thebabyperks

So you may or may not have heard of a little thing called "Friday Night Lights". You know, where high school students gather together on Friday nights to rally with the football team? Well you see, I have gone to maybe 2 football games a season for the past four year. Last year I went to my usual two games and both were rained out after I payed to get in (no thank you).

Honestly one of the biggest reasons I didn't go to football games in the past is because no one ever wanted to actually watch the game. I paid to get into the game, I want to watch the game. For the past three years, not being a senior also meant I couldn't get into the student section. This year was different though because I GOT INTO THE STUDENT SECTION. If you haven't a seen what student sections are like I'll give you a glimpse of ours from last Friday, below.

Every year I buy new school supplies (**and yes I know this isn't the most exciting intro to a blog post ever but keep reading**), and at the end of every year my mom has a ton of extra school supplies from her classroom. I decided to save a little money and look through the school supplies we already had in our basement. I grabbed a pink binder and some never used folders I bought last year. I started organizing everything before school and noticed that there was a square of paper on the back sleeve of my binder. 

On the paper: "Be You Bravely", with the Bible verse "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." --Isaiah 43:18-19


This hit me hard for a lot of different reasons. I worry a lot. Many of you know this, and I love the Bible verse especially because I don't need to worry about the past, it's in the past and I can't change it. But more so, "be you bravely" meant a lot to me. I stress out too much and have a lot of insecurities which I try to mask as best as I can, even though I know I'm not perfect. This quote has become my motto for my senior year. I need to live this "year" and really my entire life to its fullest. I can be excited about the future, but still embrace and cherish the now. I worry so much about what others think of me, and overanalyze everything I do and say to people, but this quote tells me to just live. Live how I want to live and love life. 

I really needed this small reminder because it made a huge impact on how I started my senior year. I know this quote won't keep me from my constant worrying but I hope that I keep it in mind so that worry doesn't affect me as much.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't overlook old school supplies, you never know what will be inside and how it can impact your life. 

Until next time,
Taylor xx

And don't forget to be you bravely 

**Update: When finding the picture I figured out it was the 2014-2015 theme for MOPS (Mothers of Pre Schoolers) and while this group doesn't apply to me I still absolutely love the quote. I also don't own any of the rights to this photo.

This summer was probably one of my best summers ever. I traveled a lot, hung out with my friends a lot and honestly just had a really good two and a half months. When I was younger I seemed to want to go back to school because I was bored, I already did everything. However, now that I'm older summer coming to an end is bittersweet.

I wanted to bake something different than my normal chocolate chip cookies so, of course, I turned to Pinterest for some inspiration. I ended up stumbling upon a recipe for homemade Oreos, which I've never made before, and decided to give them a shot.

Here's the original recipe: Sallys Baking Addiction

Ingredients:
 Cookies
   Dry Ingredients
- 1 1/4 c. flour
- 1/2 c. unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/8 tsp. salt

   Wet Ingredients
- 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 c. granulated sugar
- 1/4 c. light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla

  Cream Filling 
- 1 c. butter (2 sticks), softened 
- 1 3/4 c. powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Cookies- 
1. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside 
2. Using either a handheld mixer or a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamy 
3. Beat in granulated sugar and brown sugar until combined, then add the egg and vanilla until everything is incorporated
4. Mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

The dough looks gross in the photo but I promise it isn't

5. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 25-30 minutes 
6. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit, line cookie sheets with parchment paper

And you can't forget about watching reruns of Criminal Minds while you bake

7. Roll dough into small balls (around the size of 2 teaspoons) and place on the cookie sheets. Press down so the cookie dough is slightly flattened

8. Bake for 6-7 minutes. When done, let cookies cool for around 5 minutes.


Cream filling: 
1. Beat butter until creamy
2. Beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla, the filling should be thick

3. Spread cream in between two chocolate cookies

 And this is the final result. These were absolutely delicious and honestly not that hard to make. Try them out for yourself, you won't be disappointed.

Until next time,
Taylor xx

I feel like I have been slacking on my blog for the past few weeks. I just kickstarted back into YouTube; I'm doing VEDA (Vlog Every Day of August), which means I'm editing videos like no other. I really do want to post more frequently on here. 

These are just some of my photos from the One Direction concert in Kansas City. If you want to see the actual performance be sure to check out my OTRA Kansas City concert vlog on my YouTube channel. It was the hottest concert the guys said they've ever performed, and in my opinion the best concert of them I've seen. They all seemed so genuinely happy to be on stage, and full of energy (unlike last year when you could tell they were extremely exhausted). They interacted with the fans so much more than they have my last two concerts. They also came down to the second stage a lot more, which was great because our seats were the 17th row directly behind the floor seats.

Our seats

Here are just some photos I took from the concert. Some may be blurry, so I apologize. 






















 I didn't take the photo below, but its Louis and Liam destroying a Naughty Boy piñata. 

 And then of course my amazing friends Ronnie and Danielle, who road tripped with me to Kansas City. These photos were taken before we got disgusting standing outside and dancing at the concert.

It was such a great time, better than I ever could have imagined it. Again, be sure to check out the vlog for the ultimate experience.

Until next time
Taylor xx