Weekend Review

1. National Kite Festival at the Washington Monument

2. Watching General Conference while baking cake (and waiting for Elder Archuleta!!)

3. Moving Shannon's box spring up to our house. Yeah, we really drove like that.

 4. Making homemade ice cream (Roasted Pistachio and Fresh Banana) to go with the strawberry cake (although that's not my picture, it's the recipe's picture, I forgot to take a picture)

5. Playing catch, or watching catch while enjoying a beautiful sunny evening. (And it's DOMINEAU'S Birthday today and her birthday week so she gets to wear a crown a few days early)

So in other words, it was a super chill, awesome weekend.

Things not pictured:

1. the cake obviously

2. watching conference with two kids under 3. (didn't hear a lot)

3. trying on our bridesmaid dresses to figure out accessories for next week's wedding!

A special thanks to Allie, Domineau, Lisa, Shannon, Laney and Tracie for making the weekend great!

Laduree

It's like I died and went to heaven deliciousness. I've heard stories about the tastiness of Laduree macarons but I've only had the imitations. So when I heard the famous French pastry shop opened a location on the Upper East Side I knew a trip across Central Park needed to be made.

And seriously, how can these little cute, delicious-ness of packed flavor chewy cookies not make any and everyone happy. It was hard not to devour them all post lunch. Totally worth it. I'm officially sold and now am going to learn to make mediocre imitations.

(Oh, and our favorite flavors? Vanilla, Coconut, and Caramel with Fleur de Sol.)

ps. I added a picture of us post Hunger Games to the last post. HERE.

NYC BOUND!

Last year two of my coworkers read The Hunger Games. I was thrilled because I had finished them all about six months prior. They devoured the books and we found ourselves emailing throughout the day about what we thought and how we felt about the books. Then next thing I knew, they were moving away to New York. Well, one of the girls sent out an invite for our work calendars to see The Hunger Games Midnight Showing March 23, 2012. I kind of laughed, accepted the invite and thought to my self, "Like that'll actually happen."

Well, people, it's here.

And Lisa and I are on a bus happily reading our HG inspired mags on our way to meet them in Manhattan where they will be saving us seats (or spots in line) for our theater. And I am so thrilled I might not be able to take a nap.

POST EDIT:

I figured I'd give the movie rating. We love love loved it. I thought the movie was fantastic. I loved the scenes that were provided to round out the story on the screen (ie the control room stuff) and was so thrilled with the movie. Totally worth it. Here we all are post movie all excited with our US Weekly magazine.

The Deal

Here's the deal. I'm on a diet. This makes me cranky. Actually, it makes me cranky for the first like oooh two weeks that I'm on it. Then I kind of get into a groove and I can do it better. But, let me tell you, I've been a cranky lady. Mild cranky probably. Not it's too-late-and-I'm-picking-a-fight-with-anyone-who-talks-to-me-cranky (see: high school Lauren post 10 pm. not kidding). It's more like, I'm a little bit quiet, a little bit reserved, would rather read my book cranky.

In order to curb this crankiness I started making a list of things I want to bake when my diet is over. Check out the tab HERE, or the tab along the top. I think it's coming in nicely.

In other much more exciting news, I'm really concerned this week for the welfare of my friends. There's a lot going on in their lives and I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen. I'll give you a little insight:

• What are the consequences to Mr. Bate's wife dying?
• Who is this burn victim Patrick guy? How is Edith going to act?
• What exactly did Matthew feel last time we saw him?
• How is Mary going to turn her horrible engagement around and get away from her fiance?
• Why doesn't Daisy just take the widow money?
• Will Branson and Sybil really run away together? I hope so.
• What is the deal with the new maid and why does she keep looking at Lord Grantham?
• Why can't Thomas and O'Brien just mind their own business?
• But the most pressing matter is, HOW ARE MATTHEW AND MARY GOING TO GET TOGETHER??? 

It's all so stressful.

If you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, you better stop whatever you're doing and get on Netflix and watch Season 1 of Downton Abbey and then you better start watching Season 2 (available on Masterpiece Theater Online). You're missing the most awesome British Period Drama Soap Opera of all time! If I'm not eating cake I need something else delicious to take up my time! (Check out the pretty pictures I posted on my other blog HERE.)

Ballet

Last night my roommate Lindi was going to the ballet. Her group had an extra ticket. When I heard it was Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo I knew I wanted that extra ticket.

This is why:

They're men! And they were hilarious, and they were really talented. It was so awesome. So, if Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo ever are in your area, fork out the money and go! Totally worth it.

More pictures for good measure:

and the "team" picture before and afters.

The Parents Visit

I have been a horrifically bad blogger as of late.

My parents came to town for a week a little while ago and it was really fun to have them here (even if it did mess up my Hot Chocolate race training schedule and send my plans for a slimmer waistline down the drain).

Here are a couple of the highlights:

Tour of Hillwood Estate in DC:

Cute town of Clifton, VA and Manassas battle fields:

Basilica at Catholic University 

and the shrine to Our Lady of Czestechowa (taking me back to my Polish roots)

 Phillips Collection, which on the first Thursday of the month includes hor d'orves and music:

I barely took any pictures of myself the whole weekend and only took pictures because my sister Jess insisted for her memories, but I did go to all these things.

(Highlights not pictured: Frederick Douglass house in Anacostia, Kennedy Center concert, Dumbarton Oaks museum)

Thanks M&D for a good week. Jess, you're welcome for the pictures.

Recommendations?

Today is the first day of Autumn. Which means, I change the background of my blog to match the new season and mourn the fact that I didn't get to do as much in the summer as I wished and also rejoice in the fact that I will (hopefully) not sweat profusely every day. (Maybe I'll even be able to style my hair!)

Good thing about autumn is the National Book Festival, and it's this weekend! It's one of my favorite weekends of the year and I'll be skipping the ward service project to go. And, don't judge me, but I'm super, extra excited to hear Sarah Dessen* speak... yeah, I'm like a 15 year old girl.

I've been lacking in my book reading as of late. My New Year's Resolution was to read four books a month. Technically speaking one of those was supposed to be non fiction, but I really struggle with non- fiction, despite feeling like I should like it more. I think it's because when I meet someone who reads non-fiction I think they're smarter, better educated, and more sophisticated than I am. But that's also because I tend to gravitate towards things like Sarah Dessen... But then again, maybe I just don't have a good non-fiction eye to find the good ones. But I'm off subject now.

Back to the resolution. So far I have read 34 books and I'm two books short for this month, and last month I only read one. (Good thing I read like five on my Europe trip this summer!) And I'm going to need to read 14 more to hit my goal by the end of the year.

So, what I'm asking is for a book recommendation from you. I know I have a handful of smart, well read, blog stalkers out there. Please hop over from your Google reader and leave me a comment with a book recommendation. Pretty please? I really want to read some good stuff this Fall and favorite book recommendations are always the best.

I like a wide variety of books, so no recommendation is off. Some favorites and I suppose recommendations for you include: In Cold Blood; Ella Enchanted, Jane Eyre, The Power of One, The Truth About Forever (my favorite Sarah Dessen); The Princess Bride; The Book Thief; The Lost Hero (but perhaps start with Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief--bad movie, fun book, especially if you love Greek/Roman mythology); aaaaand last one, duh, Harry Potter 1-7 (if you haven't read these you're really missing out, even if you "don't like fantasy").


*She writes realistic teen romance novels not vampire stuff. And I like her. Like I said, I'm probably about 15...

Morning Commute: Plus Minus

Plus: Loving my book. 

Minus: Stayed up too late, I didn't have time for breakfast and barely made it to the bus.



Plus: Lisa has granola bars, so I shoved one in my bag for breakfast.

Minus: I shoved half of said granola bar into my mouth before getting on the metro train.



Plus: The cute boy* in my ward (that I have a teensy crush on) was standing in my metro car, right where I wanted to stand. You know, just standing there, waiting to talk to me obviously.

Minus: I had half a granola bar in my mouth.


*no, you (or any others of you out there who live in DC) do not get to know who it is until he decides he has a crush on me too


Edit: Check out the extra big Plus of last night, with no Minus, Domineau posted on her blog.

Cooking vs. Baking

Yesterday at lunch I half read my book and half thought of what I wanted to make for dinner. I thought, "I have chicken and tilapia in the fridge, you could bake one of those, add some vegetables and maybe some rice, or something." Then I felt my mind rebel and think, "But wouldn't you so much rather have cookies? Like those Coconut Lime ones? Or what about those Coconut, Toffee, Chocolate chip ones? Oooh! That Raspberries and Sour Cream thing? Mmmm, that would be good." And then I continue to daydream about things I could make and the thought of dinner comes creeping back in and I have to figure out what (whine) healthy thing I should make for dinner.

My name is Lauren and I'm a sugar-oholic.

I love sugar. I love treats. And I love turning butter, sugar, egg, flour, baking soda, and salt into something that looks, tastes and smells awesome. I love baking.

I mean look. How awesome is it, that all this:

turns into something like this? 

or this?

Really awesome. I know.

 

It doesn't help my sugar addiction that I have a rather large amount of cooking blogs I'm subscribed to, and that means I see the cookies or cakes or whatever is made and it's just so appealing to look at. Or, I type in stupid things like "favorite cookies" into google and the thing to catch my eye is Epicurious and I'm a gonner and start thinking of cookies to make tonight.

But I think I figured it out part of my problem, creating something totally out of some basic ingredients is so much more appealing than cooking some veggies until they're soft and a piece of meat until it's no longer raw. It's partially the process of combining ingredients that's so appealing, but the finished product, that soft, chewy center and slightly crispy edge of cookies or the soft, spongy yet moist cake with frosting, that does me in every single time.

Do-Re-Mi and Blue Pee

Saturday proved to be a first on two accounts.

First, I went to a Sound of Music sing-a-long that ended up being one of the most enjoyable nights of the summer. There's nothing like singing along to The Hills are Alive (complete with people standing and spinning around like Maria does), Sixteen Going on Seventeen, Favorite Things, Do-Re-Mi, The Lonely Goatherd, and Edelweiss with hundreds of other people, many who are dressed up for the evening in dirndls, lederhosen, or as "favorite things". It was an absolute blast. Other highlights of the evening were: hissing when the Baroness Schraeder came on screen; booing when any of the Nazis appeared on screen, including Rolf at the beginning, because we all know what happens to him at the end; and pulling our little firecracker, popper things when Maria and Captain von Trapp kiss for the first time. (Those little yellow bags in the picture were filled with our props for the evening.)

Moral of the story: Sing-a-longs, are totally worth the money. Sound of Music sing-a-longs are even better. I probably need to go to a Mama Mia sing-a-long before I can make a final judgment though.

Secondly, and I don't have a picture because that would just be gross, my pee turned blue after eating some brownies laced with Methylene blue in honor of the BYU football game this past weekend. And you know what? That's the only details you're really gonna get on that subject. Is it TMI to talk about pee? TMI for you? or TMI for me? I don't know, but my pee was blue and I only had a bite. That's powerful stuff.

Not ready for Fall

Went to the beach last weekend for a final summer hurrah, and it definitely felt like the final act of summer because it hasn't stopped raining all week. I popped by my sister and brother-in-law's place tonight and had to go in the back door (which incidentally is actually really the front door, but the back door feels more like a front door) because they have flooding on their patio ankle deep. 

Anyway, enough of me complaining. Enjoy the only pictures I took of my girls beach weekend extravaganza. 

Things not pictured:

• hours of girl talk
• the house that smelled like wet dog
• enjoying the waves
• the strange Eastern European couple (or was it a father and daughter?) taking pictures on the beach
• sunburns 
• SD chats
• enjoying the beach
• enjoying the sun
• enjoying the company of really awesome people

Summer.

It's September. Ho hum. I like fall, and hate the heat of the summer, but I still really really like summer. And fall always makes me miss school.

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." Tom Hanks as Joe Fox, You've Got Mail

Anyway, we're going to the beach this weekend for our last summer hurrah. And here are a bunch of instagrams from the summer (minus anything from Europe since I feel like you've probably gotten your fill... and anything else I might have already blogged about), I wish I could tie them up in ribbon like a little summer bouquet. (Like the pencils, get it?)

Picture descriptions, clockwise from top right: Dairy Godmother custard to go; matching backpacks with Lisa; picnic in the basement on a rainy Sunday; workout along the Potomac;  babysitting Sarah; Deb and I;  Mormon.org sign in Times Square; Legwarmers Concert

Warsaw, Poland

I spent the last few days of my trip in Warsaw which was really kind of like coming home. It's just comfortable.

Highlights include:

• having Ewa meet me at the airport
• walking around Old Town, eating DELICIOUS donuts, and reminiscing my first day in Poland on a cold drizzly day late November 2005
• staying with Nasa and meeting the lovely Dorota
• having fun with Ewa and Robin and getting soaked multiple times since it wasn't ideal weather
• lunch with Emily and Erik 
• going to the grocery store and Tesco (remember I wrote about how much I liked them here? I love them in Poland too.) 
• geeking out at the Warsaw Ghetto walls

Pictures are as follows:
1) Ewa and me on the Stary Rynek (Old Town Square); 2) view from Nasa's apartment, see the Tesco? I was itching to get there. serious; 3) ghetto walls; 4) Lazienki Park and the Chopin statue where we got caught in a serious downpour; 5) Donuts by Nowy Swiat. My favorite besides Chata in Bydgoszcz; 6) meeting Erik and Emily (who is the former Sister Jakobsen) for lunch before they drove north; 7) with Dorota and Nasa after church, picture stolen off Facebook

It was the most wonderful weekend and I couldn't help walking around thinking that I could definitely be an expatriate and live in Poland.