Got me thinking about the holidays...

Well - when the three of us decided to start this blog together, we thought because there were three of us we might avoid the beginning awkwardness of not posting enough and figuring out what we would write about. Probably not so. With school craziness happening its harder to find time to post than I thought. We can't wait until we are well into the swing of blogging, have bloggy friends to comment on, and have our own blog-followers! So, if you are one of our first followers - don't give up on us yet! We promise…this will get going.

So, it's Sunday night, Thanksgiving is over and I'm back here in SA dreading the return to clinic/school in the morning. While I'm trying really hard to study for my final on Tuesday, instead I'm wishing for one of the leftover bottles of Prosecco from this past weekend and drinking Famega (Vhino Verde) instead.

[I am not a fan of many white wines - but this is one I will always buy again and again. Crisp, it has just enough bubbly and lightness that it feels almost celebratory, but substantial enough to drink with dinner.]

Anyway - why not a little upcoming holiday season pondering instead of studying ---

DIY gifting: Year after year and I'm still searching for perfect, original, one of a kind homemade gifts to give to friends. I'm never completely happy with what I come up with every year. Last year I put together some red glass ware with a gingerbread mix. I had so much fun for a full weekend playing with recipes and super dark molasses-rich brown sugar until I finally came upon a mix that would deliver both gingerbread and gingerbread pancakes. I liked this because it didn't matter if the person I was giving it to celebrated Christmas or not - everyone still loves gingerbread! This year my family decided to draw names for our Christmas gifting, so my usual 15+ person Holiday gift list is now cut almost in half. This calls for more creativity for the remaining! (Plus further spreading joy?) Any original DIY gifting ideas out there?? (Do we even have any followers yet?)

Au revoir! I'm off to pick up Jamie and (her) B at the airport.

Allow me to introduce...myself.

Name: Yasi

Hailing from: (area--non specific) Dallas T.X.
Pets: Hugo lovingly referred to as The Hyoogs, Hugster, Hugo Boss
Fave coffee drink: Soy latte, extra hot. You want to add one pump of any pumpkin flavored syrup, fine by me.
Fave childhood movie: My Father the Hero...currently still on my all time top ten list.
What you spread on toast: Butter with my mom's homemade quince jam.
Fave reality tv show: Top Chef
Travel experience: Summer abroad in Arles, France. Block parties every week with my host family's neighbors, pain au chocolat every morning, and lets not forget I got to experience World Cup 2006 European style.

I would like to visit: Lisbon!

Social pet peeve: Chewing with an open mouth.
Fave website or blog: www.garancedore.fr/ and joythebaker.com
Dream occupation excluding being a dentist: Owner/chef of a French bistro serving breakfast and lunch made with fresh vegetables from the courtyard garden. Yes, I've put some thought into this idea.
Fave snow cone flavor: Half tigers blood, half sangria, cream all over please.
Fave recipe or cuisine: I couldn't possibly pick one recipe so I'll say Persian cuisine, gotta stick to my roots.

Most anticipated holiday event this year (or most looking forward to): Skiing in the Rockies.
Least favorite fashion trend: Leggings
Chunky or smooth salsa: Smooth
How do you like your eggs: 2 eggs, tsp. heavy cream, pinch salt, scrambled.
Black/dark nail polish--do or dont: Do it!
Favorite season: We don't really have fall in Texas, so I'll stick with summer.
Favorite MJ song: Beat it
Fave US national park: Glacier Park
Would you rather run, bike, or swim: RUN
Name of future 1st born child: I don't really like aliens...I mean, children.
Thoughts on fiber: Include it, often.

A series of introductions....

Name: Jamie
Hailing from: we'll say "Houston," but my pride lies with a little place more specific
Pets: unlike the other contributors to this blog, I am not a dog person. Not a pet person really. My plants are my pets and I love them.
Fave coffee drink: I go through phases depending on the season. How about an iced, decaf, non-fat, sugarfree caramel macchiato (but don't be shistey with the caramel drizzle).
Favorite childhood movies: Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire (but the list goes on and on--I was an indoor kid)
Favorite reality tv show: Stumped! I like a lot: Million dollar listing, anything on TLC (The Little Couple, Say Yes to the Dress), The City, Rachel Zoe, Tabatha's salon Takeover, Real Housewives of NY
Travel experience: So thankful for my study abroad experience in Barcelona--got to see lots of Spain, South of France, Monaco, Italy (Rome, Florence), Greece (Athens, Santorini, Mykonos-favorite), Andorra, Amsterdam, Prague, Lisbon (favorite).
I would like to visit: Istanbul!
Social pet peeve: Cracking knuckles, Speaking loudly on your cell phone in a public place--bad cell etiquette in general, Driving slowly
Inspired to blog by: ElefantitasAlegres.blogspot.com
If I wasn't going to be a dentist I would be: CEO of a non-profit or a Hair stylist or a Restaurant review writer
Favorite snow cone flavor: Bubblegum
Favorite recipe: Hominy, polenta, green chili, black bean casserole from Epicurious.com
Most anticipated holiday event this year: Good friends' wedding--eek! Probably watching a TV series on DVD in its entirety with my sisters. Suggestions?
Least favorite fashion trend: Those stupid plastic hipster glasses. People who really need glasses to see (me) take offense. Plus they are just hideous.
Life philosophy: Slow and steady wins the race.
Chunky or smooth salsa: Green, creamy and spicy.
How do you like your eggs: Two egg whites to one egg yolk ratio scrambled or fried.
Black/dark nail polish--do or don't: Do do do!
Favorite season: Summer, no contest.
Best lesson learned from 90s sitcom: Don't mess with gangs. Remember when Rachel's restaurant got trashed on Family Matters by the Dragons? Luckily Steve was able to go undercover and save the day.
Favorite MJ song: PYT-Pretty Young Thing
Would you rather run, bike, or swim: Run, but really none of the above most days out of the year, and any of the above if a fun situation presents itself.
Goal for PLSB: To bring interesting thoughts to the blogosphere and brighten someone's day.

An Introduction is in order

Hello! I am Brigid, hailing from San Antonio.


Jamie and Yasi put together some questions for us to use as our introductions - so here we go!

Pets: The wild and crazy Tiberius! (Ti)


Fave coffee drink: Well, I love anything sweetened and with lots of cinnamon but the *Bucks caramel macchiato is pretty fantastic also. I think once Jamie and I talked about this drink for a full week.
What you spread on toast: Butter! Or, in the words of Julia Child "With enough butter, anything is good!"
Travel experience: ¡Mexico! España y Brasil… These were all study-abroad type trips in college (I know, spoiled), and it may or may not be a coincidence that these are all Latin American or Spanish speaking.
I would like to visit: Turkey and the Mediterranean. And anywhere else if I'm going to be honest.
Social pet peeve: Rudeness
Fave website or blog: nytimes.com, my blogger dashboard, foodnetwork.com
Dream occupation excluding being a dentist: I think I would have to say Spanish teacher, only because I am now so invested in this whole dental thing that it's hard for me to imagine/create anything else.
Fave recipe or cuisine: Granola? (explanation coming) or really good and fresh Mexican.
Most anticipated holiday event this year (or most looking forward to): Thanksgiving…I need a break! And all six siblings will be in town! And my youngest sister just turned 21 so we need to celebrate.
Least favorite fashion trend: scrubs :(
Chunky or smooth salsa: Spicy - doesn't matter if chunky or smooth.
How do you like your eggs: nothing runny or goey please! I always thought I didn't like fried eggs b/c I hated the runny yoke. I only recently discovered you could flip it or break it to cook the yoke so it's not runny.
Black/dark nail polish--do or dont: I don't but I still think it looks great on others!
Favorite season: Either fall or spring. I don't like anything too extreme.
Best lesson learned from 90s sitcom: I don't think I was allowed to watch sitcoms in the 90's, something about a deprived childhood leading to the current pop-culture deficit in my life. Although I probably have watched enough TV as a procrastination device in D-school to make up for this.
Favorite MJ song: Did I mention I culturally missed the 90's?
Fave US national park: I think Jamie & Yasi added this just for me. Interesting factoid though - while I've been to several national parks, I can only remember two. All others were before the age of 3 and all of my other adventures have been mainly state parks. So, National park - Big Bend (so far). Favorite state parks? Lost Maples. Again, so far...
Would you rather run, bike, or swim: Why choose - Tri all three! Although I'm not such a fan of running.
Name of future 1st born child: Haven't decided yet. I have decided that this is not for a long while.
Thoughts on fiber: Absolutely necessary! So is coffee. For the same reason.

A star is born.....

Welcome! We fully anticipate movie deals, outdoor clothing lines and a trendy restaurant or two to come from this blog, but for now it's an easy way to avoid the "Sunday Night Depression" as it has been dubbed. You see lovely followers, we three queens are currently slaves to our dental school duties, fighting those pesky SugarBugs with peace and love and other sparkly bits of fluoride goodness. Here we will escape to a place where we can write about outdoor adventures, cooking, urban lifestyles, our dogs or lack thereof and travels when we get the chance.


Ingredients of magical hot chocolate:

• Heavy cream
• Milk
• Orange zest
• Instant coffee
• Pinch of salt
• Cinnamon stick
• Vanilla bean
• Dark Chocolate
• La Popular (Mexican chocolate)