Early Bird Shifts and Piña Colada Dessert Bars

Right now I am currently trying to get as much done as I possibly can while I still have energy and motivation. As you either know or are about to be told, I am a night owl.

The only problem with this is that I generally work from 4am-12pm so I have to wake up at 2 AM which is when I would normally be going to bed. I've been having a little trouble getting to bed early enough so by the time I get home I am absolutely exhausted and fall asleep wherever I land. Which means again that I don't get to sleep during the night and start the whole horrible cycle over again.

I'm determined to get on track so tonight I'm not going to eat, drink, or go on electronics after 8:30 pm. It's gonna suck, but I need to survive these early morning shifts.

Some good news though is that I have finally found an awesome dessert recipe that isn't cookies or bread!! I wanted to make a tropical dessert for my Grandmother as a thank you gift because she gave me a gift card to WinCo for $25. So with that money I made these great Piña Colada Dessert Bars.

You can find the original recipe here.

Some changes I made:

1. I only used half of the amount of rum it called for. I found this was plenty.
2. I think next time I'm going to double the crust amount. It felt a little too thin to me, especially since some of it is used to sprinkle on top.
3. I hate sliced almonds, they're creepy feeling. So I chopped them up instead.
4. If you don't want to use alcohol, you could just use rum extract or skip it all together I suppose.

They were a hit! I would definitely recommend trying them out.

September Favorites

Hello everyone!! I know I'm a day late, but I hadn't actually decided to do monthly favorites until just now. I think it'll be fun to be able to look back on this month and see what kind of things I got to enjoy. So let's get started!

ENTERTAINMENT

This was actually a bit of a hard choice because there are so many amazing vloggers out there (Zoella, Tyler Oakley, & Grace Helbig to name a few) that I absolutely love, but I did end up choosing Tanya Burr. She has such an amazing personality and style that I never get bored of watching her videos. She is just so real and likable! I was really impressed with not only the quality of her videos but the content as well. If you're looking for a fashion guru or just need a pick-me-up, I definitely suggest checking out her channel on YouTube.

FOOD/DRINK

I know everybody has different tastes when it comes to foods and drinks, but I have really enjoyed this tea a lot and I feel like it's not too strong or like a special flavor so a lot of people could enjoy it. It's called Jasmine Green Tea by Teatulia and it comes with 30 round tea bags. The tea bags (which are stringless/tagless) and the container are compostable which is wonderfully Eco friendly. It's got a very smooth taste and makes me feel happy and content, which is always good when I'm stressing over things.

MAKEUP

I did talk about this in another post, but I loved it so much I had to add it to this list! I just find that it goes on really well, and it lasts for ages. When I'm running to my classes, catching a bus, or just flat out busy, I don't have time to make sure my eyeliner is in place. With this liquid eyeliner by kleancolor I never even think about the state of my eyes because it's so long lasting. To learn more about this product click here.

BOOK

I was originally drawn to this book because the title was quite funny. It's called If Ignorance is Bliss, why Aren't There More Happy People?: Smart Quotes for Dumb Times by John Mitchinson and John Lloy. When I got it, I thought it would be in the format of a normal book, but it is just pages and pages of quotes from famous people (past and present) and it's organized by topic. I absolutely love it and have been laughing my head off at the choices they picked. I feel this would be a great book to have set out on a coffee table for visitors to flip through, and I may have to buy my own copy soon. One of my (many) favorite quotes that I've found so far is, "Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti." which was apparently said by the beautiful Sophia Loren. So if that beauty icon says spaghetti's ok, then who am I to argue?