Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Another great thing about being at my parents' house is my mom's awesome kitchen, seriously it is like a dream kitchen and the creativity just flows there. I was tasked with baking my sweet grandma some cookies and my grandma is a chocolate-lover, hm.. I wonder if that is where I get my love of chocolate from? Anyways I decided upon baking her chocolate chocolate chip cookies. My parents raved about them when they came out of the oven and then when my grandma received them in the mail, and only 3 were broken, she raved about them too. So I suggest you make these cookies for those special people in your life and have them rave about how great these cookies are and you get all the credit ;-)

 

First, gather together your ingredients.

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature, 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup packed brown sugar, 2 large eggs, slightly beaten, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, 2 cups chocolate chips (you could also use peanut butter chips, M&M's). Add 1 cup of walnuts if you want some crunch in your cookies.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put your butter in a mixing bowl and give it a good creaming with your mixer. 

 

Add in the white and brown sugars and mix again.

 

 Add in the eggs and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture. Cream all these ingredients together. 

 

 

Next add in the flour, baking soda and cocoa powder.

 

 Give all the ingredients a good mix, scraping down the sides of your mixing bowl if necessary. Last, add in the chocolate chips or whatever nut or chocolate item you are using. 

 

Roll out the dough into 1 inch balls and place them on your baking sheet about 2 inches a part, 

they will spread out a bit.

 

Pop your cookies into the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, pull the cookies out of then oven, let them cool slightly on the cookie sheet to set and then take them off the cookie sheet onto a rack to cool. 

 

Then serve, eat and enjoy with a tall glass of ice cold milk!

recipe found here

Desert Living

Alisha is featuring me today over on her blog, check it out.
So I arrived back in California on Saturday night, back to the waiting arms of my husband and my adorable pups. My week was in Tucson was great, just great, that is the best adjective I could use to describe it. Things with my mom's surgery were great, even better than expect, God really protected her and cared for her. Due to God's provision, it meant my mom and I could go out, do some shopping and eating. 

My mom was expecting a 8 week timeframe of her arm in a sling and ability not to use it but by Tuesday night the sling was gone! That is how awesome He is! 

What I did last week:

went out to eat a few times for Mexican for 99 cents chicken tacos, Chinese, dim sum, bbq

shopped and found an awesome pair of ikat shorts at Gap

saw a variety of wildlife from bunnies to javalinas and a rattle snake right next to my parents house

had it rain a few times while I was there

saw the first game of a doubleheader played by the Tucson Padres (the SD Padres Triple A team)

saw this awesome balloon hat

photographed a lot of desert plants

met up with Lauren of Life. Love. Lauren, the only Tucson blogger I know yet, any more out there?

went for a run at 5:30am each morning

saw a dumb campaign sign

felt loved on by my mom and dad

listened to some great podcasts

That's it! Tomorrow, I'll share some sunset photos I took during the week and then I am going to really embarrass myself, I am sharing baby photos of myself here on the blog titled, Where I got my start part 1 and 2. There are photos that capture the things I loved back then and continue to love today can you say baking and watermelon?

Hope you all are doing great! Catch me up on you!

Where in the world is Meg Henning?

I'll give you some clues: Wildcats, Sonoran dog, cactus, Mi NiditoIf you guessed Tucson then gold star for you!
Sorry no post today as this morning I am making my way down to Tucson to spend the week with my parents.My mom is having surgery at 1pm today so prayers please. 
I definitely will post tomorrow about the Colbie Caillat and Gavin DeGraw concert, of course, I am going to share that with you all.
Have a great Monday and remember how much you are blessed with in this life.

Hostess with the Mostess - 4th of July edition

Did you enter my SkincareRx $20 giveaway?  You have until July 11 to do so.
Happy Monday! What a great weekend with my cousin, I always enjoy hanging out with her and we just have the best time. Friday night when I landed, we went to a food truck fest called Moveable Feast. Only at a food truck can you have a Cuban sandwich along with a deep-fried tofu steamed bun and an ice cream sandwich with mango ice cream.

Saturday we headed up to SF, which we tend to do when I came into town. We went to unique SF, which was a diy vendor market. Tons of great and creative jewelry, plus free food samples and even drinks. I saw a cute tinted lip balm by a company of two sisters' who live about 20 minutes from me. I say gotta support your local folks. After browsing around unique SF for like 3 hours we headed to a high-end retail store called Jeremy's who was having a ridiculously low-priced sale. Finally, we headed back to San Jose but on our way to get back to the freeway, we drove past another food truck fest. We said, "dinner!" This time having Indian food and mac and cheese topped with pulled pork, yummy!
Sunday we went to a farmer's market, did a bit of shopping and then took a 2 hour hike.
Ok that was my weekend, how was yours?

For the next installment of the Hostess with the Mostess, it is only fit that I focus on 4th of July today.
If you haven't quite figured out your 4th of July drinks, appetizers, main course and dessert, here are a few ideas for you.

Drinks

Source: am.newuvision.us via Janella on Pinterest

Source: halfhourmeals.com via Meg on Pinterest

Appetizers

Source: google.co.uk via Claire on Pinterest

Source: halfhourmeals.com via Meg on Pinterest

Source: food.tipjunkie.com via Ashlee on Pinterest

Source: halfhourmeals.com via Meg on Pinterest

Source: halfhourmeals.com via Meg on Pinterest

Main Course

Source: toastandlaurel.com via Angie on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Katie on Pinterest

Source: goodhousekeeping.com via Monika on Pinterest

Source: evilshenanigans.com via Julie on Pinterest

Source: halfhourmeals.com via Meg on Pinterest

Desserts

Source: cupcakesandcashmere.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Source: designmom.com via Danielle on Pinterest

Source: impressedinc.com via Angela on Pinterest

Source: simplyseleta.com via Meredith on Pinterest

Here you go, a few ideas for your 4th of July bbq. Tomorrow, the hometown dates on the Bachelorette, stay tuned!

Trip Re-cap

Did you enter my SkincareRx $20 giveaway? 

Ok here it is the long awaited trip re-cap. 

The purpose of our trip was to see our grandparents who all live in the  East Coast.

To begin this trip, Sean started out in Charlotte, NC and visited with his family. I was suppose to go but the day before we were suppose to leave (which was Saturday), I got an email stating I had an in-person job interview Monday morning. This was the second round of interviews for this position and we prayed about it and decided it was important enough for me to stay behind and do the interview in-person even though the company gave me the option of doing the interview via video chat. 

So Sean went to Charlotte and I didn't leave until Tuesday. Our original plan was to drive up to Washington DC on Tuesday and stay there through Thursday. I flew directly into Washington DC on Tuesday, Sean picked me up and we headed to my friend's house who we were staying with. 

The purpose of going through Washington, DC instead of directly to our next destination, Sharon, PA was to allow me to see my Boss's Washington DC office which I have not yet seen in the 6 years that I have worked in his district office. If you aren't up to date on my work situation, my Boss has worked as a representative for CA for 32 years and decided he will not run for re-election this upcoming November. Thus leaving all of us having to find new employment by the end of the year. Another reason we went to DC was because Sean had never visited, Washington DC so I wanted him to experience the sights and sites and feel all the power that Washington, DC holds.

After a delicious dinner on Tuesday night after I arrived, we hit up the Dupont Circle area and then headed back to my friends place to sleep.

Wednesday morning was the big visiting day, the DC office, the Capitol including a tour on the House floor. The House of Representatives was in recess the week we visited which gave us the opportunity to visit the House floor. What a magnificent building the Capitol is, of course with all the history surrounding it.

After the Capitol tour, we walked the National Mall, checked out some of the Smithsonian museums, walked to the Washington Monument, saw the World War II monument and then headed over to the White House. 

Just a few photos of our day in Washington DC for your viewing pleasure.

And if I haven't worn you enough with photos here are just a few more.

After a day of touring we were wiped out but not before another good friend of mine who I knew in college who lives in DC joined us for dinner. That is one thing I love about the experiences I have had and the many places I have lived, being able to see friends in different parts of the country.

The next morning, Thursday, before we headed out to Pennsylvania, we stopped by the Georgetown area and of course had to stop by Georgetown Cupcakes. Yes it was 9:45am and we stood in line for the place to open up at 10am, however, we did hold off and wait to eat the cupcakes until after lunch.

After these few photos, my camera unfortunately didn't take great photos the rest of the trip, major disappointment and I feel like I'm not a proper blogger for you all. 

So I will briefly re-cap the rest of the trip for you. We arrived in Sharon, PA to visit with Sean's other grandma and hung out with one of his uncles and his aunt that night. After lunch on Friday, we hit the road again going West to Toledo, OH where my grandma and one of my aunts live. We saw them for dinner and lunch on Saturday. After lunch we headed north to attend my youngest cousin's high school graduation in Troy, MI. After enjoying his party we crashed at my uncle's house that night and then headed out to Ann Arbor where my sister and her boyfriend lives. We enjoyed a short rain shower during lunch and then the rest of the day the sun was shining as bright as ever. After dinner, we headed back to Toledo Sunday night so we could see my grandma one more time on Monday before we flew out Monday afternoon.

Is anyone tired from reading all that?? I was tired before the trip just thinking of all the visiting and all the driving we had on our agenda.

Overall, it was a great trip seeing a lot of family.
p.s. 3 days after the interview, I got an email saying I didn't get the job, the search continues!