No baking soda, no problem

Last night, I was wanting to bake some chocolate chip cookies but sleep got the best of me. Tonight, I was needing them. I got off the couch to make some after watching last nights The Bachelor and was browsing some recipes. 9 out of 10 recipes that I looked at tonight had baking soda in the list of ingredients. I don't have any baking soda at the moment and was disappointed. I sat down and had a piece of cherry pie instead. The cherry pie was good but not a fix for some warm, home-made chocolate chip cookies. Shortly after, I googled "substitute for baking soda" and luckily something popped up. Something along the lines of using two to three times the amount of baking soda needed but using baking powder. I didn't know how well this would work but I got back up to try. I looked back through a cookbook and I came across a recipe that didn't even call for baking soda but for baking powder! I am glad I didn't have to do some sort of substitution after all. I had already glanced at this recipe and saw the baking part and assumed it was soda but it was powder! Yay! And let me just say, these cookies turned out splendid. The dough is a little different tasting than my average chocolate chip, I would say it is more similar to sugar cookie but with less sugar. Ha! Hard to explain. My sister gave a recipe book that her ward created a while ago. I think this is mostly a Utah thing but I've seen it a few times outside of there. Anyways, I followed it completely and never used a blender! I even separated the dry mix from the wet one. Not sure how much of a difference it really makes but the batter tasted great anyways. I had to bake them the full 12 minutes btw! Here are some pics along the way.

the mix pic

before the oven

my favorite "after" cookie

recipe!

after the oven

ps this mirror is my best friend for life ;D

A weird coincidence

Sunday night I went to bed just like any other night. I wasn't sure if I would dream or if I did, remember them. It was a tossing and turning nights sleep and I did have quite the collection of odd dreams. Monday morning I worked with my manager and one of my dreams was that we had a store meeting at his house and that there were boxes of baby stuff everywhere and that his wife was pregnant. I contemplated on telling him about my dream because it's a weird dream and to have about some other couple from work. He gave me a weird look and told me that his wife is actually pregnant! I was surprised! He joked that I should get stocks in my dreams. Now only if I could control my crazy brain thoughts and dreams!
On a typical night, I don't remember too many dreams or share them with co workers but I did this time and it was definitely a weird coincidence!

Two in one

I have a few things on my mind so they will be combined into one continuous blog.
First off, makeup review. Six months ago, I bought a new brand of makeup and it is 1/3 of the price of my previous. I know it was six months ago almost exactly because I blogged about it! Silly me. I fell in love with the visual effect on my face and on my wallet. For a $10-$13 makeup to last six months is amazing and I recently bought it again and I hope to continually be pleased with it. I also bought Carmindy makeup. She is the makeup artist on TLC's What Not To Wear and her clients always come out looking flawlessly amazing. I bought her airbrush makeup and I love it as well. I don't use it daily but when I do, I layer it with my mineral makeup for an even better and longer lasting foundation. I love trying new makeup's and seeing what works for me. I particularly love when makeup makes my skin seem smooth. I must also give some credit to a new face wash. It is the same brand as the mineral makeup and it definitely does what it says. They have three types: aging, moisture balance and redness. I have the moisture balance one because I hate the feeling of tight, dry skin but then by the end of the day having a greasy t-zone. This face wash has definitely balanced my face and I don't feel the need to moisturize moisturize moisturize! I still do moisturize but my face isn't skin tight at first and a greasy mess at the end of the day. It's always a huge plus for me when what's inside the bottles matches what the label says.
Now on to my other thing, it's kind of a disappointment in myself. I have been working so hard at work to get my next raise. I really thought today was the day but within the first few minutes, I already knew I'd screwed up and wasn't going to get it. The day got better over the next six hours and I had a flicker of hope but turns out, I didn't get the raise today. I made a simple mistake that I knew better than to make but I did it anyways and I think it cost me my raise today. I can still get my raise probably within a week or two but I was just hoping for today because I am tired of being on this position and ready for the next one. I have only been working with this company for six months and I already passed up a lot of the workers who have been there twice as long as I have or even longer. Nothing has been handed to me, I'm a hard worker and I get what I deserve. My common sense on the job just seems to be higher than some and I think this is why I advance quickly. Things just click. I will admit that with the level I am trying to accomplish right now, I don't have it all down but I'm pretty much there. So close! I feel that my manager knows I can do better and he'll wait until I get there to give me the raise. I was his hire and I feel he wants me to be perfect before moving up. My first day on the job, it only took me two hours to get my own drawer and be supervising myself and that's pretty unheard of there. I received my first two raises within two months and have been stuck on this third one for the past month and a half. Anyways, my whole thing in this is that it ruined my night tonight but after writing this, I am feeling better. I know I have slightly more to catch ahold of and I'll get there.

Happy Saturday night and I'll be seeing myself in sacrament meeting tomorrow morning!

Two weeks down

and fourteen to go! I am completely owning this semester. I have been doing my homework prior to the morning of class and have been going to class. Those are two of the things that love to slip my mind as I get deeper into the semester. I did take on an easier load so I can raise my GPA and get back into the swing of things. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now with schooling. It's a wonderful feeling. I know I still have plenty of classes in front of me but I'm feeling less overwhelmed about the entirety of college. I definitely learned from the past and don't want to get back in that routine! "There is no future in the past." I can do this! I'm even early to class that I sit on the floor and take pictures while I wait ;D

Pinterest! Pinerest! Pinterest!

There are always great ideas on Pinterest. Last night I made a cake that I could eat the batter of! It's ingredients were cake mix and a diet soda. I saw this pin but the way the girl who pinned it didn't take me directly to the recipe! {I dislike when people pin wrong :O} Anyways, I know we're supposed to give the original pinner credit but I can't help it if I want my pins to be correctly pinned! haha. If a pin doesn't take me directly to the source where there's the recipe, where I can buy something or how-to then I find it and repin that page so I don't have to constantly be clicking other pages to find what I want. Anyways, the cake turned out great and really moist. The best part was being able to eat the batter without my mother's voice in my head saying something along the lines of salmonella. I think I would rather have moist brownies though than cake so I'll try that next!
P.S. Do you change what it says beneath the picture or just pin it as is? I typically pin as is!
Here are some things I've found and like/love from Pinterest.

Source: andreasteed.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Important dates: birthday, dating, wedding, kids birthdays

Source: blogs.babble.com via Ashley on Pinterest

This is a picture of the brownies made with diet soda

Source: Uploaded by user via Ashley on Pinterest

How cute is this?!

Source: pinterest.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Music scores...yes!

Source: englishmuse.com via Ashley on Pinterest

pretty interesting...my blog name is from MacBeth! "Be bright and jovial among your guests tonight" I made this blog while I was in high school and for some reason I have always remembered that line.

Source: studiowicked.blogspot.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Fun dresses!!

Source: ca.mc309.mail.yahoo.com via Ashley on Pinterest

haha! Too funny!

Source: hotmessprincess.com via Ashley on Pinterest

I'm a visual person!

Okay these are a few! I don't want to get too carried away!

A Picture of Me

It's been quite some time since I posted any pics so I took one a few today. My first class was cancelled so I had some extra time to get ready today. My hair is longer than it's ever been and I love it. It also my needs it's roots touched up! I know my smile is a little awkward in these but I wanted to use the better camera rather than the front camera which is no good at all! I guess I'm not so talented at trying to take a picture, be looking at the camera and smiling all at the same time! Here I am at 21 and 5 months and a couple weeks ;D

Not my average Sunday

Today has been a little peculiar. It won't appear so until the end of this short story/documentation.
Last night, I prayed that I would be able to wake up for church among other things. This morning my first alarm went off at 7 but I really didn't need to wake up until 8 but I couldn't fall back asleep. (Last week I fell back asleep.) I knew that my prayer was answered in that way and so I did my usual browsing on my phone starting with email and ending with blogger. Right now, blogger is my only social networking and it definitely still can distract me but not as drastically as facebook, twitter or instagram. <--- facebook and intagram are underlined in red but twitter isn't? Is twitter a real word?? haha. Unless you count pinterest, I don't do any other social networking! ;D Anyways, I finally got out of bed and got ready for church. I went to the first hour of church and enjoyed the talks and music. The talks were on integrity, life goals and who we really are. I have been telling myself to go to church but it's like running, the hardest part is actually getting dressed and stepping out the door. I jumped that hurdle this week. I left after the first hour and came home and got ready for work. At work, I had a really relax day and I enjoyed it. I even got off early! And that rarely happens! Usually I'm there until just about the six hour mark. I have literally been there until one minute before the six hour mark. Soooo! After work, I was walking back to my car and I have to park across the street by a gas station because my work doesn't want our customers not to have spots. So as I'm walking, this woman approaches me and she asks if I have a car here and I said yes. She ran out of gas and was just across the bridge. She looked completely normal and I decided to let the good Samaritan in me come out. [Maybe I'm terrible by judging her by her appearance rather than her needs but it's the "don't talk to strangers" voice instilled in me.] She told me she was coming home from the airport and how she forgot where she was parked and talked my ear off for the two minutes or so that we were in the car. I was greatful for that because otherwise it would've been a really long and awkward two minutes. I drove her to her car and left feeling accomplished and happy with my choices. I did it because I like to do things that if it were me in the situation, I would want someone else to do what I did.
Anyways, this was my short procrastination before working on some homework!

Thank you for your service

Yesterday, one of the nicest things happened to J and me. 
Let me start with this, I got off work at five and J was getting off drill around the same time. My work is closer so I was home before and able to change before he got home. We were both pretty hungry so he decided not to come inside to change, we just left. J decided on P.F. Chang's and I agreed because you can never go wrong there. We waited for the forty-five minute wait and finally were seated. Half way through our dinner, this couple walks up to us and starts talking and the husband says "Thank you for your service" and the wife says "Be safe" and they shake hands and leave. This is really common for people to do when they see others in ACU's or what have you so we thought nothing more of it than that and that it was nice of them to tell J that. At the end of our meal, the manager of P.F. Chang's came to our table and started talking to J and telling us/mostly him about her brother who is in the military as well. Our waitress comes back with our bill and tells us that two couples have split our bill and were free to go. I was in shock and amazed at how generous people are. We definitely didn't expect that and will always remember the kindness we received. We are pretty sure that it was that couple that came up to us and possibly the manager but who knows. There are definitely angels among us.
In conclusion, (I know, I know never start a conclusion with in conclusion, it's already known...I just like it! ;D) I wanted to thank all the past and present military for their service as well. So, thank you. It really opened my eyes to a whole different lifestyle when J joined. There is so much more sacrifice than our life before. We have definitely learned to appreciate the small things but also to let the small things go.

Creatures of habit

It's only the third day of class and it's already the same as every year. On the first day, we choose a seat and on the second day, if we liked it, we stick to it from there on out and if we didn't we find a more suitable one and stick to it. We no longer have assigned seats like in elementary school or even high school but it seems we assign ourselves the same seat or very near it.
I once heard that we do the same thing when we go in bathroom stalls. We either go for the closest, far end or middle and each time we go, we go in the same one or whichever is nearest. Now that you've read this you will probably realize it's truthfulness. It's weird!
I personally drive the exact same way to work, school, grocery shopping--anywhere that I may be going, if I've been there before, I'm most likely going the same way.
About a year ago, I heard a commercial on the radio from Kaiser Permanente saying to take a different way to work to exercise your brain. I tried this out going to my sisters house and I totally got lost. I took a different freeway from my normal route and ended up wasting time because I wasn't use to the direction or which way to turn. I did exercise my brain that way by not knowing where I was and having to find a way back! Randomly, I will think to get off the freeway at different exits to save time from traffic but it is just a thought. I never actually do it. I guess I would rather sit in traffic than change my habit. It seems it isn't even a choice anymore. Just routine but it is still a choice we make.
In the Kaiser commercial, it tells you that your brain is getting flabby--basically losing attention/focus and these are their suggestions to change this: do a crossword puzzle, learn a new song on the piano, eat with utensil in opposite hand, find a new route to work, say the alphabet backwards or grocery shop starting at the other end of the store. I don't know how many of these things you have tried but I have tried a few and they feel strange. I have definitely done the brush your teeth with opposite hand. I will just brush my teeth again with my regular hand because I don't have the good-clean-teeth feeling. I suggest giving any of these things a shot just for fun.

I'm not sure why we do this or where this accustom comes from. Maybe we feel safer being assigned a seat or using the same stall. Whatever it is, try something different and be surprised :)

Goodnight Moon Link Up

While getting ready, doing chores or browsing the web, I constantly have my phone on the playlist Fav Country on shuffle. You would think with how high tech everything is these days that shuffle could do a lot better at it's job. I mean we have 3D televisions!! What!? Any ways, this song frequents my Now Playing and I keep it on every time. I love a good sing-along, that's for sure.

This is my link up! Go and do the same :) It's fun to go back to previous weeks and see what was in my head at the time!

Spring '12

Is it really 2012? I'm still shocked by this.
Today was day number one and it went as follows:
10 pm (yesterday)- wash face, take out contacts etc daily night routine and try and go to bed
10:45- unsuccessful so I read to try and stop my brain from thinking too much
11-5am- sleep off and on (feeling much more like multiple naps and not a good nights sleep)
5:46- alarm goes off just as I was actually being able to sleep well, shower, do my hair, get dressed, print a syllabus
7- grab an apple and head for school
730-835 sit in on a class that I'm wait listed and have high hopes for (fingers crossed still)
850-1030- go to admissions office then to the bookstore and buy a book. Walk to my car and sit in and clean out my purse and car. Listen to the radio and wait.
1030-1150- have my world music class
12-130 go to the cafeteria to eat something for my stomach and I bought a cereal to go for work. Sit and wait for next class
130-135 sit in on wait list class and realize only two people were missing from the roster and left to go wait in my car again.
135-230 take a twenty minute nap in my car and be woken by a text from j on his work half. Text for his whole half then head to last class
230-320 piano, my favorite. I need to know how to actually play!!! My mon plays and my sisters but somehow I got skipped! ;)
330-10 go to in n out for work (I was pretty early but not enough time to go home and back.) I ate my cereal with milk from work and with a fork. I thought we had sporks but turns out they are forks. I remembered after I was done that we actually do have spoons for the shakes! Silly me.
1030- at the movies with J for Sherlock Holmes so I'll be getting home late!

Anyways, that was my first day and a long one at that! Throughout my school day, I saw five co workers! Five! I knew the school was small but that seemed excessive. Tomorrow is my only day off from work and I only have the 730 am class. I better get in to make waking up worth it!!
{taking this semester one day at a time!}