Another year gone by...

I have been quite remiss in posting to this blog. Needless to say, my time is precious right now. There was about a month of extreme stress as I got my research project all ready to go for the new year (namely filling out the application for the review board) and then, of course, getting ready for the holidays at the same time. It's been busy. In the process I decided to quit my job at Dream Dinners. Yesterday was my last day, which was very sad, but will be good for me in the long run.

A lot has happened since I last posted, including me turning 28 (woo hoo!)! So, this post is to talk about the progress on my 30 before 30 list.

Only two more years to go before I hit the deadline! Last year I gave you an update on the progress I had made. And it's that time of year again! Another year older, another year closer to 30.

10. Learn a new skill
I learned several new skills this year. On a professional level, I learned how to do a whole bunch of things about what I will do as a school counselor. On a more personal level, I also learned some yoga. That was amazing. I was really surprised at how much I liked my yoga class and how good it felt. I have a hard time with meditation activities, and I feel like the yoga really helped me to focus on clearing my mind. I need to start doing it at home on my own. Great stress reducer.

13. Make and send holiday cards
Last year I made handmade Christmas cards and sent them out to a bunch of family and friends. They were pretty cute. Cartoon hedgehogs with Santa hats and Christmas lights.

22. Take a fun class
During Spring term, I took a couple of classes to do something fun for myself: yoga and watercolor. I liked the yoga, but the watercolor class was just annoying. It was mostly studio time. She didn't teach squat. If I'm going to take a class on something, I expect lesson plans and actual teaching of techniques or something. I was pissed. But, I got some time to do my own projects (which sucked because I don't know how to paint with watercolors, hence taking the class).

24. Bake GOOD cookies (all by myself!!)
I taught myself how to bake French macarons! I can't make a chocolate chip cookie to save my life, but I can make macarons. Very happy with that skill. I'm still trying to perfect the best filling for them, but I pretty much got the meringues down.



29. Buy a car
Okay, I might have cheated a little on this one. My parents bought it for me as an early graduation gift. It's officially in my name and everything! I plan on having an entire post dedicated to Fish (that's his name... after the box troll) because I am just that excited. :)



That's it for this year. Next year bodes well for the list. There are several things that are almost guaranteed to happen before next November. I'm set to graduate from the Portland State School Counseling Program in June (yay!), which will hopefully be followed rather quickly with getting a "real" job. And I have already purchased the tickets and booked the hotel for my graduation trip to Korea, so that better be happening.

Ten Books

A while ago, someone posted this thing that said to list ten books in their life that have left some kind of impact. Most of you know I love reading (I always have a book that I'm reading), though I don't always read the most "sophisticated" books. It's taken me a while, but I've made my list and added a bit of explanation of what each of these books has meant to me.

P.S. They are in no particular order.

1. "To Kill a Mockingbird: by Harper Lee
I had grown up watching the movie of "To Kill a Mockingbird" since I was little (my mom loves old movies and so do I). I never truly understood it, though, until I read the book in 8th grade. I remember that I was at a friend's house while my parents were out of town when I read that they pronounced Tom Robinson guilty and, on instinct, threw the book across the room. I was SO MAD. But I remember having so many good discussions about this book in that class and Atticus was the best father in the world.

2. "Harry Potter" by J.L. Rowling
What can I say? I grew up with Harry Potter. My mom bought me the first three books when we were in Ireland and, at the time, I didn't really care and sort of left them on the shelf without reading them until my friend in middle school was talking about how she was still on the wait list at the library for the second book and she wanted it sooo baaaad! I thought about it and said that I thought I had the first three books at home. She gave me this look, you know that condescending yet suspicious look and told me that I couldn't have the third book since it hadn't come out yet. This was at the time when the books were released in Ireland before they were released in the States. I went home, checked, and sure enough I had all three. I refused to let her borrow any of them until I finished them.

But, truly, the books and I grew up together. When I finished the 7th book, crying several times throughout, it was strange to realize that it was over and that, if she wrote more, it wouldn't be the same. Again, this is a series I reread every few years. I still get teary eyes during the last book.

3. "The Last Herald Mage Trilogy" by Mercedes Lackey
My friend Diane introduced Mercedes Lackey to me when we were both in middle school and I immediately read as many of her books as possible. The Last Herald Mage trilogy became my favorite of all of her books and I have reread them every few years since. They are probably some of my most reread books, though not as much as "The Scarlet Pimpernel." These books challenged some of the ways I view the world as well as helping me build on some on some the things I value greatly to this day. They books themselves aren't the most well-written, nor are they the most earth shattering in what they present. Perhaps even a bit melodramatic and ridiculous at times (okay, SUPER DRAMATIC AND CHEESY ANGSTY, so sue me). However, they've stuck with me and I still love them.

4. "Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin
I also read this in my 8th grade English class. And in high school. And in college. I know this is kind of cheating since it's a short story and not a "book," per se. But it's always kind of stuck with me, kind of like "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It also sticks with me because I reused an essay I wrote in high school for a college class with a professor I REALLY disliked and he 1) wrote that it was one of the best essays he had ever written (really?), and 2) still thought it was good even if he didn't agree with my interpretation of the symbolism (how does Spring not represent new life in this story? Honestly?).

5. "The Giver" by Lois Lowry
This was a book I read in my 6th grade English class. I remember the class was having a discussion and the teacher, one of my favorites, was trying to explain how there were multiple views on something to this one student (I don't remember the exact context). But, at one point, she said, "You're trying to see everything in black and white when there's a million shades of grey in between and a whole frickin' rainbow outside of that!" That was when I picked up the word "frickin'," much to my mom's dismay. I thought it was an appropriate comment considering that we were talking about "The Giver" (everyone sees in black and white except the Giver and, later, Jonas). It was her own way of telling us to think outside of the box.

6. "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson
I read this at some point right after my Great Grandmother Reba had died and I actually read it twice, back to back, because I was sure I had missed something. When it was revealed that Leslie died, I was sure that they were wrong. They were going to find her, or she was actually in the REALLY REAL Terabithia on some adventure. But when I finished the book and it wasn't revealed that she was still alive, I was devastated. I went and reread it and cried for the last part of the book as I really understood what it meant to deal with death.

7. "The Twilight Series" by Stephanie Meyers
When I did my student teaching, my students knew me for my strong dislike of Twilight. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading the books. They were fun. I actually met Stephanie Meyers when I bought the first two books. She was signing them in the BYU Bookstore and I thought, cool. Vampire books on sale. And I can get the author to sign them. Why not? I had no idea who she was at this time and there was no one there at her signing and I felt kind of bad for her; so, I asked her what it felt like to be a published author (cuz, hey, we need some kind of conversation in the empty bookstore). She looked at me like I was an idiot and said something, like, "Well, I've been published for a while now, so, normal, I guess." And I was like, psh, FINE. See if I care. Bought my books and left.

Little did I know...

But the books, aside from fun, were troubling to me once I saw how so many of my students in my classes idolized these books, wanted to be Bella, and wanted to find their Edward. NO. No, no no, NO. So many problems with this that I won't go into on here. What these books taught me is that when I have daughters they will read Twilight (if they want), but they will meet so many other better characters before Bella that she will be just a tiny blip on their radar.

8. "The Scarlet Pimpernel" by Baroness Orczy
Another book from middle school and what I normally say when people ask for my "favorite book." I read this book at least once a year. I'm not that big on the straight up romance genre (be it movie, book, or whatever... unless it's a Korean drama; for some reason it's the cheesier the better on those for me). This book is the exception. The romance in this makes me all giggly and romanticy feeling. Same goes for several other books in the series (did you know it's a series?). I love the characters and all of their relationships. Also, this is the book that inspired the creation of Zorro and, later, Batman, so that makes it ten times cooler. Because BATMAN. (Ask me sometime about how I decided I needed to learn how to read because of Batman.)

9. "James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl
This was the first honest to goodness chapter book I ever read. Those two page per chapter chapter books don't count. This was REAL. My class read it when I was gone on a trip to Europe with my parents and I wanted to read it. I decided to check it out at our next library visit. When we went to the library, we had to read a paragraph out loud to the teacher before we could check it out to make sure it was something we could actually read rather than just choosing a book at random because we had to check one out. When it was my turn, the teacher let me through without reading out loud because she knew I could handle it. It was the most advanced book anyone was checking out (people were mostly getting picture books), and I was the only one who didn't have to prove I could read my book. I felt so special.

10. "The Kitchen God's Wife" by Amy Tan
This is the book that introduced me to Amy Tan of whom I am a huge admirer. So many of her stories are about mother daughter relationships and this one in particular really spoke to me. I read this in my Asian-American literature class at BYU (so many good books in that class!). It was also the first class that got me thinking critically about representation, diversity, and being mindful about creating an inclusive school environment for all students (because I am an educator so OF COURSE I go there). I also really love "The Joy Luck Club."

It was super hard to narrow it down to ten books. Sometimes I tell myself I need to read more "good" books (classics, non-fiction, blah blah blah), but then I'm like, nah. Fantasy! Fiction! Young adult fantasy and fiction! Comic books! Too much research to read for school to spend my free time reading books that require me to actually pay attention. I need some nice brain candy, I just finished "Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern which was absolutely lovely and I highly recommend it. And now I'm reading some fantasy book that was on sale on the Kindle book store. Not even sure what it's called. But it's fun. Love when I find a new fantasy series. 

What kinds of books are you guys reading? Any recommendations? 

A long week...

This last week has been kind of difficult. My grandpa (my dad's dad) died this last week on September 25th around 3:30 am. My mom came in and told me the news. Around 6 am, after not being able to fall back asleep, I decided to call in to my internship site and work and let them know I couldn't make it that day, a decision I think was a good choice though I debated it for a long time and didn't send the emails/texts out until after 7 am.

Grandpa was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a while ago and had been holding pretty good through radiation and chemo treatments until about July. The chemo wasn't doing much and the side-affects really sucked so they decided to stop treatment and focus on pain management. His death was expected but still sad. I know this would be an appropriate venue to write about memories, etc., but I'm not going to. Maybe later; sorry.

Coming back to school this week has been a little strange. Although I only missed one day at my high school placement, I missed three days at my elementary school, so it was strange to be back at either one. I also missed my first day working as a peer supervisor at the mental health clinic in Beaverton. My poor supervisee had to share a supervisor that night. I feel kind of bad, but what are you going to do? Stuff happens and we cope and move on.

This weekend Jesi is coming to visit her boyfriend for some kind of business conference thing (it's just an excuse to have her come up to Oregon). I might meet them for dinner Saturday night since I'll be downtown that day. And I think they are coming over Sunday night? I don't know what's going on. I'm just going with the flow and not worrying about it.

That's kind of how I am approaching a lot of things right now: go with the flow and don't worry about it. Classes officially started this week (which feels weird since I've been in "school" at my internship sites for about a month now) and Wednesday night we went over some of what our action research project will entail and I'm like, "Yaaaaaayy..." (that was an unenthusiastic "yay," fyi). We are supposed to have a topic in mind by next week and I'm a bit stuck. I could do something with stress and academics at the high school (I'm already going to be probably running a group already and possibly doing some in class work), but I think I might want to do the project at my main site (since I am kind of focusing on elementary), but I am not sure what I want to do at that level. I'd like to approach a topic that concerns TKK (third culture kids... kids who grow up abroad as expats) since that's the demographic I would like to work with eventually. Speaking of which, our new program person, Jan, worked as an elementary school counselor in Belgium for a while! And one of the counselors at my high school placement know several people working as high school counselors abroad. So I now have several potential contacts to help me figure out how to get placed in an international school in the future.

And that's my life right now: internship, school, work (once or twice a week), research, and sometimes watching Criminal Minds while scrolling through Facebook or Tumblr. It's thrilling. And tiring. I have found recently that I feel ten times better if I get in bed (like, to SLEEP, not read) 9 hours before I need to wake up rather than 8. I need to get better about going to bed earlier. I was pretty good the week before going to California for the funeral, but I stopped regulating my bedtime this last week so I need to get back on the horse, so to speak. Goal for this week: SLEEP! I like it.

First few weeks of internship

So, the school year has officially begun! Well, not at the university level. That doesn't start until October. I don't actually have any "classes" right now. However, the school counseling internship is special in that we get to start our internships at the schools with all the kiddos! Yay!! Not that I'm complaining. It makes sense for us to see an entire school year from beginning to end.

The last three weeks I've been getting situated at my schools and figuring out what my schedule is going to look like until June.

Busy. That's what the schedule is going to look like.

School counseling is also special in that we get two internship placements: we have to have both a secondary and elementary school placement in order to get licensed; one is a 400 hour internship and the other is 200 hours. My 400 hour internship is at an elementary school and my 200 hour internship is at a high school. I'm at the elementary school all day Monday and Tuesday and a half day on Thursday. Then I'm at the high school Wednesday for most of the day and a half day on Friday. Wednesday after I'm at the high school, I take the max train out to PSU for our supervision class. Once October hits, I will spend Tuesday evenings supervising people who are working with clients like I did this Spring and Summer. I'll also be doing some kind of research project with my professor at a local high school this term. Luckily, with my wonky schedule, my boss at Dream Dinners is still willing to schedule me for one or two nights a week. So, I'm going to be pretty dang busy until June. Super fun times!!

I've been having some fun times and doing some actual counseling with kiddos these last couple of weeks which has been great. I've been helping out in the kindergarten classrooms, watching the counselors fix up schedules in the high school, talking with students, and doing a bunch of fun stuff. It's been busy and it's only going to get busier!

A couple weeks ago we went to Saturday Market and a store that sells Korean makeup that I've been wanting to check out (it's the store front for an online store I buy my face wash from). We had Korean food for lunch (YUM!) and overall had a good time. Dad and I are going to go and do something tomorrow, too, while Madre has a crafty play date with her friends. Don't know what we're doing, but something fun!

San Jose!

This last week my sister and I went to San Jose to visit my grandparents! We also got to see my Aunt Dorianne, Uncle Doug, and our cousins while we were there, peoples we only get to see maaaaybe once a year. Though it's already twice for me this year! This time, though, I got to go with my baby sister.

My grandparents live in this pretty sweet retirement community that has different levels of care and it's a pretty great little set up. The days were pretty tame there, but it was nice getting to hang out. We would eat breakfast, hang out for a bit, maybe play some cards and read, then go back to the dining room and grab lunch. I was told by several of the residents there that I reminded them of "that girl on Criminal Minds." I take this as one of the highest compliments, because I kind of idolize Penelope Garcia and hope to someday be the school counselor version of her.

After lunch on Tuesday we checked out the library that our grandparents run and took over some projects of theirs for the community art show. We also went through some old photo albums that they've put together over the years. This picture is of the grandparents with their oldest, my aunt Dorianne. And those glasses! When I was little, I would look through albums and wish I could have glasses like those. And now I do! Ha!!

That evening we met up with my aunt and uncle and my cousin Emily and her husband, David, for dinner at Round Table Pizza. Lots of talking and catching up. Good times.

Wednesday Jesi and I took off with Grandpa's car and went to Daiso and Target. Daiso is like a Japanese dollar store. Everything there is $1.50 unless otherwise marked. Jesi bought me some presents at Daiso including a cute little lunch box with little Russian dolls on it to complete the little set of containers I bought at the Daiso in Seattle (I had bought her a round stuffed fox thing at the airport on the way down to San Jose that we've dubbed Butter Ball Foxy or B.B. Foxy). I think I have enough cute lunch box things for every day of the week now! It's my goal this year to get into the habit of making a good healthy lunch for school. Cute lunch boxes really help.

Oh! And BEFORE lunch, Jesi gave Grandpa a haircut. She's been doing Dad's hair all summer (and trimming both hers and my bangs). Not sure if she actually knows what she's doing, but she's saved me at least $40 in bang trims so, if they aren't perfect, they'll do. She doesn't look to sure about what she's doing here in the picture...

Wednesday night Doug and Dory came over for the fancy French themed dinner at the retirement home. We were serenaded by an accordion while eating filet mignon, asparagus, potatoes, and chocolate mousse with macarons for dessert. Yum!

Thursday after lunch Jesi and I went out with Doug and Dory to the California Academy of Science. I LOVE museums and this was a particularly fun one. There was an aquarium, a rainforest with butterflies (and giant nasty spiders), an earthquake simulator, and a room full of awesome skulls. The skull room included the skull of one of the cutest animals EVER: the Dik-dik. It's a tiny antelope and it's so cute!!

And, of course, we had out own personal tour guide with a million awesome facts about how jelly fish and sea anemones are related, what you can tell by looking at an animal's skull, etc from my uncle who only recently retired from teaching science.

After the museum we drove around until Kathy, their daughter, got home and we all went out to dinner. We got to stop by a park and get a pretty great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and a bunch of other stuff (like Angel Island) that the aunt and uncle pointed out. There's a lot of nifty stuff in San Francisco.

Kathy just started teaching physics in a high school in San Francisco and was regaling us with stories about her students. And, of course, their was lots of advice from Doug, Dory, and Kathy for me for starting my internship this next week (so excited!). I love that we have so many educators in our family. :)

And then Friday I got up bright and early to come home. Jesi was there for another day before flying down to San Diego to visit my mom's side of the family before heading down to start another year of school. It was a fun visit and I got to hear lots of awesome stories about my padre (seriously, Dad... I never knew you were so irresponsible in college...) and some of the great trips my grandparents have taken around the world. What a fun week! Jesi got some good selfies with the grandparents after I left.

And now I'm doing a bunch of little things to get ready for my internship to start up next week. I still only have one internship currently and I'm still waiting to hear back about my second one. I heard unofficially about one perhaps pending, but I'm still waiting. I've been told several times that everything is fine and even if I start a little after the school year in the second internship, it's not a big deal, it's normal, etc. But I want to know NOW (she says with a pout and a stamp of her foot).

Oh well. I'll just try to not stress out as much as humanly possible in the mean time. And now that Criminal Minds is on Netflix I have found a mindless way to pass the time and get some outfit ideas, as well.

Summer!

Wow! Time really flies when you are having fun. Or, you know, busy and stressed.

Summer is almost over. I have two more weeks doing my practicum at the counseling clinic on campus. I have enjoyed working with my clients, but I am excited to get started in my internships at the end of August! I am going to be doing my main internship at McKinley Elementary. I have yet to receive my second assignment for my secondary internship, but my professor says not to worry about it, that I should get it soon. I guess getting the new graduates real jobs in schools takes precedence over my internship. Go figure.

I'm so excited to get started working in an actual school! A little nervous, too. I met the school counselor and the office ladies at McKinley already. It seems like a really great school and I can't wait to get to work!

I'm also excited that I get to be a peer supervisor at the new counseling clinic that will be opening up this October at Beaverton High School. It's a community clinic, but because of the location it will be where the future cohorts of school counselors will be doing their practicum. I'm excited to see this new program as it's starting up.

I HAVE managed to get out and have a little bit of fun in between work and school in the last couple of weeks. I went with my friend Michelle from school to see the musical Lizzie at Portland Center Stage. I mean, really? A rock opera about how Lizzie Bordon axed her step-mom and dad in 1892? Count me in!

I liked it so much that I convinced Gena and Zach to go with me a week later. It was doubly fun since I hadn't seen them in a few years. I last saw Gena when I went to New York to visit Mindy in 2010 and I hadn't seen Zach since they got married. It was great to see them.

Then a little over a week later, my dad and I went and saw the Book of Mormon Musical with Gena (yay!) and I nearly died. It is hilarious. Bawdy and totally irreverent, but great. I get why a lot of people don't like it (a lot of swearing, and, yeah, they poke fun at the Church), but I think that it gives a pretty fair representation of Mormon culture. And they had the iconography down pat!

(Warning: language has been bleeped out, but, yeah, you can tell what's said at that point)

Dad and I also went to an arena football game. I think dad hopes that now that I've shown an interest in hockey, that I might start liking other sports, too. Not so much, but I do like going to see games with my padre, particularly if they are inside with air-conditioning. And it doesn't hurt that there was a fight. That's always fun.

On the work front, I've been getting ready for my last day at Dream Dinners. We found a new manager who will be taking my place and so I've been getting her trained and at least semi-ready for when I won't be there. Well, I say "won't be there" when what I mean is that I won't be there as manager. I've worked it out with the owner, Dina, to see if I could continue to work a few night a week and a couple of Saturdays a month. I won't have the time (or energy) to do all the manager stuff I do now, but I will be able to continue working and bring in a bit of a paycheck. And we've already talked about me picking up more hours next summer before I (*hopefully!*) start at my new job in a school.

Tomorrow is my last day as manger. Today was my last prep day and, just like every other time I've made the apple crisps, I managed to cut my hand on one of the aluminum pans. I make tons of pan dishes - jambalaya, lasagna, ravioli, stuffing - but I only seem to have problems with apple crisps. Just a big paper cut, but it stings nonetheless. Happy day.

After I'm done with work tomorrow, I'm free for two weeks before going to visit my grandparents in San Jose (yay!). In the meantime, I plan on reviewing some school counselory stuff, looking into what I want to do for a possible action research in the schools, and watch copious amounts of Netflix.

Oh, yeah. And GISHWHES.

A friend at school invited me to do something called GISHWES with her. One of my favorite actors from the show Supernatural started it. GISHWHES stands for the "greatest international scavenger hunt the world has ever seen." Between August 2-9 my team (Jesi, Alycia, Alycia's husband, and another group of 11 people from Australia) along with thousands of other people around the world will be trying to "capture" as many items as we can on the list that will be posted this Saturday. We upload pictures and videos online which will then be awarded points and the team with the most points at the end of the hunt will be flown out to Croatia to spend a week with Misha Collins on a pirate ship. Sounds good to me! GISHWHES works in conjunction with Random Acts and items on the list range from sweet acts of kindness like "perform a sock puppet show at a children's hospital" to the insanely weird, "a fully dressed storm trooper cleaning a pool next to a sunbather."

So I'll probably be pretty busy this next week! Super excited to get started.

Wish me luck! :)

A long awaited update

Hello friends and family! It's been a while since I updated my blog. Apologies! It's been a bit busy around here (go figure). Last you heard, I was making macarons and heading off to California to visit my grandparents. I spent a fun weekend with my Grandma and Grandpa Olson and some time as well with some cousins, aunt, and uncle, and playing in San Francisco at the Disney Family Museum.

While I was there, I helped fix up the concrete ducks that sit outside my grandparents' front door. They got a lovely manicure and some eyelashes. They look very fancy now.

I was, of course, under strict instructions from my dad to cause some mayhem while I was there. I'm not very talented in that area, so I just turned some photos on their sides and stuck the Pillsbury dough boy in the freezer.

 

While I was in California, we got a new house guest! Meet Anja from Norway! She was having some trouble at her last host family's house and so we offered to let her stay with us until she heads home in June. Her friend Ice from Thailand may be staying with us for the next couple of weeks, as well. 

Soon after she joined us, Anja went to Hawaii and we got a snow storm. I got stuck in the blue car at the bottom of the hill and had to wait over an hour until Dad made it over to pick me up. We got the blue car up the hill later the next week. We had to stop a few times to fix the chains, but we made it eventually!

Grandpa started on chemo treatment while I was visiting and lost the last of his hair with it. Dad shaved his head to support his padre and they made a fine looking pair.

Jesi got home at the end of April and we have had some fun times with her back. She just started working at the theater in town, though they have only had her work a few days a week late at night, so it's not too fun, but a job is a job and she says it's not too bad. Plus, when she works as usher cleaning the theaters between shows, she gets to keep any unopened candy she finds (or old popcorn, I've been told). Kind of an odd perk, but you take what you can get!

We, of course, had a wonderful Mother's Day. I got Mom breakfast in bed, we found her a lovely, new tote for her cruises this summer, made a tasty salmon dinner, and made some pretty hand-drawn cards from her favorite daughters. This one's from me.

Now, life is just school, work, school, work. The usual. This April I started my practicum which has been very exciting. I work in the counseling clinic Mondays on campus. I have slots for three clients, though right now I only have two of the slots filled. It's tough, and not exactly the kind of work I'll be doing as a school counselor, but it is a really great experience working with clients. Both my peer and faculty supervisors are fabulous and I have, so far, been doing a pretty good job. 

I am in the process of applying for my internships for next year. We are supposed to have two internships: one 400 hour and one 200 hour. One of them is supposed to be at the secondary level (middle or high school) and the other in elementary, depending on our preference and what is available. We got notice of a paid internship (those usually aren't available) out at Estacada Charter School. It's an online based school that also works with local community colleges so students can get high school and college credit at the same time. From what they've said, it sounds like a lot of the students are 5th, 6th, and 7th year seniors who have had a tough time of things in the general education system. I have an online interview with them this Tuesday and I am really excited to work with them if I get the chance. Crossing fingers the interview goes well on Tuesday!

Well, I suppose I should stop procrastinating and get to writing my intergenerational trauma paper. Or maybe play on Facebook. That sounds like more fun, honestly.

Macaron Baking Adventure!!!

French macarons are so pretty. I hadn't ever had one until I went to Honey Toast with my mom for my birthday last year and our dessert came with a pretty macaron on it. There's just something about them. I don't know. So fancy, tiny, and pretty. And they come in so many colors!

Last week I was searching the internets for something pretty to paint for my watercolor class (did I mention I'm taking watercolor and yoga? It's fun to have self care classes), and I decided to look up watercolor desserts and a bunch of pretty macarons popped up. Suddenly the idea came that I REALLY wanted to learn how to make these myself.

My first thoughts as I began my endeavor on my Monday off, were something along the lines of, "WHAT THE CRAP ARE YOU DOING??!?! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN...

...THE RAINBOW CAKE...

... THE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!?!?! AND YOU THINK YOU CAN MAKE MACARONS!!!?!??!"

But I'm not a quitter! I make goals and keep them. So, with the entire internet at my disposal, I searched for an easy macaron recipe, and bought me some ingredients.

The only "special" ingredient for the whole thing was the almond meal. I kept looking for it in the baking section and turns out they keep it with the nuts. That's dumb. But, whatever.

 While the over heated up, I drew some lovely circles for when it came time to pipe the cookies onto the sheet.

Sifted me some powdered sugar and almond meal. I really love doing that. I don't know why. It's just really fun.

It called for egg whites. Luckily, my grandma taught me how to separate egg whites way back in the day, so I felt pretty good about this step.

Only one casualty.

Then it came time to whip up the meringue for the cookie. I learned several things at this point:

• Meringues take a long time to whip up
• No, seriously. Like, over 10 minutes standing holding up the dang mixer. A standing mixer thing might be better. But I don't know where ours is. Oh well.
• Meringue is MAGIC. All it is is egg whites and sugar and if you beat it long enough, it turns into light, fluffy magic. Super fancy stuff, right there.

Following a teaspoon of vanilla, powdered sugar and almond meal was added and "gently folded" into the meringue. Then I had to "punch" it, which isn't as violent as it sounds, but it turns your fluffy meringue into something more liquidy to be piped onto your pans.

They had to set for about 20 minutes until they were ready for the oven. I left them white since I didn't want to have to worry about food coloring on my first try.

 While my cookies baked in the oven, I made my first butter cream!

Cook that egg-milk-sugar mixture!

I tasted it after folding in the butter and I was really dissapointed. It tasted, well, like butter. Then I realized I had forgotten the vanilla. That made it MUCH better. I also added coconut and food coloring (PINK!!!).

The cookies came out of the oven looking fabulous. They even had the little frilly things they were supposed to have!!

I put my pink coconut butter cream on them with a little bit of raspberry jam.

They look like little peanut butter jelly sandwiches!! XD

Pretty, pretty, pretty.

Some got a little smooshed, though. so they didn't get to sit on the plate with the pretty ones.

I was a little nervous trying them, but they turned out fabulous!! Even my mom said they were delicious. When I came down the next morning to put one in my lunch, I found she had finished off the rest that we hadn't eaten the night before!

I'm going to visit my grandparents in California this weekend, so I decided to make some to bring with me!

Since I felt more comfortable making the cookies, I decided to add some food coloring to the mix and make the cookies pink and purple!

I didn't care too much for the butter cream, so I made two different fillings this time: a raspberry cream cheese, and a lemon-lime curd. The lemon-lime curd was DEFINITELY the better of the two. I'll be taking that with me to fill the cookies I set aside to take to the grandparents. :) 

Aren't they pretty! My piping needs a little bit of work, but I'm getting closer to a pretty little macaron! 

And this takes care of number 24 on my 30 before 30 list: Bake GOOD cookies (all by myself!!)

For my next baking adventure, I plan on trying to actually make chocolate chip cookies that taste good. My friend sent me a recipe for chocolate chip cookies and I'm going to try THAT one out. Maybe it's not me; just the recipe!