#58 Frosting Fiasco

To continue with the whole food blogging thing, I figured I'd get in on the whole cupcake craze. As an avid watcher of Cupcake Wars (I watched all six seasons on Project Free TV in my dorm, I kid you not. Including the ones I'd already seen...), a frequent visitor of the famous Austin cupcake spots (Here's looking at you Hey Cupcake and Polkadots!), and just a general fan of the cupcake, I thought maybe I'd give baking cupcakes a shot. I decided to go with one of my favorite flavor combinations, chocolate and mint, and then I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best! 

It wasn't successful. Well I mean they turned out well and they were a somewhat of a hit with the birthday crowd I provided them for, but the baking process was pretty much a failure of epic proportions. Granted half of that was my fault because I decided to cut corners and use a cake mix instead of making one from scratch, but I stand by that decision because it would've yielded the same product--well actually it probably would've yielded a not-so-great product because something was bound to go wrong there!

But aside from the "I'm too lazy to make a cake from scratch" cake, the real failure was the frosting my friend Olivia (who takes all of the gorgeous food pictures on the blog for me!) and I attempted to make. I mean for starters, why would I have thought I could make frosting if I knew I couldn't make my own cake? Clearly logic went out the window here. Long story short, it was just not happening. And it only took us 20+ minutes with the mixer on, three sticks of butter, and six egg whites to figure that out. Like I said, it was a failure of epic proportions.

Around the halfway point of the frosting fiasco, I basically had a mental breakdown. My next door neighbor and great friend Bonnie came over in the midst of all the chaos and offered me a piece of wisdom that I feel is appropriate to share here. She saw my ugly butter frosting and said to me, "Morgan, you said you wanted to be a lifestyle blogger and failure is a part of life, so it's okay." Pretty spectacular, right? I thought so. Sometimes things just don't go the way we want them to, and that's perfectly okay. We just have to be able to take our mistakes and learn from them, careful not to repeat them again. Basically I learned to be extra careful when I attempt to make frosting next time and whenever you're freaking out, just talk to Bonnie!

And with her great lesson, I leave you with these pretty pictures of my cupcakes, but no recipe for them, because basically all you have to do to make them is buy a chocolate cake mix, bake that, and when your attempt to make homemade frosting fails, buy vanilla frosting and add some mint extract to it, but not too much because you don't want to be eating toothpaste. And if you're feeling really crazy you can add a little green food coloring to the frosting. Go wild! I only added a little because I didn't want it to be too wild, but that's up to you!

I really wish I were a better food blogger, but I guess I'll just take what I can get--in this case, a batch of pretty good cupcakes (considering everything was the opposite of "from scratch") and a life lesson!

Morgan

#57 Food for a Self-Doubting Thought

I think this pretty much speaks for itself, don't you?

Thanks to the lovely Caro Villarreal for sharing this wonderful quote that proves that even in our moments of self-doubt and loathing, we are beautiful. Remember that today and everyday.

#56 How to Make Someone Else's Day

Here's a fun fact about me that I would like to share with you all today. If I see a penny on the ground that's not face up, aka not on the lucky side, I will flip it over so that the next person who sees it will find a little luck for themselves. And another, I once folded someone's laundry in the laundry room on my floor rather than throwing it on top of the dryer for it to get all wrinkled until he came to find it. Needless to say he was very confused when he walked in and saw all of his clothes perfectly folded, but I just looked on with a smile. I also love giving presents more than anything. I'm one of those people would would rather give a present than receive one because the joy of seeing someone else get a present is present enough for me.

The point of all of these examples is that there is something to be said for doing good things for others. There is nothing that makes me happier than making someone else happy and feeling like I did a good thing. In fact, studies show that doing nice things for others boosts your serotonin. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that gives us the feeling of satisfaction and well-being. Most anti-depressants work by increasing the amount of serotonin available to your brain. What this means is that doing nice things for other people changes your brain in ways that make you feel better.

Every day, we have the opportunity to do a good deed for someone else. If we make a conscious decision to do so, we'll become more thoughtful, kind, and generally nice people. Any kind act, statement, or behavior that is about just doing something nice that impacts your family, friends, community at large, the environment, or even the world around us in a positive way, matters. It may not seem that way at first, but it does. More than that, kindness spreads. Someone who is shown kindness is more likely to pass it on than someone who isn't. So start the trend! Make someone's day...and your own!

Here are some small ways to make someone else's day:

• Turn over a penny to the face side to create good luck. Who doesn't need a little good luck?
• Leaving quarters and a note for someone in the laundry room at school. As a college student, I know every bit helps.
• Let someone cut in front of you in line at Starbucks. We've all been in that "I'm in a rush but I really want coffee" situation.
• Prevent a parking ticket. If you see a blinking meeter, feed it.
• Buy flowers for someone. Anyone! 
• Call a friend out of the blue to ask them what's new. And rhyme on said phone call if the mood strikes at all.
• Buy a stranger's drink at Starbucks. That is, if you didn't feel like letting them cut in line.
• Hold the door open for someone. And you don't have to be a boy to do it!
• Lend out a favorite book. What better to share than the gift of words?
• Give someone a compliment. And mean it. 

I strongly encourage all of you to try any and all of these! You'd be surprised what good they do for other people and for you as a person. Let's get that serotonin flowing!

In a humble attempt to make someone else's day today, I am going to take a second to recommend to all of you that you visit a blog called Peanut Butter Runner written by my friend Harrison's little sister Katherine. I am completely jealous of both her writing and cooking and general life abilities. She's a wonderful blogger who absolutely puts me to shame! I encourage you all to head on over to her site and marvel at it and her talent the way I have. Katherine, I hope this made your day! I am in constant admiration of your blogging skills and dedication to your readers--which includes me!

#55 Hello April!

Because of the fact that, for most, the first of April is all about playing pranks and making jokes, I've elected to wait a day to wish you a happy April! I wouldn't want to risk you all taking my well wishes for the month as a joke, now would I? I'm going to keep this short and sweet (I know, I know, I've been doing a lot of that lately, but something's better than nothing, right?) and say that this month is the time to enjoy! It's time to enjoy the beginning of spring and all the beauty that comes along with it. From the flowers blooming to the sun in the sky, there's something comforting about seeing new life spring (pun intended) up in front of you. It's about renewal, a new season. It's time to enjoy the fact that school is so close to being done with. Enjoy it now because May is all about finals, where the only time you have is reserved for studying and having mental breakdown after mental breakdown. Enjoy the fact that summer is so close that you can almost taste it. Enjoy the fact that winter clothes aren't really a necessity anymore, unless you live somewhere that they are, in which case I'm so sorry. Mostly, enjoy the April showers! Once they're over, they'll bring May flowers, of course, but that will also mean that summer is on the horizon!  And for me, it'll mean that I'm almost done with my first year of college. Crazy how time flies, isn't it?

Enjoy the month darlings! I'll be here all along the way, hopefully with something a little longer next time! And in due time at that.

Morgan

#54 Words of Wisdom: Eleanor

If any of you have been keeping up with my Things I'm Loving page, you have probably already seen this image, but in case you haven't here it is (and I encourage you to check that page out!). I think this constitutes its own simple blog post because it is such a beautiful quote. And of course the nerd in me loves the image and font use, but that's besides the point. I spend a lot of time thinking about my future, as I'm sure pretty much everyone my age does, so whenever I see a quote like this, it really resonates with me. It is very easy to doubt yourself, but if we spend all of our time in self-doubt, we'll never truly get anywhere. Sure, sometimes it seems like life is about to be over, but we know it isn't so there is no point to sitting around and moping. Life moves extremely quickly, and we have to grow with it and adapt to it all on our own. If we believe in our abilities, if we believe in our dreams, if we believe in ourselves, it is then that the future belongs to us. 

Eleanor Roosevelt definitely has it right this time, and pretty much every other time she's said anything, really. I wonder if one day people will quote me like we all quote her...probably not, but that's alright! I can dream, can't I?

Morgan

#53 Back to the Grind Soundtrack

As I struggle to get back into the post-Spring Break school routine, I've taken a break to make another playlist for you all! This post will be short and sweet, but enjoy the music! I hope everyone who is getting back to the school grind had a great Spring Break. If you haven't yet had yours or are currently on it, lucky you! I certainly had a wonderful time on my break. It was the perfect combination of rest, relaxation, catching up with old friends, being with family, and of course, what break (especially Spring Break) would be complete without some shenanigans thrown in there? Those "...wait what?" and "I can't believe that just happened" moments are the ones that become lasting memories! While I'm very saddened that Spring Break is over and I don't have another break to look forward to until the summer, I'll get through it. I mean, think about it this way, we've hit the homestretch y'all! Only a month and a half-ish until summer!

Until then, enjoy this playlist! Excuse me while I attempt to finish my chemistry homework and make sense of my information technology readings...

Also, be sure to check out my Things I'm Reading and Things I'm Loving pages on the top tabs above! I'll be updating them so be sure to keep up (kind of like how we love to keep up with the Kardashians...no? Okay)! And how perfect is this picture? Perfect Spring Break/music parallel. Sometimes things just fall into place beautifully!

Morgan

#52 When Life Gives You Lemons

In an effort to make my blog more well-rounded and make myself into a lifestyle blogger, I'm determined to learn how to bake and to cook. Granted these are skills that I'll be needing for life in general so I would've had to figure it out eventually, but my desire to learn right this second basically comes from my selfish wishes to become a lifestyle blogger. I may write about my life, but I feel that adding some recipe blogs every now and then will add another facet to it! Hopefully I don't burn the house down in the process, but hey, practice makes perfect!

Two trips to the grocery store and hours later, I, with a very large amount of help from my friends, have managed to make oatmeal lemon bars. Well, I should say they did most of it while I walked around my kitchen confused as to where to find everything and what the heck to zest a lemon with. Basically they took the reigns, but I was in fact involved in the painstaking process! I was present!

We decided on oatmeal lemon bars because 1) I absolutely love lemon as I mentioned in my last post and 2) I absolutely love oatmeal, which I didn't mention, but now you know! I'm a complete sucker for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal creme pies, just plain oatmeal, anything really. So when we found the recipe for a dessert that combined lemon and oatmeal (two of my favorite things in the world) we had to go for it! I'll share with you the not-from-scratch version I used cause I won't even lie and say that I made it from scratch. I'm not that domestic yet!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cold butter
• 1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® oatmeal cookie mix
• 1 egg
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square pan with non stick spray.
2. In a large bowl cut the cold butter into the cookie mix with a fork or pastry blender.
3. Stir in the egg until the mixture is crumbly.
4. Press half of the dough into the bottom of the greased pan and bake it in the oven for 15 minutes.
5. In a small bowl mix the sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice until thick and combined.
6. Spread lemon mixture over baked crust and evenly crumble remaining dough on the top.
7. Bake another 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Let cool and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until set. Cut into bars and store in the refrigerator.

And here we have the finished product!

Give baking a try! You never know what'll happen! Now will whatever I do next come out well? Stay tuned!
Morgan