Christmas was excellent this year. Snow on Christmas day. A million cookies of every shape and size. Family and friends home. Christmas ham. Cozy fires in the fire-place. Family games. Movie night. New clothes. Light shows.
Thank you Jesus for coming into our world with one main mission: save the lost.
Merry Christmas! Here’s to 2013.
Today was a lovely, relaxing Sunday. It started out with church at my sisters church which I really enjoyed! The atmosphere was great and I really liked the preacher. Afterwards we headed to the Original Pancake House where they have a few gluten-free items on the menu.
I went with a veggie omelet and some gluten-free pancakes.
I kid you not when I tell you the omelet was the size of my head. The pancakes were some of the best restaurant gluten-free pancakes I have yet to try.
I came home and took a three-hour nap. Catching up on sleep is on my to-do list for the break. 
I woke up just in time to get ready for church and our Christmas dinner fellowship that followed the service.
We had a plethora of food including some very yummy desserts. (Sorry, no pictures were taken.)
I did get a picture with some friends though. It was good to have the gang back. 
I came home and took Topy on a quick walk to see some Christmas lights. Currently I am watching Easter Parade with my mom and enjoying some cheese and crackers.
Here’s a few pictures of our Christmas party preparations last night:
All the gluten-free desserts turned out excellent, my mom rocks.
What is your favorite food to enjoy at a Christmas party?
Thursday afternoon I finished my last final and started out for home. It feels great to not have homework and projects looming over my head for a whole month, but I am sure going to miss everyone! My first semester was better than I ever could have imagined. I love college.
Last night I put my baking pants (actually sweat pants and no make up) on and helped my mom cook multiple desserts for a Christmas party.
We made cookies, brownies, chocolate eclair cake, strawberry jello cake, and probably something else I’m forgetting. Plus, my mom made it ALL gluten-free. She’s awesome.
This morning I started my day out with a beloved oatmeal pancake topped with banana slices and 1 tsp maple syrup.
Afterwards I grabbed my yoga mat for a quick workout with Jillian. I ran three miles on the treadmill yesterday and my hips were very tight this morning, probably because I’m used to running outside. Some yoga was just what my body needed.
Now I’m headed out to pick up my best friend and spend the day catching up and Christmas shopping. I’m so excited to see her!
Enjoy your Saturday!
Happy Fall! I don’t know about you, but it is a glorious 81 degrees where I am and I’m in love. I am done with classes for the week because tomorrow is fall break, so it’s a three-day weekend! I had the opportunity to go home with a friend but since I have the room to myself this weekend and a few of my friends are staying around here, I chose to hang out on campus. I managed to take a nap today, so obviously, fall break is already starting out good.
Now for some recaps of the week (and past weeks)…
I got out of class early so before my next class I took a quick study break on a swing. You have to soak up this weather as long as you can. A couple of times a week a group of us will grab some blankets and “study” on the front lawn after classes. It’s a blast.
Late night studying is the library is always better with friends and food.
You are going to get so sick of my coffee pictures but they are just so fun to take! Although with the new Starbucks opening up, I may drink it all before I even take a picture. I love Starbucks.
My mom brought me up some gluten-free sugar-free cookies and energy bites which I seriously look forward to eating everyday. Too bad there are only about five left!
My parents also bought me a mini pumpkin for my room which can only make you smile when you walk in.
I will leave you with a picture of the worlds best dark chocolate. I bought this at Whole Foods right before college and actually managed to not eat it all in a week. Needless to say, it is so rich and flavourful and you should go buy some right now. And buy me some and mail it.
I am off to get ice cream tonight with some friends then celebrate a birthday tomorrow (and of course, sleep as much as possible)!
I’m back! Back from breezy, lovely Colorado. Boy was it hard to leave. Nothing like coming home to 100+ weather.
I chose to call this blog post series about my vacation “Tiny Towns” because that’s where we were the whole time in Colorado. Denver, Aspen, and Colorado Springs never got a visit from us. Instead, small, quiet towns were on our map quest. A good choice, if I may say so myself.
We left last Friday at the ripe hour of 4:30 AM and set out to a small town about an hour and a half from Colorado Springs. My sister works on a ranch out there each summer and leads pack trips into the mountains + horseback rides {and performs all the other many ranch duties}. Pretty awesome, huh?
Some people say we look-alike. {However, you can tell who has seen the Colorado sun and who hasn’t.}
We spent the weekend with her whenever she got a break from work. She took us to some local restaurants and most importantly, caught us up on her life.
If you are not aware, I LOVE Chai Shakes. So obviously when a local deli has them, we will stop. {As you can tell from the picture it was a little windy…my sister likes to call it “The Windy Wild West.”}
My parents went with ice cream.
Saturday night, we went to Cowboy Camp at my sister’s work which is a big cook-out complete with singing, campfires, and good cookin’. I assisted my sister in making her famous fruit salad.
Cowboy camp was a blast and my goodness, some people can sing and play the guitar so well! I could have listened all night.
The next day we went into Canyon City and found the cutest place to eat. You literally feel like you just stepped off the streets of Italy into a little paradise.
Michael’s on Main was a restaurant, coffee shop, and chocolate heaven. We got lunch and chocolate. I went with a spicy chicken and avocado pita wrap with chips that werefantastic. For my choice of chocolate, I went with the dark chocolate salted caramel square.
If you are even near Canyon City, I highly, highly recommend this little oasis.
Last but not least, we enjoyed some Brown Butter Cookies from a local Amish bakery.
You think cookies can’t get any better and then, you put icing on them. It’s a done deal. {Oh, and it also helps when the cookie is the size of your head.}
Anyways, it was awesome to catch up with my sister but also sad to leave because we won’t see her till Christmas. The only bad thing about Colorado’s beauty and awaiting adventures is that my sister quickly lost her heart to the mountains there.
And that concludes the trip weekend. See you soon with part two!
Put some icing on them!
At least, that’s what I would do. One thing I will never give up is Betty Crocker’s icing. Or icing in general.
This week is going to be busy.
I have been thinking about the word busy lately. You know, being busy isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Like they say, “The busiest person always has time to help someone out.” But what do you think it means when you are busy with stuff you don’t like? (Which most likely turns into stress.) I was reading through some of Kath’s post and saw how busy she is with all the responsibility she has with her bakery, but yet, she loves busy days! I love how she works with the food but also does a lot of the management and organizing. Man, I hope I get a job like that someday. I hate being too busy, but then again, I hate doing nothing. Plus, we weren’t put on this earth to just live easy and get by; life is an ongoing challenge.
Anyway, I guess I am just looking forward to the day when I am busy doing what I love. (And making the best of the responsibilities that come with life.)
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I made Green Eggs and Ham Mushrooms for a snack today:
Two eggs + Sautéed cabbage and mushrooms. YUM.
I felt very Doctor Suessish.
So tell me, what keeps you busy? Love, like, or dislike it?
Right now for me it’s school (so. much. homework.), work, and church stuff. Then it will be college for four years. But I’m trying not to think of how busy that is going to be. Ignorance is sometimes bliss.
I do love blogging, though. That is definitely one thing that takes time but I enjoy very much!
You remember my crazy cowgirl sister right? Yep, well she is home for the holidays!
Although she is home with not the best circumstances….
Poor thing. She is kind of the toughest person I know and she practically lives outside so she’s not t0o pleased about the situation. However, God is good and within six weeks she should be free of the brace!
Not to mention, she makes cookies…
She’s a keeper.
There is nothing like having the whole family home for the holidays. (25 days till Christmas!)
Talk to you soon with a Thanksgiving re-cap!
Why yes, that would be the digestive system on a cookie cake. Try not to be too grossed out.
I am taking Anatomy and Physiology this year and every group was assigned a system and well, my friend and I got the digestive system (which I secretly wanted!)
All though I am still not an expert on the digestive system, I can tell you one thing. Consuming all the candy on this cake is not good for your digestive system. Please don’t ask how I know. Why do you think we had a shortage of reeses for the liver even though we bought the family pack?
What was/ is your favorite subject in school??
I have always enjoyed health (but not any other sciences) and economics!
Hey friends! Happy Labor Day! It truely feels like a holiday here because it is 65 degrees outside! I feel like it should be Christmas or something since we have barely been out of the 100′s the whole summer.
Today started off with an energizing and healthy breakfast, which is a good thing because a sugar high occured later….
1 cup plain yogurt with 1/2 pack of stevia and a tsp. lime juice, half and apple, oats and almonds
So every year at my school, the high school goes on a retreat in the fall that the Seniors plan EVERYTHING. We book the place, plan the entire budget and schedule, design the shirts, patrol the underclassmen, you name it, the seniors do it. Plus, the staff tries to sabotage our hard efforts to make us realize what its like in the real world (aka last year they cancelled the buses last-minute on the seniors and no one knew). Every senior is paired with a partner (1 boy, 1 girl) and you have a small group of about 10 underclassmen (I have juniors) who you spend the most time on retreat with and teach them lessons, play games, and just be there for them. Soooo in order to get to know my kids, I baked them a bazillion cookies this morning, which I hope (and expect!) them to appreciate. To spare the details I’ll show you my baking frenzy in pictures:
The large cookie (with a oreo inside!) recipe can be found here http://picky-palate.com/2011/01/06/oreo-stuffed-chocolate-chip-cookies/. And the rainbow cookies are from Miss How Sweet- http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/07/giant-rainbow-cookies/ (sorry, that link attacher thingy isn’t working, and hasn’t for the past couple days…any suggestions?)
I’m pretty sure my one of my top ten dreams is to meet Jessica from How Sweet it Is and take cooking lessons from her. Kinda like a Julie and Julia thing? (By the way, if you haven’t seen that movie, you MUST. It’s my all time favorite.)
Well, I’m off to go box up these cookies and taste test a few more.
Hey, I think I deserve it…I did work on labor day.
