the reason my blogging is so infrequent...

This is just some of my reading for the past semester. And it is only going to get worse.

Alumna

We have another graduate in the fam jam! Little baby Leigh Leigh got her alumna status on Tuesday. We've come a long way since a lot of these:

1. She used to carry a stuffed animal kitty cat to preschool every single day.

2. She asked our mom to homeschool her after her first day of kindergarden.

3. She taught me how to be scrappy when we used to fight. Believe it.

4. In high school we could never agree on what to listen to in the car. Somehow we finally settled on Panic at the Disco. I mean, really?

5. There was that brief period of time that she thought the words to "Burnin' Up" by the Jonas Brothers were "I'm slipping into the llama" instead of "lava".

6. Once she got the cheap tickets to the Coldplay concert while I sprung for the more expensive ones up front. They ended up doing a set right in front of her.

7. We say weird things and make weird faces.

8. When we were put in time out, sometimes we'd tag team it and sing at the top of our lungs together to be obnoxious.

9. We used to dress our baby brother up in our old dance costumes before he was too old to realize we were torturing him.

10. She told me she would get her ears pierced if I went first. Well, she lied, but after my reaction to metal piercing through my ear lobe, I can hardly blame her.

My not-so-obligatory-yet-still-important "what I learned sophomore year: part TWO" list

This year was great. Seriously great. Except I realized how old I'm getting when I thought about how much history I've already lived through. On a lighter note, here's a snapshot of what I learned outside of the classroom this semester...

1. Creeping is an art form. A very, very delicate art form.

2. A 20-year-old's body can't handle the same things as a 19-year-old's, so you have to stop late night trips for doughnuts if you don't want to pay for it the next morning.

3. Turning 20 means your next birthday is 21, which means your next birthday is 22, which means your life is practically over.

4. Wing Zone delivers even in the middle of a tornado.

5. The Braves, however, do not play during severe weather.

6. Make goals, not foals.

7. Putting off a 10-12 page research paper until the day before its due when you still haven't even finished the book yet is a dumb move. Dumb dumb dumb.

8. You're never too old to go see Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 in theaters. Twice.

9. A royal wedding is a once in a lifetime event, so it's worth waking up at 3am to watch the live coverage, even if it is finals week.

10. If you can't decide what you want for dinner, it's okay to call 3 different places to order your favorite things from each.

11. Domino's pizza tracker is the best thing invented. Ever.

12. After sampling dumplings from all over the Auburn/Opelika area, MK's has the best. There, it's settled.

13. Everything in life can relate to two things: 1. Mean Girls 2. Modern Family

14. Meryl Streep is always the right choice. She could play Batman and she would be the right choice.

15. The last day of higher level English classes will always be the best. Tea parties, bread pudding, sentimental speeches, and maybe even a few glistening tears.

16. If you're going to make bread from scratch, double the recipe. But don't put it all in one pan.

17. Human Behavior classes come in handy when you need to figure out why your family is so weird. And lovable. But mostly weird.

18. StumbleUpon and Pintrest are the best and worst things that ever happened.

19. Sometimes professors are actually knowledgeable on subjects outside of their fields, like how to set up tigermail as your incoming mail server on your iphone.

20. You're about 1,000x less likely to skip class if you have someone to walk with you.

21. Total Eclipse of the Heart could be misconstrued as a song about Jesus.

22. Being matchers is underrated.

23. Sometimes you come home and your family is all granola. Just roll with it.

24. Don't start drinking coffee and coke if you never have before in your life. It will just make you anxious. And you'll have to pee a lot.

25. Go big or go home.

26. Banana pudding is worthless without the bananas.

27. WebMD is always a good idea.

28. You know, if you want to spend your birthday hanging out with your parents, its okay.

29. Wearing real shoes and a real bra is serious business.

30. Any movie featuring "Firework" in the preview is a guaranteed good movie.

Bread#winning

Hillary told me my strength was in my baked goods. And I'm okay with that. I have literally been drooling over this recipe from Joy the Baker (whose food blog is to die for) for days, and today I finally tried it. Good thing it practically took all day. It was the most agonizing thing getting one step further and then having to wait thirty more minutes for the dough to rise. But it was so worth it. I mean, really really worth it. Like it came out of the oven and before it even had a chance to even think about beginning to cool, I was stuffing it in my mouth. It was awesome on its own, but if I could perfect a really thick cream cheese icing... oh, I can't even deal.

Before it went in the oven.

And after. I think it could have stood a little more butter, but this wasn't Paula Deen's recipe.

Sorry I always use the camera on my phone. One day I'll remember to use my big girl one. And I wish I had snapped a picture of the inside, but I was running out the door. Next time.

s'more of what?

Ham: Hey, Smalls, you wanna s'more?

Smalls: Some more of what?

Ham: No, do you wanna s'more?

Smalls: I haven't had anything yet, so how can I have some more of nothing?

Ham: You're killing me Smalls! These are s'more's stuff! Alrite now pay attention. First you take the graham, you stick the chocolate on the graham. Then you roast the 'mallow. When the 'mallows flaming... you stick it on the chocolate. Then cover with the other end. Then you scarf. Kind of messy, but good!

New favorite after-school snack: S'mores Turnovers. (Well, second to the Sargento cheese stick.) For real, this is like all of my favorite things combined (minus the cheese stick). The hardest part was waiting for the puff pastry to thaw out! So easy and so delicious!

procraftination

procraftination: n. the most productive form of procrastination in which something beautiful or delicious is created from putting off other "real life" responsibilities, obligations, and work in general.

I am an EXPERT at procraftination. When I went home for spring break my sweet mommy sent me back to school with plenty of watercolor paper, brand new watercolors, and some sweet crayola watercolor pencils. So I stenciled out a little birdie and went to town! Clearly, I had some trouble in certain areas, but I'm still pleased with how it turned out! Now I just need to n mount this on some cute paper then go to Hob Lob and find a frame for him.

easy beignets are a good monday decision

Since we've gotten back from spring break, life has been a little too stressful. So tonight when I came home in a foul mood, I decided it was a perfect time to make these beignets with praline sauce that I've had bookmarked for quite some time. The picture is very pretty since I took it with my phone, but these were so good! They were incredibly rich, but delicious! Definitely something I'll make when I have an intense sweet tooth! And I had all of the ingredients at home except for the biscuits!

I'm an ADULT.

Ahh, spring break. I'm home again after completing my chaperone duties on the Shades Birmingham Mission Trip partnered with Greater Shiloh Baptist SB2k11 Lock-In Extravaganza. (I just deemed it that because we didn't have an official name, but it seemed to encompass it well enough.) I still haven't had an adequate amount of time to process all that happened, but here are my reflections. It's kind of lengthy, so get ready...

First of all, the trip was just encouraging, especially since I went into it with my fair amount of apprehensions. This was my first trip as a chaperone (in the loosest definition of the word), I was the only college student, and I pretty much had no idea what all was going on and if I was even in charge of anything.

Friday night I began the trip driving one of my youth minister's car to the other side of town to a place I had never been before. I get nervous driving my own car, but someone else's and to an unfamiliar area...yikes. We arrive, we eat (typical Shades), go over the plan for Saturday, and all spread out to various jobs: bringing in luggage, blowing up air mattresses, and making sandwiches for the next work day. I was in charge of sandwiches and successfully supervised a group of students making 80 meals for the next day. I already knew the best way to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (light coat of peanut butter on each side and jelly in the middle so it doesn't make the bread soggy), but I FINALLY learned what to do with the end pieces. You make the end sides face inward so that you can't tell it's an end piece by just looking at the outside. Sneaky, right? The end pieces are just a mental thing anyway, they taste the same as any other piece of bread. Anyway, we got lunches made and attempted to go to sleep, which was pretty much me telling all of the girls the lights were going out, and then going to sleep in the midst of their squeals. Hey, that was me not too long ago, right?

Saturday was spent split up into groups working at various places. My group went to the Changed Lives Christian Center in West End doing a little bit of landscaping to increase their curb appeal. We didn't really get to work with particular people there, but I know our work was greatly appreciated. That afternoon we went to the Civil Rights Museum...I'm not entirely sure why, but we killed a few hours there. After that we went to feed to homeless with Urban Purpose. I ended up with the glamourous job of walking around with the trash bag taking up people's garbage. I was totally okay with that until people started calling me trash girl, a name that seemed to stick for the rest of the trip. However, it did let me walk around and observe our students building relationships with these men and women who live their lives on the street. What an encouragement to see my friends tossing aside the differences between themselves and these homeless people to truly and deeply love on them! It made me so proud to have discipled some of these sweet students at some point in their ministry!

Sunday we worshipped with the Greater Shiloh congregation. What an experience that was. These men and women were dancing with joy as an offering of worship to our Savior. It was so neat to see a group of people praising the same God in all different ways, and each way was just as precious to the Lord. That afternoon we went to feed the homeless again and I was once again amazed at the maturity our students display. It made me realize how blessed I am to still be involved in such a Christ-centered church that actively obeys Jesus' commands to love and serve people our society has dejected. Sunday evening was spent resting and fellowshipping with one another as well as another great night of worship and debriefing.

Monday we jumped right back into work. I spent all day at the Lovelady Center as my mom lead the room makeover for two women living there. This may have been the most frustrating day of all. We had no idea what we were in for. We painted the walls in the room and bathroom which seemed to take forever despite the small size of the space. I spent most of my time out in the hallway doing my best to create art pieces to hang on their walls to make it a little more homey. I seriously don't know how we finished everything. We had such a hard-working group of students who did really gross tasks to prepare this room as if Jesus himself was going to stay there. It was so encouraging to see the work ethic put forth by everyone to make sure these women knew they were loved.

Tuesday, our last day, my group headed to the Foundry to work in the thrift store warehouse. We were there not only to help out with sorting donations, but mostly to just get to know the people who are in their rehabilitation program. One member of our group had found $1500 sewed into the lining of a dress in the pile she was sorting there previously in the week, so I think they were quite eager to have us back. From what everyone had said, I was expecting to be paired up with an older woman, but I was working alongside a precious 22-year-old and worked across from one of my friends who was paired with an 18-year-old guy. We just spent a little bit of time getting to know them and just goofing off together while still sizing clothes. I don't know how encouraging we were to them, but I left there feeling more uplifted than I ever have before. And it wasn't one of those "I'm just so blessed" sort of feelings. Don't get me wrong, I am, but those two people just spoke truth and encouraged me to not look like this world since that's what got them there in the first place. I will never forget those people, and I pray for the best for them.

Ultimately, I left the trip swelled with so many feelings. Proud of these students. Encouraged by everyone I came in contact with. Blessed by the fact that such an amazing church shepherded me. Eager to pour into others. Sad that I cannot weekly invest time into these ministries due to the distance of school. Reminded that I need to be consistent in covering those ministries with prayer. Humbled by grace. Overjoyed at the Savior I serve. My heart is full. And I know the Lord's purpose is for me to empty it again in His name. Christ, be the center of our lives.

Ace of Cakes

We met Duff from Ace of Cakes tonight. He certainly was a character... and he has quite the tendency to ramble. Regardless, go pandas!

My Life in Lists #13

Well, this is kind of awkward. Sorry I'm such a neglectful blogger. I've been working hard at school and just life in general. So in lieu of a post in which I created or cooked something, I'll give you a list of the projects I can't wait to begin!

1. This pinata via Ruffled. I'll add a few variations of my own.

2. Learning the easy way to applique via Little Birdie Secrets

3. Big project...but I want to repurpose an old door to look like this. Maybe I'll start out small with the window panes I have in the garage first. (via The Pleated Poppy...my obsession.)

4. Rosette pillow via Crazy Wonderful

5. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups via design*sponge

Okay, time to slow down.

Did I mention I got some job offers today? And they sounded pretty cool (and creative) too. You gotta love sorority alumni looking out for their girls. :)