The hood

When I first bought my home I had visions of warm, welcoming neighbors showing up at my front door with casseroles or jello molds (not that I'm particularly fond of casseroles or jello molds, but it's the thought here, people!)

Well, that little daydream quickly proved itself wrong. I'd like to chuck it up to the fact that I moved in in the dead of winter... no one wants to trek outside in 2ft of snow to bring the welcome wagon. Or maybe it's because many of my neighbors are of the blue-haired variety, and their little electric scooters are in the shop getting repaired? 

First there was the escaped convict that was apparently roaming through our streets on Friday night, causing cops to put us on lockdown.  Thankfully I learned he was just a crazy divorcee, not some serial killer.

Then there was a little newspaper incident early on that had me seriously considering the area I moved into... but then a few months later once Scott became buddybuddy with the little klepto and I had no choice but to forgive her for what happened and move on. 

Then there was the time that I had a few friends over for a bonfire one night and my across-the-street neighbors tried to like 'outdo' us by turning their music up super loud and hootin & hollerin (note: they aren't young... they're like 40s with multiple kids). They are driveway sitters, and make me uncomfortable to be in my front yard. or driveway. or anywhere within plain view of them. Every evening they drag all their lawn chairs into the driveway and all 12 of them sit around chatting or something?

I have a cattycorner neighbor behind me with a with an old basset hound that looovvvesss to sit and whimper on the back porch. To which she replies in a sickeningly sweet tone "Olive... I am right here, you are fine Olive.... Aahhhhh-live you're fine sweetie, it's ok AaaahhhhhLIVE" 

And then there's the house behind me,  with the hyperactive jack russell, which prods the neverending 'Mya... myyyyyUH. MYUHHHH' as the mutt darts off through the neighbors yard. Every. single. day.

But I think my favorite neighbor has become the cattycorner across the street (dang maybe I need a diagram!) We will call him Mr. Excitable. Mr. Excitable is colored (newspaper thief pointed this out to me, and specifically said that she invited him to my housewarming party because -and I quote - "he is black and she did not want him to feel left out"), and has a wife and from what I can tell an awfully cute little mixed babygirl. I call him Mr. Excitable because anytime he see's me outside he frantically waves. I can't help but laugh, I'm not sure if he realizes it...but he always makes it a point to shout HI! and wave, and always seems so. dang. excited. Sometimes if I notice he's outside I will purposely go get something out of my garage so I can get that OH,OH,OH! HIIIII! wave from him



Neighbors are funny creatures. 
 

So What Wednesday

It's my favorite blog day of the week!

So What Wednesday

Link up with Life After I "Dew" if you wanna dish too!

 

So what if I am unnecessarily nervous to call the Prosecuter's office about getting a deferral for my ticket. I'm a good kid, I don't have to deal with the law much, they intimidate me.




So what if I woke up this morning seriously concerned about where I'm going to put a Christmas tree up in my house. I literally got out of bed and went down & inspected my living room. Still no answer, but I have a few ideas. I must have been dreaming about the Grinch or something!?

So what if I am quite excited to go shopping for Holly's gift for the Fall's Favorite Finds swap

So what if I practically ended up cooking dinner for everyone at my mom's house on Monday (Monday night family dinners, duh!). She cooks every week, I was just tryin to help out!




So what if I so badly want to do a before/after of all the rooms since the "1 year anniversary" of buying my house is coming up, but that's a whole lot of straightening up to do... and that is just a daunting task. 

So what if my mom and I were more worried about snapping photos of ourselves than actually WATCHING the game Sunday night. Hey, you can never have too many mama/daughter photos!

So what if the search for the indestructible dog toy is still failing miserably. Atleast it's just toys he tears up, and not my shoes 


So what if, no matter how many squiggly red lines I get, I will never NEVER be ok with spelling it "at least" instead of "atleast" 




So what if my most recent trip to the grocery consisted of 6 cans of Campbells, 2 Lean Cuisine french bread pizzas (those are delish btdub) and a loaf of bread. Hello lunch for 2 weeks straight!

Still wanting more? Check out my SoWhat's from weeks past - 

I promise there's some good ones that'll keep you giggling!

Colored denim

Oh, colored denim.

Back when I was like 8, I had every color. I distinctly remember wearing my forest green jeans with construction boots, a turtleneck and a sweatshirt over it. God, I wish I had a picture to share!

Yet, I still find myself drawn to them. Funny, you think I'd be running for the high hills after that memory recollection.  

Source: lookbook.nu via Emily on Pinterest

Source: shop.nordstrom.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: blog.denydesigns.com via Meagan on Pinterest

Source: swell.com via Johanna on Pinterest

Source: styleretail.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: None via Aleksi on Pinterest

Source: people.com via Michele on Pinterest

Source: None via Margaret on Pinterest

Do you own any?? I bought a pair of bright blue skinnies last summer, but chickened out and took em back.

Where'd you get em?

I can't justify spending anywhere over like $50 on them, but I do think I need to get a few candy coated colors before too long! They are just too much fun to ignore

Peanut butter bleh

Ooh our Colts. In an effort to numb the pain of what was sure to be a blow out game, we drank.
We drank tequila-soaked cherries, and two different flavors of jello shots and even killed a bottle of Cherry Pucker Vodka.

Much to our surprise, the game wasn't THAT painful. We only lost by 3!

However, what was disappointing was the dessert that I had such high hopes for. After last weeks cheesecake stuffed strawberries were such a hit, I tried to follow it up with another blowout.

Enter the peanut butter cheeseball.

Source: the-girl-who-ate-everything.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

Looks awfully tasty, doesn't it? But meh... it was sorta boring in my opinion. It wasn't gross by any means, just not very exciting. Have you tried making this? It's been floating around Pinterest for a little while now

Hey, I guess you can't win em all?!

Mixer & Mingle Fridays : Bloody Marys

Do you do bloody mary's? I'll be honest... I don't.

I can't.

I want to...I try. But every time I have that seasoning-rimmed, celery-garnished cocktail in my hand I can't help but think I'm drinking cold tomato soup.

I love tomatoes, I could eat a whole bushel (is that how you measure tomatoes? Bushels? Pecks? Meh who knows) of fresh from the vine tomatoes, but no tomato juice concoctions tickle my fancy.



MOVING ON --



Bloody Mary's. If you DO get down with the Mary, have you ever mixed it up a bit?

Earlier this year Effen Vodka released their cucumber vodka. I've heard it's uh-mazing in bloody mary's. Sound a little weird? Maybe?

What about a totally organic spirit, like American Harvest. It's pretty much considered a "vodka" but because of some USDA mumbojumbo it cannot be called a vodka, it's smooth though and makes the perfect health-conscious bloody mary!

What about something spicy like Absolut Peppar? Kick your Mary's up a notch!


So tell me... what's your flavor of choice for these early afternoon classic cocktails?

Still thirsty? Check out my other Mixer & Mingle Friday features here! 

Seriously?! Thursday

I think today marks the perfect day to link up with my fellow Hoosier'ette, Becky, over at From Mrs. to Momma for SERIOUSLY?! Thursday

1. Up until this morning I had never received a ticket, been in an accident or pulled over. Well apparently cops are also grumpy at 7am and I am now the proud owner of a "UNSAFE LANE CHANGE" ticket. We were at a stoplight, the other lane started moving so I hopped over. I'm sorry Mr Officer but how do you figure that I "cut you off" when you weren't even moving.  SERIOUSLY?!


2. My showerhead is on strike or something. For the past week or so I have been attempting to rinse shampoo from my hair under the equivalent of a water fountain. What happened to my water pressure?! SERIOUSLY?!

3. My mutt, of whom I love so very much, decided to take it upon himself to begin ripping up the carpet (albeit it is ugly carpet) from my sun room, aka the room he stays in when I'm gone. Wasn't planning on taking on that home improvement project for a while but now I have no choice! I really. really. really. adore him. Really. SERIOUSLY?!


4. I'm pretty much convinced that someone provided my left ovary with a Swiss army knife. I don't know who it was or why they did it, but the pain is intense and I'm not a happy camper. Dear ovary, stop stabbing me. SERIOUSLY?!


5. We're supposed to be going camping this weekend, but now the weather has decided to play games and bombard us with lows in the 40s every night.  SERIOUSLY?!


6. After dinner last night we went to Nordstrom Rack and I found atleast 4 pairs of jeans I wanted. I had to narrow it down to only one. Stupid mortgage.  SERIOUSLY?!


7. I now have a bruise on my hand from walking past a door the other day and slamming my hand into the knob because I apparently swung my arm at the wrong time.  SERIOUSLY?!

 
8. And I've been so busy writing these rants up, and (gasp) actually doing work, that I went to take a drink of my coffee and it's now cold.  SERIOUSLY?!


Phew... that felt good! I'm going to go plaster a smile on my face now and make myself have a good day!

 

my 23rd year

Yesterday begun the countdown - exactly one month until my birthday! To say that 23 was a weird year for me would be a SERIOUS understatement.

It was full. Full of so much everything.

3 days before my 23rd birthday, as I was still grasping at the coattails of 22, I found out that an offer I put in on a house was accepted. After 5 long months of hunting, I had found the one!

That next weekend I did what any about-to-be-first-time-homebuyer would do, jetted off to Vegas to see my best friend! I actually won enough money playing Roulette to cover what I spent on the trip, which was probably a good thing considering the amount of cash I'd soon be shelling out on an abode.

In early November I had my first blogdate EVER with Aly, the rest of November was filled with closing on my house and beginning to tear it apart. Spent countless hours throughout November working on the house, with the help of my parents, Chris and all my other friends who joined in on the fun.

In early December I hit a wall and had my first big house related breakdown. I was stuck. Frustrated. Oh, and I discovered that I most definitely have a ghost living in my home with me. Ethel. Good 'ol Ethel. She's a good ghost though, always playing tricks.

I rounded out 2010 with a broken furnace and think I fell asleep before the ball even dropped into 2011.

(Are you wore out yet? Because we aren't even 2 months into my 23rd year?!)

The first week of January I got all moved into my house. It was suddenly becoming a home. But, as is life, when one things comes together another falls apart and Chris and I found our relationship struggling. After many hard weeks of trying to force it we came to the conclusion that maybe we are just meant to be really good friends and not lovers.

Along with all of that fun I decided to toss my name in the pot for another position at my work. It didn't work out but I was glad that I got my name out there and made some people realize I do have a lot of potential.

I think it's safe to say that in late January I truly learned how to open up and lean on others. I realized that I just couldn't do it alone... and that that was perfectly ok! That stumbling was ok.

March filled itself up with soul-searching, DIYing and just continuing to get settled in the home. It was probably good that it was a calm month. Things were about to get real crazy!

Late one Wednesday night in April I received a random phone call from my best friend telling me that her husbands best friend was offering me up a plane ticket to come out to Vegas to see them all that following weekend. Of course, I graciously accepted the offer! After getting back I had a new view on life and became a self-proclaimed "yes" girl!


A handful of days after I got back from Sin City, I set off to Negril with my momma. Our girls getaway couldn't have came at a better time. I fully soaked up a week of sun and relaxation. Of course, anyone who knows me knows I can't just sit still and ended up acquiring a Jamaican Husband and the promise of "chocolately smooth Jamaican babies" (Jamaican Hubs Chronicles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

May brought race cars to the circle city and with it all my racing friends came out of the woodwork - many a good night was had with everyone around! And in true "yes girl" form, I sashayed my way into Important Person status for some race happenings and ended up meeting some people who would prove to form a crucial part of my story of my 23rd year.

As May came to a close I found myself being offered another spur-of-the-moment trip on someone else's dime. I graciously accepted again, and made my way to the West Coast

After coming back to the midwest I dove headfirst into a budding relationship and spent most of June, July and August with that cute boy from the track. I was so happy at that point I even wrote about my appreciate for everyone that had cheated on me before. Oh the irony. According to the law of physics, what goes up must come down... so the end of August all hell broke loose and my true character was tested. A ruined trip to Jamaica, a stint in the hospital and a bomb being dropped.

September ushered in a season of deep thinking and more soul searching. I didn't completely break my spontaneous streak from the spring though, as I enjoyed a whole weekend with some newfound friends which was a welcomed break from reality. And now, as I round out my 23rd year I've decided to follow my heart and see where it leads me.


Twenty-three threw me into a position where I had no choice but to basically grow up. I've learned so much about myself and the girl I've become in the past 11 months. I'm strong-willed, stubborn as hell, but have a softspot deep down. I always follow my heart, even if it is poorly planned and spur of the moment. I get confused, mixed up and lost at times but I find my way. I've got a good head on my shoulders, compliments of my family and friends and randoms along the way, all of whom have had a little part in shaping the person that I am today.

It's been hard at times to share all the parts of this journey, my life, so publicly on my blog but I absolutely adore it, I love being able to look back on everything - relive the fun times, learn from the sad times and just enjoy the bond I've made along the way!

An update of sorts

So, yea. Deleted that last post. I think a lot of things got misconstrued... understandably. Sometimes it's easy for me to forget that ya'll don't know the whole story, or really any of the happenings of the past few weeks. For those who saw it - I meant it as a funny little lighthearted post that you would laugh at since I mention my affinity for watches at least every other week.

Blame it on all the RomCom's I've watched over the years, the countless hours of television break-ups and fights, or probably (and most likely) the chapters upon chapters of love stories in those light-hearted chick lits... but somewhere along the way I had an idea of how a guy proves to you he wants to fix something. How he makes you forget about his mistake, how he proves to you that all will be right in the world again.

It's really quite simple - I mean, he sets up post outside your bedroom window in the pouring rain with a boombox and the sappiest of love songs. Duh?! Don't all girls know that?? Shouldn't all guys know that? No? Probably not. Especially not when you're telling them to not talk to you or text you, probably not when you say that you just want space and time to absorb what happened.

Well after a particularly emotional argument with Scott a few weeks ago I spouted out the fact that actions speak louder than words and all he had done so far was talk.

A few days later I came home from work to find 3 flowers, each with their own apology note attached, on each step of my back porch. There's been flowers hidden between my storm door & main door, there's been balloons scribbled with Sharpie writings of all the things he misses, and there's been the watch that somehow found it's way inside my garage to be discovered when I came home that evening.

So yes - I did open it up to that avenue. I did essentially say please prove to me that you think about me, show me you're that same thoughtful guy I first fell for. 

If I said he wasn't trying I'd be flatout lying. It's not just the physical actions that I'm speaking of though. We've communicated more in the past couple weeks than in the entire time I knew him. He's completely opened up and started letting me in. He has talked with family and close friends about what he did, why he (thinks he) did it and how to make things right. Don't let me fool you though, none of this has been easy for him... just because I say that deep down I feel like our story isn't meant to end here I am not saying I will be quick to jump back in.

So while part of me wants to dish it all out here and prove to everyone what has been going on, I know half of what I say will (again, understandably) be read with a critical eye and I'm just not really in the mood for it honestly. Things are tough enough as is. I will say that we've been on a few "dates" though and I am hopeful and for the most part happy. That doesn't mean I'm not looking out for myself though.  I guess I'm just particularly on the defensive today but I promise I'm not just some stupid girl, give me a break.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

We have tailgated with the same big group of people for the past like 8 years at every home Colts game... we've all become some sort of fine-tuned machine, full of competitive cornhole, great company and delicious food.

The thing is, when you tailgate together for that long - you go past the 'bag of chips and salsa' tailgating, we actually have a menu for the tailgating season and everyone brings a complimentary side dish / appetizer or dessert if it's not your week to make the main menu item.

Since this Sunday was a 1 o'clock game, we did the traditional biscuits & gravy, with tater tot casserole, bacon, bloody mary's and all sorts of other breakfast goodies, and I brought along some Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries inspired by this recipe. They were a huge hit, and the bitesized desserts proved to be the perfect tailgating sweets.

 Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

Ingredients

3 containers of strawberries

1 brick cream cheese, softened

3-4 heaping tablespoons of powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 graham cracker square, crushed up

Directions

1. Cut the tops off the strawberries, then using a small paring knife cut a cone shape out of the middle of the strawberries (I used the white part as a guide). Do this with all of the strawberries and set aside.

2. Crush up your graham cracker crumbs into a small bowl and set aside.

3.  In a mixing bowl combine the cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar (to taste), mix until creamy.

4. Scoop cheesecake mixture into a ziploc baggie, and snip the corner off. Pipe the filling into the strawberries, then dip them in the crushed up graham crackers.

5. Refrigerate until you're ready to enjoy them!

I expected these to be sort-of time consuming considering how you have to cut every strawberry but they really didn't take too long. And they were definitely worth it! All of them got eaten up yesterday!

Mixer & Mingle Fridays : Drinkable desserts

It seems like the newest trend lately in vodkas (and some rums) are sweet, delectable dessert-type flavors.

I remember when 3O Bubble hit the market last year, and sure enough it tasted JUST like BubbleYum. Of course that got a little weird after a few drinks, but it makes a fun cocktail if you simply mix it with Sprite or a good, girly shooter!

 And then Pinnacle came out with Whipped Cream flavored vodka. And it sounded ludacris, but genius at the same time because who doesn't love whipped cream?! And since that was such a big hit they launched Chocolate Whipped, Orange Whipped and Cherry Whipped.

And then Calico Jack rum jumped on board and launched their Whipped Jack Rum. This is probably my favorite sweet-flavored liquor right now!

Pinnacle decided to go the candy route, and introduced Gummy this summer. It truly tastes like a red gummy bear, or Swedish fish (as everyone else says but I've never tried those)

 With all the success, Pinnacle launched Cake vodka, and Three Olives introduced their own Cake vodka shortly after. I have tried both of these, they're really good in Sunkist, Cherry or Strawberry Crush or any sort of fruit juice!

Then, a company who originally produced only wines, Cupcake Winery came out wtih a line of vodka with flavors such as Chiffon, Devil's Food, Frosting and Original. I've only smelled them but they smell yummy!

And now so Stoli came out with a Chocolat Razberi, which I haven't tried yet but can only imagine how tasty that would be! My coworker was just telling me how good it is with Sprite (Sprite is seriously my go-to mixer for anything, it's the perfect bubbly crispness to bring out any vodka flavors!)

Pinnacle really surprised me with their newest flavor, which should be hitting stores soon - Marshmallow. I can only imagine how this would taste with a YooHoo. Yum!

What's your opinion on all these dessert flavors that seem to be the hot trend right now?  Have you tried any of em?? What are your favorite recipes? Just curious. Happy Friday ya'll!

Cheers!

Still thirsty? Check out my other Mixer & Mingle Friday features here!

The one that will possibly cause some controversy

(deep breath) Phew... here goes nothin.... 

I’ve been hush on a certain big topic around here.  That being Scott. I think every single one of you has read the story about the chick facebook messaging me and revealing something I never would have imagined. And I was furious, and hurt, and sad, and betrayed and just about every other adjective you could possibly find to describe the situation of discovering you had been cheated on.

And I held my head high, and I walked away. 
I did. I stormed out that door and didn’t look back.

I leaned on my best friend, my mom and my ex boyfriend for support. Crazy, I know, that Chris became one of the easiest people for me to talk to. Or maybe not that crazy considering he knows me better than nearly anyone else.  They all heard my desperate cries trying to figure out this exact question; Can good people just make mistakes?  Can they get so caught up in something that it just spirals out of control?  Can someone truly just fuck up royally?

I just couldn’t shake the feeling that deep down, that that was not the person Scott was.  My mom- who has seen me go through breakups, and especially after watching me struggle with ending things with Chris over no solid reason other than my feelings faded- saw the struggle I was having, and we spent many an hour talking about it. She knew Scott. We had spent plenty of time with my parents, with my family. She struggled with the same question as I did!

Source: bitsotruth.blogspot.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

Since that day I have been speaking with Scott. Minimal at first, but I needed answers, I needed conversation between us.  It’s been anything but easy, some days just seeing his name causes me to break down, but also seeing his face reminds me of all the good times we had together and how much I care for him. Believe me – it hasn’t been easy. Not for him atleast.  He’s been put through the ringer multiple times, apologized more than I can count and been making huge strides in fixing things and proving to me that he IS that guy I first fell for… the one that got sidetracked and sucked into something.

I’m not by any means justifying what he did, no way in hell. He did the worst thing a person could possibly do, and he is well aware.  A lot of truth has come out in the past few months, both regarding falsities in her story vs his story, the truth about their past, and why he did things the way he did. But I’m choosing not to hash that all out on my public blog.

Source: theuberblog.tumblr.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

I could write paragraph after paragraph until my fingers are numb about conversations we’ve had, things that he has done, actions he has taken, but honestly it wouldn’t make any of you understand any easier. All I can say is I truly believe he realizes what a mistake he made, I believe that he truly does care about me and I believe that he truly is trying to make things ‘right’ from this point forward.  I really really do think that this is the case of a good person fucking up royally. I’ve been cheated on twice before, I never had this thought process. I’m not saying he’s my Mr. Right and we’re gonna live happily ever after, but I can’t ignore the feeling that our story isn’t supposed to end here. Not now. Not this way.

Source: silentfears.tumblr.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

And you know what… maybe I am dumb, naïve, a wishful thinker, a dreamer whatever you want to call it. 

But I know how I am… I know that when I have that feeling deep down in my gut to do something I cannot just ignore it or it will eat me up inside.

And who knows? Maybe I'll decide to give him another chance, to give us another shot and  I'll discover that it's not supposed to work out?  Maybe my intuition is all wrong again and maybe in 2 weeks, 3 months, 6 months you all can point the finger and say “told you so” but for now it’ s what I need to do. For me, for myself.   

(Phew, glad that's all out in the open now...I was scared! I still am scared about it all, but keeping everything inside isn't gonna help me at all, I've learned that the hard way!)

Source: None via Chelsea on Pinterest

So What Wednesday

It's my favorite blog day of the week!

So What Wednesday

Link up with Life After I "Dew" if you wanna dish too!

 

So what if I put a dollop (would that be the proper terminology here?) of roasted red pepper hummus in tupperware & brought it to work, only to gag when I opened it at lunchtime because it looked just.like.cat.vomit.

So what if I am sad that the flowers Michelle sent to me last week are startin to wither. Boo! Why can't blooms last forever?!

So what if I have been spending more and more time in my craft room these days. My sewing machine and I have been bonding a lot!




So what if after (finally) seeing Crazy, Stupid, Love I really want someone to do the Dirty Dancing lift with me. Annnd I wouldn't be opposed to Ryan Gosling being the man to do it.



So what if I am really looking forward to spending the day with my aunt on Saturday (hi auntie! I know you're reading this!!) We're gonna go wreak havoc on all the small town antique stores out by her


So what if I got excited when I saw someone had Pinned my "girlfriend cookies" on Pinterest




So what if I have a habit of avoiding my backyard during daylight hours so I don't get sucked into an hour long conversation with the newspaper thief. In all fairness, she is really sweet, but she wears me out

So what if I am a little upset that Mother Nature dangled Boot Weather right in front of my face, two days straight I rocked boots... and then she took it away and we're back to 80s now! HOW RUDE. (Said in my best Stephanie Tanner voice)

Still wanting more? Check out my SoWhat's from weeks past - 

I promise there's some good ones that'll keep you giggling!

Legit questions & concerns

Frequently, when I'm home alone and bored, I shove shiz up my nose and watch it come out the other side.

True story. 

Calm down, I'm not talking spaghetti or any of those other unidentified objects the weirdo at the elementary school lunch table used to leave dangling from his nostril.

I'm simply talking about the neti pot. I inherited ridiculous sinus issues compliments of my dad (thanks papa!) and am frankly too stubborn to take a daily pill or nasal spray. Meh.  
Side note - have you every had to do a nasal spray? Talk about worst apprehension ever... it didn't matter how many times I had done it before, I was still like a scared puppy wincing in anticipation before that first squirt. Yuck.

Neti pot, anyways. Totally fun. The best is when someone who has never used one before catches you doing it and they stand in the doorway wide-eyed and completely freaked out. I always try to talk everyone into trying it. Probably not sanitary, huh?

Did I mention this post was inspired by my half-baked friend, Erica, as we were discussing her quest to be allergy free during pregnancy. Half-baked meaning a little bit pregnant, not like stoner style. Or the ice cream. She's 15 weeks, she blogs.

So we are trying to figure out who in the world came up with the concept of the neti pot?? Was it the weirdo from the lunch table? If so, he's totally that geeky kid that now makes millions selling little plastic teapots and I'm sure has Playboy bunnies hanging all over him 24/7.

But the bigger concern - how many other liquids were attempted before they settled on the saline solution? I would have hated to be part of that medical research study. Oy vey.

Girlfriend Cookies

I'd like to think I've pretty much perfected my chocolate chip cookie recipe.

I joke that not a week has gone by where I haven't made baked goods since moving into my house back in January, and it's true - aside from a few weeks where my butt was plopped on a beach!

These are my Girlfriend Cookies. You know, the kind of chocolate chip cookies that if any guy eats them he is guaranteed to make some sort of remark about how he wishes you were his girlfriend (or maybe even wife).  They are my most favorite cookies to make. Not only because I know the recipe by heart, but also because they are just so darn tasty!


Girlfriend Cookies


Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (3.5 ounce) box instant vanilla pudding mix* (This is the magic ingredient that makes your cookies soft & chewy)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars (and then if you're me, proceed to eat about 3 tablespoons full. That's my favorite thing ever!!)

Mix in your box of vanilla pudding, your eggs and your vanilla.

Combine flour & baking soda in a separate bowl. Gently mix that mixture into the sugar/butter concoction.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets & bake 10-12 minutes (I usually pull them out right around 9 because my oven bakes hot)

Let them cool, and then enjoy! I like them best in the morning at breakfast... honest! I usually eat 2 or 3 every morning with my coffee!