HIGH FIVE FOR FRIDAY!

1. The Prince & Princess Birthday Party! A bunch of the Chi Alpha kids dressed up like princes & princesses for some sweet kiddos. It was hilarious & awesome- they did such a good job of staying in character!

2. Present!!!! These cute flowers & card were waiting for me at Chi Alpha this week! So fun & so encouraging! ASU XA has the best students & friends. 🙂

3. Cordadito I finally got to try this treat from Liberty Market! It was delish- little & cute. Bets kept saying it was “very European.”

4. Little trip down memory lane. I had an eye doctor appointment near the old house of some friends. I decided to take a little drive by- just to see if I still remembered how to get there. 🙂

5.Sofifi/Beyonce Ok well that’s what I would have named her. My sisters got a cat & named it Rory. It’s pretty cute, I guess.

GUYS! I was INTERVIEWED!!!!!

It’s true.  I was interviewed about my role as a “volunteer coordinator.” Chi Alpha is run by a LOT of student input & direction, but someone has to wrangle all of that potential! I spend lots & lots of time texting, facebooking, and meeting up with people to make sure Chi Alpha goes well! I actually never really thought of myself as a volunteer coordinator until the FABULOUS, AMAZING, and HILARIOUS Morgan asked if she could interview me for her class. I thought it gave a little bit of a different perspective on my job and I thought I’d post the answers here.

(Also- hopefully this redeems the time I called Morgan a weirdo on my blog. Also, Morgan- I have a question for you- What happened to all the crooners? How come nobody croons anymore?)

 

Without further ado, here you go:

 

FALL FEST: Part 2!

you can read part 1 here.

After dinner was eaten and pumpkins were picked up, we headed to Granite Hills Retreat & Conference Center for the night. OH WAIT! First actually we went to Starbucks for a PSL. Aka A Pumpkin Spice Latte aka The official drink of fall.

CUTE IDEA: Fall Fest Road Trip Treats!

I love making fun treats for people! (Like these keys! Or these popcorn bags!) We had some info we needed to communicate to the people going to Fall Fest & I figured I could make it cute!

FALL FEST!!!! Part 1!

Wow! It’s been a crazy little while here! In the last week, I babysat over night, spoke at Chi Alpha, got a 2 day migraine and took 35 students to Prescott! Whoa! I’m tired!

ASU introduced a Fall Break into their academic calendar and Chi Alpha took full advantage! This idea was birthed this summer as we were talking about the calendar and how we should do something fall-ish. People in Phoenix have an insane fascination with fall- mostly because it doesn’t really exist for them. It’s basically the equivalent of a unicorn to these people. The minute the thermometer falls below 75, people are in scarves and drinking hot chocolate. I’m not exaggerating. Even though I grew up in the Midwest, I’ve adapted to the valley of the sun’s mentality. The other day I thought, “Wow- It feels so nice outside!” and the temperature was 90*. Again- no exaggeration. Therefore- we designed an event to experience the fullness of fall and to let people from other countries experience an American fall! Jokingly, I said, “Yeah- we can call it FALL FEST! It can be like SWEATERS, LEAVES, LATTES- FALL FEST!” After little brainstorming, we decided the name should just be Fall Fest. We couldn’t think of a better one. The funny thing was- people totally got behind it. #FallFest!

FOUR CORNERS OF THE INTERNET v11

A round up of weird things I found on the internet……

 

1. A $300 Paper Bag Purse

Yes- that paper bag looking thing is actually a $300 “handbag.” Ok actually $290. Go here to read Man Repeller’s thoughts about the bag and Karl Lagerfeld’s quote, “The future of fashion is to spend a lot of money without looking like you spent it.” Also- a bit of a warning- she loves the F bomb, so…read with caution!

 

2. Reddit’s AMA: Legends of the Hidden Temple

Are you familiar with Reddit’s AMA’s? It stands for “Ask Me Anything.” Barack Obama did one recently. Basically someone posts like “I am an acrobatic pastry chef. AMA” and people post all of their questions for that person. They take the time to provide proof that they are what they say they are and answer lots of questions.  I particularly enjoyed this AMA from a girl who was on Legends of the Hidden Temple as a child. It had TONS of fascinating info- like your parents aren’t allowed to watch and you have to take a test to get on on the show and basically every thing I would be wondering. I love AMAs!

 

 

3.Why do mosquitoes bite some people more than others?

I was curious. I googled it. I found an answer..kind of.  This article from Science Line explains a bit about what may predispose you to lots of mosquito bites.

 

 

 

4. A Hollister Store in England Is So Dark People Are Getting Lost Inside

Yes- this is happening. Read the article from New York Magazine here.

2 Things!

2 things:

1. You can go here to read my latest monthly newsletter and hear about what’s going on in my life and on campus!

2. I wrote a post for the ASU Chi Alpha Blog called “Silent Service Spotlight,” featuring a student who is awesome at serving!

 

HIGH FIVE FOR FRIDAY

It’s been a few weeks, but I’m back!

Here are my HIGH FIVE from this week.

1. Figuring out how to make my homemade Passion Tea Lemonade!

It tastes JUST like the Starbucks version and it costs like 20c a cup. Delish!
I’ll post my directions soon!!!

2. South Mountain Hike with Mag!

Last weekend, Mag and I woke up EARLY to hike South Mountain. We took a biiiit of a detour through a neighborhood, but it was so fun! My fav part is that you have a really good view of the WHOLE campus! Fun!

3. Free Ice Cream at Culvers/going to Culvers in general. 

Frozen custard is a midwestern staple and an Arizona rarity.  Right now, if you join their text club or check in on four square, you can get a free scoop (a BIG scoop!) of frozen custard. So bad for you but SO SO GOOD! Plus who doesn’t love hanging out with weirdos like these peeps:

4. Produce from Superstition Ranch Market

Out of this loveliness (that cost like $10. including 3 cartons of berries!), I made massaged kale salad, tortilla soup, overnight oats, and more! Yum!

5. Promises for Your Everyday Life, a daily devotional from Joyce Meyer

I found this Bible reading plan on the YouVerse Bible App & I love it! My phone reminds me every day to read it and it’s really helpful! I read the verse & the devo, then I take some time to pray and journal.  It adds a common thread and some consistency to my quiet times. I like that.

What a week! I’m linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

RECIPES I’VE MADE LATELY

Fall coming means warm & cozy foods! The entire state of Arizona spends their time pretending that we experience fall even though we have nothing of the sort.  In  the ever challenging adventures of cooking healthy, delicious, & cheap things for one- I’ve found a few recipes that fit the bill!

I love Taste of Home for recipes because they are always simple with minimal ingrediants.  Many of their recipes have “makeover” versions that have some ingrediants substituted to make them more healthy.  I made the Makeover Chicken & Broccli Braid– it was good! Ok don’t be jealous of my awesome food photography:

       

Here are a few things I changed: I totally left out the dill because everyone left nasty comments about it. I also left out the almonds because I didn’t have any and they didn’t really seem important to me. Ha! I also only used 1 tube of crescent rolls because I was making a smaller version.  The nice thing about this recipe is that the left overs were AWESOME. This was easy to portion out & eat for a few meals.

I also made a little quinoa breakfast thing. Weight Watcher’s Recipe for Quinoa & Apple’s Breakfast Cereal
was delish! One of those breakfasts that really “sticks” with you because of the quinoa.  I used Trader Joe’s multi colored quinoa and it looked especially fall-ish.  Oh! And I made this the night before- it’d be super easy if you were already making something with quinoa for dinner.

On the Quinoa kick- I made this Quinoa Mexi 6 Layer caserole. I didn’t take any pics of it, but it was awesome! It provided many meals and was great reheated.  I subbed real cheese (tofu cheese=expensive and gross) and ground turkey (because I like the way it tastes).

Yum! Obviously I’m in the mood to make something pumpkin-y and I’m going grocery shopping later! We’ll see what I come up with! I’d love to hear about your fall recipes too!!

xox,

Katie Cannon

GOOD EATS: Treats from the past weeks!

I’ve had lots of good food in the past few weeks & I’d love to share some of them with you!

1. Cupcakes from The Coffee Shop

Betsy & I went to Liberty Market (so delicious….if you haven’t been there…go. now!) for lunch a while ago, but we really wanted something sweet afterwards! We decided to head to The Coffee Shop for their AWESOME cupcakes.  I really wanted to try their famous, Cupcake Wars winning Coffee & Cigarettes Cupcake.  They were out of them that day. Boohoo!  We decided on the Mixed Berry Cupcake and the Orange Ginger Cupcake.  We spit them- SO GOOD!  The mixed berry had these yummy fresh cherries and the orange frosting on the Orange Ginger cupcake was divine! They all have these fun glittery sparkles on top.

Not to mention this is a great place to go, hang out, and do work! It’s also a popular spot for moms to meet up…or at least it was on the day we visited! Also- it should be noted that I am a total cupcake snob, and these pass my test!

     

2. Treats from Essence Bakery

One weekend, I met up with Abby & her sister for some breakfast & thrifting.  We went to Essence Bakery in Tempe.  They are famous for their croissants & macarons.  I tried both! I had the almond croissant & an iced coffee.  The coffee was good- not the best I’ve ever had.  I wish the buttertastic croissant tasted bad…but it didn’t. It’s fatty self tasted delicious.

Abby got a little macron sampler- we split most of them. So yum! My fav was the hazelnut one.  My least fav was the rose one. Not into food that tastes like perfume.  This would be such a fun gift to give, too! Look how cute they are (and how cute is Abby?!?!):

3. Pretzel Bites from Red Robin

If you love soft pretzels…or carbs…the way I do-go order these right away. They are delicious.  They come with a cheese sauce (Made with some kind of beer. It’s deliciously yeasty) and a great mustard.  If you ask me, it makes a great meal! I wouldn’t want to share them with anyone. Plus! It comes in a fun elevated basket thing! It’s so fun!

Yay! I’d love to hear if you have had any yummy treats lately!

xoxo,

Katie Cannon