Fantastic Fruit Pizza

 It's definitely one of the prettiest things I've ever made before...

 Fruit Pizza

1 roll of sugar cookie dough 

    {Bake as directed}

Then combine:

1 pkg cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Spread over the baked sugar cookie crust shortly before serving. 

Then, top with a variety of fruit!

 

I tried to be as creative as possible, 

using all sorts of colorful fruit

 blueberries

strawberries

grapes

mandarin oranges

kiwi

  

Once I had all my fruit, it was up to me to figure out a way to arrange everything. 

I did a little research  

to get some ideas about ways to start decorating

 but on the whole, my design just evolved based on the fruit I had

and the spaces I needed to fill. 

 

The best part was seeing the design evolve and incorporate even more color as I added more fruit.

 

I even thought about using bananas as another color, 

but I wouldn't have had room! 

{note the 20 grape halves from an entire carton of grapes}

 

Once everything was in place, it was hard not to want a bite

 

But I made sure to curb my hunger, 

at least until I could get it to the throwdown

This pizza's definitely a colorful addition to any party.

I'm excited for the next opportunity to make one.

Both for the beauty

and the deliciousness of fruit, cream cheese, and cookie. 

{delicious}

P.S. The weekend was so full of fun that I haven't even gotten a chance to blog about spending time with my bestie Hannah and her lovely beau Adam. Any visit from her deserves a post all to itself, so keep an eye out in the next couple of days for some pictures and funny stories (though I'm sure there are some youhadtobethere moments).

Pizza Throwdown

Pizza is always a good thing.

 So a pizza cook-off must also be a good thing.

On Saturday night, some of my friends gathered together to bake, taste, and judge several pizzas. 

The competition was fierce...

...fun...

 ...and occasionally, fiery! 

 There were five teams who competed, some in pairs 

and some individually, in four categories including 

taste

appearance

creativity

and

sex appeal

{interpret that category as you will}

The crab rangoon pizza B and his roommate made won the most creative  award.

It was very interesting, to say the least.
Still very good, but an unusual taste for pizza.

Sure made me hungry for crab rangoons though!

 Savannah and her boyfriend Tim took top honors with their pie, 

a delicious mix of chicken mixed with some sauce I can't remember, bacon bits, and plenty of cheese.

As for the winner of the appearance and sex appeal categories, this cool pie took both honors.

Blueberries

mandarin oranges

grapes

strawberries

and kiwis

on a sugar crust 

with cream cheese frosting

Not too bad for a solo team huh? 

I'd never made a fruit pizza before, but I sure had fun arranging the fruit 

{and eating all the extra fruit I bought that I didn't use}

As for the rest of the pizzas

it didn't take long for everyone to dig in...

...trying each of the five pizzas until....

 ...most of the pizzas were gone. 

And as I heard later, there weren't any leftovers.

Just a bunch of college students in food coma's. 

Perhaps Matt's Mom says it best.

"Don't you guys party like normal college students?"

And proudly, we can say no.
 

First Full Week

This week has certainly been interesting in terms of student teaching. 

I was set to take over on Monday as the full time teacher for all of my coop's classes. 

And yet Monday morning found me still battling my cold. 

Do you have difficulties calling a sick day? 

Deciding to call in sick, especially on my first full day as teacher

{difficult}

but I feel like I learned a lot from my experience

the importance of detailed lesson plans

the need to be flexible

the importance of health

and the amazing power of sleep, juice, and tea. 

Otherwise, my first week teaching full time went splendidly! 

Of course, I'm still figuring some things out

classroom management

activities that students enjoy

time management

flexibility and spontaneity

but on the whole, I survived the week and still want to keep teaching.

Always a plus, right? 

Yesterday, I got a little blast from the past when I went down to the gym during my prep.

Remember back in elementary or middle school when the traveling roller skates came in for gym class? My students have been roller skating all week, and it sounded too fun for me not to take a few minutes to see how skilled my students were on skates. 

Some more so than others....

And somehow, I managed to find myself pulling on a pair of skates, and skating around with some of my students. 

Hopefully, that won some brownie points that Miss Fischer was cool enough to go skating! 

I know some of the kids were excited I joined in.

I'm looking forward to doubling dating tonight with my cousin and bestie, Hannah, when she and her boyfriend Adam arrive in Ames. It's been a long time since I've seen her, and I'm looking forward to some girl time and catching up. The weekend also promises a Pizza Cook off, dancing at Outlaws, and a little shopping around Ames. Stay tuned for some pictures; I'm sure they'll be plenty!

I Don't Want This Weekend to End

This weekend was one of the best I've had since being at college.

Seriously though, any weekend that involves

Ice Skating

All State Speech Festival

Visits at Work

Bar Hopping with Parents

Shopping Trips 

Brunch Dates and

Afternoon Walks

is bound to be an awesome weekend. 

 

 First, a bragging moment.

Our speech team got 5 All State Speech Nominations.

FIVE

When I was in high school, we were lucky to take three events districts

But thanks to an amazing coach, a new assistant coach

additional help from speeech alums {Emily} 

 the team finished incredibly strong. 

Three of the nominations were performing,

so early Saturday morning {TWO} buses headed to Ames.

All three performances were excellent

and brought back awesome memories from my speeech days.

In addition to the SPEEECHIES coming to Ames, my parents came on Saturday to attend a Men's Basketball game with some other couples, and then spent the night at my house so we could all spend some time together on Sunday before they headed home. 

Saturday night, Mom, Dad, B and I all headed out to Outlaws,

my favorite country/western bar.

Mom and Dad have been there before, but never stayed too too late. 

It was a fairly quiet evening when we got there,

and we were all having a great time just talking and listening to music. 

Then, my neighbor boys showed up 

(old picture of some of the neighbor boys for reader who haven't heard of them before...)

 They immediately welcomed my parents, and started talking to them.

Before we knew it, it was 12:30!

Mom and Dad called it quits a little before one,

but still got a chance to do a little dancing before they left

{kicking myself for not taking a camera}

I'm so blessed to have parents who are so comfortable hanging out with their college daughter in an incredibly college setting. 

They rock. Period. 

Plus, they take you to breakfast in the morning after church, 

where the three of you 

laugh about prior Perkins visits

joke about Ginny 

catch up on life happenings

drink coffee {Mom and I}

and eat too much {all of us}

Needless to say, Sunday night was a little sad. 

It's hard to let go of such a great weekend

even if you've got 75 7th graders to look forward to on Monday. 

{Cheers for a four day week - hello 3 day weekend, you've been a long time coming!} 

No Falls Friday

In college, the word Free is a most welcome sight

Free Food

Free Movies

Free Fun

etc...

Friday night was an {almost} free activity

With two cans of food, you could get skates and skate for 2 hours! 

Practically Free, right?

Plus, it was earlier in the evening that most 'free' skating events.

So B and I, along with some of our friends headed off to the rink 

for some fun on the ice.

 And I'm proud to report there weren't any falls....

 Well not too Manne.

{Extra points to those readers who get it}

But there was certainly a lot of laughter

funny faces

interpretive dancing 

creative skating moves

 One of my friends even timed his monthly trip back to Ames

so that he could come ice skating with us. 

So glad he could make it back 

{especially after our last attempt at free skating failed}

Not a bad way to start off the weekend.

I'm off to see my SPEEECHIES perform at the Iowa All State Speech Festival. 

5 All State Acts, 3 Performing, 2 Non.

One proud SPEEECHIE Alum here.