Of Gingerbread and Men

Hey everyone! I haven't been on in forever, but I figured I should share some Christmas baking I did. Now that, you know, Christmas is long gone and all...

But anyhow, today is Gingerbread (Men)! I used the recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen. She says that it's really spicy and I don't know if it's because I cut the recipe in half, or some other reason, but I found it just fine. If anything, I might potentially enjoy a bit more spices... Otherwise, I really enjoy the consistency and taste of the gingerbread from this recipe!

I actually made these gingerbread men on December 19th and frosted them with buttercream frosting (I decided against royal icing because of the egg whites…) on the 20th.

Cutting out the various shapes.... Mostly gingerbread men.

Finished baking!

The next day, I decorated the cookies with this buttercream frosting recipe from Food Network. I really liked this recipe! But don't ignore the addition of the whipping cream. Those 1-2 tablespoons can really make or break the consistency of the frosting!

And here are the final iced cookies! I got bored of ordinary gingerbread men, so the gingerbread men got decidedly more and more… interesting.

There's one or two pop culture references thrown in… Can you guess what they are? Haha, but they really were very fun to decorate… If a bit time consuming. And I didn't use up all the frosting, which made me feel bad 'cause they just ended up being thrown away. :x Boohoo.

For easy reference, in case you missed the links at the top, here are the recipes I used!

- Smitten Kitchen's Gingerbread Cookies

- Food Network's Quick Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Tomorrow (or maybe later today) I will post about a Secret Santa gift exchange I did with my friends. Or a end of the year post… Since today IS New Year's Eve.

Until then,

Mishya

Try, Try, And Try Again.

I keep promising that I will post every day. Yet I keep failing. This is a bad habit of mine. I promise things that I do not keep. I guess we will have to see how this round goes again. The important thing though is I don't completely give up. Better to try and fail than to not try at all.

In recent news, I'm happy yet not. My fitness stuff, while not as perfect as I would like, is going not badly. I am still not running, at all. Or even doing cardio every day. However, since I signed up for a yoga class at the UCLA Recreation Center, I do yoga twice a week. It makes me realize how much I've missed yoga since I took a break from it winter quarter. Also, my roommate, Karillith, and I are doing a 30 day squat challenge. As seen on the picture to the left. The butt is a bit disconcerting to look at. But I'm really getting great at squats! I'm not sure if it's doing any good... but we'll see.

Academically... it's been a bumpy road. I've already fallen behind, which hopefully means I'll catch up and stay up, having felt the failure of falling behind already this quarter. It's debatable. I have no illusions about myself and my ability to stay motivated.

I'll post tomorrow about more stuff I guess (or so I say). Be forewarned, tomorrow might be deep murky thoughts.

Bad Mishya!

But can you really blame me? Finals week as here and the weeks leading up to it were just as hectic if not more so. Essays, projects, grades.... Ugh!

However, I've been feeling really lousy about myself lately. I've keep telling myself, "I'll eat less tomorrow" or "I'll work out tomorrow" and I've finally realized that won't work at all! It definitely helps (me at least) to read other people's fitness progress. The one I stumbled on today through Pinterest even though I should be studying... is really motivating! I feel like these stories of personal triumph are so much more motivating because you know they have gone through what you have. She's gone through the same pitfalls as I have and she picked herself up (whereas I'm still stuck...). But meh! One thing for sure I plan to do is calorie counting. I do like her way of eating and exercising. Start small and work up! And don't put off to tomorrow what you can do today. I guess I should do a tumblr... but I think I'll just post on here. After all, this is my personal blog.

In other news, I found a lip stain thing (not sure if it's stain, gloss, balm... too many types!) that I adore. It's by Pixi, which can be found at Target, and it's called Magic Tink Tint. It's a pink color that supposedly reacts to the pH of your lips and becomes a personalized pink. It applies clear and gradually changes. So cool! I like the way it just glides on... and the chubby stick format is rather adorable! It has Tinkerbell and vines decorating it. Makes me feel so girly~

I'll post again later. Probably about if I ate better and if I exercised at all. :P Meh.

Oopsie Daisies

I really do suck at keeping up with posting. But hey, I'm posting more frequently than I ever did with my old blog.

First up, a picture of Monsieur Jean Claude Pierre Dumoulin the Third. He's a stuffed animal (a teddy dog?) that I sent Ti to comfort her after she got dumped by her asshole, not judging, of a boyfriend. My roommate and I still owe her a collar for Jean Claude Pierre. I'll endeavor to make her a dog-tag from some leftover silver nickel I have at home... Karillith will probably take care of the collar part.

Anyhow, besides Ti's troubles, I've been having a few hectic weeks. Trouble focusing, catching up with schoolwork... I think the cause has finally come to light! My period showed up 2 days ago. Or was it yesterday? Anyhow, it was particularly bad this time. Usually I only have crippling backache. This time, cramps came to play and I had both! Oh the joys of being a woman (can you tell I'm sarcastic?). I've been feeling a bit better since yesterday, so hopefully today will go well.

The Road of Life Goes Ever On and On

Life's been hectic lately. My best friend, Ti, after a series of 'we broke up... jk' incidents, finally broke it off entirely with her asshole (I'm so not judging) boyfriend. After more and more moments of increasingly unfeeling indifference from him, the straw that broke the camel's back (or rather Ti's heart) was when he made no effort to do anything for Valentine's day and finally told her that he had only promised to write a note to her, which would've taken all of a minute, in an effort to shut her whining. He dumped her (broke up is too mild for what he did) during that phone call in the last few hours of Valentine's Day. I say good riddance and I'm glad he's gone, but he leaves behind the pieces of Ti's first relationship and her heart for her other friends and me to put back together again. I had sent her a care package, initially for what I thought was a break up but turned out to be false alarm (how I wish now it was true!), just a few days before Valentine's Day. The package arrived on the day of Valentine's and in my letter inside I told her how it was for the rough bump that she was going through, with parents and school, because she had supposedly made up with her boyfriend already. However, since her asshole (still not judging) boyfriend dumped her that night, I had to send the second, for breaking up, part of my gift sooner than I anticipated (I did expect to send it though...). I sent it on the 15th and I will have a picture of it up when she gets it.

The photo's grainy since Ti took it with her phone. It shows the homemade fudge I made with Karillith in our dorm room (in the pink bag), the white bag with the cookies from Diddy Riese (a must have if anyone ever come to UCLA), Yan Yan, and an blue angry face thing that I thought would be great for throwing.

 In other, more cheerful news! I had my first Cake Pops ever, courtesy of a nursing friend as part of the Nursing School's fundraiser. They were quite tasty. And you can see my manicure in here! It's Sally Hansen's Red My Lips. The red was perfect for both Chinese New Years on February 10th and Valentine's Day!

This was my first fondue ever, chocolate or otherwise. It came courtesy of a residential hall activity for Valentine's day. There were strawberries, pound cake pieces, marshmallows, and banana slices (which I did not get). Everything was delicious (how could it not be, coated in chocolate?) and the strawberries were especially divine.




The next time I post, it will (hopefully) be more focused on my own problems, which I have had a few of lately and need to get off my chest.

Life is a Roller-coaster. True Story.

Sorry I've been really bad at this whole blogging business... But meh. I guess I will promise (once again) to try and be more one time. That's the most I can do since only time will tell if I keep the promise or not.

I've been having a good couple of weeks, but at the same time not so good. I did really well on my psychology midterm, but I've been super unmotivated at the same time. Maybe establishing a firm schedule for myself will help me get more on task? I keep telling myself to catch up but because I have so much to catch up that I've forgone the use of my white board momentarily, I can't keep myself on track. I spend my time alternating between feeling guilty about not doing work and surfing the web to distract myself from feeling guilty. I know, I know... Why don't I simply do work to get rid of the guilty feeling, right? But then all I can see is the huge pile of work that I have to do... It is, quite simply, a vicious, unending cycle. Which I will break today! (Haha, never going to happen. :P)

In other news, I sent my friend a comfort package! I will have her take a picture of it so I can post it next time. Think it'll arrive at her apartment today... since I sent it with a 2 day delivery thing. The story behind it is kind of complicated. Originally, it was a break-up care package, but she kind of got back together with him within about 24 to 36 hours. But then she's been having a very stressful time with academics and most especially parents (she has very erratic and seemingly asshole parents... dad... yea. not judging at all). I will talk more about it (and what was in it) when I get the picture I guess.

That's all for now. How does one end a blog post anyways?

Gloomy Skies Forebode Darkness

Literally darkness. I did not want to wake up for my 8AM class today at all because it was so dark outside. It felt like night time still. It still feels like night, as if morning is never coming. This type of weather makes me yearn for sleep-ins, hot tea, and cozy blankets. Instead I get class at the earliest possible time and no thermos to put any hot drinks in. *sadface*

Anyhow! I do apologize for not posting for such a long time. I've totally broken my resolution apart. Torn it down and stomped on it. I will endeavor to keep more on track from now on. As for the rest of my resolutions... They are going very meh. I haven't really lost weight, but haven't gained it either. I find it hard to eat right when I have to live on dorm food. The only vegetables they have are salads, which I don't really like. It's a shame because I love vegetables, but I'm used to having them cooked. Eating less is hard too when I'm always hungry. It seems as if I need to eat more to be full with dining hall food. It makes me wish that I could live in an apartment and cook for myself. But I have been exercising, so that's the upside. I took a hoola-hoop conditioning class with Karillith the other day. It was interesting, not as fun as I thought it would be, but definitely an okay work out.

I hope to be back with better news in the next post. I have gotten over my slump and am now motivated! Like, 75% motivated. Clearly still not all there yet. Ah well, clearly, my journey might have started with a single step, but keeping myself from stopping is just as hard, if not harder, then that single step.

Unicorns Are Fabulous, But I Haven't Seen Them Today.

Today was definitely a pretty good day. I say 'pretty good' because it wasn't all unicorns and rainbows, but I was quite happy throughout most of it. There was a period of time today where I felt super meh about doing work, but I got over it and did finish some homework. Unfortunately, my textbooks just arrived today, so I'm a bit behind. Luckily, I have nothing to do at all this weekend, so I can spend all of it studying and reading. Forever alone, that's me!

The highlight of my day was definitely a Zumba class that my friend, actually my roommate too, insisted I go to with her. Our third roommate, Karillith, was also dragged along. The session was very energizing, despite my lack of rhythm and coordination. It got my heart rate up and my blood pumping, so it was good for me in a different way from yoga. Karillith is considering signing up for Zumba classes this quarter, so I'm super excited! Considering this is the girl who insisted that she did not want to do any exercise with the point of actually exercising, the fact that she might take Zumba is thrilling. If she does take Zumba, I will definitely be taking it with her. Might have to not take yoga though... have to calculate my schedule.

I think that's all for today. I am super glad I haven't felt too poorly this quarter so far. I hope everyone else has been having an equally good year so far! (Even though it's much too early to judge... *knocksonwood*).

Bye for today!

I Suck At Resolutions Apparently

I said I would blog every day... but I've been super busy. That's my excuse. Which is a totally legit excuse, considering I just started winter quarter at UCLA and I've been super busy trying to get all my classes and books. But I had time today! My head is pounding and I desperately want to go to bed, but I'm not going to skip any more days.

Today was a mixed day.

It was pretty good in terms of my general mood. I definitely felt pretty productive today. Read the readings that I could (considering the majority haven't arrived yet... curse you, Amazon!) and even did 2 hours of experiment credits for my Introduction to Psychology class. That isn't to say I couldn't have been more productive, but considering how lethargic and depressed I was last quarter, I can definitely be happy (and can I say proud?) of this improvement.

On the flip side, I definitely felt like I ate a lot today, which is not good at all. I am ashamed to say I felt super hungry at dinner and made the conscious decision to eat extra and just throw it all up in the bathroom later. I felt really guilty, yet I still did it. What does that say about me? Still saying I'm not anorexic. I really need to make a way of keeping to my resolution though. Eat less (stop throwing up) and exercise more! Haven't exercised at all...

That's it for all though. Good night!!!

New Year's Resolutions (5 Days Late :P)

So I decided to start a blog. I would continue with my LiveJournal, but LiveJournal has been deteriorating and I figured I could post in both places with a few edits here and there. The decision to start a blog (at post every day), was partially prompted by my friend's decision to vlog every day for 365 days. Since I have no interest in talking and putting myself on video for the world to see, I figured a blog would be a good way of getting myself to let go of my feelings and stop bottling them up. I cannot promise this blog will be a fun or lighthearted one, but it won't always be depressive. These are simply my feelings, presented in word form. Sometimes I'm happy, sometimes I'm sad. I definitely have issues, and this is a way for me to write about them.

On to my New Year's Resolutions! So what if they're late? The important thing is I'm getting around to them and I don't give up just because I broke them. I have multiple things I want to change about my life right now. And these will be altered as I feel my way through what is best for me. Another reason for this blog is that I figured sitting down at the end of each day and spending some time to really contemplate what I did right and wrong will help keep me on track.

Resolutions:
1) Get a 4.0 (Aiming for the moon so even if I miss I'll be among the stars.)
2) Eat/be healthier (which will hopefully lead to weight loss)
       a) Drink 8 glasses of water a day minimum
       b) exercise (yoga)
       c) eat a salad meal a day
       d) cut down on junk food
       e) drink less (reduce to none) soda
3) Be less stressed/tired
       a) Don't procrastinate! Make schedules.
       b) Sleep at 11pm every night

And that's all for today!

Here's to a happy and healthy year!