Zucchini Muffins

We had a few extra zucchini hanging around that needed used up.  I thought it'd be nice to used them in muffins.  I was right.  We had lovely muffins for breakfast, and then I froze the extras for me to bring to school.  Perfect.  I found the recipe for these by Google-ing "healthy zucchini muffins."  The original recipe is from Cooking Light.  I tweaked a couple things.  It only calls for 1/2 cup of sugar, but I'd like to only sweeten with, say, honey in the future.  Maybe even replace the egg with chia.  I'll let you know how that goes, if I ever get around to it...

Zucchini Muffins

Based on "Kathie's Zucchini Muffins" from Cooking Light

Ingredients:

1  c whole wheat flour

2/3  c white flour

1/2  c sugar

1  tsp ground cinnamon

1/4  tsp nutmeg

1 1/4  tsp baking powder

1/2  tsp baking soda

1/4  tsp salt

1 1/3  c shredded zucchini

1/2  c milk of choice (skim, 1%, soy, etc.)

2  Tbsp natural unsweetened appplesauce

2  Tbsp natural (local) honey

1  egg

Cinnamon & Splenda to sprinkle on top (optional) 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine whole wheat flour and next seven ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl.  Stir with a whisk.  Combine zucchini, milk, applesauce, honey and egg in a small bowl.  Stir until blended.  Make a little well in the middle of the dry mixture.  Add wet mixture.  Stir just until moist.  Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.  Sprinkle cinnamon & Splenda mixture over top of muffins.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until done.  Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire rack.  Enjoy! 

Poppy Seed Chicken Makeover

One of my brother's favorite meals is poppy seed chicken.  I have to agree that it's pretty delicious.  Healthy it is NOT.  I mixed it up a little and used a homemade "cream sauce" and Greek yogurt.  A little less butter.  And corn flakes instead of crackers.  I don't really know what the nutritional difference is, but I think it's got to be a least a little better for you.  Right?  I'd really like to do something even healthier for the topping, but we'll see...it won't be any time soon.  I have to admit that I was surprised at how amazing it tasted!  The Greek yogurt really brings a whole new level of flavor to the dish.  Totally scrumptious.  

Poppy Seed Chicken

Ingredients:

2/3  c "S.O.S." mix, reconstituted (click here for recipe)

5  c chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (or shredded, if you're like me)

1  c plain Greek yogurt

1  tsp celery salt

1  tsp minced garlic

1  Tbsp lemon juice

2  c corn flakes, somewhat crushed

1/3  c butter or butter substitute, melted

1  Tbsp poppy seeds

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil raw chicken breasts with salt and pepper until done.  Let chicken cool and cut into cubes or shred.  Place into 9x13 casserole dish.  Meanwhile, make up your cream soup (for directions, click here).  Add Greek yogurt, celery salt, garlic, and lemon juice to cream soup.  Stir.  Pour over chicken in casserole dish.  

In a separate bowl, stir together crushed corn flakes, butter, and poppy seeds.  Sprinkle over chicken and sauce.   

Bake for about 30 minutes until the top is browned and the sauce is bubbly.

Enjoy! (It's especially tasty over rice...)

Goodbye "Cream of Chemical" Soup

I'm glad to report that I found (on Pinterest) a better alternative to cream of anything soup (aka "cream of chemical" soup).  It works great.  Oh, and tastes great.  It's very simple.  I made up two bags of the stuff the other day.  One for my mom and one for me to take to school.  Each bag makes the equivalent of 9 cans of cream soup.  I've used it to replace cream of chicken soup in poppy seed chicken casserole and as kind of a gravy mixed with ground turkey over toast...don't ask why...it was good.

S.O.S. Mix (Soup or Sauce Mix)

Ingredients:

2  c powdered nonfat dry milk

3/4  c cornstartch

1/4  c instant chicken bouillon (reduced sodium)

2  Tbsp dried onion flakes

2  tsp Italian seasoning (optional)

Directions:

Combine 1/3 c of dry mix with 1 1/4 c cold water.  Whisk until blended.  Cook & stir on stove top over medium high heat until thickened.  (This makes the equivalent of 1 can cream soup)  

Strong Is The New Skinny {P90X-2}

Some of you might remember that I completed the whole classic P90X program during my summer break of 2011.  Well, this summer I completed P90X-2.  Yes, number two.  Obviously, P90X wasn't crazy enough.  I have to say that I REALLY liked it.  The three phases are totally different from each other, so you are constantly challenging yourself.  Also, there's a lot of emphasis on working your core while working other parts of your body.  Brilliant.  I can honestly say that P90X-2 has changed my body to be better and stronger.  I can actually do like 3 chin-ups in a row without any assistance.  I remember having to use a chair in P90X.  That doesn't do it for me now.  To get my reps up, I've been using a make-shift pull-up assist band out of a regular resistance band.  Oh, "girly" push-ups are pretty much a thing of the past.  I do push-ups balanced on med balls now.  Although, I still can't do plyo push-ups.  I'm way too uncoordinated.  I can lift more.  I'm faster.  I have better range of motion.  It's wonderful.  (Also, it's really great because I get to eat a lot.  And food is tasty.)  I finished up last week, so this week has been weird.  I've just been doing random workouts.  I did one of my favorite P90X workouts, Kenpo X.  However, I now have to add 5 lb ankle weights and 3 lb dumbbells to get the job done.  Which, is crazy... I remember barely making it through that when I first got it...  I did my favorite Chalean Extreme workouts, Burn Intervals and Burn It Off.  They were okay.  I did some Jillian Michaels' workouts.  My point being, you can't go backwards after finishing something like P90X-2.  Nothing else you've done will give you your workout fix.  I got some great advice to "repeat" it.  I think I will.  Try to dig deeper.  Do more reps.  All that jazz.  However, if someone wants to send me Insanity or even Turbofire, I'd be willing to try them out! 

My Favorite X2 Workouts:

Plyocide

Yoga

PAP Lower

Balance + Power 

Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats

This scrumptious meal graced our table at the end of last week.  SO GOOD.  I am really glad my aunt shared it with me!  The whole family loved it.  My mom said they were her favorite sausage stuffed zucchini boats, even though it was turkey sausage.  (That's pretty impressive...she's not a turkey fan.)  I followed the recipe for the most part.  However, I did use sweet Italian turkey sausages instead of chicken, and I used a whole red bell pepper.  Also, I only had room in my 9x13 pan for 6 boats... I guess my zucchini's were a little bigger than "medium."  The original recipe is from skinnytaste.com, which you can get by clicking here.  It's definitely a keeper!

   

Headband Holder

I got a little crafty the other day.  I'm pretty sure I saw this on Pinterest a while back, but we didn't have an empty oatmeal canister until recently.  Now that I had an oatmeal can, I dug around and found some scrapbook paper and ribbon that would work.  I had my modge podge and hot glue gun ready to go in no time. 

1. Clean out your oatmeal canister.  I even cut the bottom out to make sure I got all the oats and powder out.  However, if you have other hair accessories to store, you might leave the bottom on so it can hold them too.  
2. I chose to spray paint the inside. Let that dry.
3. I used 2 different black and white patterns, so I cut my pieces down before modge podging them on.  Let that dry.
4. I added some ribbon over the edges where the 2 different patterns met.  I just used a hot glue gun for this.
5. Now you have a cute way to store your headbands and such.

If only I could track down the rest of my headbands....

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

Homemade bread is really the best.  I'm reminded of this every time I go to Minnesota and have some of my grandpa's bread.  After being there this summer, I have resolved to exclusively make my own bread (or at least give it a go).  Not only does it taste great, it's free of all those preservatives you can't pronounce, sugar, and even dairy, if you so desire.  I made a couple loaves for the family last week, and I made a couple loaves for me to take off to college yesterday.  (I have sliced and frozen these loaves because I do not go through bread by myself that fast.  This way, when I need some bread, I can just get a slice or two out of the freezer and pop it in the toaster on the setting you use on frozen waffles and things.  I think it's brilliant.  We'll see how well it really works.)

Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

2  cakes yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp)

1 1/2  cups lukewarm water

3/4  cup milk (I know that soy milk works too!)

1/2  cup pure honey (I like to use "local" honey)

1  TBSP salt

1/3  cup shortening

3 3/4  cup whole wheat flour

3 1/4  cup white flour (I like unbleached)  

Directions: 

Dissolve yeast in water in your mixing bowl.  Scald milk in small saucepan.  Stir in honey, salt and shortening; let cool and add to yeast mixture.  Add whole wheat flour to the mixing bowl; beat until well mixed.  Gradually add white flour to mixing bowl.  (About 2 cups in, I switch to the dough hook on the KitchenAid stand mixer.  Then I slowly add in a third cup.  I haven't needed the entire 3 1/4 cups yet.)  The dough should become more smooth, but not too dry.  Knead (or let your mixer knead) until the dough is elastic.  Place dough in greased bowl.  (I just spray my mixing bowl with the Crisco spray stuff when I flip the top up to remove the dough hook.)  Spray the top of the dough with what you used to grease the bowl.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled.  Punch down and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 375.  Shape into 2 loaves and place in greased pans.  Let rise again until almost doubled.  Bake for about 30 to 45 minutes.  Remove from pans and cool on wire rack.  Each loaf will get you about 16 good slices.  Enjoy!  

Kitchen Renovation

The week before this past week, I was contracted by my father to redo the kitchen of my childhood.  The kitchen that has not been updated since 1987 and still has original light fixtures.  Got an image in your head?  Here, I'll help:

Granted, I took this picture with my phone so it's not that great anyway.  You're looking at white wall paper with some light blue and pink floral-ish design, yellowy/creamy cabinets, stove, hood and oven, white laminate counters and back splash, and burnt orange "brick" linoleum floors.  Oh, and OLD lights.

My father gets lots of home magazines.  He tells me the trend is to do black counters, if you have white cabinets.  So, it was my job to make the counters black.  Well, how am I suppose to do that and leave the back splash and cabinets alone?  Yeah...so, to his surprise, I did all that.  Under $550.  The most expensive stuff being the back splash panels and cabinet hardware (the old oiled brass stuff HAD to go).  Here's a rough breakdown of what happened:

Counters- by far the easiest part of this whole deal!

1. Clean 'em good, sand them, make sure there's no dust left.
2. Do a coat of oil-based primer.  Have the guy at the paint counter tint it towards your desired color.  Let that set for 24 hours.
3. I chose to just use Rustoleum's "Hammered Metal" paint in black.  So I did 2 coats of this, allowing ample drying time in between.  Then, let it set for 24 hours. 
4. Next, it was time for 4 coats of clear, glossy polyurethane (I used the hardcore stuff for high-traffic floors...counters get a lot of action).  You have to let that stuff dry several hours in between coats.  And you have to lightly sand with some steel wool in between too.
5. I let it set for about 2 1/2 days before putting stuff back on it.

Cabinets- by far the most time consuming and challenging!

1. Take all the knobs and pulls off (25 doors and 10 drawers).
2. Take all the doors and hinges off; pull out the drawers.
3. CLEAN all the dirt and grime that's been building up for who knows how long.
4. I used a nice can of Behr self-priming paint in "Nano" white.  I wanted the white to be really crisp and clean against the black.  I did 2 coats on the cabinets, drawers, and both front and back of the doors.  That took FOREVER.
5. Once everything was dried up.  Pretty new satin nickel hardware (knobs, pulls and hinges) went on.  The doors were hung.  The drawers slid back into place.

 Back splash- lots of cutting!

1. I got these wonderful panel things from Home Depot.  They have several colors and styles.  I went with some kind of brushed nickel.  Basically, it looks like lots of tin tiles...but so much easier to install.  
2. The trickiest part is getting them cut to fit the space and cutting for the electrical outlets and other oddities.  
3. From there, I just got some adhesive (fits in a caulk gun) and just went for it.
4. After it was good and dry, I used a clear caulk around the base. 

That's it in a nutshell.  Here's the after: 
 

Keep in mind, this was, again, taken with my phone.  Hopefully, I can get the lighting, walls, floor and appliances up to date soon.  It's a start though!

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

I found this recipe for cauliflower crust pizza on Pinterest several months ago.  I finally had the opportunity to try it out on Wednesday night.  It was simple enough to make.  I did go on and used the whole head of cauliflower I had (I think it was on the smaller side).  I didn't exactly measure out 2 cups, but I think it worked out okay!  I didn't really change anything else from the original recipe, which you can get here.  I managed to make a 12" pizza out of it.  However, I think I might do a thicker crust next time because, as you can tell in the picture, my edges got crispy a little too fast.  All in all, I thought it turned out pretty tasty...and it should be, considering I sacrificed a nice area of skin off my arm in the oven while pulling the pizza out...  A couple warnings though: 1) cauliflower STINKS when it is cooking...like REALLY bad, 2) you must eat this "pizza" with a fork...it'd be pretty impressive for someone to pick up a slice and eat it!

 

{Book Review} Harry Potter

If I wasn't the last person to read "The Hunger Games," I'm definitely the last to read the "Harry Potter" series.  These books came out when I was in elementary school.  I've had all of them.  For years.  Sitting on the bookshelf.  I had read about 2 1/2 chapters of the first book, "Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone," which still had the bookmark in it.  After the 7th book came out, I read the epilogue and last chapter (yes, in that order).  But that's all I'd read.  That's all I cared about: how it ended.  After all, I'd seen the movies.  Now I understand that the movies don't even come close to how incredible the books really are.  They are brilliantly written.  Incredible to read.  Quite an adventure!  It was well worth my summer to read them, when I should have been reading some books for school.  Today, as I finished the last one, I was kind of sad.  It was over.  Summer's over.  OVER.  If you had not had the chance to read them, I would definitely recommend doing it.  It's great fun.  Until it's, you guessed it, over.  Then it's like, "Noooooo!"  I'll admit I hope J.K. Rowling's new book is something like "Harry Potter: The Adult Years." (With, of course, a much catchier title.)  Now that I've finished, I'm sure I should get some school reading done before I begin my LAST year of undergrad college.  Wait, when did I grow up?

I solemnly swear I am up to no good... 

Quinoa Patties

I made these for dinner the other night, and they were a huge hit!  The brother was even quite impressed by how delicious they were.  However, he decided that they could definitely NOT be called "quinoa burgers" like the recipe.  Hence, the change to "quinoa patties."  I will definitely make these again sometime.  It's really pretty easy, and amazingly delicious.  I served mine up with some natural low-fat sour cream and a fresh tomato slice.  Then I had one leftover with the sour cream and salsa, which is also good.  The person I got the recipe from prefers mayo mixed with ketchup.  I'd like to try some kind of Greek yogurt topping sometime!  

 

Quinoa Patties 

(From: Eating well, Living thin...er!)

Ingredients: 

2 rounded cups cooked quinoa (see note below for cooking instructions)

3/4 cup shredded cheese (I used mozzarella)

1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese

1 cup shredded zucchini, squeezed dry

3 eggs

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

2 green onions, including white parts

1 /2 teaspoon Splenda or sugar

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

EVOO for frying

To cook quinoa:

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

In a medium saucepan bring the 2 cups water and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil over high heat.  Add quinoa and reduce heat to low.  Cover and cook for 18-20 minutes, or until all water is absorbed and the seeds are tender.  Allow to cool for a few minutes.

Directions:

In a large bowl combine the cooked quinoa, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, carrot, eggs, flour, green onions, Splenda, pepper, cumin, salt, and garlic powder.

 

(To help them stay in patty form and not fall apart, I cook them on med-low slowly so they have longer to set-up without burning.  Makes them easier to flip and prettier, too.)  

Heat a frying pan and a couple teaspoons olive oil over medium-low heat.  Mixture will be slightly sticky, so using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, drop mixture into pan and lightly flatten to 1/2 inch thick.  Fry until golden-brown, about 4 minutes on each side.

Enjoy!

Cardamom Bread {Take 1}

I remember one of my favorite things about visiting my grandparent's was freshly baked cardamom bread with butter and homemade raspberry jam.  Quite delightful.  I found some strawberry freezer jam that I made a while ago and decided that I needed cardamom bread to go with it.  I looked through my mom's old family recipe boxes with no luck.  We emailed my grandpa to see if he had the recipe, but he couldn't find it.  So, I trusted my mom to Google it.  She picked the one at the top of the list, and I made it.  While the taste turned out okay, I'm not overly impressed with the recipe as a whole.  I followed the directions.  I promise.  But the dough was dry, tough, impossible to knead.  There was no way to make it into pretty braided loaves.  If I remember correctly, the bread my grandmother made had a much stickier dough.  It also sliced better and tasted better.  This stuff tastes okay, but falls apart very easily. So, my search continues for the right recipe!  (I will, of course, share it with you when I find it.)  

 

Stew In Summer

I'd be the first person to let you know that it's inappropriate to make stew in the middle of a stinking hot summer.  It's just weird.  Stew is for fall and winter.  Right?  However, we had EVERYTHING to make it.  So, in the spirit of using what we have, I made stew.  Plus, we had a bit of a "cold" front this past weekend.  (By "cold" I mean in the 90s instead of 110+.)  I made this for Sunday lunch.  I love things that go in the slow cooker for Sunday lunch.  You can either throw it in Saturday night and cook on low and change it to warm in the morning, or put in in early-ish in the morning and cook on high.  Either way, you have lunch ready by the time you get home from worship service.  Totally brilliant.  All I put in were some red potatoes, baby carrots, small onion, celery, a package of stew meat, a can of vegetable juice (no sugar added &/or low sodium), and seasoned with parsley, basil, oregano, and a bay leaf.  Despite the fact that stew meat isn't my favorite, the flavor of the stew was really fantastic.  

Just throw it all together and make something!

This is really the first thing I just "made up" this summer.  I had some vegetables that REALLY needed to be used.  The whole dish was really a joke.  I didn't even take a picture the first time around.  I didn't think it would be worth it.  But I was VERY wrong.  It was WONDERFUL.  Wildly successful.  And super easy.  See for yourself:

Ingredients:

1  pound ground meat of choice 

1  decent-sized zucchini, sliced

1  decent-sized yellow squash, sliced

1  small onion, chopped

1  red bell pepper, chopped

Eskimo Joe's Famous Fry Seasoning to taste (this stuff is amazing...I don't even like Eskimo Joe's) 

2  cups rice

Directions:

Brown your meat in the skillet.  If there's a lot of fat in the pan, get rid of some but not all.  If there's not any fat left, add some EVOO.  Then, add in all the veggies and seasoning.  Cook until it's all nice and tender.  Meanwhile, cook your rice according to the instructions on the bag or box.  I use minute-rice because it's fast and easy.  Once everything's done, just scoop some rice on a plate and top it with the meat and veggies.  Enjoy! 

    

Orange Cinnamon Rolls

I know.  Cinnamon rolls are terrible for you.  They are a terrible thing to have around the house.  But I had left over cream cheese frosting from the banana blueberry cake.  I couldn't let that deliciousness go to waste.  I didn't want to be a glutton and just eat it with a spoon.  So, Saturday's breakfast became orange cinnamon rolls.  I think I decided to do orange because there's a little lemon flavor in the frosting... Anyways, my mother happened to have a Pillsbury hot roll mix in the pantry, which made things extremely easy.  For the most part, I followed the directions on the box.  Except I used fresh orange juice plus a little water (instead of 1 cup plain water) and added the orange zest to the dough.  (Zest and juice 1 large orange.)  I also used a little less sugar and more cinnamon.  The excessive heat around here did come in somewhat handy, as it didn't take long at all for the rolls to rise and be ready to bake.  Nice, huh?  I knew the 110+ degree weather and ridiculous humidity have to be good for something.  The rolls turned out totally amazing!  Mom and I thought so anyways.  The brother claimed they weren't his favorite, but they kept disappearing when we weren't around...

  

Stuffed Bell Peppers

I've been trying to do a little more "creative" cooking here lately.  The goal is to use what we have on hand and/or what's on sale at Sunflower for the week.  I don't really like this.  I'm very "type A" and I like to have very specific plans and directions.  I don't like not knowing how what I'm making is going to turn out.  But I'm trying.  And it's been successful.  These stuffed bell peppers came about because I had a tomato and onion that needed used.  I also have a stockpile of ground turkey.  And quinoa.  And shredded cheese.  The peppers were on sale.  Despite never have making anything of the sort before, they turned out really well.  I probably would have been fine with just using quinoa or quinoa and beans, but the brother made me promise to put meat in them!  So I used ground turkey, but ground beef would also be acceptable.  They don't look super pretty... kind of like puke inside a pepper... I promise it tasted MUCH better!  Here you go:

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients:

1  lb. ground turkey or whatever you like

1  c quinoa

3  c low-sodium broth or stock of your choosing

1  small onion, chopped

2  cloves garlic 

1  Roma tomato, chopped (mine was big, so you might want 2)

Spices to taste (I opted for cumin and coriander) 

Green bell peppers, halved (I only used 3, but there's easily enough stuffing for 6.  I froze 1/2.) 

Shredded cheese of choice (I like mozzarella, but we had fiesta blend)  

Directions:

Cut your peppers in half and clean them out.  Place them in a baking dish and pour 1 cup of the broth/stock AROUND them.  Heat the oven to like 350.  Start cooking the quinoa in 2 cups of the broth/stock.  Once it starts to boil, turn the heat down and let it simmer until the liquid is absorbed...then get it off the heat.  Brown your meat, and then add in the onion and garlic.  Cook until the onions are pretty soft.  You may need to add some EVOO (I think I did).  Once the quinoa and meat and all is done, mix it together; add the tomato.  Make sure you've put your spices in there somewhere!  Now, fill up your pepper halves.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Put them in the oven and let them bake!  I left mine in for 20 minutes, which meant that everything was warm, but the peppers were still a little crunchy.  I liked it.  For softer peppers, just leave them in there a little longer.  Enjoy!   

Lemon Pepper Chicken with Goat Cheese, Tomatoes, and Basil

I threw this meal together the other night.  Basically we had a tomato and goat cheese that needed to be used...of course, there's pretty much always frozen chicken breasts on hand... It was very simple, yet there was a lot to taste and savor.  For the chicken, I just thawed it, sprinkled on lemon pepper seasoning and popped it on the George Foreman grill for a bit.  As it was cooking, I sliced up my tomato and got the oven broiling a little.  Once the chicken was almost done, I pulled it off the grill and placed it on a pan to go into the oven.  I topped the chicken with goat cheese, basil, tomatoes, and some fresh, coarse-ground black pepper.  I put it in the oven until the chicken was thoroughly cooked and the cheese was melt-y.  Yum!  I just use a steam-in-the-bag veggie mix for the side.  I think cooking a main course and side from "scratch" is too much for most weeknights...

Light It Up! Scentsy Convention

I have been exited about this year's Scentsy convention since it was announced last year!  The excitement wasn't so much about Vegas itself--I don't gamble or stay up very late--it was the fact that Celine Dion is back performing at Caesar's Palace (I think just until sometime this month).  So I flew in to Vegas on Wednesday of last week, made some new friends, and hit up the opening session and parties for convention.  Thursday started off great with Donnie & Marie Osmond, and got better and better with the announcements about all the new Scentsy Fragrance products, not to mention a whole NEW BRAND: Grace Adele.  That evening, I went to the strip with some people and we walked around and watched the water show at Bellagio.  That's pretty cool.  (What's not cool is the large blister I got on the bottom of my foot that now appears to have a pus pocket.  Yeah, grosses me out too.)  During Friday's sessions, we heard a couple of pretty great speakers: The Barefoot Executive and Dewitt Jones.  Scentsy wrapped things up at awards night with comedian Mac King and a Colbie Caillat concert.  Saturday, I got to sleep in a little.  Then I moved my stuff from the Riviera across the street to Circus Circus, walked to the monorail station at LVH and went to the strip.  It's very different there during the day!  I wanted to go back and grab lunch for my mom (she flew in around noon on Saturday) and me from Pink's World Famous Hotdog Stand.  Apparently, it's been on the Travel Channel and such...I just wanted to go because it's called "Pink's."  By the time I got back to Circus Circus I had walked about 4 miles and was starving.  My mom had just gotten there, so we ate and then it was time to check-in.  I was very glad when we got up to the room and I was able to take my shoes off.  That didn't last very long though because my mom wanted to go to the Adventure Dome.  Seriously.  Then she decided we were going to ride the roller coaster.  Adrenaline junkie.  At last, it was time to get ready for the CELINE DION CONCERT!!!  I have been a fan since 2nd grade.  Mom was generous enough to get me tickets for my birthday in January and fly up to see the concert with me.  IT. WAS. AMAZING.  Celine actually sounds better live than recorded.  Incredible.  I'm so glad I got to experience her concert!  Enough chit chat.  Here are the pictures:

NEW PRODUCTS (I'll just share my favorites!)

Thursday night on the Strip

Colbie Caillat concert at awards night

The BIG event of the week!

It was lots and lots of fun!  My one travel tip would be to plan on a bus pass, unless your hotel actually has a monorail stop.  Also, you should see Celine.  That is all.

The Wild Northern Woods

Well, after a long summer of traveling, I think I'm glad to say that I am home until school starts!  I'm thrilled to be in my house with all my things and my fantastic plush bed.  I could do without the heat and humidity that is Oklahoma.  Even Vegas feels better than here.  Seriously.  Anyways, I was blessed to spend a week of my summer up at Flaming Pine Youth Camp in Minnesota.  I hadn't really planned on going.  My mom was for sure going, but I had thought that I'd stay here with the brother and dogs.  At some point during my travels in Honduras, I decided I wanted to go.  I guess part of the reason for the change in mind was the realization that I will soon be like a real adult, with a real job, and less time for traveling and being with family.  So we got everything worked out for me to go.  And I went.  And I'm glad I went.  It was truly a blessing to be surrounded by family and friends who are great examples of faith-full living.  I enjoyed many games of Cribbage with my grandfather, eating too much, swimming in the lake, and singing times in the lodge.  It was a smaller group at camp this year, which made meal clean-up and my nursing duties considerably easier.  If you're looking for a great camp for the whole family, I would really recommend the 1st Family Camp at FPYC.  It's a great time.  Perfect for all ages.  And the cooks rock!

This is the first year that I've really enjoyed being in the lake.  Or maybe the first year the water wasn't too cold for me?  Or that the water just felt really refreshing after working-out with no A/C?

The Murphy Family representatives

Is that not beautiful?