It's my birthday!

I made Strawberry Génoise - a French cake that is slightly dense and not too sweet filled with whipped cream and strawberries. It doesn't have any leaven (yeast, baking power, baking soda) in it, so I had to use beaters* to whip the eggs for 8 minutes so it would rise.

The French cake was delicious! I would say it's very close to short bread. Because mine had strawberries, it reminded me of strawberry shortcake but maybe a little better.

*I borrowed the beaters and returned them to my friend before I made the whipped cream. That was a bad decision. I whipped the whip cream by hand and now I am very sore.

I'm hungry!

Why do I get so hungry after I go to bed!? I'm so hungry right now.

I want the following:

Yes, please!

Dramatic News Story

I don't think I've ever read anything more hateful (or dramatic) on a news website:

"No Fun Forecast: Stupid winter cold will not let up for the foreseeable future"

*Although, I must say: If anybody is aloud to complain, it would be me. Because it might snow on my birthday - which is March 29th. But you know what!? I can't control the weather, so there really is no reason to complain. Because complaining gets you nowhere.

Traveling

There is something magical about traveling. I don't know what it is, but getting away from home helps me relax, think, and re-evaluate my life. My biggest growing moments (or realizations) have happened while traveling. I become inspired and creative. It's magical and I need to do it more often.

Feather Earrings!

I am obsessed with these earrings!!!

I need to go out and buy more outfits to match them.

Simplicity . . .

Trying to be simple. . . AGAIN- Why is it so hard to be simple?

Simple: holding onto what you need, being organized, having space, and making time for what matters.

Here are my struggles:

• Getting rid of old crap. I don't need it but there is a demon whispering in my ear, "you might need it someday." Go away, I won't need this crap.
• I'm lazy - it's easier to shove all the Tupperware into the cupboard than to find the matching lids and stack it pretty.
• I'm a 'piler'. I stack everything into piles- mail, homework, books, magazines, recipes, etc. And then the piles never get touched. . . until I need something that is very important and I frantically look through ever pile making a HUGE mess of every pile. It's awful - stupid piles.
• I'm also a 'hider'. When I have people over and stuff everywhere and I have 5 minutes to clean, I hide everything. I cram it where ever it can go - usually closets but not always. I have stuffed dirty dishes in the oven before.
• I procrastinate. I find myself usually resting before I start working. For example, I will think "Okay, I'll watch one episode of This American Life and THEN I will start cleaning." But it never works that way! Because the internet sucks me in like a black hole.

Writing out these struggles makes me realize how easy it would be to overcome them. I'm going to start being simple, starting now!

Well first, I need to organize- I am going to go organize, starting now!

I have no idea what the I.W.W. is but I'm joining it!

Ellen Degeneres

I have spent an hour and a half watching Ellen youtube clips. I love this woman. She is upbeat, positive, and all around a wonderful human being. She has the ability to make anybody smile and feel special. She is great at loving people and people love her for it. Sorry mom, I have a new role model and it's Ellen Degeneres.

Life Lesson #1

Do laundry at least once a week.

I think this life lesson is the key to maintaining a happy, healthy, clean wardrobe. Which really is a win-win situation because then I am a happy, healthy, clean person. Which is an even bigger win-win situation because then the world is a happy, healthy, clean world.

I am positive that the only reason Grand Rapids has been so cloudy and sad recently is because I haven't done my laundry. Here is a picture:

Yikes!! That is a lot of laundry. My mother would be so disappointed in me. I hate doing laundry. It's my least favorite chore. I hate sorting the clothes, doing the whole washing machine thing, taking them out, folding them, and putting them away. The putting them away thing is usually what gets me - I will fold them and then leave in the laundry basket. And that's a really bad idea! Because then my new dirty clothes have no where to go and when I need a shirt its usually in the bottom of the laundry basket so when I'm scrambling to look for it I end up unfolding all the other clean clothes, throwing them on the floor, and mixing them up with dirty ones. THEN my room is a disaster! ALL because of laundry!

But if I did my laundry once a week, it would not be such a big deal because I would have about 2 pairs of pants and 5 shirts to wash. And that's easy!

Dear Mom,

I am going to try to follow my new life lesson and do my laundry once a week.

Love, Annie

Recent happenings. . . .

I saw Mike Birbiglia. He's a comedian from New York. It was really funny. I think laughing is good for your soul. Watch this:

I have also been eating way too much Taco Bell.

Man, I love this place so much. Probably too much. Please don't ever tell me the calorie counts of the cheesy fiesta potatoes, nachos supreme, or the bean and rice burrito.

I bought a 5 pound bag of oranges for $2.99.

and as of two minutes ago, I might be late to tutoring. O well, I would rather be blogging.

I need a cool Grand Rapids bumper sticker.

I'm cooking a special secret surprise dinner tomorrow. I'm really excited.

I'm tired!

My Friday night. . .

My friend Danielle and I were talking and she asked me something along the lines of "Do you feel old for your age?"

I know I am only 22 but I do feel old. It's Friday night at 9:38 pm and I am home - and I like it. My Friday night started with my brother and I going to my favorite brew pub, Hopcat. If you get there before 6, you can get a burger, beer, and crack fries for $6! It's a steal! (Also, apparently Hopcat is a really big deal in the beer drinking world. It's rated 3rd best beer bar in the world by beer advocate and I highly recommend going if you are in the area)

So, I was done with dinner at about 6:05. Picked up some goodies at the grocery store and hung out with my brother till about 8:19. Then I talked to the boyfriend on the phone for a little while (more about that later - in a future post) and now I am blogging.

Here is what is on my mind:

Number One: I am tired!

Number Two: I put my hair like this to avoid the mullet look. For some strange reason I thought you should know that.

Look at this cupcake I bought at Meijer! It was beautiful and only $1.49. I don't care if you think that's a lot for a cupcake - it's a work of art. About 2 seconds after took these photos, I ate it and too be honest now I have a sugar headache. Or it could be from the chocolate wine. . .

Did I say chocolate wine!? I meant to say ChocoVine! This stuff is delicious! If you like chocolate and wine, you will love this! To be honest, it tastes a bit like chocolate milk with a special kick. You gotta try it if you haven't - it's only like 10 bucks a bottle and it is worth every penny!

So this is my Friday night. Now, I am going to scrub off this make-up, take off these brain-sucking pig tails, and crawl into bed to read my newest book:

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.

Goodnight world - don't have too much fun without me.

Maybe I'll "feel" younger or even "my age" next weekend. But for now, I feel old.

Now, let me go drink my chocolate milk wine and eat my second cupcake like an old person.

My difficult struggle with growing out my hair

I have officially decided to grow my hair out. I have had (cute, adorable, sleek, stylish) short hair for too long. This is really hard because I adore my (cute, adorable, sleek, stylish) short hair and hate (awkward, mullet, ugly) medium length hair. It all started last year (perhaps earlier) when I watched The Bachelor and I saw Gia's hair:

Gosh, it's beautiful! I saw how she was able to flip it and run her fingers through it (it was SO sexy!) and I thought "I want that!" So, I tried to get that and failed. I always fail. I go back and forth and back and forth and it always ends with me at the salon telling Braden (my hairdresser) "O what the heck, I love it short! - Let's do short again!" I will even drive to the salon thinking "No! I'm growing it out, get just a trim Annie!" And then I walk into the salon, pull a John Kerry and flip flop. And I walk out with cute short hair (and happy too).

Until recently when I overcame the hardest part of this year long battle of trying to grow it out: I went to the salon I told Braden just a trim please. That was 2 weeks ago. Now, it's in this awkward mullet stage and I HATE it. I can't stand it. I want to run into Braden's arms and scream "cut it all off!" -But I don't do that and here is my motivation (and why it's so hard).

Motivation:

I love this hair so much that I set it as my background on my laptop. I could have hair like this! My hair is a bit lighter in color but my hair is that thick. This picture is my light at the end of the tunnel. I can go through the awkward mullet phase because I can have this. I am determined to be patient.

For those of you wondering "what's this awkward hair stage Annie keeps talking about?"

Here's the best photos I could find:

I realize I am wearing a scarf in both photos - that's because I was trying to hide my mullet. But do you see what I mean? It's awkward and it gets worse after it grows a couple more inches. Look how cute I am with short hair!:

In both photos my hair was so easy to style. I mean, look at me! I look like an angel! O gosh, I'm already flip flopping again. To stay on topic, here is some more unmotivation:

My hair didn't even look good when it was long! But than again, look at me - I had a middle part, no layers, and no bangs. What was I thinking!? I could've been so much better looking! (Also, in case you were wondering why my hair looks so dark, it's because sunlight has made my hair much more blonde over the years. Booooo sunlight!)

But here's some motivation:

It's looks awesome pinned up. Okay, I don't know that yet but I can guesstimate that it will. I am so excited to put it up for formal events and play with it. O gosh! I miss playing with my hair. So I guess the awkward mullet journey of my life will continue. Here is a look at my future:

Please still be my friend.

But ya know what!? I'm going to do it. I can do it! I hope I can do it. . .

No flip flops!