Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

I'm here!

(Well, that is, if you are here too and we therefore share a "here.")

Anyway, hit me up. ;)

Thursday, December 11, 2008

finals week.

finals week was quite eventful this semester. katie, steph, rachel and i went out on Monday night for my birthday to Cheeseburger in Paradise.

*steph and katie*
*the birthday girl :)*
I also put together goodie bags filled with candy and treats for my and katie's elderly friends at Langhorne Gardens Nursing and Rehabilitation Center where we play Bingo or Pokeno every Wednesday night.

*the final product.*
*i also put together a going-away present for Billy (he's transferring to a college in Florida) from Katie and i.*
*this is me and Addeline, my very favorite nursing home friend. she was very excited to take a picture with me, and she's holding her goodie bag proudly on display.*
*katie and i'm not sure i can remember her name. oops.*
*the ladies (i forget her name, eleanor, and pat) with the new guy (Joe) who's doing community service at the nursing home. ha!*
*katie and joe and oh stink i forget her name too. oops. i wasn't in these pictures because i went with Addie to her room and she was showing me pictures of her grandchildren :), and then we had a heart-felt goodbye until January 20 something.*
*rachel, billy, me, katie and steph. out on wednesday night to say goodbye to billy :(*
*ha. another one. rachel accidentally got cut out of the picture, but it was cute of me and billy.*
so there you have it. thanks for all the birthday wishes today. i am currently packing to come home and just finished watching a movie with rachel. i work tomorrow from 7am-10pm. pray for me. it will be rough. but i get to come home on Saturday morning!!!
love you all.
<3 jecca

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA!

Happy minute you were born Jecca!Doesn't Dad look rested? Jecca sure does!
This was just the beginning of many long nights to come :)
Beautiful in lavendar!

Happy Birthday Jessica~have a good day~and come home!!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Cupcakes Anyone?

It's been a while since I teased you guys with a cupcake, so here you go!

This latest cupcake was very trying for me for several reasons.

1. I was baking for an actual event, not just because I wanted to bake.

2. The cake recipe calls for figs, but it's winter in Maine. I had to use dates.

3. I mistakenly used both the stick of butter called for and the stick of butter I was softening for the icing in the cake batter.

However...despite my best efforts to ruin them, these cupcakes are both tasty and cute. Observe:

These are Date Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and Fig Newton Books.

Last night I pre-gamed the cupcaking by decorating 24 Fig Newtons with tiny little book spines. I'm taking these to the potluck for my Young Adult Lit class. The course title is ERL 518.


And then when I started actually preparing the cupcakes this morning, I had to begin by stewing the dried dates. Let me just say . . . well, I'll just show you.

See? It's not good. I just don't like dried fruit too much. And I hate hate hate things with skins. And the dates started out dried and then - with the stewing - gave up their skins. Ugh. I'm making an ew face just thinking about it again. It makes my own skin feel a little crawly.

Anyway, I powered through the stewing portion of the show and then opted for the food processor rather than the "chopping" that the recipe demanded. I just couldn't be handling the dates that much. The processing worked just fine.

Dates aside, the recipe was quite nice. I made some lovely - read odd - buttermilk and combined that with some reserved date water and I was on my way! Please note the snow. It continued to snow all day today. Again. I'm so over it.

The cupcakes are really helping me cope with the snow for sure. Haha. Don't question it, just let it be.

Here's a wacky picture of both my life at the moment and one of the cupcakes. Notice the stack of books in the background. They'll be going to class with me tomorrow too.


So, that's what I've been up to lately. What about you?

Thursday, December 4, 2008

random update.


all of these pictures uploaded backwards. i'm not too excited about that, but it'll have to do. these are just some random pictures from the past week or two that i thought you all might enjoy.

*josh getting in touch with his earth-nature.*

*the sweetest boots i've ever found, at a thrift store in Bangor, ME. they were a little too big. i was devastated.*

*these next two pictures might not interest you in the least, but they are my pride and joy. i did a semester-long business project where i had to come up with my own company... anyways, it was legit... and this was the store i was going to rent.*

*josh looked the best in this lovely wig.*

*this picture was taken only minutes after the tears of joy had dried from josh's wonderful surprise. i was in shock.*

*this, my dear family, is my smokin' hot business attire worn for my final business presentation. i got a 98.225% on the presentation. woohoo!!!*

alright, i guess that's it. i didn't take many pictures in Maine because josh and amanda had such cool cameras that mine paled in comparison. i'll post again soon hopefully... with birthday pics possibly :)

<3 jecca