1,000,000,000 % Vitamin C or Carrot Cupcakes, you decide.

Its been a while since I have partaken in the blogging of some foodtackular object.  When my alarm clock went off this morning at 7:00 (which is, for the record, not my favorite time of day), I knew that today was the day.  Everything about today screamed bakefest. So, I obeyed.  I cracked open my new 1001 Cupcakes and More cook book and...  

I am not exaggerating when I say this recipe must have 1,000,000,000 % vitamin C.  I included a massive amounts of oranges and carrots.  Thus far, the batter was orange and looked kinda like eating sunshine.

Post batter mixing came the hardest decision (which to be honest I am still doubting).  What decision was it? Cupcake wrappers.  The choices were endless and the decision was crucial.  Wrappers result in personality.  I opted for green and blue. Earthy wholesome family fun was what we were going for.

The power of a little baking powder! Edible chemistry is the only kind of chemistry I care to partake in.

This picture is momumental.  Reason?  When I purchased this utensil approximately 11 months ago, it marked my identity as a cook.  Zesting, in my opinion, makes you legit.  This photo thus results in the assumption of the title "legit". As a matter of fact, do zesters have a club? Can I be a member?  Can I have a card to prove this membership?

Can't wait for the taste test of these babies.  Ooooohhhh yeah! *cough cough* Feel a cold coming on yet? *cough cough* You might want a cold because this is a finger-lickin' good excuse to get that vitamin C.  YES PLEASE!

Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! Psalm 34:8

What Is Love? Baby Don't Hurt Me

February 14th, 2011, a mountain was formed.  Not a mountain made from plate tech tonics, blasting volcanoes, earthquakes, but more so a mountain of valentines that piled onto my desk at school. It was an overwhelming feeling.  I will be swimming in chocolate for a while.  People all have their opinions of this day we call Valentines but love is love no matter the form.  I am all about a celebration, and chocolate to boot? I'm there!  

So to follow are my musings on love in regards to this holiday (mostly pertaining to the romantic type): One of my favorite things about life is the opportunity to love and love well.  Surrounded by family, friends, students, my man, and God, nothing could be better.   One of the reasons I think that people get so disillusioned by this holiday of love is because of the anticipation and expectations.  We expect a significant other to always fill this void in us and spend the remainder of our lives on cloud nine.  We recall the people in our life we have loved which resulted in disappointment.  Love is complex but I tend to think that as we continue to know and love, the love evolves to something much deeper.   The challenge of finding love of such caliber requires relinquishing our expectations of what love is all together in our humanness.  The most beautiful rocks after all are the result of much heat and pressure, wear and tear much like our closest relationships endure. 

St. Augustine once wrote "Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two." 

Love is necessary.  Surround yourself with it and seek a Love that is higher.  A Love that never fails.  Check this song out: paints a beautiful picture of Love.

And to conclude:  a Valentines joke.  Y'all know I love my cheese!

Q: What did the Valentine's Day joke say to the stamp?

A: Stick to me and we'll go places!

That, and many other reasons are why I teach 2nd grade...

Daniel's Fast Day 38: Peace out Babylon!

I am pretty sure that every 5th Christian's favorite verse is Jeremiah 29:11.  Legit, it is an awesome verse, but today it hit me in a fresh way but mostly also with the verses that surround it.  Being stuck for the last year in Babylon awaiting what I believed to be promised to me, plans are beginning to be unveiled.  It is sweet, beautiful, and much more than I had hoped for.  PRAISE THE LORD!  Thats about all I can say right now.  I am overwhelmed.  So check it y'all: Jeremiah 29:10-13.


¹⁰ This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 


Fact: He knows what's up.

Also, for the record, I only have two more days left and I plan on rocking it wednesday night with some delicious lava rock chocolate cookies for my crew on Thursday.  It is also consequently Skate City night!  I tell you what, I am know roller derby, nor should I wear roller skates and party pants simultaneously (@ Kelly Watts), but I do love a good skate.  If you were to make a list of all of the awesome perks to being an elementary school teacher, I would put Skate City near the top of the list.  Along with: letters, laughter, Skippyjon Jones, the Pigeon, Valentines Day parties and being a celebrity whenever you walk down the hall or are spotted in the store.  Notice my list DOES NOT include Halloween: definitely not a favorite.  Halloween is chaos in Swahili.  If you didn't know that, now you do.  Wikipedia won't tell you that, but it is true.

In other news, check out this hilarious clip:







Peace y'all!