January.

January is a month that I usually can't stand. I've even been known to say it's my least favorite month. So much so that if I can, I try to get away to someplace warm.

This photo is of my family in Maui for the NFC championship last year. 

This was how we spent this year.... Much colder, but equally as happy with a Seahawk win!

The end of 2014 was such a whirlwind between getting married, going on our honeymoon, fixing up the house, and the holidays. I'll be honest, it was exhausting. Wonderfully so, but still exhausting. It felt like I couldn't catch up. So this year, the lack of events and dreary winter weather are actually a welcome relief. I feel like I've finally been able to catch my breath and settle into my new life. 

Today is the 27th of January and I have not read a book this month. This is probably the first January that has happened since I graduated from college. Part of the problem is that I haven't been inspired by some of the books I've been picking up. So I've decided to pick up a book that I read a few years ago that was one of my favorite, The Alchemist. I believe that when a book comes to you at the right time it can capture and inspire you. If a book comes to you at the wrong time in your life then you probably think the book wasn't any good. I know a lot of people ( my husband included) who didn't enjoy reading The Alchemist. Maybe it didn't come to them at the right time in their lives, or wasn't their preferred genre, but I want to see if I still love it as much as I did the first time I opened its pages. I'm thinking about spending the next few days speed reading so I can finish before the 31st..... 

This month I've gotten the chance to do one of my favorite things.... Bake! Banana bread, pumpkin cookies, and pecan chocolate chip cookies!

Pecans are delicious. Chocolate chip cookies are delicious. Put them together and happiness and joy collide. This recipe is from my Grandma Pryde. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans

2 cups shortening

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon water

4 eggs

5 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

12 ounces chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a large mixing bowl cream together shortening and sugars. Mix in vanilla, water and eggs. In a separate bowl sift together dry ingredients. Slowly mix dry ingredients with eggs mixture. Stir in chocolate chips, then add the pecans. On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper ( this is my preference for almost every cookie I bake, it makes cleanup way easier) scoop spoonfuls of dough. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

These cookies are super easy and oh so yummy! 

Sugar Dreams.

I have been having the most crazing dreams lately. Seriously.... they are out of control! I completely blame them on all the sugar I have been eating. I used to have really vivid dreams, then when I cleaned up my diet I stopped remembering them as well. That was until this week and all the sugar bingeing occurred! It all started on Wednesday when I went over to Joe and Carly's and we bon fired and made smores! Now I'm addicted to sugar! I CAN NOT GET ENOUGH! This weekend's festivities didn't help anything! 

Here's something you may not know about me... I like throwing parties! On Saturday I (with a lot of help from Carly & my Mom) threw my best friend Ashley a baby shower. It was such a fun day! Lots of friends and food... my favorite combo.

My pregnant best friend Ashley! We've been friends since kindergarten. It's so crazing exciting that she is preggers! 

Ashley and her Mamma!

Ashley and Jamie! We've all known each other since sixth grade when we played soccer together!

It is mandatory to play games at any shower thrown for Ashley.
I learned this when I threw her a bridal shower two years ago! :)

The only boy allowed!

The food was the highlight for me considering I hadn't eaten all day!
Bulk Candy (the ones on the right are vegetarian and so delicious!)
Carly baked amazing banana coffee cake muffins (bug her for the recipe maybe she'll share on her blog!)
I had to make funfetti cupcakes because they are Ashley's favorites... so hard, dumped contents from box add oil, eggs, water and bake!
I also make some vegan cupcakes... they just turned out ok, nothing to write home about.

Something that is worth writing about are these babies....
Gluten Free (no one could tell) chocolate doughnuts!
My Mom surprised me with doughnut pans, one mini one regular!
I used bob's red mill chocolate cake mix and added dark chocolate pieces.
They were awesome.

I also made some Brocguac, my go-to party dip and for the first time ever I made hummus!
It was super easy and soooo tasty!

Bellingham Girls! We all met while going to school at Western! Still close friends! Love 'em!

Love this girl! Can't wait to be an auntie to her baby!

Ashley got me present for hosting! Gilbert (her last name) wine!

Tomorrow I'm going to start focusing on healthy living and begin training again. I'm in love with the Y (ymca) that they just built in Silverdale. I hate the drive but the facilities are soooo amazing! And for once in my life I'm actually excited about the classes! I've never been one to take classes, but something has changed in me! On Saturday Carly and I took a Pilates class (our first ever) that totally kicked our bums! Tomorrow I'm going to try to make myself wake up for the 6:15 cycling... we'll see how that works out... depends on how many sugar dreams I have between now and then!

Racing the Rain.

Today was great. A day of random getting things done. I needed to hit reset... you know do laundry, read, and bake... the usual. I like days like today where I have very little of a schedule. The only thing I HAD to do was go to the dentist... oh fun. It actually went a lot better than I anticipated. Just a quick cleaning, and she barely yelled at me for not flossing regularly! Maybe that was because I didn't try to lie about it this time around.

It doesn't matter what time I go to sleep... I always wake up at 6 am!
Classic rolled oats with homemade granola on top!

After riding the exercise bake I had a snack!
Have I told you about these bars?!
It is called a You Bar.
Basically you go in and pick all of the ingredients for your granola bar  (you can see the nutritional info as you pick everything out). Then you name it and they ship you a box! Custom made bars!
I would never have bought them if they hadn't had a groupon! They were like half off, but still after shipping over $20 bucks! Which is ridiculous! But a fun one time thing. I got them before lent, but because I had chosen chocolate chips I've had to wait to enjoy!

Super snacky.... While my brother mowed my lawn! I received a coupon for 5 free lawn mowings for Christmas! He didn't know what he was getting himself into! Made my day!

Since I was already on Bainbridge Island, after my dentist appointment I  walked around downtown Winslow.
They are doing construction on the road so it was completely torn up! I may have been one of about 10 people walking around at all! I spent some quality time in the bookstore! It has been far too long. I've felt very disconnected from the reading world lately... something I need to put more effort in to.
For lunch I stopped at this little hut on the corner that sells all vegetarian Vietnamese food! Not just tofu, but all sorts of other fo-meat entrees! I can't believe I worked in Winslow for a year and never tried this place out! The fake meat was almost too real! 

I decided to take my lunch away from the construction zone and found a park!
When I had left my house the clouds were heading this way! By the time I got back into my car the drizzling had resumed!
I also read a book today! From beginning to end! Just like the old days!

When I got home I had an urge to bake!
How about some vegan/gluten free/low sugar chocolate chip oat cookies...

Instead of an egg... a Flax egg!
1 T ground flax with 3 T hot water let it sit for 5 minutes!

Guess I needed some extra sugar...

Since These have everything I love and nothing all at the same time...
Maybe I'll call them free cookies? 

Bite sized deliciousness!

Delicious Free-Cookies1 1/2 C Rolled oats
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 Dark chocolate chips
1/3 C Sliced almonds
1/4 C Sugar
1/4 C Brown Sugar
2 T Earth's Balance Vegan Butter
1/3 C Homemade almond butter
1 flax egg

Mix everything together!
They don't really stick together... like hardly at all..
So I got a little creative and spooned some into my mini cupcake pan!
So perfect! The pieces were perfectly crispy and wonderful!
Bake at 350* for about 10 minutes.
I did half as the mini cupcake version and half spread flat on a cookie sheet, these would make a good bar... but crumbly! I think you could ever go for a bit less sugar on these.
Maybe a bit of GF flour would make everything stick together? I enjoyed the texture sooo much I wouldn't change much! A warning though... they are addictive!