Coffee Epiphany

As we were driving yesterday I had this thought:

"I love the idea of little hole in the wall coffee shops that drip each cup of coffee individually and brew 'African/Ugandan/Ethiopian Dark extra special roast you can find nowhere else' and have the interior design made with me in mind... but really, all I want is to go to 1 of the 3 Starbucks down the street and buy MY drink that they make the SAME WAY every time because that is what I crave"

Does this make me a bad person?

Birthday through black and white

This year I turned 25 and spent the night at Pizza Port in OB sharing these fun times with some of my closest friends and family. Thank you everyone that came out and shared in this momentous occasion with me! I am so blessed to have you in my life <3

Surprised

Lauren and Matt

Madison and Summer

Luke and Susie

Birthday kisses

Shelby and Me

Jack in La La Land and Burrows chowing down

Peter Miller is great at what he does

ooooo shaka bro

Summer and Shannon

The Nichols Family

Me and my Dad

My goofball sister

Aliens

Fisheyes

ahhhh

The Fab Lauren Schade

The stuff supermodels are made of

25 candles on 1 cupcake = 1 talented mom

mmmmmmm

A big thumbs up for Donna's cupcakes!

My mom and Me

Creepeerr

This is Kristen Ament. 

Peter Miller and Jack's eye

The beautifully pregnant Carrie

Primo <3

What we have been doing as of late

Dry wetsuit...

DRY 

Look both ways 

Load the car and pose

And get nutrients!
Cheers!

Who gets pulled over on New Years?

Last night we were headed to dinner around 8:30pm. I am driving the mustang and see a parking spot on the street downtown PB and think "Its my lucky day!".

I proceed to make a u-turn that was probably illegal and as I pull into my parking spot I get pulled over. This is what went down...

Cop: License please
Me: reach in my purse and grab my debit card and hand it to him
Cop: We don't except this credit card
Me: OH MY GOSH I'm sorry, I haven't even started drinking ... yet.
Cop: Have you been drinking tonight ma'am
Me: No
Cop: follow my finger with your eyes only
Me: followed like a champ. 
Cop: Okay so your registration is expired and your tail lights are illegal
Me: Okay. I have an appointment with the DMV this week.
Cop: Who did that to your lights?
Me: My brother (thanks Davey)
Cop: Well its illegal. Get it fixed. ARE YOU GOING TO GET IT FIXED
Me: SURE
Cop: Have a good night ma'am

Yep. This girl got off without a scratch...
You know its bad when the first thing I grab out of my purse is my debit card
Happy New Year to the most lenient cop in PB

The Espresso Machine

My sister had my name for Christmas this year and she bought me my very own ESPRESSO MACHINE!!! I was so excited I couldn't wait to try it! Tonight Mason and busted this puppy out for the first time and it works like a gem! I think Starbucks may be losing some money these next couple weeks...

stained-glass sugar cookies

These cookies are really fun to make! I got the recipe from "Everyday Food" issue 88 (this months issue). 

Ingredients:
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- finely crushed hard candy (such as lifesavers or Jolly Ranchers)

First: in a medium bowl mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt). Set aside. In a large bowl beat together butter and sugar on high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla and then gradually add the flour mixture. Form dough into two round disks, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Second: preheat over to 350. Working with one disk at a time, roll out dough on floured parchment paper (I have never done this before, but it really helps prevent the dough from sticking!). With a christmas cookie cutter, cut out dough in desired shapes and place on parchment lined cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Take a smaller shaped cookie cutter and cut out the middle of each cookie.*

Third: bake for about 7-9 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are pale and set. Pull the cookies out of the oven and fill middle cutouts with crushed candy. Place back in the oven and cook for about 3-4 more minutes, or until the middle candy is melted and the cookie edges are browning.

Fourth: Let cookies cool before taking off parchment paper. Then take lots of great pictures with them because they are impressive and enjoy!

*Michael's has a cookie cutter set that actually has the center cutout attached to the bigger cookie cutter to make the cookie shape all in one step! It make the whole process a lot easier.

To be completely honest with you, the recipe takes a lot of time and attention. It is the perfect recipe if you are in the mood for christmas baking and have ample amount of time, but if you are in a hurry... do not even attempt this puppy. Also, my husband informed me that this sugar cookie base recipe is the best homemade sugar cookie he has had!

First day on my own

Today was the first official day of my ER career. My little wings have been sprouting for a while and I finally flew solo for the first time!

It was exhilarating and stressful and my feet are SCREAMIN at me but it was a great day overall...
you know why?

#1) no one died
#2) I am still alive
#3) the ED staff are awesome human beings

I told all the staff this morning to be on the lookout for:
- frantic eye movements, but no body movements (this is a sign my brain is working too fast for my body to comprehend)
-"deer in the headlights" look on my face
-papers flying in all directions
-all the blood rushing to my face (also a sign my brain is working very fast)

They all took my first day very serious and helped me as much as they could and for this I am very thankful!

I had so many patients give me a "knowing" smile today. I was definitely not broadcasting that it was my first day alone, but many of my patients today seemed to have a little extra patience and seemed to understand where I was coming from funny enough. I think the Lord sent a few angels to help me today, I really do...

I am so glad the FIRST day is done. Sign of relief.

On to the next!