The Playoff Game

Heeey!!! How are ya'll?

All of your posts on how its getting warmer and prettier there have me jealous! Rainy season is beginning here, so while its still pretty hot, it can either rain all day, or off and on for weeks at a time!! So far, its been more the rain really hard for one entire day,be pretty-ish the rest of the week, rain really hard again. Blech. And the worst part is, its not a cleansing rain at all, the city just floods and feels dirty and muggy after it rains like that! Can't wait until August!!!! hahahaha

Yesterday was pretty relaxed.....at least for me and my sister. In the morning, my parents went to help a friend of ours with a soccer program, and my sister and I stayed at home. We basically just hung out and watched TV on the computer!!! hahahaha Then, when my parents got back, we hung out some more and mom made the most AMAZING spaghetti ever for dinner!! :D

I don't know if any of ya'll know this, but two days ago, the Grizzlies beat the Spurs to become the fourth 8th seed team to ever beat the 1st seed team and move on in the playoffs!!! Their first game in the second round of the playoffs is today, against the Oklahoma City Thunder! Now, I'm not really that into basketball.....or really any other sport. Not really my thing. I know all of this because my dad has told me. He was practically giddy yesterday after he found out that Memphis won, and got even more excited when he found out that their game today is earlier than the past ones have been, so he'll be able to watch it without having to stay up until midnight or 1 AM!!!

So, I'm finally finishing up this school year!!!!!! In three more weeks, I'll no longer be in the 10th grade! hahahahaha I'm pretty excited about that! Also, we're really going to start looking at airfare from here to Memphis, and then from Chicago here!!! I'll keep ya'll posted on how that goes!!!

How has your weekend been so far???

Didn't See that Coming

Heey everyone! Sorry for not posting yesterday.....I was out of the house all morning and didn't get home until lunch....after that, I did some school!!!

Anyway, I have been HUGELY blessed! Remember how I was sending out corporate sponsorship requests last week? Well, we've heard back from one of the people and he has donated enough to pay for my ENTIRE tuition, plus part of my airfare! Wow!!! I was seriously speechless!!! It was a wonderful blessing, and it made my trip to Chicago feel even more real!!!! :D

In other news, I have to try out a new sport or exercise type for my PE class...so we've been looking at some near-by gyms! Turns out that stuff that I see all you other bloggers out there doing, like Body Pump, Body Attack, RPM, etc, are all offered here!! So excited!! Hopefully I'll be able to join a gym that has these classes!! hahaha

So in yet more completely random news, we just got a Burger King here! hahaha! I mean, one of the malls had one, but an actual BK restaurant opened up about 5 minutes from home on Sunday! The most exciting thing about that is that it is the only place here where you get free refills!!!! They give you a time limit though.......30 minutes after your order and you can't get any more refills!! So you know that I sucked down major amounts of soft drink just to say that I got a refill in Brazil! hahahaha I'm so weird!! Its funny though, because a couple of years ago, when the first BK opened in the mall, the Brazilians thought that free refills were the weirdest thing EVER and didn't really know how to react to them! Some people would bring days-old cups back and others would just stand by the soda fountain drinking and refilling their cups with Coke!!!! :P Hence the time limit.

Oh, I STILL haven't fixed my camera.......I'm just the teeniest bit scared to. I mean, the thing shut off and switched languages, and now I don't really want to make matters worse......but hopefully it'll be back up and running soon and I'll be able to share pictures with ya'll again!!!

Better be off....I've got a couple of tests to take!

What do you have planned for this weekend?

Go Grizzlies!!!!

Hey everyone!!!! Whats up???

I made my first attempt at homemade BBQ sauce last night.....and it was AWESOME!!!!!!  The only thing is that our condiments have more vinegar in them than they do in the states, so we had to cook the sauce a little bit longer so that some of the tanginess would cook out.....but after cooking it for a while, and pouring it over our meat, it was delicious!! Will definitely make again! :D

Anyway, we had a very Memphis-themed night! After dinner, Dad hooked up the projector and watched the Grizzlies playoff game on the wall! Our friends, who went to the game, called us when they got there, so that was pretty cool! The only bad thing is that the game started at 9 PM here, and I'm apparently a grandma because I got tired and went to bed. I only found out who won this morning.... :P

Well, in other news, yesterday I weighed myself. After 2 weeks of not gaining anything, I finally gained a half pound....which isn't much, and just showed my how much I can eat. I'm so active anyway, it takes a lot for me to put on some weight. Like eating half of a 16 oz container of pb in the course of a week a lot. :P So, while the past couple of weeks haven't given me a huge weight increase, I think that they've still been learning experiences. I got to see the amount of food that I can really eat without even worrying about gaining any weight, which I believe will help me not stress out as much. So while at first, I felt a little dissapointed at not having gained much weight, I now think that it was God's way of telling me to let go and live a little. :D

Before I head out for the day, I want to say that I'm actually working on my camera, and hopefully will be able to post real pictures on here again soon!! :D

Do you like basketball? If so, what team do you root for?

See ya tomorrow (hopefully with pictures!)!!

Edited to add: I thought that I had posted this in the morning......whoops!

Celebrations

Hey everyone!!! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!!!! Christ is Risen! :D

In this family, yesterday was not only Easter, but also my mom's birthday!!!!!! My sister and I made her a single serving carrot cake, because back in March, on my sister's birthday, mom said that her cake looked amazing and that she wanted one as well! :P We had some family time in the morning, and went to church in the afternoon. The service was really great!!! The church choir did a cantata with TONS of gorgeous music and we really celebrated Easter for what it truly is: Jesus' resurrection!!!! How was your Easter????

So, today is playoff game day!!! We're Memphis Grizzlies fans....and my dad has been able to watch the games online! Mom and I are planning a special surprise for him! He always says that the Neely's BBQ Nachos, which are sold at Grizzlies games, are the best. So, when I saw this BBQ sauce recipe, adapted from the Neely's, I immediately told my mom. We're making it for the first time ever today and having some BBQ nachos for dinner!!!! I'm soooo excited because I think that dad will LOVE it!!! :D Another cool thing about this game is that my dad's best friend will be there, so we're going to "watch out" for him as we're watching the game!!

As for work, this week I have to wrap up my NSLC stuff so that it can get in the mail to their office in time!!!! I honestly can't believe how fast time is going by!!! I only have a couple more weeks of school, then a short break, then CHICAGO!!!! Wow!! :D

What does your week look like????

Nothing Going On

Heeey everyone!!!!! Who else is excited for the weekend?????? I mean, my sister didn't have brazilian school yesterday or today, but we've both still been doing our homeschool, which is why I'm pretty excited to have NO school to do and just hang out with the family!!!

We've watched a couple of movies: Hachi and Old Dogs, and still have Reservation Road and Alice in Wonderland to go! Old Dogs was cute, but seriously, if you haven't seen Hachi, you must. Especially if you love dogs!!! Its the sweetest story ever!!!!! :D I got Reservation Road because it looked interesting, so I hope its as good as it looks!! :D Then, I chose Alice for two reasons: 1) My dad had said that he would never watch it for reasons unknown to everyone but himself.  2) I was curious to see all of the wild special effects used in this movie! Have any of ya'll seen Alice in Wonderland? What did you think?

Besides that, I've been in contact with a couple of potential sponsors and my aunt has sent them some information packages. Haven't heard back from either of them, so we'll see how everything works out in the next couple of days!

About reducing my gluten intake, I think that its really helped a lot. I've been feeling a lot better, and while there are probably some other things behind my not feeling so great, gluten was definitely one of them. Also, I've noticed that I feel better when I consume a higher quantity of fats. Made me think of Kat's awesome guest post about fat!!!! If you didn't read it, you should definitely check it out!!! :D

We don't have a whole lot planned for this weekend....probably some more hangin' out and celebrating Easter and my mom's birthday on Sunday!!!

What have you got planned for the weekend???

One More Thing we don't Have

Hey everyone! Thank ya'll so much for the gluten free recipes!!! I can't wait to go and buy some almonds to make both the brunsli and the single lady banana cream pie!!!! :D

So, last night, my mom was going to make some of my dad's favorite foods for dinner to celebrate their anniversary. Well, as she was boiling the potatoes for mashed potatoes, our gas tank ran out. I don't know if I've mentioned this on the blog before, but everyone here uses gas stoves. Most of the time, the gas isn't piped in, you have to buy a gas tank and refill it later. We've had this particular tank since just after Christmas, and knew that it would definitely be going out soon (a tank usually lasts about 3 months for us!), but it really was bad timing. Plus, all of the places that refill gas tanks were already closed. So we cooked the rest of our dinner next door. Fun stuff, huh? :D

I spent a lot of time yesterday working on NSLC stuff....sending out emails asking about corporate sponsorship and all of that. Today, an aunt of mine will be mailing out a couple of my information packages, so we'll see how that turns out!!! I can't believe how quickly everything is happening!!!! Before I know it, it'll be July!! Now, I'm really just waiting to hear back from the people that I contacted yesterday....

So Monday, I revisited an old favorite strength routine!! The 20 minute circuit workout!!! My favorite circuits can be found on the Workin' it page!!! It had been a while since I did my last circuit workout, and I had forgotten just how tough one can be!! It's like cardio and strength combined! I'll definitely start to re-incorporate circuits into my exercise routines!!!!

So, tomorrow and Friday are Brazilian holidays and my sister doesn't have school!!!! This means that we're gonna rent some movies and relax a little!! Of course, she'll still have homeschool to do, but that pretty much only takes up the morning!!! :D What's your favorite thing to do on a long weekend?

Well, that's about it for me......

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

Powerless and Pictureless

Heeey! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!! Sorry about my total absence form the blogging world yesterday.....we had no electricity until mid-afternoon, and by then, I really needed to do some school stuff! :P

I'm also sorry for the recent lack of pictures on here....my camera has gone crazy, is eating through batteries and changed the display language to Japanese....go figure!

So, our weekend was pretty laid back. We mostly hung out at home, got acai and fruit salads on Saturday, made chocolate milkshakes on Sunday, and watched some movies! I made my banana scones for breakfast on Sunday, and today, I made biscuits for my parents' anniversary(this is the first morning that they've been here since their trip!). For some reason, my biscuits did not rise at all, so I ended up with very yummy, flat-as-a-pancake, biscuits, which I named pan-skits. Lovely, right? :P

I have a LOT of NSLC stuff to do this week: contact people in different businesses, email my aunt and cousin my scholarship "packages" so that they can mail then to the various businesses, look at airfare, and start figuring out what I'll need to buy when I get to the States (business clothes, for example). Besides all of that, I still have my regular school stuff to accomplish!

About my gluten-free experiment, I really did feel a lot better when I reduced my gluten intake. We have  a friend who is a nutritionist, so we'll be asking her for her opinion as well. I don't think that I can completely eliminate gluten right now, mostly because finding gf food here is a lot harder and I still need the extra calories, since I'm trying to gain weight. I will, however, be greatly reducing my gluten intake, especially at night, as that seems to be the worst time for me personally to eat foods that contain gluten. What are some easy gf recipes that I could make here? We do have stuff like gf flour, but its hard to find, so I was wondering if there were any recipes that I could try out that wouldn't require a lot of special ingredients, but that would still be gluten free.

That's about it for me....What all do you have on this week's agenda?

Sister Time!

Heey!!! I'm still running my gluten-free experiment, so I'll tel you how that goes in a couple of days! :D  Thank you all so much for your kind words about that!!!!

Today is a very special day in the HC household! My parents; 25th anniversary is next tuesday, and my dad is taking my mom to a super nice hotel this weekend!!!!  I loove my parents sooo much, and am super happy for them!!!! :D

So with my parents out for the weekend, my sister and I will be hanging out with our friend who lives in the house with us.....except he's got a life and won't actually be here the entire weekend, so she and I are gonna have some sister time!!! We're renting some chick flicks and are planning on watching ALL of them!!! Which leads me to the question: What are some of your favorite chick flicks???? Most recently, we watched Letters to Juliet and LOVED it!!!!! :D

Also, one of the ladies who works with my parents is coming over today and bringing her daughter along, so we can have even MORE girl time!!! :D

What do you have going on this weekend???

An Experiment

Heey everyone! Thanks so much for all of your kind words about the NSLC!!!!! You guys are awesome! :D

So, a couple of days ago, I was doing some research. You see, I've been waking up feeling not-so-great some days and was wondering if it was just a side effect of my attempts to gain weight or if it was something else. I started to think about what I ate the nights before I woke up feeling gross, and mostly, it was bread or crackers. So, I researched gluten sensitivity, and a lot of the symptoms matched up (mood swings, messed-up stomach, etc). But then, I thought that a lot of those symptoms could easily apply to an eating disorder, so I researched a link between the two. Turns out that an eating disorder can actually trigger a gluten sensitivity. Its really hard to go gluten-free here, but I am trying to avoid it at night, and see how that works out. If I start to feel better, then we'll know that I have a slight sensitivity to gluten. I'll keep ya'll updated!

Next, I know most of you read Janae's blog, and if you don't you should definitely go check it out. She's been training like crazy for the Boston Marathon, but just found out that she's got a femoral stress fracture and can't run. So, Bess started a send a virtual hug to Janae thing on her blog, which  thought was super sweet! I'm posting my hug here:

[caption id="attachment_490" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="One-armed hug because I had to use my webcam :P"][/caption]

Yes, I realize that I'm sending a one-armed hug. My camera is acting crazy, and I had to make do with the webcam. Ya'll can email hugs for Janae to Bess, I think, or you can email Janae herself! She's an awesome person, and seriously has the best attitude about everything!!!! :D

Nothing much is going on here......a heck of a lot of school. Oh and last night I finally got Water for Elephants on my Nook! I'm sooo excited because I've been wanting to read it for a super long time!!!!! What are some other good books out there??? I'm sooo out of the loop, which is sad because I LOVE a good book! :D

Well, I had best get going...hope you all have a wonderful day!

NSLC Update!!!!!

Heeey everyone!!!! Hoep you all had a good day yesterday! It's raining here, which pretty much stinks, but at least we only get rain about 2 months out of the year!

  Soooo, guess what? Yesterday afternoon I got an email from the NSLC Scholarship fund. MY SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION WAS ACCEPTED!!! Sorry for yelling....I'm really that excited! :D Its not a full scholarship because a ton of students apply, but it'll help. Also, I'm working on a cover letter and "scholarship package" to send to different businesses to see if they can sponsor me. We're lucky to actually have friends with contacts with Wal-Mart, Microsoft, International Paper, Nestle (maybe I should tell nestle that I love their chocolate?? :P), and a couple other companies. Hopefully everything will workout!!!!

I was so excited last night, that my dad treated us to dinner!! Nothing fancy....Subway, but I was seriously craving a cookie and their cookies are better than anyone else's here! hahaha! I got a veggie sandwich (my fav!) with red pepper flakes, and an oatmeal raisin cookie! :D

You know those Crepe Cakes that I mentioned yesterday? Well, this morning I had some more. Only they were CHOCOLATE! You see, yesterday, I happened to find a box of chocolate flavored oatmeal, which is basically oats with cocoa powder and a little sugar mixed in. So I just used that instead of the regular oatmeal, and they turned out perfectly! :D

Well, that's about it for today.....

What's your go-to weekday breakfast?

Oatmeal, egg and toast, or grits for me. :D And now, crepe cakes!!! hahaha

Finally Something to Blog About!

Heeey everyone!!!! I practically disappeared this weekend! Not much went on, and I had a couple of not-so-great moments...but  I'm feelin' better than ever today!

So glad ya'll liked Kat's guest post!!! It was awesome and informative as well!!! :D

Yesterday, dad took my sister and me to the mall to do some shoppin'! :D My sister bought some clothes, and I found this super awesome store that had a bunch of all-natural food and clothing and stuff!!! It was sort of like a mini Whole Foods! Soo, I bought a couple of things! Here they are:

This is the most processed thing I bought. :P But it looked really yummy! Its pasta with a mushroom sauce!!!! The thing is, we don't get mushrooms here, so I was super excited to see this in the store!!!



Crappy pic, but its whole wheat flour! The only other package that I've found here cost R$12, and this cost R$3.80 so I had to snag it! :D

This is a whole fruit bar. I bought two, this one is pinapple and apple flavored. The ingredients list is super short, which I love: pinapple, apple, cashew nuts, brazil nuts, pineapple concentrate, apple juice. That's it!!!! Neat, huh?

Here's the other flavor: banana acai!!!!

Finally, I picked up this little gem (which has already been consumed :P)! 70% cocoa dark chocolate!!!! It was the first time that I had ever tried anything that dark, and I LOVED it!!!! I'm the only one in the family, though....my sister was brave enough to try it, but vowed never to do so again...hahaha more for me!!! :D

So, all in all, I got a nice little haul!!! I definitely have plans to revisit that store again soon! There were tons of other things in there that I wanted to try...from homemade bread to gluten free corn pasta! I need to save up some money, first though! :D

So besides shopping, I also tried a new breakfast recipe! Katie's Oatmeal Crepe Cakes!! If you like oatmeal cookies and want to eat them for breakfast (or a snack.....) , make these now!!!! I loved them and will definitely be making them again soon!!!! :D

Well, I really probably should get started on my school work....

How was your weekend? What was your favorite thing that you did?

The Truth About Fat

Heeey everyone! Glad ya'll liked my last post!!! :D

Not much has been going on here....mostly just school. Last night mom made potato soup (yum) and I  made some rolls to go with it! The recipe is on my recipe page, and if you want quick, hard-to-mess-up rolls, then they are for you!! I did learn that actually letting them rise the full amount of time instead of rushing them really improves the flavor and texture, for some reason....hmm wonder why? :P

I also tried a new 10 minute workout! Instead of my normal 10 minute jump rope, I did 10 minutes of cardio ballroom dance! It was off the Dance with Julianne Cardio Ballroom DVD, and I did the cha-cha! It was pretty fun! :D

Anyway, by now ya'll are probably wondering about the title of this post. Weeell, I have a little surprise for ya! Kathleen from Kat's Health Corner wrote a guest post for this ol' blog! Soo, without further ado, here it is:

Hello Fit Chocoholic readers!!! My name is Kathleen and I write this pretty sweet blog called Kat’s Health Corner. I love Gen’s Blog SO much! I am honored to be writing a guest post for Gen today, but FIRST let me introduce myself a little more!



I absolutely LOVE to workout, bake, AND especially blog. 

In my life one of the things I strive for is BALANCE: balance WITH myself, balance WITH life, and WITH the way I eat.

One vital part of the balance with the way I eat is making sure to eat a balance in nutrients. But, one of the hard nutrients I’ve had with balancing in my diet is Fat.

FAT. Yes, you heard that right. I said that F-word: Fat.

Fat has such a bad rap.

Some people predetermine the misconception that eating fat makes you fat. That is NOT necessarily true.

I know from personal experience the importance of fat in our body’s health and well being. A while back, I thought that FAT was EVIL, since that was what I would hear from the media, magazines, and ads. CUT THE FAT. Buy LOW FAT. Eat FAT FREE.

As a result, I started cutting fat out of my diet. My Hair, Skin, and Nails really paid the price for this. My hair lost its softness and glow and became dry and dull; my skin went from smooth and vibrant to rough and dry, and my nails lost their strength and became soft and bendy.

Not only did I see the changes in my hair, skin, and nails, but I noticed I had become significantly tired, moody, and weak. This was not good.

I came to the conclusion of what I needed to do.

I needed to develop a healthy relationship with fat.

Fat plays a HUGE role in our health. It is essential for the hormone processes in our body, the absorption of the vitamins A, D, E, and K. Fat is essential! Fat is essential to our hair, nails, and skin’s health and glow.

We know that fat is imperative, but does the type of fat matter?

Yes. The kinds of fat we eat matter, too. In all, there are four types of fat.

First, there are the mighty Monounsaturated fats, found in nuts, nut oils (like walnut oil), olives, olive oil, and avocados (this is not an exclusive list). One of my favorite sources of monounsaturated fat is ALMOND BUTTER!



Me and Almond Butter; LUV at first sight! 

Second, there are the powerful Polyunsaturated fats (foods high in polyunsaturated fats are rich in omega-3 fatty acids), like those found in sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, fish, walnuts, brazil nuts, canola oil, and PEANUT BUTTER! (this is not an exclusive list)



Peanut Butter Love!  Straight from a spoon is the best way to eat it. ;)

Then, there are the Saturated fats, which come from plant sources (like coconut, coconut oil, and chocolate), and animal sources (like fatty- meats, egg-yolks, and full-fat dairy products). They are also found in many prepared foods. The USDA recommends that we limit our intake of Saturated fats in favor of the Mono- and Poly-unsaturated ones. But remember, Dark Chocolate IS good for you (in moderation of course)!

And finally, the terrible Trans fats. AVOID TRANS FATS LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!! They are chemically altered to where our body can’t recognize them as "real" and doesn't know how to handle them, so our body just stores it in our hips and our stomach. In several studies, Trans Fats are shown to contribute to Alzheimer’s disease, Cancer, Diabetes, Obesity, Liver Dysfunction, Infertility, and Depression.

Don’t trust the Nutritional Labels – make sure to check the Ingredient Lists. Don’t buy anything with fully or partially hydrogenated oils in it – those are TRANS FATS!

We know why fat is important and what the types of fat are. Does the amount we eat make a difference?

Yes. Fat is essential for the hormone processes in our body, the absorption of some vitamins, and the health of our hair, skin and nails (not an exclusive list). Talk to a registered Dietician to see how much is appropriate for you, or check out mypyramid.gov to get a personalized plan. Everyone’s body is different, so therefore, we each need different amounts.

One thing I would stress is to focus on the Omega 3’s and 6’s.



These are the ones our body CANNOT produce. Some of the foods where these can be found include walnuts, flaxseed, avocados, eggs, salmon, sardines, and tuna. You can also use Fish Oil tablets (if you are not vegetarian), and they even have Vegan “Fish” Oil tablets, which contain the Omegas straight from the plants where fish get them from.

One of the most important things I have learned on my journey for balance is that every nutrient is imperative – calorie, FAT, carbohydrate, protein, water, vitamin, mineral, photochemical – to our overall health.

If I have an imbalance in just one of these nutrients, it wreaks havoc in my entire body. I now strive to feed my body the nutrients it needs—to live in balance—to live in balance with fat.

Kay, that’s it from me my lovelies- I love to meet new people, so be sure to drop by, check me out, and get to know the Kat behind Kat’s Health Corner!!

Questions of the Day (KHC Style!):

How do you view fat?
What are your favorite sources of fat?
What is your favorite nut butter?

Awesome post! Thanks Kat!!! :D I'll go ahead and answer the questions.

1. Fat is definitely the nutrient that I have to work hardest to get, especially living here. There isn't a lot of fried food, and minimal fat is used while cooking. Which just means that I get to eat lots of peanut butter. Not a bad thing. Especially if there is chocolate invloved.

2. My favorite sources of fat would be nut butter (shocking, huh?), avocado (which we almost never get because I'm the only one that likes them), fish (hello omega-3 fats) and nuts.

3. Favorite nut butter would have to be Dark Chocolate Dreams. I actually haven't gotten around to trying either almond or cashew butter, but I plan to make both at some point. :D

Thanks again, Kat, for the wonderful post!!!

Hope you all have a great day!!!!!

What Motivates Me?

Good morning, everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend, and a good Monday as well!!! :D I wanted to let ya'll know that I did in fact try out the scones and they were TASTY! My sister loved them as well, and informed me that the only reason she didn't have another one today (it would be the 3rd day in a row) is that she doesn't want to eat too many and get sick of them! hahahaha I've already got my eye on several (sweet and savory) scone recipes, so you'll probably be seeing some more scones in the near future!!

About the vlog, I'm working on it, but there are a couple of things that I need to work out before I can film it. I'm hoping to have one posted soon, though!

Also, before I move to a more serious topic, I would just like to say that I found myself a new 20 minute kickboxing workout yesterday, that I loved!!!! Here's the link for ya:

TKO: http://www.exercisetv.tv/workout-videos/cardio/total-knockout-body-tko-4028

The other day, I came across an article (which I have yet to find again) that contained several questions to ask ourselves. One of the questions that stood out to me was: "What motivates me?". I've got a lot going on in my head right now, what with school, the NSLC, and trying to gain weight (I did gain a half-pound this week! YAY! :D) so I asked myself what motivates me to work at those three so much. I'm not an extremely social person, yet for some reason I want to go to Chicago to spend a week and a half with a bunch of other teenagers that I've never met. For the longest time, I didn't even admit that I had an eating disorder, but now I'm trying to get better. What motivates me?

I think two great sources of motivation for me are my family and friends and, first and foremost, my Savior. By studying my Bible, I am shown just how much God cares for me and that He's always with me, even when I feel alone. Just the knowledge that He's there makes me feel strengthened. My familyand friends are there for me even when I feel overwhelmed or get nervous about my scholarship application. They're amazing and I'm so blessed to have them!

The rest of my motivation comes from my desire to seize every opportunity that I can to be a better person, to be the best person that I can be. My extreme stubbornness also helps, though. :P Seriously though, when I realize that something is good for me, and decide to do it, I can be pretty self motivated!

So, what motivates you?

Hope you all have an awesome Wednesday!!!!

Kitchen Time

Heeey everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!! I sure did! We relaxed, had family time, and went to church. My cat even had some relaxation time with dad:

[caption id="attachment_456" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="TWO remotes! :D"][/caption]

Before I forget to mention it, I got an awesome workout in on Friday! A few weeks ago, I cam across this circuit, and let me say, it doesn't look that hard, but by the fourth time you are doing pushups, it IS!!!! :D

Today's a busy day for my mom, so I thought I'd tackle breakfast. I made my first-ever scones!!!! They were actually pretty easy to throw together, and everyone seemed to like them! I confess that I haven't actually eaten one yet, but will for a post-workout treat! :D Anyway, here's the recipe that I used:

Banana Scones (adapted from Food.com)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour


• 3 T brown sugar (packed)


• 2 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon cinnamon


• 6 T butter


• 8 T milk (I ended up adding a little more)


• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


• 2/3 cup diced banana

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Cut butter into a few chunks and rub it into the flour mixture with your fingertips.

Mix milk and vanilla in a small glass. Add the banana chunks and continue to stir, adding more milk if necessary, until dough comes together.

Pat dough into a disk about 1 inch thick. Cut into eight sections with a knife and place each on baking sheet.

Bake at 400F for 17-20 minutes, until light gold.                                                               I also made some homemade coffee creamer! My mom loves it, and since this is both her birthday and her wedding anniversary month, I thought I'd make her a special treat! It was actually super easy! All I did was combine 1/2 C milk, 1/4 to 1/3 C sweetened condensed milk (I didn't measure exactly :P) and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract! Then, I shook everything up and voila we have vanilla  coffee creamer!

That's about it for me today.... What does your week look like?

Nothin' Much

Heey! Sorry for not posting the last couple of days......nothing has really happened.....

I am working on a vlog now, soooo it should be up sometime soon!!!! I'm super excited about that because it'll be my first vlog ever!! I LOVE seeing other people's and would love to do one as well!!!!!

Yesterday we spent practically the entire day at home....I baked some more fries for dinner and we had burgers (either beef or chicken, there was an option :D). Other than that, I haven't baked in the LONGEST time and am currently looking for something to make either today or tomorrow! Probably something breakfast-y for tomorrow, just because mom's going to have a busy day and the breadstore is closed today, so we can't get tomorrow's breakfast bread. Anyway, its still early and I'm thinking about it....got any ideas for a breakfast-y baked good? hahaha

Anyway, the only other thing that I did yesterday was take an Algebra II test.....the wrong one. In my online school, there are two programs (Academy, which is teacher-led and HIS, which is not), I'm an HIS student in most classes and an Academy student in one. Apparently, the Academy tests are different from the HIS tests, and when my mom downloaded my Algebra test, she was on her Academy account. So I took it, and as she was grading it, she was circling pretty much every question. I almost had a heart attack! And then we checked the HIS test, and figured everything out. That was my excitement for the day, I guess!!!! :D

Today, we're going to relax in the morning, and go to church this evening....but I think that's it!

How has your weekend gone? Anything major happen?