i am blogging on my lunch break, haha. it's raining outside today, so i'm staying in.

summer is about halfway done and i have mixed feelings about this. on one hand, i can't wait to get back to austin and decorate our lovely apartment and see friends and garrett. on the other, i haven't started (not to mention finished) any of the summer projects i wanted to do. i get home tired and listless and don't want to do anything productive. and i haven't been excersizing for the same reason. consequently, i am not remotely inspired or feeling healthy or enjoying the weeks very much. i'm just counting down until the weekend/august. i don't like that.

however, i would like to (as usual) focus on the sunny side.
1. this past weekend was pretty perfect.
2. hamilton pool is heaven.
3. i brought my camera to work today to take pictures walking back & forth from the bus
4. i'm going to make at least one illustration a day with different prompts. suggestions?
5. my friends are visiting for lunch this week.
6. there are actually really pretty & old parts of downtown houston.
7. i finished when harry met sally last night. so great and hilarious. sadly, norah ephron likes mostly the same plots for her movies, but i like it. so that's okay by me.
8. mad men season 3!
9. everyone at work is quite nice and likes what i'm doing so far.
10. i want to make this lemon tart and these adorable cloud cookies

baby i'm a fool.

Hello blogworld! Today was super productive. I went to work (way too early) and ate a cinnamon muffin, ran + swam at the ymca, and made food with dad! We made huevos rancheros with home fries for dinner and my Great Grandma Adele/Great Aunt Lily's oil cookies for dessert. :) 

I didn't take any photos of dinner because we were hungry, and also my camera was upstairs. It was really quite great, and I am officially in love with smittenkitchen.com. Check it out!! 

Here are the oil cookies! I attempted to make them a week ago but didn't twist them correctly. This time we have successfully modified the recipe, which I'll post next time. They're nice and light and buttery, with cinnamon sugar on top. 

And a few weeks ago I made the easiest bread EVER: Irish Soda bread. 30 second knead, doesn't need to rise... pretty much just mix the ingredients together and pop in the oven! It was absolutely wonderful fresh out of the oven with honey on top. 

Here's the recipe. I felt like writing it, so let me know if you can't read it for any reason. 

And this is the wheat seed bread I made with a really sweet cinnamon honey butter. :) 

To make the butter, just melt about 4 tbsp butter until soft, mix with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a bit of honey. Blend with a spoon, and refrigerate until use. 

Hope everyone has a good 4th of July!