Thursday, September 23, 2010

whirlwind end of summer (including tons of baking).

I have been running nonstop for the past couple of weeks. First it was the Labor Day weekend block party, then I was sick as a dog for the entire week. The following weekend was MusicFest and I spent most of the two days out of the house. On Monday might my mom headed over to my aunt's house to play nurse because my aunt was having surgery, not returning home until Thursday afternoon.


Apricot bars my mom and I made for my aunt.

For those four days, I had to play house - clean, grocery shop, prepare my own meals and make sure my dad and brother were taken care of, and other random chores. Not that I minded, because I adore doing all those things, but keeping tabs on my brother is handful and both he and my dad get needy when my mom's not around. My dad likes to talk to me more, bug me about random things... basically, he acts like a lost puppy with nobody to bother. My brother gets the same way, though he's less annoying and is someone who I can go to and gripe about my dad. Still, it's a big energy drain.


Banana muffins I made while mom was gone to use up our uber-ripe bananas.

I should also mention that at the same time, towards the end of the week, I was putting things together for Mark's birthday party, which was that Friday. Since he and his housemates are busy with school, he left it up to me to provide most of the food, which I was happy to do. I baked cookies and cupcakes, made a berry trifle, and brought over chips and paper goods. The party was an absolute blast - Mark's friends are so fun and his roommates actually got him to play beer pong (which, if you knew him, you'd understand what a big deal that is).


Chocolate chip cookies!


Sprinkle cupcakes, which were really good. I ate about six leftovers in one day. Oops.

After the party, I crashed. Aside from going to work and running errands on Tuesday, I have mostly been completely useless and unproductive since Saturday. I have gotten around to more leisurely things, like catching up on Glee, watching Up and The Bucket List using our new Netflix subscription, starting back up on my cross-stitch, and cracking open the first Harry Potter book in hopes of making my way through the series before Deathly Hallows Part 1 comes out (and realizing now that I only have two months to get through seven books... but I'm challenging myself to do it).

So that, along with copious amounts of baking, is what I've been up to. This weekend I'm visiting a friend at her apartment at grad school and hopefully getting a chance to catch up on everyone's lives, either in person or via e-mail. I can't believe it's officially fall - that totally snuck up on me - but I can't wait to start wearing scarves and indulging in Pumpkin Spice Lattes, as well as figuring out if I'll have any plans for Halloween and if so, what I should be! Oh fall, I love you so.