Cookie or Dough

I have a weakness and am faced with dilema every time...

Do I eat the dough or the cookie? See with the dough you don't have accountability of quantity size so you can have a spoonful here, a little finger scoop there and then a couple more spoonfuls and you really don't know how much you've eaten.  But with a cookie you know that eating 5 is probably unacceptable.  Most of the time I'll make cookies and just eat enough dough until I've had my fill and then freeze the rest for later to actually bake.  I'm a sucker though, I can very rarely ever pass up a raw cookie dough or a chocolate chip cookies.  I'd say they are one of my weaknesses...especially when my friend Kim Espi makes them.  Her dough and cookies are so good!

Cookie dough brings back so many memories for me.  It reminds me of my wild and crazy college days when with my 7 bffs sitting in our pjs, watching mean girls, or babysitters club and having dance parties (told you we were wild and crazy ;)  It also reminds me of when Bryson first told me his "intentions" and later made, from scratch with out a hand blender, raw cookie dough cause he knew I liked it so much.  And then I knew he had to be the one (joking...sorta!)

So what about you, cookie or dough? 



No Other Gods

I recently joined a women's bible study at church and we started this bible study: 

Though we've only been attending this church off and on for 3 months,  I thought I'd try to get involved and meet others.  I've been majorly lacking in quality time with the Lord and with a bible study and commitment to actually go to the class for 8 weeks, will hopefully help keep me accountable on my part.  I'm also really excited about the women in this class! We've only had two classes so far and everyone is so friendly, honest, and fun!  Our class meets Tuesday mornings and so most of the women in the class are either retired, teachers on summer, or moms. Which I love being together with other women in all stages of life.

Almond Graham Squares

I was in charge of bringing the dessert for our Father's Day BBQ.  Thinking about that we were going to be eating a heavy steak, potatoes, corn, veggies dinner, I was trying to find something that was light and tasty. And this was a perfect treat!

Ingredients

-1 1/2 cups Graham Cracker crumbs

-1 can (14oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk

-1/4 tsp salt

-2 cups sliced Almonds

*optional-1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line the bottom and sides of an 8x8inch square baking pan with foil, coat with non-stick spray

2. In a medium bowl combine 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs, 1 can sweetened condensed milk and 1/4 tsp salt. Stir until moistened. Stir in 1 1/2 cups sliced almonds *and chocolate chips

3. Spread mixture evenly in pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup sliced almonds, patting down gently

4. Bake until golden, about 35-40 minutes. Cool completely. Remove from pant, peel off foil and cut into squares.

This dessert was really light and tasty.  My dad brewed some coffee and it was a perfect combo together.  Enjoy!

Father's Day

Happy Father's day! We had a great day celebrating:

Started off with homemade blackberry and cream cheese french toast

Cooling off in Lolo and Grandma's backyard

A delicious BBQ with my parents

Riding "bikes"

and learning the hula :)

June Book #1

Another Francine Rivers book has taken over!  There are so many things I want to say about this book and here it goes:
-powerful
-didn't like the first 3 chapters
-loved next 34 chapters
-historical fiction
-I was caught up in the characters
-beautiful scenes of the ancient world
-emotions that tore at me
-incredible story of God's love
-you must have the second book if you are going to read this one...which hopefully I can get from my friend tomorrow.
-history of the separation race
-made me want to watch Gladiator
-sickening twist of manipulation
-unpredictable
-a true test of faith

Again, another book I would absolutely recommend!

Overdue

I'm so thankful this is over....

When I thought she was getting better, last weekend it only got worse.  Due to her 103.6 fever on Wednesday night, roseola started to show up Friday afternoon.  While it's very common to have after a fever in children, it just isn't fun at all.  It was so sad to see our happy, crazy, energetic girl lethargic, crying and not feeling good.  While it was hard to be patience and calm with a sick child...it was so nice to get in extra snuggle time with this wiggle worm. 

In the midst of all of the above, Bryson and I were able to sneak away for an evening to celebrate our 3 year anniversary. 

We went to a local Italian restaurant, Auntie Pasto's, and ate waaay to much.  We shared a steak calamari appetizer that was delish, Bry ordered Clams Tuscano and I had the Crawfish Ravioli. (I made myself not eat my entire meal, bc it was so good I wanted to have some to take home to eat the next day...which I ate for breakfast! ha!) The restaurant is cozy and the prices are inexpensive.  Great date or family dinner place and really good food! We will be back!  We then browsed the nearby Boarders and ended the night at Dessert Gallery playing board games, munching on sweets and remembering the past three years together. We couldn't remember the last "date night" we have had together, sad but true!  While we do go out without Violet with our friends, we haven't had an "us" date in a while, which we realized we want and need to do more often.  And our sweet friends have offered so many times to watch Violet, we actually need to take them up on the offer!  Anyways very fun night with my husband with Lord willing many, many, many more years to come :)

Green Monster

I'd like to dedicate this blog post to my admiring reader, friend since we were 12 years old, and fellow baby momma,  Kim Smullen for her inspiring words last night, "Um you haven't blogged lately", to get back into the swing of things :) 

A couple of months ago my Sister  posted about making a green smoothie.  I was instantly intrigued and a little grossed out. Who wants to taste spinach in a smoothie?  After reading a few more other blogs about green smoothies I thought I would give it a try myself.  Worst case scenario, I could throw it in the sink and go pick up a jamba juice or something.  Well it was better than expected and didn't even taste spinach!  I've made two this week already. You can add whatever fruit you desire, but make sure you add the spinach, trust me, it's good for you!

1 cup packed spinach
1 cup ice
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp yogurt
1/2 cup sliced cantaloupe
1/2 cup grapes

1. Start with the spinach first and put everything in a blender

2. Blend well

3. Pour into cup and enjoy!

Blog Award!!

Thanks to Jenny from Gotta Run and Amanda from Tales from a Mother for giving me this award!  This a great way to get to know other bloggers!

How It Works:
-Thank the person who gave you the award by linking back to them in your post.
-Tell us 7 things about yourself.
-Award 15 or 16 recently discovered bloggers
-Contact those bloggers and let them in on the exciting news!


About Me:

1. I believe in moderation in eating.  Don't starve yourself from pizza or ice cream. Eat your healthy most of the time, workout and have a slice of carrot cake too!

2. I'm a really big book worm.  It's a little selfish but sometimes I wish Violet would take longer naps so I could read more throughout the day! ha!

3. I have some OCD tendencies.  I have to know what time it is when I go to bed and when I wake up.  My first question every morning to my husband is "what time is it?"  I use to be kinda of crazy about it and always count the hours in between every morning.  But since having Violet, for some reason I have stopped counting the hours in between. 

4.  I really enjoy hosting people in our home.  It's fun to cook a meal, eat together, laugh, cry and catch up on life together.  I hope to always make our home welcoming and comfortable to others.

5. Bryson and I have dreams of one day running a bed and breakfast.  The idea/dream of it is so fun to talk and plan!

6. When trying a new recipe (unless a trusted person has made it before) I will NOT cook it unless there is a picture accompanying it! I wont even look through a cook book if there are not pictures of the food.

7.  I get mistaken for being Hispanic ALL the time.  Old ladies in the grocery store will talk to me in Spanish, or the Gardener in our complex says "hola" to me every morning.  While I actually wish I knew more spanish to have a converstaion with these people..I'm not Hispanic /Spanish-speaking like they think!  Though I live in Texas, with brown skin and my name is Marisa...I'm half Filipino and half White/Caucasian :)

Now it's your turn! (I'm breaking rule #3 bc I can only think of 12):

Rude and Rudy
Roaming Jess
Lessons in Grace
Life. Celebrated Daily.
PB Fingers
The Better Part of Me
PiNK
let birds fly
The Good Old Days
Fitness by Roxy B
Indulgent Moderation
Brown Eyed Girl & Beau

3 days

For the past three days little Violet has been sick off and on. During the day she is fine, a little more tired than usual, but at night she has had a fever and a lot of congestion.  As stated in the previous post, her throwing up incident (thankfully!) was only that first night.  We went to the doctor and they couldn't find anything 'wrong', just post nasal drip/mucus, and that she probably has a  little virus or infection.  Once we started her on Tylenol and ibuprofen every couple of hours she was back to her old shenanigans...

Trying to get the food out of the pantry...

Things that I have learned:

-Having a sick child is no fun and really scary.  Mostly because Violet can't talk yet, it's hard knowing what to do or figuring out what's wrong.

-I'm so glad we were given a lot of crib sheets! We changed them 3 times in one night.  If you are preggers, I'd get at about 6!

-Sleeping your child in their stroller when they are congested is a-okay.  We've been doing this the past couple of nights to help V breathe better and she's been sleeping great! 

-Violet has 3 teeth cutting through her gums at the moment.  So besides being a little sick, I'm sure her gums are sore and don't feel good.  Eating has been really off, but she seems to really like toast at the moment.

-Trust your instincts.  Check their temperature in the middle of the night, call your pediatrician at 3am, sleep them in their carseat/stroller or sleep in their room if it makes you feel better. 

-Putting them to nap/bed earlier than usual.  V has been napping so irregular than her normal times and the past two nights she has been in bed an hour earlier than usual. 

-I think since Violet has been congested/having to breathe out of her mouth she has not wanted her pacifier for naps/bedtime. Praise the Lord! It's been three whole days without it and I think(hope) this is the end of taking it.  I was a little nervous when to start weaning her from it, but since she did it herself, that's fine by me!

-Having a Bryson help so much, even when everyday he has had a full and very busy day at work, he is always active and helpful!  I knew from when we were dating, how he interacted with his niece and nephew he was going to be a great dad one day. And then when we had an unexpected C-section and he changed all the diapers the first 3 days, due to me being too sore to stand long...I knew he was going to be a involved, loving, caring, fun, active, gentle father to our children

3 years

Yesterday Bryson and I (sorta) celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary! Three years has felt like a long time, but in the scheme of things its just the beginning. (I've actually blog about our first and second anniversary too!) While having a birthday or anniversary in the middle of the week always feels strange to me, we made the most of it.  We have plans for a date this weekend...Violet and I joined Bryson downtown and all went to lunch.  Then I made us dinner: Onion-smothered porkchops, mashed potatoes, and veggies!

It was a fun night of talking of the past three years: remembering our wedding, wedding night, the different apartments/houses we have lived, what we have come to love about each other, exchanging sweet handwritten notes (that we didn't know each other were giving),  and enjoying watching Violet run and play in the living room.  

We were later suddenly awoken to a throwing up sick baby girl :( It was really sad, but awesome at how we both took charge of the situation. Bryson consoling and cleaning Violet while I changed sheets and got laundry started (after 3 times of this we were pros!)  While it wasn't what I ever would have expected, the situation just reminded me of nothing in this world is perfect.  Your marriage, your hair, your children, your house, your body, your friends, your church, your family or anything else! But the only perfect and reliable thing in this world is Jesus Christ.  And only through Him are we able to live and survive in this crazy/unpredictable life.  I'm so thankful knowing that Bryson doesn't expect me to be perfect (and vice versa) but we serve a God that loves and gives to us in spite of our imperfections.

Omelete Muffins

I follow a friend of a friend's Fitness Blog that is geared especially towards women. A few weeks ago she posted an easy breakfast recipe that I thought I would try. (I've made it twice and have changed up the ingredients each time, so make it according to your taste)  This was a very very easy recipe to follow (I added the 'saute' part for preference).  I liked the how basically it's an omelete but just a little different.  Also, it's packed with veggies, so it's a healthy way to start the day.  

Ingredients: (yields approx. 6 muffins)
3 eggs
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped spinach
1/4 cup chopped broccoli
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup shredded cheese
*optional: pepper, hot sauce or other seasonings

1. Preheat oven to 350 and mist a muffin pan with non-stick spray

2. In a medium pan on high heat, add oil and chopped veggies; cook until slightly tender or 5 minutes

3. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir together. Scoop 1/2 cup of mixture into each muffin tin

4. Bake for 20 minutes or until slightly brown on top. Let cool 1-2 minutes and then remove and EAT! 

If any leftovers place in fridge or in freeze and microwave in the morning for a quick breakfast :)

Same recipe, different ingredients: onion, spinach, green bell pepper, and tomatoes

Yoga

Need a quick but powerful yoga class? Look no further:

This DVD is fantastic! I'm a huge fan of yoga and just love how it stretches my muscles, but also gives you an intense workout.  While it's not feasible to take a yoga class everyday like I'd wish I could, I instead do the Jillian Michael's Yoga Meltdown DVD.  It has two levels to choose from and its only 30 minutes long.  Try it, your body will thank you!

Randoms

-I've taken pictures for a couple recipes I want to blog about, but just haven't found the energy to blog about them yet.  One reason I enjoy writing recipes in my blog, is when I'm meal-planning each week and need a quick look up of recipes I already know how to make, it's super easy to click on "recipes" that I've tagged under a post.  Love me some time-saving tricks.
-Since we've returned from our cruise, Violet has been a little picky about food.  (It's super annoying)Because she normally eats everything and anything and I think it's mostly she has more of a preference over what she wants to eat now that she is starting to talk/sign more.  But I've discovered if I put something on her tray that she doesn't want to eat and walk away and ignore the little fit she's throwing, she calms down and eats up everything! 

-My allergies have been cray-z the past couple of days! I took an allegra last night and did the nedipot this morning, so hopefully I'll get some relief soon.

-I've started running again...well not like I ever really considered myself a runner but just been doing it more often.  I actually ran a lot in college and then right before I found out I was preggers. Why did I start running just as summer has started, I have no idea? But with V getting up early, it actually isn't that hot to run at 8am :)

-Bryson and I decided to make it a goal to make it to all of our niece and nephews birthdays this year.  And this weekend starts it off with Cousin Hunter turning the big One!

-Violet is started to recognize our friends!! It's super cool to know she is recognizing non-family members now and feeling comfortable around them when we aren't around.  She has even started calling our friend Nikki "kaka" haha!

-We're starting a project for the wall space in our living room. We're super excited about it! Don't worry I'll blog about it once we're finished.