strawberry iced cookies

March. I'm not quite sure how to feel about you. For one, you officially win the award for Month With the Most Actual School. Also, you are chock full of internship application deadlines and that is no fun.

we made it! #1

HEY! Guess what? I was making one of my usual pilgrimages to Trader Joe's with my buddies this afternoon, and it was sunny and beautiful and we were having that joyful kind of conversation about all the things that aren't important and laughing at everything and just soaking in the Friday glory. It was a lovely moment, and as I floated in it I thought about how much I wanted to share it with you.

chocolate gingerbread cake with cream cheese frosting

I made a cake!! 

toasted brown butter rice krispie treats

FINALS WEEEEEEEK! (insert screaming and bone crunching noises)
I hope you'll forgive me for making this short; I have to go study :(
Two more days until the glory of second semester senior year!

These guys are perfect finals week fare. They take all of 15 minutes, 4 ingredients and one large pan to make. They travel beautifully for stress-induced snacking on the go, so they are prime candidates for between-test energizing.

fresh cranberry, ginger and vanilla bean scones

Happy new year, friends! Also, happy end of college-app-season to me!! So yes, sorry for the lack of posts, but I was crazy busy writing essay after essay over the holidays. Though applications did get very tedious and sometimes made me want to cry and eat buttery foods, I've definitely come out of them with a greater understanding of myself and my future. Writing a whole portfolio of essays essentially all on different angles of you really forces you to get creative with how you look at yourself. Again, though, I cannot stress enough how happy I am to be DONE!

white chocolate and raspberry dipped shortbread + FB cookie swap!

Happy December, everyone!

Nutcracker season is well on its way, with my first show having occurred just this afternoon. This means that I can officially declare that we are right in the thick of the holiday season. It also means that I have successfully survived tech week (a.k.a. I Can't Feel My Toes week), which, for those who don't know, means going straight to the theater from school and dancing until around 8 or 9 pm. Brutal, but so worth it in the end– the feeling you get standing in the wings with the Snow music just beginning, that perfect combination of nausea and adrenaline... it really isn't Christmas without Nutcracker.

OK, now about the cookies.

whole wheat sweet red bean buns

I've been feeling quite a bit of pressure lately, with college app deadlines creeping up and essay prompts untouched. While the best course of action here is probably getting some work done, I find that gifting myself a few hours to focus on something outside the realm of school!school!school! can do wonders for my productivity when I finally do sit down and write. In recent months, the kitchen has become my peaceful little refuge, where I can roll up my sleeves and move around and use my hands for something other than tapping on my keyboard. (Which, by the way, they are doing right now– do we need more muffins?