Neat Thing of the Day

In my wandering of the internet this morning I discovered an artist by the name of Erik Johansson. He's like a modern day M.C Escher (if you don't know who Escher is go here). Erik's tools of the trade are a digital camera and Photoshop. It's really quite trippy!

Photo by Erik Johansson.

You can see more of his work at http://erikjohanssonphoto.com/

Christmas Survery

Saw this on the lovely Janae's website and thought I'd do this. I love Christmas!

1.  Favorite Christmas Album/CD/Song?

Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You (watch here)

For hymns I love Joy to the World and We Three Kings

2.  What do you usually eat on Christmas morning?

If it's with my family we have crepes and if it's with the boyfriend's family something called Christmas Morning Wife Saver.

3. Favorite holiday or Christmas tradition?

Ummm so many to chose from. I do love decorating the tree!

4.  Real tree, fake tree or no tree?

I'd love a real tree but the condo board said fake trees so I have a fake tree. On the plus side we have a pre-lit tree so yay!

5.  Christmas pajamas… yay or nay?

Yay!

6.  Where do you spend the holidays?  Your own house, your parents’ house, extended family, in-laws, friends?

Normally with my parents or the in-laws but this year we're hosting Christmas!

7.  Food that you always have during the holiday season?  Favorite Christmas food/treat?

Christmas baking! Sugar cookies, butter tarts, shortbread...I could go on!

8. Open presents all at once or take turns?  Stockings… yes or no?

Take turns. And HELL YES to stockings!

9.  Favorite Christmas(ish) movie?

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Miracle on 34th Street (the original one).

Meandering Around The Internet

Apparently I neglected my poor little blog all through out November. Bad me!

In my meandering around the internet this morning I came across a couple of interesting articles.

Would you pay $7 for a cup of coffee? Read more here.

Apparently it's possible to refreeze the Arctic. But should it be done? Here

How's your December going?

Another Tangent Tuesday

It's that time of the week again... Tangent Tuesday.

Finally watching Bill Clinton's speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. He is a fabulous speaker. If you haven't seen it, it's well worth watching (you'll need 50 or so minutes).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5knEXDsrL4

The NHL lockout might be over soon....YAY!!!!!

Recommended reads: Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson, A Secret Kept and Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. Seriously good books.

Had Shepard's Pie that my other half made for dinner. It was so good on this windy crappy day.

I went ahead and changed the blog name. I may play around with the layout a bit.

That's all for now folks.

Time for Tangent Tuesday

It's Tuesday which means it's time for Tanget Tuesday!!!

Had a fabulous trip to Grande Prairie this weekend to see family. Grande Prairie has to be one of the windiest places I've been to.

I have to bake enough cupcakes and cookies for 30 people for Saturday....what have I gotten myself into???

11:30 and still in my PJs. I need to get my butt in gear.

So happy that the new season of Castle is on!

Here's hoping the NHL lockout is over soon.

Contemplating a name change for the blog as it's rather wordy....what do you think?

A Love Letter

Dear KitchenAid Stand Mixer,

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.....

Okay cheesy but I seriously love my KitchenAid stand mixer. I'm not sure why I waited this long to get one but it makes baking and cooking SO much easier.

Whipped Cream? Not a problem.

Mixing beef for burgers? Ppffft.

Cake batter? Done in 2 minutes.

Cookies? You bet!

Frosting? My arms are thanking me.

Did you know that you can use it for shredding chicken? http://simplyhealthyfam.blogspot.ca/2010/05/shredded-chicken-bbq-sandwiches.html

Oh and pasta because the pasta rollers are awesome.

Don't be surprised if there's another post about my undying love for my stand mixer. It's one of the best things I've gotten myself.

12 For 2012 Update

So here's a little update on my 12 for 2012.

1. Break my nasty little procrastination habit: I'm getting there. Some days I'm super motivated and others I'm not.

2. Be Healthier: Well I'm getting there. I need to work on getting to the gym and drink more water consistently.

3. Quit drinking Coca-Cola: Mostly successful. I completely quit until July then I had a Coke slurpee. Then I've had some actual Cokes since then but nothing like I was before.

4. Graduate school and get a job: Halfway there. I graduated (with distinction no less!) and am working on the job part. I got an unexpected offer of help fixing up my resume and I'll be doing that later today.

5. Make more of an effort to stay in contact with my family and friends: Better than before.

6. Update this blog more often: Pass. I've done more posts this year. Just gotta keep it up.

7. Start paying off my student loans as fast as I can: no job yet so no loans paid off.

8. Go and get my drivers licence: well no money coming in so no licence. Again this is job dependent.

9. To cook more (and new) meals this year: Sorta been doing this.

10. To finally get a Kitchen Aid stand mixer: Oh yeah. Between my birthday and graduation gifts I was able to get this (a pretty red one) and the pasta roller attachments (sheet roller, spaghetti roller, and linguine roller). I LOVE IT.

11. To take more pictures and post them: Not so much. I still can do this!

12. To stay on top of the house keeping and not let it pile up: The house just got a major clean and I'm determined to keep it clean!

Tangent Tuesday

It's time for Tanget Tuesday! Or otherwise known as let's just ramble about whatever strikes my fancy.

The cupcakes from my last post were a hit! Everyone thought they were tasty and some people had thought I had bought them as opposed to making them. Seriously the best compliment I could have gotten.

How is it September already? My god time flies.

I love, love, LOVE my stand mixer. It's the best thing EVER!

I'm probably going for a nap after this.

I just discovered the Emoji keyboard on my iTouch the other day. It's totally cool.

I'm going for that nap now. My head demands it.

Until next time.

Cupcakes!

Look at the pretty cupcakes! They're for a party tonight.

Chocolate cupcakes with a Kahlua buttercream frosting.

Cupcake recipe from the fabulous Rosie at sweetapolita.com

http://sweetapolita.com/2012/03/chocolate-birthday-cupcakes-with-nutella-cloud-frosting/

Kahlua Buttercream Frosting:

1 cup butter

3 cups icing sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

11/2 tablespoon Kahlua

milk or cream to get desired consistency.

Beat butter until fluffy. Mix in sugar one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla and Kahlua. If not desired consistency add in milk/cream or more icing sugar.

I have never been able to get my frosting to look that pretty before. I discovered I needed to be using a way bigger tip than I was before. Problem solved.

I can't wait to have one later!

Tangent Tuesday

I got this from the lovely Janae over at www.hungryrunnergirl.com This is where will post some randomness about more or just in general.

For the first time in forever this summer my house is actually cool and after I'm done this post I'll be making some Almond Sugar cookies. Recipe and pictures may be posted later.

I'm a little sad with no Olympics to watch while I'm doing stuff around the house. They were super awesome.

I've got music going on the surround system but one of the speakers isn't working. I'll make the other half fix it because if I try I'll just make it worse #firstworldproblems

I have found so many Snickerdoodle variants to try out that I hope it stays cool here for a bit.

My next post will be sooner rather than later...more than likely!

This, That and Everything in Between

Happy Easter!

I realize that it's been awhile since I've posted. I haven't forgotten about this blog; I've just been really busy over the past two months.

I just have a few things to discuss so I'll get down to it M'kay?

1. This article: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/28/the-power-of-young-adult-fiction/adults-should-read-adult-books

Seriously what a pretentious moron. A friend, upon reading said article, opined that the author needed his head surgically removed from his arse. I fully agree. By all means go ahead and read the past 3,000 years of Adult Books. That includes the crap ones too. I, on the other hand, would rather enjoy a well written children's/teenage novel than a crappy adult one.

2. The serious lack of power play opportunities for the Oilers in the last part of the season. Lots of obvious calls that were not made....WTF???

3. Hopefully *knock on wood and cross fingers* I've seen the last of the snow for a while. I'm so ready for it to be spring.

4. I had something else but it's skipped town.

Have a great weekend everyone!

12 for 2012 Updates

So I thought I'd sit and take the time to update where I am on my 12 for 2012 so far.

1. Break my nasty little procrastination habit: I'm getting there slowly. I'm writing this instead of doing my homework but I'm going to do it right after I'm done this! I swear!

2. Be healthier. This includes eating healthier, drinking more water and making it to the gym 3 times a week: Doing relatively well on this one. I've been going to the gym 4 times a week and I now own a 3lb hula hoop to work on my core strength. Still struggling with the water though.

3. Quit drinking Coca-Cola: Over a month without one! Woo-hoo!

4. Graduate school and get a job: Still in school.

5. Make more of an effort to stay in contact with family and friends: Failing at this one. I blame the school work.

6. Update this blog more often: Well I've posted more. Now let us see if I can keep this up.

7. Start getting the student loans paid off as fast as I can: Still in school and not working so no progress here.

8. Go and get my driver's licence. I'm going to be 32 this year, it's probably time I did this: Again I'll need a job to pay for this so no progress yet. I'm going to hopefully get the boyfriend to take me out one day for some practice.

9. To cook more (and new) meals this year: I've been cooking more and attempted one new meal. I'll need to get my adventure hat on.

10. To finally get a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. This will be on my birthday wish list: Not my birthday yet.

11. To take more pictures and post them. There are a lot of things over the past year I didn't take pictures of and I'm kicking myself. I'm also contemplating getting a new camera but this again falls to getting a job or winning the lottery: No new camera and no pictures. And I was at a hockey game sitting in a suite and I didn't have a camera. FAIL.

12. To stay on top of the house keeping and not let it pile up: Sorta. I've been able to keep the kitchen fairly clean and stay on top of laundry...does that count?

New Cookbooks!

Today in the mail I got 2 cookbooks I ordered a week ago. They are:

Nadia G's Bitchin' Kitchen: Cooking For Trouble and Chef Michael Smith's Kitchen.

Two totally different styles of cooking but both look to be fantastic. I love watching Bitchin' Kitchen and I own and use Michael Smith's The Best of Chef at Home.

If you get a chance check them out! You're in for some tasty goodies!

12 for 2012

I saw this on another blog (but for the life of me can't remember which one) and thought it would be a great idea. A little late but here it is: My 12 goals/resolutions for 2012.

1. Break my nasty little procrastination habit. This one is going to take some work. I meant to do this post a lot sooner and just kept putting it off.

2. Be healthier. This includes eating healthier, drinking more water and making it to the gym 3 times a week. Doing okay so far, drinking more water (which I need to be ice cold) is hard when it's this freaking cold out. So is hauling my butt to the gym as I walk there and back.

3. Quit drinking Coca-Cola. Technically this falls under Be healthy but because I can easily drink a can a day it gets it's own place. Today is day 14 without one. Go me.

4. Graduate school and get a job. Fairly obvious. I'm in my last semester of school and then hello job market.

5. Make more of an effort to stay in contact with family and friends. Since I've started school I feel like I've been neglecting this.

6. Update this blog more often. I keep saying that I will but I haven't. Bad procrastinating Knotts, BAD!

7. Start getting the student loans paid off as fast as I can. This will only happen once I get a job or I've miraculously won the lottery. I'm not holding much hope that I'm going to win the lottery.

8. Go and get my driver's licence. I'm going to be 32 this year, it's probably time I did this.

9. To cook more (and new) meals this year.

10. To finally get a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. This will be on my birthday wish list.

11. To take more pictures and post them. There are a lot of things over the past year I didn't take pictures of and I'm kicking myself. I'm also contemplating getting a new camera but this again falls to getting a job or winning the lottery.

12. To stay on top of the house keeping and not let it pile up. The procrastination bug hits again!