New Years Resolution

Hi Y'all! I hope you Christmas was as splendid as mine was. It's always so nice to spend time with family isn't it? Well, assuming that everyone can get along. But I was definitely blessed with peace and harmony among family members, a belly full of ham and mashed potatoes, and the company of my ever-loving boyfriend. Oh, and some pretty great gifts, but how small is that blessing in comparison to a warm home with loving people surrounding you?



Anyhow, it's already New Year's Eve! It seems to come faster and faster every year, and to be honest, I was still getting used to writing 2013 on things like checks and research papers.I guess I'd better get with it for the new year!

So to help me do this, I have resolved to try something new every single week of 2014. New recipes, new nail polish colors, new movies, new knowledge, new exercise routines, new crafts, new skills, new organization techniques, new books, new hairstyles, new restaurants, new, new, new! Of course, I haven't specifically planned anything out for any week of this next coming year, but in exactly 365 days (it's not a leap year is it?) I will have introduced 52 new things into my life, which will be awesome. I will be blogging about these new endeavors every week, but I can't guarantee it's going to be a consistent day every week. Because let's be honest, everyone has a certain amount of crazy in their life, and I have a feeling that my amount of crazy is soon to double (besides, having my posts on new days of the week kinda goes along with my whole resolution, right?).

But I will not let this resolution fall by the wayside in mid-February, like so so SO many of my past ones have. I must say I am looking forward to breaking out of my shell that was built with easiness and comfortable things to find a smarter, more confident, and especially more experienced me on the last day of 2014.


Happy New Year!!

Winter Dates

This time of year, it seems like everyone has someone special in their life. I spent many a holiday season as a single lady, sipping hot cocoa by myself and avoiding any public scene that was guaranteed to be swarming with happy couples. This year though, I have a wonderful man in my life and I could not be happier about it. We live in different cities, so we don't get to spend a lot of time together, but I will be heading his way soon and there are a sleigh-full of things we are planning on doing while I'm there. Here is a short list of dates we have planned:

Drive around to look at Christmas lights
Drink peppermint hot cocoa from Starbucks (if you haven't tried this stuff, you should know it's amazing)
Watch Elf (with Will Ferrell) and other Christmas movies
Bake and decorate cookies together
Make a gingerbread house
Attend a local production of The Nutcracker (the university there puts it on every December)
Last minute Christmas shopping at the mall (so we can see Santa of course!)
Cut snowflakes out of white paper and hang them up


We live in southern New Mexico, so snow is scare. For this reason, I've left off other dates that would include being in the snow like making a snowman or snow angels, going sledding, and having a snowball fight. Rest assured though, if we had snow on the ground, we would be doing all of this as well!

What are your favorite things to do with your significant other this time of year? Leave a comment and let me know!

12 Days 'Til Christmas

"The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— 
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord" 
Isaiah 11:2-3

What an amazing truth that God sent His only son down to this wicked earth in which we inhabit to save us all. Sure the decorations are fun and frivolous, the cookies are delicious, the music is cheerful, and the gifts are a great way to show that you love someone, but in the end none of this stuff lasts.

The impact that Jesus made on the world however, that does last.

Christmas is upon us. Lets not forget what we're truly celebrating this time of year. 

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

I made this recipe a could days ago for breakfast and it was fantastic! I'm a pretty big fan of blueberries to begin with, but this just enhanced my love for them. Plus, breakfast is my absolute favorite meal of the day, so it doesn't get much better than that. Now if only I could find a way to make time so I could make treats like this more often...


I found the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (at room temperature)
• 2 tsp lemon zest (if you're a big fan of the lemon-blueberry combination, you may want to add a little more because the lemon flavor was very mild)
• 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour (you will use 1/4 of this to toss the blueberries in)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 cups blueberries (the original recipe called for fresh, but I used frozen to save a little money and it still came out delicious)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (to make your own, add half a cup of milk to 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice and let it sit for about five minutes)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream sugar, butter, and lemon zest until well-combined and fluffy. Stir in egg and vanilla until combined
3. Toss blueberries in 1/4 cup of flour. Mix remaining flour with baking powder and salt.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture to butter mixture, alternating with the buttermilk.
5. Fold in the blueberries. (The only thing about using frozen blueberries is during this step, the butter starts to solidify because it starts getting cold. Never fear though, it was not a disaster :) )
6. Grease a baking pan (I used a 9"x9" pan). Pour batter into pan and spread it out evenly. I found the batter to be really sticky, so coating your fingers with flour for this step might prove to be helpful. If desired, sprinkle some extra sugar on top to create a shimmery look (I opted out of this).
7. The original recipe says to bake it for 35 to 45 minutes, but when I made it myself, it needed closer to an hour to finish cooking. You will know it's done when the top is a golden brown and an inserted knife or toothpick comes out clean.
8. Let it cool for a few minutes before serving and enjoy! 

Confession: It is NOT done in this picture! My toothpick tricked me so I put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes or so. My point is, this is not the golden brown I was referring to.

Yummmmy! It was the best breakfast I had all week. ( This is the golden brown I was referring to.)