prioritizing my time

This year has included many changes and my life is taking off at a rapid pace. I don’t want to miss any part of it by wasting my time, which has called for numerous time prioritizing decisions for me the last few months. For example: cutting social media was by far one of the best things I’ve done, and the list could go on and on. 

So yeah I’ve been scared that this blog might end up consuming too much of my life and sadly I’m realizing that it is. I need to focus more on my studies, plus lives bigger picture and I believe this cut will be very healthy in the long run.

I will still be posting occasionally but I’m not promising anything. This blog has been so much fun and a needed outlet for me for these few years…but that time has past and it’s time for me to move on and spend more time on other things.

It’s not goodbye, just a less frequent hello=)

 

SUNDAY: enchiladas

I’m a creative person by nature. I’m an artistic type in love with creating anything for my own or someone else happiness and enjoyment. Happiness is defined differently by each person and some may think my definition of the word is boring and lonely, but I don’t. I LOVE my life and I enjoy the way I live it. Yeah at times, being in our kitchen by myself for hours on end can be at times a little bit lonely…but I’ve never, ever, not even once, felt lonely out in the middle of a hayfield with just my camera or picking berries in the quiet of hot July day with just the birds to keep me company. What others think of me isn’t important, because “those who do not hear the music think the dancer is mad.”

I was quite the artist in grade school. I drew mainly birds and a bit of anything else that captured my attention (and that I had the confidence to try my hand at drawing).  I was really into pen art, which is such a fun easy medium for me. I created many pictures…for mainly personal enjoyment and some art contest. (which I was strongly encouraged to enter, by none other than my artistic mom) Then it happened. My dad bought the family a digital camera and my life was forever changed. I was completely  intrigued with it. I mean I could capture beautiful pictures in seconds…every beautiful flower, adorable animal and crystal stream was mine in a second to have for years. So in high school I traded the pencil and paper, for the little point and shoot family camera. And the rest of this story is still unfolding.

As an adult I’ve somewhat combined my love of creating photos and writing with my new found love for cooking.

I just enjoy every. single. aspect. of food preparation…

This was the first time I made tortillas (btw: the Chef in Training is my new favorite resource for recipes, whenever I need a new one…at the moment, I start here) Isaac used the left over tortillas for quesadillas…I taught him how to make them, on his own. He still puts WAY too much of everything inside his…making more of an “all American” male version of a quesadilla. Just imagine cheese and chicken squeezing out the sides=) hahaI used this recipe for the enchilada sauce…making this is actually quite a process, I had no idea it was this complicated to make. But it turned out perfect.You can never have too much cheese…’am I right?!?!?My mom took these…and I promise I don’t always wear camouflage=)The lovely finished product!!! and even though it wasn’t perfect (according to my perfectionism) my family finished off both pans in one day=) And I took that as a compliment!

It’s hard for me to describe or explain the feeling I get when I begin creating something in the form of food. I look forward to walking into our wonderful kitchen every weekend. Some of my best days, in any given week. are the days I can make bread at 4:30 in the morning…I’m serious=) I don’t get to cook as often, now that I have a second job…but I still try to make/find time for this one enjoyment I have in life.

I love having flour on my hands. I love the stove top lined with simmering pots. I love cutting up tons of colorful veggies. I love the sound and smell of sizzling meat. I love having sticky sweetener and butter coated measuring cups all over my countertop. I love looking in the light lite oven to see if whatever I’m making is “turning out.” I love the sound of the timer, letting me know my food is DONE. I love the smell when I open the oven. I love washing up all my measuring spoons, bowls and pans. I love watching my siblings and parents faces as they try my latest and greatest.

What else can I say….I LOVE cooking=)

What is something that you love doing?

Happy Friday!!!

 

What’s Going On in February

Can you believe that March is here? Wow this year is flying. So here’s February’s update.

thinking – about my true core values…one’s that are actually mine and ones that I’ve only kept for my parents sake. I want to be my own individual, with my own value, beliefs and convictions. And live my life according to these. The pages of my life are turning quickly before my eyes. One by one, or is it more like the wind causing them to turn really fast by themselves?!?!? So I can’t waste anytime, I just have to hurry and get these are straight=)

watching – American Sniper…the last movie I watched completely through. It’s a good movie and very much worth the time and money I spent to see it. But I didn’t like it…I’m more of a chic flick kind of girl. But I definitely recommend it, for those that like that sort of thing. Also I’m watching snow quietly falling from my window. Gotta’ love it, the first day of March and we have snow…and robins.

eating – ummmm…I haven’t been hungry for much of anything lately so. But I did eat a chocolate chip cookie for breakfast, before I even ate my cereal. Hey don’t judge, it was very good=) Oh and I’ve been learning to eat without braces, it’s a completely different story. Loosing food or worse yet not getting it completely in my mouth, has been embarrassing. I’m not eating in public till I get this figure out,             again.

listening to – “Send it on” I seriously can’t stop singing this song or listening to it=) Also Danny Gokey’s new song More Than I Am…and this video is so cool too=)

reading – I started Seabiscuit and so far it’s good. For a non-reader type person, such as myself, it’s been successfully holding my interest. Also I’ve received several letters back from deployed soldiers I’ve written…reading them is always so interesting=) Sadly I’m stepping down from doing this…I’ve been writing for a year and it’s time for something else.

making  - I just made chocolate chip cookies for my orthodontist for my very last visit on Thursday. Also I made left over turkey shepherd’s pie on Saturday, along with a skillet pumpkin pie. (first one after this fail, but be sure I tasted the filling before baking it this time=) A lot of bread also for these people I live with.

wearing – Right now skinny jean, a sweater and wonderfully warm wool socks. My mom likes to keep our house right at 68 degrees. Drives me crazy, but I just put more clothes on=( but not without a lot of complaining. Lately with the temperature mostly below 15 degrees, it been these kind of clothes a lot.

needing - more hours in a day, I never get enough done. I need more than 12 hours of day light. I could totally go with a 24 hour day and maybe scratch the surface of all I need/want to get done. Have I over planned my year???? I, seriously, have so much happening in the coming 10 short months I’m feeling overwhelmed. TIME is the most precious commodity to me at the moment. But maybe I’ve bitten off more than I can chew…too many pots on the stove at once.

wishing – for spring temperatures so I can start running outside again…the treadmill is oh so boring. I workouted upstairs (everyone was gone) yesterday and actually worked up a sweat…it’s been forever, our basement is so ccccoooooold. Also I want to make maple syrup. It’s that time of year again and I miss doing it terribly. While in Tennessee one of the neighbors, near where we stayed, were boiling the sap down…and remembering that smell, I just wanted to cry.

feeling – very tired lately and not a whole lot of energy. But I’m in the best condition spiritually and emotionally that I have been in years. So now I just need to work on the physical aspect of my life. But maybe I should slow down some, that might actually help a lot .

loving – the wardrobe reduction Christina completed on Friday. Two huge bags of clothes went to Goodwill… our dresser is so much easier to maneuver through. But I can’t tell much of a difference in the closet, but we do have more free hangers…haha!

wanting – to start on writing out all my favorite recipes in these darling little cookbooks I just bought. I want to go sledding today. I want to take an Epson salt bath. (I don’t know why I just want too) I want a kitchenaid mixer. I want more patience with my siblings and other people in my life…they are not the over achiever I am and that’s fine. period.

So what about all of you??? what have you been up to lately? 

my love<3

When I can’t deal with the stress of the busy corporate world I just escape to a place that’s familiar to me. Filled with quiet and love. A place where I know God is. Because here I can feel and hear Him.

The freezing wind biting at my nose. The cold, wet snow fogging my camera lens. And me soaking in the most beautiful of sceneries, with numb fingers and toes. Totally happy…because I’m here;

alone.

Alone in the world that make complete sense, where life is only about instinct. Not rules.

"Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle ... a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl.  And the anticipation nurtures our dream."
-  Barbara Winkler

“For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.” -
Martin Luther

“The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.” – Psalm 24:1

“In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia.”
 -Charles A. Lindbergh

”Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully, he can learn more than what is in books, for they speak with the voice of God.” -George Washington Carver

I’m only two months into the year…2015 looked so promising at the beginning. And so far hasn’t let my expectations for it, down.

Just since the start of the year, God has been opening doors…resulting in me having to make some huge life decisions…I mean crazy big ones! But even though it’s been a tough emotional roller coaster, for me, the last few weeks, I’m happy to say I’m through the bulk of it and now strictly onto finalizing each one of them.  What I planned for myself the beginning of the year isn’t all holding together…like maybe jumping ahead a few years…I have to be okay with it. God’s plans are better anyway=) “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jer. 29:11 Being flexible and resting in the knowledge that God knows what He’s doing. I can’t wait to share more details about these things but I need to wait until everything is completely set in stone.

Happy Friday!!!

Source:  99 outdoor quotes

no longer a teenager

My younger brother isn’t a teenager anymore, since Sunday…this is sorta hard for me to grasp.

Like seriously yesterday we were…

playing cowboys and Indians together

arguing as we hauled maple sap back from the woods together

gleaning corn for the cows together

cleaning his room together, more like I was cleaning and he was watching and talking 

hunting white-tail deer together

swimming in flat rock river together

running all those roads around our old place together

And now that all over and he’s grown living in Tennessee six hours away. We text weekly and call some. I miss him but know this is the way life is indented to go.

 

And this weekend I went to visit him in TN with Christina…enjoy the few photos I remembered to take=) I had all these glamorous ideas of actually writing this post up during our drive home on Sunday. But I regretfully didn’t get to it and so it’s here a day later than I planned but oh well=/

The only picture of me…I know I know…without a schedule and a structured life, I can’t even remember to take a photo!Home at last!!! To lots and lots of snow and sub-below zero weather…just wonderful…

So here’s a quick recap of our trip…

Friday –

Christina came home from work saying her car was acting up.

I test drove it and moved the rattling pens in the console. Moral of the tale the car was fine…really fine!

Started on our six hour drive at 7:00 a.m.

Stopped to buy a sleeping mask for my tired “shot gun” rider. (so yeah it was a quiet and a very boring drive)

Met Samuel in Loblesville, TN. (Think a perfect redneck haven and you will have just begun to imagine what it’s like) TN had just suffered an ice storm and we all know what ice does to southern drivers, so Samuel led us in a less hilly way to his home.

Crashed at Sam’s house. (It’s so small and adorable)

Dinner at the Stoll’s house. We couldn’t drive up the hill due to the ice and snow so we walked up their mountain…I developed a head ache, which made my night miserable. Plus they served pasta and I had cuts in my mouth from a accident driving horses a few nights before. I’ll just stop there. (we were suppose to actually stay with these people for the duration of our stay but it was canceled due to their pipes freezing, poor people were without water for days. Which equaled no showers for them either)

Saturday -

Woke up at 4 and my siblings didn’t start stirring until 10:00 a.m.….I was starving!!!!

All the restaurants around opened late due to the weather….so no breakfast just shrimp alfredo

It was dumping buckets of rain all day long. And that on top of the ice made the road conditions worse.

Shopping…the only thing left to do. Christina and I got some wonderful deals at Goody’s.

Ate frozen pizza and cake at Sam’s house while watching his favorite you-tube singing clips=)

Then back Stoll’s house to watch “The Good Lie” btw: a very very good movie! The ice was still bad so we again parked and trudged to the very top of that pathetic hill.

About ten, after running to a friends house to shower the parents came in saying we were flooded in. GREAT! All the rain and temperature rise had creation yet another problem. Did I mention how much I love Indiana?!?!?

This bad new called for something chocolaty…freshly baked black bean brownies soaked in chocolate syrup did just the trick to cheer us all up.

Slept on their couches, and watched movies all night long. Needless to say we became very good friends with ALL the Stolls,

Sunday – Samuel’s 20th Birthday!!!!!!

Again, I woke up before everyone else.

Christina agreed to walk down and see if we were still flooded in.The water had all gone back down and the roads were clear. Also the hill was melted enough to drive up (so glad we didn’t have to walk that again!!!)

Ate a late but wonderful brunch – they made Belgian waffle with blue berry topping…so good!!!!!!

Everyone hurried back to their places of running water to clean up, then meet at the bowling alley in Dickson.

Samuel opened all his gifts from home that we brought with us=) while Christina and I hurried with our showers and makeup.

Samuel won the only game Christina and I had time to play with them. They continued to bowl long after we left.

Homeward bound by 4;30 p.m. (difficult leaving that sad face, of Samuel, behind us…but thankfully his friends were staying with him the rest of the day…..to help him celebrate his day=)

Home by 11:30 (They last hour I slept…but it was more like a series of a million nightmares. Seriously all the stuff I had to do this week kept playing through my mind)

12:30 p.m I sat in a daze on my bed thinking…inwardly vowing to never leave for a weekend again. even though I know I will…and I’ll regret it then too. Mainly because of ALL the work before I leave and after I get back is so stressful.

All and all it was a wonderful trip. Getting to see the wonderful smile of Samuel and celebrate his day, actually, with him was oh so worth it. All of it.

It was such a memorable weekend=)

 

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BTW: here’s a few pictures from the making of my first cake, frosting and all=) sadly I only took some on my phone…it was late at night, so I’m giving myself a break. Samuel loved it!!!

me+mistakes

“Why does life keep teaching me lessons I have no desire to learn?”  ~Ashleigh Brilliant

I hate making mistakes and this past Saturday’s pumpkin pie, disaster, was no different. When I make an error I feel like the world is coming to an end. Literally it will ruin my entire day…it’s a feeling of embarrassment and humiliation, all mixed together ending in me blaming myself for every problem I’ve ever faced. (I hope that makes sense, it the only way I can put it into words). But anyway this makes me shut down and normally will make the remainder of my day a real drag. Even my boss knows not to tell me of a work related error early in the day or my day will be ruined. (proven fact) I’m not making excuses for myself…I know it has to probably do largely with my age, but I’m trying to rise above this “feeling” and brush off my blunders and not let it effect my day. I only have one life and I don’t want to waste even a few moments in this self pitying attitude.

“Self pity is easily the most destructive of the non-pharmaceutical narcotics; it is addictive, gives momentary pleasure and separates the victim from reality.”   ― John Gardner

  I made the crust for this pie perfect and the filling was so thick and golden, everything looked just right. But I’m a “non-taster” cook and this simple fact completely ruined the outcome of this baking venture. I normally just follow my head knowledge and eye how much of seasonings, etc., I believe should go into my dish. A good example of this is when I make mash potatoes; I will mash and season them without ever tasting them and their perfect, salted to perfection=) haha…most of the time. This is a result of all my dieting and not being able to eat what I was cooking, pathetic but true (which of course isn’t a big issue now, since I’m kinda pulling away from dieting).

But I’m still trying to get passed this old habit and taste while I cook, as a general rule again. But in this instance, even though something inside told me to taste this pie filling before I put it in the oven - I dismissed the thought and went ahead and filled the pie shell with the filling and popped it straight into the oven. It finished baking and I left it to cool while I drove over to feed my horses. On the way over, I don’t know why but, I began to think through everything I put into my pie. (btw; I never do this) And then horror of horrors, it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn’t put the sweetener in this precious pie. This wasn’t just a bad dream, it was huge nasty realization that couldn’t be reversed. I drove in shock for a bit before calling my mom to tell her the horrid news She just laughed (which made me feel soooo much better) and gave me a small lecture on why she, as a rule of thumb “always taste before BAKE.” (Thanks mom) I slowly began to see the humor in this situation and decided that we’d just have to add honey to the top of each piece as it was dished up.

beautiful piece of pie, to say it was a bit bland would be an understatement=)Me with the pie…funny I never get pictures with my food and I choose to ask Isaac to get a few of me with this pathetic version of a pumpkin pie. but if you don’t tell anyone who’d guess it wasn’t a perfect piece of pumpkin pie?!?!?!I could only get a few bits of my piece down, but here’s the way we ate it, drenched in honey.my dad liked it, wow! I don’t know how he did…it was horrible.

The three things I learned from this pumpkin pie…

first. from now on I’m going to begin tasting what I make. Always.

and secondly I’m going to try harder to not let slip ups ruin my cooking experiences. I love to bake and cook and if I make a mistake, hey I’m human and I’m not perfect, so I’m going to make mistakes daily…so I’m going to start expecting them and not let them surprised me.

and lastly I will make a pumpkin pie again. period. someday, even though I inwardly vowed I wouldn’t again. (I’m actually too turned off to the taste of pumpkin pie, due to the this pie, to try it again for a bit)

So a note to self: Don’t let your mistakes get you down today, laugh it off. Expecting the slip ups, make them easier to deal with. And being humble enough to take the blame for your mistakes needs to be my number one priority. And please don’t let a 2 minute mistake ruin your next 24 hours.

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”. I Thess. 5:18