Merry Christmas!

The one tradition my family has always had at Christmas time is spending Christmas Eve at my grandparents house. Last year I opted out to go on a three week trip to Europe, but this year my Grandpa Chalmer had a couple strokes and I felt like I had to be there. Unfortunately the weather in Washington was going absolutely crazy...like snowing NON-STOP. Ben and I were stuck in Seattle and I was freaking out. Luckily after 5 days of hanging out at his brother's house, Ben decided we could brave the horrible driving conditions to head down to Vancouver. It turned out that the freeway was completely clear and the worst part was driving around town once we got into the Couve. So, we made it down to Grandma Caroline and Grandpa Chalmer's house for Christmas Eve.

Nursing Graduation

I finally graduated from college on December 17th. Yay! I'm so glad to be done. My friend Leah and her husband Ryan (who is Ben's stepbrother) and their two girls Rylee (on the left) and Gentry (on the right) drove down from Phoenix to come support me and take me and Ben out to dinner. It was really great that they came. The ceremony itself wasn't anything that special, the key note speaker was a snooze, and I shook the Dean's hand, when I totally hate her. But it was nice to celebrate being done with Ben and Leah and Ryan and their cutie pie girls.

P.S. I ordered a totally dorky white Nursing dress to wear and felt totally ridiculous...it'll make a great Halloween costume later!

Music That Matters Monday

This last week Ben and I went to two concerts here at the Tucson Convention Center. The first concert was Alanis Morrisette and Sarah McLachlan (which made my 18 yr. old self very happy). The second concert was to see a Seattle band 'Death Cab for Cutie.' Both concerts were pretty awesome, but since it's almost Christmas I thought I would post this music video. She sang this song at the concert and it was really pretty. I hope you like this new Music That Matters Christmas Video Edition.

You're all INVITED!!!

Next week I'll be getting pinned. I don't exactly know what that means, but you're all invited! Yay! Who wants to come to Tucson? Yeah, me neither. Well, Ben is going to come and so is his step-brother Ryan and his family from Phoenix, so hopefully it won't be completely lame.

It's cold in Tucson.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!

On Monday night I decided to make one of my favorite recipes for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. I don't know about you, but I love Chocolate and Pumpkin, and these cookies are a perfect combination of both. So, if you're looking for a good fall time treat, try these babies out. I love them!

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups MILK chocolate chips (not semisweet)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray or line them with parchment paper.

Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the white and brown sugars, a little at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla and pumpkin puree.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter in thirds. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2 minutes. Take the cookies off with a spatula and cool them on wire racks.

~I actually don't spray or line my cookie sheets and they do just fine. I also use a whole bag of Ghiradelli chocolate chips and I bake them for about 17 minutes. They are fantastic fresh out of the oven with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream or glass of milk. I hope you try them out, and then invite me over!

Threadless

One of my favorite places to shop is threadless.com. It's this great little website where members can upload their own tee-shirt designs, vote and rate other designs, and post blogs and photos of them wearing the shirts. I love it. The designs are always unique and I have always gotten tons of compliments on my cool tee-shirts. Here is my public profile on Threadless. I haven't ever uploaded designs or had time to score many, but I have uploaded a few pics. You can earn points towards more shirts if you post pictures. I have a ton of their shirts, so eventually I hope to score a few free ones. I just haven't had time to take many pictures of myself. Right now they have this awesome holiday sale, so if you're looking for some unique presents you should check it out! Here's one of the great pics my personal photographer (Ben) took for me.