Homemade Cookies

If you can believe this, I have never made cookies from scratch. Seriously. I always buy the prepackaged break and bake stuff. Well, I have just loved baking lately, so all I needed was a good excuse to make some. Kroger (I love that store!) was having a beautiful 3 day sale where I could get 2 FREE gallons of milk with purchase of $10 worth of products I normally buy anyway. I go through a lot of milk on my own, but I could not possibly drink all of that milk before it would go bad. (Found out you can freeze milk, but that's a story for another day.) So, I decided to give some away. Instead of giving friends a random jug of milk, they needed a little something to go with it. The most obvious choice...chocolate chip cookies! Thankfully, I made them one day before this nasty cold came and rendered me unmotivated! :) They turned out perfectly!

Measuring and Mixing

Baking and Cooling

Admiring and Devouring
:)
Any recipe suggestions of what I should bake up next?

Snow Week

I just love where I live!

I have had entire snow week off. Crazy. And I have loved every minute of it. What would you do if you had an entire week with nothing to do and nowhere to go? Here's a bit of what I did.

First: Made a snowman named Stewart with great friends. I'm blessed to have friends in my apartment complex. There was no way I was driving those first few days.

Second: I built stuff...with some help......ok, lots of help. Thanks guys! I finally have a dresser!

Then I built something else. Just the chair. I guess it's more like putting stuff together and following directions. But I like to say I built it.

Next I spent all day in my adorable warm and snuggly jammies and painted my toes. Warmest wishes to you! What would you do on a snowed in day?

Gentle Whispers

This Sunday, the very beginning of my church hunting, I attended a class that spoke on the passage in 1 Kings where God speaks to Elijah. He was not heard in the wind, fire, or earthquake. He spoke to Elijah in a gentle whisper. In class we were asked about our experiencing God through His gentle whispers.

Unfortunately for me I don't often hear, or listen to the gentle whispers. Sometimes the Lord has to come to me in a big and powerful way. To spiritually yell at me, if you will. And then I read something like this and His gentle whisper is so clear. It cuts right to the heart. Like Jonah ever stood a chance of running from God. "O Lord, you searched me and you know me."(Psalm 139:1)

I am so thankful for the sweet and encouraging souls I find in the blogging world. I could get discouraged because my blog doesn't draw a crowd, because I speak about matters of the heart and do not hold a well of original ideas to share or a product to sell. But then I read blogs like that, and think that if I could touch just one, it would be worth my broadcasting my life and sharing my struggles and successes. God is still working on me, refining me.

(If you didn't click the link to read the post, do it now. That was the point of my ramblings.)

I heart my bed!

I could stay here all day...well it's almost been half the day already!

New Year's Resolutions

This has been a whirlwind of a week. I decided to squeeze in a short road trip before my break ended, and visited my friend Jessie and her new baby girl in Virginia. Then it was back home for a day, only to pack up and head back to the ATL on Wednesday. I worked all day Thursday, had friends over that evening, and unpacked, undecorated, and got organized for school today. Phew. My list of things to do in the next couple of weeks is still really long. Needless to say, I haven't been very true to my new year's resolutions...yet. Tomorrow feels like a good day to start. :)

I am actually pretty serious about my resolutions and find that I do pretty well when I look back. I think the key to this is always re-evaluating where you are, what is working, what isn't. I had a professor in college, a wonderful Christian man named Dr. Tommy Kiedis, who taught our class (by making it an assignment) to do what he called "checking our gauges." Every month we had to evaluate the different areas of our lives by answering specified questions about ourselves and decided whether our spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, and financial tanks were empty, full, or somewhere in between. By looking at where we were, it was easier to see where we needed to go and evaluate what we need to do to get us there. It has been a very helpful method for me.

This year I came up with some personal goals, but I wanted to share at least a few to get you thinking about your own. Maybe I will even find some accountabillity here.

Physical- I think everyone makes some sort of physical resolution with the turn of the new year. I try really hard not to make my resolutions too challenging, so that I give up before February and wallow for a day, saying yes to every piece of junk food that passes my way. I try not to make too many goals that require big time commitments. Time is not always on my side. So here are 2 of my 2011 resolutions for my body.
1. Experiment with 3 more kinds of veggies-I hardly buy veggies anymore unless they come in a can. (Yikes!) Last year half of my fresh veggies went bad before I could eat them, because I didn't know what the heck to do with them or if I would even like them...Don't shake your head at me.
2. Go to sleep by 10:30 every night- I have been seeing one in the morning lately more often than I'd like to admit. It's mostly wasted time too. And I'm a girl who needs her sleep. Sleep is good.

Mental/Emotional-These don't have to go together, but a lot of times they do. I'll share a few of these, because they have to do with you!
1. Take at least one picture everyday-I am not a photographer by any means. I would rather people be taking pictures of me. :) But I have been really lacking in pictures lately, which has made me sad, because I love to have those tangible memories and I always have projects in need of pictures. (Another resolution would be to become a better photographer, but hopefully after taking 365 pictures, I will have learned a thing or two).
2. Take sewing lessons-last year my parents got me a sewing machine for my birthday and said they would pay for me to get sewing lessons...this hasn't happened yet. My family seems to think if I would just experiment, I would get better at it, but truth be told, I'm rather intimidated by the machine. Formal lessons would do me good. Any recommendations of places in ATL?
3.Blog 3 times a week-I'm not making any promises, but I don't want my blog to go neglected any longer. I will take breaks every once in a while when things get too hectic or I take a vacation, but I want to be the kind of blogger that feels like your friend.

Relational-Relationships have been harder here than at any other time or place in my life. I've been blessed with a few really close friendships here, that I could not do without, but man has it ever been a tough year for me relationally. Here's a couple of my less personal resolutions.
1. Get connected with people at church-this has been on my to do list since I got here, and God has sent me back on the church hunt because of it.
2. Make dinner for friends once a month- I love to have people over, and I need something to make me cook. Enough said.

Occupational-I can't believe I start seeing clients this summer. I might pee in my pants the first time I actually counsel someone. Seriously.
1. Pray for clients every day, starting now-God knows what they need better than I ever will.
2. Give 100% every working hour- Maybe I can do slapshod work for myself, but not for others.

Financial-I had to quit one of my jobs from last semester because of classes. Things were tight before that, now things will be even tighter.
1.Be able to continue to pay for just as much as I did last semester-I am still not completely financially independent from my parents, but I am working towards that. I look forward to that day.
2.O gosh, this is embarrassing...but to keep you entertained I will share it anyway...No showers over 20 minutes- I LOVE showers! If I had an hour to shower I would. I do my best thinking in the shower. If I have to cry, I do it in the shower. Yes, I do sing in the shower. This resolution will help keep my water bill down. I used to make the excuse that I needed the alone time in the shower, but since I live by myself, that excuse went down the drain (pun intended).

Spiritual-for lots of reasons my list of spiritual resolutions looks a lot different this year. I usually have a list of verses to memorize and books to read. I usually have some spiritual number of minutes every day I want to pray. But something inside of me is changing.
1.I want my life to be more about being than doing-for me this has meant less doing, a lot less doing. I know that Christ is part of who I am, but I've been so into doing things that make me look like a good Christian that I wonder if I really am a good Christian, the kind that Christ uses and the Holy Spirit flows through. More about that another day.
2. Find a church where I can really be a part of the body of Christ-I am really uncomfortable with leaving the church I have been at since I moved here, but I am more uncomfortable staying there. This is my resolution I look forward to least, even worse than 20 minute showers.

If you can believe it, these aren't all of my resolutions, yet I am extremely optimistic. By now you are tired of reading and I need to be tired because I have less than a half an hour before my new bed time. God bless you if you read all of my ramblings. I love you all for reading. Every one needs a few fans in their lives to cheer them on.

Happy New Year!

As some may have noticed, my blog has been a bit neglected this past year. A new year marks new beginnings, and I have resolved to move the blog a bit higher on my priority list. I am working on my blog mission statement currently, because I want it to be clear to myself and readers what this blog is all about. I may have seemed absent from the blogosphere, but I have been very much aware of the amazing world of blogging that is out there. My list of favorite blogs is growing out of control! My blogging stopped for two reasons. 1. I was too busy reading everyone else's blogs and 2. my blog lost its cool factor once I realized how awesome everyone was making their's. I want to be able to do all of the cool stuff that's out there, but the task is daunting. When I went to college I wanted to be a graphic design major....That lasted a week. I came back to my dorm crying after my first drawing class. Huge fail. But I dream of being able to do all of the awesome computer graphics and web design. So, slowly but surely, on top of all that is going on in my life, I am going to learn to master the world of blog. I will be asking for lots of help and will gladly take assistance from anyone offering. I didn't and will not be studying art or design. This is not my career. But I want to find a place for myself in this world of blogging. I will be soon posting my blog statement and my new years resolutions for 2011, starting with my reason for this picture. Until then, I will hold you in suspense....but not for months this time. :)