lupus free cookies!

i have a co-worker at work who has lupus and since i love baking i decided to make her cookies that are "lupus free." Though the first batch were kindof gooey (but oooo sooo good!) my sis added some more flour and they came out perfect!

1 1/2 cups white flour or whole wheat pastry flour (i used wheat flour from Henry's farmers market)
1 heaping TB arrowroot or cornstarch (i used arrowroot also from Henry's)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup flaked coconut (i used shredded coconut instead)
approx 1/4-1/3 cup semisweet choc chips
1/2 cup oil
2/3 cup maple syrup (i used honey instead)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp orange extract (this makes the cookies very citrus tasting, i probably would leave out next time)

1. Mix dry ingredients together.
2. Stir wet ingredients together well and add to the dry. (Optional: 1/3 cup chopped pecans or walnuts)
3. Form balls of dough ~2" in diameter, place on parchment lined sheets and flatten.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-16 minutes until lightly browned.
This recipe can be doubled.

"a balanced diet is a cookie in each hand"

a cup of berries, a squirt of lemon and growing up

"growing up is never easy. you hold on to things that were. you wonder what's to come. but that night, i think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. other days. new days. days to come. the thing is, we didn't have to hate each other for getting older. we just had to forgive ourselves...for growing up."

the Wonder Years

a few weeks back i received a very exciting phone call from susan. she wanted to let me know that there was a position opening at ADP www.adp.com (the company she has worked with for years). needing something to take up my free time and also wanting to make a little mooo-lah, this opportunity couldn't have come at a better time! so here i am after almost completing 2 x 40+ hour weeks: exhausted, busy and loving life :)

at ADP i am working in the accounting office as somewhat of an administrative assistant. filing, data processing, billing, filling the coffee machine and so on and so on... it is somewhere i never thought i would be, but i am really enjoying it and also learning a lot about the "real world" ;) and life after college.

not having much free time during the day (working from 7am-4:30pm) i have made an effort to not come home everyday after work and "veg" on the couch. i try to work out after work everyday (still training for my november half marathon) i have also fit in some baking and creating time. tonight lauren and i made this yummy lemon cake for our wonderful g-pa's birthday.

we decided to make what we call a "martha stewart cake." the cake part was lemon and the frosting was a buttercream-lemon frosting. we layered our cake with strawberries and gpa's favorite, blueberries. after a little splitting of the cake (yikes!) we tried to fix it by frosting the entire cake. it seemed to work and we added blackberries around the base and some lemon slices on the top. not sure how it taste yet...we will find out tomorrow! happy 82nd birthday G-PA!

"spread love everywhere you go. let no one ever come to you without leaving happier." momma teresa

lilia's bridal weekend

(photo by claire)

may 28th-29th

lilia is becoming a mrs. in a few weeks! so to celebrate we (diana, kapua, molly & me) had a fun filled weekend celebrating lilia's singleness.

friday

first stop was godmother's cafe in malibu:

(lilia and her grilled cheese w/ tomato soup; turkey,avocado sandwich w/ tomato soup; tortilla soup w/ a yummy sandwich)

we later had a nice relaxing day at the getty villa:

for the evening we stopped by ralph's and picked up some cheese, salami and wheat thins to bring with us to SIP (malibu wine tasting room). we really enjoyed sitting around, sipping our wine, eating our snacks around the outside fire:

saturday

for the bachelorette party we decided to go to hollywood.

we ate at cafe WAS:

(

(gnocchi; frog legs; burger with a quail egg & fries;

crab, tomato & avocado; beet salad)

at midnight we saw the BEST WORST MOVIE ever "THE ROOM" and was able to take a picture with the lead actor/producer/director/creepiest man that has ever touched me (just look at my face!):

it was quite fun seeing this movie! it was very packed (5 theaters) where we yelled at the movie ("water" "hello denny") and threw spoons at the screen. if you want to have an active, fun experience at the movies and don't mind seeing the worst acting/movie ever i suggest seeing this movie!

some extras from the weekend:

lilia and all her presents:

the card i made for lilia out of her wedding invitation:

i like to call these hanky panky cupcakes (too bad they melted the next day :(

1 down. 174 days to go

*When I began to consider this endeavor, the words of St. Paul came to mind. His ability to use athletic imagery to help us understand the Spiritual journey is amazing! “Do you not know that in a race all runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.”*

claire asked me a few weeks ago to join her and her sister in running the malibu half marathon in november. i was a little hesitate because of a bad knee and also...13.1 miles!

but after much consideration (about 10 minutes) i said yes and signed up!

on my list of "things to do after college," one of my goals was to complete a half marathon...so here i go!

claire, jaclyn and i will be training with the help of this website: www.halhigdon.com/halfmarathon/novice.htm

(there is also a 10k training schedule if you are interested)

though it is only a 12 week schedule claire and i decided to double up the weeks and train for 24 weeks. today was the first! so excited! will keep everyone updated! enjoy!

there is still plenty of time to sign up for the malibu run that will be on november 14th: www.malibuintmarathon.com/index.htm (cost of race goes to charities :)

not a runner? come and support claire, jaclyn, me and all the runners

hope to see you there!

silverlake jubilee

sunday 23rd

lilia texted me last week telling me about this art fair that would be happening this weekend. me ,wanting to try new things and see stuff around el ay told lilia i would be down to go. so claire, lilia, diana and i drove down to silverlake (place i have never been) and went to the silverlake jubilee. after driving for 30 min. looking for a parking spot. claire and i finally found one. the jubilee was nothing i had expect, but was quite fun full of different types of people, art, music, and my favorite...food!

here is the link to the jubilee: http://silverlakejubilee.com/

cool thing it was a non-profit fair and the money from the ticket admissions went to different LA organizations.

there were about 20+ food trucks....so yummy! it was so hard to figure out which truck to eat at but lilia and i decided to get some yummy greek food from louks. it was amazing and i recommend if you ever see the truck to make sure to eat off of it. find the truck and see the menu at http://loukstogo.com/index.html

gyro = chicken, tzatziki, tomato, fries and onion...sooooooo good

Graduation Party

may 8th

so i pretty much failed at picture taking for my graduation party, but it was a lovely day with friends and family. i hope everyone had a wonderful time and thank you for everyone coming and especially my family for helping with set-up and all my friends for take-down. also for my roomie for frosting and decorating all 120 cupcakes<3

here are a few lucky pictures that made it:

sweets table

"A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be."

graduation.

saturday, may 1st 2010

some of my favorite pictures and quotes.

"It takes 10,000 hours of preparation to experience one moment of glory."

"Graduation is only a concept. In real life every day you graduate. Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life. If you can grasp that, you'll make a difference."~Arie Pencovici

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the guy who'll decide where to go.
~Dr. Seuss

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine."

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." ~Dr. Seuss

"No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever."

"Graduation day is tough for adults. They go to the ceremony as parents. They come home as contemporaries. After twenty-two years of child-raising, they are unemployed."

"You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world"

“You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for people with jobs. You'll never remember class time, but you'll remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay out late. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due Wednesday. Spend money you don't have. Drink 'til sunrise. The work never ends, but college does..."”