Turkey Day!

Okay, I admit it. We have been terrible celebrationalists lately. I'm pretty sure I just made up that word too, and I'm okay with that. But I thought, in honor of Thanksgiving, I would break our losing streak with a few lovely photos that celebrate the heart of Thanksgiving tradition -- family, thankfulness, and delicious food.

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. Enjoy. :-)

Button Day

Today is National Button Day, which translates almost directly into "Boss Lady Day." Happy day of buttons to our favorite button lady... making buttons magical!

Click to explore a magical land of buttons

~Princess Aurora

I Love to Write Day

Brain Soup - Nov. 15

I feel like I have scrambled brains today. Lots of random holidays going on, one being World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. Fitting, since Princess Ariel & I were almost killed by a suicidal deer on the highway earlier this evening.

Today was also I Love to Write Day. Sometimes I do love to write. But most of the time... writing is therapy. As I think about all the topics I've chosen for class pprs in the past yr, they mostly fall into these categories: friends, my dearly missed bookstore, moments when someone reached out to me in a way that changed my life...

I was looking up Nov. 16 holidays and remembering, as I often do, that the 16th used to mean something to me. In high school my best friends & I decided to celebrate the 16th of every month as our birthday. Ours, collectively. Totally silly, but I guess it was about unification. We tried to be 1 person. Maybe that's what went so wrong.

I've been discovering that lasting friends aren't the ppl you try to mold yourself into or those you desperately cling to. They're the ones who make you want to be something better, something more, to push yourself. They make you want to stop. Stop whining, stop failing, stop hurting. When you can no longer stand the sound of your own voice, and your shortcomings feel bigger than anything you can handle or mend... when you want to be everything you've hoped the world will be for you... when you hate yourself for all the ways in which you're failing... I guess that's when you know there are ppl worth succeeding for.

These are some of the ppl in my life who make me want to be brave, strong, creative... stable.

How's that for writing therapy?

~Princess Aurora

To Write Love

It's been awhile, I know. We both kind of fail at life sometimes. Life just gets in the way.

Good news though: the other day we were both rehired by the same seasonal calendar kiosk that we used to work at together. Our old, beloved bookstore where Princess Aurora and I met used to run it every year. Although the books are all gone now, I think I can get at least a little bit of satisfaction from seeing the calendars again. It's a nice reminder, it definitely gives the holidays a nostalgic feel. Also, having money and a job is always a good thing. This kiosk is where we met for the very first time though, so it definitely holds some significance there. A piece of my soul is bound up in that calendar castle.

Well, today is To Write Love On Her Arms Day. Basically, you just write the word "Love" on your arm to show that you support helping people who self-harm and have other such problems.

This cause is near and dear to my heart. You would probably be surprised, but more of your friends then I'm sure you realize could have struggled with something like this. Depression, thoughts of suicide, self-harming in any form, there are many around us who suffer silently. This is a day to recognize that it's out there, whether we like it or not.

~Princess Ariel

Use Your Common Sense Day

I think this should be applicable for every day, but unfortunately it isn't.

I bet Princess Aurora has a few stories about stupid people on campus not using their common sense.

In fact, she tweeted this afternoon and said, "Why are ppl too stupid to handle a public printer??"

You'd think on Common Sense Day people would at least be able to use a printer. Sadly, no.

As for me, I always try to use common sense, so this day was just like any other. ;)

~Princess Ariel

Why pick just one?

There were two good holidays today... Sandwich Day and Cliche Day!

We couldn't choose which one to celebrate, so Princess Aurora and I decided to do both.

My dearest mommy, who knew about today's festivities, had this waiting for me when I came back from school:

Mmmm grilled cheese. Since I'm a vegetarian, this is one of the few sandwiches I can still eat. Most of them just taste blah with no meat. :/

As for Cliche Day, Princess Aurora sent me this text:

11/3/09 1:03 PM

From: Princess Aurora

Tonight, when I'm so hungry I could eat a horse, I shall make a sandwich. I will sleep like a baby and dream of Seattle, where its raining cats and dogs! ;)

So go ahead and make yourself a sandwich tonight, and annoy everyone around you by using as many cliche phrases as possible! Here's a list of some suggestions: http://www.clichesite.com/

See you later, alligator. ;)

~Princess Ariel

I had tuna! And apple slices! An apple a day keeps the doctor away, you know. I had ants in my pants all day just thinking about racing home to make my sandwich.

Unlike my cookies, which were flat as a pancake, this sandwich was perfect.

True, it's been a hard couple of weeks. When it rains, it pours. Life is no picnic. It's a yummy sandwich in your kitchen and good friends, sweet as pie, that make all the difference. There's no place like home.

~Princess Aurora

National Cookie Monster Day!

You Call Those Cookies??

Today is National Cookie Monster Day! If there's one thing I have never been successful at... it's baking cookies. Tonight I decided to make chocolate chip butterscotch. Prepare yourself.

I am a weirdo when I bake. I use all kinds of substitutions - spelt flour for white flour, honey for sugar, applesauce for oil... all wonderful for muffins! Not so great for cookies.

I have a roommate with tons of food allergies. For these cookies I opted to use roommate-friendly margarine, whole spelt flour, egg replacer, and leftovers of every sugary substance we had in the pantry: several honeys, brown rice syrup, and a little organic sugar.

Seeing the results, Meli reminded me of my dear cousin Rachel's many failed attempts at cookies. "It's the Sandford family curse!"

The photos speak for themselves....




I gave the plate of "cookies" to my brother. For the sake of humanity, I am no longer allowed to bake cookies. Back to muffins! Nonetheless, happy Cookie Monster Day!

~Princess Aurora, with shame

National Authors' Day

In celebration of National Authors' Day, I would like to make a toast to the lovely Princess Ariel, to her excitement and willingness to make every day a holiday! Hurray!

Aww thank you, Princess Aurora! And a toast to you as well! :)

P.S. I did not know that picture of me with the cake existed. Eeek my face! Hehe, oh well.

Mmmmm Sugar

Happy Halloween :-)

cupcakes courtesy of Stacey

National Chocolates Day

This is one holiday I can really get behind!

I have grand plans today for hot chocolate and chocolate candies. I will see just how many things I can cover in gooey chocolate. Chocolate covered strawberries? Perhaps. Nutella spread on slices of french bread? Yes indeed. Chocolate powder in my coffee? A must.

Here is our excuse to eat as much chocolate as we want, ladies. Lets not waste this wonderful celebration! My sister, Princess Cinderella, and I went to our local Rite Aid to stock up on Halloween candies. You can just see the pure joy reflected on Ella's face!

~Princess Ariel

This morning I asked for chocolate in my coffee - a pump of Mocha & a pump of white. I don't usually get anything in my lattes. I think my soul knew today must be National Chocolates Day!

At school my brother gived me a Reese's. Best brudder ever. :-)

Later on I made my own chocolaty latte. Mmmmm. Halloween candy beware.

~Princess Aurora

Here are some of the other delicious chocolate munchies I had today. I think 80% of my intake had some kind of chocolate in it. ;)

~Princess Ariel

Make a Difference Day

The university I go to really got into Make a Difference Day as well, and they encouraged us students to volunteer and stuff today. I ended up spending most of the day doing productive things that didn't really benefit me in any way. This is not very in character for me, I have to confess.

First, I got up very early on a Saturday morning (which I am not in a habit of doing) and worked for someone else at the barn, feeding and cleaning up after the horses. Here is a picture of some of the huge draft horses I fed. Fyi, my head does not reach the top of those fences.

After that, I admit, I did watch a little of the Duck and Vandal football games on TV... :) but after that I went out to my local horse rescue to help out. A few miles out of town is a place called Orphan Acres, where 70+ neglected and abused horses have found a home. I spent several hours there feeding, doing odd jobs, and spending time with the attention-starved horses. There were so many ancient, deformed, and blind horses there, it was both shocking and also amazing that someone still cared enough to take care of those poor animals.

I met another college-aged girl there and her husband who were also volunteering, and she told me that she came there almost every Saturday. I was impressed, because I knew there was no way I was that good and charitable of a person. She had been there for 7 hours that day, doing hard labor that most people would refuse to do even for good pay. It was a very eye-opening experience. Here's a picture of just a few of the horses:

Also, I would like to prove how hard I worked today by the fact that I lost 1.6 lbs. over the course of the day. I most likely gained it all back after eating a very large, and very late dinner. But still. :)

~Princess Ariel

Holiday Update

Today - National iPod Day

Today was completely gorgeous. It rained all day long. Everyone complained. I loved it! I toted my iPod all over campus in honor of National iPod Day.

Yesterday - National Stuttering Awareness Day

So... um... sometimes people stutter.................

Wednesday...

In addition to it being National Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day (which we have technically not yet done - eek!) I saw these signs all over campus:



I fed my body lots of chocolate this week. A form of love, I think.

***

Tomorrow is National Make a Difference Day. Enjoy. :-)

~Princess Aurora

Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day!

The average person may not know what to do with this holiday... but not us Princesses! We both happen to be good friends with an insider at our local Chamber of Commerce!

Unfortunately, due to our insanely busy schedules, we couldn't do anything to celebrate it today. But we will make up for it by "supporting" our friend tomorrow... maybe by bringing her treats at work or something! :D

Here is a picture of our lovely friend, Princess Snow White, looking all important and official! ;)

~Princess Ariel

National Brandied Fruit Day

National What??

10/19/09 * 8:36 PM
Text to: Princess Ariel
"Tomorrow is national brandied fruit day... I don't know what to do with that."

I have never had brandied fruit. I have very little desire to eat fruit marinated in brandy and sugar. Don't get me wrong; I'm not opposed to trying. But I definitely don't have $ to fork over for a brandy experiment. So I thought to myself, what do I already have in terms of alcohol and fruit? Here's what I did:

I threw banana, kahlua, milk, vanilla, and ice into the blender. Sounds promising, yes? It wasn't very good. So I added...

Mocha powder!
It wasn't very good. so I added...

Some sweeter soy milk! And a little hazelnut syrup!
It wasn't very good.

Okay, I admit it. The hazelnut idea was a little weird. Now I'm drinking it... and it's just not very good! May tomorrow be a tastier (and more correct) holiday!

~Princess Aurora

***

On a brighter note, here's a picture of the card we mailed for National Boss Day!