relaying and honey glazed almonds

Hello friends.  I'm sorry for leaving you for so long.  I was busy walking my butt around a track all night last night.  I participated in Relay For Life 2012 last night and I had a blast with my friends and teammates.  I'm not sure how long or how far I walked for sure, but our team had at least a few people walking at a time for the full 12 hours!!!  They did a really great job organizing the event and had tons of fun games for everyone to keep the party going all night long.  Our team took 2nd in the relay eating contest (fastest saltine eater in the west here folks), we would have gotten first if the stupid boys across from us hadn't cheated ;)

One of the highlights for me was deciding to donate my hair for Locks of Love.  There was a local salon that came and was taking hair donations with the incentive of a free hair cut.  My hair has gotten really long and I've been meaning to get it cut for a while now but I never seem to be able to find time to do it.  Well, last night was the perfect opportunity.  I've always wanted to donate my hair, but I thought you had to have at least 10 inches to do it.  I went and talked with the salon owner and he said they actually only need 5 inches!  That was perfect.  It's probably a little more than I would have gotten cut otherwise, but it's for such a good cause and I'm really happy to help a sick kid in any way I can.  They chopped my ponytail off with about 100 people watching me (terrifying btw) and I just felt so good inside.  Now I'm going through that phase where you touch your hair and half of it is missing.  It will grow back if I want it to.  I'll have to take a picture later and post it for ya'll.

On a completely different subject, have you tried these?

I bought these a few weeks ago at Starbucks when I was on my way home from my bridal showers and needed a quick snack.  They are incredible!!  They were also crazy expensive for such a small package.

I looked at he ingredient list and decided that I could make my own version for a fraction of the price.  These aren't quite the same at the Starbucks version - they use some weird ingredients like powdered honey.  I'm not sure exactly what that is, other than the fact that I don't regularly have it in my pantry.  I think the regular honey worked great, and my wallet was happy not to have to buy more exotic ingredients.  The whole goal of this was to save money after all.  So, enough blabbering.  Here you go.  

Honey Glazed Almonds

Ingredients

• 3 c raw unsalted almonds
• 1/8 c sesame seeds
• 1/3 c dried cranberries
• 1/4 c honey
• 2 T brown sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/4 t sea salt
• sprinkle of cinnamon (less than 1/4 t)

Directions

-Melt honey in microwave 30 seconds until liquidy

-Stir in brown sugar, vanilla and sea salt

-Pour over almonds, stirring to coat completely

-Sprinkle with sesame seeds and shake/stir to coat

-Spread onto baking sheet that's been covered in parchment or silpat - you don't want these sticking to your pan

-Bake at 335 degrees for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes - you want these to be toasted, but not burnt

-Remove from oven, let sit 5-10 more minutes until cooled, break the large chunks apart with your hands

-Stir in cranberries

-Enjoy!