Brittany's Chocolate Chip Cookies, books, and The Vegas

See what happens when you don't have children to blog about? You blog about the next best thing . . . FOOD. Since I'm a slacker and a day late I thought I would post the one recipe that probably anyone would be interested in. And since I didn't make it to the gym tonight, I thought what could be more appropriate than cookies?

Brittany's SOFT Chocolate Chip Cookies (you can cut this recipe in half too)
4 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 packages (3.4 oz) instant pudding - vanilla
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Sift together flour and baking soda and set aside. Cream butter, brown, and white sugar and beat well. Stir in pudding, then add eggs and vanilla. Once a creamy mixture, gradually add dry ingredients. Do flour mixture in 4ths and then add chocolate chips. Roll tablespoon size balls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, no longer. YUMMY!!! Just typing this out makes me what to eat these. Jared already asked me to make them tonight but I had to respectfully decline, unfortunately.


On a side note, I am doing quite well in keeping my deal with reading a classic novel every other book. Actually, I've already read 6 books for the month of January and it's only the 20th. That's just crazy. The last classic I read was To Kill a Mockingbird. I actually read this when I was in 7th grade but didn't remember the book. I love the movie with Gregory Peck, but I forgot how closely the movie followed the book.

So yesterday I started my 3rd classic novel and it is Anna Karenina. When I ordered the book, I had no idea I was getting an 818 page novel, broken down into 8 parts with tiny tiny writing and no page breaks for chapters. Here's to hoping I can finish it!

Also . . . today marks the 2 week countdown to my little vacay in Vegas. But here's the kicker . . . there is a silver lining to the clouds that hang over our troubled times . . . Vegas hotels are CHEAP!!!! That's right, I checked rates on hotels last Friday even though I had already made a reservation. The Wynn, here I come!!!! I can't wait!!! I am so excited that Jared got annoyed with how often I said I was excited over the weekend. Now I may be the poorest person staying at the Wynn but with the $200 I saved from changing hotels, I will now have money to tip the various service people of the hotel. (Picture me smiling). I'll try and post pics everyday while I'm there. Maybe I'll get creative and take pics with a theme. Any suggestions?