The Liebster Award!!

Yayy!! I was nominated for the Liebster Award by my friend Jenn who blogs at The Hunt's. Her and I met through a small group when we were attending the same church. Our babies were due the same day and it has been so fun to read her blog and keep up with her! Her little cutie pie, Jane was actually born two weeks early so we are always about one step behind them. It works great for me because I can see what we might be about to go through :). Thanks for testing the waters Jenn!

The Liebster Award is for blogs with less than 200 followers. At the end of this post check to see if I nominated YOU! Also, if you aren't following my blog you can do that to the right either through Google + (which is how I follow everyone) or through email.

Let's get started:

1. What's your favorite recipe?

I have to say my favorite recipe is for these chocolate chip cookies. No surprise there! I am an avid dessert lover/eater!! The best thing about this recipe is that it only makes 2 huge cookies or 4 regular cookies...which makes it the perfect after dinner dessert for the hubs and me! These cookies are chewy around the edges and soft in the middle..just the way we like them! Also, they are fresh out of the oven every time! :) I found the original recipe here. I noticed that it takes my oven much longer than 8 minutes if I make 2 large ones but if I do 4 regular ones 8 minutes works just fine.

Perfect Single Serving Size Chocolate Chip Cookies

Author: Melissa @ No. 2 Pencil

Recipe type: Dessert

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  8 mins

Total time:  13 mins

Serves: 1-2

Makes just two very large chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 firmly packed tablespoons of dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
• Pinch of kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 1 egg yolk – discard or set aside egg white for a different use
• ¼ teaspoon of baking soda
• ¼ cup of all-purpose flour
• 3 heaping tablespoons of semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, heat butter just until it starts to melt and is softened. Blend softened butter, sugars, salt, and vanilla together by hand.
3. Add egg yolk and stir again.
4. Add baking soda and flour and stir until combined.
5. Then stir in chocolate chips.
6. Form cookie dough into two balls and place on baking sheet.
7. The cookies will spread during baking, so make sure they are several inches apart.
8. Bake for about 8 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.
9. Remove baking sheet from oven and give the baking sheet a firm, but careful bang on the counter top. This will deflate the cookie and give it a perfect wrinkly appearance.

2. What's your favorite hair product?

This is easy! Wen! Yup, I'm a Wen girl. I first decided to try it after reading this post on Maskara.com. I bought some right before I gave birth to Avelyn. My thought was that it would save time in the shower since it was only one product. It actually takes the same amount of time as shampooing and conditioning since you scrub your scalp so much working it in but the results are amazing! I didn't really notice a big difference for about 3 weeks but after that my hair had never been better. I bought mine from QVC because they seem to have the best price. After reading a LOT of reviews, I bought the Sweet Almond Mint scent. I didn't purchase another bottle after the first one ran out (16 oz one lasted me 2 months) and I tried the Sally Beauty Supply knockoff version Hair One. It was night and day different. In fact, I haven't used the Hair One more than "One" time. Hehe get it?! lol

Anyway, I just reordered Wen and this time I am trying the new formula SixThirteen. My scalp has been so dry and greasy at the same time and I knew I needed to suck it up and just buy it. My way of justifying the price is that I don't get my hair cut or dyed more than 2x a year and my other beauty products are cheap. If you decide to try Wen I promise you won't be disappointed.

3. What's the best vacation you have been on?

Our honeymoon! We had the best honeymoon. We spent 10 days on Oahu in Hawaii. We rented a garage apartment right on the North Shore and it was perfect in every way. A bonus was that we brought Avelyn home as a souvenir! ;)

4. What's your favorite meal?

I have to pick just one?! Well that is really hard for me because what I want always depends on my mood that day. I can't eat the same thing over and over. In fact, I rarely even eat leftovers. Today, a tofu vermicelli bowl sounds amazing!

5. Dream job?

Thankful to God that I am living out my dream job right now! I love being a mom to miss Avelyn. Being a mom is the most rewarding, fulfilling job I've had. . . and I have had alot of jobs. She wakes up with the biggest smile on her face when she sees me...and will even give me some cuddling before bed. I just love her!

I'm thankful for a husband who provides for us so that I get to stay home too! :)

6. Christmas or Thanksgiving?

Christmas! I really feel like I should be thankful every day of the year and not just one. Also, it was the day Jesus was born!! How do you beat that?!

I love that people seem friendlier and more loving during that time of year. I know that holidays are a hard time of year for some people and they were for me for a long time. But, my first holiday season with Brandon changed all of that. Our first Christmas together was spend decorating our little palm tree houseplant. We exchanged gifts in front of the fireplace and kissed at midnight. Last year was spent with his family in Wimberley and little Avelyn came a few days later. This time of year will always be special to me.

7. Favorite Clothing Store?

For Jeans it is The Buckle. I buy every pair of jeans there. They are a bit pricey but I have been wearing some of my jeans for 10+ years and they still look good! Of course, I can't really wear any of them right now. I can technically get them on and button them but they look ridiculous! I actually just hung them all up in our new closet and can't wait until they are appropriate to wear in public. :)

8. Favorite Football Team? Do you have any traditions on game day?

Well let's be honest. I'm not all that into football. I went to college at Purdue and going to some of those games were the only times I really cared if we won or lost. My husband however is a football fanatic. He loves any team from Texas although if he had to choose just one.. it would be the Longhorns. We just had our first football party in the new house. We made/bought tons of food and invited some friends and neighbors over to watch the game.

I guess our "traditions" would be dressing Avelyn up and eating queso!

9. Favorite TV show?

Extreme Weight Loss with Chris Powell. They just wrapped up Season 3. Each episode follows one person through their weight loss journey over a year. They have weigh ins every three months. I love any kind of makeover show but to see the transformation of these people inside and out is just incredible. It is such an inspiring show!

10. DIY or Buy?

I would love to just buy everything. I pin a lot of DIY stuff from Pinterest though and due to budget constraints I do make most stuff here at home. I like to DIY things for Avelyn's nursery or for the holidays. When it comes to things like furniture, sewing and that stuff...we are all better off if I buy! :)

This has been super fun for me and I can't wait to pass the torch on to some of my favorite bloggers. I really cherish the blogger friends I've made since starting this and I love that we can share this! Without further ado I nominate:

• Sierra at Us+One
• Megan at HelloNewlywedLife
• Jess at JasonMeandBabyT
• Stephanie at HammeSweetHamme
• Christa at Young&Restless
• Katie at God'sLittleGrace
• Sara at LifewithBabySophia