I’ve been super busy. I just got back from Mammoth so I haven’t had time to post for today. So when I don’t have time to make a proper post, I share a recipe that I have in my recipe log (recipes I want to one day make). This sounds sooo yummy. I’ve always been a fan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches…it’s only natural that I would like these cookies too!

This recipe is taken from Cooking With Amy. In her post, she talks about foods to bring on an airplane. Well since I’ve been traveling a lot this past month, I noticed the snacks they offer on planes are getting skimpier and skimpier! In fact, American offers NO SNACKS at all! Not even a bag of peanuts. And unless you want to pay $3 for a small snickers bar, you’re better off bringing your own snacks. This is a great suggestion/recipe for that!

PB&J Cookies
makes about 3 dozen

1/3 Cup unsalted butter
1/2 Cup peanut butter, creamy or chunky
1/2 Cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 Cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
Strawberry preserves or jam

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl beat the butter, peanut butter, sugar and egg with an electric mixer until creamy. Sprinkle in the flour and baking soda, mixing well to combine. Roll into one inch balls and place 2 inches apart. Use your thumb to make a well in the center of each cookie, flattening each ball as you go. Fill the well in each cookie with strawberry preserves. Bake on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet for 10 minutes. Let cook on a rack.

Rowling’s next novel – Man, I’d hate to have to follow up after HP
Symantec’s emoticon lookalike contest – this is such a cute idea…and you can win $10K!
Janeane Garofalo is joining 24 – ooooh I can’t wait for 24 now!!
Toilet paper origami
New episode’s of R Kelly’s Trapped in a Closet – yup there are new episodes to this masterpiece. if you haven’t seen it you MUST start from the beginning! nymag calls it “the cultural event of the year” haha.
14 numbers your cell phone can’t live without – I never thought of having an ICE (in case of emergency) number on my phone that authorities can use to quickly contact someone if I’m in trouble!
Texas executes its 400th person since ’82 – it’s really crazy the amount of people that get executed in that state

Have you heard about this new reality show on CBS? It’s called Kid Nation and it’s about 40 kids ages 8-15 that are put together to live in an abandoned town in New Mexico. They live and function on their own with NO ADULTS! You can click on their main website to see a commercial for the show. It’s kind of disturbing to see all of these little kids crying because they are so “stressed” from the situation! And I love how they incorporated the main prize as a GOLD STAR, just like in school haha. In each episode, one kid is picked to get the gold star which equals $20K. A pretty big prize for a little kid!

Anyways, I read in the ny times about how the show is under investigation for child labor laws and abuse of the children. You’d think a show on such a large network as CBS would have thought about all of this before doing the show in our sue-happy country.

But after the production ended in mid-May, the parent of one child in the production complained to state officials that the children’s treatment bordered on abuse. Four children received medical treatment for accidentally drinking bleach, one child was burned on her face with hot grease while cooking in an unsupervised kitchen, and most of the children were required to work 14 hours or longer per day. They received a payment of $5,000 for their participation.

Man, how did those kids “accidentally” drink bleach? Weren’t they being filmed/supervised 24/7? What were the cameramen doing when all this happened!!

This reminds me of Lord of the Flies or that japanese film Battle Royale…ok, not that disturbing hehe

Today was pretty cool….I got to see my first Shuttle landing. The space shuttle Endeavour landed today at Kennedy Space Center and because I’m working on site I got to see it up close and personal. We found a nice tower to get up on and had a great view! Watching a shuttle landing is pretty exciting.

First there’s a satellite tracking the shuttle:

When we saw it moving, we knew the shuttle was coming. I looked towards the sky and didn’t see anything…then I heard the loud BOOOOM from the SONIC BOOM! What a crazy and exciting sound to hear!!!

And then suddenly you see this tiny white dot in the sky…

Can you see it? It’s the white dot right in the middle!!!

I bet you can see it now….

It keeps gliding in the sky until finally it comes in for the landing

When it passed by it was going super fast still. When it landed, everybody cheered and clapped. It’s crazy to see this huge aircraft and think…this was out in space. I know it’s cheesy but boy did I feel small and insignificant in that moment. I always get that feeling when I think of outerspace. It must be a really cool feeling to be an astronaut.

Anyways, I am hoping that I will get to see a shuttle launch in my lifetime. Especially one that I worked on!

This is a weird post for me since everybody knows I take 10 mins to get ready in the morning and I wear NO makeup. The most I do is put lotion on my face since it gets super dry sometimes! But anyways, I’m a girl….and sometimes I like being girly! Here’s some intriguing beauty products I’d like to try that I read good reviews about…have any of you tried them (question for the girls, sorry boys…the nerdy geek posts will commence tomorrow!)? What did you think?

Honest Face Skin Tint & Treatment SPF 20 – I’m interested in this product because I’d like a product that evens out my skin tones and I like how it also moisturizes and has a built in SPF!

What it is:
A lightweight, all-in-one face finisher and skin treatment with antioxidants and UVA/UVB, SPF 20 sunscreens.

What it is formulated to do:
-Creates a natural, healthy-looking finish with no telltale lines
-Delivers the benefits of essential moisture, broad-spectrum sunscreen protection, and potent antioxidants with skin-refining color

What else you need to know:
Even no-makeup types will love the sheer, natural finish.

Soy Shampoo – For some reason for the past year my hair has been getting really dry. Maybe I take too hot showers. Anyways, this shampoo got good reviews and I’m always looking to try out new shampoos.

Fresh Soy Shampoo is a moisturizing shampoo for normal to dry hair that’s formulated to improve the overall texture of the hair. Protein building soy extract and strengthening ginseng root add rich nutrients while shea butter and evening primrose oil replenish moisture and shine.

O-GLOW – This sounds like the coolest product! Best described by the description below.

What it is:
The first intuitive blush, this clear gel reacts with your personal skin chemistry to turn cheeks the exact color you blush, naturally in just seconds! O-GLOW works on every skin tone, from the lightest to the darkest, to give everyone a naturally gorgeous glow.

What it is formulated to do:
When applied, the skin’s moisture activates the energizing Goji Berry-C Complexâ„¢. It creates a microcirculatory effect, producing a rosy flush that lasts all day. This completely natural looking, preservative and fragrance-free formula glides on smoothly for a healthy, glowing blush that’s you, only prettier

Superbly Efficient Anti-Perspirant & Deodorant – I think I saw this on my sis’s blog. I’ve never thought of using a deoderant that you rub on like this. Interesting concept and one I’m down to try if it works without leaving marks!

Our unique preparation is an unscented, extremely gentle, yet efficient antiperspirant and deodorant cream offering unique skin care benefits. Leaves skin feeling soft, soothed and conditioned with 24-hour protection against sweat and odor. Reduces underarm perspiration utilizing advanced micro-sized drying molecules for sheer absorption with no residue. Through our truly unique blend of ingredients, underarm hair will feel softer, resulting in a smoother shave experience.

Any fun beauty products out there you like?

I’m always on the lookout for cheap airfare. For awhile now, I’ve been using kayak.com exclusively since I consistently find the best prices with them. Now, I’ve found another tool that I will probably have to check as well, Yahoo Farechase. The cool thing about Yahoo Farechase is that if you are buying a roundtrip ticket, they do not restrict your to/from tickets to the same airline. In other words, if they find a cheaper ticket where you fly to your destination on United but fly back with American, they will book that rather than sticking with one airline. I noticed sometimes it would cut my airfare price in half this way! Anyways, I highly recommend this if you are looking for cheap tickets!

BTW, I’ve been on travel for the past week for work. I’m in sunny and hot Cocoa Beach/Orlando, FL. Aside from the weather, this is such a beautiful and fun city to visit! If you don’t mind the crowds, there is sooo much to eat and do here. There are tons of seafood restaurants and I got to try my first rock shrimp…mmmmm! And also frog legs and fried alligator! I could do without the frog legs (middle).

I should have taken a pic of them held up so you can actually see the legs. They looked so gross!

There are also a lot of different theme parks…from the big names: Disney World, Universal Studios to more niche parks like Gatorland (which I went to) and even Holyland (a theme park about Jesus haha!).

This is also the future location of the Harry Potter Theme Park which I am definitely going to since there is so much here I still want to do that I have to go back. The most fun thing I’ve done so far is Skyventure which is like indoor sky diving. Wow! I got to fly in a wind tunnel at speeds of 120mph+. It was FUN and probably the closet thing I’ll get to flying. The best part was when the instructor would do tricks with you and he lets you spin 360 degrees around the tunnel really fast while going up and down. It was crazyyyyyyyy! I highly recommend this activity if you’re out in Orlando. The only bad part is it was 45 bucks for 2 minutes of fly time but since you can’t really experience this anywhere else and it really is unlike anything else, I think it’s worth it! I also had a 10 dollar off coupon so my experience was only 35 bucks :) But don’t worry, the 2 minutes feels longer than it is and you’re literally flying and zooming around the air!

Some pics from Gatorland (I’ll upload more later):

They not only have tons of alligators but all different kinds of birds, snakes, turkeys, goats, deer, and other crazy animals. This is one of the prettiest/colorful birds I’ve seen!

My favorite alligaotor, this guy is HUGE AND SCARY! I was sooo close but luckily behind a wire screen.

Yes, my fave until I read this about him…

I have a lot more pics which I’ll upload when I get back!

Toothpaste for dinner – funny comic, funny tshirts!
Free sample of Garden Harvest toasted chips – supposedly it’s packed with a 1/2 serving of fruit or veggies in each bag!
Stepping inside North Korea – a rare and really interesting article about the elusive North Korea
MY Jimmy Fallon is engaged!
crazy lego artwork – There is a link in the article with a gallery of his work…incredible!

Here are some tips on storing your food so that they last longer and taste fresher:

Did you know there are certain foods that you should eat to protect your teeth? For example:

Cheese – stimulates the production of cleansing saliva and the calcium in cheese helps harden teeth.

Crunchy things like crisp apples, celery and carrots – helps rid your mouth of food particles and their rough, fibrous texture scrubs away as you chew, nature’s toothbrush!

tea – destroys the germs that cause cavities, gum disease, and bad breath

Shiitake mushrooms – fights tooth plaque and the bacteria that live in it

Also, when drinking all those sugar-filled drinks which are horrible for your teeth, try using a straw to minimize the exposure it can have on your teeth!

Speaking of smiles, has anyone seen those commercials for the new Listerine Whitening Strips? The cool things about these are that they “dissolve” in your mouth.

Sounds like from the reviews, you will still have to rinse your mouth though. Sounds like it’s worth a try!

This has to be the coolest livejournal community: Snacks From Around The World. Whenever I travel somewhere, I love trying the snacks and candy that are native from that area. I especially had a fun time trying the candies from Japan!!! This community matches members from different countries to each other and each member sends and receives a box of goodies! There is a minimum of $15 spent on each box so you’re guaranteed a plethora of different snacks/candies to try. I love the element of surprise of each box you receive. I’m an adventurous eater and I love trying things I can’t get here in the US. I may just have to try this swap out next time!

To read an introduction about the community and learn how to sign up, click here.