7 Quick Takes (vol. 20)

A quick catch-up, since summer awesomeness has happened around here. Here's a compact list from my little corner of the world.

~~ 1 ~~

It's been wedding central for me. His great pic is from a reception of one of my best friends. It was such a great weekend, spent some time with my parents, had awesome fresh veggies and enjoyed country life for a weekend.

~~ 2 ~~

 Got to see all these awesome college friends at another friend's wedding. We even got to celebrate and engagement :) So blessed to know these awesome people!

~~ 3 ~~

 

I made it to a baseball game the other week. I helped chaperone some of our kids from church and it was a great evening. I think I like the smaller scale games (we watched the Madison Mallards, which apparently are a "collegiate summer baseball team") verses major league games...although those are pretty darn fun too.

~~ 4 ~~

 So I got this pineapple corer/slicer for my birthday (it was on my wedding registry :) and I love love love it! seriously! So easy and fresh pineapple is sooooo much better than the canned stuff. If you like pineapple you should definitely consider getting one, or talking someone into getting it for you ;)

~~ 5 ~~

I've been reading and listening to audio books, which means sometimes I'm not getting a lot accomplished at home. I love books you can't put down! Anyways, I finished listening to 

Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West by Stephen E. Ambrose

picture from here

 This was so fascinating! This was a great compilation of Lewis and Clark's writings, letters from and to them and just a great over all biography of Meriwether Lewis.

Currently I'm listening to The sweetness at the bottom of the pie by Alan Bradley.

 picture from here

 I'm still not sure what I think of this one, but I'm only about 1/4 of the way through, so we'll see.

I just finished reading Halos by Kristen Heitzmann

 Image from Here

I love Kristen's books. There's always a love story, always a little faith (but not over the top unbelievable stuff) and always a good plot that pulls you along. Definitely not anything deep, but good inbetween books when you don't want to really think too much. This one I didn't like quite as much, the guy was a jerk in the beginning and there were some disturbing parts, so yeah, wouldn't buy it, but it was good.

~~ 6 ~~

I've been going to Concerts on the Square every Wednesday since they started this summer(which has been 2 so far) and absolutely love them! Random fact: apparently there are over 20,000 people that come every week! Crazy awesome! Last night it was "American Fanfare" themed, so they played patriotic pieces like Stars and Stripes Forever, 1812 Overture, Fanfare for the Common Man and did a great Armed Forces Salute (which recognized each branch individually). On top of those they played great pieces like All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera, and Trouble from Music Man.

~~ 7 ~~

I'm excited for the long weekend, and I'm excited because I'm going to attempt to make these:

Image from Here

So we'll see how they turn out. Hopefully they're awesome!

hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

For more Quick Takes, head on over to Conversion Diary.

7 Quick Takes (vol. 19)

Another week come and gone, and Lent is here to stay for a while. Here's some randomness from my week.

~~ 1 ~~

So I started Reading this book

 image from here

And it's great. Even though I'm not married yet it's has some great exercises to do with your significant other and I love that it's based on years and years and years of research. It's fascinating!

~~ 2 ~~

Did anyone else read hardcore depressing books in middle school and Jr. High? I was all about Lurlene McDaniel. This article is spot on and cracked me up.

~~ 3 ~~

Super exciting news! So Venerable Fulton Sheen is one step closer to becoming a Blessed and then a Saint (God willing)! 

James' alleged "miracle" is one step closer to being recognized as a miracle by the church!

Head over to Bonnie's Blog for the full story and press release from the Archbishop Sheen Foundation.

~~ 4 ~~

So it feels like Spring! I don't want to jinx it but I am all for it and can't wait for this again

fresh flowers sound amazing!

~~ 5 ~~

Speaking of spring...I love the idea of growing a garden with a them. For example: a pizza garden or salsa garden. I'm great with herbs so maybe I should add tomatoes this year. The promise of Spring is exciting :)

~~ 6 ~~

One of the things I'm doing for Lent this year is being more present in my prayers. I found myself "multitasking" while saying some of my prayers throughout the day, so this Lent I'm sitting still, often closing my eyes and actually focusing on the words I'm saying. I should probably apply this to other aspects of my life as well. Being present is important and whomever I am talking to, whether it's God, a friend or my fiance, they deserve my attention. They are worth it.

~~ 7 ~~

My brother is throwing a Mad Hatter party tonight. So I'm off to that.

hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

For more Quick Takes, head on over to Conversion Diary.

What I've Been Up To (The Sunny February Edition)

What I've been reading.

Dear Mr. Knightley: A Novel
by Katherine Reay

image from here

May Crowning, Mass, and Merton: 50 Reasons I Love Being Catholic

by Liz Kelly

 image from here

What I've been baking

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

image and recipe from here

This was my Valentine's Day dessert. The icing is amazing! A word to the wise, if you're going to make chocolate covered strawberries eat them right away. I tried to freeze them, big mistake, although I heard you can refrigerate them.

French Macarons

I used Nutella as the filling

Mango Chutney

Image from here 

Great with crackers. My recipe was out of a Jamaican cookbook, but looks very similar to this one.

What I'm listening to (Music).

 I am loving John Mayer's album Paradise Valley.

What I'm listening to (books).

  Now that I have a longer commute to work I've been flying through audio books. Some were great some, well not as great. I'm just going to include the ones I liked.

The Professor and the Madman

by Simon Winchester

image from here

This story was so interesting. It's about the true story of one of the main contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary.

 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

by Edward Irving Wortis

 image from here.

I loved this story. It's a great adventure story, something I wanted to keep listening to until the end.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

 Image from here.

This book was wonderful! It is definitely one of my favorite books, and the audio book was so well done.

Dad is Fat

by Jim Gaffigan

image from here.

I listened to this on my long drive to Nebraska. It was great. I don't have kids and I still loved it.

 

What I've been doing to enjoy these past few snowy months

Well I got engaged a few months back :)

So it's been a lot of trying to decide what our wedding will look like. Lots to plan.

Also, I moved the end of January, so I've been settling in and still doing a bit of rearranging.

That's been my life recently, oh and watching the Olympics, which I didn't have nearly enough free time to watch. Hope you are all well and enjoying life!

Any suggestions for books to read or listen to? I'd love to hear what you're loving!

7 Quick Takes (vol. 14)

So it's February, not exactly sure how that happened, but I'm ok with it. There is snow all over the ground and the sun is out, so I am hoping for a beautiful weekend. Here's a quick update on me.

 

 ~~ 1 ~~

I forgot how much I missed crafting/sewing. I know that may seem odd since Christmas wasn't that long ago, but that's different, there's a deadline there (that I often miss, but it's still there). I've been on a tote bag kick lately, random I know, but they're fun and fairly quick (depending on how you do them). 

  I made this for a friend, no I am not quite that vain.

I also have piles of stuff I need to scrapbook. Maybe I'll do that this weekend.

 

~~ 2 ~~

So I had this lovely cold for about 2 weeks, bad enough to stay home from work, but thankfully I didn't have to deal with the Norovirus (which sounded awful!) and I figure it's winter, everyone is bound to get sick sometime, right? Anyways, I found an awesome comfort food that was perfect when I was home (I'd made it a few days before and had frozen the leftovers so the timing was great).

 

Cheesy Chicken and Rice

 picture from here

When I had it at first I thought it was a bit bland (not really any seasonings in the original recipe), so I add a bunch that first night. When I was sick I was glad I hadn't add the seasonings to all of it. It's good and simple. You should try it.

 

~~ 3 ~~

I've been on a red velvet kick, which is handy with Valentine's day coming up and all :) I made red velvet brownies using a cake mix and they turned out great. This recipe is good (I left out the nuts and chocolate chips and didn't frost them) if you want quick brownies and happen to have a cake mix on hand (or made your own mix). Maybe this weekend I'll make these cuties 

 

 picture from here

 

with this awesome Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting (although the original frosting sounds pretty temping as well). Sounds like a plan to me :)

~~ 4 ~~

I am currently reading The Breath of Dawn by Kristen Heitzmann (thanks Katie for the recommendation :) and it's great, although I think I may need to read parts of it during the day, I get freaked out by mental and supernatural stuff. It's a Christian romance, which means it's got a great lovely story and lots of strong Christian characters and usually a happy ending (that's what I'm banking on. I hate books and movies that don't have happy endings). I was in between books for a while, which kind of drove me crazy, but in that time I picked up Zen and the Art of Needlecraft: Exploring the Links Between Needlecraft, Spirituality, and Creativity by Sandra Detrixhe (my aunt) again and read a few more chapters. I love it because it has so may stories about my parents and other relatives, some I've heard and some that are new to me. It makes me miss family, but I love that there is a print copy of our stories.

~~ 5 ~~

Speaking of family, my younger brother was in "Dancing with the Local Stars" a fundraiser for Cornerstone in Quincy. Rumor has it they put all the dances on YouTu.be but right now here's a link to a sneak peak. Danny's at the 2:38-3:00 section.

 Picture from Table Sixteen Productions

 

~~ 6 ~~

I am so ready for the weekend, not sure what all I'm going to be doing, hopefully some baking, reading and scrapbooking, some time with friends and the boyfriend. I don't really have much planned, which means it will be wonderful :)

~~ 7 ~~

  I haven't really done any winter sporty stuff this winter season. No skiing or snowshoeing, skating or even good snowball fights or snowman/angel building. I need to rectify that in the coming week. After all, what's the point of living in Wisconsin if you're not going to enjoy the snow?

 

I hope you all had a wonderful week, enjoy the weekend! 

For more Quick Takes, head on over to Conversion Diary.

7 Quick Takes (vol. 13)

 ~~ 1 ~~

 picture from here

Happy Feast Day of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton! Do you know her? She's pretty amazing. She is the first United States born saint, was a wife, mother, convert, teacher, Foundress. Yeah, she's awesome. She's also my Confirmation Saint, so I may be a little bias...

~~ 2 ~~

So I got a donut pan from my wonderful boyfriend for Christmas and of course had to try it out.  So, I made these wonderful things.

Feast your eyes on Maple Bacon Donuts! I got this awesome recipe from www.jocooks.com and the only thing I changed was I substituted sour cream for the Greek yogurt. You should make them, but make sure to make extra bacon, I of course ran out, there never seems to be enough bacon.

 

~~ 3 ~~

I finally finished the Hunger Games series. They were very well written, I was frustrated with the ending (as were many people I talked with) but over all I thought they were good, disturbing, but good. I haven't watched the movie yet, but probably will, we'll see.

~~ 4 ~~

Picture From Here

Have you read "One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are" by Ann Voskamp? It's good, it makes me want to live a more thankful life, to dig deeper into my faith and who I want to be. It starts out very sad, so warning, it's not a warm and fuzzy book.

~~ 5 ~~

My holidays were really great overall. Christmas was spent at my parents house with my 2 brothers. There was lots of food, even more sugar, games and movies, sparkling nonalcoholic drinks, and lots of good old fashioned family time.

~~ 6 ~~

On December 29th I road tripped out to Lincoln, Nebraska for my sister sister's family visit. It was wonderful to see all the sisters (she's with the School Sisters of Christ the King) and the event was held at the church/school that she teaches at (St. Peter's) so it was nice to get the tour of the school and see her class room.

~~ 7 ~~

  My New Year's Eve was very low key. I drove back from Nebraska all day and ended up staying with my boyfriend's sister instead of driving all the way home. We had Chinese and some great sparkling wine I fell asleep early but woke up for both ball drops (east coast and midwest).

   this is not the best way to take out a cork, but it did work and no one was injured :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's! 

For more Quick Takes, head on over to moxiewife.com who's hosting for Jen this week.

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 11)

So I feel like it's been a while since I've done this, so here's a lot of randomness from me to you:)

 

~~ 1 ~~

Picture from here

My older brother has been living with me for the past couple of months. We're throwing a hero masquerade party tonight. It will be epic. He's decked out the apartment with pictures of "heroes" real and fictional including people like Xena, Gandhi, the Planeteers, Mother Teresa, the X-Men, Rosa Parks and Robin Hood. If you were coming what hero would you dress up as?

~~ 2 ~~

The weather has been kind of crazy here. 70's for most of the week and now it's in the 40s and acting a bit more like fall. I do love fall. Me and my boyfriend went hiking last weekend (both Saturday and Sunday, I loved it!) and got to enjoy the lovely fallish weather and the end of the colors.

~~ 3 ~~

image from here

I finished "Heaven is Here" by Stephanie Nielson (of NieNie Dialogues) on my trip. I cried, a lot and I laughed, and I marveled at her strength and her faith and her family's. If you haven't read it you need to.

~~ 4 ~~

 

See this strange looking pile. Well it's delicious in case you were wondering and it only has 3 ingredients. My boyfriend saw them make it on a show he was watching and decided we needed to make it to eat while watching (or rather listening to since my dumb tv didn't get the right station) the football game last Sunday. It's bacon, brown sugar and cayenne pepper. Candied bacon with a kick. He baked it for 10 minutes, flipped the bacon and put more brown sugar on the flipped side.

 

~~ 5 ~~

 

 Picture from Here

How cool is this?! Check out these awesome animals painted on hands.

~~ 6 ~~

 

I don't know how you feel about Taylor Swift, but I really like some of her new stuff (not all of it), especially this song. Definitely not country, but I like it.

 

~~ 7 ~~

 

I'm going to a friend's wedding tomorrow. I love weddings, and it's close by, which is awesome. I'm not in it so I get to sit back and enjoy the beautiful sacrament from the pew. It should be fun.

 

 

 Alright, that's all from me for this lovely Friday. Enjoy the weekend! 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

What I've Been Up To (Summer Vol. 2)

Alright, since it's the end of August and I've been slacking on the whole actually posting regularly I thought I'd do another quick run through of my life, for all you interested folks and share some of the fun stuff I've been up to...

What I've been reading.

 My Life with the Saints by James Martin, S.J.

My friend Katie did a great review over at Look to Him and Be Radiant, Check it out! (oh and that's where the picture is from)

What I've been baking/concocting.

Super Chewy, Really Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies

Picture from Here

butterscotch chips + chocolate chips + peanut butter chips = AMAZING! 

(cleaned out my stock of chips :)

Foolproof Cinnamon Buns (with no yeast!)

 Picture from Here

My go to Summer cupcakes (Lemony Goodness!)

Picture from Here. 

 I've made them before and had to do it again :)

And, a whole lot of these recipes, including Salsa, Blueberry Lemon Tea Bread and Crispy Coconut Chicken

What I've been making.

Remember This picnic blanket that I was going to make? Well everything is cut out, but that's as far as I've gotten, so maybe I'll finish that in September...hopefully!

I've actually been making a lot of greeting cards. Yeah, I used to it all the time but got out of the habit, picking up a card is so much quicker, but not nearly as fun and personal. Some of my current inspirations have come from Busted Button.

I Love her work, especially the four seasons. Head over and check it out! (Picture from bustedbutton.com)

What I'm listening to (Music).

Pontoon by Little Big Town, love it!

 Sound of Music Record

Fiddler on the Roof Record

What I'm listening to (books)

 

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

Picture From Here

So far so good. I just started it, so we shall see...

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

Picture from Here

This one I felt like everyone my age/within 10 years of my age, had read/was doing. I actually found it extremely helpful and I love that it is very Christian based.

What I've been doing to enjoy the Season of Summer.

Camping

I went with this cute boy over the weekend, and despite the rain it was a lot of fun.

Canoeing

Lots of Birthday Celebrations (Lots of good times at the Nitty Gritty)

Quality time with family and friends

So that's me. Hope all of you are fabulous and enjoying the end of August, end of Summer, and return to reality.