Springing into Summer

This week has gone by so fast. Monday night was spent playing Bang with my family for Family Home Evening. Tuesday was Institute. Wednesday night I was home with some free time, so what did I do? I baked muffins, of course. While listening to Les Mis. Now that is a winning combination.

{whole wheat banana spice muffins with brown butter icing}

For those of you that don't know, Les Miserables is my absolute favorite musical of all time. It is also one of my favorite books. If you haven't heard, seen, or read it your life is not complete. All the songs have been stuck in my head all week since Daniel's chorus concert last Friday when they sang a Les Mis medley and he had a wonderful solo in the finale :)

Not soon enough it was finally the weekend. Thank goodness. Friday night mi Madre and I made pizza from scratch. It's one of my favorite things to do while I'm at home. It's a good way to spend time together and the pizza is wonderful!

I started off Saturday morning with a lovely discussion about statistics with my dad (who'd have thought I would ever be caught talking about stats voluntarily :P). Then we went to the post office to turn in my passport application!!! So excited to be getting ready for London! On our way home we stopped at the farmer's market and the bakery. I really like farmer's markets, like a lot. I was majorly excited when it finally opened. I got some fresh local organic apple juice (in a cool glass bottle) and some yummy looking asparagus that we had for dinner:

The bakery, Sweet Things, is new in town and is super cute! We got a mixed berry scone to try and it was delicious. If you live around Dillsburg you should check it our for sure!

After we got back I helped my dad change the oil in one of our cars and then we went on a run. It was super humid and gross today but we ran the cross country course at the high school (most of which is in the woods) so it was a good run overall. The great things was that the high school pool was open so we got to take a refreshing swim afterwards :)

I thought about cleaning my room yesterday. I really did, honest. I thought about it really hard. But I'm afraid that's about as far as I got. I sat there and looked at it for a while and almost had the inclination to actually do something, but then I didn't. I also managed to not do my laundry...oops...

Some exciting news... I got a calling in my home ward for the summer. I get to teach the 12-13 year old Sunday School class. Yup. I decided the best way to handle the situation was to bribe them with baked goods:

{good ole' chocolate chip cookies}
[these were for last week]

{rice krispy treat-esque golden graham s'mores}
[they're kind of addicting]

I think it kind of worked. I mean, they still only have a 2 second attention span but at least I think they like me.

I also, for some reason, agreed to be the Relief Society pianist for the summer. Yeah, I mean, I play piano but not...well. at all. So here's to practicing piano and developing my talents!

We've had some lovely rainy weather lately :)

{double knock-out rose bush that my Dad got my Mom for Mother's Day/their anniversary. cute :)}

And this song that I discovered yesterday and has been stuck in my head since then:

oh. my. goodness. this song easily made it into my top ten on the first listen. so adorable. 

Do yourself a favor and listen to it :)

Hair Opinions Please

So I've been thinking about cutting my hair again but I can't quite decide what I want to do with it. Some ideas I've had:

I know. Doing this one would be scary and risky, but I kind of really like it. As long as it's feminine enough that I don't get mistaken for a boy.

I like the wavy layered bob look. Definitely a lot less scary. 

Or I could just grow it back out.

I need your help! Do you think I could pull off short hair? Would it look good? Can girls still look pretty and feminine with short hair? Bob? or does it look better longer? Please tell me honestly what you think :)

Life Lately

-I've only been home for 4 weeks and it already feels like forever.

-This is what happens to my hair when I live on the east coast:

-Especially when the weather looks like this:

Boy did I miss rain while I was out in Utah. It was nice to come home to some.

But then there are also beautiful, cloudless, 70-something days like today when you get to do fun things like ride in the Jeep with the top down!

Yes, my dad managed to look at the camera and make that face while he was driving :P

And the nice weather makes me wish I were these lucky people:

Complete with canoes, kayaks, lime green short bus, and plastic flamingo. 

-My little brother went to his first prom and looked quite dashing in his tux :)

 -Teaching a Sunday School lesson in a language other than my native one is probably one of the scariest things I've ever done. Sometimes I just don't know how I get myself into these things.

-I've been eating a lot of salads lately. Mostly spinach with different kinds of fruit on top :) So yummy and healthy at the same time!

-I got to spend some time with my dear friend Danika before she left, going to her baccalaureate and graduation, since she has now finished college and is moving on to bigger and better things.

-I started my summer job this Monday as the summer hire in the US Army War College Library. It's a pretty sweet deal.

-Working at a library, books like this are the bane of my existence:

Yesterday I had a 350 page book with about 45 dogeared pages in it. That's roughly 12%. At that point, is there really even a purpose in having pages dogeared?

-I made bbq salmon burgers and breaded zucchini fries, neither of which I particularly cared for, but were okay.

-If you like Harry Potter you NEED to watch this video. It's the "50 greatest Harry Potter moments" with commentary from the actors, director, and J.K. Rowling herself.

Happy Mother's Day!

So today is mother's day and I have a lovely mother who deserves a blog post. 

My mom has taught me so much growing up. She has shown me the value of strength, patience, love, and perseverance. Even when I didn't realize it, she was always an example for me of striving to do the right thing and serving others. I love my mama with all my heart and I am so glad that Heavenly Father has blessed me with her.

"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my Mommy you'll be."

And a lovely video about mothers called: Best Job

Real Kitchen, How I Do Love Thee

You may or may not have noticed but, there was not much in the way of baked goods in the last post. Never fear, for here they are:

{applesauce spice cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting}
[I made these for Terra's b-day :)]

{macaroons for staff meeting}
[these things are so easy to make!]

{butterscotch and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies}
[for my last floor meeting]

Now I'm home with access to a full-sized, fully-stocked, real kitchen :)

{chewy chocolate chip granola bars}
[they're like Quaker but ten times better]

{mushroom grilled cheese sandwich}
[rich and gooey, this was delicious]

{white chicken enchiladas}
[to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!]

Then my dad wanted something sweet, so I made him these:

{peanut butter-oatmeal chocolate chip cookies}
[all two dozen of these cookies were eaten within a 24 hour period]

Having a real kitchen is a marvelous blessing and I am so excited to cook my way through the summer! There are so many recipes just waiting to be tried. Even if you don't consider yourself much of a cook, try it out! Cook with your mom or dad, roommates or siblings, or tackle a recipe solo. It's not as scary as it seems. Promise :)
Most of the recipes that I have used or want to try can be found on my pinterest boards. Check them out if you get the chance!

I'm Not Sorry

I came across this TEDx video a few weeks ago and thought it would be a good one to share. 

She addresses the interesting habit that we have of apologizing for everything.

For passing by someone in a store, arriving at a door at the same time, or even just giving your honest opinion.

It's very enlightening and rather entertaining as well :)

Enjoy!

So, repeat after me: I'm not sorry.