I just saw pictures from when I replanted my moss and comparing what it looks like now…I can truly honestly say that I am a fail gardener. My moss (Theodore) is very nearly dead, and only barely retains his color. It is possibly due to the fact that nowhere in our apartment is there any direct sunlight. So sad. My poor Theodore.

In recent news,

• I am now 20 years old, the big two decades! I feel slightly intimidated by my own age, and can feel “maturity” creeping up on me. We went out to eat pho and then came back for Anastasia and lemon meringue pie… The weekend before my birthday, my parents came down to visit me and take me and a coupe friends out to dinner. We went to this hip and cool “California French” restaurant in Venice called Joe’s Restaurant. Pretty good, especially since I haven’t eaten out in awhile.
• I ACED MY 150A MIDTERM. I did really well, 93/100…and the average was 75. I’m really proud of myself and am going to totally ace the final, too! Fluid Mechanics is so interesting I’m going to start emailing professors starting winter quarter to try and do same research in the field. Hopefully the profs will see my enthusiasm and accept me. Oh yeah I also aced my CAD midterm, but that was a joke, so whatever.
• I got my sandstone coasters in the mail, which means that I can get started on my project. For those of you who don’t know already, I designed an indoor garden thing during my industrial design class at RISD a couple summers ago. Making a prototype of this thing will be the first step in the creation of a real portfolio, which may or may not take me to grad school in the field. It’s all a big “We’ll see” at the moment though.
• Yesterday was the BruinLife yearbook staff retreat. We went kayaking at Marina del Ray, then had a beach bonfire at Dockweiler beach. It was pretty chilly when the sun went down but the bonfire was fantastic and I had a lot of fun with the new interns Pictures on facebook!
• Today Layla and I went to Westwood to go shopping for shoes. I’ve been looking for a pair of booties to replace the ones I got last year (around this time) from Urban Outfitters…but alas, I didn’t find anything fantastic enough. But I did find a cute and inexpensive pair of heeled oxfords. They’re pretty comfortable, so maybe I can walk around campus feeling cool and north-campusy. I also almost bought a pair of dark blue pumps… but I didn’t. Maybe next time.

I just realized for the upteenth time that my new year’s resolution to create one work of art a month died out really quickly. Oh, the woes of a college student. BUT baking delicious cookies is a great way to make any dire situation turn into a better one! So here’s the best recipe for chocolate chip cookies ever. I wish I could include a picture, but we ate (almost) the entire batch already. We made them yesterday.

YOU NEED
• 1 cup butter, softened (important to not oversoften)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons hot water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (the ones that are for melting have a better texture)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
4. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt.
5. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by smallish spoonfuls onto non-stick or slightly greased pans.
6. Bake for about 13 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are slightly browned.
7. Enjoyyyy! Because they are deeeeelicious!

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