Happy National Cake Day!

Happy National Cake Day! Although I don't think I'll be able to get my hands on any actual cake today (which is probably a good thing considering Thanksgiving is in two days), here are some pictures of cakes I've whipped up. Nothing wrong with a little cake food porn right? Right. :)

Lemon first birthday cake for Ryann. Photo credit: Anne Pendleton Photography

Gender reveal cake for Ashley. Photo credit: Ashley Jenks

Chocolate malt cake

White almond sour cream candy birthday cake

To All My Single Ladies

Calling all single ladies! If you are single and ready to mingle you must download the LuLu app. Seriously girls. This thing is genius.

Created last year by Alexandra Chong after a six hour post-Valentine's Day brunch, Lulu provides "a private network for girls to express and share their opinions openly and honestly." It's a forum for girls to read and create reviews of guys they know. How freaking amazing is this?! Dating after college is tough. How are you supposed to know if the handsome guy you met at Kona happy hour after one too many glasses of Pinot Grigio is secretly a creepy serial killer, or even worse, cheap, if you don't have any mutual friends?! I'm obviously not speaking from personal experience or anything. :) One word - LuLu.

So how does it work? Girls can create reviews on their male Facebook friends, and rate men in categories - ex-boyfriend, crush, together, hooked-up, friend or relative - with a multiple choice quiz. Women add pink hash tags to a man's profile - #oneofthegoodones, #globetrotter, #cheaperthanabigmac, #stage5clinger, etc. - which are used in some fancy-smancy algorithm to calculate a score ranging from 1 to 10. Be on the lookout for blue hash tags though. These are added by men, and are not factored into their overall score.

Sounds pretty easy right? So what are you waiting for? Download this app immediately. You're welcome.

For even more information about this fabulous app, check out this great article from the NY Times.

Thursday Thoughts with Jen - Vol 20

My mini hiatus is over! It's time to get back on track with Thursday Thoughts!

1. Doing yard work is the pits. Seriously. It is by far THE worst part of owning a house. I spent a majority of last weekend raking endless bags of leaves. Don't get me wrong I love all the huge, pretty, old trees in my front and back yard but cleaning up after them? Not so much. Not to mention, my debilitating fear of snakes had me on edge the entire time. On several occasions I scooped up an armful of leaves with a twig and ended up jumping out of my skin and tossing the freshly raked leaves all over the ground. Luckily I survived the weekend snake bite free. 

   

   Oh ya, and a helpful pointer for all Mission residents. Leaves have to be in paper bags, not
   plastic. This dummy got to re-bag 12 bags of leaves after doing it wrong. Fun times.

2. Speaking of my house, it is starting to look like a winter wonderland in there! Maybe it's a bit premature, but with Thanksgiving falling a week later this year I wanted to be sure I didn't miss out on a full season of Christmas cheer. My decorations starting going up last week. Yup. You read that right. The Chicken Tindah's decorating began last Wednesday. 
3. Oh Chrisssssstmas tree, oh Chrisssssstmas tree, why are you so expensive?!? I knew I wanted to get a big tree for my house this year since I'm no longer in an apartment, but I wasn't prepared for how expensive they were! Holy moly! I did a lot of research. Hobby Lobby. Home Depot. Target. Menard's. I went to them all. I ultimately decided on this beauty from Lowe's. It was a little bit more than I wanted to spend at $288, but it was just too pretty to pass up...and I'm telling myself it's an investment. I'm in love. 
   
4. This is SO me. Mint M&Ms are the BEST variety. Christmas music started the day after Halloween and continues until New Year's Day. I tried getting C on this bandwagon with a sing along in the car a few weekends ago. He was so not amused. What a Grinch.
5. Have you seen this website that can guess what you post about on Facebook? Too funny. Here are some of the funny, kinda accurate statuses it created for me: So I wish I had brothers! I'm not a giant! I choose sugar over spice! CHRISTMAS MUSIC TIME! Margaritas at Nada are calling my head? Mandy your little short but that's why hot shorts were invited right? I look like old times. Ok...so maybe they aren't so accurate :)
6. Has anyone tried Stacy's Bake Shop Bakery Crisps!?!? I've had a longtime, borderline unhealthy obsession with Stacy's pita chips for the last several years, and I seriously can't wait to get my hands on the Vanilla Pound Cake Crisps. They sound divine, and at only 130 calories per 4 crisps they are sort of guilt free....if I can stop at just 4 crisps...which I obviously won't. In fact, I probably won't stop until the entire box is gone. Oh well. These sound yummy none-the-less.

   

   These come in Vanilla Pound Cake and Banana Nut

7. If I'm going to be eating entire boxes of cake crisps I better hop on board with these 20 fitness trends for 2014. It looks like high intensity interval trainings (think Crossfit) takes the top spot. How do you guys feel about Crossfit? I've only been to one class, but I wasn't super keen on it. I'm more of a regular group fitness kinda gal. I like my kick boxing, 50/50, and strictly strength classes way better. 
8. That Walt Disney was one smart cookie. I'll leave you today with 16 Quotes to Help Guide You Through Life.

Right Now

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*obsessing over *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The Pop Beauty Aqua Lacquer in Floating Rose that came in my Birchbox last month. It is the perfect wear every day glossy color. What can I say? I'm obsessed.

Forgive my chipping polish. That's on my list on to do's for this evening.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*working on *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Eating less carbs and more protein. Why is it so difficult? Ugh. The thought of cooking raw meat reaallllly grosses me out which doesn't help my cause. I think maybe I was a vegetarian in another life. Poooooor little cows and chickens. Although, it doesn't stop me from eating it when someone else prepares it so maybe not.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*thinking about*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

An oh-so-glorious three day work week in the near future. Bring on Turkey Day and Black Friday! Although I must admit I despise Black Friday shopping. There are just way too many people, and not enough good deals if you ask me! It majorly stresses me out. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*excited for *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This weekend! There are so many fun things on the agenda Saturday and Sunday. C is back in town. We're going to the K-State/OU game on Saturday morning (me to watch my baby sis dance and him to write), and then Saturday night it's back to KC for the Tindah's first annual Friendsgiving celebration. Annnnnd the fun doesn't stop there with another Thanksgiving celebration closing out the weekend on Sunday. I. Can't. Wait. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*can't live without*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Donuts...and after I just got done telling you guys I was eating less carbs. Is it sad the reason I'm most excited to go to Manhattan on Saturday morning is not to attend the football game, but because I finally get to experience Varsity Donuts. Yup leave it to this fat kid to be more excited about eating than attending a sporting event. But I mean really, how cute are these donuts?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*on repeat*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ends of the Earth by Lord Huron. You may have heard this song on a Zale's commercial recently. I saw them in concert earlier this summer, and they were pretty great...not to mention one of their guitar players is real cute. Go see them if you have the opportunity!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*devouring *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Stacy's Limited Edition GINGERBREAD pita chips. I've been dreaming about these guys since I first tasted them last year, and guess what? They're back! Thank goodness. You all seriously need to go get a bag of these. Right now. What are you waiting for?!

                           *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*thankful for*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

My family, my friends, my job, life in general. I think that about sums it up! :)

Move it Monday

Lately I've been real lazy, not only with blogging but with working out, with healthy eating, and life in general. Seriously. I've been a total bum. Friday night I was in bed at 7:30 p.m. No joke. Who does that?!

Since this is her last Move It Monday until the new year, I'm linking up with Ashley today to try to set some goals.This week I'm getting my lazy butt to the gym at least 5 times, eating way less carbs and more veggies, squeezing in at least a few blog posts, and trying to be a little more social. No more going to bed before 9:00 p.m...at least not this week. This granny can't make that promise forever.

Sorry this post is extremely lame, but instead of sitting in front of a computer all night I'm going to go socialize with the Tindahs. We made it through Monday! Woooo hooo!

Thursday Thoughts with Jen - Vol 19

We'll make this short and sweet considering Thursday is almost over... Major blogging fail this week, and fair warning - these are all going to be super random.

1. Why must people on Instagram and Twitter identify themselves as (and I quote) "mother of [insert number here] fur babies"?! I mean realllllllly?! I myself have a cat who I'm probably just a wee bit too obsessed with, and I absolutely identify myself as a crazy cat lady, but I will never, I repeat, never say that I am the proud mother of one fur baby. It's almost as bad as using the word hubby. 
2. Cats in tights is the greatest thing to happen on the Internet. Period. End of story.  

   

   Photo from http://meowtfit.tumblr.com/
3. Speaking of cats and tights, look at what I just bought!! How freakin' cute are these?!? 

   

   Photo from http://us.asos.com/

4. Runny milkshakes are the worst. The other night my mom and I had a particularly disappointing shopping trip (I was trying to find a dress to wear to a wedding at the Topeka mall - big mistake, and low and behold everything was hideous) so we stopped at Steak n' Shake for a chocolate milkshake on our way home. I swear mine was as liquidy (is that a word?) as milk. Yuck. I like my milkshakes so thick you can barely suck it up through the straw. Those are the kind of milkshakes that bring boys to the yard. Oh well. My thighs are probably thanking me right now.
5. Ummm my dad sent me this earlier this week. How disturbing. Luckily my little ol' Camry is a 2011 so it is not infested with spiders. Thank the lord.
6. If C wasn't going to be in town this weekend I would totally be decorating for Christmas on Saturday and Sunday. Sigh. I suppose it can wait until next weekend. I can't wait until it looks like the North Pole exploded all over my house. I'm way too obsessed with this time of the year!

...and those are the only thoughts I have this week because work has fried my brain. I'll try to be more interesting next week! :) Have a great weekend everyone!