Best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER

So these cookies are pretty amazing. I got the recipe a few weeks ago at the first BYU football game from the host, Ashley. I don't know where she got the recipe, but I have been obsessed with these cookies ever since. Angie gave me a few of the cookies last night because she, too, loves them, and I thought to take a picture before I ate the very last one:

After the picture, I realized I had an interested party to my left. The following pictures show what came next:

 

me trying to keep it just out of reach

She finally reeled it in with her paw and got to it. I ate it anyway (It was my last one!).

So, here's the recipe. They are grrrreat!!

1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 heaping c. of non-instant oatmeal (ground up)
1 1/2 c. choc chips (milk chocolate)

Cream butter and sugar together for 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl. Beat dry ingredients into creamed mixture. Add chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 to 10 mins. Take out a little early and bake for a few minutes on pan before moving to a wire rack.

Rainy New York Monday

(view from my window right now)

Today is a rainy day in the city. The high is 67. I love it.

I was planning on making my mom's taco salad tonight, but I just found out it might be another late night at work for Johnny. . . . I was talking to my mom on Saturday, and she said, "You're practically a widow!" I laughed, partially at the morbidity of that statement, and also because I don't feel that way at all. 

In fact, it all just feels right. Johnny really enjoys his job. He loves it. And he and his partner, Klane, get along better than I think either of them ever could have guessed. 

And when they work late, I have been hanging out with Klane's wife, Angie. And I love it. She's becoming one of my favorite people. 

We bake delicious cookies together. 

We eat yummy cupcakes. 

We watch chick flicks. 

We watch The Office.
And we talk.

aforementioned yummy cupcake from Two Little Red Hens

So I don't feel alone. And Johnny and I keep in touch on Gmail chat. I know Johnny is enjoying his work, so it doesn't make me sad when he works late. And it makes our weekends together all the more special.

Speaking of which, we had a great weekend. BYU football is a bummer, but I love them nonetheless. Today I am even wearing my thick BYU socks that my brother-in-law Jake gave me one Christmas.

not sure it was worth risking my life to show them off

I attended the General Relief Society Meeting on Saturday night, and Johnny had a boys' night with Klane and Pat.

Sunday, we went over to Pat and Lindsay's for a Cafe Rio dinner. It tasted JUST like it. I mean JUST LIKE IT. Pat made it all by himself. Even thinking about it right now is making my mouth water.

And that's our life right now. My fifteen-minute break is up, and I must get back to editing and eating Swedish Fish.

Saturday's Adventures

I love the weekends. Saturdays especially. Right now the weather is perfect, we have a BYU football game to watch (even if we do lose...boo), and it's our only day each week to really take advantage of the city. Johnny and I started out the day (at around 1:00) by walking along the East River near our apartment.

A passing runner offered to take a picture of the two of us. Right after, Johnny said to me, "And we look like tourists." And I say, too bad. I am determined to document our life.

The BYU game started at 3:30, and Klane and Angie came over to watch it with us. They are our BYU football buddies out here. I didn't get any pictures of the game, but the pictures probably would have just shown looks of frustration. At one point, that hat Johnny's wearing in the above picture was thrown off his head and onto the ground. Yikes! Despite losing, we always have a fun time watching the games.

I made some molasses cookies during the game, and they filled the apartment with the smell of fall! It made me very excited for the coming months :)

After the game, all of us met up with Pat and Lindsay to go to A Salt & Battery in Greenwich Village. 

Angie with the goods

Lindsay and Angie

Angie and me

The Hardings

After dinner, it was time to decide on dessert. We ended up at Grom, which is an Italian gelato place.

 

While the Koellings and Nathan enjoyed Grom, we went with the Hardings to Yogurtland. What can I say? I guess we're not foodies :)

Nathan, Pat, and Lindsay

Angie, Klane, me, and Johnny

Lindsay and Angie all bundled up

 

The night was actually kind of chilly, perfect for a jacket. Lindsay came well-prepared... and I am in love with her jacket!

the park

my boy

We rode home on the subway with the Koellings. Initially, we felt so lucky because our subway car had tons of empty seats. But we soon found out why when the drunk bum sitting all by his lonesome across from us began talking loudly at Johnny and Pat. (He apparently didn't like Johnny's hat or Pat's shirt.) Oh brother. At the next stop, we switched subway cars and left the bum to himself. 

When we got home and out of the chilly weather, I was so ready to crawl under the covers and go to sleep!

Lazy Sundays

I love Sundays if I have a clean house and I wake up on time. On Saturday, Johnny and I did not get to bed until an unmentionable hour, which led to me pressing snooze about 20 times Sunday morning (and I hate pressing snooze!). Johnny and I rushed and got to church on time-ish, sans eating breakfast and me washing my hair. When we got home, I found that our trash can had become a breeding ground for gnats. Admittedly, the rest of the apartment was in need of cleaning as well, so the next hour was spent cleaning the apartment and killing as many gnats as possible. Gross. After that, we finally relaxed.

Persie was the most exhausted.

We had a little visitor on the fire escape on Sunday afternoon, and Persie was very interested.


It was a wonderful, lazy day of being together and video chatting with family. We miss our fams. We just found out Johnny's mom and granddad are coming to visit in October and we are very excited! Our first NYC visitors!

p.s. and yes, in the video clip, Johnny avoided showing what was playing on the computer screen because it might have been a Pauly Shore movie from Netflix instant play. I am ashamed.

TGIF

Remember when abc had TGIF and Sabrina the Teenage Witch and was on? Those were the days. Currently, I am waiting for the delivery man to bring us Chinese while Johnny runs to the bank and gets some cash. You want to see what I look like right this moment? No? Okay, I'll show you:

(I added Persie for the cute factor.)

Yes, I am tired. It was a long week. I have a confession: I did not even get ready today. Eek, you just learned I'm not perfect all the time. Hopefully, I've made that clear in my blog. I've been following this one blog lately--not anyone I know, just someone I've met--and I am going to have to stop following it because it just makes me sick. The person makes her life sounds so perfect and wonderful and ideal. And then complains about things that other people would dream of having. Ew, ew, ew. So, to avoid negative thoughts, I have removed it from my Google reader. Enough of that. Some thoughts for the week:

• Johnny worked late almost every night this week. The weekend could not come soon enough!
• I made those chocolate chip cookies that I gushed about in my previous post, and YES, they were as amazing as I remembered. Recipe coming soon.
• Tomorrow is another BYU game, and I am very excited!
• Johnny just told me I am more addicted to the computer than he is, so I should get off and eat some cheap Chinese take-out with my boy.

Ta-ta!

Labor Day Weekend

Hello, all! It's Wednesday already! My, how times flies. So I suppose I should blog about Labor Day weekend. It was a great weekend. It was also a relaxing weekend, to say the least. Johnny came down with a horrible cold Thursday night, so the majority of the weekend was spent getting him better. It was a good excuse for us to lounge and be lazy.
We finally made our way out into the fresh air on Saturday night to make the trek to Brooklyn with the Hardings to watch the BYU football game. As my mom would say, "It was simply marvelous!" It really was. A) BYU WON! HELLO! B) I tried the most amazing chocolate chip cookies ever and got the recipe! and C) We were with a great group of people. That makes all the difference when you're watching a game.
By Monday I had had enough of Johnny being sick, so I told him we were going to do something whether he liked it or not. So we went and ate a late lunch at Momoan's Falafel in the East Village with the Koellings. I've never had falafel before, and it was DELISH. I finished my whole plate in no time. Monday night Johnny was not feeling well again, so he wanted to stay in and watch the BSU game on the couch with a blanket. I was feeling stir-crazy, so I went solo to a friend's house where a few couples were getting together. I had a good time, but while I was there, all I could think about was getting home to sick Johnny. Johnny and I had all these expectations for the long weekend, and they fell through when he got sick. But we realized all we needed to have a good weekend was to be together. So I guess you could say the weekend was a huge success :)

Pics from falafeling (a new word I just created):

p.s. I stoled all these pictures from Lindsay. Thanks, Linds :)

Independence

I think I would be doing a great dishonor to Johnny if I did not post about BYU football going independent. When the news finally came out this week, Johnny was beyond excited. He kept saying, "Jo, I don't think you realize what a big deal this is!" Yesterday,  as we ate our breakfast, Johnny felt the need to play the following clip from Independence Day:



So while we are both excited for BYU football's independence, you could say Johnny's a tad more excited than I am. Just a tad. Needless to say, we can't wait for this week's game!

Spontaneous

My friend Lindsay cut her own bangs on a whim. They look fabulous! Feeling spontaneous (Johnny would call it reckless), I decided to take a whack at cutting some bangs as well! Honestly, I don't know why I do these things. The end result?

(This was the picture I sent to Johnny.)

 Afterward, Lindsay and I had to show each other our new looks! Haha, oh dear.

I guess this is what happens when we are at home by ourselves all day. Read Lindsay's side of the story here!