Wicked!

Yes.

Wicked the broadway production.

Yep.

AND I SAW IT!!!

Now, that might not seem significant to some people, but I’ve been wanting to see it ever since I fell in love with the music. Almost two years ago. Two very long years of agonizing over and desiring to see this show. And, now that I’ve seen it, I can’t wait till I see it again. It just doesn’t get old.

Basic Storyline: There is a green girl, Elphaba, who is smart and talks a lot but is socially awkward, and a blonde girl, Galinda, who’s a total dumb-dumb, but she’s popular. Despite their differences, they become good friends at school, and, through a series of unfortunate (or fortunate?) events, they become the most infamous/famous people in Oz. One is chased around Oz and declared “wicked” after pursuing goodness; while the other is praised and beloved by the Ozians, despite only chasing after popularity and fame. Although their strikingly different positions in life keep them separate most of the time, their friendship remains until the end. The ending is very surprising and brings about a mix of emotions.

IT’S PRETTY MUCH THE MOST BODACIOUS BROADWAY SHOW, EVER!!!!!

Just my opinion.

Anyway, here are some pictures I took at the show… don’t judge.

 Elphaba… just being awesome

 Glinda and the Ozians in the Emerald city

 Fiyero and Elphaba

 *Sniff!* this was after the show

And this is the whole cast… they were great!

-Mr. Slap Happy

“There are many ways of spelling ‘Love’. One of my favorites is C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E.”

Comp 1 Descriptive Paragraph… boring, right?

Hey people! This is the first English writing assignment I’ve had in college, so I figured I might as well share. Don’t ask me why. Unless you really want to know.

Which I doubt you do.

Anyway, I got a B on this paragraph (and if it seems long, it’s because he assigned us 250-350 words)… which was sorta depressing. I guess. But there were several errors, so I guess… he’s… right? BUT I’M AN ALL A’s STUDENT!!! I DESERVE AN A!!!!! To bad for me.

Don’t ask me what this is called because it doesn’t have a title.

Ready for it?

How about now?

Orrrrrrrrrrrr now.

ARE YOU PREPARED OR NOT?!?!?!?!

I’m just gonna go ahead and let you read it, k?

Here we go.

         

          “A bright orange roller coaster loomed in front of me. As I walked up to it, I felt a nervous twitch crawl up and down my spine. A cool fall zephyr wriggled its way through my coat and heightened the shivering sensation. When it was my turn to board, I slid my flip-flops off, not wanting them to fly away. I hopped in the seat and buckled it. The ride lurched to a start, shaking as it went. Like a snake drowsily waking from its nap, the ride slowly seemed to come to life as it climbed high into the sky. My anticipation rose with it. The rumbling of the track filled my ears as I watched bystanders grow smaller. From the height we had achieved, I could see the entire amusement park cast in yellowed evening light. My attention returned to the ride as we reached the pinnacle. The ride froze momentarily before plunging straight toward the earth. As we gained speed, a unanimous scream pierced the air. I felt the cool wind tear through my hair, whistling as it went. We looped, twisted and corkscrewed around until it became hard to know up from down, earth from sky. It all blended into one giant, blurred vortex as we whipped through the metal beams. When we would near the ground at alarming rates, terror would grip me. My heart began to pound. As we yanked and jerked around, I had the mixed feelings of fright and exhilaration. The roller coaster raced around the last corner. It screeched and squealed as it came to an abrupt halt. A warm feeling overcame me as the blood rushed to my face; I began panting. The ride was over.”

 

 

 

 

 Awful, right? Especially that ending. Isn’t that the most pitiful ending you’ve ever read?!?! No effort! It’s pathetic!

 

I was so brain-dead by the time I got to that sentence… So I just stopped. I slapped that ugly little thing onto the end and said “I’M DONE!” Which generally isn’t a good policy, but in that situation, I thought it was reasonably fine.

 

Well… uh… that’s all I’ve got to say for now!

 

-Mr. Slap Happy

 

 

“There are many ways of spelling ‘Love’. One of my favorites is C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E.”

I’m Alive + Truffles + Life

Guess who is still alive! Me!

I know. Big surprise there.

Although my “aliveness” may not be so exciting, the truly astounding thing is that my blog will survive. It has gone through a sick, sad, depressing time, but it’s back. Sorta.

I have had so much going on. It’s insane.

School:
This semester I’m taking Comp 1, Human Growth and Development, and Elementary Statistics at college. It’s actually been pretty fun.
Except for Statistics.
Statistics sucks.
Mostly because it’s a 3-hour long night class. I know, not fun.

Debate = mehhh….

EXCITING RANDOM FOOD UPDATE THINGY-MAJIGGER-BOB:
I made truffles for the first time, and they were tasty. What goes into a truffle? Basically, chocolate and heavy cream. How can you go wrong? In fact, I like them so much, I’m making them again. Can you say, “LOVE!!!!”? I thought so.

Know what’s missing from this blog? Yep, you guessed it (or did you?). Pictures. Why? Well, you would know if you read my other posts, but I’m not mean enough to make you go read those. My camera is broken and so is my heart.
R.I.P. Mr. Despereaux Moreau (my camera’s name, if you didn’t know)
I’ve been going through some major DSLR withdrawals.

Are you getting bored of hearing my troubles? Well, whether you are or not, I am. So I’ll shut up about that.

I SAW WICKED!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I’m talking about the amazing Broadway show. It’s amazing! I’m going to have a later post with pictures that I took of the show. The music is amazing, the singing is superb, and the story-telling is just enthralling. I don’t think anyone would be disappointed if they went to see it. 🙂 I loved it.

Anyway, that’s all I have for now, but I’ll probably have some more posts coming soon… I haven’t posted in years it seems!

-Mr. Slap Happy

“There are many ways of spelling ‘Love’. One of my favorites is C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E.”

Tebowing at the Grand Canyon, etc.

Yesterday, I went to the Grand Canyon for the first time in my life. My mom has been before, but she was young at the time and didn’t get to spend to much time there.

It was big. REALLY big. Massive, in fact. Ginormous. Huge. Awesome.

Yes, it was big… did I mention that?

Anyway, we left our timeshare place at about way-to-early-o’clock. About fifteen minutes down the road, we discovered that we had left our sandwiches back at our room. We turned around. By the time we left again, it was “not-so-way-to-early-o’clock”… but whatever! We were on our way.

Before we arrived at the Grand Canyon, we stopped at part of the Little Colorado River.

Aren’t we beautiful!?!? Don’t answer that. Aesthetics are all subjective anyway. For example, my family hates the Mona Lisa. I do not. :p

I think we took more group pictures on this trip than any other family in existence. Literally. It was pretty crazy.

So anyway, we finally got to the Grand Canyon and, being the awesome people we are, decided to “Tebow” and “Plank” in front of the Grand Canyon.

We.
Are.
Awesome.
And you are jealous. :p

And if you’re wondering, yes, I am the person lying on the ground. In the snow. Without waterproof clothes on.

I’ll autograph this picture and send it to you if you want.

After our first looks, we went to walk down a trail that goes partially into the canyon. The trails were covered in snow and ice, making them quite slippery. We didn’t go very far; we only wanted to get down enough to say “we went in the canyon”. Which, of course, meant taking another family picture.

The amount of rock is just absolutely amazing… there’s so much! I brought back three pieces for a rock-obsessed-family-friend. Not doing that again. It was incredibly heavy.

Avoid carrying rocks up very steep trails, if you can!

After we climbed back out, we drove to the “Rim Trail” which is basically a big paved walkway along, well, the rim (duh). There were some gift shops at the beginning of the Rim Trail, so we went there first. Of course, I would be the one that everyone deserts, left to wander aimlessly about in the frigid, biting winds that coursed through my jacket. (poetic, don’t’cha think?!)

Ok, so it wasn’t that bad. My family just decided to use the restroom. And no one told me. So I just kinda sat down in the general area we were in and waited. They returned quite promptly, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

We went to the Kolb studio, where some of the first people to photograph the canyon, extensively, showed their pictures and videos. It was weird. I don’t think I saw any pictures by the Kolb people. It was more of an art gallery of the canyon by random artists.

Anyway, we ended up walking down the Rim Trail a little bit and took yet another family picture in the setting sun. (There were more family pics, only, I decided not to include them).

That was the last of the Grand Canyon adventure. Then, we went to watch an IMAX video of the Grand Canyon… I think that was actually my favorite part of the whole day. Don’t hate! It was much more enrapturing to feel like you’re flying past the walls and soaring over the edge than to just peer from the top. Just my opinion! :p

Well, that’s all I have for now.

-Mr. Slap Happy

Vacation! And a chance at a free Nook?

Hey blog peeps!
I haven’t posted. Because it’s December. And I’m on vacation.

We first went to Texas and visited some friends. They were at my parent’s wedding but we’ve seen them only once or twice since we moved to Florida 14 years ago. It was amazing! Texas is such a wonderful place. I absolutely loved it! We were in “the middle of nowhere” so it was incredibly peaceful and everything seemed to move at a slower pace… And here’s a deer. The family we stayed with lives right next to an animal preserve.

Note: This pic is pretty awful because I took it with a lens I got for like $37… yeah.

At some point, my camera broke. Yes… sad day. The coincidental thing is that it broke on Christmas break. Just like it did last year. Maybe my camera just likes habits? 😛 Anyway, it hasn’t really bothered me yet, so I’m not gonna die. 🙂

After Texas, we drove out to Arizona. We’re staying in the town of Flagstaff, about an hour or so away from the Grand Canyon. We will be going to the Grand Canyon on Tuesday most likely… we’ll see. Our timeshare place here in Flagstaff is pretty amazing. We have a private Jacuzzi. Need I say more?

Trevor (14), Justino (7), and I made a giant snowman. It. Was. Legit. Then we left to go run some errands and go sight seeing only to return and find our snowman crumbled. Thanks timeshare neighbors.

So, of course, I did the only logical thing I could do. I made an even bigger snowman. His name is Dwight. Yes, I just thought of that name, randomly. 🙂

Random note: I joined Pinterest! Yes, after billions of people telling me it’s awesome, I finally got on. Already, I’ve found some pretty cool stuff!

Random note 2: I was looking at the Pioneer Woman’s blog (she has awesome recipes and pix) when I happened to see her 12 days of Christmas giveaway somethin’ or other… anyway, today’s giveaway is a Nook Tablet. http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2011/12/6-days-till-christmas/comment-page-57/#comments

Go check it out! All you have to do is leave a comment on her blog saying a book, magazine, or whatever you’ve read most recently, and you could win one of three tablets she’s giving away, plus a $100 gift card to Barnes and Nobles. 🙂 This particular giveaway is only for today, but she has 5 more left, I believe.

That’s all for now,
Mr. Slap Happy

Crumb-topped Apple Pie! (Recipe)

One of the best parts of the holiday season is all the food that comes with it. Like pie. Oh. My. Gosh. I LOVE pie.

And, I made a really tasty apple pie the other day, so I thought I’d share.

The problem I usually have with apple pies (or any pie, really) is that they always turn out very (VERY) soggy. This is not appealing no matter how good the pie tastes. So, this time, I decided to add a little more cornstarch than ususal and see how it turned out.

It was perfect this time. Even fresh out of the oven, it wasn’t very wet. Yay! 🙂

Crumb-topped Apple Pie
Serves 8-12
Filling Ingredients:

• 6-8 cups of apples (4-6 large apples)
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch (very neccesary!)
• Cinnamon, to taste
• Nutmeg, to taste (I ❤ nutmeg… ❤ ❤ <3)
• 1 pie crust (store bought or homemade)

Crumb Topping Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of flour
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 2-3 Tablespoons butter

1. Peel the apples if you want (I don’t) and then cut them into slices. Stir the apples, sugar, cornstarch, and spices together in a bowl. Let sit for 10-15 minutes to “juicify”. 🙂

2. For the topping, stir together flour and brown sugar. Cut in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.

3. Roll the pie crust into a glass pie pan and bake at 375 degrees for 5-10 minutes.
4. Once the crust is partially baked, pour in the apple mixture with all of it’s juices. Cover the apples, completely, with the crumb-topping. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the top is golden-brown.

5. Enjoy!!! This pie would be great on it’s own or with a dollop of freshly whipped cream… or maybe a scoop of ice-cream. 🙂

-Mr. Slap Happy

Leave a comment… I’d love to hear from you!

White Pizza! (Recipe)

I must say, this recipe was quite amazing. So tasty! You’ll love it! Unless you hate ricotta cheese. Or mozzarella. Or olive oil. Because that’s basically all there is to it! It was very easy to make, too. I got this recipe from Claire Robinson’s book, 5 Ingredient Fix.

White Pizza
Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Pre-made Pizza Dough
• Garlic-flavored oil (or, like I did, you can cook a large amount of garlic in olive oil, to infuse it)
• 1 lb. block Sorrento Whole Milk Mozzarella (America’s Test Kitchen’s favorite block mozzarella… the brand is important)
• Ricotta Cheese
• Oregano (I used dried, because I didn’t have fresh on hand)
• Salt and Pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with a pizza stone inside (you want the stone to be warm; if you don’t have a pizza stone, DO NOT put the baking sheet in the oven). Roll the dough out onto the stone, after it’s been pre-heated 10 minutes.

2. Brush the dough with the garlic olive oil. Poke the crust with holes and bake 5-10 minutes in the oven, until partially cooked through.

3. While the dough is cooking, shred the mozzarella cheese.

4. Brush the partially cooked crust with more garlic olive oil, then spread the shredded mozzarella over top.

5. Top with spoonfuls of ricotta cheese and season, to taste, with salt, pepper, and oregano.

6. Cook until fully melted and very lightly browned, about 7-14 minutes. Enjoy. 🙂 Soooooooo Good!

You really gotta try this… Hope you like it!

-Mr. Slap Happy

Please leave a comment. I love to hear from you!

Eliza Williams Photo Shoot

Dear reader of my blog,
I haven’t posted in a while. It’s been 48 days to be exact. I had every intention to blog more, but alas, life is special and wouldn’t let me. So, while you’ve been biting your nails down to the bone, waiting for a new blog post, I’ve been doing normal, fun, random, Jared-ish things to make my life interesting. 🙂

So, I’ll start with a photo shoot I did for the William’s new baby, Eliza. She is beautiful. Of course, being quite slap happy that day (and basically every day) I took these wonderful, beautiful, enrapturing pictures . . . but mixed patterns! It was so sad. I had a solid brown blanket that I was using for the (semi-nude) pictures and I wanted to use a different blanket. But, we had just changed her into a patterned pink dress. I, being oblivious, didn’t take the time to notice, and shot away.

Yeah. Not that amazing. Let me know what you think of the ones I’m talking about in a comment, please. But, of course, she still looks amazing, because she’s gorgeous. 🙂

The photos:

 The next two are some of the mixed patterns pictures . . . Let me know if it’s as bad as fashionistas insist! If it is, I’ll just say it’s artistic expression, and therefore doesn’t matter 🙂

That’s all I got for now! Thanks for reading 🙂
-Mr. Slap Happy

Internet in the Car, Cheescake, and Pictures

Hey all. Want to know something cool? No? Well, to bad. Imma tell you’uns anyway.

Guess where I’m writing this post.
.
.
.
Go on. Guess.
.
.
.
Did you guess?
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.
.
Do it.
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.
.
Now.
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.
.

In a car! Driving down I-10! Yes, and I have internet! You’re jealous. :) How? My dad bought this really cool internet provider thing from AT&T. So basically, you get the same internet connection that a smartphone would. Which is pretty awesome. Only problemis that sometimes I’ll pass through areas that aren’t as receptive tothe wireless internet signal, which slows the it way down. Likewaaaaaaaayyyyy down. WWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY DOWN. Butstill, the availability of internet at all is pretty amazing.

I just finished an online College Algebra quiz using the internet,too… which is awesome. School on the go!

So you might be wondering, “Where the heck is Jared going thislate at night?” Which is a good question. So I’ll answer it.

Lacey, my dad, and I are all going to UWF for an open house/tourthing. Yep. We’re back at the college exploration thing. Next weekwe’re heading to FSU for the Maryland/FSU game and a college tour aswell. If you didn’t know, the members of my family are majorUniversity of Maryland fans (we’re originally from MD). Soooo… I’m gonna cheer for the Seminoles, just to be ornery. 🙂

On another, very random note, I attempted to make cheesecake (I know cheesecake is supposed to be in a spring form pan, but I didn’t have one). It pretty much failed as far as looks are concerned, but it was really creamy and tasty! So, I’m only gonna post a picture of it before it went into the oven. 🙂

The sauce is raspberry puree 🙂

On yet another random note, I’ve been trying some random lighting stuff! Check out the pix and let me know what you think.

By the way, I have a baby photo shoot coming up… I’m so excited! The last time I had one, was a while ago… can’t wait. I’ll post the pix from the shoot when they’re all finished… if the mother gives me permission… :)

Well, that’s all I have to say for now… so… bye!?

-Mr. Slap Happy

More to come… maybe

It’s Been a Long Time Since I’ve Posted… So Here’s a Long Post

Hi.
I thought I’d greet you because we haven’t talked in a while.

I miss you.

I don’t know if you miss me, but I’m gonna keep talking (or typing, I suppose). Sooo… since I realize you can’t tell me about yourself on my blog, I’ll tell you about me. It’s easier this way. 🙂

Oh, where to start? So much has happened since my last post.

I can’t remember anything that happened before Friday the 21st, so I’ll start there. Grace, a friend that I’ve known since I was about 5 or younger (but haven’t seen in the past 5 or so years), came over to spend the night with Lacey. It’s odd, the memories that come back when you haven’t seen someone in a while.

The last time I remember Grace spending the night, she didn’t even stay the whole time. We – Lacey, Grace and I – were all, at least, under ten. Anyway, she got homesick and had to leave. But not before we made s’mores. Inside. (Yes, I know, we have major skills)

But this time we didn’t make s’mores. Oh no. We made something ten times better. Oh yes we did. Ready? Homemade funnel cakes piled with vanilla ice cream, doused with chocolate sauce, and smothered with whipped cream (also homemade). It was heaven.

Isn’t it weird that every memory I have or make involves food?

But yeah… we had lots of fun. Apparently Grace has taken lots of photography and graphic design classes. Sooooo… we made the obvious decision to start a photography business. Which we will call “504” (or something involving that). “Why?” you may be asking yourself. Well, it’s because – this is pretty cool – though we are a year’s difference in age, we both have the same exact birthday. 5/04. Yep. May 4th (which is also Star Wars day, by the way, which I didn’t know {cause I’m not a geek} until someone else told me who also has the same birthday). ISN’T THAT COOL!?!? I told you it was.

Anyhoo, the next day, which was Saturday in case you weren’t paying attention, our youth group did a service project. We handed out fliers informing the renters in an apartment complex behind our church that we would be doing children’s events later in the month. It was so hot, but we gave out and posted on doors nearly 400 fliers within an hour and a half. Which is pretty good, considering that we had to knock on every door and then describe the info a little bit if someone came to the door. We’re also a pretty tiny youthgroup, sooo… :P

We finished that and then had pizza from a largely publicized national pizza chain. Need I say more? 🙂 Just kidding, I do eat processed, mass produced, MSG-filled food, occasionally. Maybe more than just occasionally… but hey! At least I know what MSG is and know how to pronounce it’s real name (monosodium glutamate). Actually, I think I am becoming somewhat of a snob. I had a Krispy Kreme doughnut the other day and I didn’t like it. I used to love them! Then, my mom bought a can (A CAN!) of green beans the other day… I almost got mad at her.

God bless mothers everywhere.

After the service project, we went to a soccer game that my brother Kennedy was participating in. His team won. Woooooo Hoooooo!!! 🙂 Kennedy is the only person in the world who can beat up Chuck Norris and live. Literally. In fact, he has done it. Twice.

Well, that’s enough for now. There’s a lot of stuff that’s happened since, but I don’t think I’ll go into all of that right now (two deaths of relatives in our church, co-op, photo “adventure”, and more). It’s to much… I’d never finish this post. So… I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read so far!

-Mr. Slap Happy

P.S. I tried the most *AMAZING* recipe for Caramel Pecan Sticky Rolls. I have to post it later (I forgot to take pictures… sorry). It’s actually a two-part recipe… the dough is a Brioche dough, which could be made into a loaf, if you wanted, and you just use it with a filling and caramel topping. So I might post them separately… although I haven’t tried the Brioche by itself. We’ll see.

More to come… maybe.