Pictures I took this morning of the frost on our kitchen window. Isn't pretty? It was a super cold weekend, at least -16! When I came into the kitchen this morning, I decided it was far too good not to take a snap shot of.

The Go-To Cookeh

Or, to be more accurate, Erin's. Last week, I was looking for a good cookie to send off to Karen, and once again I found solace in The Happy Baker cookbook. It did not fail to satisfy my qualifications in a cookie: the salty sweet combo of peanut butter and chocolate chips, the chewiness from the oatmeal... Ahh. (It calls for coconut, but I omitted it to my own taste.) What's best of all is that it's super quick, and you can whip these up in absolutely no time.

Erin's Go to Cookie

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 smooth peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup quick cooking oatmeal
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup coconut

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (175)
2. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add peanut butter, vanilla and egg; mix well.
4. Stir in flour, oats, baking soda, and salt; then, stir in chippits and coconut.
5. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto lined baking sheet, 2 inched apart. Flatten with fingers.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
7. Allow to cool on wire racks.

Then, take a glass of milk or tea and devour soon after!

Back to the work grind

Painfully adorable. From this spot on wehearit

Ahh, the holidays were too short, as always. However, they were also a wonderful time where I could go home, take a breather from the school work, and eat lots (mostly cookies, which I do not regret at all). But now here I am! Back for my final final semester of university. !!! My future is looming! Thankfully (and this would be the only reason to be thankful), I've got school work to keep my occupied for the next few months. After that, let the job hunting commence. Right now school work consists of mostly reading to do, which I don't mind at this point. Currently on the assigned reading list? Robinson Crusoe and Tom Jones, both very good 18th century novels in you like a good adventure read.

Have never been here before, but looking at this image reminds me of summer. From here.

In other recent news, I saw Black Swan!! It's terrifyingly beautiful movie. After a search through weheartit I came across some very lovely pics.

From weheartit

Same with this.

And this.

And this one, because I couldn't resist.

From here.

Today was definitely the kind of day for hot chocolate; a snow storm blew into the Maritimes! I Classes were canceled this afternoon, but I didn't have any to go to. I was happy to stay at home. Will there be class tomorrow morning? Hard to say at this point.

This is the snowfall we had previously on Sunday.

Oh, and experimented with another cookie recipe, which I will share soon. Getting tired of cookie recipes here, yet? Fear not, I hope to expand outside the cookie field and into teabiscuitry (though not exactly a word). Or better yet--cake balls, om nom nomz.

Have you heard about Vivian Maier? She was a street photographer in the 1950s and 60s. She passed away last year, but recently hundreds of her pictures have been recovered from storage, and they can be considered nothing short of fantastic.

These are just a few, but you can see more at at John Beloof's blog Vivian Maier--her Discovered Work. Check it out! Her photography is amazing.

And to conclude, I leave you with an image of a dough baby; last Friday my housemates and I made pizza, but the dough didn't turn out so great, so we used the left overs to make this lovely, although perhaps creepy creation.

Have a good rest of week!

Turning over a new leaf

Puppy! From weheartit

Happy New Year, all! Was 2010 good to you? I hope so. If not, ready to start afresh?? 2010 was fairly good to me which came with many firsts, but of course it had its lows at times. Needless to say, I am ready to kick off 2011 with a list of goals I could certainly work on, and try to keep to.

-Take a picture of something every day. Even if it's nothing important.

-Get to bed early. As in, 12.00 early! Or earlier, if possible.

-Speak out more often in class.

-Bake bread at some point.

-Work towards getting my G-1.

-Maintain a good sense of humour when things get low.

-Remember reasons why I'm awesome. Not to sound boastful or anything, but a little self-encouragement is always nice.

-Practice the guitar more.

-Go to the ballet.

-Find a permanent job for next year.

-Wear more dresses/skirts.

Just some of the many goals I have for this year. But I was doing some blog-surfing and I came across Erin who had non-goals, meaning habits she was doing during the year that she loved and wanted to continue with--take for instance, drinking water frequently. Here are mine:

From here

-To continue my ballet dancing. I've been dancing for so long, I can't imagine just stopping for good!

-Lying in bed at night, and thinking about what I'm grateful for. I've been doing it for about a year now, and it certainly makes me more content with myself and where I'm currently at.

-To continue to push for what I really want to do with my life! Right now, I'm certain I want to go into studying theatre (which I am currently enjoying), and possibly teaching it later on.

-My curly hair! Although I love it when straight, I love it even more in its curly glory. Even on those humid and rainy days.

-Learning from my flaws, and working on them!

-Speaking in foreign accents. Not in public of course, but to myself and friends, because it's fun and I love how it sounds. And it's part of my zany personality, along with my impressions of various characters.

If you have any non-goals, think about them and keep them up! You'll discover your best through them, as I have found out (and yet already knew--ha!).

*Zoom* Weeee! From here.