thebabyperks

For some reason I've been sick more than usual recently. I was sick pretty much the whole time over Christmas break and today I came home early from school with a 101 degree fever. I decided that I'm going to compile that top then things to do while sick.

1) Drink coffee and/or tea. I've already had two cups of coffee today.
2) Catch up on all the latest Twitter news, especially easy when the Midnight Memories music video was release today, as well as Harry's 20th birthday.
3) Cuddle up by  the fire with blankets (if you're cold, and in my case I'm freezing), one of which is my One Direction blanket.
4) Drink plenty of water, flush those toxins out!!!
5) Watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians because who doesn't want to watch family drama?
6) Go on Tumblr and catch up on the past few days of being Tumblr-free
7) Watch all your subscriptions on YouTube
8) Take a hot shower. Open up those pores and feel refreshed
9) Read fan fiction on Wattpad (my favorites are After 3, Psychotic, Heartbreaker, and I'm getting into Hidden)
10) Sleep, a lot!! In my case I went to bed 2 1/2 hours later every night this week so tonight is my catch up day.

Well, hopefully I'll feel better so I can do some exciting things to blog about. Also, on Saturday my video will be up corresponding to this post. I was sick while recording it, so cut me some slack! If you could like, comment, and subscribe when it's up I would greatly appreciate it. Check out my other videos on my channel, thebabyperks  

Swimming is something I talk about ALL the time and even though I don't swim on a competitive team anymore (just high school), it's become a part of me. This isn't the first time I've talked about swim and it's not about to be my last. We have a huge invitational Saturday in Cape Girardeau in the "Bubble". Our team competed in it last year and I loved it. Also, we've had 2 more snow days, one Tuesday and one today. Pretty much all our swim meets have been cancelled and we've only swam in four or five and the season is almost over (we usually swim around 10-14 I think). At the meet I'm swimming the 200 IM, 500 free and 400 free relay. Everyone is freaking out and trying to figure out what to pack because we have to leave school early tomorrow.

Anyway... now that I've updated you all on my boring life I'll get to the point. In my many hours of swimming countless laps, I've contemplated a lot. These are two of the questions that go through my mind:
" Why don't I just walk out of here? This is pointless."
" Why am I not faster? Am I going to disappoint coach? Does she know that I'm trying?"

Then I realized something to the first one. I always complain about having to go to practice. I never want to get up and go there. We all complain about practice but in the end swimming is my life. Swimming was the only thing that got me out of my depression last year. The months from the end of November to mid February were the only good things from freshman year. Freshman year was a bad time for me and swimming allowed me to bond with people who could make me happy again. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't swim. As much as I complain about how much I don't want to get up and go to practice I've realized I'd just sit at home on the internet for the entire day everyday. I do that enough on my Saturdays, I don't need to do that every day of the week. You guys know that I'm not a social person, swimming is the only thing that really gets me out of the house.

Also, I've met some of my best friends through swim, Savannah and Peyton, along with every girl on the team. We've experienced the best (and worst) things together and in the end it's made us stronger. I've never felt closer to a group of people before. When all the senior girls graduate I'm going to be so upset because this has been such an amazing season and I love every single one of the them.

And then for the second question I ask myself. I know how hard I work and how much dedication I put toward the team and I shouldn't worry if they can see it. I know for myself and I'm 99% sure the coaches and my teammates see it too. As long as I work as hard as I can and give my best at every practice and meet that is all that matters.

To wrap this up, you might say that you hate something but really when you've given so much time into it, you realize it's what you love. Of course this isn't always the case but I've learned that I truly love to swim and wouldn't quite for anything. I want to thank my coaches and my teammates for always being there and supporting me.

This is dedicated to Abby Beckerdite because without her I would not be writing this post at 9:00 at night

Hey everyone it's Taylor and I'm back for my Monday morning breakfast. I don't have any exact measurements I just throw some fruit and yogurt in there and go. This could be a fail because I don't have any specific measurements, so sorry.

Ingredients:
- Chobani Yogurt (peach)
- Orange Juice
- Unsweetened Almond Milk
- Blackberries
- Blueberries
- Whipped Cream

Instructions:

1) Use an individual portion yogurt container and put into a blender, or in my case the "Ninja"
2) Add 3-4 handfuls of blueberies  and some blackberries
3) Add a good amount of almond milk with a splash of orange juice. Then add 3-4 ice cubes.
4) Blend, pour in a cup, add some whipped cream and enjoy

It should turn into this beautiful purple color!! Also, leave me your smoothie recipes below!!

Social Media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebabyperks
Instagram: http://instagram.com/thebabyperks
YouTube:  thebabyperks

Hey guys, long time no blogging. I thought I posted my Sunday OOTD ON SUNDAY but it didn't published. So this means a double update day!! Well think back all the way to last week, that was when I made this ah-mazing cookies. I'm always intimidated by things like "browned butter". What does that mean and how am I going to be able to mess it up? (ps it wasn't actually that hard!!) This recipe is from the magazine "Cooking Light", because they are healthier. Does that mean I can eat two?? Well I did anyway! Like always I changed somethings, and what I have is what I did.

So the ingredients:

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. whole-wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 c. brown sugar
2/3 c. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/3 (I would use a little more to be honest) c. cacao nibs or any other dark chocolate

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven 375 F
2) Heat butter in small saucepan over medium heat for around 5 minutes or until brown. Remove from heat, add oil, and allow to cool
3) Combine flours, baking powder, and salt.
4) Place butter mixture and sugars in a large bowl and beat until combined
5) Add vanilla and eggs, beat until blended
6) Slowly add flour mixture until combined. Stir in chocolate chips
7) Place on baking sheet 2 inches apart and bake for 12 minutes or until done.

Enjoy my photos!!

Today for church I decided to actually try and look nice. You might be thinking well don't you try every time to look nice. Well yes but I usually end up wearing a sweatshirt and jeans. The cold has gone away for now, it's now around 50 outside. This called for me to wear some of my new clothes.

My grandpa has seen every movie out. He goes to the movies almost everyday it seems like. Earlier this week he invited me to go see a play he read about in the paper. I thought to myself why not. The play was called the Solemn Mockeries. One actor, Joe Hanrahan played all 12+ roles. It was extraordinary to see.

The show was being performed in Stray Dog Theater, by the Midnight Company, I believe. You first walked into what is an old church. Once you entered the theater, your breathe was taken away. Amazing stain glass windows were on one side and the whole room was lined with pews for 200+ people. There was a good 60 people total at the show.

This is snow day four. Our first snow day was Thursday the 3rd. We've had Monday-Wednesday off, all of which I've spent in my house. It was really relaxing actually and it was quite nice to just chill for five days. However, going to bed at 11 every night and being able to just hang around all day is not going to go over very well tomorrow morning at 5:45. The district is finally letting athletes practice today so in a few short hours I'll be in the pool which is good because I've been out of it for a long time, swimming is a sport where you need to practice every day.

I've watched some movies though, both the One Direction movies (the Up all Night concert tour and This is Us), Safe Haven, and a lot of E! News. I've baked some pretzels and cupcakes too. I've also recorded a YouTube video on my camera not my iPad. It turned out really well but I'm still figuring out Windows Live Movie maker.

I'm excited for school just because now our last day is June 3rd. Last June 3rd I was on a mission trip to Joplin but now I'll still be in school. Anyway, enough rambling, I hope you all had a wonderful Wednesday!!



Follow me on my social media links below:

Twitter: @thebabyperks
Instagram: @thebabyperks
YouTube channel: thebabyperks

This seemed to be popping up on my Instagram feed a lot throughout the past day. Here in Missouri we got a good 9-10 inches of the white stuff. This also means that school was cancelled,  in fact it got cancelled yesterday. The last snow day we had, I got the "school call" at 5 am. This time it was a whole day before, what!!?? Well it's nice to know I can sleep in (except fun fact, I can't sleep in past 7:30, I know I'm not a normal teenager).

Well anyway, yesterday I gathered up some snow to have my first try at snow ice cream. I was a little skeptical but this is how it went.

Ingredients:
2 quarts (1/2 gallon) snow
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 c. milk
1/2 Tbs. vanilla

Steps:
1) Gather your snow in a big container

2) Mix sugar and vanilla until all combined. It will look something like this:
3) Add the milk until the desired consistency is reached
4) Serve into bowls or cups and enjoy.
*** Eat quickly because it melts fast***


Also, if you all could check out my YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/thebabyperks)  I would love it so much. I'll go more in depth soon but I put a lot of effort into my editing and recording my videos, I know they aren't perfect but I'm working on it :). Anyway, my newest video is the 25 random question tag with my friends. If you could like, comment, and subscribe I would greatly appreciate it, and check out my other social media links below

Twitter: @thebabyperks
Instagram: @thebabyperks

My (new-to-blogging) friends decided that to celebrate our blogs we were going to throw a blog. We all did different things for each of our blogs. I won't go completely in depth but Savannah did a sugar scrub (here). Bri talks about setting up and hosting a blog party (here). Peyton did a quote board (here).

You all know me and my obsession with baking, so I made cupcakes. This was my first time making cupcakes from scratch. They turned out surprisingly well, the recipe yielded 20 but I filled 12 because that was all I wanted. I made them Friday night and then stored them for decoration on Saturday.

Ingredients:
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. butter (softened)
3/4 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Steps:
1) Preheat oven to 375 F
2) Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl
3) Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, and then add each egg individually (all in a mixer)
4) Alternate the flour mixture and milk until combined, and then add vanilla
5) Divide batter among cupcake pan and bake for 18 minutes or until done in the center
- I got this recipe from the website food.com but tweaked it a little bit
 Cupcakes after the oven
 Before decorating at Briana's house
 One of the cupcakes I decorated, a single duck in a mess of chaotic colors
 All of our cupcakes decorated! Oh and by the way, I just bought icing from the store. I didn't feel like making icing from scratch after making the cupcakes from scratch. Sorry!! You can easily find icing recipes online, but I also didn't want to mess with figuring out the right consistency.


Check out all my friends blogs as well as my social media below:
Twitter: @thebabyperks
Instagram: @thebabyperks
YouTube Channel: thebabyperks (it's tagged in my twitter profile)

I obviously go by the name "thebabyperks" online and some people know why but it also dawned on me that other people don't know why I go by the name. It all starts with swimming. I feel like everything starts with swimming (or with One Direction). When tryouts begun there were 4 girls named Taylor, one of the Taylor's decided to call me "Baby Perks" because my last name is Perkins. Also, we were the only two Taylor's on the team last year so I became the "baby" as I was a freshman last year. Anyway, a girl referenced that perks sounds like purp (some drug Miley Cyrus references in her song "23") which is ironic because I'm the most innocent person ever. The name stuck and I thought it was cool so "thebabyperks" was born.


~Sidenote: Do you like the frequency in which I post. Is it too much or not enough?? Let me know in the comments below.

I went to my friend Megan's house for New Years, which is also where I went last yearpt's weird because I remember New Years Eve last year vividly. I went back through my phone and found the picture from last year and wow, I've changed. First off I learned how to curl my hair better. Also, I was in such a different place last year than I am this year. Just look below...


Shirt: Rue21
Jeggings: American Eagle
Boots: the same brown combat boots I always wear!! (I did buy a new pair of black combat boots that I'll soon be wearing)

 All my curls, I'm so happy with the way they turned out :)
You can't exactly see my makeup in my 2013 New Years Eve but I used my elf palette, brown eyeliner, and my (new) Maybelline Colossal mascara.


Check out my social media below:
-Twitter: @thebabyperks
- Instagram: @thebabyperks
- YouTube account: thebabyperks

-My newest YouTube video is a shopping haul where I talk about the new clothes I purchased (from stores like American Eagle and Rue21).