pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

adapted from thekitchn
yields 16 large cookies

A growing army of cookies!

Ingredients
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Method
1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt.
2. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
3. Add vanilla and chocolate chips.
4. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

Ice Ice Baby

The past work-week* was long and draining and I knew at the start of it that the weekend had to be relaxing and friend-filled. But, of course, with plenty of much needed personal time. Unfortunately, I only have photos from Friday. I forgot to bring my camera with me on Saturday (though there wasn’t much to photograph–I just watched movies, ate pizza, and drank wine with friends) and I stayed home yesterday for my personal time.

The view from my office window.

Lots of buildings and I get to see the trees change color. The streets are small enough/The buildings are close enough that I can see people working in the building across from my window. I’m a huge fan of people-watching (does that sound stalker-ish?) so it’s interesting peeking over once in a while to get a glimpse of some of the changes and of what they do.

Relaxation: iced coffee (it’s not that cold yet) and reading materials.

After I got off work on Friday, I headed over to Powell’s to pick up another copy of Barack Obama’s ‘Dreams from My Father.’ I decided to give my copy to someone as a peace offering of sorts and it seems rather fitting in hindsight since Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I then walked over to Peet’s to write a short letter explaining the present, and to start of my Maddy-time, before mailing it. Hopefully, it’s well-received by the intended recipient since I’ve had mixed thoughts about sending it…

Regardless, the book is definitely worth a read. Obama is a wonderful orator and, of course, it translates beautifully into his writing. If you’ve read ‘The Audacity of Hope,’ you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how young, underdeveloped, call it what you will Obama’s writing sounds in ‘Dreams from My Father.’

First (and last?) hockey game ever.

Later that evening, a couple friends and I went to an ice skating rink. (This was only after I gave up the fight for bowling and gave in to the idea of ice skating…) When we got there, however, there was a hockey game. We decided to stick around and I got to watch my very first ice hockey game ever. The game was between Portland State University and Western Washington University, which was interesting to watch but apparently not very exciting. I learned stuff about ice hockey though.

Yes, it’s us again (minus two other friends who were with us that night).

After the game, we took over the rink… and I finally learned the proper techniques of how to ice skate. Last summer (the last time I had gone), I realized I forgot it completely–I spent the whole time on the ice stumbling around while my friends were skating about. Luckily, two friends who grew up with ice (in Virginia and Denmark) offered advice and showed me until I figured it out.

So, that was most of Friday night (save for the part where we all headed over to a 24-hour diner and pie house. Mmm.)

*I started working temporarily at the place where I interned/worked for this summer again after they had heard what happened to me.

The Silent Ways People Drift Apart.

The sound of a heart breaking isn’t poetic. It is hollow. It is tragic. It calls for rituals – the denial, the shock, the anger, the disappointment, culminating in hopelessness. Just like a shrinking white star slowly

[thanks le love]

Ever wondered about the silent ways people drift away? Up until a few days ago, I haven’t really… Now I’m not quite sure what to do.

Compaq Presario V2000

What my laptop and I did in the last 24 hours…

I think my computer is d.e.a.d.
8:09 PM Oct 21st from mobile web

Oh my God. Thank God for smartphones.
about 23 hours ago from mobile web

Laptop shopping during my lunch break. Bah.
about 9 hours ago from web

Found an affordable laptop that I liked. But then I found out it’s got a 9 inch screen. No thanks.
about 9 hours ago from web

Performing surgery on my laptop. . .
about 2 hours ago from mobile web

And it turned on. . .
about 2 hours ago from mobile web

I think I rock, but Im definitely going to be nicer to my laptop from now on.
about 2 hours ago from mobile web

What Im doing after work tomorrow: saving all my files on my external hard drive.
about 2 hours ago from mobile web

My laptop just shut down while I was using it last night. It wasn’t a gradual shut down; it was as if someone had unplugged the actual battery itself. It wouldn’t turn on at all so, naturally, I panicked. Thoughts were running through my head like, “Oh my God. All the photos I haven’t back up yet.” “My fellowship application.” “What am I going to do without a laptop!” “How am I going to watch my shows?!” And so on. (My imagination can run rampant at times).

I took every opportunity during my breaks at work today to research an affordable laptop that I could buy and have delivered by the weekend. After work, however, I was brave enough to take apart my laptop in hopes that things were just a little dusty and loose in there. And, sure enough, it worked! (After a couple times of taking more and more things apart).

My laptop is probably nearing its end anyway. It’s nearly five years old but I like it. A lot. Kudos to me for knowing how to take apart a laptop (I can do the same for a desktop but I haven’t done that in a very long time).  So, off I go now to celebrate with some Long Islands…

Updates from my lovely Twitter, and my lovely phone–Sony Ericsson P1i!

Pineapple Juice

It’s been a while since I created a blog entry with photos in it so here are some ridiculous/cute/fun photos of my two lovely friends and I from last night. For my sake, I won’t go into details of how the rest of the night went. I will tell you, however, that it was a lot of fun, I got to meet some new awesome people, and I used up my ‘the one that needs to be taken care of tonight’ card.

Remember all the craziness from a few weeks ago? It was a good few weeks of negativity crammed into a few days. So, I’m balancing it out and trying to have fun. And, I think I’m succeeding.

“151 Rum, pineapple juice and Malibu. Caribou get dem all numb.“