CONFESSIONS...

I still haven't blogged about the scallop and leek dish I made about a month ago. The scallops which cost me a whopping $8 each! I won't get into the nitty gritty except to say that the Whole Foods seafood guy did a good job of distracting me ;)

I'm three halos away from completing my Nine Inch Nails collection. I just need Halo 4, 15 and 27, the latter of which I'm pretty sure I already owned but somehow lost--along with my Justin Timberlake self-titled CD. Why I have the case and not the CD, I have no idea.

One of my goals for 2011 has been achieved:I finally made a balloon animal! After a VERY failed attempt--before, during and after which Sean probably thought I was completely certifiable--I decided that I was going to try again with balloons purchased at a grocery store instead of a dollar store. An extra 75 cents should do the trick, right? Well they did! Do not underestimate good quality balloons. I made that balloon dog all by myself and yes, I was quite pleased with myself. In fact, so much so that my high-pitched squealing was a bit too much for my dad's old-man ears.

Jenna's recipes are probably the only ones I'll make more than one a week. They really are that good. Just check out her recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies and more recently, these double banana chocolate chip breakfast bars:Sometimes it's dangerous to have a fully-stocked baking pantry. Seriously.

Out of our four cats, we have one who totally acts like a baby (wants to be cradled, meows until you pick him up, etc) and I kinda like it.

It absolutely melts my heart when he gets up on my desk when I'm sitting in front of my laptop and gives me eskimo kisses with his wet nose.

OBSESSIONS...

+ Stassen Jasmine Green Tea. After searching high and low for over a year (possibly two years) for Stassen Jasmine Green Tea, I finally found it at Foody Mart when I totally wasn't looking. I had even checked Foody Mart for Stassen's tea before but couldn't find it. Anyway, I totally bought a box (of 100 bags) and then went and bought another box the next day (just in case). This tea is anything but subtle and I love it, despite having a major hate-on for anything jasmine-scented--especially perfume. The trick is to brew it for a short period of time and the tea bag can be used twice, which means it's only half the cost (I paid $5 for my entire 100 bag box, not the insane price on Amazon).

+ Deflated double chocolate meringue cookies. I made meringues and decreased the amount of sugar that was mentioned in the recipe with the intention of decreasing the sweetness. What resulted was this:But it turns out that these meringue cookies taste just like chewy chocolate chip cookies and they're gluten-free! It's "winner, winner, chicken dinner" for anyone who follows a gluten-free diet. The trick is to pull them straight from the oven after 18 minutes. Plus, at 30 calories a pop, you won't feel guilty after you shove the fourth one into your mouth. The giraffes totally approve. I really need to post that recipe.

+ OPI's Teenage Dream nail polish from the Katy Perry collection. This came out in...ummm...early-January, I think? Anyway, I got my hands on it a week after that and then it was sold out for ages! I recently got a back-up bottle and managed to snag a couple extra bottles for some co-workers and I absolutely love this crazy sparkly, pink polish. It's totally work-appropriate--at my workplace anyway.

CONFESSIONS...

I got bangs about a week and a half ago and ever since then, I've regretted it. The rest of my hair isn't long enough for the look I was going for. Now I'm waiting (impatiently) for my bangs to grow out.

Today is the last day of my entire life that I'll be 27 and I'm spending it at home with a migraine. I guess it beats working but I'm in my bedroom with the windows completely covered with my curtains and it's dark and kind of depressing. I wish I could enjoy the sunlight--if there is any.

I'm craving cookies like crazy and I almost never crave sweets. I can't figure out whether or not I want a crunchy cookie (like some biscotti) or a chewy cookie (like a chewy chocolate chip).

I know I'm not getting a puppy for my birthday and deep down, it kind of saddens me.

I had a dream about one of my co-workers finishing off a large-size Vita Coco coconut water and throwing it in the garbage. My first thought was "where the heck did he get that from?!" (since they don't carry the large size at McEwan and no longer carry Vita Coco at Whole Foods in Toronto) and not "hey, you can recycle that packaging." To say I'm obsessed with Vita Coco is something of an understatement.

Moral of this post: wait for the rest of your hair to grow out before you get bangs cut.

CONFESSIONS...

• I convinced my dad in the summer of 2009 that we needed (yes, needed) a juicer. I also convinced him that we needed the Breville Juice Fountain Elite. I used the juicer a lot that summer. I used it zero times last year.

• I'm your typical Type-A personality except for my bedroom: it's a sty. Clothes are in neatly folded piles all over the place (waiting to be put into drawers or hung in the closet), countless magazines sit in piles on my desk and under my bedside table. There are bags and bags and bags of clothes and misc. items to donate--I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Everything seems to be in its place, there's just a lot of everything. After 27 (almost 28) years, I've seemed to accumulate a lot of stuff that I really need to get rid of.

• I'm sentimental. It's hard for me to get rid of anything. I usually wait until I'm "in a mood" and then I get rid of everything.

• I'm too scared to shower at night because I have to blowdry my hair at night (it's a flat-mess in the morning if I don't) but I'm too scared to do so because I'm afraid that the creatures from The Descent are coming to get me. There, I said it! I've become a morning shower-er become of this insane phobia.

• I wish I could be a stay-at-home mom except that Sean and I are not having kids. I really like the idea of cooking and baking and cleaning. In a way, I find it therapeutic. Instead, he's going to be a teacher and I'm going to use his earnings to start up my bakery. Score!

• I recently re-watched every single episode of Gilmore Girls on DVD (even the boring episodes where Rory decides to take time off from Yale) and was sad when I was finished watching the last episode. Oh, but then I was also mad because I remembered the stupid ending.

• Ever since that pistachio biscotti from Frank Restaurant on Thursday, cookies are all I've been thinking about.

• This week is our annual Valentine's Day bake sale and I can't figure out what to bake. Do I go with double chocolate fudge cupcakes filled with dulce de leche, topped with Baileys dark chocolate ganache? Or do I make something new like heart-shaped red velvet whoopie pies or red velvet cheesecake brownies? Or make a co-worker favourite like chocolate crinkle cookies? Ugh, decisions, decisions...

(double chocolate fudge cupcake with rosewater buttercream)
OR
(co-worker fave: chocolate crinkle cookie)