Get up and Dance!

Long Hot Summer

Keith Urban

This song has quickly become my lastest favorite radio song. Whenever it comes on, I can't not stop what I'm doing and dance. Thanks Keith, for keeping me "singing along with the radio" and making summer long and hot with your catchy tune.

Sweet? This video, and the way Keith Urban plays the guitar so naturally like it's an extention of his body.
Sour? Nothing. Or the fact that he's a married man... haha.

Cookies!

My summer has been comprised of a lot substance. I think that is a good way to descibe all the "firsts" it has provided me, all of the ups & downs, and all of the interaction--with family, old friends, new friends and God. From my summer experiences could come an endless amount of inspiration for this blog. And I just may run with that. Although summer was rich, it lacked in two areas that have their flames rekindled tonight--blogging and baking! So for the first post of my summer, we will make some healthy cookies :)

These cookies are inspired by Wholegraingourmet.com; however, I made some changes to the original recipe:

Oatmeal Pumpkin Drops
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 egg plus 1 egg white
1 t. vanilla
1 T. pure maple syrup
1 c. pumpkin
1/2 c. white sugar
1.5 T. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1.5 c. whole grain flour
2 c. rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients (white sugar to whole grain flour) in a medium bowl. Beat wet ingredients (olive oil to pumpkin) with a mixer in large bowl. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mixing slowly. Add rolled oats after, mixing with a spatula. Let dough set in the fridge for 20 minutes. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets. Bake for 12 minutes or until browned on the bottom.

Okay, so if you are a health and fitness freak like me, you can't help but notice there is refined sugar in the recipe. And yeah, maple syrup is about 99% sugar. And flour is loaded with carbs and yada yada. But. These cookies are a great success. They are just sweet enough, free of butter, filling enough to not eat more than one or two, and generally not harmful to your body. Plus, the pumpkin flavor is apt to make you excited for the fast approaching fall season :) Just think sweaters and coffee and crisp mornings with frost on the ground and the freshest of air...

"Sometimes You Gotta Lose 'Til You Win"

Could Jennifer Nettles have sang it any better than in "Little Miss"? I really don't think so. It was just what I needed. That little reminder that it's okay to lose--that it's okay to fail, to completely break down.

I've learned but not yet mastered the practice of the fact that God leads you down the road you're meant to be on. You should not have regrets because He gave you the means to make the decisions you made. Whether you were meant to succeed, to fail, to learn something about yourself, to find joy, to reach your lowest point--each decision you make leads to certain outcomes for a reason.

"Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

Have no worry, you're doing alright. :)
It's really a beautiful thing, to put that faith in God. When I'm feeling positive, I like to look at all the uncertainty in life as a great adventure and a challenge to greet it in the best way I can.

Speaking of cupcakes...

...For this past Easter Sunday, I was inspired to make cupcakes! Since it's hard to find time to bake while I'm living at school, I always love it when the opportunity comes along.

The following cupcakes were inspired by a Better Homes & Gardens magazine--they are the same idea with a few of my own changes.

decorating... check out that cowboy boot slipper detail, yow

Bird Nest Cupcake:  yellow cupcake, lemon

icing, candy-coated pretzels, jelly beans

Bunny Cupcake:  yellow cupcake, classic

white icing, gumdrop ears, M&M nose

presentation detail



Sour? My first attempt at making these cupcake was stinky. I originally tried to make the citrus cupcake recipe from the magazine, but it turned sour when I continued to use cake flour that smelled off. When the cupcakes came out of the oven, they were perfectly baked... but tasted horrible. :( To save time, I used box mixes and store bought icing.

Sweet! I learned that you can't let a bad flour smell bake out in the oven. Also, I got some lovely pictures of my cupcakes before they bounced and tumbled around in the car on the way to family get-togethers. :)

Keep your cards

There are some things for which I have an inexplicable fondness:  the lost puppy wondering up and down my road, kind older folk who are perfectly happy to talk with you about the weather, the postal service with real mail, the sweetness of babies, the time I spend driving to church early on a sunny Sunday morning listening to American Country Countdown, the word "nostalgia" and all the memories that go with it...

The list could go on and on. But I stop here to say that I'm very grateful that I have a strong tendency to want to record and remember my memories. The other day I was cleaning my room when I came across my collection of cards. Going through my room always results in lost hours where I become sidetracked by something from the past to look at or read. In this case, looking through my collection of cards made me so happy with remembering that I just have to explain why.

Since 6th grade, I have kept every card from every birthday, holiday and special event you can imagine. My collection has become quite a library by now and you can't blame me for wanted to halt on the cleaning process to flip through the stack. While I was flipping, I came across a bunch of cards from my 16th birthday and I was smacked in the face in the best way possible with a memory. My two very best friends threw me a surprise birthday party for my sweet 16 and if you've never been surprised in that way--and I mean really honestly surprised--well, there's no real way to explain the delight of it. I wanted to jump right back into that moment and tell them that in the future, their cards and party planning will mean more than they'll ever know. Reading through all of those cards reminded me how much my friends cared about me. I think we all need to be reminded of that every now and then.

So keep your cards. You never know when you may be looking through your stack remembering gratefully all the people that love you--that your aunt remembered to send you a card for every single little holiday; your best friend reminded you of all your inside jokes; your friends and relatives who cared enough to write a mini novel to you--it all means a lot.

All the good country boys

I just heard this song and it reminds me of my Doug and my brother and all the good country boys in America.

Picture of Me -Lee Brice

"I love what I love
I ain't afraid to say it cause I'm damn sure man enough
That's what you need to see to get a picture of me"

Where do we begin?

When I clicked the "title" box for my first ever post on my first ever blog (blog...really? what is blog?), the word "chagrin" popped up. Chagrin is one of those words that is familiar but I have no clue what it means. I know I came across it a million times while reading Stephanie Meyers' Twilight series. And I know I looked it up a million times because I did not know its meaning. And yet I still do not remember. So here we go:

Chagrin: n. A keen feeling of mental unease, as of annoyance or embarrassment, caused by failure, disappointment, or a disconcerting event: To her chagrin, the party ended just as she arrived.
(answers.com)

I think the reason this word escapes my knowledge so easily is because, unlike annoyance or embarrassment, my mind does not connect chagrin to any particular circumstance.

Well that was fun.

So I suppose the point of this post is to make clear the problem that beginning a blog is tricky. To my knowledge, no one will read these first few/many posts until much later on. I don't feel connected to an audience and yet I'm writing as if I have one. Also, my blog does not have a particular theme to jump right into. It is not a fashion blog, a political blog or a Harry Potter blog (although I'm interested in all of these things especially the last one :)

Let's shed some lumos on the reasons why I'm writing/rambling/journaling:

• I love writing and I've gotten too far away from it for my liking.
• I realized there are many things I'm passionate about that I would like to record through a creative outlet that is not a scrapbook or notebook, and perhaps share with others who read this.
• I realized that I have a lot of ideas and a lot to say. (when I say "say," I mean "write," and my boyfriend can attest to what I mean).
• Like above, I've generated a long list of things I want to blog about.
• I hope to create a "thread" of posts which are full with creativity and which are fun for me to look back on and read.
• I want to let my creativity out and this seems like a mighty fine outlet.

Whenever I say "blog" in my head, I hear "glog" and feel the word gooey in my throat like peanut butter. So please excuse me if I slip up and type glog. I'll probably leave it as it is.

I'll end today with...                     

Highlights of my day: Sweet&Sour

Sweetness: cherries in the fruit salad at lunch, drawing the elderly ladies at the retirement complex
Sour! my fairway wood and iron shots at the driving range :(

Sarah