"You know I need relating, not solitude."

I'm feeling very sensitive this evening. The kind of sensitive where you try to make everyone around you feel guilty because even the most innocuous of encounters and minor moments with them feel like slights. So I'm consoling myself with incredibly sad love songs. And tonight, this one is at the top of my list. Sometimes you need a good cry and the lyrics to this song could probably bring on a sob fest. Love on the video, cry for the lyrics. I need a cookie.

The Cuteness.

I mean, really? Too much. Totes ridics. He is AMAZING!

Homework.

I've been complaining about wanting a new, larger apartment to anyone who will listen for way too long. I dream of large windows, a cross breeze, REAL hardwood floors and a bathroom that's large enough to accommodate a normal size adult. No more being able to sit on the toilet with your feet on the tub while washing your hands. My dream apartment would be furnished by Haus Interiors, my new favorite store. It's Soho location is mellow and inviting. The products are beyond beyond, and so beautifully neutral it makes the heart sing. Enjoy!

More I Adore

Don't judge. I sometimes wonder if I am a 13-year-old trapped in the body of an adult. Except that I am old enough to vote. Never mind that I vote according to the eeny meeny miny mo school of politics. So now that I have pulled over to the scenic outlook, let me get back to waxing rhapsodic about the things that I love.

The Sweet Valley High series. (I collect them.)

Sassy Magazine. (I collect these, too.)

Hello Kitty. (Yeah, there's a little collecting going on here, too.)

Laugh all you want. Now go play with your ceramic kitty collection.

An Apple A Day Keeps Your Jeans From Buttoning

So I cook for function, not for fun. But over the holidays, my mother required me to contribute to the Thanksgiving dinner and requested an apple cake. Two minutes of Google and I came across this recipe on Southern Living: Chunky Apple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. OMG: So easy to make, quick to bake and ridiculously moist. I could not stop eating it and now my pants don't fit. Pictures to come. Give it a try. It is well worth the hour it takes.

Chunky Apple Cake

1/2  cup  butter, melted

2  cups  sugar

2  large eggs

1  teaspoon  vanilla extract

2  cups  all-purpose flour

1  teaspoon  baking soda

1  teaspoon  salt

2  teaspoons  ground cinnamon

4  Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced

1  cup  chopped walnuts, toasted

Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below)

Chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)

Preparation:

Stir together first 4 ingredients in a large bowl until blended. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to butter mixture, stirring until blended. Stir in apple slices and 1 cup walnuts. Spread into a greased 13- x 9-inch pan. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Spread with Cream Cheese Frosting; sprinkle with walnuts, if desired.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1  (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

3  tablespoons  butter or margarine, softened

1 1/2  cups  powdered sugar

1/8  teaspoon  salt

1  teaspoon  vanilla extract

Preparation:

Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar and salt, beating until blended. Stir in vanilla.

 

Sugar Shock

In order to curb my recently arrived sweet tooth (which drove me to eat half a pint of banana ice cream for dinner), I am reduced to drooling over pics of baked goods instead of eating them. If these cupcakes taste as good as they look, I want like, 10. I can only hope that underneath that candy pink icing is strawberry cake. Yummers.

Boo Moon.

I don't mean to be a total douche but New Moon stunk. You Twilighters can tell me a million more times that I needed to read New Moon (the book) in order for the movie to be good. That's crap. If each of us was required to read the book a movie is based on in order for the movie to be good, many of us (and I mean me) would avoid going to the theater. And to that end, if you are tired, please don't go to the movie theater. Some of us would prefer not to listen to you snore from the opening credits to the final scene. (I'm talking to you annoying snoring guy who contributed to my blah New Moon experience.)