Resolutions.

Do you believe in New Years' Resolutions? I'm not sure I do. Does you family do the grapes? Where you put 12 grapes in a cup and when midnight comes you eat each one and each one is a wish? I would mostly wish for money, books, good grades, health for my family & myself, and happiness. I don't usually set resolutions for myself, mostly because I think the whole "New Year, New Me" wasn't cool. Like if you wanted to make new goals, you could do that anytime of the year. But I thought I would do it this year. I mean these are kind of loose goals, like I've thought of these for a while. Here goes:

• Be healthier. Maybe I've had one too many bags of hot cheetos. I actually really want to follow through with this one.
• Break (personal) habits
• Study more, those grades aren't going to stay up by themselves.
• Make time for books.
• Make time for yourself.
• Get out more. 

The New Year (And quick catch up)

Hi! I hope Christmas was merry. I had been so good at posting but I went away for a few days and left my laptop behind. I had the best time with my family, I wish I could go back. But sadly we must return back to the real life... However, the new year is approaching..fast. This year went by so fast. As the 31st approaches, so does my return to school. Sigh. I have not made a big dent in my pile of TBR books at all. I have gotten half way through Binge and only a little of The Infinite Sea. I still have Ten Thousand Skies Above You. Plus I just ordered I'll Give You The Sun as well. I will read them though, just not within the coming weeks. I start school soon and I've joined a extra class that will take up a good amount of time. I really hope you are having a wonderful break and reading lots, or at least doing something you find enjoyable. Anyways I don't really put up personal pictures but I decided to let this one slide.

It's my cousin, my brother, and myself at an aerospace museum (a bunch of planes) in Sacramento. I had a blast and miss my family up there dearly. See you soon.

Christmas Treat Bundles

Only a few days left till Christmas! And since I only bought gifts for my dad and uncle, I decided to make little gift bags for my family that I will be spending Christmas with this year. These were so fun to make and although I encountered trouble along the way, it came out a success. Heres one:

Don't they look delicious? 

Want to know how to make them? Keep reading...

Firstly, I made sugar cookies. I used the recipe:

Ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tbsp milk

1/2 tbs vanilla 

Steps:

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES F

1. Mix all dry ingredients.

2. Mix all wet ingredients.

3. Mix both, dry and wet.

4. Mix until ball forms.

5. You can make small balls or roll out and cut into shapes like I did onto a baking sheet.

5. Bake for about 12-15 minutes

6. Let cool.

That's it! So simple

Then I decorated them with my family. I bought normal vanilla icing and food coloring. I used sandwich bags to pipe. It was really fun.

Secondly, I made peanut brittle, which went horribly wrong.

I forgot to butter the parchment paper I guess. So it all stuck and was inedible. I did manage to save little bits though.

Ingredients: 1 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Corn Syrup

1 1/2 cup of salted peanuts (or any really)

1 tbsp Butter

1 tsp Vanilla

1 tsp Baking soda

Steps:

1. Mix corn syrup and sugar. Microwave for 5 min (high)

2. Add in peanuts. Microwave for 5 more minutes, stirring about half way, until golden brown

3. Add in vanilla, baking soda, and butter. Be quick!

4. Spread onto BUTTERED parchment paper.

5. Cool and then break into pieces

no image available because I failed at this

Thirdly, I made chocolate almond bark. That was the easiest thing.
Ingredients: 2 cups (16 oz.) of chocolate*
1 1/2 cup roasted & salted Almonds
*I used half semisweet and half dark

Steps: 1. Melt chocolate accordingly
2. Spread onto parchment paper.
3. Sprinkle almonds and then move around to coat.
4. Let cool & break

Lastly, I wrapped everything into a little treat bag. For mine, I got these holiday themed ziplock bags (1 qt) and just cut off the top part (the closing part). Then I put chocolate bark with a sugar cookie in front of it. Then I sprinkled little bits of peanut brittle, from what I could salvage in my failed one, but normally I would add big pieces. Then to tie it off, I bought these $1 ribbons (red & white) from Walmart.
These are the finished products. Although I do recommend letting the frosting on the cookies dry better than I did.

   

           

 

Oh Christmas Tree

Hello. There are only a few days left till Christmas, can you

believe it? I realized that I haven't showcased my Christmas tree

yet. I went ahead and took somewhat artsy shots of it and I am

pretty pleased with them. This year we got an artificial tree mostly because we got a new kitty, Ojai, and he is a real trouble maker. Plus 
our dog, Phoebe, liked to drink the water and that isn't very

safe. Ojai also loves climbing up the tree and knocking off the 
ornaments, which is so annoying.

But he is so adorable so it's really hard to get angry at him..

However, our tree looks pretty great if I do say so myself. We have some presents under the tree as well.

I unfortunately don't have pictures of my dogs but soon..

See ya later!

Let the fun begin!

WINTER BREAK HAS ARRIVED

This week, I finished my finals and am now free. Plus I got straight A's this semester! I am so happy about it but I am so glad that finals are over! That means I get to read and just relax. I have already read Winter by Marissa Meyer and have a review up already. However, I also have more books I want to get to. I have ordered multiple books from the good ol' Barnes & Noble. They include, The Infinite Sea, Ten Thousand Skies Above You, Binge, and others. I am currently reading The Infinite Sea and I'm liking it so far. However, I get three weeks off and while I do plan on reading, I also plan on doing some other activities. I plan on making sugar cookies decorated Chritsmasy and also plan on making some holiday snacks like peanut brittle and chocolate bark, which I will showcase here. I am visiting family as well so that'll be fun. But today, I wanted to show you a real photo of me during my finals..

See ya later!

Aylin's Gift Ideas

Ah Christmas...the giving season. The time where you get to go out and buy gifts for all your friends and loved ones. It is the time when your wallet aches but your heart soars with the happiness that comes from someone opening your painstakingly wrapped gift. Personally, I love the wrapping part. But the choosing of the present is the ultimate task. I constantly debate whether the person will like or hate it, or pretend to like but you can clearly see on their face that they hate it. And now that Christmas is only 2 weeks away, the procrastinators are...still putting off. So I, since I apparently love making lists (as shown by my previous posts), I have come up with some gift ideas. These range from large to small, and inexpensive to moderately expensive.

- A Good Ol' Book

(What kind of reader would I be if I didn't put this on the list?)

- A nice scent, whether that be in a lotion, body wash, or perfume.

i.e. Anything from bath and body works really

- A nice, soft blanket

- A good scented candle 

(I love them, did you know there are book scented ones?)

- A good movie

That they haven't seen before and you know they'll like

- A sweater, scarf, gloves, etc.

play it safe with neutral colors and simple style, unless you know what they like 

- Jewelry

doesn't have to be super expensive but a simple necklace or bracelet works

- A dog or cat or...

For someone who'll love a companion but is willing to take on the responsibility

- A House

For those willing to pay (Joking, joking, but I mean if you really want..)

-A board game 

For those who like human contact over technology, or those who love technology too much 

- A Poster

I have so many...

- Tickets to an amusement park 

Like Disneyland, or Universal Studios

- Gift Cards

Can't go wrong there, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Food places, etc.

-And if all else fails, a cute and cheesy Christmas card with money

Winter Reads

Winter break is coming up and I am so excited to read new books all day long. Finals are also lurking closer and closer as well but I try really hard not to think about them or else I will seriously stress. But what I do think about are books, my true friends. I have recently ordered some books from the good ol' Barnes & Noble. And here are the books I hope to get to in these upcoming months: (IF INTERESTED, CLICK TITLE FOR LINK TO BARNES & NOBLE ONLINE)

Aylin's TBR Winter List

1. Winter by Marissa Meyer
~I love the Lunar Chronicles and actually have reviews up for the first two books. Winter came out recently and I have ordered it so it will be here very soon!

2. The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey
~Yes I know that this book has been out for a while and I actually did read The Fifth Wave quite a while ago but I have the paperback version and was waiting for this one to come out as paperback as well and now it has and it will be sitting on my shelf very soon!

3. Binge by Tyler Oakley
~ I am a massive Youtube fan and have read both of Zoella's book, moslty because they are fiction but Tyler Oakley so unique and funny that his memoir seems really intriguing.

4. Magnolia by Maria Dahvana Headley
      ~I am currently reading this one! Only a few pages in though..

5. Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray
~Check out my review of the first book! I really enjoyed reading it and have high hopes for Theo, he deserves Marguerite. Just saying..

6. Newt's Emerald by Garth Nix
~Sounds very magical and fun.

But yeah that's my TBR list for this time of the year. I most likely won't get through all of these but I can try. Hope you have a good break! See ya. 

Christmas Playlist

Christmas Season

I hope you are having a wonderful December. Last year I wrote a short post on the holiday season and this year I would like to upload more frequently. I have put up book blogs recently, but I want to really get into the Christmas spirit. So I went ahead and compiled a Christmas/Winter playlist.  CLICK THE TITLE FOR THE LINK 

Aylin's Christmas Spotify Playlist

This playlist includes classic songs like Let It Snow, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Clause is Coming to Town, Jingle Bells, & Jingle Bell Rock (Some are repeated but they by different artists)

It also include some classic Bublé like It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas & Holly Jolly Christmas.

Plus some movie soundtracks like You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch, For the First Time in Forever & Love is an Open Door (Who doesn't love some Frozen?)

Hope you enjoy it..