Signs of Summer.

The other night I was driving around and was overwhelmed with how lovely and summer-like it felt. I don't know if you knew this about me, but I love driving with the windows down (kidding, kidding; I'm confident that you already knew that about me...) but in addition to the splendor of the windows down drive, there were some other things that were perfectly summer-like...

1. Cicadas. Half of the state of Missouri has been taken over by cicadas, but thankfully I am not currently residing in that half of the state. I just get to enjoy the sound of them and am instantly taken back to childhood summers as I hear them sing. (P.S. Apparently an ice cream shop where I went to college was selling cicada flavored ice cream! It was big news...)

2. Golden oldies. So I know oldies music has nothing to do with the summer, but for some reason listening to it makes me feel overwhelmed with a sense of ... "summer"? Sadly, the oldies station in town plays primarily 70s and 80s music these days, but on Sunday nights they play the golden oldies, more 50s and 60s (I think...) and it's awesome! The other night I heard some good ones like Duke of Earl and The Birds and The Bees. It was so great...

3. Baseball. I drove by the old baseball stadium that my brothers used to play at when we were little. I miss going to little league baseball games. But it seems like the Kansas City Royals are on our TV more nights than not, so I get my fill of the game.

4. Humidity. Nope, I don't love the humidity, but there is something about the hot, sweaty, I-can-feel-my-hair-getting-curlier-as-we-speak feeling that is purely summer. Oh midwest humidity, what a love-hate relationship we have...

5. Lightning bugs. What is it about lightning bugs that makes them not scary like the rest of their bug friends. Lightning bugs and rollie pollies must have gotten on God's good side because for some reason we aren't inclined to kill them like the rest of the bug nation. I love lightning bugs. Sometimes when I see them I have to resist the urge of grab a mason jar and catch some to keep in my room.

Happy first day of summer!

Best. Brownies. Ever.

Holy cow! It's almost been two weeks since I last blogged! Where has the time gone...

I think I have made up my mind on the best brownie recipe ever. I've made it time and time again and every time, I think, "Dang these are good!" I can't take credit, none at all, but I can pass it on so that you can enjoy it as much as I do. They're crazy easy, pretty inexpensive to make, and stinkin' delicious. Here they are: Betty Crocker's Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies (with my math skills to one-and-a-half the recipe because it was originally for a 9-inch cake pan and seriously, who makes a 9-inch cake pan batch of brownies? No one. We all want the 9x13. Am I right or am I right? )

Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies

Brownies

-1 box family size brownie mix (any mix will do, and make sure it's family size, none of that 9-inch crap)

-Water, vegetable oil, and eggs that the box mix calls for

Chocolate Topping

-1 cup chocolate chips

-1/4 cup butter, in cubes (that's a half stick in case you don't want to do the math)

Peanut Butter Filling

-3/4 cup butter, room temperature (that's one and a half sticks...)

-3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I have people in my life who would argue and say Peter Pan is the best, but there is no need to use the name brand stuff, off-brand will taste just splendid)

-3 cups powdered sugar

-2 tablespoons milk

Directions

-Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of 9x13 cake pan with cooking spray. Make brownies according the the directions on the box. Make sure brownies are cooled completely.

-In a microwave safe bowl, microwave topping ingredients for 1 minute, stir, then microwave for another minute or until smooth. Let the topping cool for 10 minutes, so you might as well be efficient and make the filling in the meantime. Combine the butter and peanut butter in a mixer and beat until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar and milk, alternating the two until fully combined and delightfully smooth. Spread the filling evenly over the brownies and then spread the topping over that (it should be done "sitting" by now). Refrigerate the brownies to help the chocolate set. I store mine in the fridge, and if you decide to, too, you will probably want to set them out about 30 minutes before serving so the chocolate doesn't require a chain saw to cut through. Enjoy!

Note: This recipe makes a lot of peanut butter filling. Not all is necessary for the brownies, and I'm not going to lie that I keep a little out and use any leftover chocolate to make perfect spoonfuls of peanut butter/chocolaty amazingness. You should do it, too. You'll thank me later.

OH! And happy father's day to my special Daddy. It was his request that I make these brownies today. He knows what he's doing with those baked goods... and many other things. He's one of the coolest men I know...

BAK.

(Lane County, Kansas by Joel Thomason)

Something that has kept me smiling all week? My brother Joel's pictures that he's been taking while biking across Kansas. I know when a lot of you think about biking across the state of Kansas things like tarantulas, and nails scraping against a chalk board (ugh, that gives me shivers just thinking about it), and waterboarding come to mind. But to my family and myself (and whole bunch of other people because quite a few come out to do it every year) it sounds splendid.

My uncle Dave has participated in the Biking Across Kansas event the past few years and this year my brother Joel decided to join him. Joel's pictures taken from his iPhone are quite great. I've been looking forward to his tweets and the photos of the seemingly normal yet beautiful portraits of Kansas life that he's being taking as he travels across the great state. Here are a few of my favorites so far:

(McPherson, Kansas by Joel)

(The Colorado Border by Joel)

(Cotton Wood Falls, Kansas by Joel)

Bright Side Is Back.

Hey there! I know it's been a while. Sometimes when I'm having a hard time it takes me a while to get to this place where I can look on the bright side of things. But I'm finally here. Ready to look on the bright side of life and blog about it. So here are some things I've been enjoying lately.... (Pardon the lame Photo Booth pictures, I was too lazy to bust out the camera.)

1. I bought a Kindle. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. My mom always talks about how much she loves hers, and I enjoy reading but am too lazy to go to the library, and my friend pointed it out to me that they were selling them on Woot! for $89.95... so I went for it. And I love it. A lot.

2. My friend Katie is in town and will be living in Kansas City this summer! We had dinner and watched a movie tonight (RedBox was running on empty so we chose For Colored Girls. Warning: most depressing movie... ever.) It was just really nice having an old friend around. I'm excited for the summer with her.

3. One of my guilty pleasures in life is girly beauty products. I got a coupon from Beauty Brands in the mail for a free smoothing spray (I know this seems dumb but I love this kind of thing, and it was a $16.98 value!) with any purchase. So what did I buy so I could get my free hair product that promises to make all my frizz go away? Another shade of OPI nail polish. You know how much I love that stuff...

4. I've been really busy the last couple weekends and this weekend I kept myself completely free so I could recharge. Not only have I had some quality relaxation time (I slept a solid 12 hours last night) but I've also been productive. Cleaned my room, cleaned the bathroom, did my laundry... It feels good to have things in order again. (My bed is made, that is a miracle.)

5. There's been a lot of celebrating going on lately. My brother Cory graduated from high school, then the following weekend his track team went to state and placed second, my brother Kyle's birthday was on Tuesday (p.s. Kyle if you're reading this, I thought we were going to celebrate on Tuesday so that's why I haven't given you a present yet...), and tomorrow we are celebrating my aunt Cindy's retirement. Lots of things to celebrate about.

Life is good.

Ellipsis...

Fact: I love the ellipsis. The what? Yes, the ellipsis.

Wikipedia says it was originally used to indicate that something was being omitted. But I'm pretty sure I use it for that about once every 100 times I use it. Wikipedia also says that it is used "to indicate a pause in speech, an unfinished thought, or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence" (which has its own name: an aposiopesis.) I would say I use it most often as an aposiopesis actually. Wikipedia says an aposiopesis is when a sentence is "deliberately broken off and left unfinished, the ending to be supplied by the imagination. ... This device often portrays its users as overcome with passion (fear, anxiety, excitement) or modesty." (Hey, look! I just used the ... to omit something!)

I love that. I love all that an ellipsis/aposiopesis stands for! The ... can transform a sentence. Take it somewhere that it couldn't go with a simple period. There is something so abrupt, so final, about a period. But an ellipsis... an ellipsis allows room and time, creates space for imagination and emotion... I love that! (Ok, so the ... may be tied with the !, just sayin'.)

I was just thinking the other day about how much I use the ol' ... and how much I enjoy it. Afte some research (I mean, I googled it, Wikipedia popped up first, and I read a few sentences...) I love it even more. So here I am, blogging, about my love for a punctuation mark ...

(Fact: I bet you're wishing I would have used the omit function of the ellipsis so this post wouldn't have been so long. Am I right?)

On the Nature of Daylight

For some reason, I can't get enough of this song right now. It's one of those songs that I can just listen to, close my eyes, and be overtaken with emotional without a word being said. I feel like the song, and the title, go well with this post from the other day. It's by Max Richter called "On the Nature of Daylight." It makes my heart happy...

Here's a video of the song put to dance... It's pretty beautiful.

Cakes for Cory/Corrie

I've had the opportunity to decorate some fun cakes the last week. Last Sunday, we celebrated my good friend Corrie's graduation from college. She was a psychology major so she wanted something with a brain on it.

Yesterday my brother Cory graduated from high school. I'm sure you've heard me mention Cory's mad graphic design skills many a time. Well, Cory and I have talked recently about how we think it'd be cool if we worked together to design some cool cakes. So Cory designed his own graduation cake, and I was the one who baked and decorated it. It took way longer than it should have (as it always does...) but I'm pretty happy with the final product.

Anyway, congrats to my two favorite Cory/Corries! You guys are awesome...