The Cherry House Girls

What in the World???

I am just sitting here reading a peer reviewed journal article that was published and is used in real life.  Trust me this is not for fun.  Anyways, I just got done reading this sentence 17 times because the only thing I seem to remember is "of" when I am through reading it.  Give it a try:

"The limitation of discussions of retention to long-term characteristics is necessary in large part by the scarcity of data on the course of retention over intervals of the order of magnitude of the time elapsing between successive repetitions of an acquisition study."

W.T.F???

Okay seriously, I feel like my eyes are crying blood.  Please help!

A Tribute to Our Very Own Jenna Hotz

Our beloved Jenna is graduating on Sunday!  While we're so happy for her, we're also saddened to lose her as an 'everyday' housemate. I say this because...

Jenna,

You're always going to be a Cherry House Girl, and even though you won't be sleeping here every single night, I look forward to the times when you will be here and we can have reunited kitchen dance parties, watch Precious, drink wine, and gossip.  You're the greatest friend, sister, roommate, kitchen dancer, & chicken spaghetti maker, (shall I continue?) in the whole wide world!  I hope you don't get a job and can just come and live with us forever.

Love always,
Elizabeth

 

Shermanites

So yesterday we were making our typical late night finals run to Whataburger at 12:30am and I was sitting in the back of the car and noticed something in the road.  I told Liz to slow down because of that something that was in our lane ahead.  She moved over to the next lane and slowed down, and when we got closer we realized it was an older woman who has no shoes on and is just wheeling her way around Grand Ave. going against the flow of traffic in an actual lane at 12:30 in the morning.

When we came back she was on our side this time, going with the flow of traffic.  I tried to get a picture to show you guys but we were so freaked out we just sped by.

I hope that poor woman didn't need help.  Honestly we're thinking she was cracked out on meth.  We are the meth capital of the US afterall.

Maybe she should have been using this...

Uh-Oh!

I just spent $18 at Whataburger.

xoxo-Jenna

Sweetest Tea of Them All

Our sweet tea recipe here at the Cherry House ...

Ingredients:

6 Peach Tea bags
2 Mint Tea bags
Mint Leaves
Oranges
Sugar
Water
Ice

Directions:

Put a small pot of water on the stove with 2 cups of sugar (I know it sounds like a lot, but just go with it).  Then let that come to a boil.  Turn your temp to low and add your tea bags (8).  Let that syrup steep for about 20 minutes.  While your tea syrup is steeping cut up an orange into slices and prick a few leaves off your mint leaf plant.  Remove tea bags, drain any excess into pot, discard tea bags.  Then take a gallon size pitcher and add ice.  Pour the tea syrup into the pitcher and then fill to the brim with fresh, filtered water (especially if you live in Sherman).  Toss in your orange slices and tea leaves.  Refrigerate until it becomes nice and cool.

Fill up your glass with some ice and enjoy!!!

Peace, Love, and Sweet Tea!

**Note: you can use any type of tea you'd like.  We usually just use whatever we have, but this is a nice refreshing combo for Summer!

Eleanor Elizabeth Barker

We are with heavy hearts to let you all know of the untimely passing of one of our dear professors' daughter.  While some of us never had the privilege of meeting this sweet baby girl, we're confident that she was a blessing to all those who knew her for her short time on this earth.  We know that she is in a better place now and Jesus is holding her in His arms.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

Rest in sweet peace, little one.

Finals and late nights....

Finals is the great student equalizer. None of us can escape the claws of all the drugery that comes with tests and papers and projects.

To combat this week, the Cherry House Girls will have their fill of starbucks

Oops...wrong picture. Here is a picture of one of us with our starbucks!

That, and Whataburger! Lord knows Starbucks and Whataburger is all we have to live for this week!

Cleansing of Our Sins

Jenna and I had another one of our brilliant ideas.  She ordered a dress for graduation and wanted to make sure 100% that it was going to fit and look wonderful so we decided to do The Master Cleanse (Lemonade Diet) where we only drink a special lemonade and don't eat any food for several days.

Our plan:

Start on Sunday
End on Thursday
(Lose 10lbs)

What actually happened:

Sunday: we started the cleanse.  Saw fast results!  Put too much cayenne pepper in our lemonade and couldn't drink it.  Chewed one piece of gum each.
Monday: cried.  cried.  headache.  hunger pains.  contemplated giving up at 3pm, but decided to stick it through.  Elizabeth texts Jenna at 7pm and says she is giving up and going to get Panera.  Jenna calls Elizabeth at 8pm and says she is on her way to Little Ceasars.  We meet up around 11pm for a Whataburger taquito date.  2am we feel fat and go to sleep, failures of The Master Cleanse.

Summary:

We lasted 48hrs.

Conclusion:

We don't do well on diets......................obviously.

The End!

Happy Birthdays!!!!!

A special Happy 21st Birthday to my beautiful little sister, Gabrielle!!!!

I love you Bella!

xoxo,

Elizabeth (Bebe)

Kitten progress report!

The kittens are almost three weeks old! They all have their eyes open, and they are super cute!!!
If your wonder-filled-heart finds a place in it for these critters, let us know! All five are still in need of a home!

Urgent Cry for Help! FREE PUPPIES!

Our neighbors (whom we think are running a puppy-mill) just had a litter of puppies!  They have a ghetto cardboard sign posted on their fence that reads: "FREE PUPPIES" ...

If you (or anyone you know) are interested and can give these babies a good home, please let us know - comment below!  Lord only knows what they'll do to them if they aren't adopted out.

They're so-so-so-so-so cute (tiny fluff balls, some totally white and others are black/brown/white) and I will try to sneak a picture or two someday when our neighbors aren't home and they've been left outside.

COME GET YOUR PUPPY!!!!!!

Flea Market Happiness

Canton Flea Market

Need I say more?  

Four days each month this little east Texas town has more than 300,000 visitors swarm to find their goodies at First Monday Trade Days.

Can't wait.

Frappy Happy Hour

WoooHoooo!!!!  Starbucks is feeling awfully charitable lately!  First, they give us free coffee on Tax Day, and now we have a 'Frappuccino Happy Hour' where all fraps are $1/2 off.  What better way to spend every day of finals week other than at happy hour ... Starbucks Happy Hour ... hangover not included!

Good luck with finals everyone!!!

I have my priorities!

It's getting down to the wire!
No, I'm not talking about deadlines that have to do with school. Although, I guess I should think about that sometime...
I'm talking about the fact that it is two weeks until my graduation and I still. don't. have. a. dress.

I looked all over Mod Cloth and tons of vintage-resale sites. They all had super cute things, but none had "the dress."

That was until I stumbled across Heartbreaker Fashion and found it!

Isn't it perfect??? 
The sad thing is, I have two problems:
1) I ordered a size (possibly) smaller than I am. So when the package comes, I might need to haul it to the nearest spanx-selling store.
2) Now I don't have a good justification as to why I'm not studying.

xoxo-Jenna

Engagement Picture Ideas

So we're throwing around some ideas for engagement pictures.  We really are trying to incorporate props and settings that are important to us not only as individuals but as a couple.  These are just some ideas we've been throwing around...

Golf Course Pictures
We both really enjoy golfing, he more than I, but we thought it would be cute to get a few shots on the golf course all dressed up!  In particular, we were thinking one cute shot would be him standing behind me trying to show me how to swing properly.  Cheesy?  Great!

Piano Pictures
We both really enjoy playing the piano, again he more than I, and that was one of the ways we really bonded when we first met.  The first night he came over to my house to meet my family we just played the piano together and sang for hours.  It is still one of our favorite pastimes.

Wine and Cigars Pictures
During the Summer we love to get our favorite bottle of wine, Cain Cuvee, and share a cigar with our feet dipped in the pool while watching the sun set over the golf course.  It is just such a great way for us to come together and talk about our days and it is our favorite way of spending quality time together.

Washing Dogs Pictures
We are dog lovers, and thought it'd be so cheesy cute to get all dressed up, Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie family picture style, and get some shots while washing the dogs in the backyard.  We may get some cute pictures out of that and thought it'd just be fun to get our dog-children in on the fun!  They're so photogenic anyways.


So those are a few of our ideas.  Let us know what you think!  I do know one thing is for sure, I really want to wear this dress for one of the aforementioned photoshoots:

Can't ever go wrong with a little Kate Spade in your wardrobe 

Nothin' but your Hoodie on

I'd like to say that I am a fan of all things American Apparel.  But their hoodies, well, they're especially amazing.

Get yours here

You can also find some similar hoodies at Target for half the price.

Get yours here

They the perfect piece to throw on and run around crazy in!  We love them here at the Cherry House.

No Facebook, No Fun

So we decided to log onto each others Facebook accounts and change the passwords in order to make it through the rest of the semester.  Social networking is the highlight of our days, and we are conditioned to log onto Facebook immediately upon getting on the computer.  Why is it so addicting????  Why do we love to read all about other peoples' problems via their status' and stalk their pictures???  Why are we creeps??????

Anyway, we have been so bored without our own Facebook and have been secretly sneaking onto our Cherry House Girls Facebook Account

Lame!

Thinking about summer

School's not out, but I'm definitely thinking of where I'll be spending my time. The following are links to places that will be on my "bucket list" for the summer (which is pretty dumb, because technically with me graduating, I shouldn't have the same mindset about summers. Summer now means finding a job instead of shopping.....)

Super cute fabric store to make super cute dresses!

Perfect little coffee shops.

Richardson Public Library (a favorite)

Just to scope out some housewares...

So I can be on my way to being featured in Better Homes and Gardens.


Really, there are just too many places I want to go. I'll probably end up going to just one or two as I spend most of my time tanning by the pool...

xoxo - Jenna

I'm gonna be a cat lady when I grow up!

As if we don't have enough cats here, or enough cat things for me to obsess about, I just had to find these:

Cat measuring cups!!!!

I really want to buy them, because they are so precious! I wish our house had them as well as these:

or these:

If anyone would like to make a donation of these cute-things to our house, we would be ok with that!

xoxo
Jenna

My Save the Dates ... maybe

This is what I am thinking about doing for my 'Save the Dates' ...

I think instead of the strip of paper saying "pencil us in," I want to do a photobooth strip and we can hold up signs "pencil" "us" "in" "April 16, 2011" in the four different pics.  Then we'd just wrap the photo strip around the pencil (that will be personalized: "elizabeth & ramon are getting hitched ... 16 April 2011") and tie it with a cute ribbon.

What do we think?????

xoxo,
Elizabeth

PICK MY HONEYMOON!!!

So we're trying to decide where we should go for our honeymoon.

We have always dreamed of Fiji, but are trying to find something a little more reasonable than: "Honeymoon Packages starting at only $14,000 per week!!!"

But, sigh.  It is oh so beautiful.

We're hoping for an all-inclusive beach resort!  Hopefully you guys can give us some great suggestions with your comments below.  We're not partial as to where, as long as we can be beach bums for a week or two.

Thanks!

He Who Invented the 'MIMOSA' was Ingenious

Is there anything better than a nice refreshing Mimosa?  What a special treat this is...

Noun

1.

orange juice - bottled or freshly squeezed juice of orange

Noun

1.

champagne - a white sparkling wine either produced in Champagne or resembling that produced there bubbly sparkling wine - effervescent wine

Ingredients:


Champagne
2 ounces of cold orange juice (Oh, if you have fresh orange juice, what a special treat!)
Orange slice for garnish if using a large wine glass (not a flute - no garnish with a flute)
Crushed ice (optional)


Instructions:


Pour OJ into a champagne flute (I use just a tiny bit of crushed ice in mine)
Add champagne to fill the glass but be careful not to overfill
Garnish with a slice of orange if using a glass other than a flute
*If you want more ice, use a large wine glass and pour 3 parts of champagne in the glass and then add 2 parts OJ.


Variations of the Basic Mimosa Recipe:


Add a tablespoon of Grand Marnier and you'll have created a Grand Mimosa
Use cranberry juice instead of OJ and you have created a Hibiscus or a Poinsettia
Use pink grapefruit juice instead of OJ and enjoy a Lilosa
A Fauxmosa is a virgina Mimosa (no champagne).  Use 7Up or Sprite in place of champagne.




From the traditional OJ and champagne to the Lilosa, these recipes will add an extra flare to every occasion.  Mimosas are just the most wonderful beverage at any time of the day.  I shall go make one right now ...


xoxo,
Elizabeth

best study song ever ...

This is so gorgeous ...

Mono - Burial at the Sea

Enjoy!

xoxo,

Elizabeth

Such a rebel...

I think this picture pretty much sums up what I think about cops:

So, when I was pulled over the other day, I just kinda shriveled. 

Normally (I say normally, but I've only been pulled over thrice) I get pulled over for speeding, but this particular night I had just made a turn and I was speeding up, so I wasn't going crazy fast. All the sudden I see lights flashing behind me and I start shaking like a leaf. 

"Please dear God, don't let him see shaking and think I'm a meth-head like my neighbors!"

Shining his flashlight directly in my eyeballs didn't help anything and I know that when I started to make ridiculous small talk with him, he probably thought I was running away from the law. 

"Do you know why I pulled you over?"

"No. I was probably speeding. That's what I get pulled over for." (Ok, stop talking Jenna. This small talk isn't working in your favor.)

"No, you failed to use your blinker when you turned right onto King."

Oh. my. gosh. Really? Really? Just days ago, some guy was screaming bloody murder because someone was killing him! (We can all attest to that) Do Sherman cops care about that? Uh, no. They want to catch petty criminals.

Long story short, he told me I could call it an "oops" and let me go!

In the trade off, I asked him if he had any police trading cards (demonstrated below).

 

 Unfortunately, he didn't have one. But at least I didn't let the chance go by to ask!

xoxo-Jenna

My Wedding Chapel!!!!

The Ceremony Site: Perkins Chapel (SMU).  It's all happening here... April 16, 2011!!!!!

We paid the deposit today and it is all set in stone.  I am beyond thrilled!  What do you think??
*Reception Site coming soon ...

xoxo,

 Elizabeth

Cherry House = Neighborhood Crime Watch

Once again, the neighbors give me no choice but to blog about their obnoxious behavior.

Ok, so here at the Cherry House, we are basically the only neighborhood crime watch house for our entire neighborhood (and all surrounding neighborhoods, since we are the only ones who give a care). We don't really do it out of duty, but because we are greedy whores for all juicy news, scandal and seduction happenings around the area.

Thanks to our white trash neighbors, two nights ago, our appetites for all sorts of news was fed and full as we heard 100% pure drama running down the street at 1:30 in the am screaming bloody murder. All the sudden, Monster Truck across the street peels out of their driveway and chases after the screaming fool.

Naturally, three out of the four of us gathered together in the dark of our house to discuss the juicy details of this crime. To give you an idea how seriously we take neighborhood crime theatrics, let's just say Agatha Christie (see below) ain't got nothin' on us!

 We are pretty much pros when it comes to accurately assuming and matching all sorts of crime detail to the appropriate neighbor. We are not judging, just laying the correct evidence next to each neighbor. 

 

So, when the truck tore off after the tortured, screaming soul and shortly returned back to the house, it was safe to assume that the Driver caught up with Screamer and ran over him/her. After flinging The Body into the truck, Driver came back to the house to transport The Body into the trunk of a less conspicuous car to then take and dump in the lake. 

Just to explain the magnitude of how seriously we take our crime watch, we went out on our porch at 1:30 in the am to get a better look/sound. We risked life, limb and female virtue to get a better look at the action when there were criminals (see below) running around willy nilly! But if we hadn't done that, then the crime wouldn't have been solved now, would it? We know the murderers of the body that was found at the bottom of the lake. Yes, they are our neighbors! 

Yes, in the dark living room of our house we solved this crime and came up a plan to prevent the Bad Guys from sticking our bodies in their trunks. So don't worry about us, faithful readers! We have a foolproof escape plan that includes giant gardening sheers and a getaway car. 

Love love, 

Jenna

Pregnant

No, not one of us!  Our cat, Mirabelle June Cherry.  Our sweet, innocent, little Mirabelle is knocked up.

At first we didn't take heed to the signs.  We just always have assumed the best of our little Mirabelle June.  But then in a matter of two days, she went from a cute fat belly to HUGE!  She is absolutely enormous.  I don't really even know how she fits through the doorway, honestly.

Before you start casting your stones and blaming us as irresponsible parents, please take note that we rescued her at four months of age several weeks ago and apparently she got preggers right before.  {insert "Babies having Babies" lyrics here}

  

We as parents are looking to this site to give us coping guidance.

So we're putting these kittens-to-be up for adoption.  If you or someone you know can promise to give one of them a loving home, comment below.  We're expecting Mirabelle to give birth in the next week or so.  We will keep you updated.

xoxo,

Elizabeth

Lawn Care, Who Cares?

So we have had our Hispanic friend, Alfredo (pronounced like the sauce), giving our lawn manicures since we have moved into the Cherry House.  He charges $35, takes all day, and does an okay job (we'd compare it to a hair trim).

Then the other day a man knocks on our door and offers to cut our grass.  I politely turned down the offer and told him we already had someone who was supposed to be coming later this week.  He asked how much he charged and naturally I told new-guy $30, less than Chicken Alfredo actually charges (we go to Austin College, okay?  We're taught to think on our toes!).  The guy said he'd do it all for $25 and we shook hands.

About 20 minutes later I was walking out to my car and his wife was riding around on the John Deere while he was trimming our hedges.  How cute!?!  A little cute couple making their living!

Long story sweet, they did a wonderful job!  We compare it to a fresh, clean hairCUT!

Sorry Alfredo.  It's over.

Get Us Outta Here!

Last night Jenna and I decided that we needed a little change in scenery. Since this week was dreadful and we both could use a little relaxation, we are going to this a little bit differently than usual. More specifically # 3 and 7. So we are going to go hiking close by and take our study stuff with us to do a little light reading and studying. Hopefully the weather stays nice!

XOXO
Lindsey

Free Stuff

I don't think I have ever met anyone who didn't like getting something for free.  Everybody loves free stuff!  Sometimes things are so much better just because they're free.  Well, maybe everything except for the craigslist free section.  That stuff is just crap.  But otherwise, free stuff is awesome...

Tomorrow is free brewed coffee at Starbucks in honor of Tax Day!  All you have to do is bring your own mug and you will get their daily brew for free!!!!  Who could pass this up?  It almost seems too good to be true... but it is all true, my friends.  

So tomorrow morning you will find me at Starbucks, drinking my free coffee out of my own mug, probably buried in some wedding magazines!

What do you like to get for free?

xoxo,
Elizabeth

You've got to be kidding me...

I haven't been to the doctor since.....well...since way younger than 10. I don't even know. But I fear that my winning streak is coming to an end this Friday as I am scheduled to go to the doctor.

*Insert all sorts of explatives*

For the past several weeks, I've been getting stomach aches like no one's business and they hurt like a mother! For hours a day my stomach will either feel like burning or like a bowling ball is stuck in there (that's honestly it! I'm not withholding symptoms because I feel like I'll be judged if I say "I have gas"). Tums has become my best friend. I have to slouch like crazy during classes to get into some kind of comfortable position. I've changed my whole diet so that I'm eating a lot more alkaline (instead of acidic) foods. I bought some "good bacteria" vitamin pills from Green Market and have been making all sorts of drink-concoctions from the fruits/herbs found there.

Ok, let's talk about how serious this is. I've given up coffee and super sugary foods (and it's not because of our diet). I've got no other choice, because those foods hate my tummy right now.

All of these natural remedies/diet choices seem to help, but I have a feeling that this problem (though waning) isn't going away any time soon. I'm up to trying any kind of remedy (provided that it's natural and not chemically induced), because this problem is getting kind of old. And honestly, it's really keeping me away from doing homework, because it's kinda hard to focus when your belly is inconsolably aching.

If you've got a remedy, let a sister know!

I'm going to the doctor, but only to see what he thinks it might be (and be one step closer to running tests if need be). Not to be an obnoxious organic-snob-girl, I just really really don't want to take chemically drugs.

xoxo- Jenna

I'm ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!

I have the most wonderful news that I have been withholding from our little blog ... I am getting married!!!  My boyfriend of seven years popped the big question on April Fools Day!  I know, I know.  I thought it was a joke, too!  I think he strategically planned it that way incase he ever wants to take it back! :-) :-) :-)

We are so absolutely thrilled beyond words!  I am graduating in December so we are planning for a Spring wedding.  I am having a hard time thinking about anything else at this point and can't wait to keep our blog updated with all of the big plans.

I am sneaking away to Dallas tomorrow to look at a few venues with my mom!  We are going to see:

Perkins Chapel (Ceremony)
Arlington Hall at Lee Park (Reception)

Also, we have put everything Netflix has to offer on "Marie Antoinette" in our Queue for a little inspiration to fulfill my 'garden-tea party' themed wedding!

xoxo,
Elizabeth

Make-Out Bottle Girl

UGH! Okay, so I'm sitting in the school's coffee shop computer lab, dutifully working on homework, and the like, when a person walks in and sits at the computer right next to me. Nothing too bad...yet. So we are surfing away, me and my buddy, I'm looking for articles and she...well, she is looking at articles with awful pictures pasted of Pres Obama. I don't know what that is about. Anyways, we are still doin fine here, but then she decides she is in great need of a drink. So she hops up and goes right into the Hopper store to get something. She comes back. I notice she's gone with an Izze bottled drink. A fine choice and I mentally commend her for it.
I soon regret my appreciation.
She doesn't just drink from the bottle. She sips. And sips. And sips. And sips. CONTINUOUSLY! Folks, I counted 30+ little tiny baby sips in one setting before she even paused or put the drink down. One. right. after. another. Within about 30 seconds she has only drunk about 1/16th of this normal sized bottle but has taken a MILLION sips. And they are the loudest slurpiest most discusting sounding sips I have ever heard. I felt like I needed to leave her alone with this bottle! UGH! So whenever I see said person, I will forever think of her as Make-Out Bottle Girl. Nice to meet you.
Shudders.

XOXO
Lindsey

Double Chins

So we have this little problem(s) ...  we have more chins than a chinese phonebook.  And I mean really...

Okay, so these were taken January of 2009, but still.  The problem is everlasting.

We have officially deemed ourselves honorary members of our own greek group: Badda-Genetica.


We found this online and really need to check it out: Neckline Slimmer
Let us know if you've tried it and seen results!!!  Comment below.  WE NEED YOUR HELP!

What's a girl to do?!

Usually, I don't look out for vengful vermits or vicious insect of any kind while walking into my house. It's not like I'm paranoid and constantly checking my surrounding for crazed creatures. Well, two days ago my laid back approach of going into the house from my car didn't really work as I'd like it to.
I was just a walkin' into the house when out of my pariferal vision this black thing flies super fast to my arm and attacked it! More out of shock than hurt, I flicked the wasp off my arm and screamed both out of shock and pain. (Maybe the scream wasn't a good idea, because the night before we had a creeper around our house at 2 am and Elizabeth and Liz had to call the coppy-cops out of fright. So maybe my timing wasn't on target, because I think I sounded more abducted than stung to Elizabeth who was sitting in the kitchen.)

Long story short.....I got my first wasp sting. Just because it happened so fast, it didn't happen as bad as I thought it would. I guess it was a good thing that I got it on my wrist instead of my eyelid!

If you ever find yourself in the same situation, I would suggest that (provided you don't seem to have an allergic reaction) you ice it for 10-15 mins if you can and then soon after apply a paste of Baking soda and water to the sting. Stick a giant bandaid over it and if you got the same result as me, you should feel practically nothing soon after! I don't know what it is about baking soda, but it certainly did the trick!!!

xoxo-Jenna

Muh sister

My sister is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (for those of you asking what the crap that is, it's basically the Appalachian trail, but on the west coast that runs from Canada to Mexico) for the next 6 months.

She's keeping a pretty good blog found here.  So if hiking is you kind of thing, keep track of her and read all about some random girl and her friends hiking the trail!

xoxo-Jenna

April Showers, Won't You Please Bring May Flowers?

Are there enough words in the English language that can muster up just how cute my new rain boots are?

I think not.

Bring on the rain, ...man!

xoxo,
Elizabeth

How does our garden grow?

Does this not look like something we would have at our house?

Well we do now!
With the new Liberty Line at Target, I just had to get one. My little herb garden out back loves to be watered by this can! It's oh so "Cherry House!"

Homemade chi tea

I'm kind of addicted Real Simple the magazine and chi tea. So when Real Simple came out with a chi tea recipe I just about died! Ever since this March 2010 issue came out, I've been making some variation of the recipe. It's kind of the bomb. So, if you're into chi tea, I would highly suggest taking a sip of this concoction.
My own suggestions would be:
A) to add a little bit of Cool Whip (without High Fructose Corn Syrup, of course) on the top and mixed in to make it creamier and yummier.
B) Make the spices a little stronger. It really doesn't hurt.
C) definitely at least double the recipe, because it's so good you'll have wanted to anyway.

Ingredients:
8 Cardamom seeds
8 Cloves
4 Black peppercorns
2 Cinnamon sticks
1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, sliced
2 Cupes whole milk
4 Bags black tea (such as Darjeeling)
8 Teaspoons sugar or more, to taste
2 Cups water

• Place the cardamom, cloves, and peppercorns in a resealable plastic bag and crush with a heavy skillet.
• Place the crushed spices in a medium saucepan, along with the cinnamon sticks, ginger, milk, and 2 cups water: bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add the tea bags, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes. 
• Strain into cups. To each cup, add 2 teaspoons sugar or more, to taste. 
• Tip: You can make this tea and refrigerate it up to 2 days. (It's good cold or reheated!)
  
  Enjoy!
  

A little class etiquette that you won't find printed on the syllabus.

This week is so beautiful and just all-around perfect. I don't have crippling amounts of homework, nor do I have any tests. So I feel like I shouldn't spoil it all with a rant...but I will.

Let's see. How should I put this?
For the second Chaucer class period in a row, I have sat in front of someone who has no problem sticking her feet in my butt for a considerable portion of the class time. You know how students will often rest their feet on the metal bars below the chair seat in front of them? Yeah, well this girl completely ignores that handy and socially accepted place to rest her feet. So, she aims higher and sticks her feet on my chair which, in turn, means I get to feel her feet sticking into my tush until either of us moves (and neither of us are willing to budge).

Here are some outside fact which play into this whole scenario.
1) I'm not the only one she has done it to in this class.
2) She has a notable and school-wide reputation for not being the nicest person in the world. This can be noted in that...
3) Isn't it common curtesy not to put your feet on someone's chair so that you aren't invading their butt-space? So, either she's ignorant or rude.
4) I can be pretty stubborn. This is my chair.

Now, with these facts in mind, how do I move on? I have made it obvious that my butt is. right. there. (although maybe a little too timidly). So, there's not really anyway she can't know where her feet are (unless her legs are paralyzed and she can't feel touch or pressure and that is doubtful)! I'm not going to move chairs, because pleeeeeaaaaase honey, you can't win things by being inconsiderate. I'm also not going to slouch so far that I can't feel your feet, because I'm trying not to be a hunchback by the time I'm 35. I'm also not going to passively let you keep your feet there, because it's ridiculously distracting (especially when you wiggle your feet around my tush area). If you like your feet in people's butts so much, maybe I can ram my rear into your feet for you. But, then again, I'm trying not to react like an uncontrolled prick. That, then, also rules out sitting behind her and ramming my feet her rear for a change.

As much as I don't want to face up to this girl, I'm going to have to do it in another way than this passive aggressive way I've dealt with it so far. I really don't want to be a jerk about it, but at the same time, you just can't treat people that way. 

Maybe I should simply just say something to her...

Are you ready to just die?!

Lindsey's boyfriend found this....

If this isn't the most adorable thing ever, I don't know what is!

We love to WHINE

This is going to be the only wine we drink in our house from now on ...

Getting Too Friendly, Hmmm?

So we all know they exist. Yes I'm talking about the frantic, almost stalker-like girlfriends who spy on their boitoi's Facebook profile way too much. You know, they get easily jealous at anything? Well, I try to not be one of those, even though if I happen to think about it I might go and post a little note on his page. Definitely not in the superstalker category right?
I wasn't even on his page. I was on the newsfeed homepage when I spy with my little eye a (very lengthy) conversation. It is non other than the ex-girlfriend, who shall remain annonymous, sharing feelings of longing on his wall. Now, I may be taking it a little too far, but really? Do you need to wall-to-wall 16 times talking of getting together and laughing about the "good times"?

I. don't. think so.

xoxo
Lindsey

Side comments

So I'm getting a double-header tomorrow with midterms. While I'm going over all my notes, I'm also rereading all the side notes I take in class. Everyone does side notes, so I don't think I need to explain myself. Do I? They are probably the most raw, honest, real notes students ever really take. A couple of mine go something like this:

• Super cute skirt! (Referring to Jeanne Provost's Anthropologie purchase)
• Someone smells like waffles...
• I'm.
  So.
  Tired.
• Elbows at sides, pinned down. Hands flailing about (referring to how a certain professor talks most of the time).
• --CENSORED-- class = Life Story Time
• No one should ever have to see their professor's butt crack like I had to...
• "We are our own little snowflakes!

Those are just a few things I jotted down. If I was re-taking Cases and Concepts you can be assured there would be more where this came from.

xoxo-Jenna

Weight, it's almost bathing suit season!!??

The competition is on!

3 of the 4 CHG (Cherry House Girls), who shall remain anonymous for no other reason but that it sounded good, have taken a good hard look in the mirror and have to get a few things under control!  Who have we been kidding?  For months we have been burying ourselves in puffy jackets that hide back fat and furry boats that cover our kankles.  But seriously, it is the fourth day of spring in Texas and the shorts won't hide this cellulite so it is time to get serious!

We were having one of our many intelligible conversations today in the living room about our weight issues and decided to all attempt to get into shape.  We concluded that the best approach is through a competition to see who can lose the most weight (%) in a certain amount of time.

How it all works...

Today we each measured our weight, body fat %, and body h2o %.  We wrote the numbers on a neon colored post-it note as well as the date and time.  In two weeks from today we will have our first weigh-in wearing the same clothes at the same time of the day.  Each girl will put $5 into a jar and whoever has lost the most weight % at that time will get the $15 to spend how they please.  But that's not all!  In four weeks from today we will do a second and final weigh-in, and whoever has lost the most weight % at that time will get $15 from each of the other two girls and can treat herself to a mani & pedi!
We will calculate our weight loss percentage here for accuracy!

Now, if you know anything about us at all, you will know that we are not your typical "mean girls" ... aka ... we lika the foodsa.  And I mean, we really can throw down!  We all enjoy cooking, and most of all snacking!  So needless to say, this isn't going to be easy.  There will be a lot of judging, tears of pain, growling stomachs, and bitching.  Some of us have even already expressed their strategies for using reverse psychology on the others ... even though that certain someone later went on to eat fajita nachos for dinner!  But that is neither here nor there.  One technique that we all plan to acquire is the use of a juice machine!  Our dear friend, Jeff (from the Green Market), shared with us his secret to losing love-handles -- fresh squeezed carrot juice.  But that is the only secret we are sharing amongst ourselves.  After all, it is a competition!

Later to come... posts of the winner for each challenge and before and after pics!

Chipotle for the Hungry Soul

One of our housemates' sorority sisters is an advertiser for Chipotle and is always passing out 'Buy One, Get One Free' burrito cards.  Naturally she is always giving them to our housemate, who brings them home and entices us with dinner offers.  First of all, Chipotle is so amazing and we all love it and who can pass up a $4 burrito that serves as two meals (usually)?

Okay, it is 11:45 at night and this is looking quite delicious right now!

Nintendo

Technology!  Who could live without it?  It's great.

I have been thinking a lot lately about how much I miss playing Nintendo, old school on the computer, with my older brother when we were little kids.  The Wii is great, but what happened to the good ol' joystick?

Anyway, I was always Luigi and my brother, Mario.  We were so good at that game.

If you know how I can still play it like we did in the golden days, fill me in with a comment below!

We are proud members...

...of the blogging community! I mean, look at our blog! We are well on our way to be one of the "in" blogs!

Being so up on our game is so rewarding! We know exactly what is going on everywhere else.
Well, sort of...

I recently became a fan of Blog give aways when Real Simple told me it was a great place to find gifts. If you have a blog, you need to check this site out. If you have a twitter or a facebook, that's a plus too. They give you more chances of winning if you re-post things for them on your other social media outlets.

Give it a whirl! It's pretty addicting!
xoxo-Jenna

Double Feature (movies)

Hands down, there's going to be a double feature at the house sometime soon.

All of us girls are dying to see:

And 

 They are just what this house needs! (Especially if there is a chance this house might get netflix shortly!)

Garden Party

So, the Cherry House is now in the process of planning a garden party.
With hopes that the weather will be beautiful, we plan to open our house and backyard to people who are willing to celebrate springtime. We'll sip on sweet beverages arranging a rainbow of flavors in our mouths and eat dainty things like cucumber sandwiches. I could go on, but I don't want to give away the best parts before they happen. What I will say, is that I will spend spring break checking every couch-cushion for spare change so that we can afford the following for our humble garden party:

Chic lawn furniture anyone?

A good croquet set, naturally

The must-have lawn umbrella

The PERFECT dress


Honestly, our garden party is probably going to be this good!

This is our neighborhood....

How about a double feature of Sherman-at-its-finest?

Good. Here you go:
So I'm sitting on the porch (cause it's beautiful weather to do so) and doing homework. I'm noticing that the neighborhood teenage guys are outside hanging around their suped up red pick-up truck thinking they are hott stuff revving that engine. And they really are hott stuff, because everyone knows that using every last molecule to be the most abrasive, masoganistic, males on the planet is just down-right sexy.

So, I'm sitting outside noticing that they're revving their engine for the up-teenth time as I'm typing my English paper. The two guys in the pick-up truck are just sitting their revving their engines with the windows rolled down. I guess this is their way of enjoying the beautiful day? (Each to their own. Each to their own. Each to their own.) All of the sudden, the dad comes barreling out of the house yelling something-or-other (I don't know, I'm listening to Pandora). His gym shorts and black t-shirt are separated by his beer belly that is refusing to keep them modestly together. The acquiring speed of his procession to the car helps the velocity of his fist when he punches one of the kids through the passenger side window of the truck (angry much?). Yelling ensues, both boys get out and go into the house while the dad rants about some girl having some type of drug. Later their back outside to get back to their engine-revving.

For the 30 seconds it took for all that to take place, I sure thought about it a lot more. I know that I sound like a very cynical, unloving soul when I talk about all of this. But I assure you that watching them and the acorn-pickers plays on my heartstrings that are designed for people-watching. While I don't endorse domestic abuse by any means, it does make for the most perfect story to blog about.

I love people! I love life!
xoxo-Jenna

Acorn-Pickers!

Ok, so I don't know if you've looked out your window lately or not. If you did, I'm sure you'd notice what I'd like to call "the acorn-pickers" all around! They're everywhere, I swear! I see them in my yard, my neighbor's yard, your yard, at the school and scattered across the face of Sherman. My boyfriend thinks the term "acorn-picker" is racist, but trust me when I say it is completely interracial!

It seems like people from all nations, tribes, colors and backgrounds come out of the woodwork and go around picking acorns off of the lawns of others. It's a sort of gathering of the people. Everyone comes out to pick acorns, literally, out of all lawns like it's some Easter egg hunt all year.

What the hell they are doing, I have not the slightest clue! I mean, are they hungry?! I'll make them a sandwich or something! Are they trying to kill squirrels by taking their food? Silly Shermanites, those squirrels can't be killed so easily!

Just the other day I came home to see people picking acorns in our yard.

Creepy much?

Next day they are at the neighbors.

Ok, so it's a neighborhood thing. Great. I live in that part of Sherman.

Then I see them picking around at school.

Is this some sort of community service project? Pecan pie for the masses?

I don't know what's going on. I just know that I live in the acorn-picking capital of the country and I'm pretty amused by it! I seriously have a strong desire building up to join them and see what this is all about! Maybe it's some sort of warped strength and agility training! I could go for some of that!
xoxo-Jenna

The Cherry House