Brownies that you shouldn't make

I started a little lunchtime book club at work, so that we could discuss the technical literature... basically just to make me stay up to date. Part of the idea was the Month's leader to bring a snack. Since it was my idea I was in charge for month one.

I didn't know what to make and was dreading baking on a Thursday night. I mentioned my baking task to a random guy he suggested brownies. Brilliant. Only instead of using my Mom's amazing Mississippi Mud recipe or one from Betty Crocker, I found a "healthy" recipe on the Whole Foods website. Then I decided to toss in some dark chocolate mini chunks.

the supplies

ready for the oven

I forgot to take a photo of them after baking, but just imagine dark and crumbly. I almost didn't take them in, but when I retried them in the morning, I thought they were passable (and I was running late for work). My coworkers said they liked them and a few of them took seconds, so they must not of been too terrible, but either way I'm not sharing the recipe. 

Coffeehouse part 2 & SPAIN

My final stop when I was home was back at Old Drum for some SPAINBIRTHDAYPALOOZA planning (I hope that name is ok with Kendra, my travel mate). I'm having what I'm calling a "momentous" birthday this spring so I decided to spend it in Spain.

We spent several hours (and several baked goods) planning our trek and figuring out where we would stay, we are still working on what we will be doing, but the bones of the trip are in place. We will be going to Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, and Seville. If you have any great tips about any of those places please let me know!

the wrekage

I also spent time trying out my new camera... notice how the cini-mini is blurry and the latte is in focus? That is on purpose! Ok and lets also take a second to appreciate the latte art, I think its a baseball bat.

Gretchen came in to say goodbye while I was at the shop.

cupcake girl

Also of note:

This is my 600th blogpost! The blog is now in its sixth year. Meaning I spend about 2 days a year blogging! EEEK So I hope you enjoy some of my ramblings and thank you for reading!

Christmas camera

I know what you guys have been thinking... What did Courtney do for Christmas? Why won't she update us. Well the main reason is I got a new camera for Christmas! Then I proceeded to take the rest of Christmas day photos on my new DSLR, but I didn't know how to take them off the camera...

Most of it was just nerves that my computer wasn't going to have enough memory, but when I started loading the software it turns out my operating system is too new, but then five hours later, tada! Photos on computer. Another hour and I figured out some simple editing and another hour and I have them here for your enjoyment.

Since its now been a few weeks and I don't remember what happened, I will let the pictures tell the story. These were all taken with the automatic settings, but I've been dabbling in manual and cool things are to come...

auditioning for TLC's new show "Toddlers and Tractors"

Aunts, niece, and nephew ready to eat

yummm... asparagus casserole 

the table set with Christmas plates

practicing my food photography

close ups with the family "grapes"

stocking stuffer classy cup

Independence Holiday Mansion & Jail tour

The day after Christmas the ladies of the family headed to Independence, MO for a holiday tour of three historic buildings. For those of you not from Missouri, a little background. Independence was quite the hub of activity in the 1800s. The Santa Fe, Oregon, and California trails all left from Independence, and Jesse and Frank James frequented the area.

Our first stop was the Vaile Mansion. The Vaile was the fanciest. It was built as a show mansion and was very showy. On top of that they had decorated the house in an over the top Victorian style. We had a tour through this house, which was interesting, but long...  

An upside down Christmas tree, apparently a Victorian tradition

lamp ladies on another upside down pink tree

master suite, the painting on the ceiling ruined Mrs. Vaile's social status

Next we stopped by the Bingham-Waggoner Estate. The Binghams and Waggoners have no relations, just two of the more famous families that lived in this estate. The Waggoners had no direct heirs and the house was ultimately left to the housekeeper's children who were in College at Mizzou at the time. They sold the house to the city of Independence.

It was less fancy, but as Beth said, more livable. Both houses had modern conveniences such as hot and cold running water and indoor toilets. The B-W also had a huge walk in refrigerator of sorts.

The house sits at the end of a road, apparently wagons heading to the Santa Fe trail would just cut across their property until they put up a fence. Then the would still cut across the back of the property, where you can still see wagon ruts today (it was too cold and snowy for us to check them out ourselves).

one of the maid's rooms

the approach

Our last stop was the 1859 Jail, Marshall House, and Museum. The Jail was about as cold as it was outside so we moved through pretty quickly, but it was well done. Frank James was the most infamous inmate. Apparently he was treated like royalty. They put a rug on his floor, paintings on his cell wall and allowed visitors. He had retired from his life of crime at this point and people thought he should be left alone.

You can walk through the Marshall's House, and through most of the jail cells. There is a little museum as well that has some history on the jail as well as Independence in general. 

Gretchen making a break for it

After our morning of touring we had a delicious lunch at Ophelia's on the Independence Square. Apparently I wasn't the first person from DC checking out Ophelia's, they had photos displayed of Obama and Clinton at the restaurant as well.

Christmas number 1

The Sunday before Christmas we headed up the road/highway/Sonic drive thru to my Aunt Betty's for our first Christmas celebration. After a delicious meal of soups and sides we stayed around the table for a few rounds of Minute to Win It Holiday Family edition.

Round 1: Hang as many ornaments on a balanced ruler as fast as you can. My sister Kristen and I were up last and the score to beat was 17 in a minute. We had all 18 on with 20 seconds to spare!

Kristen with our winning apparatus 

Round two was staking nuts on top of each other with a candy cane. This time I went first and did a horrible job, I blame it on a faulty candy cane. My cousins Whitney and Travis however had pretty good hands (they should they stick people with needles all day).

5 seconds later it all came tumbling down

Round 3: Move an oreo from your forehead to your mouth, by only moving face muscles. I think I could have gotten this in another minute or two. My brother, Travis (below), had success!

After games we opened our exchange gifts and had a lovely afternoon.

The other excitement of the day was meeting my new first cousins once removed, Maverick and Tyson. They were born two months ago, but this was the first time I was home. Gretchen enjoyed "holding" Tyson (I did too!).

Resolutions/Goals/Plans/Ideas

I pretty much knocked last years resolutions out of the park. Lets do a quick review for fun.

1. Refrain from using the snooze button- I had a little late December relapse, but I'm recovered, I swear.

2. Run at least 6 races- I got a little race registration happy and ended up with 12 road races and 2 obstacle course races.

3. Track what I eat and when I work out- I was diligent with this for the first half of the year and saw the results I wanted. I haven't been tracking as closely, but am thinking of doing a month redo just to refresh what I learned.

4. Knit something new- It took till November but success! I knitted my first ever dog bow tie!

5. Travel somewhere new- Lots of domestic travel to visit lots of friends, a good year.

6. Be friendlier to strangers- I struck up several New Year's related conversations today.

Ok, out with the old, in with the new! 

Honestly I'm struggling with resolutions this year. I'm pretty happy with where I am and am not sure if my resolutions are more just goals or plans, but anyway here are some things I can work on in 2013.

1. Run a marathon, specifically Marine Corps Marathon with (or a half hour behind) my oldest sister Kristen. 

only 23.1 additional miles necessary

2. Volunteer, somewhere. anywhere. Since moving to DC I haven't done anything (I know shameful). I'm thinking of seeing if I could help out the DC State Fair. I would also like to volunteer at a running race.

3. Get outside more. Including hiking/biking/and just walking around during daylight ours. I don't think I've been getting enough vitamin D the last few months, which makes me more tired and lazy and its no good.

maybe not ALL day hikes

4. Continue to make an effort to see my scattered friends in scattered places. I already have a friend's wedding on the calendar in February.

photo booths were the rage of 2012, I wonder what 2013 will bring?

5. Take my lunch to work once a week. Its not about money, its not about health, it may be a little about time, and its all about pushing myself to be creative and resourceful.

this dish was delicious, why haven't I made it again?

6. See a play at Studio Theater and or the Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center is Iconic, the Studio Theater is around the block from my apartment. I was pretty good about seeing musicals and plays in NYC, I need to revive my habit in DC.

not the best show, but delightful

7. Spend a lot of time with this little kid. I'm not sure when I'm going back to Missouri this year, but I need to make sure it happens. (Apparently today she was looking for me in the bedroom I stayed in last week, I wasn't hiding from you! I'm back in DC!)

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

showing off my curls

I had a low key night at the home of one of my graduate school friend's. We played games, we laughed, we crawled out on the roof to watch the fireworks. Apparently I was having too much fun because next thing I knew it was ten till 2 am. I summarized what happened next on Facebook:

So all is well that ends well and I wound up at home before 3, but had tons of energy and stayed up a bit longer, which led to me crawling out of bed at 10:30 am.

After lazying around a bit I went for a run, with the idea of replicating last year's run with a 2+0+1+3 = 6 mile run, but ended up with seven miles (poor route calculating). We had an overcast sky and high of 45 degrees this year. Last year it was sunny and 60... I guess I am glad to have a real winter...

Then I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up pork and sauerkraut for my New Year's Day meal, only they were out of regular sauerkraut! Next to the empty shelve was red cabbage. I was intrigued and desperate and I picked up a jar.

with a name like Gundelsheim...

Turns out barrel red cabbage tastes a lot like sauerkraut, but was a bit messier. I hope it brings me as much (or more) wealth as white cabbage.

Did anyone else eat pork and sauerkraut today? Judging by the grocery store the sauerkraut was more popular than the pork.