Breaking Headlines

I apologize for not blogging in almost 2 months, but I have extremely busy! Between studying for finals, moving, preparing for Christmas, and now studying for comps, it seems as though when I do catch a break I spend my "free time" on Pinterest and never manage to get to my own blog. However, a lot has happened in the past 2 months so let me fill ya'll in!

+My best friend from high school, Karisa, asked me to be a bridesmaid in her July 7, 2012 wedding, sooo excited!

Karisa & I, College of Dentistry Formal, Spring 2010

+I signed a contract to be a Speech-Language Pathologist with ESU#2 in Fremont for the 2012-2013 school year, it feels good to know I'm employed!

+I signed up to take the National (Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology) Exam on January 14, 2012. I will also be taking our Comprehensive Exams at UNK on January 12 & 13, so I will be studying my brains out until then. (Sorry in advance for the lack of blogging-- nothing new though, right?!)

+I also signed up for the Lincoln Half Marathon on Sunday, May 6, 2012 so it is time to get my rear end in shape!

+I finished my last semester of classes ever (unless I go back for that Ph.D.) with a 4.0, hooray!

+I moved in with my parents after finals week; I now have 4 new roommates: my dad, mom, sister and nephew, and I am finally in the same town as Tyler : )

Back to the books...stay tuned for my "Year in Review" post!

Sliced Baked Potatoes

Tyler and I attempted to make these potatoes a while back, once again, I got the idea from Pinterest, but they definitely did not turn out as well as I had hoped.

The original recipe we went off of said to bake them at 200 degrees, I should've known that wasn't high enough, but they definitely were not cooked all the way through at the bottom. If we try these again I will definitely set the oven at 475 like this recipe calls for:

Sliced baked potatoes: thinly slice almost all the way through. drizzle with butter, olive oil, salt and pepper. bake at 425 for about 40 min.

Healthy Oatmeal Smoothie

I also found this recipe on Pinterest, and apparently I did not pin it but I saved the recipe, so my apologies to whoever I am stealing this fabulous recipe from, but it is pretty tasty!

• 1 cup ice
• 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
• 1/2 cup plain lowfat yogurt
• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 cup coconut water (or other liquid, such as juice) I used orange juice
• I added 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed

 Throw in  a blender and enjoy!

No Bake Granola Bars

I found this recipe on Pinterest via Food Doodles and decided to give it a whirl.

Makes 12

• 2 large overripe bananas
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup crunchy cereal
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup(or any other sweetener you use)
• 2 tbsp peanut butter or other nut or seed butter
• 2 tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp dried cranberries or other fruit
• 2 – 4 tsp cocoa powder

Line a muffin pan with paper liners, or use a silicone muffin pan for easy removal.  Mash the bananas.  Add wet ingredients and cocoa powder and mix well.  Add all other ingredients, mix well then press into prepared muffin tin.  Freeze at least 60 minutes before serving.

I added Special K Protein Plus as my crunchy cereal, and for whatever reason we were out of chocolate chips so I added the Heath chips we had. I also added 1 tbsp of ground flax seed and enjoy the granola bars best when they're frozen!

Nutella Cheesecake Pumpkin Muffins

I found this recipe while browsing blogs and thought they sounded absolutely delicious; they turned out delicious and even my little sister, who doesn't like admitting I'm a decent cook, enjoyed them!

• 4 whole Large Eggs
• 1-½ cup Sugar
• 1 can (15 Oz. Size) Pumpkin Puree
• 1-½ cup Vegetable Oil
• 3 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• FOR THE NUTELLA CHEECAKE FILLING:
• 8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, softened
• ½ cups Nutella
• 1 whole Large Egg

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, beat eggs slightly. Add in sugar, pumpkin and oil and beat thoroughly. Add in remaining dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
In a small bowl, beat together cream cheese, Nutella and egg until smooth.
Place paper liners in a muffin tin. Place about 2 tablespoons of pumpkin batter into each liner, then 1 tablespoon of Nutella batter, then top with 2 more tablespoons of pumpkin batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes.
These are best served completely cooled. Makes 20 muffins.

ASHA 2011 San Diego

I went to the ASHA (American Speech & Hearing Association) 2011 Convention in San Diego with three of my classmates, Mikki, Shana, and Sara, back in November. We had a blast!

We had a fun night of dinner and drinks at Dick's Last Resort ; )

We represented UNK as NSSLHA day volunteers!

The convention center, just walking distance from our hotel in the Gaslamp District.

We enjoyed dinner with our professors at the Rockin Baja Coastal Cantina!

We took a trolley tour around San Diego and went to Coronado Island to see the Hotel Del Coronado.

We even put our feet in the ocean despite the COLD water!

We loved the oodles of Birds of Paradise : ) I'd love to go back to SD again, there was so much to see and we definitely did not have enough time!

latest addictions

I have recently become addicted to some new trends over the past few weeks, nothing bad of course, but some of which are consuming more of my time than they should and are part of the reason I have not been such a faithful blogger.

Addiction #1:  Twitter...follow me @whitabaum ! I still don't completely understand the need for tweeting when you can basically do the same thing on Facebook, but I enjoy it from time to time.

Addiction #2:  Words With Friends and soon to be Hanging With Friends...I initially spent more time playing these games than I did homework, but then I became overwhelmed with the 13 games I had going on at once and now I have backed off a bit. My roommates and I tend to play each other through our iphones while we're sitting in the same room...how cool are we?!

Addiction #3:  Pinterest...now this is something I have been avoiding like the plague. My friend Samantha first introduced me to Pinterest months ago, I glanced at it and knew I would immediately become obsessed. At the time I was swamped with school and knew it would be in my best interest to wait on Pinterest (I'm a poet and I didn't even know it ; ). Well friends, school slowed down just enough for me to start pinning, and just as I thought, I am absolutely addicted! Follow me and I'll follow you!

Addiction #4:  My Camelbak water bottle! I read somewhere that you are suppose to take your body weight, divide the number in half and drink that amount of water in ounces each day. I purchased my Camelbak a while ago and for some reason I have no problem drinking that much water each day when I use my Camelbak-- sometimes I even throw an orange slice in for a little extra vitamin C!

H-A-double L-O-double you-double E-N...

...spells Halloween! I learned that song back in elementary school, and to this day, I still I sing it in my head every time I spell the word HALLOWEEN!

"My name's Forrest, Forrest Gump"...or should I say that was Tyler's name for Halloween...I was Jenny. We did our best to recreate the couple, Tyler even had a Bubba Gump Shrimp hat and I had my mom's 8th grade confirmation dress...we must have been quite convincing because we won the costume contest for best duo at a party here in town, we definitely had fun with our new look that evening!

true love is...

 ...$2.75 wrist-breakers...

...and sharing 6 pack and a pound from TJs...

Brylen's baptism

My 3 month old nephew Brylen James was baptized the other weekend over my fall break. My brother Blake and I are both Godparents along with our cousin Sammie!

 

A lady from church made his outfit, how handsome is he?! I'm in love.

my man can.....cook!

 Tyler has recently cooked me homemade stir fry AND a roast with veggies for supper, how lucky am I?!

recent purchases

 I couldn't resist this golden yellow pea-coat at Old Navy...then again I'm a sucker for anything yellow!

I also couldn't pass up these very gently used Keds look a likes at Goodwill for a whopping $3.99 : )

health food kick

I recently went on a little bit of a health food kick...Cola made this baked fried chicken that was allegedly healthy, it turned out pretty good!

 

I made a couple different kinds of tuna salad...the first one was delicious in a whole wheat tortilla, and the second one was good with sandwich thins : )

 

Fresh peaches and vanilla fro-yo...enough said!

Madison

Wisconsin.

We were able to see many sides of Madison during the three days we spent in Wisconsin for the Husker game. My dad showed us all around the beautiful city on Friday, and we even made our way into the stadium, Camp Randell!

 One of the streets was lined with numerous stand such as this one with food from various ethnic background. We found this one to be quite humorous...My Name is Yon Yonson, I come from Wisconsin!

 Mom enjoyed the garden on top of her bloody mary at State Street Brats!

 My brat at State Street Brats, Wisconsin's infamous Spotted Cow Beer, and of course...cheese curds!

 My mom and I by one of the beautiful lakes that surrounds Madison...we wish Nebraska was #1

 The Capital Building...obviously.

 Fabulous ice cream from Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream-- Food Network has been there a few times!

 Tam and Ron in front of the TAMRON sign, how adorable.

 Tyler and I at College Gameday.

 Our view of the stage for College Gameday.

 COLLEGE GAMEDAY!

 Representing the Blackshirts : )