Happy Birthday!

Someone had a birthday yesterday! I cannot express how incredibly thankful I am that this person was born!

⁷ "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.

⁸ He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Happy Birthday, Mason! I love you!

Panda-monium Pink

I LOVE this color because it makes your skin look tan.

I've gotten so paranoid about sun lately, that I wear SPF 35 on my face everyday, and use SPF 50 for swimming. No more laying out just to get sun. This might be my palest summer ever...So, I really love that this color makes my hands and feet look a little bit more tan...Give it a try!

Great things...

1. SUMMER!

2. My family came in town for the weekend and we had a wonderful time hanging out!

3. We enjoyed a fun Memorial Day at the Huston's lake house! I love catching up with JuliAnne!

4. I found out Melanie will be coming home for a little bit in August, and I can't wait to see her!

5. Okay, I am really on a Barefoot Contessa kick right now, but I made these Cheddar scones of her's the other night! I changed a couple things: I used milk instead of cream and I used a few tablespoons of fresh rosemary instead of the cup of fresh dill. I'm sure any herb would be great! Oh, and I put in a tsp. of garlic salt! Oh my they were great!! Here's the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cheddar-dill-scones-recipe/index.html

6. The crossword puzzle application on the ipad! New addiction!

7. This verse is a "great thing" because it has been on my mind so much lately, and I love it!

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

- Philippians 4:4-7


I hope all of you are having a great day!

When life gives you lemons...

I LOVE lemons! When spring and summer come around, I really really love using lemons in my cooking, because it tastes so fresh! Here are a few favorite lemon recipes:

Lemon Parmesan Dressing

1/2 c. olive oil
1/3 c. fresh lemon juice
1/3 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp. of lemon zest
1 tsp. sugar

Whisk it all together!! This is one of my favorite salad dressings ever, and it is so easy! It's wonderful over arugula or romaine lettuce.


I also like taking this exact same dressing recipe and adding fresh basil to it. Then, pour it over pasta, and it's great hot or cold!



One of our other favorite dinners is Barefoot Contessa's chicken piccata, from this book.


I love this cookbook, and I would highly recommend any of her books! But, you can find the chicken piccata recipe here.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-piccata-recipe/index.html


The other day, my sweet friend Lindy made Barefoot Contessa's lemon curd tart and it was AMAZING! You can find that recipe here.


http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-curd-tart-recipe/index.html



Of course, my favorite thing to do with lemons is to make...

LEMONADE!

The Last Few Months...

Just thought I would post a few favorite pictures from the past several months!

July

Went to see Beyonce concert with Benay!

Went to Disneyworld with Mason- about to go to dinner at the Contemporary.


Met lots of characters...


Loved Animal Kingdom- the Everest ride was my favorite!

August

I have no pictures of August, but I started taking grad school classes here...



September

Hired to teach third graders here...LOVE IT!

October

Went to the U2 concert!

Went to see John Legend for my birthday present from Mason!!



Sadly, I have no pictures of ACU homecoming, which was great as always!!


November

Nearly had a breakdown in November from first year teaching-grad school combo! Had a great Thanksgiving in Abilene with my parents!


December

Enjoyed seeing ICE at the Gaylord


Celebrated our one year anniversary! Also, experienced the passing of Mason's precious grandfather. Writing about his impact on us is a post of it's own!





January

Well, we didn't actually get our new dog, Sadie, until February, but it snowed in January! It was such a cold winter!



February

Went to the NBA All-Stars game!

Loved going to Abilene for Sing Song!

Sadly, I haven't taken any pictures past Sing Song, except for pictures of my kids at school. Unfortunately, I can't post any of those! Anyhow, it's been a wonderful year! It hasn't always been easy, but we've had some wonderful times. We are so blessed with great friends, family and memories!

Trying Trying Trying

I want to be a person who blogs, I really do. I am going to give it my best shot! I'm also going to try to find my missing camera cord so that I can upload some more pictures to share! For now, I will leave you with this update:

U- UPBEAT: Feeling great about marriage, church, and friends!
P- PROFESSION: I teach third graders!
D- DOGS: We now have two! Charlie, and our new girl, Sadie!
A- ALLY & MELANIE: Two of my greatest friends moved to Japan, miss them!
T- TOWN: Moving from Abilene has been a tough adjustment at times, but I'm loving it more!
E- EDUCATION: working on my master's at Dallas Baptist.
S- SNOW: We loved our recent snow day, and so did our puppies!

Here I go...

The last few months have been a whirl-wind! Subbing, trips, friends in town, birthdays, church, etc... There have been good days and bad days, but thankfully the good days far out-number the bad ones!

Here's the deal: I love to cook! I am very inspired by Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) and Ellie Krieger. Most of time time, I enjoy creating my own recipes. Especially because I'm usually just cooking for Mason and I. I love piecing things together to create something great! So, without further ado, here is the first recipe I would like to share. It is a delicious, fresh, pretty healthy, and filling salad! I love the way the sweet flavors in the corn and peppers go with the edamame and the dressing!


Edamame Salad

- 8 oz. shelled edamame (usually come in 16 oz frozen bags, so I use half a bag)
- 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1 16 oz can of yellow corn, drained
- 2 stalks of green onion finely chopped

Dressing

- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 3 tbsp. sugar
- 2 tbsp. chopped fresh basil
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. of salt

1) Allow the edamame to thaw out a bit, and pat it dry if it is wet or icy.

2) Chop red bell pepper and green onion

3) Mix all vegetables together.

4) In a separate bowl whisk together the oil and vinegar. Then, whisk in remaining ingredients.

5) Pour dressing on the vegetables and then let it sit in the fridge in an airtight container! (You do not have to use all of the dressing if it looks like more than you like.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's very easy, and it is delicious!!! It is especially good if it is refrigerated overnight. It will last for several days in the fridge. It is also simple to double!

This recipe is fun to adapt to your taste. You may like your dressing to have more or less vinegar or sugar depending on if you like it acidic or sweet. That's the fun thing about cooking...you can make it however you like!