Saturday, July 28, 2012

I. Love. Themes.


I love themes. A lot. To the point where many would consider it creepy. I can't even understand why people do things without a theme.
Anyway, my friends and I decided to plan this big group date. We're aware that the boys are supposed to plan the dates but what can I say? We're better at it. So we start talking about what day we want to do it on deciding between Wednesday or Thursday not really caring which. Then one of us pointed out that Batman premiered Thursday and that sealed the deal. We were now planning a Batman themed date!
Yeah I know. This post just jumped from interesting to epic.
Here's the best thing I could think of for Batman nail polish since there's no way I'm drawing anything that even resembles a bat on my nail. 
We started off the date decorating a Batman themed T-shirt for our date.

Brittany and Joseph here won the T-shirt making contest. Whatever. I cut out the stencils that made that possible...

Chris and Chelsea were looking pretty dang good too. But pink and red on the same shirt? Really Chris?
Michael only had time to finish the back of my "Batman jersey..."

Lesli wrote "Batman is sexy" on Cody's shirt. That stunt definitely won them second place!
Before the date I worried about our shirts drying in time to wear. Luckily Meg was the only one with that problem. Nice work Adam.
After making shirts, we had a fancy dinner down in the "Bat Cave" we dressed up for. I'll admit that decorating my toy room for this was probably the best part of the whole night! And I'll also admit that we clean up very nicely if I do say so myself...
Our adorable Lurch playing Alfred for us...
Fancy.

Yeah I polished that silver!

This is my glowing water. Seriously people it glowed with my black lights. The sad story about this was that I had a fountain to put the water in but my fountain had lights inside of it. A light up fountain kind of completely ruins the use of glowing water... So I had to put it in this lovely dish after spending three hours trying to temporarily break a light bulb




After dinner we split up and headed out to do a super hero picture scavenger hunt. It was a little difficult to do some of these so late at night but we sure gave it a good effort! Well... Some of us did I think.

-Make the bat signal
-Open a door for someone
-Save a damsel on the RR tracks
-Stop a suicidal jumper from a bridge
-Shake hands with a police officer
-Stand majestically on a high place
-Hand-to-hand combat with a bad guy
-Stand by the batmobile (a black car)
-Stop a mugger from taking a purse
-Picture with a motorcycle
-Defuse a bomb
-Rescue someone trapped under a car
-Put out a fire
-Help a homeless person
-Save a cat stuck in a tree
-Read a comic book
-Help an old lady cross the street
-Climb a wall
LAST ONE
-Picture with the movie poster

As soon as we finished we headed to the movies and got there just as they were letting people in. Perfect timing! All in all it was a fantastically themed date and I've finally decided what I want to major in... Party Planning! Somebody point the way!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

The Best Cupcakes Ever? We'll Be The Judge of That!

My mom found a recipe for what was called "The Best Cupcakes Ever" and knew that they needed to be judged by her now. Nobody is going to tell my judgmental family what is and isn't the best! Plus when the recipe wasn't calling for any kind of candy to be hidden in the middle we were pretty skeptical...
However I'm making this post because my gosh. These are good!! I guess I should have known from the fact that this girl won Cupcake Wars (the greatest cooking show out there) but I definitely had my doubts when I tasted the batter and it was gross. I think this is the first recipe where I wasn't tempted to just stop and eat all the dough instead of baking them... Here's the recipe!

 

Black and White Chocolate Cupcakes


By Megan Faulkner Brown (’02), Sweet Tooth Fairy Owner and Cupcake Wars Winner
http://www.thesweettoothfairy.com/

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup and 2 tablespoons dark chocolate cocoa
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup sour cream
3 eggs
¾ cup ready-to-eat chocolate pudding
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake pan cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds until well combined.

Add wet ingredients and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl and resume mixing on medium speed for an additional minute. Stop mixer and fold in chocolate chips.

Fill the prepared cupcake liners with batter 3/4 full. Bake about 15-18 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.


White Chocolate Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
1 cup white chocolate chips or 6 ounces white chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
2⅓ cups powdered sugar

To make the frosting, beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed for 1 minute. Add melted chocolate and vanilla; mix for an additional minute. Add powdered sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy after each addition.

Spread the frosting on the chocolate cupcakes. Garnish with fresh raspberries, mini chocolate chips, or chocolate sprinkles.



So everyone, go make these. Because they are good. My family is of the opinion that the Lindor Truffle cupcakes are better but these are definitely a close second!

And just for my five or so friends out there, I am finally home from my internship in Seattle at the Elite Dance camp. It was a bunch of fun but I wish my Moses Lake Molahiettes had been there so I could show you guys off! Oh btw mom, now would probably be a good time to inform you that I invited all my intern friends to come up and visit me anytime they get bored during the summer... Hope you're cool with that! Anyway, I am definitely ready to officially begin my summer before I'm shipped off to college where I'll have to fit in both partying and college work! Ugh not looking forward to that challenge...

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Surrounded by 49 of the Smartest, Most Talented Girls in the US? Yeah it can get to a Person.

For those of you who don't know (Meaning those random people searching for "smart talented girls" and got confused enough by my title to start reading this) I've been in Mobile, Alabama these past two weeks to compete at Distinguished Young Women Nationals Finals. Let's get these oh so interesting FAQ's out of the way first.
Did you have fun?
More fun than a barrel of monkeys! Actually sometimes it felt like a barrel of monkeys being constantly surrounded by that many girls... Alright we'll go with the same amount of fun as a barrel of monkeys.
What was your favorite part?
Getting to eat a Krispy Kreme Doughnut everyday (the link is a funny Simpsons episode about donuts)! Or maybe it was my awesome girl scouts who I definitely fooled into thinking I was cool (Jordan, Gracie, Rileigh, if you're reading this, I'm sorry for tricking you. I would send back the candy you gave me but it is definitely gone already.) Or maybe it was getting to sing as loud as I could at the Southern Baptist church and still not be able to hear my off-key notes (no where else has that been found possible). Or maybe it was eating ice cream out on the porch every night without gaining a pound (But considering how much work I had to do everyday to make that miracle possible it doesn't totally seem worth it.) I guess I'd have to go with... Everything. It was an awesome two weeks!
What was your host family like?
If I had to choose one word, I'd say perfect. My host parents Meg and Geoff were the funniest and sweetest people I've ever met. They definitely had the Southern Hospitality thing down to a science. Plus my roommate and I got along so well everyone thought we were twins! Also, as the most gangster girls there we received the nicknames A-Swag and K-Dizzle (my other nickname was Barbie which clearly didn't fit me as well as K-Dizzle did). I also had a host brother that we really got along with! At least, the three times we talked it seemed like it... What can I say? He was definitely too cool for us!
How was the humidity? 
Devilish. All my gum feels like someone sucked on it and then put it back... I love the South but I am never living there.
Are you glad to be home?
I cried with joy.

And now the NSFAQ's (Not So Frequently Asked Questions)

So, did you like participate in every eating contest they offered?
It was only ribs and oysters but yes I did. Like a boss. Actually this oyster video was the only one I found that showed me in it. Turns out when you only eat one they don't give you a lot of air time... The rib pictures are too embarrassing to be seen.
What was your actual placement? This question is actually one many people want the answer to but are not sure if it is a rude question.
No worries it's not rude! All I know is that I made top ten. I have no idea how I did in the top ten other than knowing I wasn't in the top three. If you would like to believe I got fourth place I have no power to stop you...
Do you miss being treated like royalty?
I get to come home to sitting around all day and being fed without even having to get ready... I'm pretty sure this is better than royalty ever had it. So jokes on you all. I'm still spoiled rotten.

In all honestly, I loved my time at Nationals and am so grateful for the experience. I really did make great friends there that I'm going to remember forever. I've got to again thank everyone for all the gifts and good luck wishes! The support meant so much to me and I loved knowing that so many people believed in me. It helped me to believe in myself!
Before I left, I was told to go big or go home. So I went big and did my best to make Washington proud! But I've got to say, I am glad to be home. Even if I am heading to Seattle tomorrow... The joys of a busy summer time! Also I have no recipe for you because this post has already taken way too much of my sitting around time.
I was the only one to nail the pirate face although Mad Dog (bottom left) definitely got second.

Me and A-Swag. #Distinguished

Biggest. Sleepover. Ever.

Yes we look good. No we weren't going out with boys. That's not questionable...

Everyone kept telling me my sisters were Kendalls with different hair cuts. Does anybody see that? Anybody at all?