My amazing magazine

My Friday: I got up early, made eggs and pancakes for myself, my friend Jasmine, and her friend Adrienne, and then went and hiked the Y with them.

Me and Jasmine about halfway up. It's a steep climb!

When I got back, I broiled streussel topping onto apple-cinnamon muffins I'd baked earlier (from a box, sorry!) and went to class. The muffins were for my polisci lab. After that class I went to a couple of reviews before chemistry. I had a few leftover muffins, so I texted Blaine asking if he wanted some. Of course! And he invited me to a study group after class. I realized I really need to study for my chem final... I went (briefly) to a softball game with Heidi, and then did some homework before making salmon, because I'm trying to eat more seafood and overcome that prejudice. I went grocery shopping (only like $10, because I have to use up everything in the next two weeks!) and then went to the creamery with my roommates at 10:30. We had ice cream and then Amy and Ashley complained that they hadn't had dinner yet. So I made them pizza. And then I made stir-fry for Shyler. Yeah, that's how desperately I need to get rid of food!

Saturday I got up and hiked/walked up Rock Canyon with Heidi - we saw mountain goas! Then I made the two recipes I posted earlier, and both turned out deliciously (probably because I was watching food network while cooking...:). I did a little bit of homework, took a walk around campus while on the phone with mom, and then went to see Divine Comedy with Amy and her sister Jessica. It was amazing!! I am buying their DVD when it comes out later this year. Divine Comedy is a sketch comedy group, and this was their "best of ever" show. It included skits on Avatar, Harry Potter, and the BYU dating scene. I got a great ab workout from laughing so much!

Today I've been productive and have been looking at blogs. I really like themeanestmom.blogspot.com. I was drawn to it by the name (But now I'm really confused - MY mom always said that SHE was the meanest mom in the world...) and continued reading it because it's just hilarious. You should check it out. On the blog, it mentioned a magazine that is destined for greatness. Here's its motto: "Created for women who want to be stylish, sexy, and engaged in the world while retaining high standards in dress, entertainment, and lifestyle."

Can you guess its name? I'll give you a hint - it starts with an E and ends with a liza! That's right. I was so excited when I saw the name Eliza Magazine, and it just got better when I saw what the magazine was! Now, I haven't actually read it yet, but it looks good. More on that in a later post.

Today in church we had a hymn meeting for our sacrament meeting! People got up and shared their favorite hymns and why they were so great. They got to choose a verse from that hymn and we all sang it. I chose Hymn 292, O My Father, verse 2. My second choice, How Great Thou Art, was chosen by THREE different people and so we sang three verses from it. My third choice, A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, was chosen by TWO people and so we sang two verses from it. Awesome. It was way fun and I wish we could do it every Sunday. Also, I was very impressed by our pianist, my friend Ariel (aka Hermione, because I met her at a Halloween party...). She knew all of the songs and was completely okay with just playing whatever songs struck our fancy.

So, life is pretty amazing. This week, I have two days of classes left, and then two reading days (no classes or tests, just studying) that will include a Freshman Academy reunion, a baking party, and an Honors bagel party. Finals start on Friday, and I will probably take my chemistry final on Friday or Saturday, because I have no scheduled finals until Monday. Wish me luck!

See you soon!!!

<3

Eliza

P.S. You're allowed to call me too, you know. :)

Delicious Orange-Raspberry Yogurt Bread/Cake

1 1/2 cups flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 container orange yogurt + enough raspberry yogurt to make one cup yogurt total*
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 T orange zest
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.
2. Sift together the flour through salt in one bowl. In another bowl, whisk the yogurt through oil.
3. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
4. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (The loaf should be golden-brown on the edges)
5. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine 1/3 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice and 2 t sugar in a saucepan. Heat until sugar is dissolved.
6. After the ten minutes are up, flip the loaf out onto a cooling rack (I used a cutting board…) While the cake is still warm, pour the sauce over the cake and allow it to soak in. (I used a pastry brush and a toothpick to put holes in it to draw the syrup in better)
7. Cool and enjoy!

Notes: The raspberry flavor isn't very strong. If I did this again, I would probably put the rest of the raspberry yogurt (1/2 the container) in the syrup.

Recipe loosely adapted from: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/04/lemon-yogurt-anything-cake/
Go here if you want to see options on how to make it with lemon or grapefruit or add berries.
(Here http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/01/cake-paradisi/ is the grapefruit recipe)

AMAZING granola bars!

1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
A little bit more than 1/3 cup oats processed in blender to flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
2-3 cups dried fruits and nuts (I used about 2.5 cups of flax seed, walnuts, pecans, raisins, craisins, coconut, and butterscotch chips)
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 t vanilla extract
6 T melted butter (or substitute oil)
1/4 cup + 2 T honey, maple syrup, or corn syrup (or a combo - I used mostly honey with a little maple syrup)
1 T water

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8x8x2 pan with parchment paper, allowing it to go up the sides. Lightly grease the paper and exposed pan.
2. Stir together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts. In a separate bowl, whisk together everything else but the peanut butter.
3. Toss all ingredients until it's evenly crumbly. Spread in the pan, pressing firmly - make sure to get it in the corners.
4. Bake the bars for 30-40 minutes, until brown around the edges (They will seem soft in the middle but they'll set once cool)
5. Cool the bars in their pan on a cooling rack. Once cool, cut the bars into squares (I made 1x2 rectangles, because they're pretty tall).
If they're crumbly, let them set for longer (or in the fridge)until they're completely cool, and then cut them
6. Try to make them last the week! (Good luck…:)

Suggestions for add-ins: dried cranberries, apricots, pecans, sunflower seeds, coconut, walnuts, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried pineapple, wheat germ, dried cherries, pecan, peanuts, cashews, almonds, butterscotch or chocolate chips, or whatever else you think might taste good! Cereals might also be good, but make sure to take into account the amount of sugar in them and the amount of space they'll take up (you may need to add more liquid to hold it all together)

Notes: If you want them to be less chunky, put your fruits and nuts through the food processor briefly before adding them. If you want it to be sweeter, add more sugar or liquid sweetener. This recipe is VERY flexible, and amazing!

Adapted from the recipe at smitten kitchen.

<3

Eliza

Easter Weekend

Marta, me, and Tess on the top of Observation Point.

Last weekend (well, Thursday morning actually) I went down to Zion's National Park to spend some time with the fam while they were on spring break. I caravaned down with Aunt Geniel, and we hit a snowstorm but made it in about five hours. When we got there, we hiked up to Emerald pools. For the rest of Thursday we pretty much just hung out and I had a good time being a part of the family again. It was fabulous.

The gang (minus parents) on the trail.

However, it was cold. Friday morning Aunt Geniel brought us breakfast (I'm making cheesy grits and sausage tomorrow!) and we went to hike Observation Point. It was 8 miles round trip and a climb of about 2200 feet. But it was so worth it. Every time I'm up high on a mountain, I think something along the lines of "this is what human beings were made to do." The hike was awesome, and I've decided that the solution for the unemployment problem is something along the CCC that FDR used in the Great Depression. But this time they need to take out the paving on the trail, rather than putting it in, because it really hurts your feet. So anyways.... We rode the shuttle back down to camp and I fell asleep on the bus. Friday night wasn't quite as cool (literally or figuratively!) because rather than just having family time we went to the hotel where the Woodwards were staying to eat dinner, and then we watched Lord of the Rings. Oh well. We got to take showers, which was pretty nice after two hiking days, and it's always nice to hang out with Aunt Geniel (especially if she's giving foot massages!). Mom french-braided all of the girls' hair, which was very fun and woodsy. I rather enjoyed it.

Saturday we had AMAZING breakfast burritos made by mom. Someday I want to be just like her. I will save a long discussion of her amazingness for my mother's day post though :) After breakfast we dyed eggs. Dyeing brown and green eggs is really fun, and I really liked trying to make the eggs jewel-toned. After that we rode the shuttle all the way up the canyon and biked back down. Well, I did. Half of us rode down the first half and the other half rode down the second half! Mom wanted to see the museum movie and I didn't, though, so I rode the entire way. Fun! The "kids" (Luke, Marta, Suzannah, and I) got back to the cars early and waited for an hour or so for everyone else to show up. Then we had an Easter Egg hunt, organized of course by the ever-fabulous mothers. Levi was so cute in sharing his candy with me because I didn't collect many eggs. Kemper's actions were really confusing, though. I'm still not entirely sure why he gave away all of his eggs to Luke... Later that afternoon we parted ways and Luke and I drove down in my car to St. George with Babe ahead of us (stuffed to the brim!) while the Woodwards went back up to Herriman. When we got to St. George I was SO happy to see Grandma. We unloaded and ate dinner and the boys went to the Priesthood session of conference while the girls and Levi went Easter dress shopping. We only took two hours, but Mom, Grandma, and Levi gave up and went home before the end. On the way home we picked up some Easter essential candy that we hadn't had before and saw Dad and Luke, who had washed and filled up my car <3

On Sunday, the fam headed home. Sad times. Grandma and I watched conference, which was wonderful, and she brought me lunch outside while I read on the lawn in between sessions. It was pure bliss. She is wonderful. After both sessions were over, I loaded up my stuff (including TONS of food from the fam, which made me quite happy :) and we went to Aunt Marjorie's for dinner. Her daughter and two granddaughters were there, and I had a lot of fun with all of them. Grandma drove me over to the highway and I was on my way.... Four hours and two sessions of conference later, I was back in Provo.

That was the vacation! Boy was it fun.

<3

Eliza

Laugh for the day

Look at this and be jealous.

<3

Eliza

I'm taking a study break to watch my favorite Disney movie.

This is me now, before finals.

This is me during finals.

And this is me after finals.

See you in two weeks!

<3

Eliza

Schedule

Hi guys, it's that time of year again! Signing up for classes.... oh the joy. I signed up on Sunday night - well, actually 12:00 am Monday morning. So here is the schedule:

Physiology (PDBio 305) - Lecture MTWTh 12:00-12:50, Lab Monday 8:00-9:50, 4 credits
This class should give me an intro to some of the medical sciences. Mom and (especially) Dad have been pushing for me to take this one. I think they still sustain hope that I will be a doctor. We'll see.

Honors Econ - TTh 9:00-10:50, 3 credits
This class is a basic course that I think is basic groundwork every college student should have. As my high school econ class was a joke (governomics and politickles), I'm taking this. It will also be exciting because I'll need this class if I decide to go into Polisci or IR.

Honors Organizational Leadership (Honrs 223R) - Wednesday 9:30-11:50, 3 credits I'm taking this class for three reasons: 1) Honors credits so I can graduate with honors, 2) it will be kind of an introduction to business and management, and 3) it looks really cool.

Intro to English Language - TTh 1:35-2:50, 3 credits
This is a prereq to getting an editing minor. It is english with a linguistics flavor to it, and should be interesting.

Honors D&C part 2 - MW 1:00-1:50 (even though I haven't taken part 1...), 2 credits
It was either this or Old Testament at 4. If taking the second part first doesn't work out, I'll just switch in the first two weeks of class. Also, this should work out fairly well because my scripture reading will just be getting to the Doctrine and Covenants by that point in the year....

World Dance - MW 6:00-6:50, 0.5 credits
Exciting? I think so. I went to Kirsi's folk dance performance last week and it looked like a ton of fun. Hopefully it will be :)


I'm also hoping to get into a martial arts class and a tennis class, but we'll see if spots open up in either of those!

Oh, and I'll also be TA for Intro to IR, which is 2:00-2:50 MWF. I may also have office hours, depending on whether I'm an office TA or a research paper TA.



That's next semester's schedule. I'm also starting to look at options for winter semester. I'm interested in going on a study abroad, and my favorite options right now are looking like India and Israel.
What do you think?

<3
Eliza

P.S. Updates about my mini-spring break with the family and the last week of schooling are coming! I'm just a little bit busy, but after Thursday I will have some time to catch up!