Again, I haven't posted in a long time because I'm (yes, you know the drill) SUPER DUPER BUSY. My Syntax professor decided to give us a take-home midterm (which was actually an extra-long homework assignment) due on Valentine's Day. :( If you asked me to describe my experience, I would say that it was 16 pages of sleeplessness, tears, and crushed dreams. But hey, it's over now!
Since the midterm/assignment was ridiculously hard, I had to collaborate with some other students in the class. I ended up making banana chocolate-chip muffins for all of us. They were pretty yummy and definitely made Syntax more bearable. Because muffins are most important, I'll share the recipe first:
Banana Chocolate-Chip Muffins
(Makes 12 muffins - Recipe adapted from Food.com)
3 medium very ripe bananas
(Psst! College girl over here who ain't got no time to wait for dining hall bananas to ripen. Heat up your reasonably ripe bananas over a stove with a little brown sugar. This will make them squishy enough to mix in your batter!)
1 egg
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line muffin tins with paper liners
3. In large bowl, mash bananas with fork.
4. Whisk in egg, milk, granulated sugar, and brown sugar.
5. In separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda
6. Add flour mixture to banana mixture and combine well.
7. Fold in chocolate chips.
8. Spoon equal amounts of batter into 12 muffin cups.
9. Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
10. Allow to cool slightly in tin, then remove and eat them! Be sure to share them with people you love :) Yummmm~
So... About Valentine's Day! This is the second year in a row that I'm celebrating it as a single lady. I don't like to say, "alone," because the truth is, I'm never alone. I am so blessed to have such strong social support around me. My parents and circle of friends are simply amazing.
2. Line muffin tins with paper liners
3. In large bowl, mash bananas with fork.
4. Whisk in egg, milk, granulated sugar, and brown sugar.
5. In separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda
6. Add flour mixture to banana mixture and combine well.
7. Fold in chocolate chips.
8. Spoon equal amounts of batter into 12 muffin cups.
9. Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
10. Allow to cool slightly in tin, then remove and eat them! Be sure to share them with people you love :) Yummmm~
So... About Valentine's Day! This is the second year in a row that I'm celebrating it as a single lady. I don't like to say, "alone," because the truth is, I'm never alone. I am so blessed to have such strong social support around me. My parents and circle of friends are simply amazing.
Last year, I was actually dumped right before Valentine's Day! It really crushed me - it didn't come as a surprise, but I still felt hurt. I was forced to realize that what crushed me was the feeling of being single. Not missing him. In fact, I didn't even like him as a person, and I had nothing in common with him. I'm not saying he's a terrible guy or anything, but the two of us were most definitely not meant to be. I clung to him because I thought it was better than being "alone."
Things started looking up after that happened. I learned a lot about accepting myself. I wound up meeting a really great guy, and we had fun together. Although things broke off, it was on pretty good terms. And now? I've been single for... well. About 7 months, forrealsies! I'm not saying that I'm completely okay with it all the time. I still battle insecurity, and I still feel lonely sometimes. But overall, I'm a LOT more proud to be me. Since being single, I have done the following:
1) Cut my hair short... SUPER short. Like, girlie faux-hawk short. Pffft, who needs waist-length hair? (To be fair, I am now starting to grow my hair back out hahaha)
2) Volunteered abroad in a foreign country where sanitation was not the greatest, and I didn't speak the language AT ALL.
3) Learned Spanish, sort of (This was directly caused by #2)
4) Became a writing tutor for freshmen at my college
5) Tried my hand at being a TA for an introductory Psychology class
6) Became a peer educator with Counseling and Psychological Services in my university.
7) Started working out regularly. I'm starting to get muscles, guyz!!!
8) Focused more on my friends. Platonic relationships are the bestest thing. Why didn't I try to cultivate more friendships earlier?!
9) Learned to laugh at myself. I'm a huge dork and I do stupid stuff sometimes. But that doesn't mean I'm not awesome... plus embarrassing stories = the best stories!
10) Got the confidence to start speaking in class... AND going to office hours. What? My professors know me by name? How did that happen?!
11) Explored my super-weird fashion sense. I wear cat ears sometimes, and I really enjoy fake hipster glasses. If you don't dig them, that's cool. However, I do, and that's what's important to me :)
In conclusion... life is good right now. I hope that as you're reading this, life is good for you as well! You don't need Valentine's Day to know that you are special and loved. And most of all, you don't need to be in a relationship. I hope I got that across, although I'm sure it was pretty awkward.
PS: I got to go out for Valentine's dinner with one of my besties! Since I wasn't trying to look sexy, I decided to wear kitty-cat tights. Not gonna lie, I most definitely would NOT wear that on a date to impress a guy ahahaha... But I had way more fun with her than I've ever had on a "romantic" date!
