Sacramento Night 1

Sacramento greeted us with cool and rainy weather right off the plane...how delightful! Ben and Kristin picked us up from the airport and took us to their little humble abode.

We each had one of these shirts waiting for us when we arrived!

After freshening up, we ate at a restaurant called Jack's then headed to the Sacramento Kings vs Philadelphia 76ers game. The Kings lost, but we were amused by the circus like atmosphere of NBA basketball.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope ya'll wore your green today! Have a good one!

Sacramento Spring Break 2011

Spring Break has officially begun-- I survived the past two brutal weeks of school and I'm flying to Sacramento tomorrow morning-- I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas! Ben and Kristin have oodles of things planned for us, so we will definitely be cramming as much as we can into the four days we are there! I plan on seeing the following while in California...and I will be sure to blog about our journey as soon as I get home, if not while I am there.

Don't Stress the Dress!

My little sister-- who just turned 16 on March 15th, which is still hard to believe-- had been struggling to find the perfect prom dress. She is only a sophomore so she wasn't planning on purchasing her own dress, but borrowing one instead. After trying a few different dresses from friends and family, she decided to attend Don't Stress the Dress. Don't Stress the Dress is an event where (Northeast Nebraska) girls can shop for a prom dress and accessories at NO COST! It is quite an amazing event! People from all over have donated new or gently used prom dresses, shoes, and jewelry. The even took place on two different days above a bank in small town Oakland, Nebraska. All of the dresses were organized by size, there were 12 dressing rooms, a shoe room, tables of jewelry, a waiting room for all of the anxious girls, and several volunteers! I was told that over 100 girls found a prom dress the same day Stef found hers-- I am still amazed at this whole concept-- why not donate your old dresses and let someone else enjoy them free of cost?!

Here is Stef in her dress-- doesn't she look just like Belle off Beauty and the Beast? Beautiful!

scratch that

After writing my previous post on how I was going to give up chocolate for Lent, I visited with my brother about what he chose to give up for the next 40+ days; his answer was Facebook, and he had quite the rationale behind his choice--he said that by giving up Facebook, he hopes to spend more time reading for leisure and school. I started pondering the idea and might have even lost a little sleep over it, and then decided that I too am going to give up Facebook. Scratch the chocolate idea!

As a result of living alone, I find myself jumping on "FB" quite often when I'm bored. I usually don't stay on too long, but I know the time I spend on FB adds up. My time is too precious to be wasted by "stalking" all of my friends, so I am going to attempt to use my time more wisely for class, clinic, and the like.

For you blog followers of mine, you may see a sudden increase of posting on my end now that I am not able to express myself on Facebook. I changed Blake's password last night and he changed mine today, so we will be out of "the social network" until Easter...I guess our friends will just have to contact us the old fashioned way!

As for my chocolate...I haven't eaten any today, and it's not that I don't think I could last 40some days without it, I just feel that I will actually benefit from giving up Facebook because I will devote my time to things of more importance.

Plus, "they" say that a LITTLE (dark) chocolate is good for you : )  Happy Lent!

fat tuesday

Starting tomorrow, I will no longer be consuming chocolate of any kind because I am giving it up for Lent (which will be quite difficult because I LOVE dark chocolate!) While I was at the grocery store today, I made the mistake of purchasing these...

I devoured two of them, and I will be saving the rest...maybe if I'm lucky, the Easter bunny will bring me some more when I am able to eat chocolate again!

my milk toof

Are these not the cutest pictures ever? My Milk Toof is a blog about the adventures of two teeth, ickle and Lardee. These are just a few scenes from their fishing trip, be sure to check out the others if you're looking for a little chuckle.

devotional

I have recently started reading a devotional every night before bed and now I am much more aware of my faith and have been noticing God in some of the smallest aspects of my life since I began reflecting on the events from each day. He truly works in an amazing way. I challenge you to do the same-- find a devotional and let God's power flow through your life. I have been reading this devotional which I received as a gift for my high school graduation and had never read much of it until a few weeks ago...now I'm hooked!

healthy eating

In my attempts at eating healthier, I have been in search of healthy recipes, and I came across these fabulous blogs-- Word of Wisdom Living and My New Roots. Both are quite interesting and very informative when it comes to healthy eating. I got this recipe for a great breakfast compote which I have enjoyed quite a bit. Half the work is done the night before and it always makes two helpings, so breakfast is ready for the following morning, all I have to do is reheat (and add a little milk!) Here is my take on it-- enjoy!

I was "soapin"...

...you'd be my valentine! Although Valentine's Day was nearly two weeks ago, I thought I would share this valentine I received. My client from last semester gave me this super creative valentine, how adorable?!

asian toasted sesame chicken salad

One of my latest creations...

rigatoni with roasted sausage and broccoli

I made this the other week...delicious! 

broken resolution

While I was skyping with my friend Samantha last night (I recently got a skype account and absolutely love it!) she kindly reminded me that I was not following through with my New Year resolution of blogging 1-2 times a week, which I am completely aware of. I apologize for letting you all down, but let's be honest, grad school is hectic!
I have two clients this semester, an 8 year old girl and a 6 year old boy. I provide language therapy for them together on Mondays and Wednesdays for 45minutes. They both have some behavioral issues, especially the boy--last week there was kicking and crying...it is going to be an eventful semester! (Luckily I have an undergrad clinician to help me out!) Aside from that, I have 3 classes, audiology clinic, and work 20 hours a week, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!
Despite my failed attempt at blogging 1-2 times a week, I have followed through with my other resolutions...I have been journaling at night and making my bed each morning, as well as cooking during the week when I have time, eating healthier and working out more! However, I am going to try and redeem myself by attempting to blog 1 time a week, or at least twice a week...we'll see!

first day back

Well the first day of my second semester of grad school was pretty painless-- but then again reviewing the syllabus and reciting the roster is generally the biggest accomplishment on the first day of school at any level. However, after glancing at my schedule that continues to fill up, I can already tell this is going to be a BUSY semester-- yikes!

books to read...

After seeing a segment on TV about a man by the name of Daniel Tammet, who has both Asperger's and savant syndrome and could basically be classified as a genius in his own way, I was extremely anxious to read the books he has written on how his mind works. I am very intrigued by anyone on the Autism spectrum and I love learning about how the brain works, so when I first heard about Daniel Tammet, I was craving more information on this unique person, and sure enough I got them both as Christmas gifts! I'm still on the first one (I've been reading other books as well), but it is quite addicting. It is hard to explain Daniel Tammet and his books, but I would definitely recommend them to anyone! He has been compared to Raymond Babbitt in the movie "Rain Man"-- Daniel Tammet can recite pi (3.14...) all the way out to 22,000+ digits by memory! He has a specific color, texture, size, shape, and emotion associated with each number in his mind-- who wouldn't want to read about how that works?! "They" say he might be able to help researchers better understand those on the Autism spectrum, because unlike most people on the spectrum, he knows why he thinks the way he does and can explain why certain things are overstimulating to him.

back to school breakfast

My Crate & Barrel order arrived yesterday and I've been wanting to use my little syrup guy that my mom gave me for Christmas. So, I used it all this morning for breakfast!

O is for Orange Juice

Waffles!

snow day x 2!

Tomorrow should be the third day of my second semester of grad school, but as a result of the 10+ inches of snow that fell in Kearney (and the rest of Nebraska), we have had not one, but TWO snow days! So, tomorrow will be my first day of the second semester. I dug my car out of the snow yesterday, there was a drift around it that went above my knees!

My car nearly blends right in with the snow!

apple cinnamon granola pancakes

There is a restaurant in Kearney called The Egg & I, and they have the best apple pancakes ever! My mom and I tried to re-create their "crunchy granola and apple slices baked into a whole wheat pancake, sprinkled with cinnamon and served with cinnamon butter" for breakfast yesterday. Ours were very similar to their amazing flapjacks and they were quite delicious if I do say so myself!

New Year Resolutions

My resolutions for 2011 include:

Blogging 1-2 times a week : )
Making my bed every morning
Journaling every night
Cooking dinner a couple times a week
And of course...exercising more and eating healthier!

a is for apple

c is for cherry
o is for orange

I purchased these adorable juice glasses from Crate&Barrel with some Christmas money!

C&B was having such a great sale that I also got these mugs-- I can't wait to receive it all in the mail so I can use them!

'Tis better to give than to receive

Some of the gifts I gave this year include the following:
This basket I put together with two bottles of wine and a candle, all from Tekamah, along with two bags of chex mix made by my mom and I.

I gave my mom this journal that Mother Rabbit uses, and I bought one for myself as well-- they are just so cute, I couldn't resist! So now our goal is to journal in them every night!

 

I received this fabulous Panasonic Lumix camera from parents which I am anxious to use.

I also received this pitcher and set of six sherbet dishes made of yellow depression glass. For those of you who know me, you may know how much I love the look of depression glass and the color yellow, therefore I LOVED this gift from my aunt Melinda!

Reese's cookies

One of my favorite candy bars of all time is Reese's, combine them with chocolate chip cookie cookies and you get an amazing treat! What more could you ask for?!

puppy chow

My brother Blake's favorite treat by far is puppy chow. He loves it so much that he decided to make a batch all by himself!

He claims these were the only clothes he had clean...

monster cookies

It is a tradition in our home to make oodles of Christmas goodies, which result in stacks of tupperware containers full of treats just begging to be consumed. This year we didn't bake quite as much as usual, but Stef and I were craving monster cookies (not something we generally make for this holiday), so that's what we made-- with festive red and green M&M's of course!

break!

My apologies for not  blogging in over a month now. I was completely swamped during the month of December as my first semester of graduate school came to an end, but I survived and I managed to receive all A's which was a goal of mine. I thought I would be doing much more blogging over my three week break but my younger sister claims that I'm always on the computer (I feel as though she's always texting on her phone) but none the less, I decided to use my break more for family time and some much needed relaxation. I have enjoyed every minute of my break, but as anticipated it has gone way too fast-- let me fill you in now before my life is once again consumed by classes, clinic, and work!