Finally Almost Done and Mother's Day Recipe

Happy almost Mother's Day! 

I'm pretty ecstatic because I just finished up finals, so I'm almost completely done with school! I'm all finished with the college semester - just have math and science to wrap up before the 26th....

Graduation's starting to feel real, and I'm so excited to be done!

Enjoy your weekend  - go celebrate the last day of Happy Hour) and have a lovely Sunday with your mom, grandmother, aunts, special women in your life. 

Oh, and go make them this breakfast/brunch recipe I whipped up.

Hello, Strawberry Greek Yogurt Breakfast Pizza. 

Hello, summer. 

Bonjourrrrrrrrrrrr!

Who's ready for the weekend?

(Ignore the fact that the weekend technically started yesterday [Friday].) As a student taking classes at my local college I have three classes every Friday....so, Saturday is usually when my weekend starts.

Except, you know, I usually spend my weekends studying or reading blogs. Heh. Life of the party, that's me. (Shhh. Our secret.)

 And considering finals start on Monday - pray for me! - I'll be spending a good portion of tomorrow and Sunday studying also. Oy vey.

 But it's all good, because I'm planning to sleep for a nice even number of hours, cheer on some graduating homeschooler - oh, yes...and attend an ice cream party. My heart fills with happiness just thinking about it. Never mind that it's a little girl's party for my younger siblings's friend. It's an ice cream birthday party out in the country where her family has some property and a pond.

Sunshine, ice cream sundaes and cupcakes on a Saturday? Um, yes, please.

Side note -  I may sound just a tad more random that usual. It's been a looong day. Some friends and I may or may not have dressed up and gone to the midnight premier of the Avengers

Ladies and gents (if there are any reading, that is - I think the female readers of this blog vastly outnumber the male ones...), from left to right: Thor (de-cloaked), Sif (de-armored), moi = the Black Widow, i.e. Scarlett Johansson's character (de-redhaired), the Ultimate Superhero Fangirl (attired in a superhero-themed shirt and a Captain America headband), Ironman (in a leather jacket), and Captain America (also in a leather jacket).

We were a fierce group....mess with young adults' sleep and this is what happens:

I may or may not have gotten 6 1/2 hours of sleep and then had to get up for classes.

I may or may not have stuffed 75 (only half of the invite list) graduation invitations.

I may or may not have spent half the day glued to the computer writing an essay that was due at midnight but completely did not succeed in making the deadline. (Thankfully it was for bonus points so I still have two more days to work on it. But still....bonus points are nice. They make a student's heart flutter and ease the "my-life-is-over-because-I'm-probably-going-to-get-poor-grade" fears. We all know we all secretly have them, friends.)

....and no, I certainly did not have two slices of the best espresso chocolate bundt cake today (which was one slice split in two, in all honest actuality).

Why do you ask?

Taming of the Shrew: The Aftermath (with words)

(Just to fill in any missing spaces... ;)

7th Shakespeare play (and 4th to direct)? Check.

 9 tired, but satisfied cast members? Check.

1 sleepy directress? Check. 

Bright lips? Yes, indeedy.

What happens when you give a hungry 15 year old Grumio a garlic roll.

Post play outfit - ultra comfy and chic.

Adorable blue and black striped dress, leggings, and my dearly-loved orange creamsicle Crocs ----> read: the only kind of Crocs that will ever touch my feet. They are so comfortable, but look like real shoes! I've gotten so many compliments on them.

(Check out this precious whale purse, given to me by one of my Second Mothers! She knew the state of my current purse (Yes, I'm fully aware how sad that is. I'm a procrastinator, so help me),

 so she found the above whale purse in a thrift store and very sweetly surprised me with it. She even looked up the brand and discovered it's a vegan bag line called Bungalow 360! Which is highly hilarious and oh so fitting because I love all things vegetarian and vegan.

Myself, still in make-up for Katherine, and a good friend who played Petruchio. I should add I'm 4'9 and he's 6'3 - we made it work! And his sister provided the lipstick stain on his cheek in a sacrifice for the theater....we decided to keep our play PDA-free. ;)

All in all, it was a highly crazy, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants night, but one that ended with lots of laughs, good friends, frozen yogurt, and quite a bit of this....

Taming of the Shrew: The Aftermath

7th Shakespeare play (and 4th to direct)? Check.

 9 tired, but satisfied cast members? Check.

1 sleepy directress? Check. 

Note to Self

Dear Grace,

Five things:

1. Enjoy this week - you're playing an awesome Shakespearian character (the most famousest of Shrews in "The Taming of the Shrew") with your best friends for a school project. DON'T stress.

2. Treat yourself to some Starbucks. You deserve it. And a breakfast cookie.

3. Have fun being a redhead for the week.

4. Two words: red. lipstick. Do it.

5. Take a reaaaaaaally long nap.

'Nuff said.

Love,
Your Quirky, Go-With-The-Flow Side

The Good Things in Life

I've been thinking a lot about Life lately.

It's sort of what happens when you're going through a early/beginning-of-life crisis. I mean, what else is a rational 19 year old cooking-addict and bookworm about to graduate supposed to do?

"Two pictures for the graduation invitation or - gasp - THREE???
Should I bake a vegan cake?
I wonder how hard it will be to completely prove everyone who says it's harder to climb higher up the ladder if you go to a small school?
Do I really need to take writing classes to be a good writer?
I think Europe sounds nice; I should take a year off and go eat gelato.
I wonder if you can be paid to give your opinion on coffee flavors....
Has no one else noticed that Jane Austen never went to college but managed to be one of the most famous and brilliant writers EVER? 
Why don't we have a Pinkberry in town?! This "self-serve" fro-yo thing is going to ruin me (wallet and waist-wise)."

I mean, seriously.

Thankfully, when the rest of my small-town-world is going haywire and spilling over like a overzealous tea kettle on a lovely rainy day, there's some things that are always constant.

Like yogurt breakfast bowls.

Super soft and stretchy black yoga pants almost worn to death.


The 5 packages of chocolate stockpiled in my room.

My little sister's wardrobe. It's quite hilarious, but I've utterly morphed into that sister that constantly borrows from the other's closet. Cute jeweled silver sandals? The Little Sister's (yes, she started a blog and it's too cute - go check it out :).

Cute zebra striped bag? Hers. Adorable white dress in the picture below? Hers. Lavender and blue newsboy bag? Hers.

It's gotten to the point where my best friends compliment me on something that I'm wearing and then follow it up with "....is that hers?"

My lovely, soft bed and pillow. No matter how hectic or lazy the day's been, my pillow is always there for me. <3

Blue jean skirts and leggings. Honestly. I love 'em almost as much as my beloved yoga pants. They're crazy comfortable, you look cute and modest, but can curl up or sit cross-legged in them. The scary part? I'm completely in a rut and wear them almost every day.

Send help - and new skirts.

A Fresh (And Tasty) New Look on the Food Blog

New post and new look over at my food blog, Graceful Eats - go check it out!