Oh yeah, I'm Going Places!

The sweet and wonderfully talented Travel & Dive Girl over at Journey & Adventure left me an award!  I love it!  Thanks so much, and I'm glad to know that you think I'm going places!

 

"This award means you're really going places, Baby. You'll still be blogging about your great adventures 10 years from now, and I'll still be reading them."

The Rules:

1. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award. ✖

2. Post where you'd like to be in 10 years. ✖

3. Pass it on to special bloggers. ✖

So where do I hope to be in 10 years?

I hope to have a family, and a good job, and be comfortable with my life.  I hope to still be spending regular time with those friends in my life I've become close to, and I hope to still be blogging and keeping in touch with all of you guys.  I love my blog, and it's kept me sane over the last year.  I know even in the future I'll need that touch of sanity, a place to write out my emotions, and all of your wonderful feedback to help me remember the sense of community I love so much.

So who do I think is going places? 

Honestly, so many of you are going places... But if I had to narrow it down to just a handful of blogs I expect to still be reading in 10 years, these are the ones I would pick.

Mister Frisky

Decoding My Life

Slippers & Sporks

Misadventures In Humanity 

The Adventures of Candy Grahm

Whatcha On About Girl

Lacey In Love

Loving My Children's Gifts
Cuppycake Lies

But there are so many more I love too!  You are all so amazing!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

For Valentine's Day I decided to try making Red Velvet Cupcakes, inspired by Have The Cake's February Challenge .  I snagged the recipe I found in this post, and gave it a go!

Ingredients for Cupcakes:

2 ½ cups Cake Flour (not self rising)
2 tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 ½ cups Vegetable Oil
1 ½ cups Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
1 container Neon Pink Food Coloring
1 Cup Buttermilk (I used 1 ½ cups)
2 tsp White Distilled Vinegar
1 ½ tsp Baking Soda

Ingredients for Frosing:

8 oz Cream Cheese
¼ cup Butter
1 tsp Vanilla
Confectioner's Sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and line two muffin pans with cupcake liners.

2.  In a bowl mix together Cake Flour, Cocoa Powder, & Salt.

3. In a separate bowl beat the Vegetable Oil and Sugar together with an electric mixer until blended.  Add the eggs in one at a time.  Beat in the Vanilla and Food Coloring.  (Yes, it's the entire bottle!)

4. Add the dry ingredients to the liquids in three batches.  With each batch add a ½ cup of buttermilk.  Mix until combined smoothly.

5.  In a separate small bowl, whisk the Baking Soda and Vinegar together.  This will be foamy.  (It reminds me of those volcanoes you make in Jr. High where you add the two together and let it foam out the top!)  Mix this into the batter until blended.

6.  Pour into cupcake liners and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

7.  Let it cool.

8.  Make your frosting by letting your cream cheese sit out to room temperature.  Then blend it with your Butter, and Vanilla until smooth.  Add the sugar too taste.  In the original recipe she mentioned she liked her more tart, and I completely agree.  I don't like it too sweet because I prefer to taste the cream cheese instead of the sugar.  Like Eli said "I'm a whore for cream cheese!"

I wish I had more cake tools, then I could have made the frosting prettier, instead I just spread it on (thickly) with a knife, and it looked very homemade.  They tasted fabulous and were so moist! 

RTT: Love's a Bitch, Let's Take A Break

 

Time for Random Tuesday Thoughts!

♥ So I've decided that I'm taking a break from the dating world.  Honestly, I'm tired of trying to "force it."  I'm going to focus on me, finally go buy that bike I want and try and make myself happy and whole again.  Besides, I figure it'll be when I give up on it and let it be that I'll finally find something great.

★  My friend Jon's crazy girlfriend left him yesterday.  Her excuse?  She didn't like the way he eats, said he looks like a slob.  How lame of an excuse is that?  To be fair, the girl did abandon her child, which I can't even fathom.  Anyway, apparently she thought they were in a "casual relationship" and not exclusive, so she freaked when he told her he loved  her.  News flash-You don't move in with someone (one bedroom apartment none-the-less) if you're just in a casual relationship.

☀ Mamarazzi's Swap is coming up!  I love this thing, and I'm sooooo excited!  Go play along, and get a lovely package in the mail while brightening someone else's day.

☛ Also, if you haven't read about my super-fun Valentine's day, GO DO IT! 

☯ I love my friends SOOOOO much.  Every day spent with them is a gift.  Last night Josh and I took Chinese food over to Jon's to cheer him up, and even though he was kind of sad (and I don't like that part) I had a really awesome time hanging out with them both.  I'm feeling very lovey right now, and I just want them both to know how much I appreciate them.  Thanks for being so much to me guys!

✈ My friend Cristín told me she might be getting me a buddy pass to travel with her this summer!  That would be sooooo awesome!  Only like $400 round trip.  I need to get my passport.

♠ Also, I'm off of my Verbal Warning (for attendance at work) on the 18th.  Finally!  I've made it 60 days keeping my nose fairly down, and now I wont have to stress quite so much about it!

☢ Something funny-The Mango (a.k.a Cunty McCunterson from previous letters) left a V-day gift for the Musician that one guy screwing everyone in the office's ex girlfriend of 7 years.  You know, the one she screwed over by playing friends and then sleeping with the guy she was in love with.  The ex was shocked, we laughed and told her she should just give it back.  She didn't, she just chucked it.

☣ Also, said man in question ↑ isn't cut out for internet dating because he can't talk to a girl for that long.  FUNNY!  Roommate clarified, he said it really means "he can't talk to a girl that long without getting laid."  Sound's about right.

 ☮ It's all good though.  I read a funny funny funny SUPER FUNNY post about alternate greeting cards for Valentine's Day over at Journey & Adventure.  The one that fits the most for me is  

❝ As the days go by I think of how lucky I am, that you're not here to ruin it for me.❞

♈ My birthday is in 2 months!  I'm super super psyched!

♬ My absolute favorite song right now is Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine.  My status message yesterday read: 

I heard your heart beating, 

you were in the darkness too, 

so I stayed in the darkness with you...

♬ Those are lyrics from it, which you can check out here.  Go Youtube the song, I'd post it but work doesn't allow Youtube.

✘ This is special.

✔ And so is the Vagina Mouse.