

The aforementioned Micky is starting his blog to showcase the thing he makes/hopes to make, and for his first entry he wanted to make a cake with me and for me. What a pal. We had a good time, and even though it didn't look like the picture when we were done it still tastes super yummy. I'd show more pictures, but since I'm sure Micky will be putting them on his blog soon I don't want to steal his thunder or anything. :)


6. Hiking/Falling into Silver Creek Falls

 Silver Creek Falls in probably one of the prettiest spots in Oregon. You can just go and see the big fall and walk behind it, or you can also do the longer 5 mile walk and see several smaller falls along the way. We had lovely weather and it was a very quiet and uncrowded.

That's a cool picture above, right? Gabe and I had to carefully cross the little creek in front of the waterfall to get to that rock. All of the rocks were wet and very slippery, and on the way over we both got our feet soaking wet from them sliding into the water. After the picture was taken and it was time to head back across, I got tired of going to slowly and foolishly jumped onto a rock without testing out how slippery it was first. The result was this:

Yayyyy. I fell in the creek. Go me. I've got some lovely bumps and bruises on my elbow and knees, but other than that I'm mostly unscathed. It was an experience to say the least.


I could go on, but those are all the interesting pictures I have to accompany my little snippets of text. Hope you enjoyed the little glimpse into my life as of late. Do you guys even recognize me wearing jeans and a t-shirt? It's weird, I know.

SATURDAY = DATE NIGHT (a prep course) PART I

WTF am I going to wear on Saturday!?

If you didn't already know what is going on this Saturday, then you haven't been paying attention to my tweets, and you and I are officially not friends anymore...

Okay, that was a little bit harsh.
We can still be friends, and you can still stalk my blog, and not comment on my posts, but you still should follow me on twitter...

Just saying.

It's @AshleyCrowl

I make it REALLY easy for you ----> SIDBAR:

Anywho... back to the story:


#MOBD is coming to visit. Seriously. He is flying into Maryland on Friday, we're going on a date on Saturday night, and he then flies back to Boston on Sunday. He has family and friends in my great home state, so in addition to visiting me, he'll be visiting them as well.

I'd like to be completely honest right now, even more so than I usually am on this lil 'ole blog of mine...

iamsofuckingnervous

right now

and for this weekend.

You cannot understand.

I am nervous excited about seeing him, and nervous scared out of my wits about seeing him.

We have been talking for months now. This whole situation is a little crazy, and a LOT out of my comfort zone.

He's my bosses nephew (via the liquor store). We have known about one another, through my boss, over the course of the four-ish years that I've worked at the store. Each time #MOBD is in town, I have just left town, or gone off to work somewhere else, or am doing something else.

I moved back to MD this January, got a phone call from the boss man asking me to work and telling me that his nephew would be in town sometime in the spring for a rugby tourney, and that I was going to go with my bosses wife. I laughed this off.

A few months go by, I get bored at the store, watch the Bachelor, meet #MNG [Mr.NiceGuy] (who is now #NMNG [NotMr.NiceGuy] -- Thanks Serenity&Style for the updated name for him), go out of a handful of dates/mingle with him, then out of the blue get a phone call from a Massachusetts number on the store phone. I had an inkling as to who it could be, but NEVERinaMILLIONyears did I really think that this dude who I've never met, who just happens to play rugby and be the nephew of my boss, and be pretty decent looking, and SUPPOSEDLY taller than me, would call my liquor store out of the fucking blue.

During that first (and pretty random phone call) #MOBD proceeded to crack me the hell up, drop one cheesy ass pickup line, and proposed making rugby playing babies with me one day. Normal first time conversation with someone you've NEVER MET or SPOKEN TO before... right?!

Seriously.

I think we were on the phone for close to an hour. I was still at work, helping customers, doing the liquor selling thang... you know how I roll--Like a G6 ;)

Phone calls #2 and #3 were just about the same, maybe a little bit longer, and just as random and out of the blue as phone call #1.

When I finally decided to grab the conversation/situation by the balls, so to speak, I gave him my cell number. And we texted. Boy-oh-boy did we text. Like all the fucking time. Stupid shit too. Random shit. Questions. Answers. Laughing (via texting).

You know.

The things you do when someone lives in fucking Massachusetts. 

So, we talked on the phone, and sent texts, and Facebook chatted (because by then I had decided that it wasn't CREEPERish of me to add him on my Facebook), and then Saturday (post our mutual rugby games) phone calls became the routine, and texting whenever the hell I felt like it (because I'm single) was fine and fun!

We even Skyped... and that was HUGE! (Hugely out of my comfort zone). It was fun, and there was lots of laughter, not too much silence, but when there was silence it wasn't because of there not being anything to say or because the situation was awkward. It was more so because we'd NEVER seen each other face to face, and we were both cheesing out wayyyyy too much for allowable conversation.

#MOBD and I have discussed the fact that we'd like to meet, but I'm at that point in my life and my relationship life/outlook where I can't give all of myself that I've given in the past. I give and I give, and I drop everything to put myself and my needs above what I need and what I want and end up doing everything for someone else. The worse part is that doing all of that doesn't bother me. I like doing things for others. I like making the effort, but after the last three failed serious relationships (the 3yrCollegeBreakDown [but we're on good terms now], the TooSoonTooFastTooMuch with Mr.A, and the SouthernLover) I've decided that enough is ENOUGH. It is time for the Effort Card to be passed on to someone else. I can't do it anymore. I can't give my all and get a bigFATzero in return.

So when #MOBD talked about visiting, both him here and me there, I always responded "I'll see it when I believe it."

Well now, I think I'm going to be seeing it...

**HIM**

 ... #MOBD in the flesh. 

This SATURDAY!

I haave a feeling, and it's just a brief inkling, that he might sneak by the store on Friday night... I'm not sure, but a random visit isn't being ruled out.

Dammit! Now I have to plan 2 damn outfits!!!!

But I do know what I won't be wearing:

It's hot, I know, but NOT really the look I'm going for.

Part II tomorrow.

More of my apprehension and nerves...

AKA: ME OVER THINKING the situation and stressing the hell out tomorrow night.

Follow Me on Twitter

for the full story

#MailOrderBabyDaddy #MOBD

and Clicky the labels throughout, above, and below for the COMPLETE #MOBD post history...
both on da blog and muh twitter.

Updates and Giveaway!

First, I just want to let you know that I'm sponsoring a giveaway on my cousin's blog. There will be 2 winners of the giveaway... one will get a wire rose ring and the other will get a butterfly ring. It's super easy to enter, so head on over and check it out!

Second, you have probably noticed some changes here on the blog. I have a new banner and buttons, a lighter background, and I'm bidding adieu to a few things, namely Music Monday, Here Not There, and Good Reads.

Music Monday is ending because it's fulfilled its purpose. I had some really awesome music I wanted to share with you guys and I did that, so instead of going broke buying new music to share every week, I'm going to leave it as is. You can always find past Music Monday features by searching "Music Monday" in the search box. If I ever randomly come across a great new artist I'll be sure to share, but it will no longer be a regular feature.

Here Not There is ending for 2 reasons. Reason One is that it took a really long time to make the posts for it. I had to find duplicate items, save all the images, combine them side by side, put prices on them, and then put them into a post. It took forever. The second reason is that I almost always ended up buying something when I spent that much time looking at pretty stuff online. I've been spending too much money lately, so I'm hoping to significantly cut back on the time I spend drooling over ModCloth, Ruche, and all the other online shops I love. As with Music Monday, you can search "Here Not There" in the search box for all theold posts, but I will not being doing any new ones.

Good Reads is not actually ending... it's just migrated to the sidebar as a blog roll instead of its own page. I will be adding more blogs to it later, but I won't have as many listed as I did on the Good Reads page. There's about 100 thousand blogs that I love and I wish I could list everyone, but unfortunately I won't be able to do that. 

Well that was probably more explanation that anyone actually needed, but oh well.

Third:

Gorgeous. Absolutely perfect. I love it.

Not gonna lie, though, I'm kinda mad at her. See, I've always wanted my wedding dress to have long sleeves, possibly lace ones. I know that's pretty old-fashioned, but that's kind of why I liked the idea of it. But now that Kate wore this dress, you just know every one and their mom is going to want to get married in a dress with long, lace sleeves and within a few years this style will be totally worn out. Not cool, Kate.

Before and Afters from my Days Off

You guys remember the dress that I bought at St. Vincent's and I promised to fix up and make cuter? Well, I did just that yesterday. Truth be told it's still not very cute, but cuteness is all in the styling when it comes to dresses. Rare is the dress that looks cute all on its own. I'm going to wear it styled tomorrow so check back and see how I do.

Eeps, no make up! 

How I went from long length and long sleeves to shorter length and shorter sleeves:

*cookies not actually required to hem a dress.

And now another Before and After, which I shall call Cleaning. Cleaning what? Cleaning this:

This is my beading room, where I make my jewelry. It was actually my bedroom back in the day (OK, so back when I was in the 6th grade), but when my oldest sister left for college I took over her larger bedroom ASAP and this one turned into the bead room.The desk has been getting so junky lately, though, that I was running out of room to actually make things.

The bed, which is actually never used as a bed but more of a packing station and place for garbage that I don't want in my own room, also needed help:

 OK, boring before and after pictures over. A few random things...

Something Cute:

Pippppiiiinnnn.

 Something Pretty:

I've had my necklace rack hiding in my closet for a while but I decided it's so pretty I really should have it out where people can see it. Now it sits on the wall next to my IKEA lamp, above my IKEA fake flowers, which are sitting in my IKEA glass vase, which is sitting behind my IKEA glass jar that hold my pens, which is sitting on what I believe is my IKEA side table/foot stool (I'm actually not sure if this came from IKEA, but it kind of looks like it so let's pretend it is.)

I don't know you guys.... I think I need more necklaces.
Kidding!

Something Creepy:

When I visited Joni in Seattle this past weekend I stayed in her basement apartment, which naturally has its own bathroom. I hadn't really noticed this picture until Joni's son asked me if I had met Gus yet. "Who's Gus?" I asked. Then they led me to the bathroom and pointed out this picture to me. I hadn't thought it was creepy... until I realized they put it there to be creepy. Now I think it's creepy. I'm not really sure what Gus is.. I think it's a sheep, but I can't say for sure. Joni said I could ask Gus for wisdom. Weird.

Wow, this post really has no theme to it at all... it started out with a purpose but things kind of went downhill. Sorry about that. :)

Handwriting + Russell

Oh boy... are you guys ready for this? Caz tagged me to do a handwriting post, and thankfully my handwriting decided to actually be semi-decent today. My legibility largely depends on the day and the writing utensil I use, so as not to embarrass myself too much I opted for pencil, which usually yields the best results.

ETA: WOW. I fail. Sorry, Ashley! Oh should I call you Ashey now?

The Prompts:
1) Your name and blogger name
2) Your blog URL
3) Write "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
4) Favorite Quote
5) Favorite Song
6) Favorite band/singers
7) Anything else you want to say?
8) Tag other bloggers to participate

What? You want to know what's underneath the pixels? That would be doodle practice.

The wilderness must be explored! Caw caw, RAWR!

I was thinking about Up today, and after I got done with the handwriting part I decided to try drawing my favorite little movie character ever. And yes, I was looking at a picture. And yes, I know it's not good, just let me have fun doodling.

Amusing Words from a Wednesday - Updated

1. Upon seeing a shirt with a cartoon penguin on the front, along with the words "Save the Penguins"...
My Grandma: "Oh, 'Save the Penguins.' Of course, that always reminds me of that story about the little girl who read a book about penguins. And when her dad asked her what she thought of the book, she said it was good, but it really taught her more about penguins than she ever wanted to know."

My grandma has a story for everything. Everything. She's like 87, though, so it's pretty cute.


2. Upon listening to the radio at work...
Lady on the Radio: "Time for the gender game! OK, I want to see how many men can call in and name 4 brands of makeup."
Male Caller #1: "MAC..."
Lady on the Radio: "MAC? No, I don't have that one on my list. Do you know any others?"
a few minutes later...
Male Caller #2: "Uhm, Estee Lauder, Clinique, MAC..."
Lady on the Radio: "MAC? What is MAC? You're the second person to say MAC. How do you spell it?"
Make Caller #2: "Uh, M-A-C. It's a makeup brand they have at Nordstroms. I've seen it there before."
Lady on the Radio: "Oh, well I've never heard of it before. I guess you learn something new every day."
Leanna: "ARE YOU KIDDING?!?"


3. Upon seeing a stuffed bear for sale in the shop...
Adorable little girl with brown curly hair and a British accent: "Please, papa, can I have it? I want to cuddle with him."

^Just say it out loud in your best British accent and imagine you are 3 years old and have precious brown curls. You will make yourself melt.


4. Upon reading me complain that my white tights are like the same color as my legs in my latest outfit blog...
Marie @ Lemondrop Vintage: "At least you ARE wearing white tights. The opposite has happened to me, compliment on the tights but they actually were my legs."

I hope you are OK with me posting that, Marie. It just made me giggle a bit. :)

ETA - I just read this online and I had to add it:
5. Upon being asked what she thinks of Rebecca Black and that darn Friday song...
Miley Cyrus: "It should be harder to be an artist. You shouldn't just be able to put up a video on YouTube and go on tour."

1... 2... 3...
HAHAHAHA.
Because everyone knows Miley worked hard for years and years and played in a bunch of crummy bars and sang on street corners with the dream of one day becoming a star! No way jose did she become famous for having a famous dad. Girl has worked hard and she wants you to know it!
Sarcasm Off.

Outfit: Just one of those days...

Meet my new best friend: Jr. Benny. He's doesn't talk very much, but we get along pretty well and he stays at work with me all day long.

Wow, you can tell what kind of day it's been so far, can't you?

This belt came to me in the mail yesterday in my Vintch order. I got a dress and purse from her Etsy shop (the owner is super sweet, but the way), and this belt came with the dress. The dress is kinda super spring-y/summer-y, so I don't think I'm quite ready to break it out yet, but I thought the belt looked pretty sweet with my favorite ModernMode dress (best. trade. ever.). So that's why I said "free-ish" for the belt cost... I technically paid for it, but I have no clue how I would decide what percent of a dress a belt is. :)

And as if taking a picture of myself with a cardboard beaver wasn't enough, here you go:

'Till death do us part.
Have a fantastic day, everyone.

Amusing Modcloth Decor

I was just poking around ModCloth's "Apartment" category and saw some funny things I thought I'd share. Enjoy!

Strawberry Earbuds: $14.99 --- Laundry Hamper: $24.99

Frying Pan-da: $37.99 --- Animal Rack: $59.99

Kitty Salt and Pepper Shakers: $11.99 --- "All My Friends Are Dead" Book: $9.99

"No Plot? No Problem!" Novel-Writing Kit: $19.99 --- Pug Clock: $45.99

Tape Measure: $7.99 --- Hedgehog Mat: $34.99

And my most favorite of them all...

TMI Stamp: $9.99

Reasons Why Today Is/Will Be Awesome

This isn't part of the blog, but just wanted to say thanks to one of my readers, Miss Monica, who linked up my Here Not There features on nevershoppedout.com. Thank you, Monica, I appreciate it! (I would have written you an email but I didn't see one on your profile).

Tuesday, the 8th of March, 2011, also known as today, should be a pretty spectacular day. Why is that? Let me tell you:

1) My ModCloth purchase is supposed to come today! I just checked on the UPS tracking site and it's out for delivery! Huzzah!

2) I am wearing the most adorable dress ever from dirtybettyvintage. Does that make me a Dirty Betty? I don't know. I've had it for a few weeks now and haven't worn it before because it needed a little hemming since it was way past my knees. I finally got around to it last night and took about 4 inches off the bottom, and ended up taking the sleeves up a few inches as well. I did a pretty dandy job, I think.

3) I am wearing my new wedges I got at Kohl's the other day. This is awesome because I found them on Clearance for only $9.99 (and I had the 15% off coupon). I actually had tried these on and almost bought them a few weeks back, but didn't want to spend $35 on them. Patience pays off, my friends.

4) I get to see my dearest bestest friend Janell today. She left me this year to go to college (the nerve!) so I don't get to see her much anymore. Fun fact: my dearest bestest friend has the exact same birthday as me. Same day, same year. I think she's got a few hours on me.
My dearest bestest friend:

Isn't she the cutest thing ever? I don't know how to give photo credit here because I'm not sure if the photographer has a website or not, but the pics were taken by Kristin.

4) The most important reason I am excited for today, though, is what Janell and I are going to be doing. We are going to go here:

It's the new basketball court at the University of Oregon. But we aren't going to see any boring basketball game, we are going to see an exhibition match between the two current tennis gods. That's right, I'm going to see Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Oh, and I guess Maria Sharapova and some other shrieking girl will be there, too, but who cares about them?

I am so excited! Can it please be 3 o'clock now?