Enjoying the little joys.

I have missed blogging the past week. It has been a normal week for me. (let me tell you, normal involves running around, babysitting every night and getting about 6 hours of sleep each night.) But I did get time to take a few pictures of the joys that God has been giving me lately.

The other day I was out with someone, and we were talking about the crazy DC traffic. I was telling her how many times I have been in a close call. And she said that I must get home at night and count my blessings. And I realized, I don't. But I most defintily should. This life is a gift. I could die tomorrow. So while I do have this life I want to enjoy each and ever moment.

My joys this past week:

Spring. Which includes one of my many favorites, flowers.

My new favorite skirt. It's pink. And Springy. And has pockets. Win. Win. Win

My name on wood. 

My memory board. And me as a 5 year old. And me and my best friend. And a card my late aunt made me for my 13th birthday.

Do it Gorgeously. An amazing book I found at a bargin. 

My angel trees

The coolest exhibit ever at the Hathorn museum in Dc.

Yes, that is thousands of little blue strings. And yes, you got to walk/run/skip through them.

Best gelato I have ever had. In DC one block up from Arcives//Navy Memorial stop.

Folding laundry on a sunny day with the window open.

My rainboots. Perfect colors for my new found obsession with spring.

Going through old photos for my graduation slide show.

Read:Spring Obsession. You can now wear spring on your feet.

Packing for Aspen. (let me just say, that laundry above, was from Hawaii. So I literally folded and put away my Hawaii laundry as I packed  for Aspen. Me=Crazy.)

Again, my new favorite skirt. Getting creative here, can't you tell?

Do a much needed cleaning to my bathroom.

Night time bible study with my kitty at my feet.

I hope to post at least three posts while I am in Aspen. This will be my fourth year there! I am SO excited1

~Rebekah

Cooking for ten-And other random things

These past few days we have been hosting a family of 9 at our house. I had a blast. I also learned a lot. Cooking for 10 definitely takes some extra time, and a little extra effort. But I found it to be very fun.  The first night I made two different types of Frozen lasagna and some baked yellow squash and zucchini. The second night took a little more time, but I found it much yummier (besides, I always like to cook as fresh as I possibly can!) The second night I made lemony steamed chicken with asparagus and sweet potatoes. The latter two were easy as I just tossed them with some olive oil and salt and then baked at 400 (with the chicken for about 20 mins.) The origin of my thinking came from this: recipie. I wanted to make fish for dinner, but when neither of the two stores I went to had good looking fish, I decided to go with chicken breast. I basically used the a couple of different ideas and threw them together. Here is what I did. It was simple, easy, and oh so yummy!

Take the chicken breast and cut two slits in it so that you can stuff some spices in.
I used these spices:
Chopped onion (fresh)
garlic (I didn't have any fresh)
Parsley
a sprinkle of paprika
generous amounts of lemon pepper
salt
some olive oil
and a squirt of lemon juice.

I placed it on a foil square, and rubbed all the spices in, then I folded the square up around the chicken to make a sort of packet, and then I stuck it in the oven at 375. (About 35 minutes for the boneless, and 50 for the bone in.)

A few other things I learned while cooking..
if you are wearing a shirt with ruffles on it, when you eat crumbly foods (like popcorn, rice and cupcakes) make sure you dust out the ruffles. ;)
Cumin is wonderful for coloring things, even when you don't want them colored. Like your white shirt, or your white stove, or even your beige floors. And Cumin takes a LONG time to scrub out. So beware next time you put your Cumin towards the front of your spice cabinet.

The spices

 The table before

 And after

And just a picture I liked :)

~Rebekah