La Garrett

 La Garrett currently works in the Educational Resources department at Jacksonville State University.

Current Inspirations

• Obama's speech on race issues
• The story of Sophie Ann and her family
• Horton Hears a Who -- This movie has a great message.  Some of my favorite quotes:  
• "Even though you can't hear or see them at all. A person is a person, that is my code." -- Horton
• "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent!" -- Horton
• The Biggest Loser -- Since having the baby I have lost 40lbs.  I have a goal of losing 25 more before the end of the year.  Slow and steady wins the race! 
• American Idol 7's Jason Castro -- Somewhere Over the Rainbow 

La's Favorite Websites

• Online Shopping
  • Red Envelope 
  • C&C California 
  • M&M
  • Fresh Fruit Bouquet Company
    
• Homemaking and Parenting
  
  • Martha Stewart -- I love Martha Stewart.  I look at her web site every week for new ideas on being more creative.  She has everything from recipes, cooking tips, craft ideas, holiday, cute gift wrapping ideas, and tips for home decorating.  I have used many of her templates and find them easy to recreate/manipulate for what I need.
  • I-Village --This website has information about everything from cleaning your house to managing your time.  I have used it to find reviews on kids toys and strollers, pregnancy questions, and effective ways to host a party.  The only negative for this site is all the pop up adds and commercials that appear.
• Health and Fitness 
• The Daily Plate 
• Dole 

La's Bookshelf

• Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook
• The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics
• The Dangerous Book for Boys
• The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

Adventures in Baking

Christmas Cookies

I followed the recipes I found at MarthaStewart.com to make both the sugar cookies and their icing. They turned out pretty well, so I took pictures. (They tasted pretty good, too.)

Super Gooey Chocolate Drops

The Food Network website has a recipe for chocolate cookies that I wanted to try. I've put a picture of the results below.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

The Hershey's website has a recipe for a peanut butter cookie with a Hershey's kiss in the middle. They turned out to be delicious.

Cats Tongue Cookies

The original cookie recipe is without any topping.  The book suggest that you serve them with ice cream or jam.  I topped them with a homemade chocolate frosting and confectionery sugar. 

Rocky Ledge Bars 

Another recipe from Martha Stewart. 

Icebox Spiral and Bullseye Cookies 

From Martha Stewart: "Icebox cookies are really just extra-pretty sugar cookies. Before baking, the dough is flattened, rolled into logs, chilled, and sliced-steps kids can have fun doing themselves with your supervision." 

Coconut Macaroons

I made two different types.  One is just plain coconut macaroons.  The other have miniature semisweet chocolate chips added. If you use "sweetened" coconut reduce the amount of sugar you put in the recipe.

Mocha Shortbread Wedges

This not-too-sweet shortbread can also be rolled out and cut, but baking it in a pan and cutting while warm is faster and easier.  The espresso taste is really strong.  I would recommend halving the measurement for espresso.  I am going to remake this recipe and substitute the espresso for peanut butter chips.

Artist Renderings of the Pregnancy

Around the 6th month of the pregnancy, La posed as a model for the Drawing I class in the Art department at JSU. You can see a couple of these student drawings below.