Cakes and cakes and cakes and cakes and cakes

My first attempt at cake making. I'm getting ready for my brother and his wife's big wedding party (they got married in August in Hawaii). I'm making cakes for each table, or something like that. This is a "Lady Baltimore Cake" found in a really cool cookbook called, "Southern Cakes" by Nancie McDermott. It has some wonderful cake recipes in it, beautiful pictures, and cool stories about where the recipes came from. I'm not sold on this recipe because of the frosting. It just seems too much like marshmallow fluff to me...however, I may just not have made it right...I need to borrow my sister's hand mixer so I don't have to whisk everything myself. Pretty intense stuff.

I dabble....

I just started playing guitar sort-of-for-real this past semester, so I've been playing now for about 8ish months. This is a pic of me playing at our open mic night this past Friday night at the Chi Alpha camping trip. It was so fun/awkward to play in front of people. But I really love playing because anytime I want now I can grab my guitar and play worship. I love going out to our pool and sitting out there early in the morning with my guitar and my bible. Good stuff. :)

COFFEE!!!

I'm done with my Daniel Fast as of TODAY!! Last night me and my roommie Ruth went to Pita Pit right at midnight and got FREE PITA'S which was an amazing way to break a fast let me tell ya. (We had coupons from a UNT event). Anyway, currently I'm slightly light headed after drinking coffee for the first time in 3 WHOLE WEEKS! But I'm cool with that because I love coffee. Speaking of coffee, I have decided to start roasting my own coffee. If you are interested in this please comment because I would love to share some tips and stories with you! Basically though I did it with a hot air popcorn popper. It is super simple and only takes about 5-8 minutes to roast enough for a pot-full. I got the coffee from a friend of mine who owns a coffee shop/restaurant in Slayton, MN called "The Leftbank Cafe." My brother-in-law Chuck took this picture. He thinks he "wins" when it comes to the best coffee picture (all my siblings were attempting to take artsy pictures of my first roast), but I really like Ginger's picture which you can see here at her blog.

Tatoos and Tater Tots

I'm going to get a tattoo soon and I wanted to share why. I think it is a beautiful expression of something that is inside you. I think it should be divinely inspired and as silly as it sounds I feel I was inspired by the Lord to get a sun tattoo on my foot (yes, one of the most painful places...). When it struck me initially I was thinking about a few verses in particular, but have since kept finding more and more meaning. The two that stick out the most for me are Psalm 119 and Revelation 21. Psalm 119 contains the well known verse "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path," however, if you look at the entire psalm you see that it really is entirely about God leading us on the right path. It begins with "Blessed are those who are blameless, who WALK in the way of the Lord" and continues on to explain what this looks like, how God keeps us on this path, etc. It is a great description of our walk here and now. However, there is more than just the here and now. God shows us something greater in Revelation when he describes a new heaven and new earth. In Revelation 21 a description of this is given and it says that "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it." It is just a reminder to me that there is something more! Something greater! That as much as the sun is an amazing gift to us that is huge and awesome, God made it...and He is bigger and more awesome and more shiny? :)

So...that's all I've got to say about that...and the tater tot thing...well, I was just thinking about the Daniel fast I'm doing and about Daniel's Daniel Fast in the bible, and how I complain (sort of jokingly, but complain none the less) about not being able to eat things like meat, but I still have the ability to eat way more than Daniel probably got to because I have access to food from every single country on this planet...how crazy is that? Basically this thought came upon a potluck at Eaglepointe this morning at which someone made tater tot casserole (hotdish) and I thought to myself, I can eat tater tots on my fast!!! But I couldn't really because of all the other stuff in the hotdish. But then it got me thinking about how technically that is within the guidelines of the fast, as well as things like salsa and potato chips (as long as they are all natural and only have potato, salt, and oil). So I mean, come on...Daniel definitely didn't have things like that. I'm really not that bad off, even doing this fast where I can't eat meat, sugar, dairy, bread etc.

More on both of these things later, but here is a link to a website that inspires me. Art Deco is cool! The stained glass sun about half way down is very close to what my tattoo will look like, although not exactly like that.

Just a quick note!

Some things I did this summer:
1. Read all of "the Cat's Pajama's" which is a collection of stories by Ray Bradbury. Great author!!
2. Explored the the Great Plains with my family at Pipestone National Monument in Pipestone, MN. Yay history! (although not if you are American Indian....)
3. Made jam and canned it with my Grandma
4. Learned how to use tools but still can't remember what they are called...

Things I am excited for this semester (BECAUSE SCHOOL STARTS TODAY!!)
1. learning Spanish with my new friends from Mexico and Venezuela
2. Only taking 4 classes!
3. babysitting my niece and nephew :)
4. Continuing Friday night bible study at my place and enjoying all the awesome international food
5. What God has in store for UNT, my family, and my own heart this year

Hope the new school year is great for everyone!

Quick cooking note:

Yesterday I made awesome banana bread that called for 4 bananas, but I used 3 and substituted about a 1/2 cup, or so..., of canned apple slices, which broke up into pieces as I mixed. It was delicious. Also, if you normally really make banana NUT bread, I recommend trying it without the nuts. It tastes totally different in my opinion. I'm not actually a big fan of banana nut bread, but love banana bread.

Michelangelo at 1 in the morning. Yes please.

I feel full of fun facts this week since it is finals and all you do during this time is cram knowledge into your head like it's going out of style. I just spent the past the past 6 hours straight studying for my beverage survey final and then my english lit final, both of which are "this morning" meaning in a few hours...but no worries, I promise to sleep in between now and then. I just wanted to take a break and share an interesting poem written by Michelangelo (yes, the one who sculpted "David" and did the Sistine Chapel. He was also a poet). He struggled throughout his life with sin. I wish I knew more about him, but I don't know what the outcome was. I do know that he was searching...check out this poem.

I wish to want, Lord, what eludes my will:
between your passion and my heart a block
of ice deflects your fire, and makes a mock
of everything I write with perjured quill.
I love you with my lips, then groan that still
your love can't reach my heart, nor will it knock
and force the door, that joys of all kinds flock
about my heart, your purpose to fulfill.
Dissolve that block, my lord, tear down the wall
whose thickness keeps me from the piercing light
of your sweet presence, no longer seen on earth.
Be like a bridegroom, let your brightness fall
upon a yearning soul which at your sight
is warmed at heart, having from you its birth.