Thoughts (and other useless stuff)

Friday, August 5, 2011

Fill in the blank Friday.

1) My go to outfit for a dress-up occasion like a wedding is a summery dress. Considering I'm only 16, I don't go to too many weddings on a regular basis.

2) This week has been both relaxing and stressful. It started out stressful. I had a friend over for two nights who is going through heck with three different guys. I'm telling ya - the single life is so much easier. Especially in high school.

3) When it's dinnertime and I'm feeling lazy I'll usually eat just pasta with Parmesan cheese.

4) My favorite pair of shoes is my Gola sneakers, or TOMS.

5) A random item that I own that is completely unneccesary, but I could never part with is my movie ticket stubs. I love looking through them every once in a while. Brings back memories.

6) My favorite person is my sister and brother-in-law. I know I talk about them a lot, but they really mean the world. You don't meet too many people like them!

7) If I were going to write my own blank it would say "What's your favorite place?"

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Do you like pasta? Chicken? Broccoli? Me too.

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed how lately I've been tweeting quite a lot about Food Network. In all honesty, it's kind of like a drug. Once you're hooked, it's hard to stop!

The last three days I have made dinner, and I thought that I would start to document once a week, a dish that I have cooked.

Tonight I cooked my take on Ina Garten's Broccoli and Bow Ties.

First, cut up your broccoli and put it into boiling water for 3 minutes.

Then, start pan frying your chicken.

I kept the seasoning simple for the chicken: Extra Light Olive Oil, sea salt, and freshly cracked black pepper. Because it must be fresh. Must.

It's okay to do your homework for driver's training while cooking the chicken.

Once the chicken is done, slice it into about 1/4-1/2 inch thick pieces.

Now, add the broccoli into the pan you cooked the chicken in. Add some more olive oil, salt, and pepper. Let it cook for about 10-15 minutes. Let it get some good color.

Make sure that you're listening to some of your favorite music while you're cooking as well.

Next, start cooking some pasta in the water you cooked the broccoli in. (Your water will probably be slightly green, I, on accident, dumped it out....)

Once the pasta is cooked, and the broccoli has some color, add it all to a BIG bowl. (This one ended up being too small!)

And... viola. Sprinkle in some more oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, zest, and garlic.

It was so good! 3 hours later I'm still full.

Let me know if you decide to try it. You won't regret it!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Driver's Training: Part 2 (This time it gets funny)

About a week ago my mother called our local driving school, trying to sign me up for Segment 2.

We never get a call back, so we just think that I'll show up and see what happens.

Segment 2 started tonight. We realize at 4:52pm that it starts this evening. We assume it starts at 5:30 like Segment 1, so my mom calls just to double check. Guess what? It starts at 5. Which would be fine; except for the fact that we live 15 minutes away from town.

I'm the type of person that gets very anxious if I'm late. I dread it. It makes me all nervous, because I realize that when I walk in, everyone's going to stare at me. Certain attention I love, like telling a good joke, but all other kinds of attention make me sick.

We pull up at about 5:08pm. Should I remind you that I'm not even sure that I can take segment 2 at this time? I walk in, and of course, it's dead silent. All 15 or so of the teens are working on filling out a sheet on driving experience. They turn and stare. Awkward to the max.

They end up letting me take it. I grab the closest seat. I'm so thrown off by everyone staring at me, that I can't focus for a good 15 minutes.

Class starts, and I'm given the driving experiences sheet. Out of the 10 questions, I could answer a solid 4 confidently. "What are two mistakes that could cause a collision at an intersection?" "What does 'zero tolerance' mean in driving?" My mind wanders. Can't focus a bit.

Then, I notice something. There is a flower on the window sill.

But not just any flower.

A dancing flower.

It looked a little like this:

Not only is it a plastic flower, but...

it's dancing. The flower is dancing. The stem and petals are bobbing up and down, and the leaves are moving side to side.

I sit there for a moment, thinking about the flower. I'm dumbfounded. I don't understand why anyone would purchase a mechanical dancing flower. What is the purpose? I think about that. Would you spend your good, hard-earned money on a mechanical dancing flower?

Eventually I refocus. The entire two hour class today was about texting while driving and how you'll die if you do it. This is something I will never do, however, so it was pretty much a wasted two hours.

I can't wait to go back tomorrow.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Fill in the blank Friday.

1) My favorite color is gray. I don't really like flashy things. I like gray. It's nice. It's simple.

Don't judge. :)

2) My travel destination of choice is Paris, France! Ahhh.

3) My favorite food is oh gosh. Well, I Dream of Weenie in Nashville has some pretty fabulous hot dogs. Weird favorite food? Yeah, the other one is sweet potatoes. So...

4) My favorite place is in Nashville, with my sister and brother-in-law.

5) My favorite saying is ...check back later. :) I have to think this one out!

6) My dirty little secret is I am in love with Louis Tomlinson.

7) Something friends might say about me is that I try to be witty, whether I succeed or not.

Have a great Friday everyone!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Summer Bucket List (even though it's almost August.)

I should probably explain my absence for the past 2 months.

You see, I've been babysitting 60 hours a week since school got out!

Good news though - I'm done until the last week of August. :)

I didn't want to just waste away my summer, so a few weeks ago I started my...

*drum roll please*

Summer Bucket List!

1) Read 5 books.

So far I've read

-True Believer by Nicholas Sparks, and I'm working on The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

Do you guys have any suggestions for a summer reading book? I'm thinking I'll read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen next.

2) Find a hairstyle I love

(sounds weird, I know.) But I hate my current do. I just put it in a bun every single day because it's just so, blah. But I'm getting it cut Wednesday, so stay tuned!

3) Cook dinner for Ashley and Josh

My sister and brother-in-law. I'm going to visit them in three weeks, and I'm staying at their house for two weeks. I'd like to say thanks for their hospitality by cooking them dinner at least once!

4) Draw/Create a picture worthy of framing

I'm kind of into art. Well, I like creativity. I'm by no means a good drawer - but I want to make something that i can hang in my room, that I created!