Baking Adventure #1

I decided (with the inspiration of  A Beautiful Mess and my new desire to do Autumn-ly things) to make a pumpkin pie today. I even woke up before ten to do so! You have no idea how much of an accomplishment that is.

Pumpkin pie a la Paula Deen made my day mostly because it meant I got to break out the vintage kitchen supplies (the apron is my favorite; it used to be my Grandmother's), but unfortunately that meant I spent a large chunk of time stopping and taking pictures of things before I actually got around to baking. But several hours later, pies were eventually made, nonetheless.

Before

...and after!

And since it was a baking adventure after all, some risks were taken. For instance, the battle with the pumpkin can was very intense, and I somehow managed to injure myself. If it scars, though, I imagine I'll have to come up with a better story than that.

Ghastly, I know.

But other than that, everything else worked out fine, due in a large part to my Aunt Carol, whose long-distance baking advice kept me from burning either of the two pies.
And they all lived happily ever-after.

Pie, anyone? ;)

Trees, Trees, Everywhere

Since Friday was the first day of Fall, I thought it was probably the right time for me to start writing again. And since Autumn happens to be my favorite season, it seemed necessary to have a post about Autumn-ly things.

Due to my East Coast season-withdrawal, I've been having an obsession with trees. Or rather, drawing them; on the pages of my planner, on the back of notes from class, on pieces of binder paper...  if you can think of a moderately blank surface that can be written on, there's a good chance there'll be a tree on it by the time I'm done with it.

      

In fact, it's gotten to the point where it's not even conscious. I'll be doodling, and look down, and BAM! There's a tree. Losing leaves. With a stop sign. I imagine by the end of October there'll be enough to cover a wall in my room, and even though that's not the same as a Vermont Autumn, at least it looks a bit like Autumn at all. 

Question #14 - Friends, The Boy, & School?

How do you balance a boyfriend and your other friends all at the same time? PLUS school?

The simple answer is deciding where your priorities lie, but of course it's never quite that simple. To make things easiest on yourself, here's what I would recommend:

• School first. If you have a big test coming up, or an extremely important essay (or just plain old homework) do that first; if studying/writing/homework-ing is going to take long enough that you won't be able to spend time with your friends or boyfriend afterwards, then it's important enough that you shouldn't skip it. And besides, school is what gets you into college, not your boyfriend. 

• Friends are Forever, or so they say. And the reason they say that is because in high school especially, relationships tend to be on the more ephemeral side of the longevity scale than friendships. In other words, don't neglect your friends for your boyfriend. And the easiest way not to do that is to prioritize them above your significant other. Not necessarily by a lot, but by just enough that they won't feel shunned by your no-longer-single status.

...and you don't want to lose one of those for a
guy who might not even be around when
the zombies actually show.

Now you're probably thinking to yourself, 

"But what about my boyfriend? Here she is, telling me to do my HOMEWORK before I hang out with my friends, and then telling me to spend time with my FRIENDS before my boyfriend (because 'who knows when we'll break up...'??), but she doesn't even MENTION spending time with HIM! Of course we're going to break up if I follow THIS advice!" 

Obviously you should still spend time with the boy; I'm not advising that you read this post and then ignore him till all your homework is done for the rest of the year and you've gone to the Great Escape with all ten of your best friends. That would not be balancing all three aspects of your life. I'm merely saying that when it comes to this balancing thing, the boyfriend should not be a light-weight on your scale; if you can't fit in your homework and friends with this guy, then he's not the kind of person you want on the opposite end.

Here's an example: it's a Wednesday, you just found out you have a test on Friday, and your friends and boyfriend all want to spend time with you. Today. So when you get home, you do your homework, study for an hour, arrange to hang out (maybe have dinner?) with your friends, and if your parents won't flip because it's a school night, go see a 7:00 movie with the guy. You're done by 9, 9:30, you won't be cramming for the test tomorrow night, and now you can actually spend lunch tomorrow talking to your friends instead of trying to finish your math homework. And if you use lunch as a hangout with friends, you can reserve some after-school time for the boyfriend before you go home, do your homework, and finish your studying. Of course it's a little bit more complicated than that, but the gist is that it becomes a cycle of rotating through the things you want to do (with an emphasis on school-work and friends), and it's manageable. 

Really, all you CAN do is work with the time you have, and your priorities, until you find a routine that works best.

Good Luck!