I love Nutella cookies.

After a long time of not having the energy or desire to bake, be crafty, etc., I finally got my groove back  after buying some Nutella randomly at the grocery store one late Sunday night. I was craving Nutella. But didn't want to eat it straight out of the jar (why? I'm not sure. Something must've been wrong with me) so I went on the search for recipes to make with my newly purchased Nutella.

Let's go back in time, to late January...

I decided to make just regular old Nutella-filled sugar cookies. I made my sister, Catie, help me. I have made these cookies in the past and remembered it being kind of a pain in the butt to make them - so I thought maybe if I had someone to help me, it'd be less of a pain. Welp, even with Catie's help, it was still a pain. I think Catie could vouch for me on that too. The sugar cookie dough gets so sticky and doesn't 'wrap' (I could probably find a better word to describe it) around the Nutella as easily as the recipe says it should - which leads to me wanting to cry and throw dough across the room because I'm a toddler when I get frustrated while baking.
But no pain, no gain, I guess. These cookies taste amazing when they're done, haha. They don't always end up looking very pretty -- but they taste great! Here's a link to the original recipe. 

For 'World Nutella Day,' I decided to try to make some Nutella-related cookies again to bring in for my lovely coworkers. I was doing this to be nice and festive and for the sake of being Nutella-happy so I didn't want try baking anything that would make me want to roll around on the kitchen floor sobbing (this has almost happened when I've tried baking the previously mentioned Nutella-filled sugar cookies). Normally, I'll hit up Pinterest or Foodgawker for a good recipe when I need one, but for this one, I decided to go super simple in hopes that would get me a super simple recipe - I Googled "easy Nutella cookie recipe." Ding ding ding! I found a winner: Nutella-filled Funfetti cookies. What...a game changer. 
Not ONLY did I not need a partner-in-crime (or someone to hold my hand and comfort me as I sobbed over how sticky the dough was) but it was so easy that I actually thought I was doing something wrong so I had to look at the recipe at least 5x to double-check that all was well. These were a hit at the office and I had to eat 2 or 3 after they were done baking because YOLO. I highly recommend them!

P.S. Help me reach my goal of raising $500 for the Maryland SPCA! 

I love paper straws + Blue Moon cocktails.

Sometimes I buy things that are on clearance at Target simply because it's on clearance and it's at Target.

A few months ago, I bought a twelve pack of really cute, colorful paper straws because they were only $1.00. I couldn't help myself. As soon as I got home, I got them out of the plastic Target bag, and put them on my book shelf. And there they sat. For months. I didn't have an occasion for them so I figured I would save them for a special occasion and until that special occasion came, I'd just have to stare at them because there was no chance I was going to waste them.

So recently, when my BFF and I decided we wanted to plan and have a 'drunk sleepover' -- to stay in and drink all night at home and then have a sleepover -- I realized that this was my chance to come up with a way to make that night the special occasion that my paper straws and I had been waiting for. I wanted to make some kind of special drink for our drunk sleepover (meaning we had to step out of our comfort zones and not drink yellowtail) and I wanted it to be drinkable by a paper straw. 

We both love Blue Moon and we both are pretty cool with OJ so I found this drink after searching through the internet one day. 

I was nervous that maybe Blue Moon + vodka would = very gross -- but surprisingly, it didn't. I really liked it and if it didn't require me to pour multiple things (come on, with wine I just have to pour one thing), I'd probably make this more often. I really only tasted the orange juice, despite there not being much in it -- just a 'splash' to be exact, haha.  

I'm not a big drinker of anything other than Blue Moon when I go to restaurants (aka Chili's) or wine at my house so I don't have a lot of liquor or anything fun at home. Because of that, it's fun for me to have a reason to buy a new liquor to 'add to my collection.' My collection right now consists of the clementine Svedka vodka and Pinnacle whipped cream vodka so that's pretty pathetic and clearly I need to do stuff like this more often. I plan on trying to! 

I love that food is the highlight of my life.

This week has definitely been a week. It hasn't been completely horrible but it hasn't been fantastic. Lots of stress (hi, work life), lots of ouch (hi, sore muscles from running more), and lots of sad life (bye, REEEEEEEEEED).

However, it is worth noting that I took a chance at the grocery store on Sunday night and tried yogurt that I wouldn't normally buy and it was one of the best ideas I've ever had. If you're at all interested in the type of yogurt I eat, I'll tell you. I normally only buy the honey Chobani and I eat it for breakfast every day when I get to work. And because I eat it for breakfast every day, I have a hard time seeing yogurt as something that can be eaten for dessert.
I guess I was feeling pretty yolo and wanted to live it up so I tried one of the dessert-y Chobani Flips...the almond, chocolate chip, coconut kind and it was incredible. 
After a rough day (oh, sigh) and the sad news about Ed Reed, I decided to try it and it seriously brightened my life and made me feel a little bit better. That's how I live, though. Typically food makes my life a lot better, hahaha. No shame.

It's also worth noting that at least March Madness has started. And at least Jacoby on Dancing with the Stars. Am I right?

I love St. Patrick's Day.

The days leading up to St. Patty's Day, I knew I wanted to make Lucky Charms cupcakes. But...all of the recipes I found were either gross (they used the yucky cereal part for a 'crust' for the cupcakes - barf) or too simple and didn't seem festive enough. So I came up with my own way of making them that made them more festive without being disgusting.

I bought:

• white cake mix
• a box of Lucky Charms - the smallest box available
• white icing
• green food coloring for the icing 
• green crystal-y sprinkles

I made the cake mix as it was supposed to be made according to the box, dumped a bunch of the marshmallows in and folded them into the cake batter, then put them in the oven! 

The icing was obviously just green food coloring and the white icing which I just mixed in a little mixing bowl. 

Then I decorated them with the green icing and more marshmallows.

That's it! The worst part was having to dig into the bag of Lucky Charms to get all of the marshmallows out. That took the longest.  But I think they turned out awesome! They're basically Funfetti cupcakes but with the marshmallows as the sprinkles.

I went with friends to Chili's - surprise! - to get food and drinks. Nothing flashy but it was really fun and they got to eat my cupcakes post Chili's.

I love weekends.

FIRST AND FOREMOST, let's acknowledge that Grace Helbig acknowledged me. 
Most people probably 1) don't care and 2) don't know who she is because they aren't YouTube crazy like I've become (or maybe a combination of both). But other people - who I talk to on a daily basis - know that this made my weekend. I was freaking OUT. 
I maaaaaybe got tipsy a lil bit on Saturday night and decided to post a bunch of random photo booth pictures on my Tumblr late at night, hahaha. So cool of me. #livingitup. One of the pictures I put up was this one - which is a picture of my youngest sister and I from a month ago:

I won't explain it too much but that's called Grace-facing...and Grace liked the picture on Tumblr.  It's the little things in life. Please watch her videos. She's hilarious and is about to be famous, haha.

Without that happening, something else would have made my weekend instead - a crab pretzel. Shannon and I go out to eat every Friday night but I like to pretend this past Friday was special because it was my half-birthday. I really yolo'ed it up and got dessert (which was a cinnamon roll cookie with pumpkin icing and pecans...SO GOOD) and a beer. It was a great evening! I hope the second half of my 23rd year of living is filled with more crab pretzels + desserts. 

In addition to all of that, I made the most amazing pumpkin cookies in the world. I've made them every fall for the past 2 or 3 years. They're really incredible. "You should sell these cookies and make a fortune" - direct quote from Shannon. I can't really do that because I didn't come up with the recipe but I highly recommend trying these out if you like pumpkin-y sweets + cake-y things. Amazingly easy and amazingly amazing. I made my own icing because I was lazy and didn't feel like going all out - because it'll end up too thin anyways (as always, haha). The cookie itself is enough, in my opinion. They don't really need the icing! But go all out if you want. Yolo, hahaha.

I love things lately.

Lately has been pumpkin brownies, new obsessions, and fun buys.

Last weekend, I baked pumpkin choco-chip brownies for my sister and I. We were home alone and needed treeeeeats. They turned out pretty decent. I think Catie liked them more than I did. I usually can't get down with brownies from scratch -- they just don't taste as good as brownies from a box. It has something to do with the cocoa powder? I don't know. 
If Catie weren't in the house when I was making these, I probably would have gone nuts. There were a few mishaps - including putting in the wrong size pan and having to scrap off parchment paper while yelling. Good times. I think they look pretty! If you like brownies from scratch, pumpkin, and chocolate chips - here's the recipe!

In the past week or so, I've developed a few little obsessions. One being Google Docs. I'm obsessed with using Google Docs right now. I have so many lists and it's thrilling to me to know that I can look/add to the lists while I'm at home, at work, etc. SO CONVENIENT. Anything that helps me with my lists makes me happy. The other obsession is scarves. This isn't a new obsession in my life - just a new obsession now that it's fall again. I have to have at least 15 scarves already....and then I've been buying them online every weekend since it started even looking like it was going to be cold soon. Even when it was 75 degrees outside, I was looking at scarves, wanting to wear scarves, dreaming of scarves. Ugggh. I love scarves. So warm and cozzzzzzy.

When I said fun buyssssss...I meant fun buy. Singular. Just one. I mean, I always have fun/make fun buys when I buy things online at 10:00am every Saturday morning. But I made this one on a random Tuesday afternoon and I'm pretty excited. I got a Baggu bag! I've never had a reason to buy a Baggu...but I've always wanted one! This lil guy will be my new lunch bag. 
Here's the one I got:

It's got cute lil baby foxes and it's orange-ish pink-ish. I'm in love. 

I love pumpkin bread + pumpkin cupcakes.

Actually, like most other people, I love pumpkin everything. The best part about fall time (other than the humidity leaving and my hair finally being awesome again) is pumpkins everywhere - in my mouth, in my drank, on our front step. Loveeee itttt. 

In the past couple weeks, I've made some pumpkin bread and pumpkin cupcakes. And that's just the start. There's still plenty of weeks left to bake/make all of the pumpkin-y foods and drinks (aka milkshakes). 

Here's the recipe for the pumpkin bread I made. It's made with greek yogurt - which makes me think it was really, super, incredibly healthy. That's probably not the case at all but it was delicious. The recipe also gives info on how to make it with Nutella + chocolate chips. Ahhh yum.

And this past weekend, I made one of the best things on the planet - pumpkin cupcakes! Here's the recipe! These...I also pretend are supposed to be healthy just because they were on a website called "Skinnytaste" but I'm pretty sure they're not healthy at all (just like the pumpkin bread). Truthfully, I try not to really care if they're healthy or not if they involve pumpkin because pumpkin is worth it. 

I've probably written about this before but making homemade icing for cupcakes is always an issue for me. Even if I follow the recipe EXACTLY...it still ends up too runny. What's wrong with me? Why can't I make icing that isn't the consistency of water? It's not supposed to be like that! The day I make good homemade icing will be one of the best days of my life. 

Despite the super liquid-y icing, the cupcakes were pretty amazing. Super proud. They even got the Paul O'Sullivan stamp of approval. Catie and I are home alone for the week, though. And that means we have to find some way to eat all of them before they get icky...I think we can do it with a little help!

I love muffins, fantasy football, etc.

It's been a loooong time. A verrrry long time.

Lots has happened. I've just been lazy.

I made muffins. Banana crumb muffins. Wanna see them? Here's pictures. And here's the recipe.

I had my fantasy football draft...with buddies and buffalo chicken dip that I'd made for the first time. I was impressed with how easy it was to make. And how good it was in my mouth. I accidentally got Matt Flynn as one of my QBs and that brought a lot of LOLs to the room. I thought I'd be okay...then Russell Wilson existed and my dreams were crushed. Ouch. I have Ray Rice, though. Let's hope he can carry my team?

I met a lot of dogs. A husky named Thunder - hiiii Muranakas! A schnozzle (?) named Scout - hiii dog Paul and I have been obsessed with for months and finally got to meet (dream come true). And more. Dogs are life. Puppies are everything. Having a rough day? Just go to Charm City Puppies' Facebook - here's a link...add it your Favorites - they have the sweeeeeeeeetest little puppy pictures.

I went to an O's game with my department at work. Work outings are fun. The O's are fun - even if they lose. Sports. Hiii Jackieeee.

I lost MY S#@$ over Pretty Little Liars. Hiiii Shannon. Wow and wow. I'm really sad it's over (til October). Come baaaackkk to meeeee. Say hi to our "A" pizza we got that took 90 minutes to arrive - not kidding. It was worth it. It was amazing. 

I tried on bridesmaids dresses. Never done that before. That was fun! Lots of fun dresses. My favorite is one that's got pockets in the side - for easy Instagram'ing. 

I love Nutella-filled sugar cookies.

I always find recipes for baked goodies that have the potential to be an extremely huge mess when I am making them. I'm drawn to these types of recipes/goodies even though it doesn't make sense. I get so anxious and frustrated and messy and have fingers that are sticky that I have to wash every two seconds. 

Of course when I saw a recipe for Nutella-filled sugar cookies, I instantly felt the need to bake them as soon as possible. After making these, I'm come to the conclusion that it seems like anything (cookie, etc.) filled with something else (Oreos, Nutella, etc.) in baking means a hot mess is going to be made. Flour EVERYWHERE. Dough EVERYWHERE. Sugary, sticky counters EVERYWHERE. 

Anyways, the messy life that these cookies caused was definitely worth it. Cookies + Nutella = always a good idea. I think it's hard to please everyone when it comes to baking things in my house sometimes. Everyone has different tastes and likes different things. But I'm pretty sure everyone on the planet loves Nutella and who doesn't like sugar cookies? Exactly. 

Side note: it seems like every cookie recipe that I follow never calls for enough flour. Or maybe I'm just crazy. I always end up adding, at least, 1/2 cup more than it says to use because my dough is just slimy (gross word, I know. I'm sorry, you guys). Does anyone else feel this way? That's a rhetorical question, I guess. I don't expect anyone to answer it. I just feel crazy and I think maybe that my obsession with adding too much flour to my cookie dough makes sense as to why I feel the need to flour bomb the people I can't stand. That's all. 

I love weekends + holidays.

This weekend I:

• Drank too much wine and watched Pretty Little Liars with best friend and sister. Best show ever and best wine ever. I'm seriously going to freak out at the season finale. I'm also going to freak out when I have to live without the show for the next few months.
• Watched a lot of college basketball and got anxious and worried about my bracket(s). What is life, Mizzou + Duke? For now, my Final Four(s) are still alive!
• Baked goodies for St. Patrick's Day - recipe here. They were a hit and super easy to make! Salty + sweet, yum!
• Celebrated St. Patrick's Day with friends - food, football, games, and more food! 

I love baking again.

I was kind of sort of adventurous last week and attempted to bake something wild and crazy that I'd never baked before. I used to be adventurous all the time with baking. Before last fall, I would bake whenever I had spare time - it's an awesome way to pass time + an awesome way to eat a lot. I really used to consider it my "hobby" because I didn't really have any other "hobbies." Then, I got super busy with my last semester at Stevenson and then super busy with life (or just Disney World) and then super busy with working. Baking is something that really makes me happy - especially if the results are good and not horrendous (if they are, I'm ticked off and swear a lot and tell myself and my family that I'll never bake again, hahaha. Life.)

With the help and emotional support (that I needed because I was a hot mess with cookie dough all over my hands, etc.) of my buddy, Shannon, I made Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies and aside from the fact that I definitely put way too much dough around the Oreos (which were chocolate creme filled - yum) and so they took an additional 5+ minutes to bake in the oven, I think they turned out pretty awesome!

Here's the recipe courtesy of Sprinkle Charms. 

I love the weekend + really long posts.

Thank goodness for President's Day. Who doesn't love three-day weekends? They’re like mini Spring Breaks. They’re only one day longer than regular weekends but for some reason, I think of them being extra long breaks from real life. I spent this weekend eating and drinking and eating and napping and eating more and crafting a little. Swell. Here's a little recap of my weekend minus Monday. 

Friday Night

Shannon and I went to Hightopps Grille in Timonium for dinner. I was impressed! I love going to new restaurants. It feels like such an adventure. An awesome adventure with amazing food involved aka the best kind of adventure.

The prices were kind of high – which I was confused by until I got my food. I ordered nachos because they were one of the cheaper items on the menu and when they came out, I was freaking out. Biggest plate of nachos I’ve ever seen and they were incredible and I wanted so badly to finish them but not even I could do it.  

Saturday

I spent the day literally doing nothing. I watched Daily Grace videos for hours and napped in my bed. I never have days like that. I really mean it…never. I always feel the need to be doing something and being productive but on Saturday, I let myself relax and I didn’t feel bad about it, which is awesome. Spent my evening and night with Paul drinking margaritas and driving around town (well, being driven around town. I don't drink and drive!) How…romantic.

Sunday

Breakfast with Paul is one of my favorite things to do – especially when my sweetie-pie darling little sister, Caaaaitlyn, is working and gives me really mean looks while I eat my bagel. It’s the best way to start off the day. Truly. Sundays are pretty great. 

I'm spending the rest of my weekend (or just Monday) crafting and trying to be crafty. Crafts crafts crafts.