A Revelation

My amazing life changing revelation is pretty simple:

I can blog about anything I want.

Yep. That's it. A few weeks ago I was in the blogging mood but hadn't baked in months weeks due to the fierce Chicago heat and no AC. All of the sudden, I realized that this is my blog and even though it is named "Southern Charm Treats", I don't have to bake something every time I write. I can write about whatever I want.

In a perfect world, I would have a baking post 5 times a week but let's be honest, this world ain't perfect.
Like how I used "ain't"? Just letting my southern roots show, y'all!

So today I have a couple things to throw out into the world:

1. I absolutely REFUSE to go running when Colin isn't home. Maybe I have watched too many episodes of Law & Order: SVU but whatever the reason, I am TERRIFIED of doing it. I will not do it. Even though he doesn't run with me, he knows how long I usually run and would come looking for me if I didn't come home. If he wasn't home, no one would know that I didn't come home when I supposed to... See? I am either paranoid or logical, not sure which one.

2. Colin is using my fear of running when he isn't home to try to talk me into getting a German Shepherd... In a one bedroom apartment. Yep. Really, Colin? He says that a German Shepherd would run with me and people are scared of them so they wouldn't mess with me. Boys that are desperate for a dog will try any excuse, I guess.... One bedroom apartment.... Really? No. I feel like a treadmill is much more logical in this situation. Just saying.

3. I found out last night that Katy Perry is going to be in Vegas on my birthday this year. My first thought was "if that isn't a sign from God, I don't know what is". I immediately texted all of my friends from back home and told them we are going and that they didn't have a choice. I then managed the huge feat of convincing Colin it was a good idea. Today, I looked up flight prices. Let me go ahead and tell you, it isn't a good idea. It is actually a horrible idea. Don't know if that will be happening or not. Horrible, horrible idea. Anyone know of better travel sites than Expedia? I always use Expedia, I am just hoping there is some magical site like FreeTripToVegas.com or something :)

4. Ever get that feeling like if you have to walk into your place of employment one more time your whole world is going to end and you will just cease to exist?.... No?... Maybe I am being a little dramatic but it is kind of how I feel right now.

That's all I want to write for now, folks. And, you know, its my blog and I can write whatever I want :)

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

I have tried a lot of peanut butter cookies, honestly. I love them. I like how simple they are to make and how soft they are and of course, how perfectly they go with a glass of milk. Like I said, I have tried a lot of peanut butter cookies but my all time favorites come from the recipe on the back of the Jif Peanut Butter jar. Perfection. Before your mind gets carried away, I have no connection with Jif Peanut Butter other than I buy a lot of it. :) 

Now, this recipe makes three dozen cookies. Three dozen peanut butter cookies wouldn't last long around my house and since I am doing C25K (more on that later) I ate two, saved 6 for Colin, and loaded the rest up in ZipLock bags and sent them home with my brother. 

It was honestly painful to watch these cookies walk out of my house in my brother's backpack :)

Make some peanut butter cookies. Use your favorite recipe. Get a big glass of milk and watch The Closer, Rizzoli and Isles, and Law and Order SVU. Doesn't that just sound like a perfect night? It does to me, at least. 

C25K Update: Okay so I had my normal rest day after the first run on Monday and then on Wednesday I had a run. I only made it twenty minutes of that run instead of the full thirty because I was having some trouble breathing (I have a respiratory condition) and decided not to push it. On Friday, which would have been my normal run day, one of our good friends from Gulfport texted us to let us know that he was in Chicago! It isn't often that you have drop in visitors from Mississippi but between work and socializing, running was the last thing on my mind. I am going to restart from day one tomorrow after work.

Speaking of tomorrow, I am determined to at least make an effort to like Monday of this week. Usually I hate even speaking the M word, but this week, I am going to try to embrace it. I'll let you know how that works out for me later on in the week :)

What's Baking Round Up & C25K

Hello Dolls,

Do you know what the best thing about Tuesday is? It isn't Monday.

Aren't Mondays just the worst? They definitely are for me. They just show up out of no where and scream "Hey! You're weekend is over!" By Tuesday I am a little less bitter about it and I can get on with my week.

I hope you guys are having a good day but if not, here is a little something to brighten your day. The Mess Pot hosted our What's Baking challenge this month and has posted the monthly round up..

I will definitely be trying some of the recipes posted this month and I am sure that you will too.

These round ups always remind me that I desperately need a new camera :) Christmas present, perhaps? Hint, hint, Colin if you're reading this haha.

On a completely unrelated note, I started Couch to 5k yesterday. I have wanted to run a 5k for awhile now and even tried C25k with my best friend Stacey last year but didn't stick with it. Being healthy wasn't really a priority until recently when I started having some minor health problems. I don't want those minor health problems to open the door for major ones so I am getting serious about what I put into my body and also getting exercise.

Not to mention, Colin's family is taking us on a cruise in March of next year (there is like a billion of us going) and I need to drop twenty a couple of pounds lol.

Anyways,
Have a lovely Tuesday and enjoy the round up post!

My New Favorite Blog

My Mom called me the other day and said she had found a blog that I just HAD to look at. Now, these phone calls are far from rare so I really didn't think anything about it. My Mom is always finding new blogs and I read the posts that she liked but rarely go back to them.

This blog is different. I literally check it for new posts every day. On Confessions of a 20 Something, "Pink Lou Lou" writes mainly about fashion and hair styling but with a sweet and sassy southern charm. She is all about "the poof" which I haven't seen much of since moving to Chicago and Carrie Underwood, who she actually got to meet.

I like this blog not only because she made a curling iron tutorial that basically changed my life but also because she reminds me of my friends back home.

So, go check her out because she is pretty much what being a 20 something southern girl is all about :)

What's Baking? - Strawberry Pie

When the theme for August was announced in the What's Baking group as Celebrate Summer, the first thing that came to my mind was a fruit pie. To me, fruit pies basically scream Summer and as we are winding summer down and heading full force into Fall, I jumped at the chance to make one. I have very limited experience making pies. Some of you may remember my attempt at pumpkin pie when I tried to make a homemade pie crust... And failed miserably. This time I decided to go with a store bought pie crust and Annie's strawberry pie recipe.

I learned a couple things while making this pie...

1. When a recipe tells you to use pie weights, it is probably necessary. I skipped that part and my pie crust rose dramatically.

2. Don't take a shower and ask your husband to watch the pie crust.. It will most likely be over cooked..

3. Don't do dishes while your Kitchenaid mixer makes whipped cream unsupervised. To say the whipped cream was over whipped is the understatement of the year.

4. Things that don't look very good can still be delicious.

I was not excited about how this pie looked... At all. However, when I tasted it, I completely changed my mind about it. This was the first time I have ever had strawberry pie but it definitely won't be the last, I'm in love.

So, Goodbye Summer 2011, I will miss you dearly in just a few short months when the snow starts coming down in Chicago again :)

I will direct you over to Annie's blog for the recipe because I didn't change anything except I used Ball brand fruit pectin instead of Sure-Jell.

Book Review: The Hunger Games

This book is EVERYWHERE right now because the first movie will be in theaters next year. I kept hearing that it was great and that I was crazy for not rushing to the bookstore to pick it up and devour it in one sitting. My attitude towards the book was very "eh". I wasn't excited by it or to quote my friend Jamie. I just "wasn't feeling it". Because I work at a movie theater, I watch a lot of movies. A lot. And I try to make a point to read the books that movies are based on before they come out so I can compare the two. Of course, the book always wins. Reading the book also tells me whether I even want to bother seeing the movie.

Take "One Day" for example. I know that there has to be people out there that adore this book but I read three chapters and just couldn't get into it. I never finished the book and I have no interest in watching the movie even though I like Anne Hathaway, especially when she is clothed :)

On Wednesdays, one of my days off, I have a tradition. Colin goes to work around 4pm and I walk to Target (4 blocks from our apartment) and just browse. Browse in this context could also be replaced with "spend money on things I don't need".  Target gets me every time :) Anyway, I always get a Dr Pepper from the snack bar, browse through all the clothes, try on what I like, look at all books and electronics, and make my way to the make up. By the time I am done in the make up section my arms are so full with things I don't need that I can barely make it to the register.

Yesterday, on my Target trip I decided to pick up The Hunger Games. "If I don't like it, at least I can tell everyone to shut up about it" I thought to myself. No such luck. You see, I started reading it around 8pm. By 8:15 I thought about putting it down and spending hours stalking on Facebook. By 8:30, I wouldn't stop reading that book if my house caught on fire. In fact, I didn't stop reading until 2:30am when I finished it. Yep, it grabbed me. It sucked me in and I couldn't stop reading, couldn't fathom putting it down.

Run to the bookstore. Lose yourself in this book. Devour it in one sitting. It is just THAT good.

If I tried to explain to you what it was about, you probably wouldn't be that interested so I won't. I'll just say go get the book. If you don't like it, you've only wasted $6.47 at Target.

I am currently neglecting all of my adult responsibilities while reading the second book, Catching Fire.

After I finish this series, what should I read? Any suggestions? This has been my replacement for Harry Potter and Twilight but just like they did, this series will end all too soon. Three books just isn't going to be enough!

Oh, Baby!

I am not an aged scholar but if I had to guess, I would say that at the end of my life I will only be able to name 10-15 people who I truly cherish. 10-15 people who changed me and my life for the better. 10-15 people who I will never forget and always look back on fondly. Of course, that number doesn't include family members because I now have two fairly large families that I love with all of my heart, but I do know that Erika T. will be on that list if I had to make it today, tomorrow, or in sixty years.

I first met Erika in tenth grade. We were both new to our high school but she seemed like she had it all figured out on the first day. Calm and cool. I however, was a wreck. I missed the first few weeks of school because I had been in the hospital and on bed rest. Not a fun time. By the time I was able to attend a full day of classes I thought that everyone had figured out who they were going to be friends with and that there wouldn't be room for me. Man, I could not have been more wrong. Within what seemed like hours, Erika, JooJoo, Erica B, Alyssa, and I were inseperable. We had sleepovers, we danced on the side of a busy road in Gulfport, we got sent to the principle's office for a number of things, and on Erika's 16th birthday, we wrecked my first car doing donuts on an abandoned gravel road.

From left: Erika T, Erica B, Alyssa, Joo Joo, and Me years ago.

Our lives changed as lives always do. Erica B moved to Texas with her long time boyfriend, I got married and moved to Chicago, Alyssa married a solider who is stationed in South Carolina, JooJaroo (whose real name is Julianne but we basically call her everything BUT her real name) lives in Indiana, and Erika T works and goes to school full time in Gulfport. Despite our distance Erika and I have remained close, if not become closer as the years have gone by. We were the first of our group to discover how much gas prices affect your life or how your paycheck doesn't last that long and bills just continue to pile up. We bonded over adulthood.. And how overrated it all is :) Kidding... 

Erika is one of the strongest people I know. She doesn't wait on anyone or anything, she is going to do her thing, regardless of what everyone else is doing. She was raised by her grandma and last year when "G-Ma", as Erika affectionately called her, passed away it was the saddest time in Erika's life to date. I cried for days because I was in Chicago and not with her. Did she need me? No, Erika doesn't NEED anyone... But I needed to be there for her.

Erika works a full time job and goes to school full time because she is not the type of person who sits around and feels sorry for herself. She is a go getter and she won't stop until she gets what she wants. Or what is best for her. The most valuable lesson that I have learned from Erika is that it doesn't matter your situation, life it what you make it... And boy, is she making her life a beautiful experience.

So, why am I telling you all of this? Well, if you read the post from earlier this week you know that two of my best friends are pregnant and by this time, you have probably figured out that Erika is one of them. I can't think of anyone more capable or deserving to bring life into this world. Having a child is such a beautiful honor that not everyone gets the chance to do and I know Erika won't take that for granted. She will teach her children everything they need to know to succeed in life and instill her hard work ethic in them, I am sure of it. You may have noticed in that last sentence I said "children"... In case you didn't catch that, allow me to clarify: Erika is pregnant with not one, but TWO healthy babies!

I couldn't be more happy for her and Kevin. They deserve all the happiness this world can afford them and 2 babies may mean 2x the diapers and 2x the bottles but I am sure it will also bring 2x the happiness and joy into their home.