Girl’s Camp + Award!

Hey my Absolutely AMAZING Readers! <3

Thanks for all of your comments on my Strawberry-Banana Protein Pancakes. I’m really sad that I’m all out of strawberries (yeah, I used them all up through making these a lot), but we’re going to the grocery store this morning in addition to Half Price Books, the bank, and Kohl’s. I LOVE living so close to a Kohl’s because they send me those $10 gifts all the time! So I always go the quarter of a mile (if it’s even that) up there to have some fun.

Maria (from Beautiful Busy Bee) gave me this award. She is an amazing young woman and I am really honored that she thought to pass this on to me.

These are the rules:

1. Include the award logo somewhere on your blog.
   
2. Answer these 10 questions, below, for fun if you want to.
   
3. Nominate 10 to 12 blogs you enjoy. Or you pick the number.
   
4. Pay the love forward: Provide your nominee’s link in your post and comment on their blog to let them know they’ve been included and invited to participate.
   
5. Pay the love back with gratitude and a link to the blogger(s) who nominated you.
   

1)What is your favorite color?

Burnt Orange, Red, Emerald Green, Turquoise, Warm Pink, and Barney Purple.

He brings back so many memories from my childhood. Yes, I’m a Barney girl.

2) What is your favorite animal?

Kitty cats!

Especially this little kitty. I may actually start volunteering at this shelter for kittens (which I’m really excited about)!

3) What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink?

I really adore my Chocolate Covered Cherry Milkshake – it is just SO good!

 

4) Do you prefer Facebook or Twitter?

I actually don’t do either. (My parents won’t allow me to do either.) I really like WordPress and Formspring though.

5) What is your favorite pattern?

I love drawing patterns of flowers and rainbows and butterflies and all of those little-girl things.

6) How was Girl’s Camp?

Girl’s Camp was AMAZING! We had air-conditioned cabins (yeah, we were spoiled) and had skit night, devotionals, service project, testimony meeting (my favorite part), and a fireside (firesides are like a big devotionals). I felt so privileged to be an YCL (youth camp leader) this year. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had this week to be able to serve the girls and watch their testimonies grow. My testimony was strengthened and my love of my Savior has increased.

7) What is your favorite number?

I’ll say 17 since that’s my age. But even though I’m 17 I still love swinging on swings, building castles with legos, coloring in coloring books, playing silly little games, and dressing up. It seems that I enjoy it even more now that I’m older.

Yeah, they had a big play-place at girl’s camp and we ALL played on it. It was so much fun.

8) What is your favorite day of the week?

I really like Wednesdays. Remember when I said I graduated from the early-morning scripture study class? Well, now I get to attend an advanced class in a sense (it’s called institute) and I look forward to it each week!

9) What is your favorite flower?

I really liked these flowers. I’m not quite sure what kind they are, but I really love them. I also love roses, cherry blossoms, and forget-me-nots.

10) What is your passion?

I love public speaking, teaching my sunbeams (they are SO cute!!!!), counted cross-stitching, making bracelets with my girlfriends, coloring, playing on playgrounds (we TOTALLY did that at girl’s camp – it was SO much fun! ), baking, decorating cupcakes, doing math problems, playing the piano, hanging out with my friends, serving others, and journaling.

And I pass the award to…

1. Matthew @ Planet Snazzy 
   
2. Jessica @ Foodies Love Oatmeal 
   
3. Dudette @ Dudette Here 
   
4. Chrissy @ I Used To Be Fatter 
   
5. Sharelle @ Essential Ingredient: Exercise
   
6. Liz @ Fruitacious 
   
7. Natasha @ Yogininoms
   
8. Claire @ The Food Refashionista
   
9. Lexie (Clemintine ) @ Ink Stained Teeth 
   
10. Jessica @ What Would Jessica Eat
    

     

These are some of the new blogs I’ve discovered. Go check them out – they are all absolutely wonderful people.

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Do you like Dove Chocolate? I LOVE their dark chocolate: it’s so creamy and absolutely delicious! <3 I also really love how they come with a message along with each piece.

Do you like “being as a little child”? I wore pig-tails yesterday.

Do you have a favorite Flower? Day of the week? Number? Meal? Color? Animal? I’d love to hear about them!

xoxox,

My Alibi In Ashes Is Lollihopping

Hey My Beautiful 2011 (soon to be 2012) Snowflakes!

How was your Christmas? Mine was a very quiet but nice one. These past two weeks I’ve spent with my family and  have been weeks I’ll never forget. I truly love just hanging out with my loved ones!

A few of the things I received for Christmas:

The newest Nancy Drew Game!!! I LOVE NANCY DREW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (If you want to see what THIS game is about, go here.) I can’t wait to get the next game, which is all about Egypt!

I also got two gift cards from my sister and my parents: one for Half Price Books and the other for Target.

And then one of my friends gave me a bag of puffed Amaranth for Christmas. I can’t wait to try this with some almond milk.

And that’s it! (Well, if you consider the stuff my parents bought me for college as part of my Christmas, then I would have a larger Christmas, but that’s COLLEGE stuff…. )

For Christmas I made some cake mix peanut butter chocolate chip bars (which have been officially eaten all up as of days ago – ha-ha, they did not last long); we placed a candle in one of them and sang happy birthday to Jesus. It’s a tradition that we do every year that I look forward to. (I also really enjoy making the treat for it every year! Usually we use a cupcake, but I didn’t have any cupcakes at the time, so we used these.)

I can share the recipe for these bars if you want. They aren’t the healthiest treat, but they sure are good! I can try making them healthier for you guys. I want to make them healthier simply because my family loves them so much and I want them to get some goodness while eating them.

Oh, and remember that zucchini bread recipe that I said I didn’t know if I should share because it wasn’t vegan? Well, I made it vegan and it tastes FABULOUS!!! It will be the first recipe for 2012 from me.

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In addition to my Christmas gifts and goodies, I received a trial version of Lollihop. And I got a lot of goodies! This month’s included things like Artisania Raw Cacao Bliss, good health natural foods original Apple Chips, a twin cakes bakery’s biscotti cookie, gluten free Granola, 18 Rabbits organic granola bar with bananas and hazelnuts, MixtBag Yellow and Blue Corn Tortilla Chips, a vegan dark chocolate-pretzel protein bar and a chocolate-peanut butter protein bar, a bag of 479 organic black truffle popcorn, raw almonds, oskri dark chocolate coconut bar, etc! I’m so excited to try out all of these things!

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We still don’t have a Treadmill, but my sister just bought herself a laptop (I didn’t cause I don’t really want one – yet) and my dad got himself a new computer, too.

And I just discovered Cake Boss. Not that he hasn’t been around on TLC for forever, but after I saw one of them I was hooked (thank you Netflix who has all like 78 episodes – don’t worry, they are only 21 minutes each, so I can watch a few and still get stuff done). I adore watching it, but my favorite part is how he SHOWS HOW he makes the cakes: step-by-step. He uses different frosting techniques for the cakes, covers with fondant/molding chocolate, and decorates them with precision! Just by watching this show, I now really want to work at a bakery decorating cakes. Nothing fancy, but maybe a couple days a week I could just go (even if it’s just volunteer work) and work with a cake decorator and learn more about it. I absolutely ADORE making and decorating cakes, cupcakes, and cookies; but I wish they’d make these treats a little healthier. Eating pounds and pounds of cake isn’t the best idea. A slice here and there won’t kill you, but it would still be better if they were healthier and had the taste people love.

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Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? I didn’t really ask for much except the Nancy Drew game. I have been making presents to give to other people. I love doing it. And I don’t expect anything in return. I’m not giving it to them because I want something back: I’m giving it to them because I care for them. I really didn’t care if I got any presents this year – that wasn’t my focus. My focus was on others.

Do you guys prefer if I share sugar-free recipes? Lower-sugar? Doesn’t-matter-the-sugar (like kind or amount)?

Are you looking forward to 2012?! I’m still in shock. It was just this past Christmas that my blog turned one year old. This year has gone by so quickly, but I’m really looking forward to 2012. It’s going to be filled with a lot of change – a good kind of change.

xoxox,

Not Enough Time.

Have you ever had a day where you have so much to do and not enough time to get it all done?

That’s my life right now.

Nevertheless, I have been making the point to have fun.

In addition to all of the craziness, my Favorites Folder is GIGANTIC! It’s probably a mile long with how many recipes I have bookmarked. I have a goal to try them all. One step at a time, no?

Some of the recipes I’ve tried recently include:

Heather’s Whole Wheat Carrot Drop Biscuits.

I ate this one with Raspberry jam — I WOULD TOTALLY SUGGEST THESE!! They are so good!

Banana Oatmeal Muffins from Anywhere There Is An Airport - these Muffins are delicious!

SO INCREDIBLE!!! The banana REALLY makes them sweet and divine! This recipe is perfect for all of you single ladies! It makes 2 muffins, so you can either share with your man or just eat them both! Your choice.

These are Kayla’s Oaties!

With a lil’ sbl, really good! I used oat flour, and I could really taste the oat flour, so I think next time ‘ll use rolled oats ground up into a flour instead (they both have a different texture).

And Imperfectly Healthy’s Healthy No-Bake Cookies.

The sweetness is perfect. No-bakes in a healthy way!

In addition to trying recipes, I’ve been busy reading!

Currently I’m reading the Fit Female and LOVING IT!

I also read these two.

I really liked the focus both of these books had, so I would highly recommend them.

This morning we went to Half Price Books (which did NOT have the Muppet’s Treasure Island on DVD. I was very distraught), Office Max (I got me a pack of 64 Crayola Crayons! I love to color in coloring books when I get the chance — it is just so much fun!), and Target. Recently I have been really into flowers in my hair. I only had one from one of my friends (who had given it to my sister who gave it to me) and I wanted some more.

The top left one was the one my friend gave me, and the other three are a couple of the ones I got today. The other two I got I’m wearing right now!

After we got home from shopping, I flew straight to a mirror to clip these flowers in my hair. I revel in these moments.

After my “play-time” with my hair, I had lunch. Today I was in the mood for some PARSNIPS!

I don’t like parsnips raw, but I love them when they are roasted! Olive oil and salt and pepper do the trick! I ate them with one of my Moist Molasses Bran Muffins and some edamame (I took a bag of frozen edamame and stuck it in the fridge overnight — I love them just like them, no cooking required!).

Life. There’s nothing that can compare.

Do you like wearing flowers in your hair? or, if you are a guy, Do you like wearing neck ties? I absolutely ADORE how flowers give and outfit a whole new meaning!

When do you usually work out? I usually do it in the morning or the afternoon. Sometimes at night if I was busy all day. I about to go workout right now in fact.

Has your life been crazy? Mine has. My girl Kelsey just moved. She had a Goodbye Party which I went to with my girl Ana. After all of the fun and games and it was time to leave, tears began raining upon the floor from all corners, giving those hugs that you never want to end because it may be your last. It seemed as though there wasn’t enough time. Leaving the room, glancing back, wishing it was only a dream when you knew you may never see each other again. And then, as she disappeared behind the doors that closed behind you, the tears started again. I hope I’ll see her again.

xoxox