Death by Butterbeer.

I went home today to do boring stuff like laundry and more laundry and blah blah blah.  One of the highlights of the day though-- BUTTERBEER.  Over spring break, my family galavanted off to Florida without me and went to Harry Potter World.  They came back raving about the butter beer and the Harry Potter-ness of it all.  It was sad and rub-in-my-face-y.  

But then, my dear mother made up for it by finding a recipe for butterbeer and making it herself!  I completely expected it to taste like magic and henceforth be able to wave a wand and make shit move and/or avada kedavra my way out of sticky situations.  

Here I am, before the whirlwind of stomach cramps hit.
Look how happy and unsuspecting I am...

Unfortunately, it tasted kinda yucky and made me feel even yuckier.  It's basically made with heavy cream, sugar, and soda, so....LOTS O' DAIRY.  I haven't had any dairy products for quite a while, so I'm not feelin' so hot.  Butterbeer was not the greatest idea... I commend Harry & friends for chugging them on a regular basis.  Excuse me while I go throw up in some corner of Diagon Alley.

Bunny Chompin'

Guess what my fifteenth favorite thing in the world is.  If you guessed fluffy dogs and/or peanut butter, you are on the right track, but unfortunately not correct.  If you were thinking stale peeps, then you are ABSOLUTELY correct.  Those thangs are delicious.  Especially when drunk.  Like now.  Nothing better than chunks of sugar dyed pink and molded into the shape of bunnies.  Especially ones that have been hangin' around since Easter and happen to be tough as walnuts.  No big deal, that's what molars are for-- chomping stuff..

Here's a picture of me, nommin' some bunnies right after gym-time.  Also, that shirt I'm wearing?  Got it for FREE outdside of the Davis Center.  Yayz.

FREE PLANTZ

What is the absolute best thing that could happen to you on a dreary Wednesday morning?  Whatever you're thinking-- WRONG.  Obviously, the answer is finding an abandoned de-potted plant tossed carelessly on the lawn behind the Rowell building.  Duh.  I spotted it on my way in to class.  It looked like this:

Adorable and little and precious and oh so MINE.

And then me, being the innovative creature that I am, stuck it in my empty coffee cup.  Perfect temporary potting mechanism.... until I kept going to take a sip of coffee and getting a mouthful of dirt.  Dirt doesn't really taste like coffee, but it does taste amazingly similar to that mud mask I wrote about in the previous post...  Anyway, I named the thing Reggie.

Little Reggie lookin' all cute n' stuff in his little coffee cup... 

After letting Reggie sit in the coffee cup for a day and a half because I was too busy (read: lazy) to pay attention to him, I finally transferred it to a coffee mug.  It's only been like 5 minutes since the big move, but I can tell he's way happier.  

So now, here's my list of challenges:

1.  Keeping it alive.  My thumb is the exact opposite of green.  I kill just about everything I touch.

2.  Figuring out what kind of plant Reggie is.  The only plant I can confidently identify is a dandelion. Maybe a hydrangea bush on a good day.  This little green thing could be poison ivy and I would have no idea.  Maybe I'll rub it on my face and see what happens.

3.  My parents got a plant in college, named it Fred, and kept it alive somehow.  It just recently kicked the bucket a year or two ago.  I dunno if I'm ready for that kind of long-term plant relationship. Sheeeesh it's like having a kid!  I'm not ready!  I can't do it!  I'm gonna end up tossing it back behind Rowell again!  What if I feel that way when I actually have kids?!  Can I toss them behind Rowell too?!  

This is too much pressure.  Reggie's gotta go.  Who wants him...

A face mask that didn't end in tears?! What a concept!

HEY.  It's about time for another post that has absolutely nothing to do with food!  Let's talk about face masks.  I've had a wee bit of experience with face masks, and by face masks I mean just putting weird shit on my face.  For example, there was that one time in high school my friend Betsy and I rubbed raw egg on our faces and left it there for hours.  Then we got rashes.  Another time, I got a green tea goop in my Easter basket and that one made me break out.  There are more stories, but they all pretty much end the same: me looking more stupid than I already do.

This one didn't turn out so well.  It just made me smell like babies and irritated my T-zone.

So due to my great experiences with face masks in the past, when Sarah suggested we try out her new mud mask, I was all, "YEAH, THAT'S THE BEST IDEA EVER!"  I just never learn, do I?  So we did it.

Here's the three of us-- me, Sarah, and Connor (cough, the SGA president) right after we gooped that gunk all over our junk.  And by junk, I mean face.  The mud mask was LITERALLY mud.  With a buncha perfume dumped in there.  ...My vocabulary is really not doing this face mask any justice though, so let's rephrase: the luxuriously smooth mixture was derived straight from the earth and infused with a lavender scent so strong, it tickled the senses.  There, much better.

Don't mess with DA BES (swagswagswag).

Mr. President looking quite dashing in a face full o' mud.

Sarah looking uncannily like a chimp.

In case you're wondering whether my skin was burnt off or if my face looks like a nuclear war zone, fear not!  It looks pretty normal!  The mask seems to have had very little effect.  Disappointing, but at least I'm not melting or throwing up.  I'd say it's a success.

Feed some kiddos! Eat some energy bars!

Discovery of the week: Two Degrees bars-- gluten free AND vegan!  I'm a big fan of clif bars, nature valley, all those gluteny energy bars, so I was SO EXCITED to have found one that I can eat.  And, added bonus-- for every bar you buy, a meal is donated to a hungry child.  BOOM, good deed for the day.  Downside: each bar is $3.49 at Marche.  If you budget out your points evenly throughout the semester, you can spend about 12-15 points a day, so...this isn't really the greatest bang for your buck (that sounds vaguely inappropriate...ha).

Chocolate peanut.  The best flavor, obviously.  Chocolate trumps all.  This was also the first flavor I tried.  On the wrapper it says the main ingredients are quinoa; chia; and millet, so I was a bit hesitant to try it.  Sounded disgustingly healthy.  But fear not, easily impressionable people!  Do not be swayed by the scary wrapper!

Cherry almond.  The second best flavor.  

Apple pecan.  The third best flavor.  Just because it came in last doesn't mean it's not finga-lickin' fabulous though.  (bahahah say "finga-lickin' fabulous" outloud.  It gets funnier every time).

Possibly the best thing I've ever found in the garbage...

Right on the heels of last nights' ridiculous trash find, came ANOTHER ridiculous trash find.  A BIKE TUBE.  Most people would see a discarded bike tube and be like, "daaaang, what a bummer for whoever can't ride their bike anymore."  But not me.  I was like "THANK YOU, TRASH GODS, FOR THIS EXCELLENT GIFT."  So so so so so sosososososoooo excited.

Last semester, I did a lot of volunteering with Bike Recycle VT (learn more about it HERE), making jewelry out of old, unusable bike parts.  We made earrings out of bike tires and tubes, bracelets out of spokes, necklaces out of little thingamajiggers, etc etc.

Here's a basic pair of feather earrings made from a bike tube.  SO SO easy to make.

This is a bracelet made from a bike spoke...not so easy to make.  In fact, I never quite mastered it.

Unfortunately, I'm too busy this semester to keep volunteering every week (maybe you should check it out! Go make stuff!), so I stocked up on some extra materials to keep crafting on my own.  After a few weeks, those ran out and I've been deprived of jewelry-making materials for a while.  So get ready for an onslaught of more feather earrings, y'all.  I can make a LOT of jewelry with one bike tube... let the crafting begin!

Unleash the trail mix beast.

There I was, sitting at my desk, sort-of-but-not-really being productive, when all of a sudden I got a text alerting me that someone was making a huge wasteful-looking donation to the trash bin... I JUMPED out of my seat, FLUNG open the door, SPRINTED down the hall, and gave a battle cry of VICTORY.  Actually, that might not have happened, but I did get there pretty fast, and there might've even been a little gasp of excitement.  For there, sitting atop the heap of to-go containers and empty banana peels, was a bag of my most favoritest in the world forever and ever food item: TRAIL MIX.  and it was FULL.  I swear, I almost pooped my pants.  Maybe I did poop my pants, but that's for me to know and you to never find out.  So... anyway.

Me + trail mix = unstoppable beast. 

I also found some gluten-y things that I left out in the kitchen.  So, fellow floor-mates, go get some trash food while it's still there!

Golden oreos.  Almost as good as regular oreos, but not really.

OH, HOW I MISS THEE, CHEDDAR-Y SQUARES OF GLUTEN.

And finally, some cinnamon raisin bread to finish off another wonderful round of the "what can Caney find in the trash?" game.  

Shout-out to the provider of these wonderful trash finds.  <3