Baking for Good

If you've been to my apartment at all, you've probably notice that my cooking abilities are limited to any of the following: spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, and take-out. Cooking is quite honestly, not my forte. I'm terrible at deciding when the chicken is fully cooked and it's exhausting trying to make an entire meal, just for yourself. But baking, on the other hand, is something I'll fully get behind. For Christmas, my step-dad bought me Southern Living's Best Loved Cookies cookbook and amid this blizzard, it's getting some use!

I also recently stumbled upon the awesome online bake sale site Baking for Good. Not only do the founders (and bakers) at this site serve up some delicious looking baked goods, they're devoted to donating 15 percent of every purchase on the site to the cause of your choice. Currently, the site's featured nonprofit is the Lincoln Center Theater's Open Stages Education Program, encouraging economically disadvantaged students in the NYC area to develop deeper interests in the arts.

So in case you're still looking for some Valentine's Day ideas, these mouth-watering treats will not only satisfy your sweet tooth, but also allow you to do some good.

A weekend in review: cupcakes and ball games

Despite the dreary weather here in D.C., I had an extremely productive weekend. The rain and 40 degree weather made it a great time to play catch up on all things domestic - including taking time to try out the pumpkin cupcake recipe shared by KAG. I have to admit, they turned out very well!

Also this weekend, I spent some much needed time cleaning up all my social media outlets. Oddly enough, when I started this little blog here, I registered with my hotmail account. Not a good plan, friends. So, a year later, I finally figured out how to switch everything over, officially, to my gmail account, which makes my life a lot easier. But, this also means that I'm needing to spend time adding everyone's blogs to my other account, which is taking some time so bear with me.

Saturday evening I met up with the UCF alumni group here to watch the UCF vs. Miami game. Although we didn't win, I'm happy to say it wasn't a complete blowout. But it did make me nostalgic for the days of tailgating as I watched everyone's Facebook statuses as they headed to the game. As the favorite UCF adage goes, "We may not win 'em all, but we never loose a tailgate party."

Also, I found this cartoon this week in the Ft. Myers newspaper. So true. Oh, Florida, some days I really miss you.

The News- Press