Travel

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Texas with some wonderful folks! I went as a surprise to my good friend Maggie, who had been in Southern Texas for the last 4 months. Suffice to say it was my first time being a surprise present, but Maggie is home in Maine where she belongs now ;).

We saw a lot of sights and had many a laugh; here are just a few pictures from the trip that a love.

A sculpture that I think France gave America at a World's Fair. 

 Me and a lovely little lady :)

 Me with Mr. and Mrs. Wright outside of the Alamo Cafe, where we ate on the first night there. 

 The river walk. It was beautiful at night! 

 Mr. Wright and Sheldon in the Alamo :)

We saw these Flamingos at Sea World, along with the killers whales, penguins, dolphins, puffins, pelicans, and sharks.

Maggie reluctantly getting her picture taken :D <3.

In two days me and 9 others will be in a van driving down to Tennessee! We are attending the TeenPact National Convention held at the Fort Bluff camp ground. So I'm basically going to be gone for the rest of May.
In other news, My tomato and jalapeño plants are getting very big! I need to transplant them pretty soon, but there is still no soil in the garden boxes...

Meeting Goals

It is that sort of a day, so much time + so many things to do + rain = nothing done at all.

BUT, there have been some highlights; first, this morning I woke up to tomato and jalapeño plant sprouts!!

This is the first year I am trying to plant a garden, and it is a little nerve racking. My dad is building me two raised beds, about 8x8 feet, to plant in, and I'm super excited for the point when I can actual plant some stuff :). 

 See! It's a tomato plant! 

 I know this picture is super fuzzy and a little painful to look at, but it is most definitely a little jalapeño plant.

 Second highlight; I successfully made hamburger buns! I tried it once before and it ended up as dense dinner rolls, but these were perfect-- if I do say so myself. I made them from the King Arthur Flour cookbook. Of course.

Right before my birthday I made this list, 15 things to do before I turn 16.

And guess what? After 4 months.... 2 things are crossed off. But I'm working on a bunch more! 

Friday night was our church talent show, and I sang and played guitar, by myself. #1, check.

As I mentioned earlier, I have started planting my garden! Just got to wait till the end of May so I can actual plant it. I'm also running with my brother a few times a week to get ready for the July 4th L.L. Bean 10k! It's not 9 miles, but it's very close...

Also, in May me and a bunch of other TeenPacters are taking a road trip to Tennessee to attend TeenPact National Convention, which is on the list!

That ^ all was a little meaningless, but point being: this is going to be a great year. 

Taste the Rainbow

That's right; I finally made rainbow cupcakes. Or sort of rainbow, I went for more of a pastel rainbow look, and some of them are tie die. It was something I had been meaning to do for a while, and the 16th birthday of one of my best friends, Emily, was the perfect occasion!
I used the Elegant White Cake recipe from the King Arthur Flour cookbook; which, by the way, is an amazing cookbook. Every recipe I have tried so far as been a delicious success.  I tried to find the recipe online, but I suppose you will just have to buy the book. Or just find any white cake recipe... That one is just really moist and delicious, don't settle for less ;).
First, I just divided up the batter and made whatever colours I wanted, then layered them in a rainbow-like way. I ran out of some colours sooner than others, so I swirled those ones together.

 Voilà! Rainbow cupcakes. So simple :).

I frosted them with butter-cream frosting from a recipe in, you guess, King Arthur Flour.
I was going to swirl the green and pink together, but that was turning out to be more complicated then I had time for...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY! 

I don't have any cool craft, or baking experience to share... Just thought it was about time to post something.
In the last 3ish weeks I have:
a) Gotten a haircut, almost 12"! Unfortunately I have never gotten it to be as perfect as the haircut lady did. Oh well...

b) Broken my camera :'(. I was in a hurry and may have closed the car door on my Olympus E520. Fortunately the only thing that happened was the LCD screen cracked, so now I can't see any of the picture I take until I put them on the computer... It's like the olden days. I still manage to use it on manual setting though, and later that day got some pretty good shots! Now my darling camera is lying disassembled in my brothers room, it's looking grim.

d) Started to fix up a 50/60's dress that used to be my great aunts. I have a before picture, but it's pretty embarrassing. I'm hoping it never ends up on the internet.

e) Been a bum. For about a week Maine had June-like weather, it was gorgeous to say the least. Now it has returned to cold March/April weather. I took this picture on the way home from the HOME convention, it was the last day of the nice weather.

Tomorrow is the first day of 4 that I'm headed up to Augusta for TeenPact! So much excitement.

Pi Smoothie

I made a pumpkin pie, then made it into a pi pie, then made it into a smoothie. Mhmm. 

Ok, first of all; I had been planning on making pumpkin pie smoothies for a while, but since today is Pi Day it seemed like the opportune time to do it. And yes, I know, linking pi to pie is very cliché... But hey, I live in America, that's what we do. 

I found the idea here, but why just go there when you can learn how on my blog instead?

All you need is a pumpkin pie, vanilla ice cream, and milk.

 Then put 1 piece of pie, and 1 1/2ish scoops of ice cream, and 1 cupish milk into the blender. Alright, my measurements weren't very exact. Maybe you should just go read that other blog...

Blenderize for a little bit then.... Bam! Pumpkin pie smoothie.

Me and my brother both thought is was delicious, but my parents opted for the more conventional route and ate it without it having been in the blender.