Mid-Christmas Thoughts

-Animals singing "Jingle Bells", and "Deck the Halls". Corny? Maybe, but ever so enjoyable to watch.

-It's going to be a quiet Christmas this year. I'm looking forward to this.

-Hope everyone liked my gifts.

-Red velvet cheese cake. Yum.

-Turkey!

-Still remembering my best present ever from Santa. Also seen in last year's post.

-Some tea would be nice right now.

-I need more moisturizer for my hands; the weather is making them pitifully dry.

-I was gearing up for the Doctor Who Christmas special tonight, only to find out it is on Sunday night. Alas. I envy those of you in the UK.

-Easy A is a funny movie.

-What am I going to do with my life?

-Blah blah blah.

-Thought I'd get through painting my nails perfectly. But no.

-Hello curly hair. It's been a while.

-Haven't seen A Christmas Story yet this year on tv. What is this??? "A center for ants??!"

-Mr. Bean.

-If I could be a part of The Nutcracker ballet, I think I would be a snowflake. Even if I can't really choose myself

-After today, no more Christmas songs on the radio. Sadness.

-How truly lucky I am to be where I am today! Really, though, I feel pretty thankful for all I have and the peeps that surround me.

-Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around. Love Actually

Have a wonderful Christmas!

The weeks leading up to Christmas

Ahh, I've been home for about a week now. Taking it easy at long last. But after finishing a busy term of school, do any of you get that feeling that you should be doing something?? That's how I've been feeling, but that is finally starting to wear off. Now, here are some pics I've taken over the past month or so, having finally taken out my camera!

My housemates were very festive, starting in mid-November. We made ourselves a little Disney gingerbread house--thus the purple icing, which coloured our fingers and tongues red, and was probably toxic. And amazingly, we ate it all within a week.

Looking even worse from the back.

We even set up our own little Christmas tree!

But now, back at home I am... Yay!

Just fooling around with focus...

We had a family Christmas party on Saturday, and this cake (amongst other goodies) was what we had for dessert.

So much dessert!

On one random note, I finally saw Inception! Great movie, and currently I'm obsessing over the soundtrack, particularly this. 2 minutes and 24 seconds of epicness right there.

Now all that's left for me at the end of this week is to wrap some presents. Not the greatest perhaps, but I'm getting better at it, haha.

And to conclude...

Squirrel, trying to take on the bird feeder in the front of our house. Suitable enough for Daily Squirrel?

How to be Alone

Image from here, via we heart it.

I love this vid! One of my new favourites, and it just may become one of yours too.

The Ultimate Ginger Cookeh

I rarely have ginger cookies. But I love them. And it's even more of a rarity when I have them home made. Well, seeing as it is December, and seeing as I was swamped with school stuff, and seeing as I was craving ginger cookies, I took the opportunity to try out a recipe. And you know what? They were fantastic, and pretty much how I always have remembered them to be--sweet, spicy/gingery goodness, and definitely not those generic bland things you get in the grocery store. Nuh-uh. This recipe is one I would definitely go back to in the future, although with a few minor changes I'd like to see if they would make a difference: one would be adding both orange and lemon zest, and adding lemon juice instead of orange.

Ginger Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons white sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Ps: I'm home, finally! After three solid months of work+ study, I can breathe easy, and read nothing school related. Ahhh. Will be back (soon!) with more updates!

Prodigal Blogger returns

Image from here, via we heart it

Hello all. It's been awhile. All of two weeks, actually. Apologies for going all cold turkey, it's been a crazy month (as some of you can probably relate to), with lots of stress, sweat and tears... No, really. (At least there wasn't any blood.)

Anyway, for a while I've also been having my doubts about this blog, thinking maybe it's not the best time for me to be keeping this up. That or, I don't really know where I'm going with it. I've always been a wishy-washy person, so my mind swings back and forth as to what I want to do, frequently. This blog sums up the way my mind works. I'll probably keep this baby going for a while longer, see where it takes me--or rather, I take it. And then maybe in the next while, start afresh with another something--possibly on something new, and from an entirely different angle! (Whooaa) But who knows. Have said all this, shall I tally up the previous month for me in a list? ok!

-Essays

-3000+word essay (finished today!)

-Seminar presentations

-Christmas extravaganzas with the housemates

-baking (lots)

-cookies (lots)

-HP & the Deathly Hallows (pretty good!)

-onion soup

-Anything carbs

-Rain (constantly)

-Lack of sleep

-Liberte yogurt--my first buy was cherry and I practically passed out from its amazing-ness

-ice cream sandwiches.

-Frequent Jezebel visits.

-Sporcle (especially on lunchbreaks)

-And possibly the odd Starbucks holiday drink. Image from here

As you can see, most of it is food related, but that's exactly how we have to get by in this stressful work overload period. My housemates and I like our food. This week: three exams to go, and home again in a week. Whooo.