The Adventures of Sweet Thang, Part 1

So for those who know me personally, they know that I have a serious sweet tooth. They also know that I like to bake. As a child, I remember watching my grandmother bake from scratch, pound cakes and sweet potato pies. My mother also made a serious chocolate cake. I can also remember my grandmother clipping recipes and watching Mr. Food on the Channel 4 news and taking notes. Even though I was pretty young, I have always wished that I had paid close attention to the memorized recipes, especially since both my grandmother and mother have since passed away. Though what I did manage to learn from them is that baking isn’t just edible chemistry, it’s love.

Before I relocated, I would bake for my roommates and friends all the time. And I really enjoyed it. It’s been several months since I’ve baked anything simply because I have no one to bake for. I moved to a new city with very few friends. So as a result, when I bake a cake, I end up eating the entire thing by myself because I don’t want to waste it (which makes perfect sense, right?). Luckily, I have high metabolism and I don’t notice the fact that I’ve eaten an entire cake (usually in a week or less) in the form of pounds. Although my high metabolism is beneficial, I knew that I couldn’t continue eating whole cakes, so I stopped baking.

Well, lately I’ve had this nagging desire to bake something…anything. I’ve been ignoring it for a few weeks now, but tonight I gave into temptation with a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. This is my very first time baking cookies from scratch. I normally buy them out of the freezer section. Needless to say it was pretty challenging. A couple of hours, some blood, light perspiration, almost a couple of tears, and two trips to Wal-Mart later…I emerged with a batch of my “Not Your Average Oatmeal Cookies.”

The perfectionist in me would love to brag about how I effortlessly executed the recipe found in cookbook as if I had developed it myself, but that’s not quite what happened. I managed to get my teaspoon and my tablespoon mixed up and I didn’t realize it until it was too late. As a result two of the ingredients (vanilla extract and baking powder) were a little on the “heavy-handed” side. After I realized what I had done, I almost started to cry and immediately I wanted to call my mother and ask her what to do. But I couldn’t, so I managed to pull myself together, scoop some of the baking powder out…it was too late for the vanilla extract since I had already mixed it in and continued on my little baking adventure. The cookies actually turned out pretty good. Admittedly, they don’t taste like the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from Potbelly’s, but they are pretty tasty.

I enjoyed this experience so much that I decided to bake and perfect a different dessert every month. I'm actually considering it an adventure and like most adventures there are bound to be a few missteps which I will be totally honest about. "Sweet Thang" is my baking personality. I like it not only because I like the song, but it also adds a little sass to something many consider very domestic. Until we meet again...Sweet Thang

A Little Experiment…

One day after taking one too many phone calls while sitting in a tight, poorly lit cubicle…I was in desperate need of some fresh air. Luckily, my lunch break was right around the corner, so I decided to make a completely random trip to Target. I figured it would be an awesome way to stretch my legs and clear my head.

Somehow I ended up in the book aisle. I say “somehow” because I usually buy books at a local secondhand book store or online. But I had some time to kill, so I drifted to the book section. And I happened to creep upon The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. The book is basically about how one woman, the author, creates and participates in a project designed to make her happier. She is not clinically depressed. She is just a bogged down by everyday life. So she takes small measures to improve her overall happiness, such as exercising, making time for her friends, and even buying a little happiness. Within reading the first few pages, I related to this woman because lately, I have also been having this suffocating feeling of “Is this it?”  I'm not "unhappy,"  but every so often I do have feelings of dissatisfaction.

I wanted to keep reading it, so naturally I purchased the book (it was 20% off, yay!!) as well as some bowls and cups (even more random, I know). While reading the book, I felt inspired to start my own happiness project. Like Rubin, I will begin by writing out a set of personal commandments, and then eventually move on to monthly tasks/experiments to improve my happiness. Here goes nothing…

1. Be Jasmine
2. Loosen up a little
3. Be nice, even when I don’t feel like it
4. Don’t take it personal
5. Don’t wait until the last minute
6. It’s okay to put myself first sometimes
7. Don’t be so hard on myself
8. Double-check my attitude and my ego
9. Listen, then speak
10. Forgive and move on

Feel free to mention any principles, you live by…

Ms. Jas

Seasons and Reasons

So I recently deleted my profile from a social networking website, and a thought crossed my mind. Are we really supposed to stay connected with every person we come into contact with? Remember that saying that goes something like this, “People come into your life for seasons and reasons.” If a person’s season has passed then do we really need to extend it further than it is naturally necessary? The pictures, status updates, etc that keep us “in touch” with people we haven’t seen since as far as back childhood…what is this doing for us or to us? This does not even include those bad or embarrassing moments that are presented for everyone in the digital world to see…that could be hundreds or thousands of people depending on your privacy settings. Furthermore, do we really need to know how well that ex-boyfriend or friend that you fell out with is doing and how they appear to be totally unaffected by your absence in their life. Perhaps I am overanalyzing this, social networkers do have the option to remove people from their friends list as well as remove photos. But I wonder if these social networking sites are making it that much more difficult to move on. Just a thought…

Ms. Jas

Debating Your Health

After going almost two weeks without cable, I turned to CNN one morning and almost fell off my chair. I could not believe how grown ass people were conducting themselves at these town hall meetings. If I’m not mistaken the purpose of these meetings were to inform, discuss, and answer questions about the proposed healthcare reformation. Instead people just took it as an opportunity to “act a fool” and the meetings turned out to be somewhat unproductive. Well everyone’s meeting except for the President’s… It is everyone’s right to assemble, however, there is a time and a place for everything. Let’s get all of the facts first as well as not hinder others from getting the information they need before organizing a protest or from what I saw throwing a temper tantrum.

I must admit that with several different versions of this proposed public healthcare option floating around, in addition to the rumors and myths spreading, the subject is a bit confusing to follow. After all, if this turns into a bill and is passed, this will directly or indirectly affect each one of us. Factors to consider are: what exactly is being proposed, how much does it cost, how is it going to be paid for, and how will it affect me. I am no expert on the matter and I maybe quite late discussing it, but I just wanted to encourage intelligent dialogue among us young folks because it is our healthcare that is being reformed as well. So please do tell me what you know and what you think…

Ms. Jas

An Introduction…

This is my official introduction to the blog world. I was a little nervous about starting a blog, but I needed an outlet to express my views, concerns, etc. For my first entry, I think I will keep it light.

Where do I begin?? Hmmm….I suppose I can start by actually introducing myself. I am 24 year old resident of the Sunshine State (with a lot of time on her hands). I recently graduated with my Master of Arts in Mass Communication. I am also a Capricorn and I enjoy quiet afternoons on my porch and a good old fashioned road trip every now and then.

Several things intrigue me: the plethora of reality television programming (Do we really care where New York works…I mean at least she has a job); the liberal media (seriously??); entrepreneurship; really wack Hip Hop artists (Who is the dude giving out record deals and can I get one?); and last not but not least films of all genres. I hope to talk about all of the above plus more in the coming days, but this is just a brief introduction…

Ms. Jas