What Today Looked Like.

I'm Reading: Dragons In Our Midst. I'm working on the 4th book, Tears of a Dragon. They're so good! I don't want them to end, but I really want to get to the end... if that makes any sense at all. I have some catching up to do. If you've never read them, you've got to! In my opinion, my favorite was the 3rd, but read them in order. It's worth getting there.

I'm Listening to: Reliant K - Be My Escape. I heard the song for the first time ever today, and I listened to it, oh, I don't know... 15 times or so? It's so cool. The lyrics are really good. Besides that song, I've also heard random bits of Britt Nicole and Royal Tailor.

I'm Learning (On Guitar): Strangely Dim by Francesca Battistelli. The chords are easy enough to play, and it's pretty fun.

I'm Wearing: A neon yellow top, dark blue jean shorts, and diamond stud earrings. My nails are painted sky blue.

I'm Eating: These wonderful brownie, marshmallow fluff, peanut butter, rice krispy things. I don't know what they're called, but imagine brownie dough layered with that stuff. They were good.

I'm Wishing: That I could find my camera. It just disappeared on me today, and so that explains why this post remains photo-less. 

*Brooke*

Banana Muffins

Yesterday I was bored. I had finished school way too early, and now I had nothing to do. With all the free time on my hand, I decided to get busy and make muffins. Wonderful muffins.

- Banana Muffins -

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large bananas, mashed

3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Combine bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Scoop into muffin pans.

Bake in preheated oven. Bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins will spring back when lightly tapped.

I got the recipe here. These are SO good. They disappeared quickly, and they were really delicious. If you like banana bread, you'll love these! :)

*Brooke*

• 
  

Cake Pops

 I baked cake pops, and I love them. I always have- they're delicious, bite-sized, and full of cake goodness! I used the recipe on this site. 

In the way of decorating, I melted dark and white chocolate and dipped them in each type. Once they were dry, I used an icing bag to pipe chocolate onto them! On some I stripped chocolate over, some I dotted, and some I swirled and added leaves or whatever you want to call them ;)

Have a fantastic week, 

<3, Brooke

Happy 100

It's been a long time since I've blogged, but I'm back! I've been totally busy!

So, guess what? This is my one-hundredth post! To celebrate, I'm going to post 100 random things I <3 that I've found on Pintrest! =)

Since posting 100 photos in one post is very time consuming, I decided that I'm going to divide it up into 5 posts. Here's the first one!

100. <3 this photo!

Kelsey Lattimore via Lauren Stephens

99. The color is awesome, and the nails are so cute!

Be Happy via Leona Carolina

98. Just decided, I need to make cake pops today. 

Kay K via Berry Insurance

97. Doodle Journal

Tanya Swann via Kate Krueger

96. Yum.

Haley Halbert via Leigh Thomas

95. Britt Nicole

Hannah Sheppard via Brooke Bland

94. Mii Cupcakes

Carol Duckworth

93. 'I'm Letting Go' Francesca Battistelli poster. Really cute!

92. This hair is so pretty!

Via. Jennifer Lee Segale via Hair and Beauty Tips

91. Gorgeous drawing.
 
Amanda Gallagher via Bailee

90. Organize your desk with cool paper, and soup cans...

Jordan Taylor via Alex Abrams

89. Homemade lip balm !

Sylvie Guido via Angelia Steffan

88. A camera I Phone case

Kerri Higgins via Bailey Douglas

87. Flower doodle.

Tia Brown via Kristan Shockley

86. Like these flip flops!

stephanie d : maile weddings and events

85. Mmmm.....

Tracey Hodgkinson via Luulla

84.  Homemade fruit popsicles.

Emily Ellis via Sherry Marshall

83. Colorful and cute!

Melinda Robinson 💋 via Jessica Hodge

82. I love old-fashioned heart lockets.

Anna Stahlman via Despina Wilson 

81. Love these paper lanterns!

Mysie Sabin

80. Wow, that's a lot of colored pencils...


Well, that's all for this post! Hope you liked all the colorful awesome stuff I found on Pinterest!
Have a fantastic week,
*Brooke*

This Year's Awesome Sweet Stuff

Here are some of my favorite sweets I've had in 2012 =)

Mocha Coconut Frappuchino from Starbucks! Mmmmmm....

Ghiradelli Peppermint Bark! This stuff is soooo good.

Auntie Annie's Cinnamon Sugar Soft Pretzel! 

If you've never had one, stop what you're doing and go get one RIGHT NOW. They're AMAZING.

Chocolate Mud Pie Bluebell Ice Cream! Bluebell ice cream is always delicious, but this flavor is especially good.

Pretzel M&M's return as one of my favorites this year! They always have been, they always will be.

Hope this gives you a good idea of what to eat when you have a sweet tooth ;)

<3. Brooke

December Update

Is it just me, or does that cupcake look amazing? ;)

So I've decided once every month I'm going to give you an update. 

First off, I've had a wonderful December. The house is really festive, we've been doing a lot of activities, and I've continued to play basketball :) Tomorrow's our last game for the year (which I will unfortunately miss), but games will start up again in early January for me.

Tonight we're going Christmas caroling, which I will post pictures of tomorrow. Every year for the last 12 years, my older brother has organized a caroling event. He builds a 'float' with a traveling Christmas tree for people to see as we carol, he play music as we walk through the streets, and we stop at houses to sing and give them invitations to our church. this year I think we're going caroling with 45 people. That is a LOT of people to go caroling with, but also very fun!!!

So a random thing I'm excited about; TobyMac is going to be performing in the Disney Christmas Day Parade! He has the best Christmas music, and he's one of my favorite artists, so I'm really happy about that!

You may have noticed that I recently updated my header. I'm planning on adding pages to, but those are still in the works. I can't get past my 'About Me' page. I feel like I'm writing a book, not a paragraph, so I need to condense it soon. Also coming soon are a 'Dreaming' page (sort of like a bucket list) and a 'Color' page (which is also in the works).

Question about my header to other bloggers: Is there a way to extend my header across the whole top of the page, without it widening the blog posts under it? I hope that makes sense!

Have a wonderful first day of winter everyone!
*Brooke*

Candy Cane Lane

Pinterest is the most amazing collection of everything wonderful. I can spend forever looking at everything- today it was Christmas cookies.

via Cynthia Otts

via Chung-Ah Rhee

via Mary Harmon Swenson

via Liz Berg

via Karla Marie

via Jennifer Billingslea

via Deborah Fair

via Laura Moyer

Don't they all look so pretty!? My cookies are always flat. I'm planning on posting any Christmas cookies I may make this year. Let's hope they look this good ;)

***Brooke***

Owl Cupcakes

 My brother Matthew is in a bowling league every Wednesday, and today they were having a party. Since everyone was supposed to bring something to eat, my mom made cupcakes that looked like Owls.

Aren't they cute?

I love all their faces. Okay, well anyways I thought I'd share these with you since they're adorable and they tasted delicious. They were almost too cute to eat ;)

*Brooke*

Mmmmm....

I've had a bunch of good food in this week, so not to make you hungry or anything, but let's relive my favorite food moment...

Mmmmmm....

Mocha Frappe's from McDonald's are my favorite things in the world. How could you not resist coffee, chocolate, and lots of whipped cream? Wow, I'm getting hungry just looking at it. I'm highly in love with these ;) Ha ha.

-Brooke-

Foil Things

Has anyone ever been to Makotos? We hadn't been in 5 years, but we went last night. I always have enjoyed that restaurant. If you've never gone, you need to. They have good food, and it's fun... it's not just the food, but also the experience. They cook your food in front of you, they make the best salad dressing in the world, and I love the atmosphere. When you leave, instead of putting your leftover food in boxes, they put it in foil which they make into animals. It's pretty neat. In the picture I'm holding my food, which has been made into a seahorse. My mom's food became a swan, my older brother's Scott's became a cobra, and my brother Matthew's became an alligator. I remember the first time I ever went to Makotos when I was much younger I went home, pulled out the foil, and was convinced I could make these things. Then I realized that that would waste tons of foil, and that I also was not talented in the foil designing business. Ha ha :) 

Have a great night,

Lots of <3, Brooke

Extreme Chocolate Cake

EXTREME CHOCOLATE CAKE:

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar 
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
•  
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 5 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans.
2. Use the first set of ingredients to make the cake. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 3 minutes with an electric mixer. Stir in the boiling water by hand. Pour evenly into the two prepared pans.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.
4. To make the frosting, use the second set of ingredients. Cream butter until light and fluffy. Stir in the cocoa and confectioners' sugar alternately with the milk and vanilla. Beat to a spreading consistency.
5. Split the layers of cooled cake horizontally, cover the top of each layer with frosting, then stack them onto a serving plate. Frost the outside of the cake.

Mmmmm.... is it just me? Or does that look good!... I got the recipe off Yummly. I have to say I did end up having some and it was REALLY delicious! I love chocolate, and cake, and especially frosting, so I liked it :) 

Have a good day!

-Brooke

Too Much To Do, Too Little Time!

Do you ever feel like you have TONS to do in a day, and not much time to do it? That's how I feel this afternoon. With no school you'd think I'd have plenty of time, but instead I'm hurrying around as I forgot about a LOOOOOONG list of things I need to do. I did decide though, I could probably squeeze in a short break to blog. :) So, since it's my mom's birthday today, I baked her a cake this morning. I will have to post the recipe tomorrow, as it was really good... well, at least I hope it is!... I haven't tasted yet, but it looks pretty, so I think it will taste good. To me at least, the prettier it looks, the better it tastes. LOL :) OK. So anyways, my experimental cake baking took place this morning, for lunch I had McDonald's (yum) and this afternoon I feel like I've been doing so much! I realized that my favorite white blouse I was going to wear to our small group tonight was dirty (oh no!) and so I had to hurry and wash it. I then came to realise that I also needed to finish writing a script for group tonight!.... You see, after small group is over, and everyone's just talking, I and the other girls have been working on a play we plan to put on for everyone in our small group next potluck. The girls preforming in it are ages 6-12, and another girl my age and I are directing it... and I totally forgot, but I said I would try to finish writing the scripts by tonight. They are written, but I sort of have a problem with writing anything short... I honestly don't think a 6 year old can memorize a 24 page script, and so it obviously needs MAJOR cuts, which I'm supposed to be doing this afternoon. As I was about to start working on that, I realized I had forgotten completely about all the chores I had to do today!... and then I realized I had also forgotten about something else... and something else... and something else, which added to the long list of other things I had to do. So put simply, I've been VERY busy this afternoon! Oh well :) Hope you've all had a great day!

-Brooke

Homemade Starbucks

 The pictures above are of delicious homemade Starbuck's Mocha Coconut Frappuccionos. They were soooooooo good! I couldn't help but share the recipe, as I adore Starbucks. I got it off Yummly.com. They weren't quite like the real ones (since I wasn't using Starbucks coffee) but they were pretty close, and just as good! :)

Starbucks' Mocha Coconut Frappuccino

@ Email  Print

12 cup shredded coconut 34 cup coffee (strong, chilled) 1 cup low-fat milk 13 cup chocolate syrup (hersheys)

3 tbsps granulated sugar 2 cups ice 12 cup whipped cream (canned)

1	Preheat oven to 300°F
2	Spread shredded coconut on a baking sheet and toast coconut in the oven.
3	Stir the coconut around every 10 minutes or so for even browning. After 25 to 30 minutes the shredded coconut should be light brown. Cool it off.
4	Make double-strength coffee by brewing with twice the coffee required by your coffee maker. That should be 2 tablespoons of ground coffee per each cup of coffee.
5	Chill before using.
6	To make the drinks, combine cold coffee, milk, 1/3 cup of the toasted coconut, 1/3 cup chocolate syrup, and sugar in a blender. Blend for 15 to 20 seconds to dissolve sugar.
7	Add ice and blend until ice is crushed and the drink is smooth.
8	Pour drinks into two 16-ounce glasses. Garnish each drink with whipped cream, a drizzle of chocolate, and a pinch of some of the remaining toasted coconut. Add a straw to each one. They were pretty easy to make. We had no whipped cream so I had to make mine without that. I also used whole milk instead of low-fat, and added more ice to make mine thicker. Besides that I followed the recipe. I also made the mistake of accidently forgetting to put the top on the blender when blending the drinks... oops... but four yummy Frappiccionos later, and one messy counter later, they were worth it! ;) Oh, and no, i did NOT drink all four by myself, but I would have been happy to LOL :) I don't think my mom would be so happy about that though...or my stomach... To a fantastic day full of Starbucks, -Brooke