In one week...

In a week I will be making Cheesecake Soapapillas for the back to work party for the Vista (a newspaper I work for). These are the one item that I make that EVERYONE seems to love. It's not my recipe, but it's what I like to call a "Redneck Royalty". 


Redneck Royalty: A food item that includes large quantities of sugar and cream cheese that all people love to eat and hate to know what the calorie content is. 


I will be putting my full recipe, including step-by-step instructions for the heaven sent desert (with pictures). So now, instead of emailing and writing out the recipe, I can give them my blog site and they can look it up on here. 


It's going to be yummy! One week... start the countdown. 

Sincerely, 
Kylee

Thirsty Thursday- Week 2- Lynchberg Lemonade

Lynchberg Lemonade 

• 1 Part Jack Daniels 
• 2 part Lemonade 

I completely realize there are a million and a half ways to make this drink. I chose to make it the easiest way possible. That's for 2 reasons: I'm lazy and I always get stuck acting as bartender, so the easier the better! 

My review: THIS DRINK IS AWESOME! It's a hard lemonade, so therefore, it reminds me of a grandmother's poker match.  This is an awesome summer drink. It's 104 degrees here, so anything to help cool us off is welcome. It's probably my new favorite summer drink. 

Enjoy!

Sincerely, 

Kylee 

Add a vignette to your photo using photoshop: 5 steps, very easy!

A vignette is the perfect way to finish off a picture. The focus is drawn away from the corners and on to the subject, making them "pop" in a way. 


Add a vignette to any photo in no time at all. Here are the steps: 


1)Open the photo in photoshop. 


2)Do any editing you want or had planned for your photograph. For mine, I simply added a logo. 




3)Under the layers menu choose "Flatten Image" 

4) Then, under the Filter menu, choose "Lens Correction"

4 CON'T:  It will bring up a screen that looks like this:

5) Switch the tab to "custom":

It will look like this: 

*From there you can slide the arrows around until the picture looks the way you want. 

Here is my finished photo: 

ENJOY! 

Sincerely,

Kylee 

Status Quo

We had a guest speaker in my "Personal Selling" class. This class is very interesting in that it has basically taught me how to deflect salesmen. With everything in life, not just sales, there is a so called status quo. We have had 3 other guest speakers in this class, and they have all been VERY successful salesmen, but they all fit into the mold of salesmen I have in my frame of reference.


This guest speaker was charismatic and a pretty groovy speaker, but there was something about him that was different from the previous 3 speakers. I figured out what was different about him within the hour of him speaking, it was sincerity.


In my major, 60% of all advertising graduates will go into sales. (Hints the reason why I'm taking this class). Up until today, I have been discouraged with the idea of going into sales. Today that changed.


Today I got to see a glimpse of hope within the world of sales for me. What Ben, the guest speaker, said that really hit home for me was, "YOU DON'T HAVE TO SELL LIKE EVERYONE ELSE SELLS."


He also said that there are SO MANY FREAKIN' LAZY PEOPLE out there that it really doesn't take that much work to outshine the majority. Seriously... 


What the what?! You mean everything I'm learning (1+1=2) can be used differently? I now have a goal; if I go into sales (which is probable), I'm going to sell the way that is personal to me. I'm going to be a sincere, aggressive, and overall good person.


I'm over the cookie cutter salesman, I'm going to be the dang BROWNIE of salesmen. (Btw, I'm saying salesman because I don't care to be equal. Men are men and women are women, we are all people, and in the end I don't care if someone calls me a salesman).


Basically what I learned and what I'm stressing is that in whatever you are doing, there are millions of people doing it too (i.e. the status quo). If you put forth more effort than what is necessary, you will be the flower among grass.


BE THE FLOWER! BE THE FLOWER! lol... or at least just be a weirdo.



Sincerely,
Kylee

Thirsty Thursdays! -Week 1- The Grasshopper

                                                                  

The Grasshopper:

• 1 part Green cream de menthe
• 1 part white cream de menthe 
• 1 part cream (I used whole whipping cream, because I was raised like that)

Shake ingredients and put into a chilled martini glass. 

Let me just start off by saying, I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS! I recently turned 21, and I've been wanting to expand my horizons as far as drinks go.


I'm usually a beer drinker, but I'm wanting to TRY some fancy cocktail drinks that all those rich-lookin' ladies drink at the bar.




This week is THE GRASSHOPPER.


The reason I chose this drink for week one, is because it is what Raj drinks on Big Bang Theory (which is my favorite show of all time). I have never seen one in the bars, and I thought "hey, I love green, grasshopper it is."




My Review: It was VERY minty. I liked it and hated it all at the same time. 
It would be perfect with a chocolate bar or dessert of some kind. I personally would not order it at the bar, but if you really like minty creamy goodness with a kick, then this is the drink for you. My husband and I both didn't really enjoy it all that much. But again, it wasn't bad, just not for us. 

More information: (this info is from http://www.ask.com/wiki/Grasshopper_(cocktail) )

Variations

A "Vodka" or "Flying" Grasshopper substitutes vodka for fresh cream, while a "Brown Grasshopper" additionally contains coffee.

B "Frozen" Grasshopper additionally contains Mint Ice Cream to further its dessert qualities.

C "High" Grasshopper is a variant of the original Grasshopper, found mostly in Central and South American bars that differs from the original by adding "green dragon" to it, usually around 1/10 of the drink's total volume. It is considerably stronger than the original and illegal in most countries.

In the North Central US states, especially Wisconsin, Grasshoppers are blended drinks where ice cream is substituted for cream. Also known as a "Grasshopper milkshake," it contains Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, milk, and crème de menthe. This is blended and served in a tall glass decorated with a miniature or broken cream filled chocolate sandwich cookie.^[2]

A grasshopper is a sweet, mint-flavored, after-dinner drink. The name of the drink is derived from its green color which is provided by the crème de menthe. The drink reputedly originated at Tujague's, a landmark bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans,Louisiana,^[1] and gained popularity during the 1950s and 1960s throughout the American South.

( http://www.ask.com/wiki/Grasshopper_(cocktail) )

Sushi Extravaganza

I made sushi for the first time ever this week. It went really well. I took pics along the way to share the experience. I will only get better at making it, but here is what I learned. 

1)The rice is sticky

2) I pay WAY TOO MUCH MONEY for a roll of sushi at Target and other places. 

Minus the start up of about $85, sushi is incredibly inexpensive. We bought a rice steamer/cooker/thing at the asian market (super awesome place btw). 

I recommend this brand. 

Here are the other ingredients we bought at the asian market:

1)Super Sticky Rice 

(if you can't find this rice, buy another SHORT grain rice)

2) Seaweed. After our first experience, I think next time we'll buy smaller sheets. 

3) Salt and Vinegar stuff (I really think this is necessary, but you may think differently. It really compliments whatever you put into the roll). 

4)And the sushi rolling mat. Whatever kind you get make sure that one side of the mat is flat, and the other is rounded. All of the sushi makin' people tell you to watch for this detail. 

And here are all of the ingredients (plus an iPad because that's how we learned... youTube, duh).

Thanks to Make my sushi.com  we successfully made sushi for four people. I would say that makes us pros! 

Here's how we did it: 

•   We cooked four cups of rice in the aforementioned rice cooker. 

•   Made spicy mayonaise

•   Made 4-5 rolls of AWESOME sushi. 

While the rice is cooking you'll have to prep some items. We put crab, salmon, cream cheese, cucumber, and avocado in the rolls. 

Prep: 

Cucumbers

Avocados 

Cream Cheese 

and the spicy mayonnaise. 

How to make spicy mayonnaise:

1 Tbs. real mayonnaise

1 tsp. siracha hot chili sauce

Mix it together and put it in a baggy to cut a corner out of and squirt it over the sushi. 

Now to the sushi making. It's important to note that this WAS MY FIRST TIME! 

*IMPORTANT: Keep your hands wet while handling the sushi rice, it's sticky! 

•   Once the rice is cooked fold in the seasoning in the orange package (pictured above). 

•   Then, on a PLASTIC WRAPED sushi mat lay the seaweed down rougher side up. 

•   With wet hands make a ball shape with your rice, and place it on the seaweed. 

•   DON'T squish the rice rice down, but spread it across the seaweed all except like a 2cm edge.

•   Using the mat, roll the sushi, nice and tight. 

•   Slice it and top with spicy mayonnaise. 

The end result: 

Next time we're going to put more stuff inside the roll. 

Not too bad for my very first experience! It was yummy, and I will tell you when I MASTER it. That sushi got pwnd! 

Sincerely,

Kylee 

New Hair!

I went against my husband's wishes and cut my hair even shorter. I also finally had enough money to get a color. It's funky, and I love it! Some guy at Kohl's whispered "freak" to his wife as we were passing. Know what I say to that? "HECK YES I'M A FREAK, FREAKISHLY AWESOME!" 

Here's some pics. 

And I finally got my (sortof) mohawk. (My husband hates me for it )

My inspiration was Gennifer Goodwin. 

If you're in Oklahoma City and want a AWESOME hair cut,  call Nicole Chasteen at Pat's Phase II salon in Bricktown. 

Sincerely,

Kylee

Welcome!

Welcome, my friend! 

This blog is about my daily lessons with a little fun thrown in. I consider myself to be an odd person, so beware. 

I'm new to the blogging world, so any tips you have to offer, I'm listening. 

I'm really excited to introduce what I will be doing this Thursday. It's called "Thirsty Thursdays", I'm going to be making drinks I've never tried before and letting you know what they taste like. IT'S GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN.

I'm considering a few ideas for the blog, but Thirsty Thursdays are the one part of this blog that I'm so excited about. 

I should tell you about myself, but I'm not going to. 

Sincerely,

Kylee