"C" is for COOKIE

It's test time!

What do these have in common:

Chocolate Chip
Snikerdoodles
Peanut Butter


Answer: You can put the word "cookie" behind each of them!!! I heart cookies. I really do. Besides ice cream, cake, pie and any other confectionery concoction you can come up with, cookies are at the top of my list!

I woke up with cookies on the brain. In an effort to try and get them out of my mind, I hit the gym, mowed the grass and even reorganized my iTunes Playlist (probably the most tedious task in the world!). Alas, after having completed all these tasks, I was still craving the cookie.

So I turned to my recipe books and decided I was going to make Martha Stewart's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe! (click the link for the recipe for these tasty cookies)

These little gems are the most delicious chocolate chip cookies I've ever tasted. Best of all, they were super simple to make!!!

They came out a little bigger than I'd like. But I'm pretty sure this is what heaven tastes like. And yes, I did eat them for breakfast along side my Tazo Black Tea!!!

What's your favorite culinary confection?

Meet the Boys!

I love animals. So it's fitting that I have two cats.


This lil' guy is Madison

and this handsome fellow is Wentworth

You've just met "the boys"!


Madison came into my life about 12 years ago. I got him through a local rescue group called PAWS . As you can see, he's all black and he's really tiny. I think he may have been the runt of the litter, but don't tell him that. For some reason he just didn't seem to bulk up or get very big. He's a lovable little guy and loves to snuggle!

I got Wentworth 2 years ago from the Harrisburg Area Humane Society. The volunteers told me that his previous owners abandoned him as they were moving out of their apartment in Carlisle. He had a microchip already installed when they picked him up. Nine months later, when I went looking for another addition to the family, he captured my heart and has been the resident "watch cat" ever since!

If you are looking to adopt in Central Pa. these are both great organizations! Even if you aren't looking to expand in the pet department, you can still help these shelters out by donating items or your time!

Here are some links if you are interested:

http://www.humanesocietyhbg.org/donate

http://www.pawsofpa.org/new/join_the_team.php?p=50

Hiking in Sandals

I love summer! I love the warm temps (hello flip flop weather), the beach, grillin' and of course ICE CREAM!!! I also love summer because it's a great time to hit Central Pa's hiking trails!

One day the boyfriend and I decided to hop in the car and go cruising for an adventure. What we ended up finding was this little gem. The Lancaster County Conewago Recreational Trail . It's a 5 mile trail that runs from Lancaster to Lebanon County. There is always a ton of people on this trail, whether they are biking or running or going on a leisurely walk. I've even seen people ride their horses along the trail!

Farmland surrounds the majority of the trail. At one point, there was a fun creek with huge boulders where people could gather and play. Jon and I would jump from rock to rock and try not to fall into the creek! It was an amazing place to get pictures! Unfortunately, that part was on private property and the owners have since decided to rope it off.  It was one my favorite things about the trail, but now it is no more.

If you happen to be a plant lover--there is tons of vegetation that surrounds the trails. On this particular day, Jon and I spotted Milkweed (which I've been told attracts monarch butterflies). I've never seen a milkweed flower, but this is what they look like.

They are very circular and orb-like.

If you happen upon this trail, I highly suggest wearing sneakers! It's mostly gravel and if you're like me and are unprepared, have fun getting rocks in your sandals!!! I really should know better that when I'm out and about with Jon on an adventure--i need to fore go sandals, nice clothes and opt for gym apparel!!

While on the trail I thought I'd try out my camera's "sport" setting and try to get some great Jumping Shots. This was my first attempt to capture myself flying in the air. As you'll see, we took several attempts. I particularly love the faces I make. I even got Jon to try a few jump shots! Enjoy!

Okay...finally this was the jump shot we were waiting for!!! Only after 12 attempts did we realize you had to crouch down and shoot the camera at an angle to get a really good picture!!!

This was my favorite shot of the night. There are these walking bridges along the trail and while I was hoping to get a candid picture, this bicyclist rode through!!!

This last one is for Jon. Who was so patient with me as I jumped, frolicked and made an ass of myself along the trail. He refers to it as my "serious face" and whenever I get irritated with him it always makes an appearance. It's not quite "the serious face" but he says it's close enough!!!

My First Blog!

Greetings!

 I'm Valerie the blogger behind News Girl Takes on the World! I wanted to share a little background information about me and my blog.

I started to blog in 2011 in an effort to share my stories about the wonderful things to do in Central Pennsylvania. See, to those who live here, it's just another town on a map. But to me, if you look harder, there are endless possibilities of adventure at every turn. I wanted to share my journey with all of you about fun things to do around town, awesome eateries, fabulous events and much much more! I'm an avid cook and FOOD plays a vital part of my life! On top of the foodie in me, there is also a passion for BEER! I have to give props to my beau on this one, he convinced me to put down the miller light and try a vast array of beers that tantalize the taste buds. . Now, I know I dedicated a lot of this to my healthy eating habits, and I’m sure you are all wondering where the BEER is coming into play. I like to say everything is okay as long as it’s in moderation! So in this blog, there's a healthy mix of food, beer and sillyness!
In May of 2007 I graduated from THE Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Journalism. (sidenote: I always like to throw a, THE, in front of my alma matter because of jealous tendencies toward Penn State!!!) I currently live in the capital city of Harrisburg with my two cats, Madison and Wentworth! I'm also a proud aunt x5 (we're a rapidly expanding familia) ! My older brother is responsible for 3 of them; Morgan, Allie and EJ. My sister's kids are Lucas and Marilena! I love each of them to bits and spoil them rotten!

My mom and all 5 of the grandkids (my nieces and nephews, AKA the rugrats!)

After I graduated from college I returned back to the eastern side of the state and noticed the unhealthy habits I picked up in college and during the first few years in the "real world". I felt tired all of the time, bloated and I wasn't really happy with my eating habits. I quickly revamped my diet and began adding veggies and fun menus to spice up my new healthy lifestyle! I cut back on eating out, and when I did opt for take out, I got smart about what I put into my body! Oh, and I forgot to mention, I started hitting the gym.

told ya' i picked up bad eating habits. i survived on poptarts and beer!

Now, I'm not a gym girl and the workouts began to get repetitive, so I began to slack off. I wanted to stay committed to a healthy lifestyle so I knew I had to punch up my workout routine. I began researching fun and different ways to get into shape, to make it seem less like a chore. (i.e; hiking, biking, hot yoga, spinning, swimming etc.)

Turkey Path in Tioga County

I’m sure you all know that after working 8 hours or more a day, the last thing you want to do is workout. That brings me to my career! I work for a fantastic news operation in York, Pa. Currently I am the Weekend Assignment Editor for FOX43 News. Since I work behind the scenes, plotting and planning out the stories for the day, I sit in a chair for up to 8 hours under those infamous florescent light bulbs. Not exactly a physical environment by any means! During the first year of working there, I stuffed myself full of donuts, coffee and McDonalds (which was way too conveniently located right down the street). I knew the way I was feeling (gross, greasy and unmotivated) was correlated to what I was putting into my body and what I wasn’t doing with my body (working out). So I made a change. I blocked out a certain amount of time for myself everyday to get healthy. Diabetes, heart disease and cancer are common in my family and I knew I wanted to do all that I could to combat these preventable diseases.
Thus, sparked my passion for healthy eating and fitness.
In addition to writing this blog for all of you out there, this is also to help me stay motivated and continue living up to the healthy standards I set for myself.


Oh—I forgot (FYI, I’m always forgetting something or another!) I wanted to expand on that beau I mentioned in my first paragraph. His name is Jonathan and he is a funny, amazing, intelligent, sweet, attentive and every other complementary adjective you can think of kind of guy!

The love birds!

 I mention him a lot in this blog. So I wanted to introduce him to ya’ll!
Funny story about how we met. Jonathan and I went to the same High School. We actually dated for a few short months. He was a junior and I was a senior (yes, I like em’ young!). The end of the school year was winding down and I knew that I wanted to experience college and all it’s glory without a boyfriend. So, a week before my senior prom, I broke up with him (insert, GASP!). I know, I know…I’m a bad person. But, Jonathan, being the stand up man that he is, stuck to his word and still took me to prom regardless of our breakup status. Needless to say, as much of a stand up kind of guy he was, I didn’t measure up and ditched him halfway through prom to go to the movies with my friends (insert another GASP!). Well, fast forward 5 years later, and there I was, a single gal, freshly dumped from a previous relationship. Jon and I had maintained a friendly status through the years and one night, while on Facebook , he messaged me. We met up for dinner at a cozy little Thai place and the rest was history! I told you he was a stand up guy!


So there you have it, a little slice of my story. Stay tuned as the rest of it unfolds right here!