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Never mind searching for who you are.  Search for the person you aspire to be.  ~Robert Brault

A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.  ~George Moore

Love doesn't sit there like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all of the time, made new.  ~Ursula K. Le Guin

He felt now that he was not simply close to her, but that he did not know where he ended and she began.  ~Leo Tolstoy

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.  ~Voltaire

True love stories never have endings.  ~Richard Bach

Love me and the world is mine.  ~David Reed

Summer is not for school.

Education is my degree.  And I fully believe that you should try to learn something every single day.  However, I do not believe that one should be forced to open text books, take notes, write research papers, and attend mandatory chats weekly during SUMMER. 

Ohh, the things we do to graduate a semester early...... :)

Those of you in summer classes like me- Keep your head up.  Study outside in the sun.  Stay up late and sleep in when you can.  You can do it! Just a few more weeks, right? (Unless it's a ten week course, like mine.)

XOXO*

Detox Day

I decided that in order to jump start my dieting and healthy habits I would do a 24 hour detox.  I had received a recipe for this "detox juice" after getting a body wrap at the Orchid Medspa.  The body wrap was WONDERFUL but I never had time to follow through with the detox.  So Tuesday was the big day.....

I woke up early and made my detox juice which consisted of non-sweetened orange, cranberry, and pomegranate juices and other various spices.  I was to drink the juice after I warmed it every hour throughout the day.  Sounds easy, right?

Well making the juice was fine.  The taste of the juice was fine.  After three hours, I was shocked to find that I wasn't starving.  The thought of eating consumed me.  I continued to think of all the foods I was missing out on throughout the day.  Eggs for breakfast, grilled chicken salad for lunch, ranch dressing on my salad, endless possibilities for dinner.  Then the thought of my favorite-- Rolando's-- snuck into my head and I couldn't help but have a watering mouth.  But, I didn't give in....until 9:30 at night when I ate some cottage cheese and turkey and cheese for "dinner".  I wasn't supposed to eat at all but I was shaking and weak and had NO energy. 

The results were not drastic at all.  I didn't lose mega weight-- just 3 pounds which is easily water weight.  So, I wondered if my day of torture was truly worth it. 

Today, however, I went to the gym first thing this morning after eating egg whites.  Usually, I begin my workout with about 20 minutes on the elliptical.  I couldn't last hardly 7 minutes.  The older lady beside me was listening to an iPod, reading a magazine, talking to a neighbor on the elliptical, and had been at for 22 minutes! I felt like a weakling.  My gym time resulted in a workout from an awesome application on my iPhone that required no weights and much stretching.  This was more my speed! Then I was outta there to find lunch because I NEEDED to eat something.  (Too bad my mother made me wait 30 minutes for our planned lunch date.....) Haha!

Bottom Line of the Detox: It was torture. It made me weak.  It made me appreciate every morsel of food that I placed into my mouth today.  It made me realize that typically I overeat.  And 24 hours after the detox, I'm down SIX pounds.  You be the judge of it's worth.  =)

Have a great day from this weakling!
XOXO

Domestic Disaster

So, it appears I have forgotten my blog.  However, my blog was not forgotten on Memorial Day.  For a cookout I was invited to attend, I decided I would take a dessert.  I am constantly looking at desserts made by the ever talented Carman Young.  If you ever need cake balls, cake pops (which I attempted here), or AMAZING cupcakes look her up!! Check out her Facebook page-- Blue Eyed Baker! :)   Anyway, I asked Carman for a recipe and I began baking.  AND since I'm a new blogger, I had to document the entire afternoon with pictures to post on my blog!

Step ONE: Bake a box cake just like the directions say.  This is my cake halfway through baking......

Step TWO: Let the cake cool completely.  If not, you may burn your hands a little.  Don't ask me how I know.  ;)

Step THREE: Crumble the cake up into a large mixing bowl.  Then you will scoop an entire can of frosting into the bowl and mix the cake and icing all together.  This was a tricky step for me.  It was messy and sticky and took quite a while to do. 

Step FOUR: Next I rolled the cake and frosting mixture into small balls. Looking back on baking this recipe, I think I should've made my cake balls a bit smaller.  They would've stuck together better.  I placed the balls into the freezer to harden for about 30 minutes before I dipped them into chocolate!

Step FIVE: Then, I dipped the cake balls into melted white chocolate.  I wanted to make them more 'festive' so I added the red, white, and blue sprinkles.  These cake balls are NOTHING like Carman's.  Honestly, I was very disappointed in my first attempt at these little babies. 

Step SIX: Finally, I placed the cooled, decorated cake balls onto the center piece I made for this dessert.  Everyone seemed to like them and there weren't many left.  Now I just need to perfect my cake ball decorating skills!

Memorial Day weekend this year was very relaxing.  We spent time at a BBQ, an afternoon at the lake- although not out on the water, and ended with a steak dinner at my parents.  That was as far as the relaxing went though because my summer classes started the next day. 

I'll try to do better at posting now that I've got the swing of BOTH of my classes this summer. 

XOXO*