Chris Tomlin

So, Friday night's concert in Hershey was unbelievable. Probably the best concert I have ever been to! I love this pic I took!! We were in the 2nd row and I was so close to Chris Tomlin, who by the way, has a gorgeous dimple. They played a great set and he sang with Christy Nockles who is an amazing vocalist. I am so glad we went. It was a hit of a Christmas present for my parents and Corey. Corey enjoyed it way more than he probably thought he would. I also ran into my Aunt Karen and Uncle Bruce after the show, which was cool.
The speaker, Louie Giglio, is very captivating and his message was mind blowing. I wish I could explain it in words but I can't.
And now for the craziness of the next few weeks: moving, traveling, studying...bring it on!

Happy Spring!

It's Official!

I was having the worst Sunday Pm/Monday Am ever- I got to school after a 2 hr. trip in the torrential downpours and discovered that my keys to my apt. were not with me. The next morning I had a meeting at 7:00. Went out to my car at 6:45 (more than enough time to drive to school) and discovered that my car battery died. After trying to start it for several minutes, I ran up to my apt. and grabbed a winter coat and walked. It was the windiest day and the roads were so icy! Got to school about 5 min late for my meeting and they locked the doors and wouldn't let me in. I have to "make up" the meeting tomorrow at 7:15. ARE YOU SERIOUS people? Then, in the afternoon I heard a huge crash while I was making food in my apt. to find that something exploded outside and I lost all power/electricity/internet, etc. I almost gave up and just went to bed.
BUT....Here comes the happy part!!!

My sister and I were rejected from the first house we saw because they found a couple that had beat us to the credit report or whatever. So we were kind of bummed. We looked at another place on Saturday morning- MUCH NICER. A sweet Christian couple rents out an entire house (3 bedrooms, beautiful hardwood floors, antique but with renovated windows) that is their estate from his parents. We met with the man and he said he would contact our references on Monday (yesterday) and get back to us between Wed. and Fri. Just as I was getting my car jumped at 8:00 last night by my awesome neighbor, my phone rings and it was John telling us they want Julie and I to rent the house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God knew I needed that news last night! So just 7 days ago, I thought I would be homeless or have some crappy options, but now I am ecstatic. Just 3 weeks until moving day!!!

The place is super nice and although it is more money than I pay now, Julie will be contributing. We can't wait to be roommates and set up a place together. Plus, I still only have a 2 min. commute to work. :)
Praise God for his faithfulness!!

Spring Changes

I officially stink at keeping up with writing in this thing. I seem to only do it when I need to be writing a paper for grad. school.

I feel as though this spring will be magnificent!! Many new things and things to look forward to.
Many things also still up in the air...so it is a bit stressful.

One thing that IS definite, being that I bought my airplane tickets today, is that I will be heading out to California State University next month! So excited!!! This will be for graduate work but I am still really excited to meet up with my professors and classmates. AND to see California --since I have never been before.

Other changes- I told my landlord I will be out of here by April 1. Where am I going? Don't know. This is why things are in the air still. Many things have unfolded the last few days, and now I am looking for a new place with a prettttttyyyyy cooool roommate- Julie Palmer. :) Yup, my sister! Hurrah! I hate living alone. I need socialization!! I am filling out apps for places now and I hope it goes through because otherwise I will be homeless as of April 1.

And, in 2 weeks, I will be 60% finished with my Master's degree. This is kicking my butt, and I can't wait to be finished! (Just 4 more classes to take!!!! And I will take them all in 2011)

Also, in less than 3 months, my boyfriend will have graduated from law school. YAYAYAYAYAY! He has worked so incredibly hard and will graduate within the top 10 or 15 % of his class! :) So proud of him. Now, we need to keep praying that a job opportunity opens up for him. He has been so worried about that and I know God has a plan!

So, being March 1, I am looking ahead to spring. Daylight Savings is less than 2 weeks away and even though I hate losing an hour, I love that it stays light out longer. I took a nice walk outside today to breathe in the fresh air.

Happy March, everyone!!!!! :) :) :)

Time Waster

Lately, I have been good at doing one thing: wasting time. I have a million things to do, yet when I have some free time, I spend it relaxing or wasting time. Example: I have many papers to file in my classroom and portfolios to put together. Today we don't have students- meetings and such, but this afternoon I have an hour of free time. I can't leave until 3:00, so I am essentially being held hostage here. This should force me to do my work. False. I blog instead. And listen to iTunes. And drink 2 diet Cokes. And call my dad. Then my boyfriend. Then color code my calendar. Check my mailbox in the school office 3 times. Then read poetry. Is it 3:00 yet? Nope. 45 minutes.
It is very good that I have a job where I am held to a strict schedule, because if I were self employed, my business would die.

Sunday Nights

Is there anything more depressing than Sunday nights? Seriously...the weekend feels like 4 hours. Monday thru Friday feel like 4 years. Plus, I didn't get as much done as I wanted to for work this weekend, so now I am up at almost midnight. Procrastination doesn't end with college.
I am hoping and praying that when the weekdays are not spent alone in an apartment, I will like them more...like when I can live with someone that can converse with me...in English. I hate to rush life by wishing days away, but this in between stage kind of is depressing. It could just be I am grumpy because tonight it is supposed to be 2 degrees BELOW zero. Tomorrow's HIGH is in the "lower 20s"....really !?!?! WHY DO I NOT LIVE IN MIAMI?

Hmm...something happy...happy...oh!
None of my friends (from HS or college or friends from work) have gotten married yet. BUT my really close friend set a date for her wedding this weekend. So I am very happy to go to her wedding. I think it will be in Bryn Mawr in October. That's exciting! Congrats, Jen & Steve!!! :)

Slushy. Mushy. Icy. Cold. Snow. Day.

Well I knew we would not be so lucky as to make it through the winter without a snow day. As a kid, I loved Snow days, but as a teacher- I don't. This means in June when the sun is shining and everyone else is on vacation at the Jersey shore, I am in a classroom with whiny kids (and chances are I am whining, too) :)

Today was our first snow day, extending our school year further into June. SOMETIMES I am happy for a snow day if I have to write a paper or I am exhausted but I just had a three day weekend. Not only that, but I left my parents house last night to come back to my lonely apartment-aka tiny crap hole with noisy traffic and plows- and I could have stayed an extra day. My mom is away in Massachusetts with Julie and since dad has to work, the poor dog is alone all day. Probably peeing in my bedroom.

Tomorrow I have a conference to go to all day so I won't be in school either. This meant that even on my snow day, I had to clean off the slush ice on my car and head to the school for about 90 minutes to leave substitute plans. I REALLY wanted to just write "Let them have a study hall." But, I felt guilty and lazy so I left them work to do.

So- what did I do on my day off? Nothing now that I think about it- besides eat Peanut Butter Cap'n crunch in bed at noon in my PJs and then head to school to work. Tonight, I think I will get movin and head to the gym for cardio and strength class. I will also have a cup of hot cocoa and do some work for my grad. class. I started a new class and so far it seems interesting but pretty demanding. I have a paper due on Valentine's Day. Speaking of which, February is coming up and I love the month of February: hearts, birthday, sweets, VDay, and celebrating 4 and a half years with my sweet boyfriend. Also, February has the 3 day President's day weekend, the superbowl, and it is short and sweet. Plus, it technically means the end of this winter slushy mushy icy cold snow day crap. :) It could be worse- my roof could be leaking into my bedroom like Corey's is now.

Stay warm everyone!!!!

Good Eats.

I think it would be fun to have a blog dedicated to food, but since I don't have time to do that, I will just throw some of that into the mix right here. I love taking pictures of the food that I make and like to keep it in a photo album for reference when I need to look up what I made for certain events. Here are some treats I tried over my 10 day winter vacation from work (which by the way was GLORIOUS!).


Chocolate Velvet Dessert.
A chocolate wafer crust with creamy chocolate piped into the crust.


Christmas Morning- Mocha Mint Cappuccinos
Topped with whipped cream.


Cranberry Cheese Wedge
Obvi, I didn't make the cheese- but I dressed it up with some rosemary springs and sugared cranberries and fresh cherries.


Cordon Bleu Bites
A big hit for the New Year's Eve party- ham & swiss with a dijon sauce on sliced French bread.


New Year's Eve dessert- Cranberry Pear Pie & Cherry Pie
Cranberry Pear-topped with a crumb mixture of brown sugar and butter. Over 9 cups of fresh fruit in this baby!
Cherry- A double crust pie with cherries and cranberries in it and a bit of healthy walnuts. Even went over well with people who are not typically cherry pie people.



Wilbur Bud Oatmeal Cookies
For those who are not familiar, Wilbur Buds were created before the Hershey Kiss, but they did not patent it in time. They are made 2 doors down from my apartment in Lititz. I popped a Wilbur Bud in the center of chewy oatmeal cookies.


Dad's 50th cake
Chocolate layer cake with homemade frosting. Topped with strawberries and drizzled with ganache. Garnished with a "50" that I made out of melted semi-sweet chocolate. I took this to Christmas dinner and it was well-received.


Happy New Year! Here's to good food in 2011!!!!