Its a Hero

domesticity

going bananas

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So still can’t spill the beans (was hoping I’d be able to). I was actually really anxious and restless about the secret last night, so I decided to do a little therapy baking (yes, I consider baking therapy).

We had some blueberries and bananas that desperately needed to be used, so little baker Rachel I was! I made some delicious Blueberry Muffins! Please don’t mind the poor quality of the picture of the mix... I was having some issues with my camera and the lighting last night. After I started to bake the blueberry muffins, I decided that I needed a little more therapy. So I stayed up until 11:30PM baking banana muffins. The recipe called for pecans, but I’m a big fan of banana bread without any extra goodies!

The banana muffins are amazing. The recipe only yielded about a dozen each, so I was a bit bummed out. I definitely could go for more of the banana variety! BF sent me a text this morning telling me how much he enjoyed them! I love being domestic! It’s my new favorite hobby. 😉

Blueberry Muffn recipe:
Yeilds 8.
1 Cup of All Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
Pinch of Salt
Generous 1/3 Cup of Soft Light Brown Sugar
1 Egg
3/4 Cup of Milk
3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Cup of Fresh Blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375.
Line the muffin tin with paper cups.
Beat flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, egg, milk, vegetable oil and cinnamon until smooth.
Fold the blueberries into the mixture.
Fill the cupcake papers almost to the top.
Bake for 25 minutes.

Banana Muffin recipe:
Yields 8.
1 1/4 Cup of All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Cup of Butter
1 Cup of Sugar
1 Egg
2 Tbsp of Banana juice (puree – Trader Joes)
3 Bananas, smooshed!
5 Tbsp Milk

Preheat the oven to 375.
Line the muffin tin with paper cups.
Sift the flour and the baking powder. Set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer.
Add the egg and the banana juice. Beat until fluffy.
Smoosh the bananas (by hand, preferred) into the dry mix. Leave as chunky as you wish!
Mix the dry mix into the cream mix. Alternate the 5 Tbsp of milk in until smooth.
Fill the cupcake papers almost to the top.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.

cinnamon pinwheel cookies

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I bought a new “cookies & bars” cookbook last night (for dirt cheap, might I add!)! So last night we went to the grocery store to pick up some baking basics. I really wanted to bake some cookies last night but I ws too exahusted and hungry. Really all I wanted to do was watch a movie.

So this morning we slept in – til eleven!! I know, out of control! But the first thing I wanted to do was start baking! So that’s exactly what I’ve been doing this morning. However, we ran into some technical difficulties with the puff pastry, so we will see how they turn out.

The cookie dough, pre-roll-up.
The cinnamon pinwheel cookies don’t look how I would want them to, but they are delicious! Oh well, I’ll try to make them look better next time!

The ugly, but delicious, pinwheel cookies!

Hope everyone has a wonderfuly Saturday! We are heading back our hometown today and I have no idea what we will be up to the rest of the weekend!

So. Friggin’. Exhausted.

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Here we are again! Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. I’m currently typing from the comforts of BFs couch with one of his kitties (the absolute cutest kitten I have ever seen). So how did I get here, the point of complete exhaustion?


Well after Friday nights Karaoke nonsense, I went to work on Saturday at the yoga studio. After work, I went to Target to pick up a baby shower gift for my friend NIM’s baby shower. While I was at Target I found some super cute bathing suit. It seemed like a good idea to try them on. Not so much. I received a quick reminder that I am not 16 anymore. That, yes, my body has changed since high school. And that my hips are slightly wider. I felt so crappy. BF attempted to cheer me up by telling me how beautiful I am. It helped. 🙂

After Target I hit up a power vinyasa yoga class. This was a BAD idea. I have been to 5 classes this week. I didn’t allow myself enough time to recover from previous practices. OUCH! It was rough. But I made it through. And luckily, the teacher was my most favorite teacher ever. She always has something inspirational to say. It is always exactly what I need to hear at that exact moment. I think she’s my angel! Does anyone else feel this way about someone who has no idea?

After yoga I picked up some dinner from Trader Joe’s and then treated myself to a Caramel Macchiato from SBUX! Wonderful end to a semi-blah day. I went home and cooked myself some dinner and watched Marley and Me. Potentially the third bad idea of the day (see previous paragraphs). What. A. Sad. Movie. Wow. The only funny part was that Oscar recognizes dogs on the TV. He went NUTS! He stared at the TV, 1/2 growling, 1/2 barking, but definitely staring. It was hilarious! But for the sad parts, the Oscar disappeared. Right when I needed him most to cuddle with me! Oh well.

This morning I slept in a bit and then went to a pilates class. After pilates I had to run to Target (again) because I failed to actually pick up a gift yesterday (thanks to my bikini obsession/depression). I picked up a gift off the registry and somehow managed to pick up a bunch of cleaning supplies as well. I barely made it to BFs in time to get ready and head to the baby shower.

NIM looked adorable at her shower! And it turns out I’m horrible at baby shower games (oh well). It was nice to see people from work outside of work. It’s a completely different atmosphere when this occurs. After the baby shower I ran back to Target (what is my deal, for real?!?) to pick up just a couple more items for my clean-a-thon. Thank goodness I did!

I had my work cut out for me. So while BF is gone I am cleaning his entire house, including the pantry (which was a disaster). He blames his pantry on being a bachelor, but this is far worse than I could have ever imagined. He buys in bulk and he has a second freezer. He also buys dry items and keeps them stored. This works out well. He’s got everything. If I’m craving it, he’s got it. However, this is how it looked:


After 2 and a half hours, this is how it turned out:




I think I did a pretty good job! I got fairly frustrated about 1/2 through and thought about giving up, but I think he’ll be pleased when he returns from Denver. In addition, I went on a cleaning rampage! BF never does laundry. He has so many clothes, I swear he never actually needs to do laundry. Well, I did pretty much ALL of his laundry. I also scrubbed the kitchen, top to bottom. Dishes – done. Floor – scrubbed. Sink – cleaned. Counters – scrubbed.

Then I moved on to the kitties litter box area! UGH! But completed. Bathroom is pristine! I bought cleaning supplies (which BF had very few of) to REALLY scrub the shower; floor is scrubbed; toilet is scrubbed; EVERYTHING is scrubbed!

I didn’t get around to making dinner until 9 tonight! But – YUM! – Spaghetti was worth it! While I cooked the s’ghetti, I baked some Oatmeal Chip Cranberry cookies.



I’m now watching some TV, waiting to chat with BF for a bit, and folding his ENDLESS amounts of laundry! I. Am. TIRED! Ugh. What a weekend!

How was everyone’s weekend? Did anyone do anything exciting??

domestic bliss.

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Where has this week gone!?! Last night I literally had to ask myself, “What the heck did I even DO this week?” It seems as though the week flew by! I have been overseeing two trainings at work all week, and keeping pretty busy when I leave work.

OH! I almost got ran off the road by a crazy person with some serious road rage and anger issues. That was… terrifying! It turns out the police cannot actually do anything unless they witness the incident. WTF, police. Then what can you do?

BF and I were supposed to go to a yoga class Wednesday night, but that didn’t happen. He got called out for work after hours. It was a bummer. So instead, I went for a nice run outside. Running has been great lately. The only problem is, I cannot run on a treadmill. I hate it. It hates my body. It makes me ache in ways I never imagined possible. I’m not sure why this occurs when I run on a treadmill but not when I am running outside.

So Wednesday night when he got out of work, we went to grab a bite to eat from this local place I had never been to before. During our meal, I found out that he will be leaving to visit Denver with his mother on his birthday. I don’t know if it was the PMS or the stress (or both?), but I started to cry. It seems that birthdays mean more to me than they do to him. I suppose this could be his age, but I was temporarily broken-hearted. So bummed. I love planning birthday celebrations. And I’m aware that we are taking a trip shortly after he returns from Denver, but I was still so bummed. It made me uncomfortable to even be that bummed. Which then I realized that this was probably PMS-induced craziness. Sigh. The joys of being a chick.

Yesterday I ended up getting out of work an hour and a half early. I decided that since I hadn’t been to a yoga class in two weeks (the longest it’s been in a REALLY long time), I would go to an early afternoon yoga class in Hudson. It felt great! There were only a few people in the class, but I definitely kicked butt (are you allowed to say that about yoga? I dunno, but I did!). I had an awesome practice and my form was amazing.

After yoga I went over to BF’s and I cleaned myself and the house up! I decided to be very domestic and bake some cranberry-oatmeal-chip cookies! (BTW-Lately I have found the joy in domesticity). I also “cooked” (which really means picked up Chinese takeout). By the time I got home with dinner, BF had just arrived and was munching on a (still warm) cookie! So I dished out the meal and we sat down to enjoy it in front of the most recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. We love Bill Maher!

BF had previously agreed to come with me to see a friend that was bartending at a local establishment. So we made the journey. They just so happened to have karaoke going on last night. BF has never really heard me sing before, so I knew I wasn’t making it out of there without singing. And I rocked it! 😉

And now it’s finally Friday. Thank goodness! Tonight is the big girls-margarita-pottery nite! We’re going to grab some dinner and spend the night with Mr. Jose Cuervo! Should be a good time! I will keep you updated!