charmed by... bacon, egg and toast cups!

This idea is too amazing to pass up! I found it on Annie's Eats, and I'm so glad I did. They're called bacon, egg and toast cups, and they look so delicious! (It's all my favorite breakfast foods rolled into one!) 

Check out her blog for the recipe (that I have yet to try) and hopefully I'll get a chance to make these great little creations some weekend in the near future!

apartment snapshots

Decorating and organizing my new space has taken longer than I expected, but I'm so happy with the results! 

My side of the bedroom

Close-up of my desk area and framed art

My favorite bookshelf, as well as Command hooks functioning as a necklace holder and backpack hanger

And of course, Bailey dutifully guarding the front door

quickest meal ever

After a long day, I'm not in the mood to spend more than 10 minutes in the kitchen making dinner, and this is my solution: 

Ingredients:

Pasta, tomatoes, mozzarella, spinach leaves and vinaigrette  

The dish is really just a condensed version of one of my earlier recipe discoveries (THIS one, in fact) and consists of only my favorite flavors. 

PS: I must admit that I'm loving my unintentional color coordination between the food and the bowl. 

chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese filling

I just made my first batch of cupcakes at the new apartment! They're chocolate cupcakes with a cream cheese icing filling (with chocolate chips!) and another layer of icing on the top. These definitely satisfy my huge sweet tooth, and my roommates love me for sharing!  They're so quick to make too. Here's how I made them:

CREAM CHEESE ICING      (Recipe courtesy of www.cooks.com)

1 pkg. (8 oz.) of cream cheese

1 egg

1 tsp. of vanilla

1/3 cup of sugar

1 cup of chocolate chips

Mix the cream cheese, egg, vanilla and sugar. Stir in the chocolate chips, and then refrigerate the 

mixture while making the chocolate cake mix.

CHOCOLATE CAKE MIX

Prepare as directed. I always like Betty Crocker's Supermoist Triple Chocolate cake mix. 

In each cupcake liner, place one tablespoon of cake mix, then one teaspoon of cream cheese filling and finally, one more tablespoon of cake mix on top. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 minutes.

And here they are!

And because of my ridiculous sweet tooth, I like to top the cupcakes with icing too. Voila! 

charmed by... this dress!

This Anthropologie dress makes me want to frolic in a field of flowers! It comes in the bright blue pictured below, orange, green and black. Did I mention it also has side pockets? Ahh, so adorable! One in every color, please? I just wish it wasn't dry clean only! 

I'll continue admiring this "Walk-A-Ways dress" regardless...

vegetarian brunch

I had never heard of Mother's Cafe and Garden until it was suggested for a Sunday meeting. The woman raved about the restaurant on the phone, so I agreed and didn't give it another thought. 

However, when Sunday rolled around, I checked out the menu to realize that Mother's is a vegetarian/vegan cafe. This is worrisome, since I'm still a vegetable-hating kid at heart (I'm trying to improve... but progress is slow!). 

After perusing the menu for a little while, I decided on a light brunch option: Jack cheese omelette, potatoes and a berry muffin. I have to say it was quite good, and I really enjoyed the muffin. If you were wondering, my acquaintance had her favorite: the spinach lasagna. 

So I did not starve! The cafe is quite cute too. I love the hanging plants and there's even a garden area inside! In 

a few words - good food, good conversation and nice atmosphere. 

Just wanted to share my little success with you!

new gadget

I am loving my new cell phone (although I'm still figuring out how it works!) It has great service and better features than my old one, so it's been a good purchase. 

Here's a photo of my Samsung A777:

houston trip

On a weekend trip to Houston, a stuffed animal monkey accidentally came along for the ride, and he's so photogenic that I decided he would be perfect for chronicling the road trip.

Here are a few photos. Enjoy!

Passing through a small Texan town

Taking a break at Sonic for slushies

Downtown Houston

Outside the art gallery

Spending some time in the Houston Museum of Natural Science

pasta, tomatoes, mozzarella, onions & basil

I have finally made a home-cooked meal for my family! I chose a delicious, simple and healthy Italian dish with bow tie pasta, tomatoes, mozzarella, onions and basil. It was pretty easy for an amateur like me to make, and I added shrimp for more substance.  

Click HERE to get the great recipe. (Recipe and photo courtesy of http://good-life-eats.blogspot.com)

how the mind works

After scavenging in Half Price Books recently, I came across "How The Mind Works" in my favorite part of the store, the psychology section. The author, Steven Pinker, is well-known for his work in the field of cognition, and admittedly, I am not familiar with the specifics of his work, but seeing as I can never feel guilty buying a discounted book, I'm going to give it a try. 

I've just started it, and so far, the material is pretty basic, but I promise to hold judgment on its quality until the very end. And when I do reach the end of this 600+ page book, I should have a profound understanding of how the mind operates and I'll be sure to report back with all the juicy details. 

all moved out!

My lease on the old apartment has ended, and I am all moved out! It is so nice to be out of that dirty, noisy place! Soon, I will have a new place downtown to call my own, but in the meantime, I'm staying with my parents and taking over their garage with all my stuff. However, I will be sorting, tossing and reorganizing all of my things (starting today) and hopefully making the garage a little tidier in the process. 

And I vow to never let my new apartment get in disarray like the old place did. I will hold myself to new standards of organization. (Photo from Apartment Therapy.)

This Apartment Therapy article offers more tips and photos for organizing your closet. 

On a very different note, I made the local news today. After randomly accompanying my boyfriend to a call-a-thon and staying for only about 20 minutes, we turned on the news to find ourselves all over the video clip covering the event! It was hilarious, and even my fingers got a special close-up too! You can check out the video here.