a night out.

last night we went out for dinner.

i wore red lipstick and teal tights.
we got a coke.
we went to an entirely different restaurant for dessert.
we listened to this song on repeat every single time we got in the car.
we took lots of pictures.
we didn't finish our dessert.
we went to my dorm and watched bobsledding and rooted for USA, but loved Canada's sled.
my teal tights.fried ice cream.

thanks, mom and dad.
xo,
R.

Dear Produce Section,

Thank you for all of the lovely citrus you've had in stock lately. I have been enjoying Ruby Red Grapefruit for breakfast every morning and oranges in the afternoon. I'm a little upset that it's no longer apple season because my beloved Honeycrisps have disappeared. But that's okay, they were expensive, anyway. I'm a little disappointed with your grape selection, as it seems that you never have green ones in stock. And if you do, they look kind of gross. I'm no longer impressed by your watermelon. Sorry. It seems kind of mealy, and that's something that I just can't get into. And thanks for having unbelievably small zucchinis and squashes in stock — they are the perfect size for Jeffrey and I's Squash & Zucchini Pasta.

Oh, and as an aside: I appreciate your colorfulness and overall good mood. You're my favorite section of the grocery store.

Love, R.

Cheers.

I don't mean to brag, but I'm going to anyway.
I've bragged about my parents once before, and they're just so amazing that I'm going to do it again.
These past few weeks have been horrendous in the school work department and I have never felt so overwhelmed or accountable for so many things.
My head is spinning.

But my parents. God bless them. No, really. I would be buried in ripped up rough drafts, scrap papers scribbled with mathematical formulas, and Dove chocolate wrappers if it weren't for them.

And yes, I've consumed quite the amount of Dove chocolates, but I found the motivation to throw the wrappers away.

Let me just tell you.

My dad is like an editing fairy, or something. But since that sounds too feminine, we'll call him an editing leprechaun or maybe an editing gnome, whichever sounds more magical. The point is, when I have reached the paper-writing dead end (yeah, it exists), my dad will fill my head with new ideas, fix my grammatical mistakes (because I've looked at the paper for far too long to even notice them anymore), and just save me in general. And because he knows me so well, he'll occasionally remind me to pray because in the midst of all this chaos, sometimes I forget.

And my mom, she's like the motivating fairy. I have called her at all my worst moments and by the end of the conversation, she has convinced me that I can not only write the paper, but also bake cupcakes, watch Ugly Betty, do my hair, clean my desk off, and still have the time to relax. All in one night. She has a way of making scary-huge tasks seem like tiny-little-things-I-might-feel-like-accomplishing-today. And I really hope that when I have kids, I have that superpower because it has saved me so many times.

And they also tell me really nice things about how I should go out to dinner with Jeffrey this week and they'll pick up the tab because we totally deserve it after the week we've been through.

And it's those kinds of things that make me appreciate my parents.
And it's those kinds of things that make me so very happy to get to go home for Spring Break in two weeks and spend time with them.
And it's those kinds of things that make me so glad that I can call them my most treasured confidants.
And yeah. I like to talk about my parents. Mainly because they're awesome and have always been there for me.
And quite frankly, I think that's something to celebrate.

Here's to you, Mom and Dad. I love you.

xo, R.

The Raspberry Story

Two summers ago, Jeffrey and I went on a trip to Minnesota to stay with his grandma for a week. While we were there we explored a lot of different places — things Jeffrey's been doing in Minnesota since he was a kid and wanted to share with me. We went to the general store, spent a couple hours in a never ending antique store, found a neat basement thrift shop, and posed with, quite possibly, the biggest Viking statue America has to offer. It was an excellent trip — a trip I will never forget. One of my favorite memories of the trip is raspberry picking. Driving back from a state park that is home to the start of the Mississippi River (Yeah! Believe it or not, the Mississippi River actually starts in Minnesota) we saw a sign for raspberry picking. Being the berry lovers that we are, we had to stop and give fresh raspberries a shot. Before this, I'd never really been that into raspberries. They just never made it onto my radar.

But. There is something about standing in a field of fruit as the sun is setting. I mean, any kind of fruit would be extra special in such a setting — moments like that don't come around everyday (although I'm sure they could if we really searched for them) — but thank goodness they were raspberries. The thing about raspberries is that they are really fun to pick. If you've eaten a raspberry, you know that they're hollow in the center. That's because on the vine, they're attached to this little cone, and when you pick raspberries, if they're really ripe and really ready to be picked, they slip off that little cone seamlessly. And there's something really wonderful about a raspberry that slips right off it's little cone. It's like finding a $20 bill, or something. And then there's the raspberries that hang on to their cones and those tend to be sour and pucker-y. Those are also delicious, especially when you can pair them with a very ripe raspberry.

Anyway, since that day in the field, Jeffrey and I have been in love with raspberries. And I think it's safe to say that raspberries are our fruit. They just are. And so whenever a special occasion comes around, it's almost like a rule that we have to have something with raspberries in it. Because honestly, it's like, we need those little guys to come to all our celebrations — that's how much we love them.
Valentine's Day was no exception. I knew I wanted to make a treat with raspberries in it. And so as I was reading Smitten Kitchen I came across a recipe for cupcakes. Cupcakes that originally were topped with a cream infused with Peppermint Extract, but I lovingly switched it out for Raspberry Extract, and then, these little gems were born.

As mentioned, I got this lovely recipe from Smitten Kitchen. She's such a reliable source and her recipes have yet to fail me. I highly recommend her site. Anyway.

*Adaptations: I used Raspberry Extract. I omitted the espresso powder/coffee nonsense completely. The only other change was accidental. I didn't really have enough chocolate for the cupcake portion, so I combined 4 ounces of a bittersweet bar with 2 ounces of a white chocolate bar and I would not change a thing about any of my adaptations, accidental or not.

I suggest you make these as soon as possible.
Then, Enjoy!

xo, R.

smile notes

Today I am smiling because of:

1. Pepper Jack Cheese.
2. Math that I actually understand.
3. Halls Defense cough drops in the Assorted Citrus variety.
4. Peanut M&M's.
5. Exams that make me feel like I'm well prepared.
6. Poems that I actually understand (Goblin Market by Charlotte Rossetti).
7. Flowers and the anticipation of Spring.
8. A Spring Break that is so close I can almost taste it.
9. A poetry teacher who actually gives us meaningful work to complete and actually cares about poetry.
10. Black Ballet flats.
11. Gum.
12. Lemons.
13. College Ruled notebook paper.


xo, R.

Valentine's Day Picnic

I really should be doing work right now, but I'm protesting it in the name of Love.

I had a lovely Valentine's Day and although I spent most of the day apart from my Valentine and although a cold was creeping into my system, I'll will forever file this day away as one of my favorites with my love.
I should probably stop saying that, though, because I file most days with Jeffrey as 'one of my favorites.'
Homemade, heart-shaped Pizza. We have an undying love for pizza. It's actually kind of disgusting. Our grocery store bakery makes special orders so we requested that they convert our favorite bread into pizza dough and they willingly obliged! It was a nice twist on the old classic. The heart-shape was his mom's idea. :)
This salad was kind of thrown together because we didn't have our favorite components on hand. It had strawberries, Parmesan cheese, and sunflower seeds and we used our favorite, local dressing. Very delicious.
A good picture to capture our entire picnic and, of course, I can't deny that handsome smile.
And I insisted on wearing pink tights. It's a rule that you have to wear pink, red, or purple on Valentine's Day, right?
I begged Jeffrey to bring the tripod, but I honestly wasn't happy with the way any of our pictures turned out, except for this one and it's even a little blurry. Oh well, we'll have to try it again sometime!
And the picnic blanket I embroidered last Valentine's Day.
This year, we bought a tent for Valentine's Day, but I had to have some kind of surprise. After all, Valentine's is one of my very favorite holidays. I baked him cupcakes, and he baked me cookies! We also had Chocolate Covered Strawberries, so we were on some kind of sugar overload. I will post the recipe for these another time. They were probably the best thing I've ever made!


It was a lovely holiday.

xo, R.

tissues.

i'm sick.
yesterday i called jeffrey while he was the store and asked him to buy me some tissues.
he bought me the cutest box he could possibly find because he knows that cute tissue boxes cheer me up.


so in love with that boy.

Breakfast At Noon.

On weekends it's not uncommon for us to eat breakfast when normal people eat lunch. Sometimes it's due to the fact that we wake up late or sometimes it's due to the fact that we just have a hard time getting the day started. Either way, it happens on a [fairly] regular basis. Today was special because most days we eat our Saturday breakfasts separately and then get together. But today. Jeffrey called me and asked if I wanted him to come over and make us scrambled eggs. How could I pass up such a sweet offer? Obviously, I obliged. I mean, wouldn't you?

Well, our newest thing is to use one of my huge Rubbermaid bins as a table and sit on the floor of my room and eat. I live in a dorm and the community kitchen is less than charming. Believe me when I say that a bin is more inviting.
Breakfast was wonderful, the company was even better, and I could get used to Saturday Breakfasts like this one.

Have a wonderful Valentine's and check out this adorable song by Kina Grannis:


xo, R.

a lovely weekend.

i went home this weekend and we had a really nice time.
jeffrey and i shared a root beer from the bottle on the way home.

{his attempt at the 'elvis face.'}
we listened to old crow medicine show and the avett brothers.
my family got thai food take out and played bananagrams.
my mom and i fell in love with this blog.
my dog cuddled up to me and stayed with me all night.

{he thinks he's too good to pose for pictures.}
on saturday, we got my computer fixed at screwbox solutions (probably one of the finest shops i have ever been to.)
we ate lunch at smoke.
we ooh-ed and aw-ed over every piece of merchandise at indigo bee.
we bought sharpie pens (my dad and i are newly obsessed!).
i went out to dinner with my two best friends, sara and alex.
my mom and i stayed up late sharing creative ideas.
my dog cuddled up to me, but was being a bed hog, so only stayed with me half the night.
we woke up on sunday and made german pancakes. highly recommend.
we also made paula deen's apple cake. also, highly recommend.

{paula deen's cake required that you poke holes in it so that you could fill them with a buttery sauce.}
my mom and i went to target, our favorite place to shop — especially together!
we bought dove chocolates for valentine's day.
jeffrey and i drove back to school and shared fries and a coke from mcdonald's. it's practically tradition by now.
i hope your weekend was just as lovely! xo

What's the Good News?

Good News #1: I got an extension on my essay for the Education program.
Good News #2: I'm going home tomorrow.
Good News #3: I used my free Einstein's Bagels coupon today.
Good News #4: I'm buying red lipstick tomorrow.
Good News #5: Jeffrey and I are making brownies.
Good News #6: I love Charles Dickens.

Dear Bed,

Why are you so comfy?
Why is it impossible to leave you when it's rainy out?
And why did you make me hit the snooze 3 times this morning?
You made it so hard to go to class today. And I was so tempted to come right back and sleep until things started looking better.

Thanks for making stressful weeks seem not-so-bad.

xo,
R.