Whaaaat? How is it 6 days until Christmas? I think not having the week leading up to Christmas off, as I did when I was teaching kind of ruins the Christmas aura for me. :( Something about not having the time to really enjoy the season building up to Christmas Day I guess. I sat down this morning to sort through emails and one of them said something about 6 shopping days left. I couldn't believe that is how close Christmas actually is! Oh well. At least I have Friday off and can be home before Christmas eve! The real world is SO not what it's cracked up to be! I suppose I just have to focus on the nice fact that I do get off the week after Christmas, which is more than most of us working Joe's, so I am thankful for that!
This weekend I finished up my Santa shopping and got everything wrapped. It took 2 1/2 hours to wrap everything!!! Sheesh! I did not take pictures, because I didn't want anyone getting hints on their gifts! ;)
I also tried out the homemade bread recipe this weekend. After 2 days of chilling (literally) and rising, the bread was ready to bake about 3pm yesterday. It smelled great and looked so pretty! It is very yummy. It doesn't have an overwhelming flavor, just tastes like yummy bread. I'll make it again for sure because the hardest part, by far, is waiting on it!
Here are my bread pics:
These are the ingredients... plus a little warm water... that's it! :)
Dry ingredients....
Plus water... sticky dough!!!
My little bred mold. Prior to me dumping it in this bowl, it had been wrapped very tightly in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for about 20 hours. Then, after putting it here, it sat in this bowl for 18 hours to rise at room temp.
Once it had risen, I plopped it out onto a floured "workspace" and shaped it into a "free form" square, with rounded corners... kinda sounds like a circle to me :)
Then, he was covered again and let sit for another 3 hours ...then it was oven time! 30 min in the dutch oven with the lid on, about 15 minutes with the lid off... and.....
The finished project! It looked picture perfect, if I do say so myself!
Bread!!!
My outfit today:
I plan for today to be my "dressiest" day of the week, which isn't saying much! We should see very little student traffic this week, so I'll be getting more and more comfy as the week progresses!
Jeans: Lauren Conrad, Kohls, $35
Sweater: Banana, $16
Cardigan: Banana, don't remember what I paid
Shoes: White/Black, around $30
