Reasons I Hope I'm Not Lactose Intolerant

So for those of you who have not seen or talked to me in the last 48 hours, I have developed one of the weirdest conditions I have ever heard of. Weird as in the receptionist at Urgent Care and the nurse who saw me both started laughing after I told them what was happening to me.

For some reason from the moment I woke up yesterday to this very moment, approximately 40 hours later, I have been burping. Not like oh, it happens for 10 minutes and then goes away, but more like in the last 5 minutes or so that it has taken me to write these first two paragraphs I have burped approximately 60 times.

I know, I know, I must be exagerrating. Well my friends, as anyone who has seen me in the last two days can tell you, I am not. It is outrageous and the doctor was like so what are your other symptoms? And I said, none, I just keep burping, and she looked at me for a while and then said well, I don't know. So she gave me a list of suggestions to follow, (none of which have worked quite yet).

Included in this list was "avoid dairy, because it may be related to lactose intolerance." This to me was quite possibly the worst diagnosis I could have received because I love dairy, in a yogurt every morning and cheese at every meal kind of way, so this is my list of the foods I will miss most if I am in fact lactose intolerant.

1. Reed's Pizza. Quite possibly one of my favorite meals, it consists of dough, his family's homemade sauce recipe and unfortunately for me a whole bunch of cheese. I am heartbroken. Really this applies to all pizza, but today I really really really wanted this pizza until Reed so kindly reminded me that I was told to avoid dairy and it probably wasn't a good idea for me to eat this right now, also he is probably hoping that they find a cure just as much as I do so that I will stop complaining to him about it.

2. Cheesecake Ice Cream. I will give you a second to take that all in, cheesecake and soft-serve ice cream all in one? Um yes it's delicious, and if it had more nutritional value I could eat it every day for the rest of my life. Luckily that temptation is gone, at least until next summer, but while we're on the subject we'll just throw cream cheese and cheese cake into this category.

3. Peppermint Mochas, and other milk based espresso drinks. I can't stress enough how much I love these babies. Like really I can't go a day without thinking about one, or at the very least putting flavored creamer in my coffee every morning. I will miss my coffee/milk drinks terribly. Looks like it's strictly non-dairy creamer and soy milk for this girl.

4. Macaroni and Cheese. Like Kel loves orange soda, I love Macaroni and Cheese. Particularly when it's homemade, or made at Fat Bobs. (That is an actual picture of their delicious mac and cheese) I love it, I love it I doooooo.

5. Cheeseburgers. Like a night without stars a burger without out cheese is just bland. I don't know if I can actually get around this one. I might just have to cut hamburgers from my diet too, or maybe just take a whole bunch of lactaid.

So those are my top 5, and in the interest of me getting to bed on time, (although I doubt I will sleep because the doctor told me I should try to sleep sitting up) I will spare you the rest of my list (for now at least). Sleep tight everyone, I promise I will keep you posted on my "condition" and if all else fails maybe I'll get my own reality show out of this. Just think I could be the next medical mystery series on TLC. (I am currently accepting nominations for show titles.)

The Pink Champagne Cupcakery

Okay, okay I know it's been like 3 weeks since our last blog post and I take full responsibility. But between traveling for work, midterms, a wedding in Texas and Meghan's birthday (21 woo hoo) it's been hard finding time to sleep, let alone blog.

But don't worry, we're back and I have a confession to make, not a big reveal for anyone who has ever met me, but at least now it's here in writing. I am addicted to cupcakes. I love baking, eating, decorating and sharing cupcakes, and any time I see a cupcake shop I feel obligated to go in.

So today as I was figuring out how to spend the 3 hours I had between my high school visits in Franklin, PA, I googled "coffee, Franklin, PA" and I found the French Creek Cafe. It had rave reviews on urban spoon and I was sooo excited to try the turkey brie panini. So I plugged the address into my gps, drove out there and then walked up to the door to find it closed until Wednesday. Super disappointing but downtown Franklin is adorable so I just kept walking. Just as I was about to settle for Subway I passed the most glorious sign "Pink Champagne Cupcakery, Cupcake and Espresso Bar"

What!? Pink, champagne and cupcakes!?! Oh and it's an esspresso bar too? It was like someone was in my head and designed this place just for me. It is seriously adorable here. But really, pink, champagne, cupcakes, lattes and a Cinderella reference, I am in love.

Ridiculous. Well the latte was delicious, my blueberry muffin was exceptional, and as soon as I eat the mini cupcakes I got to go I will let you know how they are, but by the looks of them, they will be pretty good too.


Someday when I open my bakery I want it to look exactly like this. Seriously, I can't say enough. Who needs a panini for lunch? A cupcake is way better. Can't wait to get back here!!

A Thank You- Via Blog

Hello my fine friends! This past week has been a little bit stressful. So, to say the least, the infamous "Hess Family Care Package" I received on Saturday was more than appreciated!

I wanted to share a little bit about this Hess family tradition. I have been lucky enough to be a part of a family that, well, gets along. We do many things together! Whether it be baking hundreds of cookies with all the aunts around Christmas, or spending a weekend away with the uncles to visit a cousin's college - we do it all.

A tradition that started before my freshman year is to send all of the neices/nephews/cousins a care package about 4 times a year. There are 10 of us kids total in the family, but every year the number of care packages change based on who is in college! So, because Katlin is now an old working woman - she is off the list.

So, what you may ask, do these packages entail? ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. I have received things such as candy & food, chapstick & tissues, towels & toothpaste, and ALWAYS cookies & cash.

This is my public thank you to my mom and dad, my aunts and uncles, my cousins and the other sister Kelly. I know it is always a challenge figuring out new things to put into the boxes and I am sure it gets a bit expensive! My roomates are always shocked when I get one. You never cease to surprise me with what I receive! Thank you, it is always appreciated :)

Stay Tuned!
- MH

Adult Truths

Well now that I've spent about 20 minutes trying to plug in my computer, literally 20 minutes, I finally found a solution for charging my laptop at our kitchen table.

For some reason all of the outlets in our house only have the two flat slots for plugging things in. As the guy who helped me find a converter at Valu told me, our outlets are not "grounded" and I should probably just get them "grounded." I said sir, do I seem like the kind of person who would be worried about that? He said no, laughed, and sold me the $2 piece of plastic that allows me to plug things in upstairs in my room.

What I had not accounted for was that every single outlet in this house is exactly the same, and I probably should have just bought 10 converters and had one in every room, but instead I only bought one, and was forced to be much more resourceful. I am currently working at my laptop with the kitchen table pulled close to the wall so that my charger will reach without the extender (which will not plug into a 2-slot outlet) balancing the charge box on, yes, a chapstick, balancing on top of a bottle of wine.

Okay, so now that that is settled, I have to confess that I don't really have anything interesting to share today. Basically I have done nothing even remotely exciting in the past week, so instead I am cheating. Someone posted a link to this hilarious list on one of my facebook friend's walls, and whenever I need to laugh I read it.

Unfortunately I discovered this morning that "he who shall not be named" is no longer my friend on facebook, thus I had to do some serious hunting to find it. I thought it was "Musings of a twenty-five year old" and although the results of that search were pretty funny, The closest I could find was a blog post called "Adult Truths" and I would love to share it with all of you:

1. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer browsing history if you die.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?
7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I’m pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
9. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don’t want to have to restart my collection…again.
13. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my report that I swear I did not make any changes to.
14. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.
17. I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.
18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
19. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear or understand a word they said?
20. Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
21. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.
22. The first testicular guard, the “Cup,” was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

I have absolutely no idea what number 22 has to do with the rest of the list, but I do think it's kind of hilarious...I hope that you all enjoyed this list as much as I do, any other "adult truths" you can think of?

Uh Oh, Went to Panera Tonight.

Well, this will be a short one - just a quick story that sparked into my head tonight.

Last year, I was having a bad day, and sometimes when I have a bad day, Katlin decided to take me out to dinner to make me feel better (or, do I make her take me out to dinner to make me feel better?)

So, I drove to dinner at Panera. I drive a white pontiac grand am.

As we were sitting in Panera, I noticed people walking into the restaurant laughing. Instead of thinking something is wrong, I just thought everyone was excited to have a delicious dinner.

About 15 minutes into the meal, a worker went over the loudspeaker and annouced that a white pontiac grand am is blocking the parking lot. The entire restaurant started laughing and witnessed me stand up, walk outside, and pull my car back into the spot I thought I had parked it.


It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. My car was literally just sitting in the middle of the lot, blocking traffic.

I had dinner there tonight and thought of this story. I left one of the car windows open during dinner tonight and it started raining, but as I always say: could always be worse!

Stay Tuned :)

Chef Boy-r-Meg

I cannot cook. I wish I could cook. And, it I am losing hope.

Where to I begin for this one? I truly wish I knew how to cook and within the past couple of weeks that this issue I have has frustrated me. Katlin made a little shout-out to her baking blog and it also made me think a little more into this.

Let me go back to the beginning. When did I really realize that I did not know how to cook? Was it when I screwed up making hot chocolate? When I set a fire in my oven while I was home alone cooking pizza? Or was it last week when I burned chocolate trying to make my roomates a nice treat! - the answer, all of the above.


There are a couple family recipes that I wish I knew how to make. My dad's mom made the best stuffing anyone in the world would ever have (she always used to give me an extra helping on Thanksgiving because she know I looked forward to it every year!) My mom's mom had the best recipe for chicken noodle soup that I always requested when I was sick. My dad makes the best Christmas Baileys and Chili. My mom's apple crisp - best.dessert.ever.

This past Friday Reed made us homemade pizza. It is his family's sauce recipe and I LOVE it. I am just so jealous that all I was able to contribute to the meal was a salad from a bag. Today when I traveled home, my mom and Kelly spoiled Katlin and I with some of our favorite foods - chicken wing dip, caramel apple dip, puppy chow and chicken & potatoes. If I ever attempted to


So folks, here is my plea. PLEASE HELP ME. Do you have any easy recipes I can manage to create, any tips for cooking or any cookie classes in Erie?

Stay tuned :)

Forcing myself to like oatmeal and other challenges I am working on today.

So like the title says, I am trying as hard as I can to force myself to eat oatmeal. Why? Because I suck at eating breakfast and oatmeal is an easy fix, it's healthy and relatively good for you, and it keeps you full until lunch, or at least that's what I've been told. So to help me accomplish this I turned to google, and I think I found a recipe that will help.
Doesn't that look delicious? I feel like this author understands me...I don't like oatmeal because it's mushy, but adding the walnuts and apples gives it a little bit of texture and crunch. Find the recipe here.

Other things I've done today include watching the Jackie Kennedy "In her own words" special, and I am absolutely in love with her. She is truly what I want to be when I grow up...I think I would make a pretty good first lady if I do say so myself. What do you think:
That was my friend and I in Chicago, before we left for a "dead celebrity bar crawl," and we were literally the only people dressed up...that turned into one of the funniest nights of my life and the first fake bachelorette party that I was a part of.

I also tried something else new today. As most of you know, I love baking. I am hoping to open my own bakery someday. I also have a blog about my baking, but it's hard to maintain a baking blog and eat healthy so that has fallen somewhat by the wayside. Today however I was absolutely craving something sweet and stumbled upon this little beauty.

It's pretty simple,put into a mug: 1 egg + 3 TBSP brown sugar + 1/3 cup flour + 1TBSP softened butter + 3-4 TBSP mini chocolate chips. Mix with a spoon and microwave for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes until set. Enjoy with a dollop of ice cream!

It wasn't necessarily the best dessert I've ever had, but it did satisfy my sweet tooth.

I also found a new salon and chopped off my hair and the rest of today is dedicated to cleaning my room and scrubbing our basement. Thrilling, I know. Hope you all have a great weekend!!! - Katlin

Jan Brady? or Stephanie Tanner?

You know that MTV show: True Life?
I always told myself that if I was going to ever audition for that show, it would be for the episode, True Life: I'm a Middle Child.


DISCLAIMER: Like I said in my first post, I am the luckiest of girls and I am thankful for everything my parents and sisters have done for me, but as you will come to find, I am a tad bit dramatic sometimes. I also spent two weeks in Ireland during August sponsored by my parents.

Now you may be asking yourself, middle child syndrome, what is that? Just take a look at this credible source, Urban Dictionary to find out: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Middle%20Child%20Syndrome

It basically means that oldest child is the pride and joy of the family, while the youngest is the baby of the family and so stinkin cute. Where does that leave the middle child? The one to blame.

Let's take a couple different real-life stories. When I was in the 4th grade, Kelly was in kindergarten and Katlin was in 6th grade. We took the same bus home. The bus left without me one day leaving me in the school office crying waiting for my parents to be out of work, and the two of them home enjoying their "after-school snack." Would have been so hard for one of them to stand up for me asking to wait for their sister?

At the Hess house, I am often the butt of many jokes. So one day a few years back, I had enough. I said to my father, "DAD, why are you always making fun of me? You never say anything to Katlin." His response, "Katlin, you look like Meghan HAHAHA"

You ready for some more? As per Katlin's last post, Katlin is a mac nerd. In April, we took our dearest friend Reed home for Easter. During his time in Buffalo, he was planning on switching from his Droid which had a big crack in it, to this iphone. Well, Katlin jumped on the bandwagon and NEEDED the iphone also. (At this point I had a non-functional blackberry). So, Katlin begged my dad for an iphone and won, and I begged my dad to let me switch to Reed's cracked Droid.

Then there is just the general day-to-day things that my sisters put me through. Neither of them will hug me, but they LOVE to embrace each other. Katlin will only pose for a picture with me if a friend is taking it. And, i cannot tell you how many times I hear "it's Meg's fault" or "Meg did it."

This has been my first middle-child-syndrome post, but don't think this will be my last. I secretly love being the middle-child but just appreciate some sympathy once in a while!

Stay tuned :)

Things I Love Wednesday.

So I've decided that since I will pretty much always be responsible for blogging on Wednesdays, I am going to turn this into a "Things I Love" Feature day.

Why? Because I don't really like Wednesdays. It's 2 days into the week so I am tired and it's two days until the weekend which is way too long. Just like that song says, "Tuesday, Wednesday break my heart," Wednesdays do break my heart. I know that's not what they really mean, but seriously Wednesday might be my least favorite day of the week.

So to combat this I have decided to use Wednesdays to remind myself of all of the things I love, and share them with all of you. I have a lot of things that I want to share but I will have to pace myself so that I don't run out of ideas...but trust me they're all good so you should definitely look forward to reading this blog on Wednesdays from now on.

First things first, I just got a new MacBook Pro and I am obsessed. I have literally run out of things to do on the computer, and I am even considering doing some of my homework early just so I don't have to put it down.

Isn't she beautiful? I even brought it with me to work today. Not exaggerating. If you are thinking about maybe possibly getting a Mac, do it. Stop wasting time deciding if you really want one, you do, I promise.

So, In other news, this past weekend my friend Michelle and I competed in the Amazing Ring Race for a chance at a $15,000 engagement ring. We didn't win but we had a ton of fun (well I did at least, I love scavenger hunts almost as much as my macbook).

When the race ended, and we realized we weren't even close to winning, we decided that rather than hurrying back for the awards portion of the event, going to Starbucks would be a much better idea. So we went to Starbucks and after leaving, I, being the graceful being that I am, stepped right off the curb and into a pot hole and of course fell down. Michelle laughed hysterically but then apologized, "I'm sorry for laughing and just watching while the mailman helped you up."

All in all it was a fun day, and I made it out with minor injuries, just a twisted ankle and an injured second toe (see below), which is why I am wearing sandals with my dress pants at work today, but I would definitely do it again next year.


That's all for today. Buy a MacBook, don't text and walk, and if you are going to, make sure a mailman is close by to help you up. Don't forget, Modern Family is back tonight and I also think that I am going to start watching Revenge, I'm intrigued, so I'll let you know how that goes. Have a fabulous Wednesday! - Katlin

Oh, is it my turn?

Well hello, world! It is me, Meghan. How excited I am to blog with Katlin! We both made a promise to keep our blog posts interesting (which I can assure you will not be difficult). One of the things I love about my life is that every day is different and I am so excited to share these crazy silly days with all of you.


My friends & roomates have a joke that I have terrible luck. I often get texts saying "I am having a day in the life of meg hess" or "I'm having a 'meg hess' kind of day." The way I feel about it is this: I am such a lucky girl with bad luck. I love the life I live and make sure that even on the "meg hess" kind of days, I still have a reason to smile.


So, little bit about myself? My birthday is October 16 - almost there! I am a Senior at Mercyhurst who is fighting the battle of grad school and finding a job come May. I am involved in many activities on campus, and though I recently found 3 gray hairs, I would not have it any other way. I am surrounded by so many great people down here at school and have a family in Buffalo who is also great!

You may be asking yourself - what is this crazy, silly, quirky, nerdy and FABULOUS girl going to blog about? Let me try and capture your attention. If you did not fall for the "lucky girl with no luck" thing, how about "a girl who suffers from the middle-child syndrome?" I will share my stories of being that broke college kid, that nerdy student government president, that girl who likes to have fun with friends and that senior who is confused. One more confession, Katlin and I live our lives based on 90's family sitcoms -- more to come! We have a couple family trips coming up soon, so we are bound to have some great things to share with you as well.



One more thing before I start this adventure with my sister - Katlin's grammar is better than mine, my spelling will never be perfect and I will be all over the place with my posts. Please do not give up on me - practice makes perfect :)

Thank you for viewing our blog! How exciting that you will be on this journey with us! It is going to be a big year for us, and we are so excited to share it with you.


Well folks, stay tuned!

Hello World! (Or something like that)

Okay, okay, so we've been talking about starting this blog for at least a month now, but between work and school and general procrastinating we're just getting around to it now.

The idea for this blog was sparked by a variety of influences. We're starting this partially because we're both into PR/Social Media/Marketing and could use the practice blogging, partially because of the random coincidence that we both were asked to do blog posts for different organizations and they were published on the same day (Read Meghan's blog on the Mercyhurst website here and Katlin's guest post for PRSSA here) and mostly because my roommate, after hearing the "embarassing plunger story" (maybe someday I'll share that story with all of you) said, "You and your sister should really have your own reality show," and we figured this was the next best thing.

First things first we're two sisters who both work, live, and go to school in Erie, PA and as a result of attending the same school, share a lot of the same friends. We've got an awesome family, including another sister who just might make a few guest appearances here, and we're both nerds/overachievers who love getting involved on campus. We also for some reason have a tendency to find ourselves in awkward/embarassing situations and our lives are kind of like a sitcom.

So basically this blog will be a random collection of things we love, things we don't and want to complain about, and the crazy, embarassing, and awesome things that happen to us on a day to day basis. Enjoy.