200!

Today is a big day! It is my 200th blog post. I know this past year has been really slow, but I have made a new school year resolution (did you know you could do that? because you totally can!) to start blogging more often. How else can I hope to one day make a living off a monetized/sponsored blog? Hey, if other girls can do it then why not me?! I mean I have half a master's degree for pete's sake! If that's not sponsorship worthy than I don't know what is. Anywho, I digress.

In honor of my 200th blog post I'm going to tell you 200 awesome things!

Ok, that is a little ambitions so I'm not going to do it. But yesterday was one of those good days that makes people (namely speaking me) realize that as long as you do your very best the rest will work itself out.

First of all, I found out yesterday I received a scholarship. This is amazing because (1) the department had forgotten to inform me of said scholarship and (2) I did not expect to get any scholarship money!
It feels good to know that someone saw me as a student with enough potential to want to help fund my education! The faith shown in me by some generous stranger helped me to resolve to do my very best this year in school. And I'm going to hold myself to that. I don't want to let myself or my donor down!!

Second of all, I bought my books from amazon for less than $200!

Third of all, I proceeded to dig up all my old text books sitting around the house and sold those books to amazon for MORE than $200!

I mean what a financially fantastic day!

Oh, and I got to ride a giant swing at a rope's course.

And I made yummy shepard's pie for my husband (because I have one of those now). And I got this awesome T-shirt. And I was published . . . kind of.

And in honor of the happy 200 here are some fun moments from the honey moon in Townsend, Great Smoky Mountains, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. 

And no one has ever even seen these so be excited!!!

Food Stuff

I do love baking. It was a hobby I kind of lost touch of last year with the first year of graduate school kicking my butt and all. And let's not forget about how disheartening Tony's debacle of a birthday carrot cake was!

But I have had some time recently to get back in the habit, and I have realized that I missed it a lot! For me, making something beautiful and tasty out of just a bunch of ingredients is awesome! So in honor of my return to the world of baking I present to you the evolution of a red velvet cake:

Can you say yum?

And how about that cheesecake I made on Sunday:

Maybe not the prettiest thing but it was delicious. I was daydreaming about it all morning and afternoon during my Sherpa training only to walk home today in the hot 95 degree weather (my cheeks are burnt!) to discover that my husband and his best friend had made quick work of it for lunch today. :(

Oh, and I made caramel creme brulee the other day as well. I don't know if it was because I added too much water to the sugar while caramelizing it or the fact that Tony and I decided to make it at about 11:00 p.m. or a combination of the both but it remained in a liquidy state even after an entire night of cooling in the fridge. So you know what we did?

We covered it with some raw sugar, torched it with my fancy new butane torch, and ate it just the same. It was delicious!


***All recipes curtesy of Bon Appetit Desserts cookbook. It was a good investment! Even if it is making me a bit fat.

Rachel Finley Torres

I am married now. With the craziness of wedding week (just ask Jessica!), honeymoon week, and move-in week life has been a little out of control. The next two weeks aren't really looking better because they are (1) orientation week and (2) first week of the last year of school!

But I have some pretty interesting stuff I will try to get around to talking about soon including (but certainly not limited to!):

• A WEDDING
• A husband
• A reception
• A bear
• A new apartment
• A biopsy 
• A jiggly/runny but tasty creme brulee

And I know these are all on facebook, but it was my wedding and I wasn't the one taking pictures so what can I do?! Enjoy them anyways please!! And don't worry I will post when I get the rest of the wedding pics from the photographer who did an EXCELLENT job! Thank you Gracephotography!