A Pumpkin Kind Of Day

It snowed all day here in Colorado. I love snow. Seriously. Amie and I took the opportunity to spend the day baking and doing all kinds of fall-y/winter-y things…  We baked SO much. Firstly, our ingredients:

We made a pumpkin pie, caramel apples, and toasted pumpkin seeds. (For some reason the toasted seeds are the “bad seed” of the picture world today, cause I didn’t get a photo of them pre-baking, and the picture I have of them post-baking is all squashed and upside down. Hmmmm….)

And bonus? We carved pumpkins as well. Mine’s the one on the left.

Ode to Snow City

Oh Snow City, how I love thee
You have never, not once, disappointed me

I love your white mocha
Your french toast
And your snow city scramble

I’ve loved you with friends
With my family
And today with Ms. Campbell

A better breakfast I’ll never find
Every Saturday morning you’ll be on my mind

Alaska is better for having you here
I may be leaving, but I still hold you dear

You Know You’re Eating Too Many Cookies When…

… your fresh mint toothpaste starts to remind you of a “cool mint oreo.”

On My Mind

I’m not entirely sure how this is possible, but I’m hungry; I ate so much this weekend. Another cabin filled two days where I ate nothing but trash and hung out with friends. It was awesome. See? Some clouds do have their silver lining…

On the way back from the cabin my friends and I were talking about emotions and things we feel that are anxieties, disappointments, fears…  and things we feel that are hopes, excitements, longings… And I’ve been thinking about this for a little while now, not just today…  I’ve been thinking that I really want to allow myself to fully feel what I’m feeling. If I’m feeling sad, then I’m going to feel it and not push it aside. If I’m feeling excited and hopeful but I’m afraid of disappointment, then I’m going to feel excited and hopeful, and I might possibly feel fear or disappointment too. And I’ve decided that’s okay.

I think so much of life is coping, telling ourselves we “shouldn’t” feel certain things because our brains tell us otherwise. So much of my experience is justified and rationalized to fit into a pretty little box that helps make sense of everything and keeps me from suffering.

But I’ve decided that I’d rather feel suffering – experience it, walk through it, pass by it – and come out on the other side alive than live a life that feels dead inside.

I haven’t quite worked all this out yet. And I haven’t really been given the opportunity to try it out in the nitty gritty difficult situations. So this is all just a work a progress, a thing I’m learning, a FULL LIFE that I aspire to. I don’t know that I’m right…  It’s just what I’m thinking about today.

This Can’t Be Real Food

Okay. I made this dessert tonight..  nothing fancy, I just had a sweet tooth so I dug it out of the pantry:

(Except in real life the writing isn’t backwards... ha)

When I opened the box it was basically just brownie mix.

So then HOW, after adding water and microwaving it for only 30 seconds did it turn into this?

 

That’s cake! Or a brownie or something..  It was good!

But it can’t be real food, right?? It totally cannot.

I’m kind of freakin’ out over here a little bit.

Some Things: A List

1. I’m obsessed with Captain Crunch lately. I eat it morning and night. It’s like crack cocaine. Secretly, when I’m getting ready to eat dinner out with friends, I’m getting a little bit excited for my night time bowl with the cap’n. 
2. I was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism, which (if my doctor is right) means that as soon as the tiny little pills kick in I’ll be happier, friendlier, skinnier, more energetic, and less forgetful. Sounds like a miracle drug to me.
3. This morning I woke up to the text, “Bethany is playing  a song right now on stage! She’s closing service.”  (Which was, of course, a reference to B. Dillon and how her husband is one of the Shane’s and how they now lead worship part time at the church I used to go to in TX and that now I have friends who know her and maybe someday in the not too distant future I’m going to go there and get to meet her too.) And honestly it made me a little anxious in my gut. 
4. Tonight I was hanging out with Kim and my nieces, and when I got tired I said, “I’m going home. I’m tired.”  Which is weird only because I used to live there and I don’t anymore; I moved out last weekend. And it is really nice to have my own space. It’s oh so very nice to go back and have my nieces so excited to see me! But I miss them too….   So it’s  a bitter sweet niceness.

 

And, well….   4 seems like a good number today.

When did I…

….go from hating all things ‘cooked tomato’ to choosing tomato soup for lunch?

I think it’s somehow correlated with paying bills and realizing my body requires exercise to stay in shape.

Read: Adulthood.

What is up…

…with strawberry and peach oatmeal??

Weekend Update

I haven’t been motivated to blog lately… I’m not really sure why. So instead of blogging, I’ll just leave a random update on my life as of late.

I bought a new chair today for my room. It’s not a chair I’m in love with, but it isn’t too much more than I wanted to spend, and it makes my room a little home-ier. So for that reason, I like it.

I went to a garage sale this weekend and was reminded of why I don’t like them. People rarely sell anything good at garage sales – and even if they did, who knows where that stuff has been??

I love singing. Still do…. Just thought I’d throw that out there.

I saw Narnia: Prince Caspian last night and I think CS Lewis is an absolute genius. GENIUS.

Breaking old habits is hard – has anybody ever noticed this? I’ve been trying to eat healthier for a few weeks, and I’m mostly failing at it. But I think the fact that I’m aware of what I’m putting into my body, and continually making decisions to do better – I think that says something. Hopefully the end result will be that I will be eating healthier all around.

I like spending time alone. At least, mostly.

My computer battery is almost on its last life. Have a good rest-of-your-weekend.

MJ

10 Ten Reasons I Should Call In Sick Tomorrow

10. I made cookies tonight and the cookie dough was yummy

9. I ate a lot of cookie dough

8. I might have eaten too much cookie dough

7. I really ate way too much cookie dough

6. My stomach hurts bad cause I ate too much cookie dough

5. I was gonna bake the cookies, but I ate too much dough

4. I finally baked a couple cookies but couldn’t eat them

3. Because I ate too much cookie dough

2. I might actually vomit from all that cookie dough

And the number 1 reason I should call in sick?

1. I don’t want to have to share my cookies (dough)