kevin and jeremy's peanut butter cookies.

Yes, I feed crumbs of these to my pup. She LOVES peanut butter, and I love how excited she gets when she smells cookies! Oh, Jeremy likes them, too.

My favorite thing about this recipe is that it uses CAKE MIX. Those of you that have been in my kitchen, you know that I have a cabinet dedicated SOLELY to baking, so naturally I always have about 5 boxes of cake mix on hand. Considering that it's just me and Jeremy (and we don't live close to family anymore, so sad!), it's kind of silly (or awesome?!) for me to bake a cake or a whole batch of cupcakes just for the two of us. Anyway, I have this fabulous cookbook (NO idea where it came from/how I got it) called 101 Things To Do With Cake Mix. There is a whole section reserved for COOKIES! WHAT! I love making these and packing them in cute little cookie/dessert boxes from Michaels, and giving them to my friends! They are much easier to transport than cupcakes ;)

What You Need:

1 box of yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 C oil
3/4 C crunchy peanut butter
1/3 C sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together cake mix, sugar, eggs, and oil until powder is completely dissolved into dough. Stir in peanut butter.

Roll dough into balls, and place on a greased cookie sheet. Press fork horizontally and then vertically around each ball to flatten (Ethan: "So THAT'S how you get the criss-crossy things on cookies!")

Bake 10-12 minutes, or until golden. Remove from pan and cool.

                   

summer skinny [pt.2]

JUNE
STL: Food trucks, makeshift resorts (what?), and traipsing around town.

Because sometimes when you're bored, your dog needs eyebrows. 

Also, don't use eyeliner. Because it will take 3-4 days to fade.

I just downloaded this great app called Groovebook (http://www.groovebook.com/)...it lets users upload up to 100 iPhone photos to be printed into a nice little photo book...for free! All you have to do is pay $2.99/month for the shipping and processing. I just ordered my first one, and I am beyond excited! I plan on using them as fun gifts for my friends and family, as well (you can have them shipped directly to a friend's address, too!). 

Happy Tuesday! 

the skinny on our summer [pt. 1]

Since I have made a bad habit out of apologizing for neglecting my blog, I really should just make it the tagline: "Sorry, I am truly terrible at keeping up with this. Prepare to wait a month for another post!" Or as my sister would say, "SORRY 'BOUT IT."  So, without further ado, here is a brief summer summary, and a photo dump.

Sidenote: If you follow my Instagram (@healthychelthy), many of these are repeats!

JUNE
Texas: Baby shower for Jeremy's older brother and our sister-in-law. His younger brother's high school graduation, as well as baseball state championship (they won, duh.). Farm time/feeding slobbery cows.

                               

                               

     

     

     

     

                              

While adding these photos, I tried my best to make all of them EXACTLY CENTERED. Didn't work. My neurotic, OCD self is like, freaking out over it right now. My lazy self is all, "Nah, girl, you good. Go get another Oreo." So there you have it. 

In completely unrelated news, I'm watching the newest episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Now, I don't really admit that to many people (it's a guilty pleasure, if you will), but it is one of my very favorite shows. Anyway, Khloe has just TP'd Kimye's house, and girl is MAD. Khloe is my favorite (besides Lord Disick), mainly because when I'm in my thirties, I will MOST LIKELY be tp'ing Sophie's house. And spraying shaving cream all over her cat-shaped lawn ornaments.

**All of the lovely pictures in this post were taken by my father-in-law; all of the crappy ones were taken by yours truly.

we were in the basement for 6 hours.

No joke. My poor little brother and sister have a neurotic, over-protective, borderline-psycho for a big sis. After I forced them to pack bags of clothes/toiletries in case of a tornado, I eventually chilled out enough for everyone to get some sleep (hours later...). They love me, and they know it. Being stuck in the basement also meant watching Adventuretime with Sophie...that show is WEIRD. I think I liked the wiener-dog princess and Marceline the vampire queen, but other than that, it was super creepy (Sorry, Michael and Sophie aka Mophie). While on the subject of tornadoes: if you follow me on Instagram, you'll notice the cute little OK tank top I shared...hello merch is selling an adorable tank, and giving all of the proceeds to the Oklahoma Red Cross. It's only $15, and free shipping! Buy it now!

I love babysitting (young adult-sitting?!) Sophie and Owen, partly because that means I actually have normal human beings to cook for (Jeremy, you have the taste buds of the pickiest toddler on the PLANET). So after perusing Pinterest the other day, I found these little guys that Owen dubbed Mashed Potato Muffins.

Basically, make some mashed potatoes, and scoop them into a greased muffin pan, and then add whatever delicious toppings your little heart desires! Lightly brush the top with olive oil, and pop them in the oven (at 375) until they are a crispy golden-brown on top! For Owen, I made cheddar and bacon. For mine, I put corn (thanks Aunt Beth!), popcorn chicken, cheddar, and cayenne pepper. I made some brown gravy to go with them; I love KFC famous bowls, and that's what I was going for! Little Sophie-poo is still at work, but I have some vegetarian rosemary potatoes waiting for her!

p.s. Don't try to take them out of the pan as soon as they're done, or they will fall apart! I noticed they kept their muffin shape if I let them cool for a bit :)

Oh, and my birthday was tons of fun...it's still hard to believe that I'm 25. Where did the time go?? A nice birthday present was making the Dean's List! 

take a walk.

Obviously, I lack creativity, since this title is pretty self-explanatory. What did we do tonight? (Seriously, if you don't know, then you're a mega-twerp)

Also, today was the day I've been waiting for, for like, a WEEK. The app for A Beautiful Mess debuted! I've been having tons of fun doodling on all of my pictures. Enjoy!

and here is some fun from last weekend. It was the first time my whole family was together in about 10 months! If you follow me on Vine or Instagram, then you'll know that things got weird. 

It's also finals week. I am finally finishing my first semester back, and it's been a blast.

heyooo!

Over the past week or so, I've been contemplating a new blog. I figured, new town, new blog. But then I stumbled across this little gem: http://www.fawnlog.com/?p=1645#comment-3990 earlier today, so naturally I came back to this blog to read over all of my posts. Because I over-analyze, and I'm just plain weird. Then I realized "HEY, I like this blog, boo to people who don't!." In addition, I'm not seeking popularity in the blogging world...I see sites like Get Off My Internets and MckMama Without Pity, and I am just so turned off by it. These people spend all of their free time trolling blogs, and creating forums to talk about how much they hate said blogs, and they use every insult in the book. I really don't want to worry about what people think of me or how dorky I sound, so I'm fine with just a smallish crowd :)

In other news:

• This week is my last week of classes for the semester...for my first semester back (after a 1.5 year hiatus), I'm at a 4.0. I couldn't be more happy/proud!
• Turning 25 in less than two weeks...WHAT?! 
• Game of Thrones is my new Harry Potter. It was weird going from watching one episode to watching an episode of Once Upon A Time, and I was all, "C'MON, JUST CUT HIS THROAT OPEN, YOU WIMPS." Then I realized I'm a monster."
• I've been frequenting Twitter? Just let that sink in for a few minutes. Weird, right?
• We're going to Texas TWICE next month...I. Can't. Wait. 

Last night, I was gazing lovingly (creepily?) at my new phone (iPhone 4s), when I noticed the 80+ pictures I have accumulated. I've had this phone for less than a week, people.

I know this blog post is just way too exciting for you handle, so I'm going to watch some Will & Grace re-runs and eat some leftover Taco Bell. Clearly, when Jeremy is out of town, I just give up on life. LATER TATERS. 

content.

things that i fancy:

having a backyard.
having a gazillion thrift stores/flea markets at my disposal.
having a home big enough to host get-togethers.
hardwood floors.
james brownie funky jackhammers.
at&t u-verse.
^that being said, having a dvr/cable in my bedroom for the first time in my LIFE.
random 70-degree days in January.
Valentine's Day.
my major.
teaching violin lessons.
crepes.
yoga pants.
cookbooks (toying with the idea of a paleo diet...thoughts?).
painting.
the red velvet shop. (& the rest of Commercial St.)
getting in shape (bikini season is almost here, chunks!).
pretty windows. 

As you can see, we have been very content and busy down here in Springfield. We are enjoying our new/old home very much!