cinnamon roll cake

This recipe originally came from Pinterest, but I made it for Lauren's surprise bridal shower on Friday, and it was a huge hit!  It would be great for breakfast, brunch, or just regular old after-dinner cake!

Here's the recipe:


Cake:

3 c. flour
1/4 tsp.salt
1 c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. butter, melted

Topping:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Mix everything together except for the butter. 

Slowly stir in the melted butter and pour into a greased 9×13 pan. For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife.  (If you're cheesy like me, you can swirl it with the couple's name.  You'll never see it after it's baked.) 

Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes.

Glaze:
2 c. powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

While warm drizzle the glaze over the cake.

TA-DA!  You probably already have all those ingredients in your cabinet already, so get bakin'!

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lauren's surprise bridal shower!

Can you believe it?!?  Lauren and John's wedding is on Saturday!  Last Friday, one of my coworkers, Mindy, organized a surprise bridal shower for her, and it was super cute!  A few of us snuck into the conference room about an hour before the shower to set up...

It worked!  She never found out!  This is a challenge when you have to invite the entire company and you all have access to each other's calendars...

She got a ton of Crate & Barrel cookware!  And by "she", I mean John, because he's the one who LOVES to cook!  And his food is to die for.

Laura giving the encouraging fist pump in the background...

Love her immensely!  Can't wait to be in Dallas this weekend!

I let Nate wear my flower for a little while so he felt dressed up for the party.  And yes, I did pin in on him like prom.

I loooove having coworkers who genuinely care about each other's lives.  It's a sweet reminder that there's more to life than work!

Also, my contribution to the dessert table was a big hit... more on that tomorrow!

amy winehouse hair

Sometimes, the weekend just does that to you.  Anyone else feel like the universe crammed twenty extra hours in instead of just one?

I...

... Did two photo sessions

... Watched the UNC @ NC State game (no comment.)

... Had dinner in Georgetown

... Watched the LSU @ Alabama game (whatever, they could both smother Carolina.)

... Taught my first SAT class

... Tried Banana Cafe (go!)

... Started editing a bajillion pictures (that's a scientific guess.)

And now it's 8:15 PM and I'm ready to go to bed.  Please don't judge me.

awkward and awesome friday

Woo hoo, it's Friday!  This one got here quickly, and I'm not complaining.  It's gonna be a busy weekend, but let's recap with some of the awkward and awesome things that happened this week...

Awkward:

1.  This is what our mum looked like after the snowstorm.  Incidentally, this is also what our mum looked like before the snowstorm.

2.  Our pumpkin really took a hit, though.  I mean, the neighbors would have had every right to complain.

3.  Washington traffic, man.  I am not making this up.  As I was crossing Memorial Bridge yesterday, someone tried to creep over into my lane without turning on his turn signal, and then he honked at ME as I sped past him to avoid getting sideswiped.

Awesome:

1.  I'm teaching my first SAT class this weekend!  Get ready to learn, little chirrens.

2.  My Friday night plan with Molly involves Busboys & Poets and probably some really comfortable hoodies.  And a sandwich.  SIGN ME UP. 

3.  This is true because of facebook.  I hate to admit it, but I will stalk the mess out of you until I find out.  

4.  How awesome is this?!?  I still have a ton of mason jars sitting around from Amanda's bridal shower last year, and I think they need to be useful to me.  Also, you should click on this picture and visit her blog.  It's fab.com/amazing.

Have a fantastic weekend!

20,000 hits?!?

On Halloween, you guys officially visited my blog 20,000 times.

Incredible.

I wish I had something more interesting to talk about today, but in commemoration of that, I give you a hit of my own, right off the new Florence + The Machine album, which I am already overplaying.

And now it's probably stuck in your head.  You're welcome.

diwali at work

If that post title is giving you flashbacks of the following, your brain is right on par with what you're about to see.

I'm not even kidding, as our finance and contracts team was setting up the party in one of our conference rooms, it sounded like an actual club in there.  They had Indian music on full blast, turned down the lights, and they were all dressed in saris.  It was probably the best Midday Munchies we've ever, ever had.  And they let me help!

Apparently, one Indian tradition is to make art out of colored rice, and they wanted to make a flower design on one of the tables in the conference room.  So, they called me in about an hour beforehand to draw a flower on the table with chalk, and that way they could use the outline to fill in the rice.  Well, I'm super proud of how it turned out!

Like I said, a little "Jai Ho" projected up on the screen and suddenly it's the party of the century.  People were dancing up there, but I was in the back of the room to avoid getting pulled into that.  Also, that's where the food was.

Happy Diwali!

it's here, it's here!

No, not November (well, ok, that's here, too).  Mindy Kaling's new book!  You may remember me blog-squealing in anticipation about it back in May, and it's finally, finally here!

Here's the thing.  I do not get excited about books.  To the dismay of my friends who love them and the book club I co-founded (I have yet to finish a single book), I just don't care to read something that isn't going to make me laugh or end with a ring on someone's finger.  I know, pathetic.  The only recent exception to this rule was Band of Brothers, which is just plain riveting.

But when I heard about this book, cleverly titled, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (and Other Concerns), the online excerpts were practically begging me to read them.  In case you forgot about my favorite chapter so far, here's a little recap, with the same little disclaimer:  The language is 99% clean.  But there are a couple land mines.  They don't bother me, but if they bother you... well, that's why this warning is here.

True friendship, people.  Buy the book.  Don't let me beat you to the cool table.

p.s. Happy quarter century of existence to my mountain-climbing, cross-country-biking, white-water-rafting, law-studying cousin and brother from another mother, Sam!  Love you!

I know.  We were beyond presh.