This week’s thoughts and random musings are being linked up to Amanda’s awesome Thinking Out Loud party!

1. Christmas is in LESS THAN A WEEK. Last night I really got into the holiday spirit by celebrating National Bake Cookies Day for basically the whole evening. I was feelin’ some Christmas snickerdoodles (my favorite) and these Nutella cookies. I then proceeded to torture all my friends by posting a picture of the Nutella cookies on Instagram. Muahaha. I’ll be sharing them at school today though— I’m only a LITTLE bit mean. 😉

Maybe the recipe meant 1 TSP of cinnamon instead of 1 TBSP? The cinnamon and colored sugar made for an interesting combo. They are tasty nevertheless.

2. More Christmas awesomeness? These Christmas tree-shaped ravioli from Sam’s Club!

Cuuuuuuuute. And delicious.

3. My family and I will be heading to Canada tomorrow to see all our relatives and friends for Christmas and New Year! Woot woot! I’m so excited. Not only do I love going to my other place of citizenship, but I also cannot wait to spend time with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on both sides of my family!

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I still haven’t gone to where the moose are…I want to.

4. The only thing that stinks about leaving for Canada is that I’ll be missing our dance school’s holiday party this Saturday. It’s this cute and fun little gathering of all the dancers and their families to watch some lovely, short pieces choreographed by the dancers themselves and some crazy, cheesy dances created by company members (juniors do a dance for the seniors, and seniors do a dance for “little sisters”). Ohh well. You can’t be in two places at once.

5. I forgot how much I love applesauce. I mean, I haven’t really had much of it since my nugget years, but I could totally get into it again. I had to buy some to make monkey bread, but there was still a lot left over. What to do? Mix it with yogurt to make a concoction that my little cousin used to eat and call “yo-sauce.” I can see why the toddler enjoyed it so much.

Basically, I like baby food.

6. I did not do any homework at home yesterday. Classes were especially laid-back, so I could finish a lot of my work. And when I got home, all I really had to do was bake up a storm! That’s what homework should be in my opinion— baking to soothe the soul (and the belly) and to put smiles on people’s faces.

Ha. Wish me luck as I try to argue that one with my teachers.

7. I made it into a couple colleges so far— Northeastern and Drexel! I was getting antsy since so many of my friends were getting into their early decision schools (they’re freakin’ amazing—Duke, Colby, Tufts, Cornell, SUNY Geneseo, Barnard, and Connecticut College are some of the places they’ll be going to!). I didn’t apply early decision (which is binding if you’re accepted) anywhere, just early action, so I really just wanted to get something. I would check my email like a mad woman. Sometimes, I would see an email from a college, get super excited, and then see Happy Holidays from ___ University! Stop playing with my emotions. -_- But now I am grateful that I can at least go somewhere now!

I was this dramatic when my friends got in. 🙂

8. I’m kind of upset that I didn’t take the opportunity to go sledding with my brother at all this year. He’s home only for this semester since he’s working through his Co-op program (at Northeastern!), so he’ll be going back to school in the new year. I might just cry. No more British accents or game nights 😦

9. No matter how much I put on lotion (actually….I don’t put it on THAT often…but still often), the skin around my fingernails is perpetually dry and gross. I’ve had visions of myself just sitting with my fingers immersed in a jar of cocoa butter or coconut oil. Tell me that would magically penetrate into the depths of my dermis and make it soft forever? Because I would do it.

10. Eyyy I have a school concert tonight! For some reason I keep forgetting about it… Probably because I’ve had to learn all the songs after school since Chorus didn’t fit on my regular school day schedule. Well, it should be a good one anyway!

Have a great Thursday!

So tell me: Did you bake cookies yesterday? What is your favorite cookie? How do you deal with dry skin in the winter?