Monday, December 31, 2012

#9 | Take a Photo A Day for One Year

 This was such a fun and rewarding project.  When the year began I had no intention of doing a photo a day project.  However, after I unintentionally took a photo a day for the first 2 weeks in January I decided to keep going and finish the month.  I put my photos into a grid and got to see each day represented and I loved it. 

First my goal was to show each season (4 grids total), then it went to every other month (6 grids total).  I was pretty set on the 6 month goal and then February came and I started taking a photo every single day, mainly to document the events that surrounded my birthday.  But I kept going and soon I had a photo a day for February as well. 

I had made it two months and was still going pretty strong, so I kept going in March, then April and May, so on and so on. 

Some days this project felt very time consuming.  Some days I missed a photo and had to improvise.  Some days I wanted to stop the project all together, but I kept going and I’m so glad I did. 

Being a photo lover, there is something special to see your year layed out in front of you.  I did not worry much about the quality of the photos.  I did not worry about variation or if the photo was ‘perfect’.  The main thing was to make this as easy as possible.  The majority (all but maybe 5) of these photos were taken with my phone (I did not want to carry my DLS everywhere I went) and processed through instagram.  I saved each photo to my computer and put them into a grid and called it done. 

(In case you were wondering, the first 9 and last grid months were created on my phone using an app called diptic.  The other 2 grids were created on my computer in photoshop using a template I created.  That’s why they look a little differen..)

I am so glad I stuck to this project and I am so glad I finished it.  Even though I loved doing this project, I am not going to continue it next year.  Maybe I’ll try it again in five years, or my first year of marriage or first year of child’s life.  Or maybe I’ll come up with something new all together.  We will see…
 
 Day 1:  Cinnamon Rolls for New Years...Yum!
Day 2:  Petsitting.  Waiting for his dog buddy to come back inside.
Day 3:  I was watching a movie and Abby decided she wanted to cuddle.  No worries--I don't need the use of my arms.
Day 4:  Revenge and Pinterest.
Day 5:  Flags at the funeral home.
Day 6:  Sunrise, new lens (graduation gift to myself), sorting through photos of my grandpa Bailey
Day 7:  Mom.  Doestn' look like January at all.
Day 8:  Having a hard time getting to sleep and then staying asleep...
Day 9:  Going to grandpa's visitation.
Day 10:  Celebrating grandpa's life, flowers from his funeral, graduation gift from She-she.
Day 11:  Hot chocolate
Day 12:  She is needy today.
Day 13:  Babysitting, playing and cuddling.
Day 14:  Chicken Pot Pie. 
Day 15:  Mother/Daughter day with some friends.  We made v-day cards.
Day 16:  Clouds
Day 17:  New socks
Day 18:  Visiting my aunt and her kittens
Day 19:  Finished reading The You I Never Knew by Susan Wiggs
Day 20:  Hearts.
Day 21:  The one who did it and what she did...
Day 22:  Scarf
{Day 23}:  Finished this book in 3 days.  (Finished on the 22nd.)
Day 24:  Believe
Day 25:  KC with dad, sunset, and The Stinker.
Day 26:  Streeeetch
Day 27:  Lazy Day
Day 28:  The sweet gift I got from a friend!
Day 29:  My guard dog.  She is something fierce!
Day 30:  65 degrees in January.
Day 31:  Errands with dad, natural hair day, dad survives Wal-Mart, and another warm January day.
Day 32:  Interview, Diploma, Me, Craft
Day 33:  Cleaning, Me, Pedicure
Day 34:  Friends
Day 35:  23
Day 36:  Delish
Day 37:  Big Foot
Day 38:  Homemade Panera Mac n' Cheese
Day 39: Photo Projects
Day 40:  Today
Day 41:  Ladybug Lovin'
Day 42:  The Help
Day 43:  The 12th
Day 44:  First Snow of the Season
Day 45:  Happy Heart Day
Day 46:  The Girls
Day 47 | Jammie and Toes
Day 48 | Crazy Morning Hair
Day 49 | Let's Cuddle
Day 50 | The Green Kind
Day 51 | Miss Abby
Day 52 | Glee
Day 53 | Scrapbooking at 1am.
Day 54 | While You Were Sleeping
Day 55 | Storm is Coming
Day 56 | New Tunes
Day 57 | Yard work on a warm February day
Day 58 | Beautiful Earth
Day 59 | Clouds
Day 60 | Shatto
 Day 61 | Running in the park
Day 62 | She loves her baby
Day 63 | Sky
Day 64 | Decorating
Day 65 | Providing dinner to 2 families tonight
Day 66 | Car ride
Day 67 | Colors
Day 68 | Comfy?
Day 69 | Another book done
Day 70 | Go faster!
Day 71 | 11:46am.  Good morning?
Day 72 | Such a good book
Day 73 | Walk
Day 74 | Creation
Day 75 | Cup cake making
Day 76 | I'm hooked...Another book down
Day 77 | St. Pats
Day 78 | Pretty
Day 79 | Catching Fire | 2 out of 3
Day 80 | Mocking Jay | All done!
Day 81 | Sleepy Girl
Day 82 | Abby
Day 83 | Sun
Day 84 | Abby and her bubbles
Day 85 | Walking
Day 86 | Bouncy Ball
Day 87 | Computer
Day 88 | Fried Chicken and Fat Gravy.  I'm an excellent cook.
Day 89 | Thorn in foot=Walking around like a crippled person
Day 90 | Smooshy
Day 91 | Me and Madi

Day 92 | Planting seeds
Day 93 | New shoes!
Day 94 | I voted!
Day 95 | Looking/Barking at the Bison
Day 96 | Movie watching
Day 97 | KC with friends!
Day 98 | Egg dying process
Day 99 | Easter
Day 100 | Nap Time
Day 101 | Someone is snoring in my ear
Day 102 | So sleepy.  Under the kitchen table.
Day 103 | Rain
Day 104 | Woke up to baby doing this to the tv.  Not staged at all.
Day 105 | Love them!
Day 106 | Mmm chocolate milk
Day 107 | Someone is looking at me...
Day 108 | iPad time.
Day 109 | Abby flying.
Day 110 | Dad driving.
Day 111 | Shopping for mom's birthday.
Day 112 | Rainbow.
Day 113 | Getting ready for the Week in the Life project.
Day 114 | Cooking.
Day 115 | Computer time.
Day 116 | Sunset.
Day 117 | Bubbles.
Day 118 | Bed.
Day 119 | Coffee.
Day 120 | Window shopping.
Day 121 | Sunset. 

Day 122 | Looking out the window
Day 123 | Cuddles
Day 124 | Cuddling
Day 125 | Packing
Day 126 | Mal's wedding
Day 127 | Rain
Day 128 | Driving home from my first week of work
Day 129 | Nap
Day 130 | Evening
Day 131 | The Blue Bistro
Day 132 | Walk with Puckett
Day 133 | Flowers
Day 134 | Hummy Feeder
Day 135 | Computer
Day 136 | Playing hide and seek
Day 137 | Ride of Silence
138 | View from the hospital
Day 139 | Another visit
Day 140 | Walking with Abby
Day 141 | Flower pots
DAy 142 | Somedays you just need the big candy bar
Day 143 | Peaceful moment during my lunch break
Day 144 | Hello pretty bird
Day 145 | Organizing papers
Day 146 | She loves her rides
Day 147 | For my grandpa
Day 148 | Working on my 31 Things project
Day 149 | Embracing the wave
Day 150 | Wide Open Spaces
Day 151 | How could I leave this sweet face today?
Day 152 | I love that she loves to hang out with me in the mornings.
 Day 153 | Wood Cheeks!
Day 154 | Watermelon.
Day 155 | Mint Chocolate Cup Cakes.
Day 156 | Sunset.
Day 157 | Despite her goofiness, Abby can be quite smart.  Mom gave her an ice cube while I ate breakfast.  Abby declined, she would much rather drink the leftover milk.  After I was done with breakfast, Abby drank the mild and then went right into the kitchen, got the ice cube, and placed it in my empty cereal bowl.
Day 158 | She is a goofball.
Day 159 | Evening car ride.
Day 160 | Road Trip.
Day 161 | St. Louis.
Day 162 | A lot of sprite.  Trying to keep the vomit feeling to go away.
Day 163 | Clouds.
Day 164 | I admit I am a water bottle hoarder.
Day 165 | Always at my side.
Day 166 | The Love Season by Elin Hilderbrand.
Day 167 | Babysitting (and cat sitting too).
Day 168 | Getting ready for her evening nap.
Day 169 | Happy Father's Day to the most wonderful man I know!
Day 170 | Never been more happy to see my bed.
Day 171 | Baby Tree.
Day 172 | They were being silly.
Day 173 | Never been more happy to be home.
Day 174 | Pretty.
Day 175 | Rainy day, how I've longed for you.
Day 176 | She wouldn't cuddle with me earlier, but when I was taking a nap she jumped on the sofa on top of my head.  Talk about a rude awakening.  She is lucky she is so cute!
Day 177 | Summer = Root Beer Floats.
Day 178 | Because I love her.
Day 179 | It's a HOT one today.
Day 180 | You've Got Mail.  Good for the soul and in memory of Nora Ephron.
Day 181 | She has missed me this week.
Day 182 | Friends!
 Day 183 | Pet sitting and window watching
Day 184 | To-Do List
Day 185 | Snoozing
Day 186 | Happy 4th of July!
Day 187 | Sofa day and naps
Day 188 | Abby turns 11!
Day 189 | Garage sale find, guess I'll be getting my workout on.
Day 190 | Decorating the basement
Day 191 | Best part of Monday....My guilty pleasure.
Day 192 | Crafting.  Project 1 of 10 done on my 101 in 1001.
Day 193 | Evening cuddles
Day 194 | Attempting my 12of12 from the sofa
Day 195 | Another day on the sofa with lots of fluids.  Being sick bites...
Day 196 | First real food in 3 days
Day 197 | Eating watermelon
Day 198 | Someone brought me baby so we can play
Day 199 | Fresh air
Day 200 | Gift from a friend!
Day 201 | Grandma went to live in heaven
Day 202 | New Silpada catalog
Day 203 | Photos of grandma
Day 204 | Stripes
Day 205 | Grandma and Grandpa are together again
Day 206 | Hanging out with this one
Day 207 | Lots of work email was waiting for me after my days off for bereavement/
Day 208 | Clouds
Day 209 | Work
Day 210 | Play Watching
Day 211 | Car Riding
Day 212 | Yummy, my favorite!
Day 213 | Always by my side
Day 114 | Can you tell she loves her daily walks?!
(Day 115) | Cannot wait!!!!
Day 116 | Do you have to leave me today?!
Day 117 | 33 years.  Happy Anniversary mom and dad!
Day 118 | Nap and watching my favorite movie
Day 119 | Evening car rides last night
Day 220 | Second day in a row where I’ve come home for lunch and find her sleeping by the back door. My baby misses me L
Day 221 | Yesterday.  No filters, no editing, straight from my phone.
Day 222 | English Patient and projects
Day 223 | Thankful for girl nights.
Day 224 | My girls J
Day 225 | Distant Shores by Kristin Hannah
Day 226 | New lips
Day 227 | Abby
Day 228 | Happy Birthday Uncle Bobby
Day 229 | Sky
Day 230 | “Stop with the pictures, let’s go!”
Day 231 | Must.sit.up.straight.
Day 232 | From last night
Day 233 | Uncle Bobby’s heaven birthday
Day 234 | This moment
Day 235 |  Welcome to the family  new lens!
Day 236 | Oh hey, just driving to Topeka to pick up a piece of metal that barely fits into my car….
Day 237 | “Stop watching Hunger Games and feed me!”
Day 238 | (wedding)
Day 239 | Hello rain.
Day 240 | Playing games with Erin
Day 241 | Lots of this
Day 242 | This face
Day 243 | Junior League social
Day 244 | Hold Me 
Day 245 | Up bright and early to have breakfast with the girls
Day 246 | Finding goodies in mom’s purse.
Day 247 | The best way to fall asleep.  Rain tapping at the window and thunder rumbling in the distance.
Day 248 | Warm day
Day 249 | The Vow.  Finished this a few days ago.
Day 250 | Birds
Day 251 | Celebrating Audrey’s wedding
Day 252 |  Perfect day for a ride
Day 253 | Night night
Day 254 | My first Junior League Meeting
Day 255 | Hello scarf season J
Day 256 | Me.  Week 37.
Day 257 | She wanted to cuddle tonight.
Day 258 | Looks like Virginia?!
Day 259 | Saturday morning snuggles with my girl
Day 260 | My love.  Those cheeks!
Day 261 | She has been very cuddly lately.
Day 262 | “I think I’ll make a bed out of the newspaper.”
Day 263 | Nantucket Nights by Elin Hilderbrand
Day 264 | Catching up on over due projects.
Day 265 | No Kleenex, no problem.  Receipts work just fine.
Day 266 | Opie!
Day 267 | Beautiful night after a fun day with friends
Day 268 | Me:  Getting ready for work.  Abby:  Walks into my room.  Shoves her face between my knees.  Rubs her eye boogers all over my legs.  Then decides to lay down.  Gee thanks, I love you too baby girl. 
Day 269 | She jumped up on the sofa and immediately did this… (Last night)
Day 270 | Walk
Day 271 | Really?  Twice in one week?  More boogers?
Day 272 | I spy a cowboy.
Day 273 | 5K/10K.  E got 4th in kids run!
Day 274 | (From Friday) Surprise puppy play date. 

Day 275 | Sleepy head
Day 276 | Yes this was a brand new apple.  Yes this was in mom’s purse.  Yes those are little bite marks.  Yes Abby ate all of this by herself.  Yes I have a funny puppy.
Day 277 | Hello Kansas morning.
Day 278 | At the pumpkin patch.
Day 279 | While trying to watch a movie
Day 280 | Hello October
Day 281 | Chiefs Game
Day 282 | This time my floor got the boogers.
Day 283 | Outside
Day 284 | Fuzzy sock days
Day 285 | Turning my blog into a book.
Day 286 | 12of12 October
Day 287 | On a ride
Day 288 | Dad still has 1 month to recover and he was insistent that we wash my car and that he had to do it.
Day 289 | Hot cocoa
Day 290 | Longest day ever.
Day 291 | Off work
Day 292 | New phone!  Yay!
Day 293 | Today
Day 294 | The cutest little fairy you ever did see
Day 295 | Her new favorite thing…empty candy wrappers.
Day 296 | Can’t get enough of this song
Day 297 | Today
Day 298 | Fresh air
Day 299 | “No boogie monsters under here daddy.”
Day 300 | Good morning beautiful
Day 301 | Saturday morning snuggles
Day 302 | Summerland by Elin Hilderbrand
Day 303 | Homemade Cheesecake.  Yum!
Day 304 | Speechless
Day 305 | Happy Halloween!
Day 306 | 1 year.  Miss you grandpa H.
Day 307 | Hello November
Day 308 | Wine tasting with the besties
Day 309 | Why yes that is a lot of food, don’t judge!
Day 310 | Baby girl had multiple surgeries.
Day 311 | I Voted
Day 312 | Good night world
Day 313 | Getting my craft on
Day 314 | Happy mail!
Day 315 | Dinner with Jenny and our moms
Day 316 | Shadow (321)
Day 317 | I love her.
Day 318 | Dinner.
Day 319 | December Daily cover.
Day 320 | Wishing I could stay home with her today.
Day 321 | Merry Christmas.
Day 322 | Besties
Day 323 | Twinkle
Day 324 | Today was a little dark.
Day 325 | She melts my heart.
Day 326 | Friends.
Day 327 | Thanksgiving cuddles.
Day 328 | Took a 3 ½ hour nap today.
Day 329 | Found these while cleaning out my grandparents house.
Day 330 | She loves looking out grandma and grandpa’s windows.
Day 331 | Daddy is in complete remission!
Day 332 | Pink sky
Day 333 | Layers.  I wonder how many colors I can wear at one time?  So far I have hot pink, bright blue, and highlighter line green…
Day 334 | Mani date with mom.
Day 335 | Supporting mom’s school tonight.


Day 336 | Getting my decorating on…literally.
Day 337 | Squaw Creek December Daily page
Day 338 | Happy Birthday Grandpa Bailey
Day 339 | Thank you Ali Edwards for inspiring me to document my December.  So loving this project.
Day 340 | Pure
Day 341 | Thursdays=My version of an early out
Day 342 | Happy fridge
Day 343 | Hanging out with this girl
Day 344 | Flat Abby
Day 345 | December Daily Day 10
Day 346 | Blanket making
Day 347 | Still haven’t warmed up today
Day 348 | Good morning sunshine
Day 349 | For the 26 families whose world crumbled today.
Day 350 | Plaza
Day 351 | Sunday morning
Day 352 | Learning more about those sweet babies
Day 353 | “I think I’ll lay right here.”
Day 354 | The Polar Express ornament has rung 8 times tonight without anyone walking by it or touching it.  Hmm….
Day 355 | Hello snow!
Day 356 | Family Game Night
Day 357 | Secret Santa with the girls.
Day 358 | Opie cuddles.
Day 359 | Santa Claus is coming to town.
Day 360 | Merry Christmas!
Day 361 | She loves her new bed.
Day 362 | Doesn't look like I'll be going anywhere soon.
Day 363 | At least the hospital is decorated.
Day 364 | Another day at the hospital.  Dad is still fighting a fever. 
Day 365 | More crafting... New project.
Day 366 | Ending my photo a day project with snow watching.

#21 of 101
Completed: December 31, 2012

Saturday, December 29, 2012

#27 | Watch all the Best Picture Oscar Movies

We did it!  Mom and I have watched every single movie that won an Academy Award for Best Picture.  It took us 21 ½ months but we did it.  Some of these movies we had never seen before and they were incredible, others not so much.

About half way through I decided to make notes/comments about each movie.  Unfortunately I don’t remember some of them, at least not enough for me to make an accurate comment.  So this will have to do.

The ones that are italicized are my top ten picks.  The ones that are underlined are mom’s top ten picks.  We agreed on four of them.  It was so hard to narrow it down to ten.

1928 | Wings | Not too bad after you got over the shock there are NO words.
1929 | The Broadway Melody | Pretty good.  If you want a good laugh rent it and watch the dancing.
1930 | All Quiet on the Western Front | Loved this!  A good surprise.
1931 | Cimarron |
1932 | Grand Hotel |
1933 | Cavalcade |
1934 | It Happened One Night | Very very cute move.  Loved it!
1935  | Mutiny on the Bounty | Not a big fan.  Couldn’t keep my attention.
1936 | The Great Ziegfeld
1937 | The Life of Emile Zola | Not too great.
1938 | You Can’t Take it with You | How was this even nominated.
1939 | Gone with the Wind | Classic.
1940 | Rebecca | I remember seeing this a few times and re-watched it for this list.  It’s a pretty good movie.
1941  | How Green Was My Valley | Pretty good.  Lost interest in middle though.
1942 | Mrs. Miniver | Cute but nothing extraordinary.
1943 | Casablanca | Over rated.  Second time watching and couldn’t keep my attention.
1944 | Going My Way | Ok.  Not sure why it won though.
1945 | The Lost Weekend | A pretty good movie.  It had some funny parts, but the story line is a little sad, especially since I have a few family members who have suffered from alcoholism.
1946 | The Best Years of Our Lives | Definitely one of the best movies ever.
1947 | Gentleman’s Agreement | I liked this movie.  Had an interesting story line.
1948 | Hamlet | I had to study way too much Shakespeare in high school so I think I’m still burned out.  But this was a really good rendition of the story.
1949 | All the King’s Men | Didn’t keep my attention….
1950 | All About Eve | One of the first movies I watched on this list.  Liked it, very good movie.
1951 | An American in Paris | Love Gene Kelly!
1952 | The Greatest Show on Earth | Circus move.  A little long, but not too bad.
1953 | From Here to Eternity | Really good.  One of the best movies on the list.
1954 | On the Waterfront | Good movie.
1955 | Marty | Short, cute, and sweet.
1956 | Around the World in 80 Days | Not sure how this made Best Picture with much better moves released this year.  At least the butler was funny.
1957 | The Bridge on the River Kwai | Very unrealistic.  I can guarantee being a POW in WWII was not that easy.
1958 | Gigi | I used to watch this a lot when I was little, but had to re-watch.
1959 | Ben Hur | I’ve seen this many times when I was little.  Very good. 3 ½ hours in a little long…
1960 | The Apartment | Seen before and wanted to re-watch.  Love Jack Lemmon, one of my favorite actors.
1961 | West Side Story | One of the best musicals ever.
1962 | Lawrence of Arabia | Ok.  A little strange and hard to follow.
1963 | Tom Jones | OMG this movie was awful.
1964 | My Fair Lady | I grew up watching this movie.  Been a while since  I’d seen it and I remembered a lot of it.
1965 | The Sound of Music | The ultimate musical.  Seriously, who hasn’t seen it?
1966 | A Man for All Seasons | I listened to this movie…
1967 | In the Heat of the Night | Good movie.  Seen it multiples times.
1968 | Oliver | I was more interested in learning about the actors, but it wasn’t too bad.  Nice to see another musical win Best Picture.
1969 | Midnight Cowboy | I can’t believe this movie got Best Picture.  The acting in it was pretty good, but the story line, wow.  Don’t want to watch that movie again.
1970 | Patton | Pretty good movie.
1971 | The French Connection |
1972 | The Godfather | Excellent movie
1973 | The Sting | Good.  Needed some explaining though.  Dad helped!
1974 | The Godfather II |
1975 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest | One of dad’s favorites.  Good, but so sad.
1976 | Rocky | I thought this would be horrible, but it was kind of funny.
1977 | Annie Hall | Strange.
1978 | The Deer Hunter | Could have cut out an hour, but really good movie.
1979 | Kramer vs. Kramer | Good.  Classic.
1980 | Ordinary People | Good.  The mom in it made me mad though.
1981 | Chariots of Fire | I saw this movie when I was younger and really into running.  Didn’t like it as much this time around, but the theme song it still great.
1982 | Gandhi | Much better than what I was expecting.  Parts of the movie were a little slow, but overall it was pretty good.
1983 | Terms of Endearment | I’ve seen this movie many times before and really like it.
1984 | Amadeus | Kind of funny; loved it when the characters were describing the music.  It was fascinating, especially coming form a musical family.
1985 | Out of Africa – Good.  Long.  Sad.
1986 | Platoon | It didn’t feel like the movie was ready to end when it did.
1987 | The Last Emperor | Super long.  And some parts were quite disgusting.
1988 | Rain Man | So good!
1989  | Driving Miss Daisy | A great movie.
1990 | Dances with Wolves | Mom has tried to get me to watch this movie for years.  I wish I had let her because it is a really good movie.
1991 | Silence of the Lambs | Creepy
1992 | Unforgiven | I feel like it only won an Oscar because it had some big time people in it.
1993 | Schindler’s List
1994 | Forrest Gump | Seriously?  Who hasn’t seen this one? Of course it’s good!
1995 | Braveheart | My parents used to watch this all the time when it first came out.  I had heard it many times, but was often told, “Megan, don’t look.”  I finally got to see it all the way through, excellent movie.  Really surprised Mel Gibson didn’t win the Oscar for Best Actor.
1996 | The English Patient | Wonderful movie.  I watch it every time it is on.
1997 | Titanic | One of my all time favorite movies.  I can watch it over and over.  And I’ve watched all the extras on the DVD.  I know so much about how they made this movie it is slightly embarrassing…slightly.
1998 | Shakespeare in Love | I liked this movie.  I remember trying to watch it a few years ago and not being able to sit through it, but I liked it this time.
1999 | American Beauty | Strange.  Makes me want to keep my windows shut at night so people can’t see in.
2000 | Gladiator | Great movie!
2001 | A Beautiful Mind | Mom said it was long and boring, but I didn’t think it was too bad.  I actually liked it.
2002 | Chicago | I had seen this movie when it first came to DVD and we one it, but my family didn’t really care for it.  Since I didn’t remember the movie I thought I’d re-watch it.  This time I really liked it. The interpretation of dance was amazing.  I may even watch it again.
2003 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | We went to see this series for our Christmas movie all 3 consecutive years.  The first movie was my favorite, but this one wasn’t bad.
2004 | Million Dollar Baby | Such a sad movie.  Wonderful acting.
2005 | Crash | Loved this!
2006 | The Departed | Good movie.  I remember the first time I saw it I was a little bit confused. It is one that you need to see it a few more times to fully understand it.  At least I do!
2007 | No Country for Old Men | I could have gone through life not seeing this movie.
2008 | Slumdog Millionaire | I was not expecting much from this movie, but it turned out to be a great one!
2009 | The Hurt Locker | I had high expectations for this movie and was sadly let down.
2010 | The King’s Speech | Really, really good.  Totally understand how it won Best Picture and Colin Firth was great.  And I really liked the cinematography.
2011 | The Artist | I was skeptical, but I really liked

20 of 101
Completed: December 28, 2012

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Project #4 | December Daily Book


So loved this project.  I'm definitely going to be doing this again next year.  And I can't wait!

Project #4 of 10
See more here.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

#24 | Send Christmas Cards



93 cards sent to 15 states.

If you are a good family friend of ours, your card is on its way.  We were a little delayed this year.  Sorry!

18 of 101
Completed: December 21, 2012

Saturday, December 22, 2012

40 Recipes | #5 White Chocolate Peppermint M&M Cookies



Recipe Source:  I found this recipe on Pinterest, which led me to this blog: number-2-pencil

Ingredients:
14 tablespoons of melted and cooled butter
3/4 cup of granulated sugar
3/4 cup of firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 a cup of Hershey's unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of peppermint extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 bag of White Chocolate Peppermint M&M's

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, sugars, cocoa, salt, vanilla extract and peppermint extract. Stir on low just until combined. Continue stirring and add eggs one at a time. Then add flour and baking soda to bowl and stir just until dough forms. 
3.  Form two tablespoons of dough into balls and place on cookie sheet. Place ten White Chocolate Peppermint M&M's on top of each cookie dough ball and bake for about ten minutes.
4.  Remove from oven and let cool. 

Thoughts:  This cookie had very good mint flavor, however, they needed some modifying.  The cookie did not have enough flour. 

Verdict:  Make again?  Yes!  These are definitely a holiday cookie.  If you want these through out the year, you will have to buy a years supply of peppermint M&Ms because they are only available during the holidays.


NOTE:  I re-made these following the basic tollhouse chocolate chip cookies.  I didn't add the chocolate chips and I added a tsp of peppermint extract.  Turned out much better!