Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries Divorce

You've heard about this right? Apparently Kim Kardashian has filed for divorce against her new husband, Kris Humphries. I'm all for marriage, and I happen to be in one that continues to exceed my expectations in every good way possible, but while I wish this couple all the best, I can't help but to say. . . DUH!

I don't know anything about their relationship other than what their show displays, but those episodes were almost painful to watch. Did you see them?? Was it the production team and editing that made Kris Humphries look like such a jerk? Did we only see the bad side of their relationship? 

Look, I didn't know my husband for quite a year when we got married, and we were engaged a lot sooner than that. I know you can meet, fall in love fast, and get married almost immediately and maintain a successful, happy marriage. They said they were in love, I get it. I'm not saying things like this can't happen, but the show gave the impression they barely knew each other at all, and even that her family couldn't stand him, really. 

Who knows what the reality of this show really is. The "jerk" side of this guy came off as a reality check to a friend of  mine. She felt Kris Humphries wasn't a jerk at all, but a good dose of reality for Kim. 

Either way, I really do wish them the best. And who knows that the next issue of People won't be about their reconciliation, or that it will turn out a total hype and they are actually very happy! I tend to believe they didn't do this marriage thing for show, and actually were in love, or thought they were. Marriage take humility, and if you don't have it, you have the opportunity to learn to have it! It's easy to assume you should just give up on marriage if the other party isn't doing their part, but it's difficult to force yourself to focus only on yourself and not what you feel your spouse is doing wrong. Hopefully these 2 will work things out. I wish them all the best!

Soul Cakes

We're all about Halloween in our household, and this recipe is also all about Halloween. Read the history here, and then get busy making these bad boys! 

My husband and I saw one of those cool Halloween episodes on Food Network last year and he's been trying to get me to make them ever since. October has been the busiest month for our business (and life in general), so I haven't done much Halloween cooking. In other words, I owe him. I owe him big time.

So tomorrow night, the night before Halloween mind you, I'll be making soul cakes so that he can wake up and eat them for breakfast on Halloween morning. So, with that said, I haven't made this recipe yet, but it looks amazing! I figured I'd share Caroline's recipe with you guys. 

Please let me know if you try it and how it turns out! Email me your pictures, or comment and give me a link to your blog about it and I'll share it in a post. Life is all about sharing . . . and chocolate, but that's another post!

Here's one of Caroline's gorgeous pictures of her soul cakes, taken straight from her blog at Talks About Food: Check her out!!

Halloween Things to Come

Hey Halloween people!! Look, I know you're probably here because you're looking for some really amazing halloween blog, and you came here, and you see a blonde cartoon chick with an apron, and a blog filled with all kinds of light blue, pink, and various flavors of cupcakes. This isn't the blog you thought it was, I get it.

BUT WAIT!! Please don't go! Let me exceed your expectations. I am obsessed with Halloween food, decorations, clothes, and everything else spooky. Last year, I changed my entire blog to just Halloween things, and this year won't be much different. I may look all girly, but there will be ghosts, pumpkins, food, crafts, and creepy things.

Here's a list of things to come in the next couple weeks:

* How-to guideline on making the EXACT pumpkin that is on the Halloween movies. This is an exact replica, and it now sits on our fireplace and haunts me when I play checkers with my husband every night. I hate that stupid thing, and I'll share it so your wife (or husband, or kids, or whoever else) can hate you too!

* Ghost food. I get that that makes no sense, but we're a little obsessed with ghost related things in my house, and I happen to love to cook. This means I make almost every meal in our house ghostly in the month of October. More to come..

* Sweet junk that will rot your teeth. Sweet halloween junk that is! Pumpkin desserts I make every year, how-to pumpkin things, peeps marchmallow things, and even healthy junk thrown in the mix (sorry but it's a must.)

* Random fall crafts. Sorry, but it's not just Halloween time, it's also Fall. Our church has a Fall Festival coming up, and I need to make all kinds of weird things, so get ready because it's coming!

* Random pictures of Halloween things I find and love. The latest is a peppermint batty.. like a peppermint patty but shaped as a bat. GENIUS.

* Pictures of junk in our house. Creepy things my husband loves to scare me with, and cute little decorations alike. LOTS of halloween things to come!

But as for right now, this 29 year old chick needs to get off the computer and do something meaningful with her life, like watch a Berenstain Bears Halloween DVD with her husband.PS: I also own this book:

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this:

10 Years Since 9-11

Has it really been 10 years? Where did the time go? 

Sept 11, 2001 -- I remember waking up to the phone ringing. My best friend called to tell me about how one of the twin tours has been hit by a plane. I couldn't hardly make her words out, but I knew she wasn't making any sense. We live in Texas, and yet somehow, I could hear the fear in her voice. She's the strong one in our group, and yet she sounded utterly terrified. Her voice was trembling as she mentioned what has just happened. I ran down the stairs of my parents house and turned on the news. Together, we watched in silence. All I heard on her end were sniffles and whimpers every now and then. Together, we watched the 2nd plane hit the other tower. We gasped together in shock. 

To know people were dying right there, out of nowhere was more than I knew how to wrap my mind around. To see people jumping from 90 stories and above, because they had to choose between that or burning alive, was just too much for my 19 year old mind to comprehend. The image of people jumping still burns in my mind today, and I have chills as I type this. We continued to watch as the first tower fell, and then the second. We were horrified in knowing another plane crashed into the Pentagon, and then that another plane was in the midst of being hijacked and that it eventually crashed into a field. All we both knew to do was cry. I sat in a fetal position and felt myself shaking. I was home alone, my brother was at school and my parents were both at work. For us, it was just another day, as we were doing our normal routine. For them, it was the worst day of their life. I felt scared for my family's safety and even my own. We weren't anywhere near areas that had been hit, but were were affected. The whole world was affected. I needed to be closer to my family, and I didn't know how to even feel about this situation, other that total fear, disbelief, and extreme sadness. 

It shook my world.

As the days after passed slowly, more news came out. The plane that crashed into the field took down the terrorists. Details emerged that heroes inside the buildings were carrying handicapped and elderly people down 50 flights of stairs. As victims fought to get down the twin tour stairs, they passed fire fighters going up. Firefighters who never made it back down those stairs. Instead, they will forever be remembered as heroes. Stories about 2 men who worked in the 80 something floor came out. They saved people on their floor, and so many people in the floors above them, and yet didn't make it out alive. Instead, they stayed until the end, saving people who would have died otherwise. Spouses, children, mothers and fathers, and siblings all told stories about their loved ones calling them while on board Flight 93. How they vowed to save so many others by taking the terrorists down. Who knows how many lives were saved because of those brave people!? 

I lied awake last night, praying for all the people who's lives were changed because of 9-11, and as the saying goes, "I will never forget!" I'll never forget to keep praying for them.

 I'll never forget that there were so, so many heroes who's stories didn't make the headlines. There were so many victims who didn't live to tell about the hero that died trying to save them. 

I'll never forget to keep thanking God for our ability to come together in the midst of something to awful.

I'll never forget each and every story of those who lost a hero, so that we could gain one.

Popcorn Chicken w/ Honey Mustard Sauce

I normally like to take pictures of each step, or at least a few pictures of some steps, but this recipe is just way too easy. 

For the chicken, all you need to do is grab a couple boneless, skinless, chicken breasts and cut them into bite sized chunks. Crack an egg into a bowl and whisk with a fork. Grab some flour (I use whole wheat) and put it in a separate bowl. Meanwhile, grab a skillet and add enough oil (I like walnut or canola oil, but olive oil works fine too) and heat to medium. You'll know the oil is hot enough when you drop a little flour in and it sizzles.

To begin making these little pieces of amazingness, just dunk the chicken into flour, then egg, the flour again. Place the coated chicken on a plate until they are all coated. Add them into the oil all at the same time, so they will be ready all at once. If you're making a lot, you may need to do this in 2 batches.

Honey Mustard Dressing -- Literally just combine honey with ground mustard. I usually do 2 parts mustard and 1 part honey. Agave nectar works fine, and yellow mustard can be subbed for ground, although the texture of ground mustard is my favorite. :) 

 

 

 

 

Day 23

So today is Day 23 and I've yet to lose anything worth being proud of. Instead, I've gained and lost a little here and there, which sucks, to be honest. I start tennis next week, so I hope that helps give me a push in a better direction. Even still, it's only 2 days a week, so it won't be enough of a workout to make any kind of meaningful impact. Ugh!!

Yesterday, my husband suggested we go for a bike ride, since our plans to play tennis got shot down (by both of us) and riding bikes seemed easier than driving around to find an empty tennis court. Boy, were we wrong. As we got a few streets down, my husband's tire went flat. As I slowly rode my bike back home, he slowly walked his. When we got home to air up his tire, we realized I accidentally broke the bike pump, which meant no exercise for us.

Let me correct myself, we COULD have played tennis, but we didn't. We COULD have worked out at home, but we didn't. Instead, we ate homemade peach milkshakes and string cheese.

Strange how I haven't lost weight!! Anyway, I get the best hits on my website from recipes, so I need to get back on the ball with that. I cook random things all the time, so why not share the good ones? Heck, I might even share the bad ones and warn you beforehand!


On another note, school starts back next week. 17 hours of school on top of trying to grow a business might just be too much for me, but I am going to give it my all!

Wish me luck!!

Iced Coffee to the Rescue!

So I'm doing this crazy, "eat healthy" thing... Let's just call it what it is, DIET... and I am starving. I know better than to get myself into this situation, but I'm actually barely eating until dinner. The reason I feel this makes sense, is because staying more full during the day hasn't been working for me. I'm eating the right stuff, but I end up hungry later and out of calories. I'm tired of being hungry during dinner, and not having enough calories to fill up.

So I had 1/2 piece of salmon with some veggies for lunch. I would have had a full piece but I was running out the door. For breakfast I had 1 egg and 2 pieces of turkey sausage with coffee.

Lots of calories left for tonight, but I'm hungry and don't have many low calorie things... and then I realized I could have an iced coffee. YUM. Satisfies the sweet tooth I have, and also hypes me up for some work later in the day today. Here's the super shortcut to ice coffee. It's the 'cheaters" way, NOT the official way, but it tastes exactly the same to me!

Iced Coffee - Serves 1:
* 1 TBS instant coffee
* 1 large mug hot water (about 1-1.5 cups)
* Sugar (to taste)
* Lots of ice
* Tall glass
* Milk

Heat water and add instant coffee. Grab a tall glass and fill it with ice. Add about 1/4 C milk to the ice, and then add enough of the coffee/water mixture to fill the glass about half way. Add more milk, and then top off with more of the coffee mixture. Add sugar to taste. ENJOY!