Recipe!

I am back from vacation! I am attempting to write about the trip, but if you know me, you know that I'm a huge procrastinator and it will probably take a few days.


Today I decided to make something sweet after my dinner.  I don't usually bake or cook, but I decided that today I would. I found a recipe for Pine Bark...it's a chocolatey, kind of toffee dessert.  It's YUMMY.  Keep in mind it was my first time making it, so this recipe might need some revamping, but I liked them.

Pine Bark
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
1 (12 oz.) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips or morsels OR 1/2 (6 oz.) bag if you don't have a giant sweet tooth like me
Saltine crackers


Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil on the sides and bottom.  Cover the bottom of the sheet with one layer of saltines, making sure to put the salty side up.  Melt butter in a pan, then add brown sugar and boil for 2-3 minutes.  Pour sugar mixture over the crackers, spreading it well so all crackers are covered.  Bake for 7 minutes at 400 degrees.  Take out of oven and immediately spread chocolate chips over the sheet, making sure to spread evenly using a knife (it will melt).  Put in fridge for an hour, then break into pieces. Enjoy!


I put mine back in the fridge after I was done eating it, because it seemed to be melting a bit.  Hopefully it will be fine tomorrow. :)


It's just perfect if you're in the mood for something sweet and something salty.  Perfect blend of both.  Love it.

"Nick Carter is on drugs!"

(The title is a quote from Rebecca...because Nick Carter was CRAZY at the concert and kept running around everywhere, acting like a loon.  IT WAS SO HILARIOUS. As far as I know, he's not on drugs. If he is, don't tell me because that would make me sad. Ok.)

Hello!

I'm getting ready to hit the road to go to my friend Rebecca's house for a sleepover. :) We're off to Myrtle Beach in the morning for a few days!

I AM EXCITED. I always miss the beach when I'm not right there in the sand and watching the waves crash on the shore.  I'm a big fan of the ocean and sand and digging in the sand making sand castles and collecting seashells...not such a big fan of getting a fishing hook in my foot like that one time when I was with my family in the Outer Banks....

In other exciting news I went to see NKOTBSB on Wednesday with my best friend and her sister (also the one I'm going with to Myrtle Beach).  I was obsessed with BSB before I switched teams and went nuts for NSYNC, and I still think Brian is the sweetest thing, and we LOVE boybands, so we were very nostalgic and excited and giddy.  Rebecca used to be in love with Joey McIntyre, so basically we were all very crazy, haha.  Rebecca found us all shirts on Ebay, and we were awesome enough to wear our (vintage) shirts to the concert.  :) We're so cool.

We left around 5 to get to Louisville...we stopped to pee once, and we stopped at McAlister's to get some dinner.  We played BSB most of the way there, and Rachel and I reminisced about old concerts we had been to.  I miss being 12, a lot.

Here are some pictures:

This is Rebecca in her old school BSB shirt that is AWESOME and VERY BLUE. :)

Rachel being excited! Woohoo

We were very nervous because we had nosebleed seats and were at the VERY TOP of the arena.  SCARY

Haha, our silly picture :)

Probably taken during a NKOTB segment when I didn't know any of the words

Rebecca and I in our shirts! Love it.

Maybe I'll write about the concert another time...I'll just say that it was THE MOST RIDICULOUS CONCERT I'VE EVER BEEN TO.  And yes, it needs to be stated in all caps.  RIDICULOUS.  I almost died from shock at least 5 times, hahahaha.  So scandalous at times.  But so much fun! I miss the 80s (and 90s since that was really my decade, let's face it) and boybands and being 12 years old.  My childhood is disappearing.

AHHH I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE BEACH.  If you want, you can send up a little prayer or something that I meet a cute Christian boy at the beach who doesn't live super far away, hahaha.  :) 

Books, books, books...I love books!

Happy 4th of July! What a great day to reflect on past and present soldiers who fought and even died to protect our country and allow us to live in freedom.  America is blessed, and I am blessed.  Thank you, soldiers.


Anyway.  My day is pretty boring...okay, that's a lie.  The past 2 days in general have been boring.  I've been sick since Friday, but Saturday is when it really hit me.  I've been holed up in my house since Saturday, watching Dawson's Creek and the Twilight movies (they were on tv, okay...at least I don't own them), eating weird food that my dad makes me (pigs in a blanket, less than 1/2 of an egg slathered in cheese...), and half-heartedly cleaning my room.  I AM ABOUT TO GO INSANE.  I need stimulation.  


I am BORED.  So I figured I'd write about the books I'm currently reading (there are quite a few...I have book ADD, I'm convinced) because I'm a book nerd and there is nothing else to do.

BOOKS I AM CURRENTLY READING:
* Water for Elephants - I started this today, actually.  I bought it with the great idea to start a book club (Savannah is the only one interested it seems, and she can't find the book...) and read it slowly and ask lots of questions and really delve into it.  Yeah.  We'll see about that.  I read 1 chapter, wrote down some thoughts, and stopped.  I figure I'll wait for Savannah, or at least try to...


* Mistress Pat - This is the sequel to Pat of Silver Bush, a novel written by L.M.Montgomery of Avonlea fame. I LOVE L.M.M.  She is a wonderful author.  I'm stuck around page 60...it's just so long.  The language is so flowery and prose-y that I get bored.  I have to be in a certain mood to read this.  It IS good, don't get me wrong.  There's just not that much ACTION, you know.  


* Gone with the Wind - This is my yearly re-read (although I'm not sure I read it last year...I started it but never finished)...I've been dragging on reading it, though.  It's one of those books that I have to be in a mood to read, but once I start, I literally can't put it down.  IT IS SO GOOD.  Favorite book in the world, forever and ever.  Yup.


* The Pillars of the Earth - I started this at the pool back during Memorial Day weekend.  My friend brought a book with her, and I hate laying out with nothing to read so I started it.  It intrigued me, so I found it on Amazon for like $3 and bought it.  I'm less than 100 pages into it, but I'm hoping to get more interested soon.  


* Eclipse - I was halfway finished with this book when I moved back home, and it's at Kelly's.  So that means I'm probably finished reading it (but I've read it once before).  Rebecca is letting me borrow Breaking Dawn, so I'll start that soon.  I'm mostly re-reading them because I forgot how awful they are and I am reading Mark Reads Twilights so I needed to remember the suck-i-tude.  


I also have a summer reading list of books I'm interested in reading and hope to get around to reading soon:


* The Giver- No, I've never read this book.  DON'T YELL AT ME.  I know I need to read it, and I will...someday.


* Catch-22- I don't know anything about this book, but I know it's on all of the Best Books of All Time lists, so I should read it, I suppose.


* The Poisonwood Bible


* The Hunger Games


* The Perks of Being a Wallflower


* The Handmaid's Tale


That's about all for now, but I'd appreciate any suggestions.