Black Friday Haul

I know it's a little late, but I wanted to do a post about Black Friday. I had so much fun shopping until almost four in the morning with my sisters and cousins. In fact, we had so much fun that one of my sisters and I went back to the mall during the day on Friday to shop even more. 

Since I absolutely love Black Friday and I also love telling people about all the great deals I got, I decided I would do a Black Friday haul post. I bought a really nice DSLR camera bundle online before I even left my house on Thanksgiving, so that isn't being included in the list below. Also, I did buy a majority of the stuff for myself, but I have been working on my Christmas shopping since the beginning of the summer, so I was almost done by the time Black Friday rolled around.

Target: 

$22 for $45 worth of DVDs- Neighbors, Divergent (a gift for my sister), Bad Grandpa, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes

$15 for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Nintendo 3DS game (not pictured- gift for my brother), originally priced $29.99

Kohl's: $3.22 total for a $39.99 Big One throw blanket and a $16 v-neck shirt

Hollister: $19.97 for a really nice flannel that was originally $39.95

Hot Topic: $10 for an Ed Sheeran shirt that was originally $20.50

Forever21: $8.49 for a sweater (gift for one of my friends) that was originally $24.80

Tilly's: This was one of the deals I was the most excited about. I got two pairs of Vans (bringing my collection up to 23 pairs) for a total of $29.96. One pair was originally $39.97 on sale for $17.48, and the other pair was only $12.48 marked down from $34.97

Bath & Body Works: $20 for $72.50 worth of lotion- 12 small lotions plus 1 full size. Everything in the store was buy 3, get 3 free, plus I had a coupon for $10 off a $30 purchase as well as one for a free item with any purchase over $10. 

My grand total ended up being $128.64 for $364.20 worth of merchandise, which was a 64.7% savings. Overall, I'd say it was a great Black Friday.  

Spreading Christmas Cheer

Christmas is quickly approaching, which means final exams are approaching even quicker. With finals starting in just two days, everyone all over campus has been studying like crazy and finishing all the papers and other assignments they procrastinated on the rest of the semester. 

Thursday night, I was feeling the holiday spirit and decided to spread some Christmas cheer. And by that, I mean I put on my elf costume - yes, I have an elf costume - and grabbed three dozen candy canes and some Bath & Body Works lotion I got for some of my friends on black Friday (I'll post more about black Friday later). 

I actually had decided late Wednesday night that I was going to pass out the gifts the following night, and I also had the GENIUS idea to plan a Cereal and Christmas Party (taking place this evening), which includes an array of cereals, some hot chocolate, the classic claymation Christmas movie "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" (one of my absolute favorites), and "sleighfuls of fun" (yes, I actually put that on the invitations). 

So, I went around to all of my friends' apartments all over campus, accompanied by two of my other friends who were both wearing penguin sweaters, and handed out candy canes, lotion, party invitations, and happiness. 

I think with all the craziness that comes along with the end of the semester, everyone needed a little laugh and some Christmas cheer this week, and I'm happy I could  help make that happen. 

 

Floating Lanterns of Death

My Thanksgiving break was filled with food, fun, family, and friends. One night that I spent with my friends resulted in a rather interesting experience. I technically did something that was on my bucket list, but it kind of went awry.

This past Saturday, some of us went out to eat to celebrate the birthday of one of our friends. Afterwards, we all went back to that friend's house because she had a surprise for us - floating lanterns. We were all really excited, so we quickly went outside and tried to send them off. That's where things got interesting. 

We couldn't get the lanterns to light with the lighter, so we made a torch with a paper plate and then tried to light the lanterns. The lanterns all just kept catching on fire and burning up before we could send them off. After four or so tries, we finally got one to fill up with enough air to let it go, so we sent in up into the sky. When it was about twenty or thirty feet in the air, someone in our group exclaimed how beautiful it was, and then a split second later it went up in flames.

We all immediately started freaking out about the flying ball of fire that was now swaying back and forth across the sky above our heads. We kept nervously waiting for it to land on one of the dozen cars that were parked up and down either side of the street, or to burn someone's yard or house. After dancing across the sky for what felt like forever, but in all reality was probably less than thirty seconds, the flaming remnants of the once beautiful lantern finally fell to the ground halfway down the street. Clearly, we sent the guys to go stomp out the flames while we all laughed and tried to process what had just happened. 

Even though the floating lanterns didn't work quite as planned, they definitely made for a memorable night and a great story. 

Mac & Cheese Pizza

 Oh, the joy that ends when the living nightmare of the two weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas break begins. While I am not looking forward to the chaos of the next few days, I am extremely thankful for the short break I had. Among all the places I had to go and stuff I had to do, I still found some time to relax. And also completely avoid any schoolwork whatsoever, which I'm slightly regretting at this moment...
One of the nights I was home, I was able to finally make some macaroni and cheese pizza. I absolutely loved this kind of pizza when they had it at Cici's, but all of the restaurants near me are closed now. Needless to say, I have been craving this pizza for a VERY long time. I have seen several recipes all over Pinterest and decided I would go ahead and try to make one for myself. And I think it turned out great!

If you want to try to make your own, you'll need a pizza crust, half a box of squiggly noodles (their proper name is "cavatappi") and a jar of cheese pasta sauce. Follow the directions below:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2.  Boil the half box of squiggly noodles according to the directions on the box
3. Drain the noodles while warming the cheese sauce over low to medium heat
4. Cover the pizza crust with a layer of the cheese sauce
5. Stir the rest of the cheese sauce into the noodles
6. Cover the pizza crust with the macaroni and cheese (you'll have a small bowl of mac & cheese leftover)
7. Bake the pizza for approximately 17 minutes or until the crust is crispy
8. Enjoy the magnificent mac & cheese pizza you just made!