Summer 2016 Adventures:New York/D.C

Summer 2016 is finally here.

I’m officially done with my Junior year at school and I just turned 21. I have a long, hectic yet super exciting summer in front of me and I plan on making the most of it.

I started my summer with my best friend in my favorite city in the world- New York.

I already have a whole other post about New York from my summer interning in the city, if you want a more tourist-y post click right here.

This time, I was more excited about just living there with my best friend. Isn’t that the ultimate dream?

We had an amazing five days and I thought I would put together some pictures and a video to remember this adventure.

Video MemoryBook– click here.

 

 

What do you love?

I am going to be a RA at my university this year and I am currently back at school training all day, LITERALLY all day so that I can welcome my residents once school does start, prepared to make their college experience enjoyable yet safe and positive to the best of my ability.

(Side note, Who is a RA?

A resident assistant (RA) is one of the amazing leadership opportunities in college. The RA lives in a residence hall and serves as a leader, helper and resource person for students. The RA serves as a critical link between the students on his or her floor, the assistant director for Residence Life and the Residence Life Office. This leadership opportunity requires being a representative of the college and a representative of student issues in the hall and across campus. )

We have been trained on how to handle emergency and crisis situations, ranging from room mate conflicts, fire, earthquake, underage drinking or violation of university and housing rules to maintaining wellness of our residents whether it be mental or physical wellness. We are also shown ways to create programs which will help the students bond with each other and feel at home at university but also create social awareness around issues like racial or gender based discrimination or respecting different cultures.

My personal aim as an RA is to help make someone’s college experience a fun, safe and happy experience where they can learn from people around them as much as they do from their classes.

Today we had a Wellness panel in which we spoke about how important it is to look after your own health in college and not forget about yourself while balancing your RA duties, school work, personal life and well being a college student.

In the seminar today, we were asked to ask the person next to us one simply question:

What do you love?

And then we had to just listen to what they had to say, without agreeing or responding. Just listening.

It was so hard to think of specifically what you love, it brought up all these small everyday life things that we usually don’t focus on.

It really made me think, what do I love?

We focus so much on what we don’t like, what we hate, what’s wrong, what is missing, what we can fix that sometimes we forget to look at what we DO love.

I love good conversations, ones where your really connect with someone and you listen to them talk about their family and their dreams and why they love what they love. I love when I make someone laugh, when my friends think my lame jokes and weird antics are funny it leaves me beaming with happiness. I love people who make you think, they might disagree with you or they might bring up questions you never found yourself asking. They make you take a good look at the world around you and actually think about it. People who are open to changing their opinion if they are presented with a compelling argument and shown a different side to the story, they take the time to consider it. I love freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. I love feeling the sun and its warmth on my skin. I love doing well in  something I have really worked hard for. I love the feeling of curling up in my blanket after a long day. I love laughing with my friends till tears roll down my face and my stomach hurts. I love when someone takes the time to ask me if I reached home safely. I love coming home to my mom and dad, just sitting  and watching Criminal Minds together. I love naps. I love that invincible feeling you get after a workout.

When you really sit down and think about you love, it fills you with so much happiness and love and gratitude.

Everything in life depends on your perspective. Someone once told me, it’s not about what you have but about what you do with what you have. I didn’t really understand it till today.

I think the secret is to not hold on to the things you cannot change but to focus all your energy on building a new life around people you love and what you love.

Think about it.

What do YOU love?

Heaven on a plate

Guys, I have found the solution to everything, the answer to life and all its mysteries…..

Nutella Fudge Brownies. Nutella Chocolate chip Fudge Brownies. 

I am really not an expert on anything cooking or baking related. Before moving into my new apartment, I doubt I ever stepped into my kitchen other than the occasional Mother’s day attempted dinners with the fam. So I am all for the super easy delicious recipes. Mom was right, cooking/baking is surprising a lot of fun.(Mom’s are always right huh)

Here’s what you’ll need, 

1 cup chocolate chips

Nutella jar ( 1 cup for this recipe)

1 cup flour ( all purpose one works!)

1 stick of salted butter( 4 ounces)

2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk

1 cup sugar

Here’s what you do,

Pre heat the oven to 375 F.

Mix the stick of butter and half a cup of chocolate chips together, stir till it all blends together. Add a cup of sugar and blend this mix. Add the two eggs and egg yolk. Mix. Add one cup of flour. Mix everything. You don’t want it to be SUPER blended since it has to have that brownie-ish texture. Make sure everything is blended, add more Nutella or chocolate chips if  you want.  Pour everything into a greased baking tray/dish/whatever.

Pop it in the oven, keep checking on the brownies from time to time. It should take 20-30 min but you DO not want to burn these. Soon enough, your whole apartment will be smelling like a chocolate factory. The torture…

To check if they are cooked, just poke them with a fork or knife, if it has batter stuck to it, it needs time to cook. If the fork is absolutely clean, then you’re good to go. Take them out and keep them on a cooling tray for 20 min or so. I know, I know how are you supposed to keep your hands off them. But it is well worth the wait, I promise.

Then FINALLY, heaven on a plate. Enjoy!

See you in the next post,

Happy Baking! 

Comfort food

Hey guys! In today’s post, we’re going to talk about  *surprise surprise* a recipe, a super easy SUPER simple recipe that literally made me get through midterm week.

If you know me, you also know I have absolutely no cooking skills whatsoever, but since I have been living in my own apartment this semester, I’ve been trying occasionally. I love baking cookies with my best friends who also happen to be my apartment mates but during midterms who has the time and patience for legit baking huh.

Cookies in a jar take about a minute to make, maybe another minute to cool and then you’re all set to curl up with your blanket and watch reruns of Modern Family, procrastinate studying for that midterm..

Ingredients : 

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon (pinch) salt

1 egg yolk

3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1-2 Tablespoons chocolate chips

Now what? 

Well pick your microwave proof jar or mug, add butter and microwave it till the butter has melted, 30-45 seconds. Then just mix in the sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Mix it.Add flour and egg yolk. Mix it till everything is blended or not chunky I guess. Basically it has to look like cookie dough. Add chocolate chips or cut up a hershey’s bar and put that in.

Microwave for about 1 min and 30 seconds, this really depends on your microwave and personal preference I guess. Try for 1 minute, check the jar and then decide if you need to heat it up more. If you think it looks just like a melted cookie should, give it about 3-5 min to cool down. THIS PART is crucial. If you try and eat it when it’s hot, it will not taste as good. At least it didn’t when I did, not really sure but just let it cool down.

Once it has cooled down a bit, top it up with ice cream or just dig in.

I promise you, you’ll be addicted.

I apologize for my explanation, I really don’t know all the cooking phrases or whatever. I did my best to describe what I saw and hopefully, it made a little sense.

Happy Cooking!

See you in the next post.