Five Friday Favorites: End of the World Confessions

Posted in Five Friday Favorites, Series by A

Apparently the world was supposed to end today, and while I never put much stock in the rumors, with the alleged end approaching I stopped for a moment yesterday to take stock of my life…you know, in case the world did end. Ultimately, I’m pretty happy with where I am and I don’t know that it would really scare me that the world was ending. But here are five end of the world confessions from me, just in case the world ends later.

I love reality television more than a normal person should. Yes, I was once a strong supporter of shows like Tough Love, Rock of Love: Bus, Jersey Shore, The Real World, etc. It’s surprising just how involved I get with goofy shows like that, but I get absolutely obsessed. I’ve cut back a lot, simply due to a lack of time, but every once in a while I’ll flip on an episode of Teen Mom 2 just to take stock of how wonderful and drama-free my life is.
I play with my phone too much. C sometimes gets on my case because I am constantly checking Twitter, checking my email, getting on Facebook, checking on Instagram, or playing BubbleXplode. It’s one of my goals to cut back on this impulse in 2013. I need to learn how to put the technology away and enjoy the moment that I’m in more.
I love planning more than I love doing. This is a major problem with me. I love laying out deadlines, making schedules, and organizing everything way more than I enjoy actually doing tasks. This is another issue that I really need to work on, especially for next semester because I’m going to be crazy busy.
I am deathly afraid of people in mascot costumes. I have no real rationale for why I have this debilitating fear, but it is a problem that I live with on a daily basis. It is especially hard because I am a huge sports fan, but I just can’t appreciate the people who dress up in the costumes. There’s something strange about not being able to see someone’s face…
I still believe in Santa Claus. Like, for real. I just think there’s a magic at Christmastime that can’t always be explained. I remember the Christmas that my older brother, Chris, proved to me that Santa was real. I must have been eleven or twelve and Chris was a few years older than me. We slept in the dining room that year, hoping to catch a glimpse of the big guy. We were laying on the pull-out, talking about what we were hoping to find under the tree the next morning when Chris stopped, sat up and looked out the window. He pointed to a small red dot up in the sky and told me that it was Rudolph’s nose. I looked at that dot and I believed, without question. We quickly fell asleep and woke up to the greatest Christmas either of us could remember. I know it’s foolish and that I’m 24 and should know better, but I’ll never forget that night. Chris always kept the spirit of Christmas alive for me and I would truly hate to lose that.

What are your End of the World Confessions?

XOXO

6Nov2012

Creamy, cheesy, delicious bowl of heaven.

Posted in Food Makes Friends by A

Hi, my name is Alana and I’m obsessed with macaroni and cheese.

Ever since I can remember I’ve loved the gooey, cheesy, down-home goodness that is a nice bowl of heaven. Sure, I can sometimes rock the blue box flavor, but nothing beats a little homemade macaroni and cheese.

My mom is pretty great at whipping up a pot on the spot for her hungry kids, and I learned from her. But lately, my ratios have been off. Every time I’ve tried to mix up something quick for C and I it’s ended up soupy and gross. Sure, C will suffer through it and pretend it’s the best mac and cheese I’ve ever made, but we both knew something was off.

So last week, C and I were wandering around the house, snacking on random cereals or sweet pickles, when we decided it was definitely time for dinner. Scanning through our supplies, we didn’t see much. Rather than resorting to a walk down to Jimmy John’s or a mid-week date at the Tap Room, we decided that macaroni and cheese sounded like the perfect meal.

Not wanting to end up disappointed with macaroni and cheese soup, I went to the Internet in search of a good recipe. And boy, did I find one!

The recipe can be found here, on The Kichtn.

While my family tradition taught me to mix the cheese, milk, and butter right in the pan with the noodles, this recipe calls for a saucepan all for the cheese. I don’t know why it had never occurred to me to just make a cheesy sauce to drench the noodles in before.

It was delicious. And easy to make. The only frustrating part was waiting for the milk to thicken so I could start the cheese sauce. The recipe even suggests mixing in extras, like peas, ham, or bacon. I think mixing it up with a few add-ins might be a fun thing to try. Or different cheeses? Or seasonings?

I’m a changed woman. I will never make macaroni and cheese the same way again.

Bon appétit!

P.S. I literally just got my new iPhone 5 and can’t wait to try it out!

XOXO

2Nov2012

Five Friday Favorites: Apps

Posted in Five Friday Favorites by A

My iPhone is tired. My darling 3GS has been through a lot: rainy cross-country meets, countless evenings out to dive bars with my sorority sisters, being lost, complete submersion in a cooler of freezing cold water and ice, family vacations down south, and DJ-ing countless long drives and dance parties, though most of those needed one artist, and one artist only – Ke$ha.

That all being said, I decided to treat myself to the new iPhone 5. It was ordered exactly a week ago and I have yet to hear any information about shipping or an expected arrival date. Luckily my 3GS and I have been spending some quality time together and in anticipation of our soon separation, I’m listing my Five Favorite Apps that I currently can’t live without.

Songza – Songza is everything that I wished that other music-streaming sites would be. They have playlists focused around activities, moods, eras, or holidays. There is a “Music Concierge” that detects the general time of day and suggests activities that you might actually be performing at that time. So whether it’s dinner time and I need some French Pop to cook to or I’m up late studying and I need some Classical symphonies to sooth my aching brain, Songza has got my back! I’ll admit, sometimes I waste way too much time surfing through the Activities, because some of them are so fun! They have thought of everything, from Coding to Curing Road Rage, or Lying Low on a Sunday Afternoon or even Walking Through a City. There is both a web version that I use on my laptop when I’m studying and a mobile app that C and I have used when friends come over. If you’re tired of building playlists around single artists or song titles, try Songza to get a more robust music mix.
SongPop – Okay, this one I totally blame on my darling friend B. I’ll be honest, this game has been my biggest distraction this week. It’s one of those somewhat irritating games that you just want to keep clicking. The user interface is pretty cool, but the jist of the game is to play different song clips and guess either their song title or the artist’s name. Music trivia, if you will. Some of the “playlists” are harder for me than others, especially Latin Hits, just because I don’t know many artists in that genre. But I’m pretty good at the Classic Rock genre, so don’t mess with me on that. It’s pretty fun, but maybe I shouldn’t play it as often as I do. It’s addictive!
Angry Birds Seasons – I love Angry Birds Seasons. I usually play a few levels right before I go to bed. Everyone knows Angry Birds, right? Well, Angry Birds Seasons is a quirky little game that updates every time the seasons change. The Halloween levels were released a few weeks before Halloween and are themed according to the holiday. So, some of those Bad Piggies were dressed in costumes, like one had a Jason mask while another was dressed like Frankenstein. I, of course, can’t wait for the Christmas levels to come out. I would say, any fan of Angry Birds should definitely give Angry Birds Seasons a try.
Instagram – Instagram is another one of my obsessions. I originally downloaded the app right before my family went on vacation this past summer. I had seen some blog posts about Instagram and thought it would be a good way for me to kind of document the trip. Sure enough, once we were on the road down to Tennessee, I was obsessed with Instagram. Yes, I occasionally take photos of my food and sometimes C makes fun of me, but I truly enjoy getting a chance to be creative with photography right from my phone. I also love checking out my feed. Since I mostly follow users like @dailypuppy or @puppiesinstagram, I’m usually greeted with a happy puppy every time I open the app. Sure, it’s nice to see photos of my friend’s babies (Squishy!) or gorgeous fall leaves, but I’m mostly in it for the puppies.
Todoist – This is my favorite productivity app. Well, maybe other than Evernote, but I mostly use Evernote for random ideas or for planning blog posts. I use Todoist for my schoolwork or for tasks I really need to get done. It’s pretty great! You can create separate “projects” and list tasks within those projects. I love that there are multiple views that you can select, like a seven-day view or only overdue tasks. I also get an email every day with my tasks for the day and a cool graph of my productivity for the past few days. I have also downloaded the Google Chrome extension for Todoist, so my list is always accessible. ;