For Blogmas today, I thought it might be fun to do a link-up I’ve never done before. Thinking Out Loud is a series where you basically group together a whole bunch of random thoughts. Thanks Amanda for hosting!

1. I’m pretty sure I somehow managed to get gummy priobiotic up my nose. And now it’s burning. How does that even happen??
2. I made my friend pumpkin bread with brown butter maple icing for her birthday. I’ve never browned butter before. It was cool to see all the changes it went through and it was a bit of an anxiety inducing process because I was worried I was going to burn it. Once it was done I was so sure it was burned but it wasn’t. The brown butter icing was AMAZING. It makes such a difference to brown the icing! I had a little leftover, and my family and I spread the icing on cookies. So good.                                                                               
3. It’s actually so nice to be home. St. Louis was a fantastic experience but California is such a great place. Even better, all my people are here. Basically all of my high school and all of my college friends are in this area. And seeing my hometown for the first time in a while makes me see it in a fresh light: it’s a cute town among majestic hills. Missouri is pretty flat, you guys.
4. I really, really love routine. So coming home with no job or school was a tough transition. However, I have a TON of work to do for my online Microbiology class, and I have the hardest time getting anything done at home. The time just evaporates. Tuesday I spent the day at the local library and just got SO much done, and it felt great. I even packed a lunch, which was a nice return to routine.
5. Trader Joe’s Cranberry Chèvre is amazing. And it went perfectly in my pear salad. SO creamy and delicious. The blueberry chèvre is also amazing.
6. I FINALLY found the new Halo Top! I’m so excited. There are only 3 of the new flavors I can eat (lunch allergies+wheat) but that is exciting enough for me! I was a little disappointed by the oatmeal cookie; it didn’t have quite enough cinnamon-y flavor. The sea salt caramel and black cherry were really good too, though I only tried a bite of each. The black cherry was a surprise, since I’m not usually a fruity ice cream person. It will be awesome with fudge sauce.
7. I’m not really sure what’s going on when I eat gluten but it’s definitely something weird. After avoiding it for over a year completely thanks to a chronic stomach illness, I’ve had it a few times now and had varying reactions. The first 2 times it made my super sleepy. So I figured, hey, I guess it doesn’t hurt my stomach at least, so that’s cool. But then I had some Monday (not a lot) and had a peculiar reaction. I got really hot and my throat felt a little tight. I thought it was somewhat in my head but my mom said that my face was really red. Huh. Then I spent the night dreaming I had the stomach flu, and I’ve only had those dreams in association to eating gluten, haha! Then I felt sort of sick and sort of shaky the next morning, though luckily it didn’t stick around. So I guess a little gluten causes a little flare? Strange.
8. We finally have our tree all done up! This year we decided to go with an almost all animal ornament theme. Because to be honest, we have a crazy amount of animal ornaments. The new addition this year was a Budweiser clydesdale, a little nod to my time in St. Louis!
9. I’m on a major Flapjacked muffin for breakfast kick. I ordered these in bulk, so I guess I don’t feel the need to limit my consumption? That and I’m sick to death of yogurt. For now at least. Plus, healthy chocolate for breakfast? How can you go wrong??
10. I really love San Francisco, especially during the holidays. I missed my city. St. Louis is nice, but very different. I’m hoping to go up more during the holidays this year, especially given I don’t have finals and such to worry about.
11. I am having an absolute blast doing Blogmas. It does take more effort for the most part to do each post, but it’s so worth it. It brings me back to the type of creative blogging I really love but don’t normally have time for, and it forces me to be creative in the kitchen. Which really is a win-win for everyone.

What are you thinking today?