Baking: Monster Mix Blondies

This post heralds a new category—we'll see if I keep posting in it—that concerns any baking I do from box mixes. And because I used the word "herald" in that sentence, it's very official. 

Anyway, this post is about Monster Mix Blondies. If you've never had Target's Monster Trail Mix, do yourself a favor and go get some now. It's the secret trail mix recipe that all trail mix companies have tried and failed to make for years. Finally, Target's hit it right on and put everything anyone wants in their mix, managing to leave out all the bad stuff (well, it does have raisins. sorry.) 

So I'd had my eye on this baking mix for a while, and when it was on clearance the other day, I snatched it up. Here's some pictures:

Initially when I took them out of the oven and tasted them, I wasn't too impressed. For some reason, though, I just kept slicing little bites off. It was only a matter of time until I found the ticket: 

Peanut butter! It made them super delicious. See?

Verdict:

They were yummy. I'd eat them again. I'd even make them again, except that I'm not sure I'd choose these over baking something new. 

How would I eat them? Arranged on a platter sliced into squares, slathered with peanut butter, and sprinkled with chocolate chips. There's an easy party dish for ya!

Travel: Beautiful Things in New York City

This post is not going to pretend to any great significance. I went to New York City, saw lots of beautiful things, and took pictures of them. Here they are. 

the Plaza Hotel through budding trees of Central Park

Anthropologie displays at Chelsea Market

Chelsea Market

Postman Books, a store inside Chelsea Market

The Highline, accompanied by my lunch from Num Pang (which is, of course, in Chelsea Market)

random beauty I saw on the streets

& Other Stories, a store on fifth avenue that embraces two of my greatest loves: green with white and natural light

SoHo. just, SoHo. 

And finally, my top two stores. To finish out the post, I give you Supra and Pret a Manger. 

Crafting: Business Cards Encouragements

Whenever birthdays or Christmas comes around, or really any time I should get my parents a present, I get a little unsure. If I buy them something, chances are they don't need it or they could get themselves something nicer. And that depends on me even being able to think of an item to get them. So I've started going for encouragement and love rather than material gifts, which has been fun and required creativity. 

Today I'm sharing with you what I made my dad for Christmas. 

See how simple? It's a business card holder and business cards that I wrote myself. Price? Less than ten dollars. 

It sits next to his computer at his desk to encourage him at any point in the day. He flips the cards back whenever he wants and gets to read a new one. What did I write in them? All sorts of things! 

Here's a few examples. I ended up making categories, and each pen color wrote one of each category. I found that that made it so much easier to think of enough than at the beginning when I tried to think of original things each time. 

After I finished as many as would fill the holder, I stacked them up and wrapped them up! 

Easy peasy! A present that was thoughtful but avoided great expense or superfluity. Hooray! 

Fashion: Learning to Wear Pants

A couple of years ago, I got out of the habit of wearing pants. I wore dresses, skirts, and shorts, but for some reason, I rarely wore pants. This habit continued increasing, and earlier this year, I realized that I didn't have a single pair of pants in my dorm room (besides sweat pants, everyone needs those). Another indication that this habit had reached an extreme was that I went overseas for three weeks. Did I pack pants? Not a single pair. 

This was slightly problematic to me. Though I prefer dresses, I felt that if I truly wanted to embrace fashion, I couldn't leave out a whole category completely. This led me to seek to learn to wear pants. I bought two pairs of jeans and one pair of...I'm not sure what to call them. Here's pics I took to chronicle the journey, excuse the hyperbole.

There you have it. Fancy, casual, colorful, and neutral, Maddie learns to wear pants. 

Stay fabulous,

just kidding. I don't think being fabulous is particularly important. 

Stay kind,

Maddie / Charlie

when will I kill the pseudonym? no clue.