Andes Mint Cookies

You know those super annoying people who post pictures on Facebook of crap that they baked and/or cooked all the time and the caption is "Thanks, Pinterest!" Hate them. Well that's what I'm doing right now. Whatever. This is worth it.

Anywho, these are Andes Mint Cookies. Recipe found on Pinterest.

There really are only 4 ingredients:

1 box of Devil's Food cake mix
1/2 cup of oil
2 eggs
1 package of Andes Mints


And if you need a visual -

So first you're going to set your oven to 350 degrees. Then you're going to mix the cake mix, oil, and eggs together. Do not use a mixer, just a spoon. The batter is really thick and if you use a mixer it will get all caught in it and it will be really hard to get it out. Learned that the hard way.

Next, you're going to drop spoonfuls of the batter on cookie sheets. Bake them for 6-9 minutes, that's it. You don't want them to be overdone. I just did 6 minutes because I was getting really nervous.

They should look something like that. Then you're going to pop a little Andes mint on each one of them. Like this.

That was so hard. Then you're going to let them sit like that for about 5 minutes until the Andes mints are melted. Then, take a spoon and spread out each of the mints like they're frosting.

Goodness gracious. Then let them cool and EAT THEM. They are freaking delicious. Really rich, but really freaking amazing. Enjoy!!!

-Steph

Sunday Night Blues

It's Sunday night. That means everyone is depressed about how it's almost Monday and the start of a new work week. Sooo here's a little pick me up.

Magic Mike is still the best movie ever. Jenna Dewan, you are one lucky bitch and I hate you.

-Steph

Weight loss ish.

Let's put the snark on hold for a second -

If you know me at all, you know that I've spent the past year and a half dedicated to getting healthy. Yesterday I took my measurements again and wasn't too happy with the results as i compared my measurements and weight with ones I had taken in the past. After 6 months, 1 half marathon, and countless training miles, I have lost 1 inch and not a single pound.

My first thought was "ugh, that's nothing. And I've worked so hard!" I was frustrated, but when I really thought about it I was unsure why that upset me. I'm shrinking. I'm stronger. This is a victory.

I originally began losing weight in January of 2011. The initial weight loss was rapid - I lost 25 pounds in the first month and a half. By the end of 2011 I was down 50 pounds total. But, after I hit the 50 pound mark I hit the dreaded wall and have yet to clear it.

I'm a very firm believer that we make our own happiness. We can control what we can, and everything else shouldn't be our concern. You don't like your job but you can't find a new one? MAKE yourself LOVE what you do. Desperate to get married but can't find a man to save your life? Be too concerned with living live and having adventures to think about what you don't have.

I guess that's why I've been so successful with losing weight. I felt fat, and ugly so I decided to stop being those things. I could control what food I put in my mouth and how often I sat on the couch.

Despite my success, I still battle with numbers and vicious thoughts. "You can't be beautiful unless you weigh 140 pounds," the voice in the back of my head whispers.

I feel like the scale has become that thing that tells me no day after day. You won't be thin. It's not in your DNA. But day after day I hit the gym, leave feeling great and the number that I see every morning doesn't matter.

I reached my goal of losing 50 pounds and getting healthy. Now, I need to focus on what else I can control. I can control how I feel about my weight. I'm putting up the scale and I'm not going to weigh myself for one month. This is a huge deal for me because I typically weigh myself every morning. I'm a little terrified honestly because that number has controlled me for so long. But I'm tired of letting something so insignificant have a hold of me.


-Sarah

Smoothies schmoothies

My diet has been pretty dull lately so I decided to spice things up. Unfortunately I consider making a salad to be too much cooking, so my options were limited.

Thankfully I have a secret weapon. For Christmas my parents surprised me with a Ninja blender (I think the dozen or so pleading texts tipped them off that I neeeeded it). It's been my pride and joy ever since. While I use it often, I have never experimented with it. That is, until now.

This new concoction that I have discovered tastes like a little piece of Hawaii.

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen pineapples
1 banana
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 tbs agave (I used honey flavored agave)
1 cup ice cubes

Stick all those suckers in your Ninja (or none superhero blender) and press blend. It's one tasty treat that is perfect when you want something delicious but don't have much time to spare!

-Sarah

The cutest dogs on the face of the planet.

Steph and I are dog people. Not just the "oh, dogs are cute. I can keep one alive as long as it sleeps in a cage," type people. I'm talking the "omg look how cute he is, isn't he cute? Wanna see a picture? This is a better angle of him. Look at him in the car. Look at him smiling at the camera," type people.

Honestly though, if you had dogs this cute, wouldn't you be that way to?

The problem is, that they are both completely bonkers. Cooper has little man's disease, and Charlie is just well...a little slow.

(Internal dialog: durrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)

Charlie (Charles Xavier - Steph's pride and joy) is a three year old Golden Retriever whose favorites activities include eating grass, picking up the mail, and making out with Ryan. He is terrified of Cooper, and he considers him his best friend. Frenemies. 

(Mom. Mommy. Momma. Mom. Moooom)

Cooper (my little terror) is a two year old Bichon Frise whose loves going on long walks, barking at babies, attacking my friends, and intimidating Charlie. He's bratty, but super cute. Just like his owner. Ahem.

We are both surrounded by cute little pups in our lives, but these are the stars of our hearts. Don't feel bad if your pooch doesn't rival either of these fellas on the cuteness scale. At least yours probably try to bite off his tail like this moron:

I realize now, that this post makes me seem a little nuts. One step closer to being the crazy old dog lady. 

-Sarah 

Race recap: Color Me Rad 5K

Today I completed the Color Me Rad 5K at the Oklahoma state fairgrounds. On paper, this sounded like a blast. Who doesn't like the idea of having paint thrown at you while you are gasping for air? I love a good 5K with a twist (I will never forget the Warrior Dash...you know that one time I came home from running looking like I had been beaten up), but what should have been organized chaos ended up just being pure chaos (see urban dictionary: clusterf*ck).

(Nice and clean pre race. I'm the giant)

I like the idea behind this. No timer, no music, just running. Unfortunately what it came off looking like was an unorganized mess. The starting line was in a giant parking lot with over 7,000 participants. There were no corrals, or even a marked area directing people where to line up.

They attempted a wave start, but because it wasn't based on one's mile time, the large groups of walkers throughout the course were never ending (human beings of the slower variety, not to be confused with zombies).

The color bomb stations were fairly organized and fun, but I personally don't want powdered anything being thrown in my face after I just ran a mile. Plus, I can't think straight when I'm running so I panicked and thought it was deadly poison for a split second...

The course itself was nothing exciting (we were at the fairgrounds...) and I didn't appreciate running on gravel for a large part of it.

There was one water station, and they were handing our BOTTLES of water. People were opening them, taking a few sips, and throwing them away. What a waste of water & money! There was water at the finish line, but there were also color bombs going off everywhere. Can I get some corn starch with my water please?

(Post race. That is not facial hair.)

I strongly support any initiative that promotes physical activity and raises money for a good cause, however a lack of organization at an event with thousands of people is not fun.

I did get something out of this besides a purple stained bra. I came to terms with the fact that I do not enjoy races. Running is very personal for me. It's my opportunity to tune out the world and try to do better than I did yesterday. It's so hard at races to be in that state of mind.

I won't be running this again next year, but it was certainly an experience and I'm glad I did it. Don't be scared off from running it yourself. Hopefully there will be some organization next year and the race shirts are pretty awesome. Plus, they give you sunglasses. I would do just about anything for free sunglasses.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to scrub my hair again.

- Sarah

The greatest weekend of all time.

Last weekend was the greatest weekend of our lives. You may think I'm kidding...I'm not.

This happened:

(Yes, I made that extra large for you)

More specifically THIS:

We finaaally got to see Magic Mike. Magic Mike is a charming little tale starring Channing Tatum or Tanning Chatum. It is about a young man by the name of Mike. Mike has a job, he strips. He does other stuff too, but mostly he just strips and parties. It's a rough life. I think he cried in the movie? I'm not really sure what the story line was but that film should win an Oscar! Or at least an MTV movie award...

On Saturday, Steph and I did something super nerdy, but of course not uncharacteristic. Come on, we've been to Harry Potter midnight showings wearing HP t-shirts (it doesn't get much nerdier, unless of course, one of you carried a wand...). ANYWAYS, we went to a Hunger Games themed Wine and Palette. What is a wine and palette you ask? It is an event where you go to a restaurant and paint a pre-determined painting while drinking wine. Honestly, I thought it was pretty stupid the first time I heard about it, but it's actually a lot of fun, even if you don't necessarily have any painting skills.

Each wine and palette is led by an artist who walks you step by step through the process.

In order to dig deep and find the artist within, I opted for a margarita rather than wine.  It's a rather lengthy process (typically three hours) but the the alcohol makes you forget that you are wasting a beautiful Saturday afternoon in a restaurant!

Is she making us draw the creepy monster from Aliens?! 

That damn mockingjay was really difficult to draw, but getting to splatter black paint all over the place was really fun. I think that says something about my anger issues...

Ahem, we free handed those circles.

The finished product! You can bet I have that hanging in my room. And, by room I mean hidden in my closet.

-Sarah

50 Shades of WHAT

Let's talk about this ridiculous book:

I'm not ashamed to say I read it. Maybe a little. But I just wanted to know what everyone was freaking out about. I'm sure most people in the world have heard of it and know what it's about so I won't get into the details too much. But basically a nerdy college girl (Anastasia) who has never had a date and/or boyfriend meets a billionaire (Christian Grey) and acts super awkward and shy around him, and that somehow causes him to be completely infatuated with her.

So of course she goes right along with it and doesn't ask questions. He buys her cars and computers, what's not to love? That is, until she learns what a FREAK he is. He's a big weirdo with contracts for her to sign, a sex room in his house, and strict rules for how he wants her to live her life. And she just does it! WTF. He also treats her like she's his child, which I found extremely annoying.

Probably 90% of the book is a sex scene. There were definitely some gross parts that were too inappropriate and weird even for a big pervert like myself, but for the most part I didn't find it THAT shocking. I read the first maybe 100 pages and put it down for a couple of weeks because it was weirding me out and pissing me off. But then I got curious again and read the rest. I've heard people say it helps spice things up in their relationship? Whatever blows your skirt up, kids.

Apparently, it is also being made into a movie. So that will be awkward.

I recommend you read it just to know what the fuss is about. It's not a well written book, but I don't think anyone expected it to end up being a classic piece of literature, right? So read it. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO. Just maybe order it off of Amazon so you don't have to face anyone while you're buying it. And don't read it in public places. And maybe don't recommend it to someone like I don't know, your mother-in-law, or she might lose all respect for you. I also may or may not have already bought the 2nd book in the series.

Laters, baby.

Gone Girl

I recently finished Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, and I can't stop thinking about it. Both of her previous novels (Dark Places and Sharp Objects) left me both disgusted and mesmerized, I really didn't think she could do it again.

Synopsis (from her website)
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick Dunne’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick Dunne isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but hearing from Amy through flashbacks in her diary reveal the perky perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister Margo at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was left in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?


What she does so well in all of her books, is create characters that you shouldn't root for, yet you somehow find yourself at 1 a.m., several hundred pages deep into the book cheering and worrying about someone with some serious character flaws.


I don't want to give away any details, because I want you to be as engrossed in this as I was. The suspense and mystery in this will keep you up all night, you will be lied to, and you will want more.  While I HATE books with sequels (no more unnecessary trilogies please) I reached the end of this and needed more. I think it's safe to say that won't happen - instead, I'll just count down the days until Flynn's next masterpiece and wonder what possible freak show she'll think up next.


-Sarah