New Year's Resolutions

Hey Guys!

It feels weird not to write everyday, but I've been working on a few things to post next year. 
This year has been hard for me, but at the same time you learn lessons that sometimes are better to learn now that in a few years, it's true that you learn from your mistakes and that you can be a better person! You just have to take one step at a time.
I'm not used to do New Year's Resolutions, but this year I decided that it was time to do that!
#1 Hang out with my friends more often - I only see a few of my friends on school, because most of my friends study in different colleges and we don't see each other really often.
#2 Go to a lot of concerts - This year I only went to one, it was really good, but definitely I want to go to more.
#3 Travel - I really like to travel, this year I traveled a few times and I want to go to visit my cousins next year, so let's hope I can do that.
#4 Write at least one post on Crumble Specimen per week - I didn't used to have a schedule, till the 12 Days Till Christmas Challenge and it was then when I realized that I used to do my life harder, because If I have a proper schedule I won't have to be worrying about the posts I have to write.
#5 Read more book s- I really like to read and sometimes I don't read as much as I'd liked to, that's why I'll like to make some time to read.
#6 Learn more cooking recipes - Over this year I realized that I really like to bake and it would be nice to learn more recipes.
#7 Keep listening good music- I love music and I always like to find new music, but at the same time I'm very selective with it, so far I don't regret of the music I have on my iPod and I hope that, that won't change. 
#8 Go to the movies - This year I wanted to see a lot of movies, but I didn't watched any of them, sadly I only saw a few, that's why this next year I'll try to go to the movies! 
#9 Go to Road Trips - I love the highway and this year I finally started driving, but my main goal has always been go to the highway and go to somewhere else.
#10 Workout - I know this may sound odd, but this year I tried to work out more often and I realized that I had more energy and what a better way to start a new year with a lot of energy! 

So.. here it is guys! My new year's resolutions, I know they are not twelve, but I'm not really good with new year's resolutions, so I'll do my best!

Fer.

Merry Christmas Everyone :)

Hey Guys!

Merry Christmas Everyone! 
I hope you are having a lovely time with your friends and family.
Eat a lot, have fun and enjoy the lovely time you spend with your loved ones.
Read me very soon :)

Fer.

#12 Stay Happy, Stay Healthy/ Last Day of The 12 Days Till Christmas Challenge

 It's Day 12 Guys, it went so fast, at the beginning I thought that it was going to be really hard to actually post everyday during 12 days. It was hard, I have to admit, but it wasn't as hard as I thought. 
Stay Happy, Stay Healthy, have you ever experimented that when you are in a holiday you get sick and you can't enjoy properly the holidays? 
I hate that, last year it happened to me and it was horrible! I realize that if you are positive and take care of yourself, you'll stay healthy, I know that in this time of the year, we are more than crazy preparing the Christmas dinner or New Years celebration, but we always have to find the time to ourselves.
Do whatever makes you feel happy, no matter what other people say, because at the end of the day, your never going to please anybody.
If you are positive about life, life would be good with you. I don't know about you, but I don't like to be sick, that's why I always try to stay happy and positive and of course take care of myself, so that I can enjoy life, in this case, I can enjoy the holidays with my family.
Without further ado, I just want to say, thank you so much for reading this blog, over these 12 Days Till Christmas Challenge, it was a pleasure for me to share a few recipes/lifestyle things and I hope you liked it!
You can suscribe to this blog or follow me on Twitter and talk to me (that would be nice) whatever you want, Don't forget to read this blog every once in a while, because I normally upload a post weekly :)

Fer.

#11 Random TAG

Hey Guys!

It's day 11!! Tomorrow the 12 Days Till Christmas Challenge will be over :( that's why today I'm going to do a Random TAG that I found, so you can get to know me better.

1.- What is your nickname?

My name is Fernanda, but everybody calls me Fer, only a few people calls me Mary, because I have two names.

2.- Do you have any siblings? 

No, I'm an only child.

3.- What are you studying?

I'm in college and I'm studying Marketing.

4.- Do you have any pets? What are their names?

Yes, I have two, one is "Honey" and one is "Simon" .

5.- What is your favorite color?

My favorite color is purple or black.

6.- Who is the most special person in your life?

I don't have one person in particular, so I would say that the most special people in my life are my family and my friends.

7.- If you could change your name, which one it would be?

My mother told me that the second option for my name was "Alejandra", but honestly I don't know if that name fits me, I don't like my name, but at the same time I don't know which name I would like to have.

8.- Do you know how to cook?

Yes, but I don't do it really often. I bake more than I cook a proper meal.

9.- What is your favorite candy?

My favorite candy is Starbust, but sadly in Mexico we don't have it, so when I go to the United States I buy a lot of it, so I can bring it with me to Mexico.

10.- What is your biggest dream?

My biggest dream has always been travel around the world and get to know different people.

11.- Can you sing?

Yes, but I only sing in the shower or when I'm alone ha ha.

12.- Which places would you like to visit?

I'd love to go to Chicago, Brighton, Lisbon, London, Machu Picchu, NY,Sydney, Perth and Montreal.

13.- At what age did you start walking?

I started walking when I was 8 months old.

14.- Do you have a boyfriend?

No, sadly I don't.

15.- Which artist is your role model?

It's not like it's my role model, but I would say Sofia Vergara, I'm a huge fan of her, she is hilarious!

16.- Do you like to dance?

Yes, but I don't think I'm very good at it ha ha.

17.- Beach, river or pool?

That's a hard one, because I prefer cold weather over warm weather, but I really like nature, so I'll say that I prefer rivers.

18.- In your childhood, what was your favorite cartoon?

My favorite cartoon in the entire world is "The Simpsons" but as a child, I didn't used to watch it a lot, so, I honestly don't know, maybe "As Told By Ginger" or "The Angry Beavers".

19.- What type of music do you like?

That's another hard one, because I don't listen a genre of music in particular, but my favorite ones are Rock & Roll, Alternative, Punk, Indie and I think I'll stop here, because otherwise I'm going to mention a lot of music genres ha ha.

20.- Favorite band

I don't have one favorite one, but my favorite bands are: Ramones, Queen, The Strokes, Phoenix, Arctic Monkeys and Coldplay.

Here it is, guys I hope you liked the TAG and that maybe you found it interesting and as a good way to get to know me a little more. I'll try to write these kind of TAGS more often so you can know more random facts about me.

Fer.

#10 Books I Want To Read

Hey Guys!

Happy Monday!I hope you had an amazing start of the week.
Today is day 10 I can't believe it, it went so fast. I have to admit that I'm a bookworm and while I'm at school I can't read as much as I want to, so for this holidays I have a list of the books I plan to read ;)
- The Bazaar of Bad Dreams:Stories by Stephen King. I'm a huge fan of Stephen King, in fact now I have a lot of his books, I think maybe I'll write a entire post of Stephen King books.
- True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa by Michael Finkel I saw the movie a few months ago and immediately I said that I had to read the book, because the movie was really good, and I can imagine that the book will be even better.
- All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. I saw a review of the book on YouTube and I really want to read it.
- Teen Angst? Naaah... by Ned Vizzini. One of my favorite books in the world is by Ned Vizzini, I love the heart he puts on his books and I honestly think that his books are one of kind, sadly he can't write anymore, but he left good books!
- Where I'm Calling From: Selected Stories by Raymond Carver. I really like What We Talk About When We Talk About Love and I really would like to read more of his work.
Read me tomorrow for Day 11 of the 12 Days Till Christmas Challenge :)

Fer.

#9 What I've been listening!

Hey Guys!

I hope you had a lovely week, I can't believe tomorrow is Monday and another week is gone. I have more free time because I don't have classes, so I've been listening to music a lot and from different genres, here is my list:
1.- Never Gonna Give You Up- The Black Keys
2.- Stay In My Corner- The Arcs
3.- Midnight Train To Georgia- Gladys Knight & The Pips
4.- Superstylin'- Groove Armada
5.- A Head Full Of Dreams- Coldplay
6.- Army Of One- Coldplay
7.- Uprising- Muse
8.- Let It Happen- Tame Impala 
9.- I Was A Fool- Tegan And Sara
10.- Wonderwall- Oasis
11.- Sex On The Radio- KONGOS
12.- Disorder- Joy Division
13.- Here With Me- The Killers
14.- Happy Together- The Turtles 
15.- Night Fever- Bee Gees

You would probably say that I'm nuts because the variety of the genres of the songs, but honestly it is what I listen everyday and I Love all the bands I listen to, I used to listen to Oasis, Bee Gees, The Turtles, Coldplay and The Killers as a kid so I feel kind of proud that I've been listening to good music since I was a kid ;)

Fer.

#8 Movies Around This Time Of The Year

Hey Guys!

Why not Christmas movies? Well... that's a good question, not everybody likes Christmas movies, for example I'm not the kind of person that gets super excited for Christmas, I'm more the type of person that thinks "It's a holiday, it's a time to spend time with your family and that's good" but, that doesn't mean that I'm not going to watch a movie related with Christmas or a Christmas movie, right? So... I decided to make a list of a few movies that I enjoy watching over this time of the year and maybe if you're bored or something, you can watch them :)
#1 White Christmas 
#2 Casablanca
#3 Citizen Kane
#4 Holiday Inn
#5 The Shinning 
#6 Stuck In Love
I know they are not a lot of movies, and that the most of them are old, but they are really good movies and you won't regret if you watch some of them :)

Fer.

#7 Gift Guide?

Hey Guys!

We all know that in this time of the year, presents are something that you can't take for granted. You want to give something to your friends, family best friends or anyone! but the struggle begins when you don't know what to give to the person. 
I always stay with the basics:
-CD's
-Books
-Sweaters/ Jumper 
-Stuffed Animals
-Food
I know these options are kind of random, but you they are last minute options,If you know his/her favorite music band you can give him/her a CD, or if you know what type of books he/she likes,You won't fail the mission to the perfect present!
Sweaters are really good because people can wear them all year around!
Stuffed Animals may sound like a kindergarten present, but sometimes they are a good option, if you don't want to spend a lot of money, you'll always find a really good one!
Food... who doesn't like food? I think that taking the time to cook something to someone is a really nice gesture!
At the end of the day the intention is what counts!!! You don't necessarily have to buy presents to show your love to your loved ones, because if you are with them and make them know that you care about them, what else you could ask for?
Sometimes the best gift is being there.

Fer.

#6 Stay fit... nah, better have fun!

Hey Guys!

Everybody knows that over this time of the year, the number one weakness is food, and, sometimes we try to stay fit and we don't enjoy the delicious food in Christmas.

I know sometimes is hard to go to the gym and all that stuff, but from my point of view I think is harder because you are on vacations and the only thing you want to do is sleep or something else, but the last thing you want to do is working out.

That's why I think that you better have fun, you don't necessary have to go to the gym to stay fit, you can dance, go for a run or something that I really enjoy is go for a walk, you can make a playlist and listen to your favorite music at the same time, for me is really relaxing and at the same time it gives me a lot of energy!

Enjoy your holidays, eat whatever you want, and have fun! :)

Fer.

#5 Fun Things To Do In The Holidays!

Hey Guys!

So, today's post is not a recipe, but I thought it would be a interesting post to write.

#1.- Go Ice Skating, I think that it's a really fun thing to do, you can go with your friends or family.

#2.- Go and see the christmas illumination of your city, here in Puebla there are a lot of places where you can go and see the christmas illumination, also you can go with your family or friends too, for me is like a tradition to go with my family

#3.- Hang out with your friends, you don't have to go to school (at least in my case) so, you'll have extra free time, and what a better way to spend the time with your friends :)

#4.- Christmas reunions with your friends, last year a few of my friends and I had a christmas dinner around this month, it was really fun, and also we ate a lot! 

I think that over this time of the year is great to spend extra free time with your friends and family, because sometime circumstances make hard to spend time with your friends, but it's always good to make the time to have a great time with your friends and family.

I'll leave a few photos that I took last week :)

Fer.

#4 Tanya Burr Cookies/ Modification to the recipe

Hey Guys!!

A few months ago I saw a video of the famous Tanya Burr cookies, I tried to make the cookies with some friends and it was chaos, seriously I don't know what were wrong, but I really wanted to try them, so I decided to change a little bit the recipe.
You'll need:
- 110g of butter
- 150g of caster sugar
- 1 large egg
- 140g of self-raising flour
- 75g of cocoa powder (make sure is cocoa powder)
- 1 large chocolate bar (I only used dark chocolate, but the original recipe has dark and white chocolate)
-Set the oven to 200º C

Mix the butter with the sugar till it changes color and add the egg, once you've done that, add the self-raising flour and the cocoa powder, blend all the ingredients, then you are going to break your chocolate bar and put all the pieces in to the dough. Place your dough into cookie sheets and bake them for 11 minutes or till they're cooked.

These cookies are delicious, you have to try them out!

I'll leave the link of the original recipe here. http://www.tanyaburr.co.uk/2015/05/my-chocolate-cookie-recipe/

Fer.

#3 Brownies

Hey Guys!

I hope you enjoy reading my posts and at the same time that you like them. I saw yesterday the audience of my blog and I was in shock, visits from Russia, Germany, United States and of course Mexico :O you guys are AWESOME!!! thank you so much for reading my blog! 
Without further ado, here is the recipe for the Brownies.
You'll need:

- 4 ounces of chocolate
- 225g of butter
- 2 cups of sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup of plain flour 
- 2 teaspoon of vanilla 
-Set the oven to 175ºC
First you are going to melt the butter with the chocolate and then add the sugar and mix them together.
Pour in a bowl the eggs and mix, then add the previous mix and blend it, add half of the flour and blend again, (is better if you add the flour in parts, so you don't make a mess)add the rest of the flour and the vanilla.
Bake them around 25 minutes, cut them in little squares and let them cool for a few minutes, then add some caster sugar and their ready to eat! 

Fer.

#2 Peanut Butter Cookies

Hey Guys!

Here is the second day of the 12 Days Till Christmas Challenge, Peanut Butter Cookies, they are really good, I've already made this twice and I have received compliments about these cookies!
You'll need:
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup oil 
- 1/2 cup maple syrup 
- 1/2 tablespoon sea salt 
- 1 1/2 teff flour 
Set your oven to 176ºC

Pour the flour and the salt in a bowl, then you are going to mix the maple syrup, the oil, one cup of peanut butter and your vanilla, once you blend them, you are going to add the dry ingredients and don't forget to blend again. Place your dough into the cookie sheet and bake them about 15 minutes, let them cool for a bit and your ready to go!
You can give these cookies to your friends or family and it's a nice gesture, because you took the time to make them :)

Fer.

#1 Vanilla Cupcakes

Hey Guys!

Here is the first post of the 12 Days Till Christmas Challenge, Vanilla Cupcakes! They are really easy to bake and I'm telling you, they are delicious!
You'll need:
- 125g caster sugar
- 125g self raising flour
- 2 large eggs
- 125g unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of milk
- 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

First you have to preheat your oven to 175ºC, once you've done that you are going to mix the caster sugar, the unsalted butter, the flour and the eggs, try that the mixture is evenly distributed, then you add the 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and 1 1/2 tablespoons of milk (don't worry if you add a little bit more of it, it happened to me and they turn out really good) finally and my favorite part, you add the vanilla, I added a little bit more of vanilla because I really like it, but that depends on you.
Once you have your mixture, pour the mixture into the festive cupcakes cases and bake them in the oven for 20 minutes.
Let them cool for a few minutes and then you add the frosting, I added vanilla frosting and then I decorated with red and green sprinkles.
I hope you can make this over the holidays, they taste really good! 

Fer.

12 Days Till Christmas!

Hey Guys!!!

It's finally here! the 12 Days Till Christmas starts today :) 
I hope I can keep with it and at the same time that you enjoy my posts :)

Fer.

What's on my Spotify playlist?

Hey guys!

What's on my Spotify playlist? that's a good question, I wasn't a Spotify girl, till my uncle introduce me to it, which is good, because now I'm all the time on Spotify ha ha.
I don't have quite a lot of songs, I only have two playlists, but they have a little bit of everything, I'll leave the links to my playlist in case you want to check it out :)
Ohh and before I forget, I'll be doing the 12 Days till Christmas Challenge, so.. be prepare! because I have a lot of ideas of I want to post, and a few of theme include recipes of really yummy deserts :)
Have a lovely day,

Fer.
https://play.spotify.com/user/maryfer37/playlist/2j9WhD9JQK2ldRKuxQiqsq
 https://play.spotify.com/user/maryfer37/playlist/4t9F2zrUHdQlhTJ2yWHkUl