A Little Bit of Heaven

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Disillusions

“It’s a strange thing, but when you are dreading something, and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up.”

— J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)

Friday, April 6, 2012

Only in Ohio

Day 24 – where I live

I live in Ohio! A lot of people don't like it, but I actually do.It's not a big tourist spot, and there's really not that much to do in the summer. Or the winter. Or ever. But it's home to me.

I've lived here my entire life, all my friends are here, everything I've ever known is here.

That's why I love Ohio.

Ten Ways

Day 23 – a YouTube video

I actually have two videos, but they go hand in hand. Here they are. Go watch them now, then come back.

Why are you still reading this? Go watch!

Ten Ways to Get the Right Guy to Like You

Ten Ways to Get Girls to Like You

Okay, now that you've seen it, I have a little to say about it.

Guys:

Everything he said in the video was true.

We like it when you show interest. We don't want to just be arm candy to you. Let us know you care about what we care about.

Encourage us. Girls need affirmation. We need to know that we're good at something, and coming from you means a lot.

Compliment us. Like I said, we need affirmation.

Get to know our friends and family. This goes hand- in- hand with 'Show interest,' because it shows us that you care about people we care about.

Act chivalrous. This is a huge one for me. My dad's always taught me that men should open doors for you, pull our your chair, pay for you, and carry your heavy things. Though some woman think that it's degrading, I love it.

Give us space. We love you, but we need our space too. We have other relationships with friends and family to maintain.

Keep your hands to yourself. We don't belong to you. We have boundaries.

Make us feel safe. We need to feel protected, and you should be our safe place. We should be able to tell you anything, not have to hide anything.

Be our best friend. When I date and eventually a guy, I want to be friends with him. I don't want it to be only gushy and romantic stuff. I want to be able to do things with him that I'd do with friends.

Girls:

Everything he said in the video was true.

If you want a guy who respects you, who treats you like an equal, who is the right guy, be willing to wait. Don't date just for the sake of dating.

Respect yourself. If you don't, you're going to attract the kind of guy your mother's warned you about.

Be kind. No guy wants to date a girl who treats him like trash, just like you don't want a boyfriend who's a jerk.

Show interest in him. It's a two way street, they like it when we show interest in them too. Make him feel needed.

Guys need to be needed, just like girls want to be wanted.

When he acts chivalrous, don't go all 'women's rights' on him. He knows that you can open the door, but he's doing it for you because he cares about you.

Put some clothes on, gals. This goes along with respect yourself, because if you don't, the guy won't get to know you, he'll be to focused on what he can see.

Ignore Hollywood. Plain and simple.

Set boundaries. If you know your boundaries before you get into a tough spot, it's easier to stop.

Be yourself. Personality is what matters, so don't act like someone else to impress someone.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The Quiet Place

Day 22 – a website

The Quiet Place

This website is about giving you a place to relax and tune out of distractions, even if it's just for a moment. It's about taking a break from Facebook and email and Twitter and texts and everything.

It's a really simple idea, but it's a great website. I invite you to go to it now, and follow the directions exactly! Silence your phone. X out of Facebook. Turn off the TV.

Relax.

Giant M&M Cookies

Day 21 – a recipe

This recipe is from How Sweet It.com

giant rainbow cookies.

This is how you make gooey, chewy, massive rainbow cookies that make everyone in life love your guts.

Lookie here! You don’t even need a mixer. You just mix all the goods with a whisk. Don’t have a whisk? Spoons work too

Add some super cute rainbow candies… aka mini m&m’s. You could add regular m&m’s. Really… whatever floats your boat.

This is the weird part. Roll your dough into a ball then rip it apart evenly with Hulk Hogan strength.

Bake cookies like this. Laugh because they look funny. Cry because you are ridiculous.

Not even joking. Really bake your cookies like this. It’s the SECRET.

While your cookies are baking, admire the adorable slash colorful slash overflowing bowl of mini m&m’s that you opened two bags of m&m’s for just so you could show all of your invisible internet friends what an m&m bathtub looks like.

After your cookies bake and cool and you inevitably burn the skin off the roof of your mouth because you’re really a child with no patience, flip it over and look at how pretty it’s cookie butt is. Colorful cookie butt.

Stack up some giant rainbow cookies and set them by your overflowing m&m bathtub bowl. Pour a mason jar full of milk so you can photograph your cookies for your invisible internet friends, even though you hate milk and don’t even like to dip cookies in it.

Giant Rainbow Cookies

makes 18 large or 36 small cookies

2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) of salted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup mini m&m’s (or something else that you love)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the butter and sugars until they are combined (and look like the first picture above). Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Gradually add flour and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. I even used my hands to help at one point. Fold in the m&m’s.

Divide the dough how you choose (1/4 cup portions for 18 large cookies or 2 tablespoon portions for 36 smaller cookies). Shape each portion into a ball with your hands then pull each ball into two equal pieces. Turn each half so that the rough side of the half (what used to be the inside of the ball) faces upwards and

then squish both halves together. Place the dough rough-side up on a baking sheets. If you’re doing large cookies, I’d leave about 2 inches in between each.

Bake for 12-15 minutes (large cookies) or 8-12 minutes (small cookies) or until the edges are slightly brown. The centers should be
soft and puffy. Do not over bake. Let cool completely then dig in!

Note: to melt the butter I simply microwaved it, and to let it cool I allowed it to sit for about 10 minutes.

Finally, take one single bite of your cookie since you are the epitome of self control, then neatly pack them up to share with others. Do not eat any more cookies, ever, because you are always satisfied with one bite of dessert.