Yes, I'm sure! I think.

Sayonara chocolate molten lava cake. And raspberry cheesecake. And cookie dough on a spoon. In a little test with ourselves, Anna and I are going off all sweets until the marathon. Actually, it's already happening - I haven't had any treats since Sunday! To some people this is probably called normal eating ... but not this girl. It's not as if I'm eating Reeses and cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner but I do have a hard time saying no.

So far this week I've said no thanks to dulce de leche cake (that looked AWESOME, by the way), lemon meltaways, chocolate nuggets, cookie dough & brownie cookies, gingersnap cookies, and a few more things that I won't bother to list because it's making me hungry.

Technically this is only for about 1 1/2 months. And let's be realistic - I'd never be able to cut treats out completely. We just booked a cruise for June and my willpower can only hold out for so long. But maybe I'll have more power to say no to mediocre sweets and only settle for quality stuff. And say yes to all sorts of awesome fruit options. The real test will be this weekend when I have to make a cake without eating any of it. If I can pass that test, I think I'm golden! Wish me and my willpower the best of luck.

PoW: March 11-18

I made it through St. Patrick's Day without wearing green and only got pinched once! Not that I dislike the holiday at all. It was just a busy day. Oh and I also ate a lot of these in the process of baking ...

Bucket List Item #22:

Enter cookies into the Utah State Fair. CHHHECK! Anna and I worked hard to put together some good cookie recipes and one of them won a ribbon. Sure, an Honorable Mention ribbon doesn't exactly say First Place on it, but hey -- it still looks like a ribbon to me!

Summeryishesque

I know the end of summer isn't technically until September 23 (I think?) but in my mind it pretty much ends once August is over. Which happens today. So Happy Last Day of Summer! I got to take some pictures, see Celine Dion (wait until 1:03 - it was honestly breathtaking live), turn 27ish, eat lots of yogurt, scorch my hair (almost at an inch of growth now - another month and I might be able to wear my hair off my face again!), camp, and have my fair share of outdoor concerts and movies. Summer really brought his (her?) game this year. *The following over sized collage is brought to you by Instagram ... and isn't nearly as many pictures as I actually took. I suspect I may have a problem*

 

Summer, it's been great. Really. But here's the thing: I've been seeing way too many cute boots and scarves and hats all over Pinterest. Daydreaming of pretty leaves in the Avenues and drinking hot cider. Making pie and chili. And pretending I'm in love with football so I can bundle up at a game and eat nachos. Oh and I have grand plans of mastering this at some point before October 31st:

See! It's cheesecake disguised as candy corn! Genius! C'mon Summer - admit that you kinda want a piece of the candy corn cheesecake. I know I do. So without further adieu ... Welcome Fall! Now to backing up and cleaning up my phone. Need to make some room for a thousand photos of the fall leaves.

That Big Apple

This post feels very rushed and poorly written, but I know that if I don’t do it now I probably never will. So here it is, albeit a bit disjointed. The short version is this: I really loved the city! I found it full of energy and interesting things. Random picture highlights below:

Our first day there we were able to be top notch audience participants for the Dr. Oz show at the last minute. Are carbs addictive like cocaine? I don’t know because thanks to a red eye flight we were pretty much falling asleep during the taping. I haven’t watched the actual episode but I’m okay with it because I’d rather not see myself on national television looking disheveled and sleepy-eyed. We were also lucky enough to get into a taping for Jimmy Fallon. His guests were Alec Baldwin (!) and the girl from Nikita (who, by the way, was RAIL thin - I was worried she’d trip on her heels and shatter into a thousand pieces). We randomly found the yellow teddy bear in on display, made a few H&M stops, and ate treats at Serendipity … twice (don’t look at me like that). We did a session in the Manhattan Temple, which is really ornate and beautiful. At the TKTS stand we scored tickets to the Broadway musical Memphis, which certainly didn’t disappoint.

We went to Times Square a few times for different reasons, but I always found it super crowded and frustrating. Wal-Mart on a Saturday x 500 which gives me anxiety. But we were able to get treats at Roxy’s and at least sit down for a minute or two. After being photobombed by some random guy on our picture (see below), we ended up wasting time doing our own fake ones, which we thought turned out pretty funny. Let it be known: Miss Shanna Taggart is the queen of photobombing (possibly tied with Natalie Buttars).

We had planned to see Ground Zero on Thursday which, coincidentally, was the same day President Obama chose to visit. We probably should’ve just switched the day altogether because it was crazy crowded. We waited along the street with everyone for a bit, craning our necks to maybe see a glimpse of him. People were smushed EVERYWHERE selling Obama buttons and overpriced American flags, taking pictures, and probably stealing purses. We got tired of it real quick and decided to come back later. On the way out we talked to a police officer who said that the President had actually already visited Ground Zero and was on his way out of the city. Glad we didn’t wait any longer. A few days later it was much less crowded and we were able to take it all in and see what they have planned for the site.

We made it a point to eat at Grimaldi’s under the Brooklyn Bridge. We weren’t expecting the line we saw as we walked up, but figured it was probably worth it. Long story short, Shanna made friends with one of the head honchos which skipped us ahead in the line. The picture below on the right was taken (accidentally) the same time as Shanna’s BFF was letting us know our table was ready. People probably hated us as we slid past them but hey – we were starving at that point. Great pizza and really friendly people.

After dinner we decided to forgo the subway and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. We took our time and stopped more than once for random pictures. Like awesome jumping ones. Too bad you can’t even see the city in the background since that was sorta the point of the shot. But the city was beautiful, even if it didn't appear with our Toyota jumps. Overall it was a really great walk and one of my favorite nights there.

Central Park. One of my favorites as well. After walking around the city for awhile it was so refreshing to walk into the park and feel like you had a little bit of space. We rented bikes which gave us a really good taste of the park, which we explored a bit more later. Also on the favorites list: SHAKE SHACK. I’m not quite certain why I liked this so much since I’m not generally a huge fan of burgers. But their food was so good (hellllo crinkle fries) and, true to their name, they also offered shakes. Custard ones. And considering I’ve never tried one before I pretty much fell in love with my chocolate truffle cookie dough banana vanilla custard shake. Um, YEAH. I don’t even want to know the calorie count because I enjoyed it too much to ruin it for myself. We went back twice, thank you very much.

 

The last few days we spent with our friend Ryan who lives near Central Park (P.S. he’s going to be on Conan this Wednesday so be sure and watch!) We tried our first Turkish restaurant which was loaded with carbs. I’m sure Dr. Oz would've been extremely disappointed in us. I also tried my very first Pinkberry – assembled with love by Ellis, the most helpful employee on earth. This guy wanted me to try all the flavors they had and experience eeeeverything they had to offer. And thanks to him I really loved my yogurt, even if it wasn’t full of chocolate truffle custardy goodness. We walked around the neighborhood, went through a museum, ate hot dogs from street vendors, looked at street displays, and ended the day lounged out on the grass in Central Park.

Other randomness:

• We ran into these guys at church on Sunday. Who knew they lived out there? Shanna about fell off the pew when she spotted them.
• At H&M I learned that jumpsuits are making a comeback. Heaven help us. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – if that’s stylish then I guess I’m out. Unless it’s a swim suit cover-up because then I think it’s pretty cute. Or is that just opening the door?
• Good walking shoes are important when visiting a big city. No, I apparently didn’t think of this beforehand but my feet sure told me all about it. Running in Central Park will have to wait until next time.
• We didn’t see one celebrity on the streets – not ONE. What the what, Celebrities? I really had my fingers crossed for a James Franco or James McAvoy sighting, but to no avail.
• Apparently the phrase “get a room” doesn’t apply to those making out (+some) in Central Park. Who needs a room when you have the park?
• When the guy at the TKTS stand says that his family gets into Wicked every single time they sign up for the lottery, he’s lying. Right to your face. We tried three times -- NADA. Nonchalantly crinkling your paper doesn’t even increase your chances.
• Opera singers in the subway are pure awesomeness. I’m sure everyone there is pretty used to it, but I was completely loving it.
• And last but not least, never share your dream of petting a NYC pigeon. Or “diseased flying rat” as Ryan would put it. People laugh AT you, not so much WITH you.

After all that I’m not certain how to end this post. So I’ll just say: I DO heart NY! (And I now have a touristy sweatshirt to prove it!)

Aprilandstuff

My poor neglected blog. If it weren’t for my Photo of the Week it pretty much wouldn’t exist. It’s just that my mind is racing everywhere. Thinking of all the things I want to learn, see, read, photograph. The time I want to commit to my family, building certain qualities, reaching goals. HOW TO GET MYSELF TO DRINK 8 STUPID GLASSES OF WATER EVERY DAY. Followed by wondering how to make it all happen and how to do it all perfectly on the very first try (yeah right!). Patience has never been my strong suit and I’m trying to teach myself to slow down and not become discouraged. I’m not the only one who feels like this but I often wonder how some people make it all look so easy. Piece by piece, I’m guessing. Paaaatttiiieennnce, Jess. But in spite of my jumbled mind, April really was a good month. Highlights (documented though Instragram, of course. So convenient!):

I took a calligraphy class. Not the Old English kind, but the Copperplate style with the intent to kinda do my own thing as soon as I get the basics down. It’ll be worth it just to address my own envelopes and make them pretty and unique, which I guess means I’ll be looking for excuses to mail things. Also: Gift tags! Labels! Logos! Invitations! Endless pretty possibilities. Practice, practice, practice ...

We went horseback riding for Michelle’s birthday. My horse fear: stumbling, falling, and being trapped underneath. Ironically enough, my horse (Roanie) was older and seemed a bit lazy about picking his feet up off the ground at times. Bad Roanie. Cue random stumbling and my racing heart. I thought we were going down more than once. 

We took a random little trip out to the Salt Flats and ended up in Wendover for dinner. That makes two times I’ve been there this year. My Wendover quota is officially full. No offense, Wendover Will. It's just that I can only handle you in small doses.

ALSO: Charlotte had a birthday, my Five Guys hamburgers cravings have been hitting with full force, I still have the cutest nieces and nephews around, really started liking this show (am I super late to the bandwagon?), the spring rain has smelled really great, I found my newest favorite workout song as well as my newest favorite cool down song, and I killed it with the last three People magazine crosswords puzzles. Successful month, I'd say.

And still three more days of April left ... anything could happen.

Peaches & Cream

Oh hey guys. Hungry? Do you like peaches? And cream cheese? Actually who am I kidding – everyone likes peaches and cream cheese. Well I tried a new muffin recipe this week and I have to say that I REALLY liked it. I thought about trying to make them low-fat and quickly ditched the idea. Maybe next time. But I needed to know what to compare the low-fat recipe to, right? Glad we're on the same page.  

Anyway. Sweet, moist, yummy goodness. That’s all you really need to know.

I did make one change, though. Somewhere in our last move we lost our cupcake pans. Gone. Now this doesn’t necessarily break my heart considering the pans were pretty old and beat up anyway. But it does create a problem when this is noticed right in the middle of making muffins. So as you can see from the picture I decided to make Peaches & Cream Bread instead. If you go this route, of course plan on cooking it longer. I'd give you an exact time frame but I was too busy watching LA Ink (Kat has red hair now!) to really know. So how's this: trust your toothpicks.

Well well. Posting a recipe. How very domestic of me!

Just a few things:

Well, FIRST THINGS FIRST: yesterday I met Easton for the first time! This kid is CUTE, people. He's so miniature and delicate yet he has the biggest feet. I think we're gonna have a tall one on our hands. Quite a change for the Venables :) His face has a thousand expressions and I saw about half of them in the span of 45 minutes. I fear I'm going to become That Annoying Sister who can't get enough of her nieces and nephews ... if I'm not already That Annoying Sister. But I can't help it! Stop giving me such cute nieces and nephews and then I'll think about stopping.

SECONDLY. It's a done deal -- guess where I'll be April 5, 2010? With these guys. And these guys. And I couldn't be happier about it. Don't be jealous. And if you are then get yourself a ticket and come with us. There's still time.

And LASTLY. As a recent convert to Nutella, I feel it my duty to let you know that February 5th is WORLD NUTELLA DAY! I plan to bake a nice Nutella treat tomorrow. Since I'm a little late catching the Nutella wagon anyway, I feel okay about being a day late with making my celebratory Nutella treat. And with this many options, it might take me that long to choose one anyway. Should we see how many times I can use the word "Nutella" in this paragraph?

That's all. For now.

Just a couple things:

1: Remember this? Well, on Saturday evening Shanna Thrilled the World.


2: I drive past this tree at least twice a day and every single time I think to myself, "WOW ... I really should take a picture before the leaves are all gone." So I finally pulled over and did. Isn't it beautiful?


3: What were you doing at 1:00 a.m. yesterday? I was making these. Cause who needs sleep?* One more reason why I love Halloween! (minus the getting scared part ... we've had waay too much of that at our house lately.)


* Judging from the way I feel today, I DO.

changed my life ... as much as a churro can.

Let me introduce you to the best thing that’ll ever happen to you: churros from this delicious restaurant in Midway. $2.25 plus tax for four (FIVE if you give ‘em a big smile while ordering) of these amazing things. And guess what else, girls? They're fat-free*!

Think the churros at baseball games or state fairs are good? You have no idea … YET.



* HUGE LIE

superpost

I feel like I've been slacking on my blogging. I could come up with a million excuses, but does it really matter? I suppose it's just a blog. Now if I were getting paid to blog … well that’d be a whole different story. But unfortunately I’m not. If only.

Had a great Easter … Venable style complete with air soft guns and raw eggs flying everywhere. This is why my family is the best.


Michelle and I learned how to make chocolate cake IN A MUG IN THE MICROWAVE IN TWO MINUTES. Amazing, right? Slap a little Hershey’s syrup or frosting on there and enjoy. It probably would have been best if we hadn’t discovered such a convenient way to eat so badly.


We ran the Salt Lake Half Marathon and overall it was GREAT. You feel like a rock star running down that last little stretch … everyone cheering, cameras flashing. LOVED IT.


I didn’t realize much I loved running until now …. mostly because this day right here did some damage and now I’m struggling to run. I’m only smiling in this picture because #1 as stated before, I'm a rock star and #2 the pain has subsided because my knee has gone numb. I had injured myself on my long run the week before (Side note: I ran over 14 miles! I was so proud of myself ..) and I think it just needed more recovery time. I’ve been seeing a doctor, doing physical therapy, etc etc but it’s looking like the marathon will probably be on hold until fall (I plan to make a decision after the Ogden half next week so cross your fingers for me!) I’m really bummed/frustrated/disappointed/{insert negative emotion here} about it. But it is what it is so here’s to more pain and training!

We spotted a cockroach scuttling across the kitchen floor. Well, technically I never saw it so the girls could just be making it up to give me nightmares (Which DID happen … two nights in a row. Cockroaches snipping at my toes in bed and scaling down from the ceiling onto my sleeping face). Michelle was kind enough to draw an amazingly realistic picture of it for me:

She is our hero because she exterminated it. With her bare hands. And then the real exterminator came to clean up the rest.

And last but not least – this week is moving week. We’ve found a place that we’re really excited about and it’s go time. Anyone who knows me well is aware that change can be a bit … challenging. Which would probably explain why I’m given so much of it. One of these days it won’t phase me – just wait and see. But the new place is great and guess what? WE HAVE A NICE BACKYARD. WITH TREES. AND A FENCE. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to say that. I feel like I should hang up a string and dry my clothes on it like Marme did when we were little. And guess what else? To go with that backyard I bought a very pretty stainless steel BBQ on which to grill my pineapple. And I got it for an incredible deal. See? Change has some perks.

wishful thinking.

Wishful thinking does pay off.

Exhibit A: The gigantic cupcake pan that I have desperately searched for since last fall. I had started to think such a thing didn't exist. Why do I care? I don't know. The more places I couldn't find the pan, the more I wanted to find it.

Exhibit B: The enormous cupcake I will soon attempt to make. Except a lot less "Better Homes & Gardens" and a lot more "So Cupcake." We'll see.


If your birthday is coming up, it's safe to assume you'll be getting one. Who wouldn't want a super sized cupcake? I wonder if this "wishful thinking" thing works with money.