Slice of life: day 29.

Success!

I have all the pieces of my Halloween costume.  Two days before I need them!  That's pretty good for me.

Yes, my Halloween costume involves a tiny unicorn.

Why do you need a tiny unicorn you ask?

Because this is what I'm being.

I love Halloween.

Slice of life: day 28.

This is why I love Florida.  There's an alligator living in a retention pond in the middle of the city.

I don't think Floridians really need a sign to warn them of this though.  If I see any kind of body of water, be it retention pond or river, I just assume there's probably an alligator living in it.

But I love that.

Slice of life: day 27.

You know, I was in first place in my fantasy football league.

Was.

Slice of life: day 26.

I made pumpkin bread today!  Healthy pumpkin bread.  I like to pretend that means I can eat as much of it as I want without consequences.  I should keep the recipe for this one (which I did write down, just in case it turned out well).  It's not sweet bread, so for sweet bread add way more sugar.

Healthy Pumpkin Bread!
2 eggs
1 banana
1 c sugar (in some combo: 1/2c dark brown, 1/4c honey, 1/4c white)
1 c applesauce
1 15oz can of pumpkin
1.5 t salt
2 t baking soda
3 c whole wheat flour
lots of pumpkin pie spice until it tastes good.

Bake at 375 until it's done.  (For a long time, like an hour.)

Slice of life: day 25.

I love flea markets.

For many reasons, one of them being because you can buy "medical tools for hobby uses".

Slice of life: day 24.

This is my favorite part of I-75.  I'm not entirely sure where it is, somewhere in the vicinity of Ocala.

It's a giant bridge with wide lanes and lots of trees that all turn pretty colors in the winter.

And it makes me happy when I'm generally at a point where all I want to do is not be driving anymore.

Slice of life: day 23.

This is one of the smartest things I've seen at USF.

A vending machine at the library that sells everything from blue books to moleskines to calculators and usb drives.

Slice of life: day 22.

So did you think that by eating a Clif bar and fruit I was on a giant health kick diet?

Hahaha.

Another reason on the long list of reasons that I love living with my roommate: late night trips to Dairy Queen for fries.

Slice of life: day 21.

When I go to school, I leave in the morning and don't come back until late afternoon.  This leaves the problem of lunch.  I don't want to spend the time and money going and buying lunch everyday, but I'm too lazy to make myself a sandwich every morning.  (Well, I do it, but I don't enjoy it.)  I've been on the search for something that will hold me over for an entire afternoon that I can just grab and go, and I think I've found it:

A Clif bar and a banana is enough to keep me from eating my arm until I get home and make dinner.  And they're delicious.  (I recommend the chocolate chip peanut crunch.)

Slice of life: day 20.

On day 20 my roommate introduced me to Nordstrom Rack in Tampa.  And Nordstrom Rack introduced me to these shoes.

I can't pay $100 for shoes, and morally I don't know that I would ever pay $100 for shoes if I could, but I WANT THESE SHOES.

Slice of life: day 19.

I know I'm way behind in putting these in their place, but I really have taken a picture every day!

I suppose day 19 I was short on material.

This is my laptop.  Can you tell which button gets used more?  (No, it's not dirty.)  There are nice worn spots where my wrists lie too.

Slice of life: day 18.

Today I made cookies!  "Healthy" cookies.  They were "healthy" because I used whole wheat flour.  I assumed they would be gross because otherwise whole wheat cookies would be insanely popular, but they're actually delicious.  I also substituted honey for the white sugar, just for fun.  This is how the first batch I baked turned out:

Very flat and kind of chewy/cakey.  The dough was rather runny, so I refrigerated the very end of the bowl and made three more (almost chocolatechipless).  Here's how they turned out:

Okay so they're still flat and it didn't do much.  I did learn that they turn out a lot prettier when you give them sufficient room on the cookie sheet though.

Slice of life: day 17.

I love college.  You know why I love college?  Free concerts!

Friday I saw Neon Trees and 30 Seconds to Mars for freeeeeeee on campus!  I'm not a particularly big fan of either band, but I love the Neon Trees song that's on the radio, and it was free.

The other thing that was exceptional about Friday night is that it was cold.  Cold as in it required a jacket.  Welcome fall!  Most people didn't get the memo and were wearing shorts and tank tops.  So other than being colddd, it was a wonderful night.

Slice of life: day 16.

I was studying for a midterm and eating a delicious bagel with pumpkin cream cheese, and then I realized the cream cheese matched the walls of the hallway.

And then I took a picture with the camera on my phone even though I had my real camera.

Mostly because I was too lazy to get out my real camera.

But partly because I had just gotten my phone back after a three day hiatus! While I love having it back, I decided if I ever have to eliminate one expense from my life, it will probably be the phone.  Sorry phone.  Please don't get offended and break on me.

Slice of life: day 15.

Sometimes chocolate is the only right thing about your day.  Wednesday was one of those days.  Thank you brownies, for being so delicious.

Slice of life: day 14.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

I don't know, but Tampa has some wild chickens apparently.  And they do cross roads.

And I don't think you can possibly imagine how excited I was when I noticed chickens roaming free in the streets of Tampa.  It made my week.

Slice of life: day 13.

Look! It's the Goodyear Blimp!!

I don't know why it's in Tampa, but I like it.

This wasn't even the most exciting part of my day, just the only thing I photographed.

And right after I took this picture I realized I left my phone in another city.  I'm phoneless for the next three days.

But I love it.  I love knowing that it really doesn't matter if people are trying to reach me.  There's nothing I can do about it.  It's freeing.  And wonderful.  And I highly recommend taking a vacation from your cellphone sometime soon.

Slice of life: day 12.

Yes I know, I was driving (and maybe speeding). 

But the sky and the sun on the water was just so pretty, and I promise I wasn't trying to look at what I was taking a picture of.  

Point and click, no eyes diverted from the road.

Slice of life: day 11.

This really has nothing to do with my day.

I guess it does if you consider that this picture means "I really really don't want to work on my thesis right now".

That's what I've been thinking all day.

Things I love: chocolate.

But who doesn't?  I think this is Dove's way of nicely saying "no really, you shouldn't eat this entire bag by yourself, please don't".

Slice of life: day 10.

Meet Tine, cutest cat in the world.  She's small, good at catching lizards, and always in need of attention.

I love it when she follows me around when I come home.

Slice of life: day 9.

USF had a homecoming carnival tonight!  Free rides, nice cool weather, and free Qdoba.

Too bad we went on one ride and then almost threw up.

I will not believe it's because I'm getting old.  I blame it all on the camera I was trying to look at while spinning in two different types of circles.

Things I am good at: killing plants.

I do not have a green thumb.  I don't even have a green knuckle, or thumbnail, or anything of the sort.  I had a dill plant, it died within a week (not enough sun).  Then I tried planting some seeds of different herbs that enjoy the shade.  They sprouted and they were doing great for maybe a week, and then they died.  The plant food fertilizer may have been to much for them, and I may have been warned, and I still killed them. I have a corn plant and I think I'm slowly killing it because it's inside (but it's on NASA's list of plants that help clean indoor air!).

However, my roommate has found the perfect plant for our apartment.  It's also been here the longest; it's been alive for almost a year.  This is because of how this plant works.  You let it sit on the table and don't touch it until it looks like this:

Then it's time to water it.  In a matter of minutes, it will look like this:

So much happier.  So foolproof.  The only way to stay alive in this apartment if you're a photosynthesizer.  I think the only plant harder to kill is this one.

Slice of life: day 8.

I'm still aware that it's day 9, but really I do promise that this is from day 8.  I made a skirt yesterday! Using a sewing machine!! I generally don't get along with sewing machines, so this is a big deal.  These elastic waistband skirts are really easy to make though, and if I can make it, that's saying something.  I'll let you in on a little secret: I am not particularly crafty or artsy, and I have almost no patience when it comes to projects like this.  When I get the urge to do something crafty, I have to do it right then and finish as quickly as possible.  If I don't it will just sit in my closet (or on the kitchen table) for years until I move and throw it away.

Here's what I learned from making it that I should do differently next time:
1. Iron the fabric first. (I know, common sense, but I ignore most things like this.  Just wait and see.)
2. Cut the fabric to it's desired length and shape (evenly) before sewing it to the elastic. (Yes, you read that right.  I sewed the lining and the skirt to the elastic waistband before I knew how long it was going to be.  It ended up really really really uneven.)
3. Learn how to sew the side seam so it doesn't create the huge puffy butt effect.  While popular a few centuries ago, I don't think it's a trend that's going to be making a reappearance anytime soon.

All of these things aside, it's cute and wearable and homemade! So exciting!

Slice of life: day 7.

I know it's currently day 9, but I promise this was taken on day 7.  Life happens.

Day 7 turned out to be last minute date night at the dollar movie theater! By dollar theater, I mean we drove by and saw a sign that it's only a dollar on Tuesdays, and it happened to be Tuesday.

We saw Salt.  For a dollar, I recommend it. Maybe even two or three.  I'm glad we didn't pay $10 for it, but I'm also in grad school so the movies I would pay $10 for are few and far between.

One of the things I love about this city is that there are buildings that have been here so long that their signs still look like this.  It's got lights and pastels and fun angles and while the interior of the building left a lot to be desired, I love the sign.

Slice of life: day 6.

Have you noticed that most of my pictures are of food? It's true. I love food.  Particularly carbs, and today I made whole wheat bread.

That's the dough.  As you can see, I grossly underestimated what size bowl I would need.  Especially if you consider that the dough you see is wayyyy too sticky because there is probably about half the amount of flour there should be.  The end result was fantastic, and my burned thumb is totally worth it.

Why are carbs so delicious?

Slice of life: day 5.

Since I don't like cooking, I tend to get on food kicks.  I also like to make it as easy as possible for myself to eat dinner.

So here is dinner for the next week: sweet potato, onion, red pepper, eggplant and zucchini.  Splashed with white wine, ready to be broiled with some olive oil and eaten.  Yum yum.

After slicing it all up, I learned eggplant shouldn't be sliced until you want to eat it.  Oops.  Hopefully freezing will stop the browning process.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Slice of life: day 4.

For anyone who was curious about those cookies, they were even more delicious when baked.

More cake-like than crispy or chewy, but who's going to complain when chocolate chip cookies are involved in any form?

Not me. Especially since I made up the recipe as I went.

Things I love: Baking

Well, I really love to eat baked goods.  And the dough stage of baked goods.  And the final, fresh from the oven product.  So I suppose baking is just a secondary love to all of that.

I made cookies today! Chocolate chip, my absolute favorite:

To let you in on a little secret, here's how I bake:

1. Start craving cookies.

2. Find an acceptable looking recipe online.

3. Wash all of the dishes that you need (because really, why would they be clean already?).

4. Begin to get out ingredients.

5. Search the fridge in depth for that butter you know you have somewhere in there.

6. Clean out all of the old food from the fridge because it's gross and crowded.

7. Find the applesauce you were going to use as oil, and then throw it away because it's gone bad.

8. Resign yourself to not baking anything, because you don't have what you need and it's better for you this way anyway.

9. Get antsy and decide to make it work.

10. Start putting ingredients into the bowl, in approximately the right proportions that the recipe says.

11. Use substitutions that may or may not work (shortening for oil? sure they're the same).

12. Get tired of using measuring devices and start just eyeballing it.  

13. Change the type of flour and sugar because it'll taste so much better that way! (Or more realistically, because you're out of normal flour.  Self rising is fine as long as i don't add the baking powder, right?)

14. Just keep adding things until it looks about the right consistency.

15. Take the bowl out of the mixing stand and bring it to the couch.  Eat it while writing about how delicious it is.

Oh, you want to know how the cookies actually baked?  I'll let you know when I bake them.

Slice of life: day 3.

I did a stupendous amount of nothing today.  I did get my car fixed though! The AC is all better and in working condition.  And then I left the service center and turned it off because it is so nice outside.

Look at that! That's my window and its open and our air is turned off!! Free cool air!  I know that I hate the cold and I try my best to appreciate that our summer heat comes with no snow, but this is just so darn nice.

Hello October, I think we're going to be good friends.