love.

here

Merry Christmas, loves.

Look, I hate being lectured about "the reason for the season" as much as the next person.  I love shopping for my friends, singing "All I Want For Christmas Is You", and seasonal flavored lattes at Starbucks. 

I adore Christmas for all the regular, secular reasons. 

But, totally by accident, I was found this today and felt so loved and thankful for my relationship with Jesus.  Even though I like to think that I celebrate my redemption every day, I'm even more aware on this day, the day we celebrate His birth. 

Over the past two years I've received more hope, love, and joy than I could have imagined existed. 

oh come let us adore him!

things i want to cook...

my bakingaddiction
cream cheese pound cake

Eat, Play, Love
maple bacon biscuits... oh my goodness

A Cozy Kitchen
pumpkin pie milkshakes

A Cozy Kitchen
acorn squash soup with cheesy croutons

food republik
twice baked potatoes with shiitake mushrooms
I cook twice a week for the kids I nanny, and the only time I've ever had them totally clear their plates with excitement was when I made twice baked potatoes. It's impossible not to love them.

My grandma pointed out that everything I make on this blog is some sort of dessert... maybe I should start looking for recipes for salads and stuff before I gain too much "after college" weight. 

I promise that, despite my blog and affinity for anything with bacon, i do eat healthy 90% of the time.

when you give a 3 year old your phone...

dang, i love these kids.

A: I'll pretend like I'm the mommy lion and you pretend you're the daddy lion!
K: I'm going to pretend like I'm watching basketball. Okay?

things i want to make

Coffee body scrub:

huda beauty

 

 

Handmade garlands for my room:

abeautifulmess

 Reusable grocery bags from old t-shirts:

moredesignplease

Wall art from paint swatches:

abeautifulmess

If only I had a flexible schedule, lots of free time, and a crafty best friend.

oh wait...

awesome craft how-to post coming after christmas time :)

fa-la-la-la-la

here

Disclaimer: This clip has the f*bomb in it, but it was too awesome to pass up. EARMUFFS!

here

I'll be in Ohi-er with the fam all week (prob no internet access). Expect hilarious photos/stories upon my return. 

Happy Christmas!

yeast rolls!

nature

Sorry I've been MIA, friends. The Christmas Season is kicking my butt!

Here are pictures from my afternoon at Pilot Mountain last week. It was really peacful and relaxing, except for the part where two rangers didn't see me coming and blew leaves in my face. Fun.

salted hot cocoa

I'm addicted to any salty/sweet combo. Also, I've given up coffee again (I know, I know, you've heard this before, but I'm for REAL this time! i think), so I need something warm to drink in the morning.

Ingredients:

1 cup of milk, warmed       (I just do it in the microwave, cause I'm laaaaaazy)

1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder

1.5 tablespoons of sugar

1/8 teaspoon of salt (go lightly with the salt...you can always add more later. the first time I made this, it     was essentially chocolate seawater.)

large splash (or two) of half and half or coffee creamer

mini marshmallows (optional)

How to:

Put cocoa, sugar, and salt in a mug.  Heat milk. Add and stir.  

Add a splash of half-and half & marshmallows. Enjoy :)

The Sister Wife- a review

hizzle

When I was a kid, I used to love reading.  I was the one who would be reading under her desk in class or staying up after bedtime with a flashlight under the covers.  One time, I got in trouble and my mom grounded me from finishing the 4^th Harry Potter book right after it came out. Cruel and unusual, I say.

When I’m nannying, I have time to read while the kids are doing homework, or taking guitar lessons, or are out wrecking havoc with the neighborhood gang.  I’ve been picking random books from the library and just finished The Sister Wife by Diane Noble.  It’s set in the beginning of the 19^th century, and is about a young woman and man who fall in love and become converts to the newly emerging Mormon church.

Although the plot and characters are a little cheesy (oh no! Bandits are invading the camp and all the menfolk have gone into town to buy supplies!), it did a really good job in addressing the differences between Christianity and Mormonism without condemning either side.  There are Christian characters that are strong in their faith and those that are struggling with their view of Jesus. There are also Mormons who believe wholeheartedly in the relevations of Joseph Smith, and those who have doubts about the new church. 

I’ve been curious about the differences between the two faiths since I started blogging, and, let’s face it, 90% of the blogosphere consists of super trendy Mormon bloggers. Also, I had a great conversation with some cute missionaries from the Church of the Latter-day Saints last summer. So yeah, I thought it was a really informative book that addresses issues like faith vs.works, the extent of human godliness, polygamy (even though it's long since been banned by the Mormon church), and the holy spirit. 

Deep stuff considering the characters are “gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes” and junk.

You should read it.

big bang

I LIT-relly can not stop watching this show right now.

P.S. I just found out that Jim Parsons is gay IRL. is it weird that I had a teensy crush on him? sad day.

chocolate cupcakes with berry buttercream frosting

everytime I make cupcakes, I swear I will never do it again, and then I get a hankering to bake something and BAM I’m standing in the kitchen for 4.5 hours with those little buggers. I can def see why most people prefer to make their baked goods from a box.  I made these for a Christmas party and think they turned out pretty danged delicious. Got the recipe hizzle!

cupcakes (different recipe than the ones I made back here, although, truf time, i think those ones were better)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1 3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup boiling water

1.       Sift all dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat with a fork (or mixer) till smooth.  Add the boiling water and stir/mix until it’s homogenous. If you don’t know when that is, go back to freshman biology. 

2.       Line your cupcake pan with those little paper things and ladle the mixture until the cups are 2/3 full. Bake on 350 for 20-25 minutes. When a toothpick comes out of the center clean, take out of oven and let sit for 2 minutes.  Take the cupcakes out of the pan and let them cool on a cooling rack.

frosting

1/3 cup butter, room temp

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tsb of jam (I’m lucky enough that my gma makes it homemade, but any jam/jelly will work)

1.       Put the butter in a bowl and beat with a mixer until smooth. Slowly add the sugar. Tip: no matter how slowly you do this, it’s gonna be obnoxiously messy. I would just do it in two parts and beat for a couple seconds to mix.

2.       Add milk, vanilla, and jam. Beat until smooth.

3.       Gently smooth onto cupcakes with a rubber spatuala.

4.       Voila!

all the single ladies

Stole this from a post on Alligator Sunglasses.  1938 Guide for single women.

Don't chew gum, sit awkwardly, or be affectionate. It's looking like many years of cats and Lifetime movies for me. ahaha.

run-around

sorry for the quality. cell phone picture.

I am a professional runner now.

Not really, but I did run my first ever officialized-type race (5k) this weekend.

We (chiss &I) hadn’t trained much due to house fires (on her part) and laziness (on mine).  I waited in line for an hour on Friday to pick up our packets where I got peppered by well meaning and terrifying questions from a sweet middle-aged man about my target time and the length of my training regime.

After realizing how inadequately prepared I was for running this, I got up at a ridiculously early hour, moseyed on down to the Y, and learned  professional runners lesson#1.

Only noobs wear their race t-shirt on the actual day of the race. Oh dear! Apparently this is the equivalent of calling someone right after a date or writing on your own facebook wall. 

We had to wait for almost 2 hours, since everything had been delayed.  In the meantime, I learned lesson #2, Don’t ever expect to use the bathroom that morning. There were 2000 people registered for the 5k alone and probably 2000 more for the half-marathon, so waiting for a 2 stall women’s bathroom took forevvvvvvvvver.  

FINALLY, we get running and, thank you Lord, my ipod decided to bypass all my sad, sleepy indie music and go straight to the most awesomest running songs it had at its disposal. During mile 3, “Don’t Stop Believing” came on and I spent the rest of the race envisioning all of us singing it together, Glee style, while we ran.

This brings me to lesson #3, adrenaline makes up (a little!) for lack of training. I hadn’t run more than 2 miles since August, but I ran the whole race and had energy to spare. All the excitement in the air (and all those girls looking fit in their spandex tights) really inspires you to keep going.  I kept imagining that the people on the sidelines were cheering for me.

Anyway, after crossing the finish line, I unearthed #4. Running races is addicting. By nightfall I was already looking for a 10k to run with my awesomely hardcore friend, JP. 

Another benefit: I felt ridiculously productive running 3 miles, eating breakfast, showering, and being on the road to visit my cuz by noon.  Yikes!

yo

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guy on a buffalo

This is what we did at staff meeting today. I'm warning you, this song will be stuck in your head forEVER. This is part 4 of the series, but all you really need to know is that the guy rides a buffalo.

"Hey dead guy, I done told you not to mess with a guy riding a buffalo."

coconut shrimp with tangydeliciousness sauce

Found this at a cozy kitchen and tweaked it to incorporate more ingredients that already reside in my pantry. The smell of the coconut kind of gave me flashbacks to my unsatisfactory experiences with coconut oil (read that thrilling drama here and here),  but I quickly recovered.

Whatchoo need....

18 ish shrimps, cleaned.peeled.deveined

.75 cups of flour

2 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp chili or cayenne pepper powder
1 beaten egg
.75 cup of shredded coconut (i used sweetened, cause that's what they had at the dollar store and, well, it was a dollar)
2 tbs of Panko breadcrumbs (i happened to have Panko breadcrumbs, but i'm pretty sure regular bcs would work too)
s+p to taste


if you wanna make the sauce...
2 tbs honey
splash oj
splash soy sauce

1. preheat oven to 450. line baking sheet with parchment paper. i used wax paper and cooking spray, because i'm not a chef and don't carry parchment paper in my pantry, but the little shrimps STILL STUCK.   so, i would recommend getting parment paper OR maybe using crisco.
2. mix flour, garlic powder, and chili powder in shallow bowl. also mix breadcrumbs and coconut in another shallow bowl.
3. sprinkle a little s+p on your shrimps. then dredge them in the flour mix, coat them with egg, and roll them in the coconut mix. then line them up on your pan. see figure 2.
4. bake for 15-20 minutos.  while baking, mix all the ingredients for the sauce together in a ramekin.
5. enjoy with rice/beans/wine.