Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Jogger's Baked Salmon

Since my parents introduced me to Advocare several months ago, I have been trying to cook more lean meats and veggies.  About a week ago, I found a recipe on cooks.com that turned out just right for our post jog appetite.  We've had it twice now and really liked it!!

Jogger's Baked Salmon

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray baking pan with olive oil.
Start off with Salmon fillets or steaks, as many as you will need to prepare.
Spread a light coat of mayonnaise over each piece (you cannot taste it once it's cooked).
Sprinkle the following over the fillets:
            garlic powder
            onion powder
            Mrs. Dash
            Paprika
Be generous with all of the spices but add to your own taste.  




Bake for 10 to 20 minutes.  I baked mine between 15 and 17 minutes and they were perfectly done.


 


I had a frozen summer vegetable medley from the frozen veggie aisle at Wal-Mart that I boiled.  Then I added to some cut up green peppers and tomatoes and sauteed all of that for a few minutes in a small amount of olive oil.  I tried sauteing tomatoes for the first time and we both loved the flavor they added to the vegetable mix.     
   



Let me know if you have any tasty fish or chicken recipes or how it goes if you try this one.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Accessory Awareness

Inspired by a college friend and fellow blogger I decided to post about my jewelry space savers. I had the problem of my jewelry not being easily accessible. These items helped me to have full awareness of my organized accessories so it's easy to wear them more often.

Something like this can be purchased at T.J. Maxx or Marshall's. It has plenty of storage for earrings.
A cork board with some snazzy push pins can do wonders for a mess of necklaces.  I love love love this idea...{for the life of me I can't remember who I got it from, so if you know who you are...thank you and please feel free to comment!!} If you are more creative than I, you can secure fabric over the cork area before you apply the push pins.  You could use fabric that matched the room or give a splash of color to your vanity area.

I've had this little beauty for quite a while. It was a gift from my parents for Christmas when I was in high school.  It holds all kinds of things.  The middle door has a ceiling rack with hooks for bracelets or rings. The floor of it has rows to insert your rings.  I store chunkier bracelets in the drawers.  

The two side doors have hangers on the door and on the inside of the compartment, perfect for necklaces.
 
sorry this pic is darker...with all of the glass the flash seemed blinding.

There you have it...all of my jewelry space savers. 
What are some of your cute and creative organizers?


Tuesday, July 24, 2012

You can't handle the truth...or can you?

One beautiful thing about Jesus is that 
He sees who we really are and loves us any way.  
The crazy thing, though, is that we have to be able 
to see the truth about ourselves before we can fully accept His grace.  
It might be ugly, in fact if you're anything like me, 
it definitely will be 
U.G.L.Y!!

{Pretend that spoon holds the scum I've come to face.}

I want to experience the fullness of God's grace so I wrote down the truth about me as it came to my mind, probably not everything but some things that I'm wrong about.  I found out something amazing while I was doing this...I didn't feel overwhelmed by my sinfulness, I didn't feel disgusting. I saw that yeah...while things in my life {how I speak to people, trying to control every detail, being critical or judgmental, etc.} are sinful; Jesus knows they are part of my life but is just waiting for me to give them to Him, to ask forgiveness, and accept His grace.  I don't have to wallow in that scum.

His grace wants to let me experience His love even though I do sinful things after being a Christian most of my life.  His grace waits patiently to forgive me when I finally admit I've been wrong.  His grace offers compassion to me so that I can be changed from speaking hatefully to speaking with love (1 Corinthians 13), from trying to control to trusting God's timing and plans (Matthew 6: 25-34), and from criticizing to being open and loving (1 Corinthians 13, again-it's that important). 



Truth is the front door to the warm, inviting home of grace.  
You can't know the second without embracing the first.
~Jen Hatmaker in Girl Talk

Monday, July 23, 2012

Breakfast for Dinner



Who can resist french toast for dinner? 
Definitely NOT us!!
Last night after swimming a few laps 
we cooked up some french toast.
Swimming for exercise and french toast for dinner...
probably cancel each other out but oh well!
My legs were jello but my stomach was full of goodness!!




There is just something about breakfast food 
during a relaxing weekend
that puts the icing on the cake! 
Maybe it's because growing up and still when I travel home
we eat an amazing weekend breakfast
or just the word "SYRUP" (say it to yourself a few times)
Weird, huh?
What I do know is I love breakfast foods!
They remind me to stop and smell the rose shaped pancakes.

What do you do to top off your weekend?

Thursday, July 19, 2012

lovebuffalo

Xalt's mission trip to Buffalo turned out to be unforgettable! We had an absolute blast. For lunch the other days we taste tested Ethiopian, Thai, and Burmese. 

Authentic meals = DE-LISH!! 

The girls worked with a smile whether weeding, paint scraping, or mulching was their victim!! The guys worked with a good attitude but not a smile because if they had been smiling their teeth would have stained black.  Serious muscles and will power took over during the work days. These students killed it!!  

Thank you to The Hub for welcoming us along! 

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Somalian Cuisine

Each day for lunch, we are served a taste of Buffalo. Today we broadened our cuisine horizon with Somalian food. I'm not sure what any of it was called but it tasted good.

My tongue burns when I eat mild salsa so that says it all for my spice tolerance. From what I could tell the breaded triangle pocket was filled with chicken, that had the spiciest kick of all but I could still handle it. There was a spinach chicken dish, French fry looking potatoes but bright red, rice, and a salad with lime slices in it. I really enjoyed the flavorful but mild spice meal.

thanks chefs


Today being 7/11, 7/11 gave out free slurpees. Yay!! We drove up to an inner city (limited parking) 7/11 in our rockin' church bus and were able to get 17 free mini slurpees. Perfect quencher for a day spent out in the sun working hard!!

thanks 7/11!


 

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Niagara Wear

We experienced absolutely perfect weather for visiting Niagara Falls, the sun warmed us while a gentle breeze blew to cool us off. I never felt hot or sticky like the humid heat of NC.

I wore a childhood inspired outfit. My family camped/hiked a lot and my dad always preferred - pants with lots of pockets. I thrifted these beauties for a total of $3.50 which included tons of pockets. We're talking pockets inside pockets, zippers, Velcro, hidden pockets, you name it these ultimate hiking shorts have it.

For the Cave of the Winds tour, we all got ponchos and matching sandals. We went right up to the bottom of the American Falls. On the "Hurricane deck", even with all of our gear, we still got drenched from the water gushing down over us. Hearing the rushing water all around us and feeling the blasts of water pelting our bare skin made for an experience we'll never forget.


Sunday, July 8, 2012

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Wow! Harry Potter books, you keep getting longer and longer. I'm not sure if I can handle you!! I'm a slow detailed reader so these books are taking me forever to read. 

I just finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  It took me so long to read that the person I borrowed it from didn't even know it was theirs when I returned it.  That's pretty bad but oh well...I conquered it. All 870 pages! 
On to the good stuff... 
  • Fave Scene: During Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Minister of Magic appoints a new teacher at Hogwart's. Even just appointing her interferes more with the school than the Ministry is supposed to. Not to mention she's a terrible woman. Once the Weasley twins, Ron's older mischievous brothers, have had enough of her they plan a trick that causes a real boom in the halls of Hogwart's.

  • Fave Character: Neville Longbottom, a boy in the same year as Harry and his friends, started to become one of the gang in this book.  Neville takes pitiful to a new level, he preforms terribly in all of his lessons, he hides in fear of Professor Snape, and perpetually receives a beating from Malfoy and his gang.  In this book, Neville comes face to face with the witch who sent his parents to the insane ward of the wizard hospital.  He meets her when Harry and the gang find themselves in a trap full of dark wizards, Neville fights for Harry the entire time despite a bloodied broken nose.  Neville never knows his spells correctly but he tries so bloody hard.  I love that he shows loyalty to his parents and courage for his friends even though he knows his own skills are against him.

Image found at coolspotters

  • Fave Magical Creature: Thestrals! These magical flying horse-like creatures have been in every book so far but are just now being mentioned.  It's the first time some of the characters have the right eyes to see them.  That's all I'll say about these mysterious creatures except that I love how Rowling carried their story from the first book to this one without us even knowing they existed until now.  The Thestrals came into the story line more in HP:5 to help in a time of crisis in such a creative way. 

  • J.K. Rowling = literary genius 

Friday, July 6, 2012

Marshall's

My last pair of sunglasses bit the dust at a ripe old age of 2 years and a month. For me and sunglasses that's a relationship record!

Today, I traveled to Marshall's to fill my sunglass need. I found not one but two glamorous (but functional) pairs.

They have super cute ones for great prices if your sunglasses have met the midsummer slump.

Marshall's is the equivalent of T.J. Maxx if you live in a different area.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Bummin' to Grinnin'

Holidays away from family can be a bummer.  Ohio has one of the most amazing fireworks shows called Red, White, and Boom!  The local radio station, WNCI makes a soundtrack to play along with the show.  In my mind, the whole event exemplifies American Patriotism.  People gather together all over Columbus to see the great show, they camp out all day to get a good spot with friends and family, they play games, have cookouts, and at the end cram in their car and try to cut everyone off so they can beat the traffic.  Just kidding about that last part being patriotic.  Seriously, though, people spend time with one another and just enjoy their company then join with an entire crowd of strangers to sing along to the year's greatest songs as well as our Country's anthem.  Simply Magical!

Just because Ohio definitely knows how to party doesn't mean we totally missed the fun train.  Today, a generous and hospitable family invited us over with several other families.  We've kind of formed our own little family away from family.  If you are ever away from home, boldly step out there and search for good friends who you can party with, shop with, and sometimes... cry with.  It takes some time but God will provide exactly what you need.

After a refreshing pool party we ate some delicious grilled chicken and corn.  Chase and one of our friends started "pickin' and a grinnin'" as my grandpa would say.  As we clapped and sang along the fireworks show started.  Fireworks lit up the sky and the ground, it was a little scary.  Holidays away from family can be a bummer but that bummer doesn't have to last all day.  A phone call back home will heal the heart. Then put on your party hat and enjoy the day!!


In this case our party hats are a sun hat and a bandana!!
I've got friends in low places. LOL!
Two WV boys so we heard Country Roads.