On My Way!

I'm so excited to be on my way home for Christmas and I can't wait to get there!!! Regardless of how long it takes (already been traveling for 11.5 hours and not out of Chicago yet) it is so wonderful to be home that it is definitely worth the trip.

Roll Recipe

Emily, this post if for you! :)

Brenda's Favorite Dough Recipe
*Use for scones, rolls, bread, cinnamon rolls or twists, doughnuts, etc.

1 1/2 c. Warm Water
1/4 c. Milk
4 tsp. Yeast
1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Potato flakes
2 Eggs
3 Tbsp. Butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
4-5 c. Flour

Using a large mixing bowl, combine warm water, milk, yeast, sugar, and potato flakes. Let sit for about five minutes or until you can see that the yeast is completely dissolved and expanding. Add approximately one cup of flour, mixing well. Add salt, eggs, and oil. Continue to add flour (approximately two to three more cups) until ready to knead (will be difficult to stir with a spoon when it is ready to knead). Knead using an alternating pull - punch motion, adding flour in 1/4 cup increments whenever the dough is sticky, for around ten minutes or until dough is soft and elastic. Let sit for 45 minutes then shape into rolls, bread, cinnamon rolls (instructions below), etc. Let rise an additional 40-50 minutes or until fingerprint stays before baking. If preparing scones the second raising cycle is not necessary.

For cinnamon rolls: Roll dough about 1/2 inch thick in a large rectangle shape. Melt about half of a square of butter and spread evenly over dough. Top with a layer of brown sugar and sprinkle with ground cinnamon. Can also add chopped walnuts or raisins (I have never been a fan of either but Dad loves them so sometimes I compromise.) Starting on one side, roll the dough from one side to the other, stretching slightly as you go. Use dental floss to cut (usually between an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half wide) and place on greased baking sheet.

Cook using following instructions.
Rolls: Bake @ 350 for 20-25 minutes
Cinnamon Rolls/Twists: Bake @ 350 for 20-30 minutes
Bread: Bake @ 350 for 30-45 minutes
Scones: Fry in hot oil for 2-3 minutes
Doughnuts: Fry in deep hot oil for 2-3 minutes

Thanksgiving 2008

There are so many things for which I am thankful, but especially the gospel and my family, which are truly the most important things in my life. I'm so grateful to have them.

I'm also happy that there is a day specifically for remembering to be thankful! I hope that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!!! I enjoyed another Thanksgiving in NYC this year. The weather was a bit colder this time around, but that didn't prevent it from being a fabulous day.

I started my day at 6am by stuffing a turkey and getting it in the oven in time to meet up with friends to go to the parade (more photos can be found on Facebook). We went to 72nd and Central Park West and had a fairly good view, at least of the floats! It was a fun experience.

The following photos are in no particular order, just a few floats that caught my eye - - -

Dedicated to Swearika.

Richard, totally thought of you! I love Snoopy, aka the WWI Flying Ace

Carla, do you still have your old wallet??

D - - -

We waited (maybe not quite patiently) for Santa, and here he is!!!
For Thanksgiving dinner this year, a group of us who stayed in town got together and put together a traditional dinner. I was very happy that we were able to get a few extras to come so that I had an excuse to make a turkey with stuffing!!

I also enjoyed making a few pies (pumpkin and apple). My Mother thought I stacked the apples a bit high on this one, but it totally turned out fine!

Many thanks to our friend Rich, who loaned us his apartment for dinner! Instead of passing the food, someone brilliant (I actually don't know who devised this plan because I was busy making gravy, but it was truly brilliant) decided that we could put all the food on the table and then walk around it and serve ourselves like a buffet; it worked very well.

Trust me, the food was absolutely delicious! Everyone who came contributed something and it all came together very well.

My favorite part, the rolls.

Thanks to everyone who came, you made it a wonderful day!

Later we watched movies and ate pie and stayed up late talking, a perfect day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cheerful Message

Sometime between the last time I looked at our fridge (yesterday afternoon) and this morning, a very pleasant message appeared! It made me feel happy and I thought it should be shared with the world :)

We heart you back Collin!

Empire State Building

When the perfect moment presents itself . . . you just have to play tourist!

*Photo courtesy of David Kiren (thanks Dave!)

A Bit Early

They put up the Christmas tree on Wall Street and also strung the lights on the side of the NYSE - - - which is one of my favorite holiday decorations in all of NYC.

Disney Princesses

I saw this quiz on Ash's blog . . .

Brenda is Snow White!

Pure and trusting. You are a gentle soul who can get along with just about anyone. Everyone you meet instantly falls in love with you. How can they resist? You have a pure, lovable nature that's irresistable. Just don't trust everyone who comes across your path.
Which Disney Princess Are You?

I don't think the test results are very accurate :)

Baking = Happiness (For Me!)

One of my most favorite things to do happens to be cooking, any kind really, so I take advantage of every possible opportunity to prepare food. When I heard about the upcoming Luau (was on Saturday*), I begged Jenn to let me help. Since she knows I love to bake, she let me make the cakes. Friday evening was maybe one of the most relaxing evenings I've ever had and so much fun!!! I just hung out in my kitchen and made cakes all night. (It would have been a perfect night if I hadn't had to do my laundry on the side.) I made Pineapple Upside Down Cake and Pina Colada Cake, and based on the amount consumed, I believe they both turned out well.

Before After

The finished product

I love baking!!!

*Note: the Luau was fantastic, many thanks to everyone!

Veteran's Day

Today there was a parade on 5th Avenue in honor of Veteran's Day! I had to run an errand for my work and so was able to walk down 5th for 10 blocks and watch the parade as I went. My favorite part was hearing the bagpipes as the men played ". . . God bless America, my home sweet home . . . "

Here are a few quick snapshots.
Bagpipers

For all the Veteran's who were unable to walk in the parade, buses were provided to convey them over the parade route.

Soldiers marching

Army trucks

I'm so grateful for all those who have and continue to sacrifice so much for our freedom. God bless America - - - I love this land and am so grateful to be an American!

Another Walk

Sunday afternoon stroll . . . sometimes I get so caught up in the day-to-day that I forget I live so close to the Statue of Liberty. Its about a 15 minute walk from my apartment to where I was standing for this photo (click on the photo for a magnified view).

I'm so grateful for freedom.

A Walk in the Park

I took a walk through the park on my way to work this morning and enjoyed the lovely weather. I'm not exactly certain when it happened, but the leaves have changed color and begun to fall.

Election 2008

VOTE.

Halloween Fun: Gilligan's Island

I have always LOVED the old TV show Gilligan's Island so of course I said YES when Ash asked if I wanted to be Ginger for Halloween!!! A Saturday shopping trip to the fashion district for fabric and a pattern (which was nearly impossible to find), and a needle and thread (sadly my sewing machine resides in Oregon so I was reduced to sewing it by hand!) and lots of help from Ash, and an evening gown was produced!

A few of our other friends joined in on the fun. Here is a group shot with the crew in Union Square - - -

Maryanne (Ash), Gilligan (JT), Ginger (me), and the Skipper (Kyle)

We went to the annual NYC Halloween Parade. Talk about a crowd! It's rumored that two million people attend and an additional million watch it on TV. It was pretty impressive. Unfortunately my camera didn't like the lighting so I didn't get any great pictures, but here is one high-lighting the theme for the year. It was the 35th Anniversary and the theme was Ghosts.

Ash, Lyndee and me at the parade.

Hair shots. I made my dress and did my hair up to try to mimic these pictures - - -

Some degree of success, I think.

It was a fun Halloween! I'm thinking that Ash will post about it in detail soon, so go here for more photos!

How many of you are there out there?

Too many of me . . .

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 188 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

'Brenda' is the 67th most popular name in the U.S.

Serenaded

Just saw my favorite Grand Central musician - - - the guy wears black spandex bell-bottoms paired with a black sleeveless T, his long dark locks flailing in time with the energetic melody. His instrument of choice is an electric violin and his music is always vibrant and compelling. I'm not so much a fan of regular violin, but electrified - - - guaranteed to catch my interest!

Tech Savvy (for me)

Friday evening I set myself on a mission: Connect the laptop to the TV (to enable watching General Conference in style)

Since it was already right around midnight, I determined to arise early on Saturday to go to an electronics store for the "cable" I would need.

Saturday morning dawned and I realized that the clerks may not be able to help me without a bit of preliminary information regarding the electronics I was planning to connect. After a little internet research, I learned that my TV and computer both possessed VGA ports. Armed with this knowledge I quickly walked to the store.

Upon arriving I spoke with a series of clerks who each possessed a vague knowledge of the location of the VGA cables. After finally finding someone who actually knew where the merchandise was displayed, I made my way down the third flight of stairs (turned out they were all unnecessary, I was originally on the correct floor) and perused the options before me.

After intently studying each of the options in the display I settled on one, but decided that I possessed such a limited understanding that it would be best to obtain confirmation on my selection. I waited patiently while the clerk assisted another customer before stepping forward and outlining my request.

He pointed out another option (that was cheaper) and said that either selection would transfer the picture as desired, however, he informed me, a VGA cable doesn't transfer sound. I was shocked - - - seriously, what good is picture without sound?! He noticed the look of confusion/annoyance/disbelief on my face and quickly turned back to the display and grabbed another which included a separate cord that connects to the headphone port, pushed it into my hands and told me it was designed to transport sound and picture. Unfortunately though, he informed me that he had no way of knowing if my TV had the capability to accept the sound.

Luckily, I had foreseen this challenge and pulled out my digital camera. Turning it on and selecting the photo I had snapped earlier that morning, I handed him the camera and instructed him on using the zoom function to enable closer study of the photo of the ports on my TV. He was immediately able to confirm that indeed my TV was appropriately equipped. I thanked him effusively and made my purchase.

And yes, I was able to watch all 4 sessions of General Conference, seated on my couch. It was wonderful. And I absolutely loved conference. What a blessing technology is!

Random Confessions

Rules:1. Post the rules on your blog 2. Write 6 random things about yourself 3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post 4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag. Here we go!

1. I tend to doodle the alphabet.
2. Cheetos are my favorite kind of chip.
3. I've had 54 roommates since leaving home 8 years ago.
4. I fold up trash. Like the wrapper on gum - - - totally fold it into a little square 99% of the time. I also make things out of trash, like words or shapes.
5. 5 letters in my first name are also used in the spelling of my last name, and the "S" shows up twice, leaving "B" and "U" as the only lonely letters in my whole name.
6. I used to refuse to order at restaurants - - - for years I made my friends place the order.
I tag Karli, Lyndee, Courtnie, Annie, Heidi, and Denisse.

Two Broadway Musicals, Fabric & Fishes

Its been a while since I've been to a Broadway show but thanks to Lyndee and Heidi, I managed to fit two in this weekend!

Friday evening Lyndee and I saw A Tale of Two Cities which recently opened on Broadway - - - it was absolutely incredible, I'm thinking my favorite Broadway show. If you get the chance, go see it because it was amazing!Then Saturday, I joined Heidi and Kendall and we say Legally Blonde which was very entertaining. Afterwards we went to Junior's for appetizers and cheesecake.
Saturday was definitely one of those "I'm in love with New York!" days. They don't come around all that often so you must take full advantage when they do :)

The weather was perfect and so after brunch at The Nook, I took a solitary walk down 7th Avenue and stumbled across the Fashion District! I've been here quite a few times but I don't come nearly often enough! I think it wins as one of my favorite places in NYC. I spent a few hours browsing through little shops and found a few fun things. It totally made me miss my sewing machine! However not having my sewing machine didn't stop me from purchasing some fabric to make pillow covers for our couch - - - which ended up being another activity for my Saturday! And now that I have truly hand-stitched a pillow cover (the first project I have ever totally completed by hand) I feel I can truly appreciate our fore bearers who for centuries made every bit of clothing using hand-stitching methods.

Sunday was also a lovin' New York kind of day. I love taking walks on Sunday afternoons, and yesterday Lyndee, Heidi, Kendall, Thomas and I walked over to the pond (that's what Heidi calls it and I don't know if it has a real name) and watched the fish. I was mezmorized by the distortion of the reflected building and clouds and the ghostly appearance of the fish. Here's a few photos.

Of course there were other actives to keep me very busy, but who has time to catalog them all? It was a lovely weekend!

Are you serious?!!

As if I don't have enough things causing stress for me at this moment.

Can't talk now. System's down.

Sorry for the holdup. Looks like a temporary glitch in our network has part of Yahoo! mail down, so you're briefly without service. Rest assured the alarms are blaring in the basement and our team is working frantically to get you up and running ASAP. Again, the snag is on our end — so there's no need for you to do a thing.
Back to it,
Yahoo! Mail Team

Never Forget