November Leaves!

Ahh… November. My favorite month. I love it because it is my birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas preparations. This month is a bit crazy but I’m still in the holiday spirit. SATs, independent study draft due, APUSH, AP Chem… but I’m loving it! Oh, and I need to get my temps sometime. I don’t know why I keep putting that off…

So today I raked for a bit. At the end, the sun was shining brightly on all the leaves. I remembered hiding in the leaves as a kid. So I just stood with my back to the leaves and let myself fall. I didn’t remember how wet leaves can be. It was a bit icky.

I love Christmas. I’m in such a Christmasey mood. I’ve already planned my make present for all my friends and made a shopping list for it. It’s going to take all of November! (I’d say what it is but a certain someone reads this blog, and she or he is a recipient of the present.)

Two things about history class

1. Debating about my favorite topic is amazingly invigorating.

2. History makes me even more confident about my political beliefs.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I made these on July 31st, but never posted the photos. They were sooooo good.

Um, hello. Well. Life has been insane. My Papa was really ill since early September, and he passed away a week ago. I never, ever realized how much I loved him or how much he did in my life. I’ll really miss him. And my mom was in the hospital… she’s fine, but, even though it was three weeks ago, she still isn’t all the way better. Because of all this, I put myself on a back burner of sorts, which wasn’t at all good for my health.

But this long, three day weekend I recouperated, and even read three books. I read Exclusively Chloe and Dear Julia, both of which are undeniably cotton candy chic lit.

I also love to cook and bake. It really helps me emotionally. It’s my Dad’s birthday soon, and I’m making him splenda recipe Pumpkin pie. Yum.

Well, I need to work on AP Chem (I never, EVER thought I would take that class. But I adore it and it is my favorite of the whole day.)

Update: New cupcakes must must must be made. Craving some sweet.

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes

I love to bake, and when things get absolutely crazy, baking calms me down. So, last night I bought a book called 500 Cupcakes: the only cupcake compendium you’ll ever need. There were some bad reviews, but my cupcakes came out really, really well. This morning I decided to make half a dozen “applesauce & cinnamon cupcakes.” They were more muffinish cupcakes than cupcakes, but they still were amazing.

Since I’m trying to be healthy, I substituted smart balance for butter, splenda for sugar, and halved the walnuts. The recipe actually called for pecans, but we did not have them. Next time, I definitely would want to add more splenda. They were not sweet enough for me, which made them more like muffins.

In general, the book is really sweet. The title is somewhat misleading; there are far less than 500 original recipes. Each recipe has 3 variations that I could have thought of myself.

Each cupcake is 130 calories. I should have made them smaller, since in the oven, they almost went over the edge of the cupcake baking cups. Next time, I’ll make 8 probably.