My Random Addictions: Pet Peeves Part One

Hello everyone!

Have you ever sat down with a group of people or one person and just talked about things that bother you? Well, here's another one of my random addictions: hearing about people's pet peeves! I think they are hilarious and when you talk about them with other people it makes you feel better about getting peeved by those things! So today I am sharing part one of a series with my little sister Sondra where we made a video about our favorite pet peeves! I know it is kind of lengthy but I guarantee you will laugh.


http://youtu.be/HvzLN6-u66w



P.S. This video was made over Christmas break and I finally just got to editing it which is why we talk about Christmas :P.

Thanks for watching :)

-Olivia

Michigan '13: Northern Love

Hello all!

As promised I am doing a whole post on my trip to Michigan! We had an amazing time as usual, and it flew by so quickly! Some of you may not know that Michigan was where I was born, and it is in my top places in the world. I love how peaceful Lake Huron is in the summer, and the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks at my grandparents house outside my bedroom window is the most relaxing sound ever. 

We started off our road trip from Bradenton at 6:30AM where my mom lives, and drove the 24 hours straight to Alpena, Michigan. Our stops typically include Chattanooga, TN where we go to Lupi's Pizza Pies (the best pizza ever) and McKays. This time we stopped at a park near Mckays to let the dogs run around and get some energy out. We usually stop at the Chick-fil-a in Lexington for dinner, but we skipped on that one because it was only about 6PM when we passed there so we decided to wait! Instead, we decided to stop at a subway in northern KY, but it turned out to not be in our favor. 45 minutes was the time it took to get our four subs because management had left the place Joey staffed with only one employee. Crazy. 

We finally made it to Alpena around 8AM, which isn't bad since we stopped for an hour and a half in TN and almost another hour in KY. Our first day was spent going to church (and almost falling asleep from exhaustion) and just relaxing. One of my favorite things I love about MI is that you can do nothing but read a book and its still a good day! 

To highlight some other points in our trip, we went to my other grandparents house, who live on the beach side of the lake, and let Nike dig in the sand and played some beach croquet. Their side of Lake Huron is super private, and Madi and I usually aren't beach people, but we love this beach. The sand is perfect and the water is salt less, which in my opinion is the best kind :). 

We also got to go to Lee's mini golf which is so much cheaper than FL mini golf! Another favorite is Mandarin Garden, a Chinese restaurant, which has amazing food. Of course we went downtown and saw a movie at the State Theatre, Grown Ups 2 (which I do not recommend, it was not the best). I checked up on my books at Blue Phoenix which is always so cool to me. Madi and I joined our 989 bestows Kelsey and Aniket at John Laos Saloon which is a cute steakhouse in Mi! It was delish!

This year instead of going to Chicago like we typically do, we decided to take two day trips to Mackinaw and Traverse City  (I wrote about Mackinaw below). Traverse City was fun! We went for shopping, which wasn't a lot compared to Florida shopping, but we got to go to Target and a real mall since Alpena is lacking in those areas. Downtown TC was very cute and had lots of Michigan themed shops which I loved! I got the cutest t-shirt at one! 

Overall the trip flew by, but we were so happy just to get away from school and the Florida heat and just relax for a little while! I'm working on another Random Addictions post as well as DIY because I started to look at Halloween costumes! This year we decided I'm going to try and use pieces from different places to make my own for when we go to Disney!

Thanks for reading :)

Olivia 

DIY Baked Ziti

Hello everyone,

Today I arrived home from our MI roadtrip and finally remembered to take pictures while making my baked ziti for dinner tonight! I LOVE this meal because it tastes so good heated up the next day as well which is perfect for college students! 

Items you need:

8x8 pan

Frying pan

Tin foil

Pot

Strainer

1/2 onion

2 garlic cloves

1/2 box of penne or ziti noodles

1 24 oz. jar of marinara sauce

1 bag of mozzarella cheese

1/2 bag of turkey meatballs (about 10 meatballs)

Serving size: 3-4

First you start off preheating the oven to 350 degrees. You then begin to boil water for noodles and a vegetable if you'd like. Next start chopping the onion and garlic on a cutting board.

After chopping the onion, add the onion and meatballs into a frying pan and stir continuously until onions become brown and meatball is able to be cut in half. This should take about 7 minutes.

Next pour marinara sauce to cover the bottom of a 8x8 pan and add about 6 spoonfuls of ricotta cheese. 

TIP: This makes enough for about two people with two lunch leftovers the next day (or four people). If you want to make it for 6 or more people, use a 9x13 pan and double the sauce, noodles, and meatballs.

After the noodles finish boiling, which takes about 10 minutes, drain them and add them on top of the marinara sauce. 

Then add the meatballs and onion on top of the noodles and pour over the remaining pasta sauce. Last add the bag of mozzarella cheese so that it covers the sauce completely. Bake this for about 25-30 minutes or until the edges of the cheese is golden brown. Make sure all the cheese looks melted! Be sure to add tin foil so it does not drip into the oven!

 

And wallah! Here is the ziti! 

I hope you try the recipe and let me know how you bake yours! 

Looking forward to next time :)

-Olivia