Ok, so I failed miserably at the 7 posts in 7 days challenge.

Not to make excuses or toot my own horn, but I want to share with you the good news that may have had something to do with the lack of posts:

I finished my last undergraduate classes and am now a college graduate with a BS in Biology!!

AND

I have accepted my first real job! (Praise God!)

Thank you to everybody who has helped and prayed for me along the way! I am so blessed!

We have the cutest Papa Francis!

Blogging Challenge Day 3

(Haven't heard about "The Challenge"? Click here.)

Today, I thought I'd spare you my useless drivel and share a few links. 

Actually, I've been out or working all day and this is my first chance to sit down and blog... and you don't want drivel. So, links it is.

I've organized them into categories, so it'd be easier to read. However, if nothing else, I beg you, check out the last one. It's life changing. l.i.t.e.r.a.l.l.y.

• Music - The Hunts - Indie band (Sort of Mumford & Sons and Ingrid Michaelson with a unique twist) 7 siblings. Amazingly talented. 

• Organization/Simple living - Unfortunately, Rachel doesn't update anymore, but there's tons of helpful information at Small Notebook

• Artsy stuff - A fun blog with inspiring diy decor and crafts. As with many crafting blogs, quite a few of the projects require too much work (they look awesome), but it's fun to get ideas. Craftberry Bush

• Fascinating - Yeah, don't let the name fool you. There are some really amazing videos at The Kid Should See This

• Religion -- Words do not suffice. God has blessed Fr. Hudgins with a gift for preaching. Daily homilies (usually 3-5 min) and lectures (~30-50 min) on a wide variety of Catholic topics. Most are downloadable and can be played on an ipod or mp3 player. Please don't miss this. (no, I don't gain anything by promoting this, I've just benefitted so much from it. Praise God! :) )

Yum?

Yesterday, my dear sister treated me to breakfast at a well known pancake joint. As I began to peruse the menu, my appetite grew until I came upon the following:

Yeah. Very appetizing. I like how they highlight the dry toast. However, that's probably the most authentic part of the whole meal. Would you like some fake eggs and bacon with a side of dry whole wheat toast?

If this is the best they have in terms of healthy food, no wonder we have a problem with obesity.

Ahhh!

It's 11:21 and I just realized I forgot to write today's post for Jennifer Fulwiler's 7 Posts in 7 Days Blogging Challenge.

(Is it just me or does anyone else ever try to capitalize numbers in addition to letters? Next time I post something you'll be forewarned lest you think that I'm the blogger with the dirtiest language... But, you know, that actually might work for this post. After all, it is !!:@^ at night, and I am just starting to write.)

Somehow, I am sure that this is not what Jennifer meant when she said that this challenge will "force us to stop thinking and just write." Ha. I think I'll take the "stop thinking" part seriously ;)

Ah well, speaking of not thinking, I actually cannot think of anything worthwhile or halfway decent because it is !!:$( PM. Therefore, I'd like to share a few pictures that have made me lol recently (or rather smile and exhale rapidly through my nose because who actually laughs out loud when they write lol?).

Please. Try it. :D

I hope this is photoshopped

Hmm. The choice is so hard. 

Hope the last seven minutes of today are wonderful for you! :) 

(in other words, goodnight)

Fast Facts

Can you guess what this is?
A fossilized horse or camel tooth. It is probably between 6 and 30 million years old.

This is looking down upon the cusps of the tooth. From
this view, it looks more molar-like.

I was blessed to find this tooth last year when we went on vacation in North Carolina. One of my professors from college identified it for me once we came home. What a blessing!

Scrumptious Blog Award

(Awarded by the lovely Allison from Faint Hue of Grace)
Rules 
1) Once you are awarded, post about it on your blog and leave a link back to the person who awarded you 
2) Answer all the questions on the tag 
3) Do not award anyone who has more than 100 followers 
4) Come up with ten new questions 
5) Keep your questions clean and refrain from using vile language 
6) Tag people

1. If you had to subscribe to one magazine, what would it be and why?
Hmm. Cooks Illustrated. I love reading their practical cooking tips and the mysterious kitchen items they identify.
2. What's your favorite CD?
Thankfully, I don't own many CDs or else I'd never answer this. I think though, it'd have to be Echoes of Ephesus by the Benedictines of Mary Queen of Apostles (honestly, other than talks on CD and Thoroughly Modern Millie, I don't think I own any physical CDs. wow!)
3. Describe your worst kitchen disaster.
Don't ask.

moving on

Ok. It involved a too much baking powder/salt, root beer ice-cream, and a wacky cake (sounds like a  disaster already)

Oh and we had company. 

Think bowl full of half melted ice-cream sopped up by inedible cake. appetizing.

4. What's your favorite thing that currently hanging in your closet?
My new maxi dress!
5. Do you journal?
Have you seen how consistent I am with blogging? (Aka, absolutely not). I do sometimes prayer journal though.
6. Who's your go-to saint who you pray to the most? 
Mother!

7. If you could spend one day with anyone, real or fictional, currently living or deceased, who would it be and why?
Mother! I would just love to spend time chatting with her and getting to know her.

What do you think it will be like to meet Our Lady for the first time?

(Shamelessly stolen from Let Me be Catholic)

8. Favorite color combo?
Pink and green. or blue and green. or something.
9. What's one fun fact about you that most people don't know?
I'm a closet paleontologist. :)
10. Favorite memory of all time?
So many, but I think receiving Our Lord in communion trumps all. :)

(feel free to use this as a button)

And the Scrumptious Awards go to:

Charlotte at Waltzing Matilda
Allison at Faint Hue of Grace (tag backs)
Sarah Thér èse at Footprints On My Heart

1. What is your favorite food you've eaten today?
2. What was the last movie you saw in the theater? 
3. Doing any reading this summer? 
4. Have any recommendations (per Q3)?
5. Would you say you had a green or black thumb?
6. Who's your confirmation saint? 
7. If you had 6 months and unlimited resources, what new hobby would you pursue?
8. What do you prefer: baking or cooking?
9. Do you have a favorite dish you like to make?
10. If 10 years ago you had to predict where you are today, would your guess have been close or far from reality? 

Fast Facts

Introducing a new series of posts! Once a week I'll be posting a random fact, which will (hopefully) be fast, fun and fascinating.

Here's one that I find mind boggling.
This a red blood cell (also known as an erythrocyte):

Yes, it's an actual photograph.

Oxygen Molecule 

There are 4 to 5 million of these in one microliter of blood. (For visualization, there are about 50 microliters in a drop of water).

Red blood cells are really important because they carry oxygen throughout the body. About 1 billion molecules of oxygen bind to one red blood cell.

This means that there are ~ 4.5*10^15 or 4,500,000,000,000,000 oxygen molecules per microliter of blood.  Unbelievable, right?

God is amazing!

Might be back

My dear friend Allison over at Faint Hue of Grace encouraged me to get back into blogging a few weeks ago (which was very kind of her) and I have been considering it ever since then.

To blog or not to blog, that is the question...

There were a few reasons I had stopped, namely:

• I was spending time blogging instead of working on truly necessary things
• I was terrible at consistently posting things (hence the several month hiatuses between posts)
• I found myself thinking of how I could blog about ______   instead of living in the moment.
• I wasn't sure how much I wanted to post online for everyone to read--especially now with geotagging.
• Most importantly, I found it easy to get caught up, pridefully reviewing again how many people viewed this or that post. (it never was that many by the way) ;) 

I think that if I come back to blogging, I will try to be aware of these factors. Blogging can be really great in many ways. I think it's a great tool for connecting with others, evangelization, clearing one's mind, photo salvaging, recording a recipe or steps in a craft... But as the saying goes: everything in moderation (including moderation) :)

A Picture is Worth....

So, as you can see from the previous post, I am working on catching up on the blog! Yay!

I figured it might be best to present the major events of the last couple months to you in the form of pictures and captions. This way, you won't have to be submitted to several thousand words of drivel. :)

Here goes:

It all began many years ago....

Yep, that's me! Crazy, huh?

I suppose we needn't go back that far though.

How about, say, Thanksgiving 2012. 

Tons of AMAZING food! Yum!

We were able to fit nearly twenty of us at one table!

Although we had to use some plasticware, cloth napkins
 and homemade name tags jazzed things up a bit! We tested the
hypothesis that a spaghetti noodle will function in the
 place of long match when lighting all the candles...
whoever came up with the idea never tried it. :)

Christmas Preparations! 
This year, I made most of my Christmas presents by hand. Some months ago, my sister brought up the idea of making Christmas-themed pysanky Easter eggs (how is that for contradictory?). Anyhow, I took the idea and decided to make egg ornaments using the pysanky wax/die method. It's been so much fun!

It starts with drawing your design on a blown egg. Then
one adds wax and die alternately to apply color. Once
the final color has been applied, the wax is melted off
to reveal the design. 

I had made Our Lady of Guadalupe before, but this one
turned out better than before. Thanks be to God!

I made this egg for my brother, who is an avid
Corn Husker. :) 

Eggs that tell a story are definitely the most fun to make.
This one has a game of frisbee on it! 

An application of nail polish will add a finished look!

Of course, one cannot prepare for Christmas without
 baking some Christmas cookies! This was the first time I
was introduced to "painting" unbaked sugar cookies...
Never. going. back.

Christmas! 
This year, Christmas was a bit toned down due to the flu, but it was grace-filled nonetheless! Thanks be to God for niquil and sudafed though! We were blessed to have my brother and sister-in-law join us part of the time!

Prince of Peace

 

A family of Huskers. 

The wonders of cream cheese and ranch mix. 

Yeah. um. These are the best chocolate chip
 cookies in existence. Their name?
"I want to marry you cookies" 

The beauty of the Nativity is that it looks
forward to Calvary.

Ok. This is embarrassing...

Ok. So here's the thing. I have a plentitude of things and pictures to share with you but am not sure where to start. The ironic thing is, despite the fact that things have been rather quiet around here lately, I  actually have sat down to write fairly regularly. Hence, my post page looks like this:

Yep, that's right. Three fourths of recent posts are unfinished and unpublished. Hopefully this isn't a gauge for life. ;) Anyhow, I hope to get caught up soon!