Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

I was flipping through blogs the other day and stumbled up a fabulous little blog called "For the Love of Cooking".


Now I'm not really much of a baker, but when I found this recipe I knew it had to be good!!!

I was so nervous that my cookie dough would melt (because everytime I've ever tried to make cookies, they somehow melt??) but to my surprise, they didn't! And they turned out amazing.

I only got to have 2 small pieces because my family decided to devour them on me! So I'll definitely have to make them again!!


recipe found via

Outfit Post: Elegant Work Wear

Skirt: Forever 21

Top: Bluenotes

To be honest, I had no idea what I was going to do with this little skirt I bought. 

So naturally, I did some research and found that it would either look good with a nice button up or a tank top.

I wanted to wear it to work, so of course I did the button up. I think it turned out really classy and cute!

Outfit Post: Summer Outing

  

This is a dress I wore to John's sisters  birthday party! I felt it was a little low cut so I put a little bandeau underneath it!

Cujo and Walter

These are my two loves.

Cujo....

And Walter...

 

Aren't they a cute little pair?

Clothing-Must Have's

Looking through my closet sometimes trying to figure out what to wear whether for work or for play is always so difficult. I am in desperate need of new clothes.
I think my problem is when I go shopping, I don't actually have a set list of what I need opposed to what I want.
I finally made up a list of new clothing items that are necessary for me right now.
I'm sure in the fall this will change.
Behold:

1. Coloured Capri pants (dress) for work. (or even in beige)

2. Heeled shoes that are comfortable

3. New work flats

4. Some nice dresses for work with high neck hems

5. A couple of summer dresses

6. Tights…Black/White.

7. Some loose fitted button ups maybe some in bright colours?

8. Horizontal Striped Shirts

9. Some loose fitted tanks (stylish)

10. Wife Beater Tank Tops

11. Spaghetti Strap Tanks

12. Blazer (small blazer that I can wear over tank tops)

13. Cute Skirts

14. Skinny Dress Pants (not just in black)

15. Oxfords

I think it's a pretty good list.

What about you? What are your must have's for your closet?? I could really use the suggestions!!

New York Times: Best-Sellers

Such a wonderful little page on the internet...observe:

COMBINED PRINT & E-BOOK FICTION


1.A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, by George R. R. Martin


2.THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett


3.NOW YOU SEE HER, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge


4.THEN CAME YOU, by Jennifer Weiner


5.A GAME OF THRONES, by George R. R. Martin

I just finished reading The Help and at the moment I am reading A Game of Thrones.

And a Game of Thrones is amazing so far!! I strongly recommend this book.
But warning... there are parts that are vulgar and quite disturbing...so prepare yourself.
I didn't think I would like a book like that, but it IS always good to step outside of your comfort zone every once in a while.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
List taken from New York Times Best Sellers.

HILARIOUS Harry Potter Post

Oh My Gosh.
I'm looking through old posts of mine and stumbled across THIS ONE.

How hilarious am I?

Well, as you know, I've survived the latest Harry Potter movie. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad though!
Wah!

Please Yourself. Remember Yourself.

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. ~Bill Cosby

Book Review: The Help

Can I just start off by saying how inspirational and amazing this book is?
I think that in High School sometime, teenagers should HAVE to read this book.
It should be a requirement, that's how educational it is.
I learned so much from it that I didn't know before.

Let me just some up the plot for you.

This book is set in the early 1960's when Black People and White People just DID NOT get along.
In this novel, Black Women are maid's to rich White households. They sometimes cook, they always clean, they take care of the White Women's kids, and they can't share the same damn bathroom because White's are afraid they will catch diseases.

One young white women, fresh out of Journalism school decides to write a book about the point of view's of the black maids. She interviews them and then, obviously, puts those interviews into a book to get published which, naturally, causes an uproar among the White Households.

I think what surprised me the most in this book is how eye opening it is.
I mean, this wasn't that long ago. My parents were born in the 60's. My grandparents were adults in the 60's.
This was NOT long ago at all.

And look how much has changed?
It's interesting to know that we are more equals now than ever before.
Of course, racism still exists but seeing how much has changed in such a short time span, maybe that will change soon enough as well.
Hopefully, one day soon, the only difference between us really will just be skin colour.

Read this book. It's so important.
It's important for learning. It's a tearjerker. It's laugh out loud funny. It's heartbreaking. It's inspiring. It's...important.

And it really does change the way you think about many things.

Wishing, Dreaming.

Do you ever feel like you're meant to be doing something else?
That what you're doing now just...isn't right.

I'm constantly thinking I want to go back to school.
I want to be educated in something that can help others. That will leave me satisfied by the end of the day.
I want to know that I've made a difference.

When can I do that?
Why does it have to take so long?

Spongebob Rollercoaster!

How have I not posted this picture?
So hilarious!!!! Those little boys in the front were so funny. They were maybe 6 and were just so confident about this 90 degree angle chute the rollercoaster had. So funny!
Check out our faces:

Weekly Gratitude... Because It's Been A While

I haven't done one of these in a while which maybe isn't such a good thing. I just sort of lost my motivation for a while but I'm slowly trying to get it back! Here We Go:

• Thanks to my new "tastebuds?" for finally starting to enjoy the taste of water! My body has never felt more hydrated and more light! Where have you been all my life and why am I only discovering your lovely benefits now? Silly me.
• Thank you so much to John's beautiful camp! There's nothing I have loved more this summer than going out there any night of the week (even if we have to work in the morning) and just being out on the beautiful lake. There's nothing more refreshing than a Sauna, a Swim, a Barbeque and some delicious drinks out on a beautiful lake in the middle of the woods! :)
• Thanks so much to John's sister, Jamie coming down! It was so nice to get to know her better...we had tons of fun while she was here!
• Thanks so much to my Daddy who always wants to have me around the house! It's nice to feel like I always have somewhere to go at any given moment...and that place is home. The way it should be :).
• And finally, thanks so much to work for giving me a chance at radio announcing in this building. I'm getting very excited to get on the Air-Waves in a couple of weeks for a whole year!!! So much experience!

Have a great weekend!!!

Night Time Creativity

Sometimes when I lay in bed at night, just before I fall asleep, my most creative ideas come out.
I'm not sure why this is as I don't feel very creative for the majority of the day. This may seem weird as my job title is a "Creative Writer". But that's just the way it is, I guess.

Anyway, it's not a secret that I absolutely love to blog. Lately, I love reading other people's blogs more than writing my own but I do it for research purposes. I love seeing the type of posts they create, the pictures they take, their take on outfits and recipes, etc. It's all so...fascinating. And it may sound strange that us bloggers are so fascinated with other people's lives besides our own. But isn't that just the way it is? (Think reality television).

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about starting fresh with a brand new blog. I like this blog, as it's full of some of my deepest thoughts (journal type entries more than anything else), however, it's not so much a lifestyle blog. It's funny, because the blogs I'm the most interested in are, in fact, lifestyle blogs. Blogs about...living.

I think in order for my blog to be successful and for me to feel satisfied at the end of the day (blogging is VERY serious, people!) I need to start a fresh one. No, no. It's not going to happen now (or probably anytime soon). I just want to start constructing out my thoughts of what I want it to look like, what I want it to be called, what types of posts I'll make, etc. And in order for it to be successful, I'll need photoshop and a new camera.

I just can't take pictures on my camera. I never want to because the quality is terrible and the pictures don't turn out very nice. I want a camera where I can show off that I really can be creative and see the beauty in life and nature and love and everything else. But I can't capture that with a small little camera that has no crisp image. Also, I want my blog to look inviting. But I need photoshop in order to do this.

I've learned a lot about HTML and coding and what not lately so I'm sure I can figure out how to construct my blog properly. It's just about making it look nice and how I want it to look.

Something that also needs to be realized, that blogging is defintiely not walk in the park. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication. So I just want to be able to plan this all out before I jump into anything.

Hopefully my little group of followers will follow me on over to my new blog once I get it up and running!

Thanks for listening. For now I'll still post when I have something important to say or show, but lately, I've been lacking the passion for this little "Daydream" blog of mine.

I guess this blog doesn't have the direction that it needs for me to love it.

Vampire Diaries Fan?

Click on THIS LINK to see the most INTENSE trailer for the next season ever.

Holy shizz, this season looks like it's going to be IN-TENSE!!

Some Goals for the Future

* There are so many places I'd love to see. New York City, Paris, Greece, Lake Tahoe, Bahamas, Alaska... pretty much any area I've never been to with culture involved. I just don't know if I could live with myself if I just stayed in one spot my whole life and was ignorant to the rest of the world.

*Continue drinking all this water like I have been. Before, I never drank water...ever. And now, I've been drinking mass amounts. Never before has my body felt more hydrated... I really feel like my blood is pumpin' you know?!

* Settle into a permanent career that I'm very happy with.

*Go back to school. Take Child and Youth work and then go on to work with kids who are less fortunate than me. Make a difference in their lives. Feel content. Feel fulfilled. --> See previous entry.

*Have my own little family in a cute little house. Whether here or in a different city. Big or Small.

*If I don't live on a lake or in a bush and I live in the city, I want to have a little camp out in the woods and on a lake so I can escape to quiet and get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

*Have 2 little dogs and some little munchkins.

*Be with the love of my life and continue to laugh.

With all of these things I will remain happy.

Great Week

It's such a nice feeling...
When you feel as though you are a part of the family.
When you are always welcomed and it's just assumed that you will be at all the important family events.

I like that feeling.

Pub Golf

Over the weekend, I went to John's friend's birthday and his other friend's going away party (it was a joint thing).
They had a "Pub Golf" night set up where you go to a ton of different bars (that are printed out on the rule list) and at each bar, you have to drink a specific drink in the least amount of sips possible.
So of course the boys were trying to drink everything in one drink.
I, of course, happily opted out of this game and just drank my drinks casually.
It was such a fun night, though! I've never done a pub crawl before and the whole night was an absolute blast!

I Wanna Do Something That Matters

"i wanna do something that mattters, say something different

something that sets the whole world on it's ear
i wanna do something different with the time i've been given
and i want to try to touch a few hearts in this life
leave nothing less than something that says, i was here"


-lady antebellum

quote via

Andrea's Latest Bride Blog Post

Check it out if you're a bride to be!!! Great tips! :)

http://www.smartbrideboutique.com/blog/bride-to-be-planning-your-guest-list/20110719/725/

Weekend

I really need to start taking pictures.

What a great weekend I had!

I went to see Harry Potter, which was AMAZING.
I cried. Obviously.

Saturday went out and played "Pub Golf" with a bunch of John's friends. Let's just say I happily opted out of this game. Those boys have much more practice than I do when it comes to drinking... I don't know how they do it.

Sunday went out to camp for the day with John's family. It was his sister, his cousin and his aunt's birthday and what a FAB day it was! It was so hot...45 degrees with the humidity! We basically sat outside in the sun all day with bits of food and Sangria and roasted away. We had a delicious dinner in the sweltering heat and as soon as I was done eating, I jumped in the lake. I HAD to! My body was overheating and there was no way I would survive sitting out in the sun any longer...dry!
It eventually started to rain cats and dogs and do you wanna know what we did? Nothing! We didn't move. We stayed in our seats outside and welcomed that rain with open arms!

You know it's a hot day, when!

Not Myself

I'm not sure why, but this entire week I've been sort of...off.

I just feel super emotional, hyper sensitive and basically down in the dumps.

I'm really looking forward to this much needed weekend ahead of me where I will be keeping myself busy, but hopefully sleeping in a bit too.

--

Although last night was lots of fun! We went out to John's camp because his Sister is in town and we just hung out there and had an amazing dinner and drank quite a few glasses of wine!
It definitely was really nice to get to know his sister better! She's so much fun and a LOT like John. They are basically the same person... looks and personality.

I'm really looking forward to Sunday when we go out there for her and a couple of their other family member's birthdays. It's going to be great. When that family gets together it's so much fun. I feel like sometimes they are the family from a story book or a movie.

:) I love that I get to spend time with them, I definitely feel very lucky!

New Layout

How do you like the new layout?
It's extremely plain as I only had paint to work with.
Once I can access photoshop, I'll definitely play around a lot more to make something really exciting!
Right now, I'm finally happy with the way my blog looks, though.

I cut out a lot of the "fat" of the blog. Things that didn't need to be there.

I think it looks a lot better this way and much more inviting.

And just so you know, even though it looks really plain...it took a LONG time to figure out all the coding. Website making is NOT as easy as some may think!

What do you think?

HTML Wiz?!

Yay! I figured out how to change up fonts and stuff on my "Pages"

How I managed to figure this out, I have no idea!!

I feel so cool.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

3 more sleeps until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 comes out in theatres!

Oh-You know I'll be there the first showing that airs!

However, once it's over, I'm probably going to feel like something is missing in my life.

I'll feel, well, empty.

Harry Potter will be done forever.

PPD-Post Potter Depression.

Anybody else going through the same thing?

Does anybody have any good book recommendations that could even come CLOSE to Harry Potter?

Please let me know. I'm going to need it.

Me and John?

I don't know why...but this picture reminds me so much of John and myself.

Maybe it's because I'm such a cling-on/koala bear and he's sort of a...rebel (compared to me, anyway).

I don't know... I just love this picture. Along with many other old Hollywood pictures.

p.s. what's with the random on the left?

pic found from http://www.busybeelauren.com/

A Night of Love: Erica and Kurtis' Wedding

This weekend I went to witness 2 of my friends exchange their vows and lock themselves together for life!

A big congratulations go out to Kurtis and Erica Mason.

Such a lovely wedding.

Erica, you looked so unbelievable and Kurtis you were so sweet and you are a very lucky man!

So beautiful! Such a beautiful night.

How cute are the newlyweds? So romantic.
I wish you both a long and happy life together xoxo <3

I Could Have Kissed You

Location, Location, Location


I could have kissed you

under cherry blossoms,

pale petals drifting down

like the trees wanted to

pretend they could be

snowclouds.



I could have kissed you

in the rain, drenched to

our bones and not even

caring that the skies

opened up above us

and tried to wash us out.



I could have kissed you

in a clearing in the most

secluded woods, with

just the sound of wind

rustling through the leaves

and a few voyeuristic

finches peeping at us.



Instead, I kissed you

in the parking lot of a

Waffle House, just shy

of 2 a.m. in the middle

of a hectic week, with

our waitress grinning

at us from the other

side of the window,

because, honestly,

how could I not?



This poem © Gabriel Gadfly.

Summer Wedding #2: The Dress!

I'm going to another wedding this Saturday and this is the dress I bought (from RW&CO).

It's quite pretty.

Classic, modern. Very Audrey.

What do you think?

Camp Weekend!

So as you know, this past weekend was CANADA DAY WEEKEND!
And I had such a great time.
I spent the entire weekend out at camp with friends and it was awesome!
I got a really bad burn though which made me want to stay away from the sun for a while but I think it's finally going away.
Here are some pics from the weekend!

Hey Everybody: Meet my Disaster of a Truck I Drive

Last night me and my friends went to see Monte Carlo and I wore the really cute outfit you see in the picture.
As we were walking back to our vehicles, my friend Vanessa mentioned my outfit was very much like what the girls would wear in the movie.
I then approached my truck (which is pretty much my trademark) and then the girls proceeded to tease me because my outfit was SO not coordinated with my beater truck.
Vanessa told me to strike a pose!!

Yeah, check out that flat tire in the front. I drive safe.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

So I was pretty much at camp ALL weekend.
Camp hopping let's say it. Or "Cottage" hopping as some of you others might say.

Anyway, we made a friend out there. A dangerous friend. But a friend none the less.

He was nice. My friend was feeding him from hand, which to say the least, was a terrible idea. But he meant no harm. He was small. Cute. He was pretty much just chillin' with us for an entire morning like a little pet!

Cue: "Aww's"

Gym Motivation

Where did you go?

I really need you to find your way back to me, because frankly I'm not feeling so great without you.

My mind is in the mentality of "I don't want to waste my time". Even though deep down, I know it is far from time wasted.

I just want to go home and curl up with a good book.

Tips on finding my motivation (no redundancy)?