My Week So Far...

...has been pretty interesting!

While we definitely miss our parents, my sister, our friend and I have had some fun this week as well! Monday we rented a total chick flick and just goofed off and last night we played on the Wii. My mom was super awesome and prepped and froze a bunch of stuff before she left so dinners have been really easy. Monday I made burgers (mom did the patties and froze them...all i had to do was heat them up) and fries, and last night we had spaghetti (again, mom made the sauce, froze it and I just thawed it back out and made pasta).

We're trying to stick to our normal routine as much as possible....school for me in the mornings, school in the afternoon for my sister, etc. So, on Monday, I went to the gym. I was a little bored and ended up creating a nice workout when I got there. I also wasn't really feeling like a super hard workout, so this is some pretty basic stuff, but you can bet that I was still a sweaty mess by the time I was done!!!!

I did warm up and cool down with about 5 minutes of light cardio each. I tried to use heavier weights than I have used before, but always kept the lighter set of dumbbells nearby just in case. For me, the toughest exercises here were the triangle arm raise (you basically lift the dumbbells out in front of you, slowly move our arms out to the side, and bring the weights back down) and the reverse lift on the exercise ball. Like I said before though, none of it was extremely difficult because I just wanted a nice, decent workout without it being a 100% all-out crazy workout.

Another thing that's been going on this week is that I have pretty much become addicted to Pinterest. I mean, I was before, but I just loove that website. There's so much stuff on there, from fun quotes to workouts to crafts to awesome-looking recipes. Speaking of recipes, here's one that I am currently obsessed with and will probably make in the (very) near future!

Here's the link to the recipe: Chocolate Pate.

I don't know about ya'll, but whenever I see a recipe that looks good, I sort of think about it all the time until I make it. And then, once I've made it, I move on to another recipe obsession. hahaha Do you ever see a recipe that looks so good that you think about it frequently? 


Well, I should probably start studying....see ya'll later!

A Different Kind of Week......

Good morning, everyone!!!! How was your weekend? Mine was good, but a little bit sad at the same time. My parents left (really, really early) this morning for the mission conference held at the "home base" for our mission agency here in Brazil. They'll be gone until Sunday,  so my sister and I will definitely miss them a LOT! We do have a friend staying with us, who we actually hadn't seen in a while,  so we're pretty excited to get to hang out with her some this week!

The poor cats are really confused....mom and dad left early, plus there is someone they have never seen before staying here. They are both super cuddly right now too....especially Katsa. She's "helping" me blog as we speak! :D Isn't she cute?

In other news, I made cookies this weekend!!!! They're cute and bite-sized and everything! :D Here's the recipe:
Chocolate Coconut Macaroon Cookie Sandwiches 
makes 15

Ingredients:
Cookies:

• 60 grams powdered sugar
• 30 grams dried coconut 
• 1 egg white
• 20 grams granulated sugar

Filling: (you'll only use about half of this filling, but it is really tasty so I'm giving you the full recipe :D)

• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 3 oz chocolate, finely chopped (or sub 6 T cocoa +3 T oil)
• 1-4 tablespoons sugar (depending on personal preference) 
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

Directions:

1. Toast the coconut in the microwave by first microwaving on high for about a minute, stirring and microwaving in 30 second increments until done. 
2. Sift together the powdered sugar and the coconut into a small-medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Beat the egg white in your mixer until foamy. Keep beating while slowly adding the granulated sugar to the white. Beat on high until stiff peaks form. 
4. Fold about 1/4 of the egg white mixture into the coconut mixture. Keep folding in the rest of the egg white mixture until everything is combined. Your batter should be kind of thick but you should be able to pipe it out. 
5. Pipe out 30 1/2 in circles onto a prepared baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until macaroons are set. 
6. While baking, prepare the filling. Combine the cream, chocolate and sugar in a pot. Heat over medium-low until the chocolate has melted and is smooth. Stir in the butter and the vanilla. 
7. When the macaroons have cooled, gently remove from the baking sheet. Spread some of the filling on 15 of the macaroons, top with the other 15. 

So there ya have it! I love it when an experiment works out!!!! :D

I had better get studying.....see ya'll later!

Do you like experimenting in the kitchen or do you prefer to make tried and true recipes? 

Red Velvet Tres Leches Cake

So I'm posting a day later than usual, but I really wanted to test this recipe out Tuesday and post it yesterday, but that didn't work out. So I baked the cake yesterday and decided that if it turned out, I'd post it today!

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I found this recipe for tres leches cake. I was showing it to my sister and she said that it would be really good with a red velvet base (red velvet is her favorite cake of all time). Anyway, we pieced together a red velvet sponge cake recipe from a couple of different places, mixed it up and hoped for the best. After baking, we proceeded to pour the condensed milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream into the cake, just like for the original tres leches cake, and topped it all off with whipped cream. Here's the recipe for ya:
Red Velvet Tres Leches Cake

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• Dash of salt
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 (13.5oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (13.5oz) can evaporated milk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream 
• 1 pint very cold heavy whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

1. Grease and flour a 9 X 13 inch pan. 
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light, beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth. 
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. 
4. Measure out the buttermilk into a small bowl, add the food coloring to it. 
5. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, mix to combine. Add about 1/3 of the buttermilk to the butter sugar mixture, stirring to combine. Continue alternating between the flour mixture and the buttermilk until everything has been stirred into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the tablespoon of vinegar, mix the batter very well. 
6. Pour into the prepared ban and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until the cake is firm to the touch. 
7. Turn out onto a rimmed platter and let cool. Once the cake has cooled, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk and 1/4 cup of cream and pour it over the entire cake. Let soak for about 30 minutes. 
8. In the small bowl of your mixer, combine the pint of very cold cream and the 3 tablespoons of sugar. Beat on high for about a minute or until it is thick and spreadable. Spread the whipped cream over the cake. Enjoy!'

We did notice that the cake was a lot easier to serve after it had been chilled for a while....the sponge seemed to set up a little bit more and was easier to cut. 

One of my favorite things about the cake itself was that it doesn't get soggy at all! The sponge cake really does just absorb the milks and makes the cake taste wonderful! The middle pieces are definitely the best because they have the milk mixture throughout the entire piece as opposed to the edge pieces, which always have a little area that doesn't have any milk. 

My sister and I were really excited about this dish because we came up with it together and worked together to bake it!!!! It was definitely one of the most fun things that we did over the Carnaval break!!! :D Well, it and making my grandmother's chicken and dumplings (recipe to come!) last night with my mom, too!

Oh, I do have some exciting news (besides cake of course...:D)! As of yesterday, I officially reached the goal weight that I set a little over a year and a half ago. I still have a ways to go emotionally speaking but am so proud of myself for having at least reached one of my "big" goals! What better way to celebrate than with cake! haha

Well, it is time for me to actually get to work....see ya'll later!!!!

Do you like cooking with others or do you prefer to cook alone?

For me, it depends. Some things I prefer to make alone just because they're recipes that I found or that I really like. But other times, I really love cooking with my mom or my sister....we always have a great time!

Easy, Yummy Banana Bread

Good morning!!! How did your weekend go? Mine was pretty great......Saturday it was really rainy so we all stayed at home and hung out, and yesterday we went to the beach for the day with a friend.

So today I wanted to share a recipe with ya'll that my entire family loves! Now, I know that pretty much everyone already has a good banana bread recipe, but one of my favorite things about ours is that it doesn't require a mixer, and can be done from start to finish in just about an hour. Plus, the recipe itself doesn't dirty a whole lot of dishes....just a bowl for mixing up the batter and a loaf pan.
Easy, Yummy Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 6 tablespoons oil
• 1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 medium bananas)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and sugar.  Whisk until everything is evenly distributed. 
2. Add the egg, milk, oil, bananas, and vanilla to the dry ingredients. Stir until fully combined. 
3. Pour batter into a loaf pan lined with aluminum foil and lightly greased. Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes or until the bread tests done with a toothpick. 
4. Remove from oven, let cool. Store in a tightly closed container. Should last 2-3 days depending on the bananas used in the bread. Serve warm with butter. 

Easy, no? The cool thing about a recipe like this is that you can make it as is, or modify and add different elements to the bread like chocolate chips, coconut, some sort of glaze, etc. Do you like banana bread? 

Like I mentioned on Friday, this week is Carnaval. As a family, we don't celebrate it, but it is still nice to have some family time and just hang out for a few days. I still have some school to do, but besides that, there's not a whole lot going on around here. I'm going to take advantage of the fact that I'll have more free time and attempt some new recipes. My sister and I have been thinking about a couple different options that we want to do together while she is home. 

Well, that's about it for today...off to download this week's classes!

What are you up to this week? 

Happy Friday! :D

Yet another bad post title......I really need to work on my creativity. hahahaha

Anyway, Happy Friday, everyone! I'm so glad that today is Friday! This next week, a lot of brazilians will be celebrating Carnaval, which is basically my least favorite holiday ever. The people here go absolutely crazy! Anyway, we pretty much stay holed up in the apartment, so we are looking at 6 or so days of non stop family time! hahahaha
So Wednesday, I got a great new workout in and thought I'd share it with ya:

So, as you can see, this workout is pretty leg-heavy. Most of the exercises themselves are fairly simple, but the combination of the two exercises in each superset and doing each one 3 times through before a rest is killer!!! Also, if you want, you can definitely modify this by reducing or increasing reps, adding some cardio in there, etc! If anyone tries this out, let me know what you think!!!!

So today, I wanted to do something a little different than my typical posts, inspired by a lot of the blogs that I read. I'm going to post some of my favorite links from this past week. Interesting articles, yummy-looking recipes, tough workouts, etc. I'm hoping that by posting this stuff I'll actually remember to revisit the sites and actually try out the recipes/workouts/etc. Anyway, here's my first edition of Friday Favorite Links:

• Baked Hot Chocolate 

Um yum! Apparently this ends up with three layers....a crisp top, pudding-like middle and on the bottom, actual hot chocolate! Plus, there's only 4 ingredients!!!!!

• Not an actual link....I just thought this was cute! :D 

• 480 Workout.....looks really, really hard!!!!  Basically you end up doing 480 reps total of several different exercises!!!!!

• Ferrero Rocher Cookie Dough Dip Need I say more? 

• Chocolate Lover's Cupcakes I don't know if ya'll knew this....but I happen to really like chocolate. :D

• A new circuit that I saw on  pinterest!

• And finally another pinterest find that I really liked!

Aaad that's it for my first ever Friday Favorite Links! What did you think? 

Well, I should probably get going.....school and all that! What are your weekend plans?  I'm pretty sure that we're going to rent a bunch of movies and hibernate for the next few days! Also, which of these two recipes do you want to see first:

• Mini Protein Muffins (the "healthy" option)
• Super Easy Basic Banana Bread (a family favorite recipe!)

Oh and before I go, I just want to say something really quickly! I'm really, really excited about today because my mom is going to spin class with me!!!!! She's never been before, and I got the free pass for her on Monday, so I've been looking forward to this all week!!! :D

Now, I really am going....see ya'll later!

Chocolate is Good

Super creative post title, huh? Oh well.....I've  never really been good at that.....

Anyway, I've had a pretty nice week so far, not a whole lot going on, but nice nonetheless. Yesterday was Valentine's day, so I made a really yummy chocolate dessert for the family....my first attempt at a chocolate souffle! It made four servings, so there weren't any leftovers, which was nice as well. I used this recipe, with just a couple of changes, so I'll post what I did here!
Individual Chocolate Souffle Cakes

(definitely not my picture)

Ingredients:

• 9 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 5 teaspoons flour
• 2 1/2 tablespoons cocoa (ours is really rich, so I got away with using a little less than the recipe)
• 4 tablespoons milk (I didn't use skim.....we don't have it, and it really isn't my favorite to bake with)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 egg whites, room temperature 

Directions:

1. Grease four (6 ounce) ramekins and sprinkle each with 3/4 teaspoon of sugar, making sure to coat the sides of the ramekins well. 
2. In a small saucepan, combine the flour, 4 tablespoons of the sugar, cocoa and milk. Heat over medium for about 3 and a half minutes, or until smooth and thickened. Spoon into a medium sized bowl and let cool for about 6 minutes. Stir in vanilla and cinnamon. 
3. In a medium sized bowl, beat the egg whites at high speed until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of sugar 1 teaspoon at a time (so about 12 teaspoons), beating until stiff peaks form. Fold in about 1/4 of the egg white mixture into the chocolate, gently fold in the rest of the whites until combined. Spoon chocolate/egg white mixture into the ramekins, tapping each to even out the souffle batter. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until puffy and set. Do NOT open the oven door too much during baking, as the changes in temperature will cause the souffles to sink when they are removed from the oven. If you want, sprinkle some powdered sugar on each souffle. 

So there ya have it....a relatively easy chocolate souffle! This was soooo tasty, and I loved how the dessert was rich and chocolate-y, without feeling heavy or "too much". Not that I typically feel that chocolate is ever too much, but I really enjoyed the lightness of the souffle. Hard to believe that with such simple ingredients, you get a really nice dessert! Have you ever made a souffle? Was it sweet or savory If not, have you ever had a souffle and what is your favorite? 

So yesterday I pretty much stayed at home all day, which was nice. At one point it was just me and the cats in the apartment, so I had some "quiet time". I got a lot done and had some time to think. I also worked out at home because I just didn't really feel like going to the gym. My hip was actually hurting a bit, so I just did a yoga dvd. I was really proud of myself for being able to take an easy day plus eat a dessert without feeling too bad about it. Not gonna say that I felt completely okay, but I didn't feel terrible or guilty either. I really believe that I'm getting better at listening to my body, and yesterday my body wanted rest and chocolate! :D

What did you do for Valentine's Day?

Well, that's about it for now...see ya'll later!

Lazy Weekend

Good morning everyone!!!!! I didn't post on Friday because really, not much has been going on and I didn't want to post just because it is what I usually do. Anyway, this weekend was a good one! Saturday we had an event with the ladies in the community....watching the movie August Rush. Have any of you ever seen it? It is pretty cute and very sweet!

Well, after we got home from being in the community, we pretty much didn't leave the house for the rest of the weekend! It was pretty nice, really. We ordered in chinese and didn't cook much of anything for the weekend. Also, we watched some fun tv shows and movies!!!! What did you do this weekend?

I do have a recipe for ya'll today...made just this morning! More muffins!!! hahahaha

Jelly Doughnut Muffins (makes 10)

(not my picture)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup oil
• Jelly (I used my mom's homemade strawberry jam)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together. 
2. In another bowl, combine the egg, milk and oil, stirring until combined. Add wet ingredients to dry, stir just until everything is incorporated. 
3. Fill 10 greased muffin tins halfway. Drop about a teaspoon of jelly in each tin. Spoon in enough of the remaining batter to fill the muffin tins about 3/4 of the way. 
4. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until they test done with a toothpick. If you want top with a glaze. Serve with butter. 

These were really, really good. We just ate ours (literally about 15-20 minutes ago) and my dad actually said that he really liked them. That's saying a lot for someone who isn't huuuuuge on muffins. Also, I believe that the base recipe would be great for other muffins, because it is really light and fluffy! Do you have a go-to basic muffin that you add to to make different flavors, or do you use different muffin recipes for different muffins?  I usually do different recipes depending on the muffin, but I really think that I'll start using this base more often! 

Well, I had better go....

On today's agenda is school, gym, more school. 

What have you got going this week?

Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza

Good morning, everyone!!!!! How have ya'll been doing this week? I've had a lot of fun so far. Apparently, last week at the ladies' meaning up in the community, they said that they would like to begin exercising a little bit. So yesterday, I went up and did just about 15 minutes of basic exercises. I mean squats, jumping rope....that sort of thing. Well, they enjoyed it and starting in March, we'll be doing mini-workout sessions every week. My main goal is to do bodyweight stuff that they could then do in their own homes. I had a lot of fun, even though I was super nervous beforehand, and am sooo glad that they all enjoyed it!

So Saturday, my mom, sister and I tried out a brand new recipe! We made homemade deep dish pizza!!!!! The crust was actually really easy preparation-wise, it never got sticky at all and we didn't have a huge mess to clean up after kneading it. The hardest part was waiting for it to rise twice! Anyway, I was really proud of myself for having a slice of this because there is a WHOLE lot of cheese in there, and that's definitely one of my "fear foods"! Well, here's the recipe:

Deep Dish Pizza (from this recipe)

Ingredients:

• Crust:
• 1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 of a package of instant yeast (about 1 1/8 teaspoons)
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons room temp water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• Sauce:
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons grated onion
• Oregano to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 (14.5 oz) can minced petite tomatoes
• pinch of sugar
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• For assembly:
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. For the dough, whisk together flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar and yeast in a medium sized bowl. Mix in water and melted butter. Turn out and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. 
2. Drizzle a little bit of oil into another bowl. Place the dough in that bowl and turn to coat it with the oil. Cover and let rise for 45-60 minutes. 
3. Turn risen dough out and roll into an 8x6 in rectangle. Spread the tablespoon of softened butter onto the surface of the dough, leaving a border of about 1/2 in around the edge of the surface of the dough. From the short end, roll the dough into a cylinder, sort of like a cinnamon roll. With the seam side down, flatten the roll into a rectangle. Fold into thirds like a letter, pinch seams to form a ball, place back in the bowl, cover, and let rise in fridge for 40-50 minutes. 
4. While the dough is rising for a second time, prepare the sauce. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and add the onion, oregano and salt. Cook until soft, about 4 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes and sugar, increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Once it boils, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and any other herb you like. 
5. Once the dough has risen in the fridge, take it out and roll out into a 13 inch disk (or just about 4 in longer and wider than you dish is). Slide dough into a prepared 9-in cake pan, pressing to line the bottom of the pan, and about 1 inch up the sides of the pan. Sprinkle half of the cheese over the crust of the pizza, layer the sauce on top of that, and finish with the rest of the cheese. If  you want, you can also add some parmesan at this point. 
6. Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden. Remove from oven, let sit 10 minutes or so before serving. 

We doubled the recipe and had 1 cheese pizza and 1 ham pizza! So, so good!!!!! :D Have you ever had Chicago-style pizza? Did you like it? What is your favorite kind of pizza? I really just love a good cheese or veggie pizza.....that way you really get to taste the sauce and crust! I definitely think that we might add some thinly sliced onion and bell pepper to the top of our pizza the next time we make it! 

Well, that's about it for today....off to do some school work! 

Fun with the Stability Ball

Good morning everyone! Hope you all had awesome weekends!!! Mine was pretty laid back....I actually don't think that I really got out of the house much at all! I did have some fun kitchen adventures though...more on that later on this week!

Last week, I was looking to switch up my workout routine a little bit and decided to use the stability balls at the gym. I've never really done much with them, so I looked up some good exercises and incorporated them into my routine! This circuit is kind of ab-heavy and I was definitely sore the next day.

I love finding new exercises and really enjoyed this workout! I'd have to say that the stability ball russian twists were probably the hardest for me....I had to really work at not falling off of the exercise ball! haha
Do you like to use different equipment at the gym? What has been a tough exercise that you've learned recently?

This weekend was a good one for me. I really worked on letting go of some of my eating disordered behaviors and just had a great time with the family. First of all, we made chicago style pizza on saturday (with literally a POUND of cheese between the two pizzas we made) and I ate some without feeling icky about it. For a really long time, cheese has been a "fear food" of  mine so it felt really great to have some. Another thing that I hadn't had in a while was ice cream, so when we were talking about dessert, I suggested going out and getting some. I got a chocolate cone, which I know doesn't exactly sound like a LOT, but for me, it was great. I'm not gonna say that any of that was easy to do, because it honestly wasn't. Especially since the next day I woke up feeling a little sluggish and bloated, the eating disordered side of me went into panic mode immediately. But I worked through it and am super proud of myself for this past weekend!

Well, that's about it for today.....I'll be back soon with a recipe (or two) for ya!

What did you do this weekend? 

Summer Muffins

Morning everyone!! Can you believe that it is already Friday? I definitely can't....this week has flown by so fast!

First of all, I just wanted to thank ya'll for the awesome comments on my college post from a couple of days ago. I really need to start actively looking at schools pretty soon and am a little nervous about doing so from another continent!

Well, now I have that muffin recipe that I promised for you! I've made a similar flavored muffin here but the ingredients in these are slightly different and I actually think that I like them better. Also, the glaze, while not very healthy, absolutely makes these muffins! So good!

Lemon Coconut Muffins (again!)
makes 6 (can be doubled easily)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup coconut
• 1/4 cup oatmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons butter
• 7 tablespoons sugar ( more or less....if you want them more tangy, use 5-6, or if you want them sweeter, use 8)
• 1/2 egg, beaten
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup milk
• Coarse sugar for sprinkling on top of muffins

Glaze ingredients:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons water
• zest of 1 lemon

Directions:

1. For muffins, combine flour, coconut, oatmeal and baking powder in a medium sized bowl. 
2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, add egg and zest. Combine butter mixture and flour mixture, pour in milk. Stir just until everything is mixed together. 
3. Fill 6 greased muffin tins. Sprinkle some coarse sugar or even some more coconut on top of each muffin. Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes or until muffins test done. Note: This batter is pretty thick and not sticky at all, so it should be easily spooned into the muffin tins. 
4. While muffins are baking, combine all of the glaze ingredients in a saucepan. Heat over medium until sugar has dissolved and glaze has boiled for a couple of minutes. Drizzle over finished muffins. 

These were seriously yummy muffins! I loved how the texture of the oatmeal and the texture of the coconut went really well together, so it wasn't too obvious that the oats were actually in the batter. So good and tasted like summertime! 

So besides baking muffins, my week has just been pretty filled with school-related stuff. I've got a couple of tests this week plus an essay, I think, so I've been pretty busy. I also have about a million (I never exaggerate...at all) random projects that I've started over the past couple of months and have yet to finish (I'm also not at all ADD). So, I'm planning on actually completing some of them....eventually. Are you bad about starting stuff and not finishing it, or do you typically complete all of your projects? 

Well, that's about it for today....gotta go study! haha

What have you got going this weekend?

Future Plans

Good morning  everyone!!! Hope you all are having awesome weeks! Mine is going pretty well.....I am pretty much doing mostly school, but this semester isn't quite as stressful as last semester, which is definitely a good thing! What have you been up to this week? 


Since I've started my last semester of 11th grade, I only have about a year and a half until I'm finished with high school. So now, I'm starting to really think about college and where I might want to go. I definitely know that, depending on the school, I want to major in Kinesiology with a focus in Physical Therapy or Exercise Sciences. I've looked at a couple of schools online, but one of the most stressful parts about the process for me is that I won't actually be able to visit the college campuses until the day that I go to school. I'm just thankful that so many colleges now have facebooks so that I can ask alumni their opinions on the atmosphere of the college.
Here are a couple of my options thus far:

Texas Woman's University

The best part about TWU is that I have an aunt, who happens to be certified in personal training, who lives about 45 minutes from the Dallas campus. She's offered to renovate a room in her house so that I could live at least part time with them. She also has several contacts in the personal training/physical therapy world, which is really great. 

Also, there is University of Arkansas. It is closer to my hometown area than Texas is, and also has a pretty great program. Oh, and my dad is a Razorbacks fan....hahaha :D

I have a couple other schools that I'm looking at as well. It is still early and I want to be able to make a choice without feeling too rushed. 

What are some tips for choosing a college?

One thing that worries me about college is how I will handle the stress. I definitely hope that in a year and a half I will have grown as a person and learned how to deal better both with stress and also with eating disordered thoughts. My biggest worry is that once I'm pretty much on my own, I'll go back to where I was before. I pray every day  for strength, and although I'm definitely worried about what will happen in college, I believe that God will guide me and help me through any more difficult times. 

Well, that's about it for today! :D  Be back soon with (another) muffin recipe! 

How did you choose your college? Did you go on a campus tour or did you decide without visiting the campus?