Recipe Love

Recipe Fun. 

Tonight I made two new things that were inspired by dishes I'd had from friends. One: tilapia with green peppers and brown sugar glaze and whole-wheat nutella cupcakes. 

Yum!

This weekend I'm going to start making a real cookbook.... all of my recipes stay on my phone, random pieces of paper, and the like. One step closer to organization, I say! 

Happy Saturday ;) 

baby n a bucket

Vulnerability Challenge

A great friend of mine sent me a podcast recently from TED and challenged me to listen to it. Said it was something we all needed to hear, and so it sparked my interest. When I heard this podcast I was so SHOCKED at the truth that flowed from this women's lips. I listened to the podcast a few times and was so interested by this woman's research that I searched for her online. I found her blog and the books that she's written. I'm very impressed. 


Brene Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston. Her blog Ordinary Courage highlights her thoughts, random interviews of real people, and the progress on her book entitled The Gifts of Imperfection. 


The simplicity of what Brene Brown has to talk about is what sparked my interest. Perfectionism. No one talks about that... it's a "hush hush" topic people don't really mention and hardly anyone practices fully. 


Her challenge is simple:


Cultivate courage to embrace your imperfections.
Own who you are. 
Believe that you are ENOUGH.
Believe that you are worthy of LOVE. 


If you grasp these things in your life, you can live with true authenticity and vulnerability. And THAT is beautiful. 


My props to Brene.... and her research on the most important thing in life:


the heart. 

Shopping

What is it about shopping that relaxes the soul and refreshes my crowded mind? 


Three hours in Wal-Mart did the trick. 


Yes, three.


Everything from dorm decorations to tree potting basics to groceries were purchased today!!!!


Oh, how I love retail therapy. 

Learning..

Sometimes I forget to walk slowly. To breathe. To relax my shoulders, and simply remember a four-letter word that shouldn't be so often forgotten: REST. I have not done well with "rest" this year.


This season of life has been an adventure... going "back to college" wasn't the intellectual challenge that it was a few years ago. It was much more of an emotional adventure that would stretch me and grow me as an educator, a counselor and most importantly, a woman. 


This journey held a lot more than what I expected. Helping people learn about themselves has, in turn, made me learn a lot about myself. It was as if I saw myself in every face, and in every voice... Because of this, I've seen what my heart is made of, and how I perceive my role in life. I've identified places in my heart that have needed to heal, and worked on those places. I've found lies that I have believed about myself, and battled those with truth. I've faced fears I didn't think I could conquer, and dared to hope for things I didn't think could come true. I've learned that I can easily lose heart if I don't fight for it... and also learned that I don't have to "have it all together" all of the time. I've seen the desperate need to be myself. I've embraced my desire to learn, be creative, and try new things I didn't think I could do.  I've been challenging myself to step out of my introverted comfort zone and be myself. I've been embracing my quirky loves and letting go of unrealistic expectations... including rejecting perfectionism.


On top of those things, I've also learned that if I don't take care of myself, then no one can benefit from me in this world. This is something that I knew, but I had to learn how to put it into practice. Life is inevitably a battle over my heart... and to lose my heart would be losing the entire story. Without my heart I cannot love or take chances, or dare to trust. Without my heart I can't do the assignment that the Lord has given me to do: to share that freedom. 


And that lesson has been the greatest of all this year: that to live in freedom- to truly live with my entire heart- is the greatest thing that I can ever do. If I don't, it's a tragedy.


So here's to learning. 
To living.
To walking forward, and trusting that the Lord will take care of my heart every step of the way. 


Peter Pan had it right:


"To live would be an awfully big adventure."

Star Shooting

'Lil Bit Of This, 'Lil Bit of That!

It's been an EXTREMELY long time since I have posted. Life has been a whirlwind recently, so I've put some things {like blogging} on hold for awhile...... 

Since May I took a new job, quit my other two jobs, moved out of my favorite apartment, and took a new job and a new home that I truly, truly L.O.V.E. Life is wonderful. Truly.

The Lord is continually close to me.... and I am always learning something new. My friends are forever faithful and helped make this transition effortless. My RA's are the best I could ever ask for- and I'm so proud of how they lead their halls. My girls are fantastic!!! I love their hearts and I love walking with them through their first couple years of college. I love them.

I'm praying about my master's degree. I'm working on other small hobbies such as learning the guitar and cooking new recipes. Fun, fun, fun. 

That's a small summary of life as of today!! Some people have been asking for pictures of my apartment for MONTHS, so I decided that I would finally post some :)

 

 

Happy Weekend :)

:)

I got to photograph this sweet pumpkin a few weeks ago :) Isn't he precious??!!

Opportunity

It's a new season. 

I'm leaving everything I have loved this year to embrace something new. I'm excited. I never thought I'd get to do something I wished for five years ago in a small prayer...

And on top of that? I get my own home :)

With new adventures come new changes... and chances to grow. This is something I'm preparing my heart for right now, but in the meantime I'm soaking up what the Lord is providing: 

JOY.

real joy.

So, here's to a new job, a new home, and new people to love! Ever get that feeling that you're on the verge of something huge? That's today.

The Lord is always faithful, and I'm just beginning to see His amazing love. Here's to the new journey.

*and my weird love of train tracks* :)

Birthdays R Special

On April 4th, I celebrated my birthday....

I had a wonderful birthday. For the last six weeks, I've been dying to tell you about it!

All week prior to my birthday, my best friend gave me a gift EVERY DAY in order to show me that she loved me...... I was so shocked and so happy at how attentive she had been to little remarks of "I love plants" (she dislikes them). I got two plants and so many other fun things :) I loved getting a clue every morning and finding out that afternoon what the prize was. Hehe. FUN :)

The day before my birthday, my family came and treated me to lunch at THE ATTIC in Clarkesville, GA. They brought me a cake (ahhh didn't get one last year!) and sweet cards and gifts. I loved it.

On my actual birthday, my wonderful roommate bought me a gift from my FAVORITE ANTIQUE STORE and ate lunch with me in the park :) I loved this. She treasures me. :) I interviewed for a job on the phone, and went to work.

After work, I was supposed to go eat dinner and watch a movie with Krista, Luke, and Elise. Just chill and enjoy the day. I was looking forward to it! BUT THEN, the tables turned. Not only were we NOT eating at home and NOT watching a movie....
......
......
......
but they were taking me shopping and meeting JEANNE. Can you believe this??!! I couldn't. I was so happy. Felt so loved. Adored. We shopped, ate food, laughed, and I thanked the Lord for friends to share my life with.

Forever.
I'm thankful for forever friends.

In the Kitchen

I love cooking. I love creating. I love baking. However, I don't like to follow a recipe all that much... but I found this one at The Pioneer Woman and I really liked it!!! It was my first time cooking with wine, and it was really fun :)

I was also inspired to make Cake Pops:

Now keep in mind, my camera battery was dead so no pictures from me.... yet. But man, talk about YUMMY!!!!!!!!! The cake balls will be finished in the morning. Great thing for a Saturday :)

Happy Weekend!

Cuddly Kittens

Although I'm not a Cat Lady by any stretch of the imagination, I got to pretend to be one on Sunday. A rocking chair, a Real Simple magazine, and three cats? You really can't read....

So, I snapped a few.

Precious, eh?

Laws

I wish there wasn't a thing such as a copyright law for this post. I wish I could post pictures of my beautiful children, but I can't. :(

Instead, I will write about them.

I love them. Someone asked me recently if they had stolen my heart yet... um yes. Each one is so different, and I love that.

Recently, we have done quite a few very fun things:

The next month or two we're going to do quite a bit more. I'm very excited--- community service projects, science experiements, movie and popcorn night, jeopardy games, and most of all.... hopefully see large improvements in skills and grades.

Less than 50 days until the big test. This week, I was overwhelmed but now I'm refocused. I'm thankful for that- God did that in a split second. I realized why I am there, and that no roadblock is gonna keep us from getting to the finish line. EVEN if it's been a bad week! Fewf.

Thanks, God... for the pep talk :)

Here's to kids that I love. Kids that have huge problems of their own that I can't fix.. Kids that need truth in their lives to set them free, and motivate them past where they are today.