DIY- Tacky Tourist Tee Redo

Hey Cats!
 So, as you know, I recently went on a trip to New York, and I'm ready to pack my bags and go right now. I'm not one to buy souvenirs on trips, or at least souvenirs that have anything to do with where I am. I usually just go shopping and whenever I wear something, I'm like, "Oh, I remember when I bought this in D.C." and that brings back great memories. In my opinion, it's a waste of money to buy crap like a statue of the Empire State Building that I'll just sit somewhere and let collect dust. (Or I'll break it. That happens a lot.) It's much more practical to buy something you'll wear a lot, and it's still a great reminder of the fun time you had on your trip. At least that's how I justify it. (Also, I think coffee mugs are a nice practical souvenir. You always need those!). In addition to my rampant spending spree in Chinatown, (I literally threw nearly $100 at pushy Asian people in less than ten minutes. It was INTENSE) I bought one of the classic American tourist pieces. Yes, that's right. I bought an "I <3 NY tee. We all did, because we were going to pull an Ultimate Tourist Move and wear them all to the airport when we left. Also, I'm not going to lie, I've secretly wanted one all of my life. So I bought it. They're like, $3 at every single gift shop in the Big Apple, so it wasn't like I was squandering a chunk of money on a splatter-painted "I <3 DC" sweatshirt. (Yes, I did that one time. I don't want to talk about it. I wear it indoors and on snow days under a big jacket only). However, once I got home, I had to be real with myself. I was never going to wear that shirt again. So, not wanting to waste my $3, or one of my only true souvenirs, I decided to give it a little update. T-shirt DIY's are all over Pinterest, so I found one I liked, grabbed my scissors, and ended up with this little gem:

Since I didn't take pictures during the process, and because I don't want to write out all the instructions, I'll just direct you to the link I used.
http://blogilates.com/printables-2/diy-racerback-workout-shirt-tutorial
I followed the directions for the most part, except for the hi-low hem, because it was already kind of short. It's not perfect, but like I always say, it adds character and makes it unique. It's a great pool shirt and workout shirt, if you work out. I don't. But if I ever do, maybe I'll wear this. Anyways, it's a great option for making a tourist tee a little less tacky, or for an awkwardly-fitting shirt you don't want to throw away. Also, just a tip: One of the girls told us when we purchased the shirts not to dry it in the dryer, because the letters would melt off. I would heed this advice, because I washed mine & hung it to dry, and the letters are already wrinkly and kind of merrr looking. Anyways, I hope you'll try this with a tourist tee, or any other tee you may have lying around! I'm working on multiple crafts for my new house, and I'm excited to finish them and share them with you! Also, I have a special suprise project I'm working on, but I can't tell you about that for a while. I might not actually finish it.... But anyways, until next time!

Princess Pink Cookies

Hey Cats!

I know that I said my next blog post would be about my day in NYC, but I haven't wanted to do that yet. Also, since I plan on becoming the next Martha Stewart, I decided blogging about food would be a step in the right direction. But I really am going to post about it soon, before I forget! Before we get to the star of the show, let me tell you a little bit about my summer. I've been taking my math class, so that's what I do in the mornings, and study a little at night. It's actually my most sucessful attempt at a math class in my entire life, so I'm pleased with that. I also have like, 5 other craft projects I'm working on, and I'll be excited to share those when (if) I finish them! I also have been searching all over town for a paperback copy of Mockingjay. I read the first two Hunger Games books in less than a week, and I'm absolutely DYING to read the third. I found one today at WalMart, but in the checkout line, I realized it was large print, so I put it back. I have a thing about large print books. They just bother me & my eyes kind of freak out. Also, I feel like I'm reading a "chapter book" I would have read in like, the second grade. You know what I mean. Books like Junie B. Jones, The Magic Treehouse series, and whatever else you read as a child all have that like, 20 point font. That's what large print reminds me of, and since I am no child, I can't stand it. So, the search continues. I started reading Jane Eyre, but I've only gotten through three chapters, and while I love the Bronte sisters and their literary masterpieces, I'd honestly rather just find out what happens between Katniss and Peeta. #sorryimnotsorry. Also, I got a new planner today on my weekly trip to Target. It's honestly kind of sad how excited I got about it. It matches the cover I have from last year, and it has a beautiful pattern on the pages. Oh yeah, this is supposed to be about cookies. Whoops.

These are seriously the easiest cookies you will ever make in your entire life. I made them in New York, and they were wonderful, so when I saw pink lemonade cake mix at WalMart today, I was overjoyed and purchased a box. Now, I've made cake mix cookies before, but apparently not many people have heard of them, so I'm trying to spread the word. Also, these are pink, which makes them ten times better, because I feel like princesses would only eat pink cookies. The lemonade flavor is really different than what you'd have every day, and it's great for summer! Anyways, here's what you'll need:
-1 box Pink Lemonade Cake Mix (I used Pillsbury, you can use whatever...if anyone else makes that kind)
-2 eggs
-1/2 cup vegetable oil

The beginnings of cookies fit for a princess. Or a 5-year old.

Here's what you do:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350.

2. Mix together the cake mix, oil, and eggs, until you get a little pink bundle of joy like you see below. You might think that you need to add a little more liquid, but if you keep mixing, it'll be okay. I had a few lumps of mix left in mine, but I just said YOLO and continued on with my life. (not really, I hate that phrase. But I did leave them and it was fine.)

The dough reminds me of edible play-dough I made in my childhood. But it was peanut butter. But still awesome.

3. Next, spray your baking sheet with some pan. The dough is really oily, so it's probably not 100% necessary, but I like to be on the safe side.

4. Next, I rolled the dough into little balls and placed them on my cookie sheet. You could totally do rounded teaspoonfuls if that's your thing, but I like uniformity in my baking, so I chose to roll them.

My vain attempt at an artistic camera angle. I think I'll just stay on the other side of the camera. lawlz.

5. Bake for 12.5 minutes. This is very exact, and I'm kind of proud of that, since I was winging this one. You can tell when they're browning on the edges, and that's when they're done. But, if you take them out and they still aren't firm after a few minutes, I'd put them back in for like, 2 minutes. 12.5 should do the trick, but if you don't believe me, experiment at your own risk.

I love how they're crackly on top.

6. Eat them. (Not all of them, I don't promote obesity.)

Plate of Pink.

See how easy that was?? Just six steps, and the last one was unnecessary! Apparently you can make these with any cake mix, so the possibilities are basically endless. Except I'm not sure how it would work out with an angel food mix...someone please try that and let me know. Rebecca, the precious girl from Georgia that we met in Long Island, told us that if you use a lemon cake mix and use a little less oil and add a little lemon and orange juice, they're divine! So I'll probs be trying that one soon. Anyways, the point is, you're only a box, two eggs, and half a cup of oil away from wonderful cookies. I hope you try this and love it as much as I do! And I promise I'll write about New York next time. In the meantime, hopefully I'll find Mockingjay and fun activities to write in my new planner. Until next time!

Kristen Takes New York- Part 2

Hey Cats!

So, I know that I said I was going to write the next part of my NYC story like, a week ago, but I was busy with things like math classes (merr merrrr), crafts, family reunions, obsessively cleaning my room (it's become a new thing for me), sleeping, and other things. Also, I just didn't really feel like it, or once I thought about it, it was too late & I was ready to go to sleep. And this is the third day I've been working on writing all this down. It seems my writing kicks don't last long enough to get everything out at once. Nevertheless, here it is. This part will be mostly about the mission part of the trip, which was the best part, and the real reason for the trip.

Day 1:
After we landed in Jersey, we rode for like, almost four hours to our destination, Crossroads Church in Farmingdale. It was actually a fun ride, we went through Brooklyn, past Coney Island, and probably some other cool things I don't really remember. Also, I got my first glimpse of the city, and from that moment on I was absolutely IN LOVE. Even from far away, I could tell it was so exciting and wonderful, but I'll expand on that when we talk about the city :). Once we reached the church, we went to our rooms, children's Sunday school classrooms with cots. It was really nice not to have to sleep on the floor, and they even had our beds made when we got there! Which brings me to the people at Crossroads. They were WONDERFUL. They were so accomodating and we got very close to each other. Their love for Jesus was very apparent in everything they did, many of them had moved all the way from Texas to Long Island to be a part of what God is doing in Long Island. It was awesome to see such obedience to the Lord, and I pray that I will be able to be so trusting and obedient to whatever God is calling me to do. After we got settled, we ate dinner, and then I'm pretty sure I went to sleep soon after that, because my exhaustion was immense.

Day 2:
Our first full day in Long Island was Sunday, and also Mother's Day. We woke up pretty early to help get ready for church. Part of our group went to another church in Long Island, and I'm honestly not too sure what they did there. But I stayed with three other girls, and we worked in the nursery. I worked with my friend Morgan in the baby classroom, and it was so fun! We only had three kids, but they were adorable. One little boy was dressed better than some college boys I've seen, and he was absolutely precious. We attempted to make Mother's Day crafts with them, but they weren't very interested, so we kind of gave up on that, and played instead. After the church service, we had lunch and then headed to the beach! We didn't know we were going to get to do that, so it was a wonderful surprise! I can't remember what the beach was called, but it was absolutely gorgeous. The sand was super white, and the water was much cleaner than it is in the Gulf of Mexico! As pretty as it was, the water was FREEZING. Apparently, the middle of May isn't considered summer on the East Coast like it is here in Texas. But it also wasn't deathly hot sitting out on the sand either, so you could say it was perfect. I will definitely be going back! Anyways, after we took an obnoxious amount of sorority pictures, we took a stroll along the beach. It was great, until we ran into the nude beach and had to turn around. No, I'm not kidding. It was absolutely disgusting, and frankly, I don't want to talk about it. We hung out for a while, just sprawled out on towels, talking and watching the New Yorkers. It was a great afternoon. After we were sufficiently sandy, we piled back into our van and made our way back into town. However, on our way back, we stopped by a property the church was considering buying. It was an old church that was bigger than the one they are currently in, and a house for the pastor and his family to live in. The pastor told us that they would really like to get the property, because it was in a great location, and they would be able to expand. We all prayed over the property, that God would provide it if it was His Will, which was an awesome experience. Later that week, we found out that they were able to purchase the building. It was so incredible to see God working to expand Crossroads in such a huge way in the small time that we were there. I'm not really sure when the church will move into the facility, but I know they are so excited about the things God will do in the new location, and I am too! After that, we went to the two-story Wal-Mart that was in a mall, because people forgot things, me being one of those people. Naturally. Most of the girls were amazed that it was two-story, I was baffled that it was connected to a mall. I guess you can get your clothes & groceries at the same time...Efficient. After that, we went back to the church, stuffed bags to pass out, and soon went to sleep.

Day 3:
This was our first "working day" on the trip. Half of us woke up super early to go pass out bags at the train station. I don't really know what time it was, but the sun was up, which isn't saying much, because the sun is like, blazing by 5 a.m. there, and it threw me for a HUGE loop. Anyways, the bags had a granola bar, a bottle of water, a couple of pieces of candy, and a flyer about a baseball camp the church puts on every year. The baseball camp is what Crossroads uses to reach the Farmingdale community. The pastor explained that through the camp, they are able to build relationships with people in the community and bring the Gospel to them. He told us that the "need" in New York is not physical, but spiritual. Most people have everything they need and more, but are desperately in need of love, and that is the mission of Crossroads, to spread the news about the love of God. On the other side of the flyer was information about Faith & Family Night with the New York Mets. The pastor told us that for the first time ever, the Mets have decided to have a Faith and Family night, a baseball game with a Mercy Me concert afterwards, and they asked Crossroads to partner with them. He explained that while these are common in the South, they are extremely rare in New York, so it was a big deal that the church was able to be apart of it. So, back to passing out the bags. It was very intimidating at first, to be honest. The pastor just let us out of the van and we were left to pass out all the bags, alone in a strange place at 6 a.m. We went up to the platform, and started asking people if they "would like a snack to take to work today". A lot of people said no, and a few asked us how much it cost. I was afraid that people would be rude, since that's supposedly the norm in NY, but I learned that if you are nice and friendly to them, they will be nice back. It only took us about fifteen minutes to pass out the bags, so we were back to the church by 6:30 or so, and I crawled back into my cot & slept for another hour. After my nap, we had breakfast & then set out to pass out baseball camp flyers in the neighborhoods around Crossroads. We were split into groups of 4, given a map, a general area to stay in, and stacks of flyers, and then let loose in Farmingdale. It was SO MUCH FUN. We just walked around and stuck the flyers in people's doorknobs for like, four hours. I got to be really good friends with the girls in my group, just by walking around and talking. After lunch, we got a little tired, and sat down on the sidewalk, which apparently isn't normal, because we got some strange looks. That night, a few of us went to help a lady who goes to Crossroads. She hurt her back and couldn't clean her house, so we made beds, did the dishes, vaccuumed, and cleaned up the kitchen. When we got back, we all watched the premiere of The Bachelorette (the beginning of my obsession...if she doesn't pick Sean, I WILL. #bye). And it was a wonderful evening. We then went to sleep, for the next day was.......our trip TO THE CITY!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to tell you allllllllll about it!
(But not now, I'm tired, and I have to get up at 7:30 to go learn about logarithms and calculating interest and who knows what else.) These two days really showed me that God can use things like baseball and snack bags for His Kingdom & to draw people to Him. God is doing absolutely amazing and HUGE things in New York, and I am so blessed to have been able to be involved in His work.

Little Lambs on the beach!

Next time I'll talk about my adventures in the city and how I'm absolutely OBSESSED. Until next time!

Kristen Takes New York- Part 1

Hey Cats!
So, it's been a while since I've had time to blog, so that's why I'm writing about my trip to New York almost a month later. Well, technically I've had time, but I've been doing other things, like crocheting yet another blanket for my house, planning how I'm going to decorate my room on Pinterest, finally cleaning out my closet, stocking my Single Girl Closet, living downstairs for a week because the air conditioner is broken, taking summer classes, and READING THE HUNGER GAMES OMG. I'm obsessed. I finished the first two in like, 4 days, and I'm DYING to read the third one. So once I find it, all hopes of any new crafts are diminished. Sorry I'm not sorry. Anyways, I also was debating on writing a sentimental post about all I've learned through my first year of college before I wrote about NYC, but I obviously never got around to that, so I just decided to tell y'all about my wonderful trip to the Big Apple & save my nuggets of wisdom for another day. ;) Since I can already tell this is going to be super long, I'm going to post it in sections...mainly because I probably won't want to write it all out at once. So here's the first part!

The Reason:
I didn't go to New York for a fun vacation with my friends and/or family, even though I had a total blast and a half. I went with my sorority on a mission trip to help Crossroads Church of Long Island, a small, newer church that was planted from a church in The Woodlands, Texas. There were fourteen of us in all, thirteen girls and Mama Brenda, so needless to say, it was always exciting! I signed up for the trip without knowing who was going, and as the trip grew closer, I realized I was only actually friends with one girl, and had honestly never even met most of the others. However, I became very close with all of the girls really quickly, and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to expand my circle of friends.

The Trip:
Since we had to fly out of Houston at 12, we met in College Station at 6:15 that morning for the 2 hour drive. I had moved out of my dorm and back home four days before, and since it's a three hour drive to College Station from Tyler, I stayed with one of the girls going on the trip. We rolled out of bed, through McDonald's for breakfast, and into the mall parking lot right on time. I slept the entire car ride to Houston, so I honestly don't remember much about that. Once at the airport, we had to meet some of the girls who were meeting us there, and then go through security. Once we were all through with our liquids (less than 3 ounces, of course) in quart baggies and electronic devices turned off and all had our shoes back on, (security is such a pain, if you catch my drift) we naturally headed for Starbucks and then the terminal. Since we were such a large group, we were among the last to board, and caused an all-out ruckus by trying to fit fourteen fairly large carry-ons into the overhead compartments. Once we had that taken care of, we found our seats, watched the safety video, and prepared for takeoff. Now, there's something you must understand before I continue with my story: The Moss Family Does Not Fly. Ever. We're roadtrip people. The only other time I'd ever been on an airplane before this was on my class trip to Washington D.C. my junior year of high school. So as the plane started to make its way to the runway, I started to feel a little nervous and sicky. Luckily I was sitting next to one of my Phi Lamb sisters rather than a perfect stranger, but we had met only a few hours before, so I didn't want to be like, "OMGGGGGG I'm sooooooo nervousmerrmerrrrrrr" and freak her out. So, I calmly stated, "Just so you know, I'm a bit of a nervous flyer...", and she was very nice and told me it would be fine. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with take-off. Love because you ascend into the air at a diagonal in a giant chunk of metal while being perfectly safe (it's at this point I typically ruminate over how wonderful technology is and how amazing it is that people can actually do this) and you get to see the clouds outside your window, the land beneath you getting smaller, and it means you're truly on the way to your destination. Hate because YOU ASCEND INTO THE AIR AT A DIAGONAL IN A GIANT CHUNK OF METAL.THIS IS NOT NATURAL. (it's at this point I think of what could go horribly wrong and how if God had meant for people to be in the air, He would have equipped us with wings.) And also because my ears pop. I just really don't like that. Anyways, we make it to our proper altitude, I obtain a ginger ale from the flight attendants, and I watch The Vow on the little tv in front of me. (Which, by the way, is the only Nicholas Sparks movie I don't find incredibly stupid and unrealistic.) And everything goes smoothly. UNTIL THE LANDING. I don't know what happened, but as we descend into New Jersey, turbulence makes a grand entrance and monopolizes the rest of the ride. I shouldn't have been looking out the window, but I was, and that just made me feel more sicky. We were jostled every which way, and by the time we finally make it to the ground, I want to throw up and have a headache. But I'm also hungry. So, I get a Jamba Juice and we all go wait for the pastor from Crossroads to pick us up. And yes, I know what you're thinking: I'm in Jersey, so naturally, I kept my eyes open for my favorite Housewives, but I never saw them.

Morgan & I after landing in Newark!

I think that's all I'm going to write for tonight, but tomorrow I'll post about our first two days in Long Island!
 That's all for right meow :)