I'm sitting at home right now, not feeling very well at all. Went to the doctor's in the morning because I felt even worse than I did yesterday. Turns out I have a throat infection.

Thankfully, it happens to be the day before my case study, which determines whether or not I make it into the public relations program here at BYU (there's sarcasm there). Thankfully, I have a wonderful professor who said he'd help me and make sure I can take it when I feel better.

Funny thing. I haven't been sick since I got off my mission. I was just thinking about that last week. Wishful thinking huh?

Haven't updated my blog in awhile so I  guess this is helping! Well, till about 15mins ago. Before that I was just kinda in la-la land. The semester's been good so far. Perhaps a bit more reading than I thought. Three honors classes do that I guess. I'm enjoying them though. My C.S. Lewis literature class is by far my favorite. I have to keep a blog for it so check it out if you've got time to spare!

mydearwormwood.blogspot.com

Anywho, the homecoming dance I'm planning is coming up! Excited for it! Parents visit, then a church History trip towards the end of the month. October is going to be crazy! Life gets so hectic sometimes that it was almost a good thing to get sick and just lie down. Doesn't it seem that when you try to get too much done, you end up getting nothing done at all? The only thing I've gotten done these couple of days is lie down and pop pills. Oh, and my new friend, NyQuil.



 Benn baking and cooking more. Oh, loving my cooking class too! Hopefully I get decent someday. If you haven't noticed, I love food.

I'm going to go trying reading some Lewis now. I'll try updating the blog soon again! Meanwhile, take the time to read The Great Divorce. It's simply fantastic. Have a great week ya'll! 

-eechie. 

After watching Stranger Than Fiction with my (Ee) roommate, Bavarian Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting seemed like a great idea!

Anyhow, we got the recipe off here:

http://opticalcat.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/bavarian-sugar-cookies-with-cream-cheese-frosting/

Madi helped for a little bit... 

 The modeling white girl and the asian Asian

really....? 

 cutting a cookie. 

 the girl with the big heart. 

 :)

 Derek, our frosting mixer. 

 apparently, this was a creepy photo. 

Hilary, Angie, and Ee. 

(angieehilary)

Cookies

Preheat oven to 400 F.
½ C softened butter
1 C (8 oz) softened cream cheese
4-6 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 C sugar
2 eggs
½ C milk
1½ tsp vanilla

1. Cream butter and cream cheese together

2. Sift in 4 C flour, and the other dry ingredients

3. Add the eggs, milk and vanilla.

4. With a wooden spoon, mix everything together until moist.

5. Turn the dough onto a floured pastry mat or wooden surface. Knead until dough is smooth no longer sticky, adding additional flour as needed.

6. Flour the pastry mat again, and roll out the dough to ½ in thickness, adding flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.

7. Cut out whichever shapes you’d like. If you don’t have a cookie cutter use an upside down cup.

8. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 min.

9. The cookies are done when the top is still white but the bottoms are golden brown.

Frosting

½ C softened butter
1 C softened cream cheese
1½ tsp clear* vanilla
Powdered Sugar to taste
Food coloring, optional


1. Cream butter and cream cheese together with the clear vanilla. (Clear vanilla is used because regular vanilla will darken the frosting. Regular vanilla will not affect the flavor, but you will not get as white of frosting. You can also use frosting paint to whiten the frosting.)
2. Add powdered sugar to desired sweetness and texture.3. Spread frosting on cooled cookies with a spatula.

4. If desired, you can add food coloring to the frosting for brightly colored cookies.

Enjoy! 

I was thinking a couple days ago about what I have done with my life the past 15 months. At first, it was kind of the thought that I hadn't really done much. sure, my grades are better and all that, but aside from that, have I become better, am I better?

Everyone in my missionary group that went home with me is married, and one even has a kid. There have been so many things that I have wanted to accomplish, and I just don't know if I've really done anything!

It's something that I really will have to ponder on and see what I want to do so I can feel that I really have done more, and that I am a better person for it.

I just finished watching State of Play, a movie centered on a reporter’s investigation into the death of a Congressman’s aide. The movie was great, but what I really found interesting was the focus that they placed on the dying newspaper.

In a world where news is instantaneous, people rely on websites and blogs to keep themselves in line with the latest news. The sad thing is that many who have spent their lives devoted to writing and delivering news to us are losing their jobs. I find it disheartening, because there is an element of rustic importance when it comes to holding a newspaper in your hand, smelling the pages, getting a bit of ink on your hands, and the rustling of the pages as you turn them. With a paper, your senses are enveloped; sight, smell, sight, touch. You could probably lick the paper if you really wanted to taste it I guess.

Remember when your parents asked you to get the paper from the lawn, or you sat by Dad as he flipped through the business section. The newspaper is part of us.

There is something to be said about the quality of news that has come to us through the decades, the in depth stories, the hard work that comes from finding the truth. I just hope that we do not lose that to an age where we trade quality for quantity. Frankly, I find reading newspapers “sexy.” Perhaps that’s not the term you’d typically use to describe newspaper-reading, but there’s something to be said about reading stories that bounce of the page at us.

Let’s bring sexy back.