Cake Batter Pudding Cookies

Last year, before Shawn and I started dating, we would bake different things together.  We've made Chocolate Overload (I've changed the name to something a little more appropriate!) and Cake Batter Pudding cookies.  We have yet to try some other recipes, but this one is still my favorite of the two.  I am the kind of person who loves to lick the bowls clean after putting the cupcakes or cookies into the oven.  These cookies, give me that same cake batter taste, but it's cooked! 

Cake Batter Pudding Cookies

1/2 sticks (or 3/4 cup) butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix, dry
3/4 cup yellow cake mix, dry
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2-1/4 cups flour”
1/2 tsp salt
rainbow sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Stir together flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars together.
Add in pudding package and cake mix and beat until well blended.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth.
Add flour mixture slowly until well incorporated.
Mix in lots and lots of rainbow sprinkles.
Roll into 1″ balls and place on greased baking sheet.
Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes.

*Note: It is just the powdered pudding mix inside the packet you use.  Just open it up and pour it in.  It is in a box like this:

Hope you enjoy these cookies as much as I do!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Something that I've come to realize the past year or so is that I am a lot like my mom.  I never thought that this could be true because growing up, I would always hate cleaning my room and planning things out.  I always thought that it was a little crazy to be 5-10+ minutes early for something.

However, being away at college, and more so now that I've been living in an apartment for over a year, I've come to realize that I am a lot like my mom.  I love the feeling after the apartment is nice and clean and clutter isn't all over the place.  I love when my space in the apartment (desk and bed) are clean and organized.  I love knowing that everything has a place.

If people know me, they know that I'm obsessed with having cute school supplies. I've always loved going to the office supply section of Target. I love bright colored pens and having cute notebooks and folders, and planners.  I've noticed that I am definitely more of a planner, more so than I already was.  I have now moved to having about 3 different calendars! I have my wall calendar, which has major events. I have my planner, as well as my calendar on my phone. I don't use the one on my phone as much though. Call me old fashioned, but I like things written out and printed out.  I found out about these planners called May Books and I just absolutely LOVE mine. They are customizable planners and they are also just super cute.

This is what my May Book looks like!

If you choose to get your own May Book, use this promo code "MONOFAB" and get your free monogram on it!

Apartment: Part 1

So I know that I promised that I would post pictures of my apartment once it got cleaned up, and today the living room and patio were actually clean for once. I hurried and took pictures of the living room and patio before it got dirty again. And good thing, because things have spread back out onto the couches right after I cleaned up!

I love our living room because it is so comfortable and there is so much space for everyone to sit and just hang out.  I love just parking myself on the couch (can you see my stuff on the red one?) and just working and whenever someone comes into the apartment just talking to them for a little while. It's also the perfect walking distance to the kitchen to get a little snack!

The patio is probably my favorite part of the apartment, but it's been a little too hot lately to really enjoy it. It's been nice to study out there in the evenings though and we've had dinners out there as well as game nights.  I especially love that we have little white Christmas lights hanging. It makes it just seem nicer and also puts some light outside too.

So what is your favorite room in your home? And do you have any suggestions as to how we can make our living room more homey? We're still trying to work on it. We have some pictures up but the walls still seem fairly bare.

Must Haves!

Everyone has those few items that you can't leave the apartment without! For me, that includes 5 things that I can't survive without. For some reason, it always seems as if I need those things whenever I go out. 

eos Lip Balm

Disney Princess Laynard 

Vera Bradley Key Chain ID Holder

Emi Jay No Crease Hair Ties

iPhone with bird case

eos Lip Balm: I seriously can not live without this! I used to use Burt's Bee's, but this chap stick just makes your lips nice and smooth. I have tried the Strawberry (pink), Summer Berry (red), and Lemon (yellow).  My personal favorites are the Strawberry and Lemon.  My roommate loves her Sweet Mint (light blue), but I personally am not a huge mint person, so I've never tried it. 

Disney Princess Lanyard & Vera Bradley Key Chain ID Holder: When I'm running out the door, I love to know that my keys and my school ID card and a little bit of spare cash is with me.  It's nice to not have to take my purse and everything in it if I just want to run to a friends apartment. Plus, who wouldn't want a Disney Princess lanyard and a very cute Vera Bradley accessory?

Emi Jay No Crease Hair Ties: Okay, I seriously LOVE these things! I love how you can buy them in such cute colors! They even have animal print, sparkily ones, everything you can imagine. They have different sets for each season on their website. And each hair tie lasts for a very good amount of time.  I try to only use one at a time, but I currently am using two. I have a spare one just in case.  

iPhone with bird case: I really can not live without my iPhone.  It is wonderful because I can do everything on it. I can check my email, check Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and everything else.  I also just love the case. It's cute, happy, and the birds are just adorable. I'm not a huge bird person, but I couldn't pass up on not getting this adorable case. I've actually dropped my phone for the first time this week on cemente (well, 3 times to be exact), and my case has done an amazing job at protecting my phone. It just bounced right off the ground!

So, what are those few things that you can't ever leave the house without? 

Productive Saturday

Today has been a very productive Saturday. I've done all my laundry and I even washed my sheets and made my bed! I cleaned up a lot of things and organized everything as well.  I thought that I would share a few pictures of what my part of the apartment looks like.  Currently, the rest of the apartment is a huge mess, but once it all gets cleaned up (hopefully soon!) I will post pictures! I must say though, I love being able to do laundry in my apartment as well as not having to do dishes by hand.

That's my bed, with of course, all my pillows and friends.
It looks like I don't have a lot of leg room, but I probably have a good
2 feet from my bed to the bed above mine. We've tripled our beds. It looks really cool.
 I'll post a pictures once my roommates make their beds. 

I finally figured out how to keep all of my purses and totes organized!
They are now in a bin right next to the dresser and it goes under my bed, a little bit.
You can also see that my hamper is finally empty!

I put all my clothes away and they are now organized.
And yes, that is a giant storage bin of shoes.
Shoes are my weakness...

You can actually see my desk! And it is being used too.
I have photos from the past couple years at APU as well as photos of my family
and my girls that have been in my cabin at Mt. Hermon the past two years. 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can continue to keep my bed, desk, and closet organized and clean?

Vera Bradley

So, this past week and a half has been a crazy week trying to get everything organized for the school year and really getting my routine solidified. Well, anyway, last night I was reading one of my favorite blogs, The College Prepster, and started getting ideas of how to organize my life. I somehow ended up wandering onto the Vera Bradley website and found out that they have a 50% off sale on one of my favorite patterns! So, if any of you like Vera Bradley or don't even know what it is, go look at her website! She has some of the cutest things.

This is the laptops sleeve that I ended up getting for $19.99.
I'm so excited for it to come in the mail.
It's cute, it's my favorite color, and there are little flowers on the inside. 

The Vera Bradley duffles have been standing out for years!
Now that it's in a pattern that I love and it's 50% off, I'm really debating on if I should just get it or not.
It's a great price on sale...

So what's your favorite brand that you can't pass up on when there's a huge sale?

Moving Back to Azusa

I'm a JUNIOR now! What is this?! I know it's been awhile since I've done a post, but then I realize that it's been awhile since I've really done anything on the computer. The past two weeks have just been full of craziness.  The first week, I was slowly moving into my apartment with my roommates and we were trying to figure out where things would be going. (I must admit, it did take us about two weeks until we finally did get everything cleaned up and put away.)  This past week, has been keeping me very busy. Thanks to choir camp, which I loved, I was getting up about 6:30 AM and coming home around 10 PM and falling asleep around midnight.

I loved getting to know all the incoming freshman that would be in choir and I loved just being able to sing with them all for the very first time.  My voice now, is completely tired and I know for a fact, that I am fighting a cold. Or a sore throat that has now turned into a cold.  School is starting on Wednesday, so I am trying very hard to take it easy and drink lots of fluids and get a lot of rest. However, my body just won't let me sleep in past 9 AM.  I guess that's a good thing since I will be having 8 AM classes every single day this semester. However, I am kind of bummed out when I look over my shoulder to see both of my roommates fast asleep and it's after 10 AM, and I know they won't be getting up for another hour and a half.

I am hoping to post some pictures of my apartment soon, but right now, as my apartment is for the most part dark, and everyone else is sleeping, I can't even take the pictures. So for now, I'll just include some of my favorite photos from this past week of choir camp!

95% of the returning Bel Canto ladies
(Photo Taken at Huntington Beach)

End of Choir Camp Redneck BBQ dinner at our directors home

I am really hoping that I will be able to update you more as this school year continues! Until then, have a wonderful day. :)