Red Velvet.

It seems to be a reoccurring theme with my blogs, as time goes on I become less loquacious. It's not as though my life is boring, but I'm spending so much time out of my apartment, that when I'm home, I just want to relax and veg out in front of the tv.

My first week at work was amazing, and this week all of my my managers have returned from California. Unfortunately, for me, they are still catching up from last week, so they don't have much for me to do. I've just been chatting it up with the CEO in hopes that he has some things for me to do. I am ecstatic that I have this opportunity to work with this company, as I've been conference calling huge companies like ABC, MTV, Microsoft, ESPN, Ogilvy, Google, Facebook, and hundreds of other firms with advertising entities. I'm so stoked for the convention, expo, and Ogilvy awards dinner, with special cocktail bars and oyster bar =) I'm enjoying this too much!

Last Thursday, us interns went to happy hour and enjoyed a few cocktails as we talked about everything and anything. All in all, there are 6 of us, half of the normal intern group, but I love it. We all get along and support each other since our departments always intermix. I'm planning on inviting them all out to pub trivia this week. We'll see how it goes!

On Friday, Kelley and I had an in night and made red velvet cupcakes! I'm glad I didn't completely butcher them but my first batch could have been taken out of the oven sooner. Here is my short "how to bake red velvet cupcakes" recipe:

1. Buy ingredients. Good for 24 cupcakes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1/2 pound cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined. If anything, it's always nice to have helping hands.


3. My least favorite part: Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. *It helps to use an ice cream scooper*. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. *As soon as you poke the cupcake and do not see any stuck to the toothpick, pull them out! This will keep the cupcakes moist*. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

4. For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

My favorite part! In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.


5. Usually, the toppings call for pecans and raspberries, but since I didn't buy any, I just took one of my cupcakes and crumbled it over the top of my cupcakes, to give it more color =)


Eat and enjoy the surplus of calories.

Over the weekend I played some soccer...in 13 degree weather! It was literally FREEZING. I finally have turf shoes, shin guards, but none of them hindered the development of fatty bruises on my thighs. Cold day+soccer ball slapped against thigh=pain for a few hours and hideous bruise. But hey, I'm getting better =)



I went to MOMA after soccer on Sunday, and with the family pass I could get into the Tim Burton exhibit without a timed pass! VIP, baby! Since I wasn't allowed to take photos anywhere, I asked to take one of the entrance...pretty insane.



Today after work, I went to a French meetup group with Kelley and discovered that my dislike for the french language is all the memories that come along with it. Oh high school, je ne veux pas me rappeler vous. I didn't have a problem understanding anything, but speaking it was like nails on a chalkboard. Other than that, Chinese kept wanting to babble out of my mouth. At least I left meeting two other cool girls to hang out with! I think I'll go to the Chinese meetup instead this week.

I think that's it for now.

Au Revoir francais.