Things

Needing a serious pick me up this week; 

new vans, birchbox shipped, best friend catchups, support from my mom, jeans and a tanktop for twenty dollars, mint shorts, cool beautiful weather, possibly swimming with manatees, almost done with the semester,  iced coffee, baby carrots, ulta sales, actually enjoying bio class, pintrest, making new girlfriends, ice cream, having someone who loves both my good and bad sides, home cooked meals, drinking more water, food network, fresh veggies, etc.

I apologize for the lack of posts, the end of this semester has been swamping me, can't wait for it to be over, along with other things.

A sugary review

So, when I found out about Duncan Hines new Frosting Creations Flavor Mixes I had to check them out. When I discovered they had a Cotton Candy flavor I just about lost it and drooled all over my keyboard. Cotton Candy could be one of my main food groups. No exaggerations. I eat it all the time, every time I go somewhere that has it, have a Cotton Candy maker and even buy ten bags of the store bought kind every time I catch it included in Kroger's ten for ten sale.

It's safe to say I'm obsessed.

Duncan Hines even provides two recipes on their website. A Cotton Candy Cake Pop and Cotton Candy Cupcakes. Both of which look absolutely delicious.

Click here to view the recipes 

I decided that I would try out making a Cotton Candy cupcake. I didn't get fancy at all with my cupcakes, just wanted to try out this new icing for taste.

I used a plain white cake mix, the Cotton Candy flavor pack and the starter icing. Overall, I am happy with them. The taste is really sweet and the Cotton Candy flavor does come through. I am thinking I am going to try using two flavor packages next time around to add more Cotton Candy flavor. I wish I hadn't eaten all my Cotton Candy so I could have added a little decoration but oh well.

I recommend you try out these new flavor packets and see what you can come up with!

Appreciate - Succulents

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Simple dinner idea

I am in no way, shape or form a chef but after a nice evening spent in Barnes & Nobel, specifically the cooking section, I was motivated to go home and whip up a quick meal with what I already have handy. I raided my fridge, as well as my cabinets and came up with the idea of an asparagus pasta dish with a sauce.

Quick run down of what you need and how it was made:

What:
Asparagus
Pasta (any will work, I used angel hair)
Salt
Pepper
Fresh Garlic
Basil
Fresh Shredded Parmesan
Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup of the water the asparagus was cooked in

I didn't do any real measuring besides the amount of asparagus water I used, just wing it to your taste!

How:
Chop and boil asparagus
Boil pasta
Mix 1/2 cup asparagus water and a small amount of your cooked asparagus along with the other ingredients listed above in the blender. Blend about a minute. My sauce ended up a wonderful light green color.

Finally, mix it all up in big bowl, serve and enjoy!

A much needed fortune

Appreciate - Adam jk

Adam J. Kurtz is a graphic artist and media designer. This week for my Appreciate post, I appreciate his work. I have been following his work for quite some time now and I just recently purchased his 2012 planner (pictured below) to keep track of my daily activities.

One of his designs has even been featured on a shirt for Urban Outfitters

He is currently working on many projects but my favorite would have to be his Week In Scraps. "Ongoing documentation of found and curated objects and artifacts"

Visit Adam and see more of his work at www.adamjustkidding.com

All images belong to Adam.

Design Inspiration

All photos via