banks wears a polo

I should be packing, but I found some of Toby and Reggie's clothes in my closet and tried a few out on Banks :) Am I the worst pet owner ever for subjecting my kitten to an adorable blue polo?! I think not. I am aware that it's summer here in Texas, so I removed the polo shortly after shooting this. 

And I promise I only left this one on for a minute! ;) Could he get any cuter? Srsly.

sea foam

I'm loving the sea foam color right now. My aunt just painted her kitchen and game room this light and airy color and it really gave me the bug to add a bit more sea foam to my life (not the real kind...). I've had the itch to re-do my dresser and now that I have a new fave color, I'm can't wait to get started. The hold up? We are currently residing in different cities.
 I bought this vase from West Elm this past weekend. It fits in just fine with the sea pallet. 

My pinterest account just happens to be overflowing with sea foam. Here are some of my favorites.

I could go on, really. When I actually started looking, almost all of my pins are some shade of blue. 

I'm off to pack for Virginia! We are leaving our house at 5am tomorrow! 
Have a safe and happy 4th of July :)

GeoX

This video was made by one of our GeoX students this year. The kids (and counselors, myself and the director, Dr. Garcia) had a blast all week. We interpreted seismic data, cored a section next to the "creek" in Wolf Pen Creek, learned about energy consumption, spent the day at the BP headquarters in Houston, spent a day in Galveston learning about currents, took a survey of the beach face, stayed in the dorms (me too!), danced in the halls, took cold showers, watched movies and youtube videos, made lasting friendships and hopefully came away with a deeper understanding of Geosciences. 

Putting together this program took months, but it was well worth all the preparation once the students showed up. 

So, if you happened to be going into your sophomore or junior year in high school, and you're interested in Geosciences (Geology & Geophysics, Oceanography, Environmental programs, Atmospheric Sciences and Geography), or know someone who is, check out the GeoX website and apply for next summer! 

OR you could holla atcha girl and i'll hook you up. Did I mention that after the week was up, I gained some new vocabulary words like totes awk (aka totally awkward)? Well, it's true. AND, Madison taught me how to dougie. Oh ya.

party in my shoes

New favorite OPI color: Extravaganza! 

I got a pedi this weekend (for the first time since Christmas. Yikes!) and broke free from my hot pink rut. I absolutely love the sparkles. My mom, aunts and I are going to a wedding in Virginia this weekend and my toes are party ready. They also looked super cute with my leopard print pencil skirt today :)




I've been looking high and low for Mac Bad Fairy nail polish, and it is no where to be found. LOVE the red and orange sparkles.

The search continues...

back with cakewiches!

It's been a while, right?? Well, I brought cake to make it up to you. I'll recap some of the major points and then we can move on.

Less than a week after Banks (right) moved back to College Station with me, I admitted him to the hospital for a sinus infection that moved to his lungs. He weighed only 3.3 lbs and the vet was not very optimistic. He recovered in 4 days and came home just in time to get shipped back to Houston so I could help run GeoX. 

GeoX was a blast and thoroughly exhausting. I've got some great pictures and a slideshow one of the participants made that I'll post in the near future. 

I'm back in Houston, now. I've been at my internship for two weeks and everything is going great. I was an intern at this company last year, so I already know the ropes and a good group of people. I semi-blame looking at a computer all day at work for not blogging lately...and I got so far behind, it was a little daunting to think of starting up again. 

Anyway, after the hiatus, I have a lot of fun things to share, but for now, I'll leave you with a mini cake recipe my mom and I made this evening from Self Magazine. I've subscribed to Self for a few years now and I love it. It's all about healthy life style choices and they have the best recipes. 

Mini Chocolate Cakewiches--24

117 Calories for 2

Filling:

1/2 cup reduced-fat cream cheese, at room temp

2 tbsp powdered sugar

1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cake:

Vegetable oil cooking spray

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 tbsp unsalted butter

1 egg white

1/2 cup skim milk, divided

Preheat oven to 400°. 

For filling: Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer on high until smooth. Add yogurt and vanilla; beat until well combined. 

For cakes: Coat baking sheets with cooking spray. Whisk flour, cocoa powder and baking soda in a second bowl. Beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer on high in a third bowl until combined; add egg white and beat until mixture is thick and pale yellow. Add half the flour mixture to sugar and butter mixture; beat until just combined. Add 1/4 cup milk; beat on low speed until combined. Repeat with remaining flour mixture and remaining 1/4 cup of milk. Spoon batter into a large resealable bag; squeeze batter into a corder of the bag and clip 1/4 inch off to make a piping bag (our cut was bigger than this and didn't make nearly as many). Squeeze lines of batter 4 inches long and 1 inch apart (or as many inches apart as you want!). Bake until centers spring back to the touch--we did 5 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Fill with filling when they are cooled and enjoy!

Recipe from Self Magazine

**We did not love the filling, but the cake was excellent. I think some low-fat whipped cream would be even better inside and probably lower the calories even more! I'll letcha know if we try it out.

Good to be back, homies! Happy weekending!