Dangerous

Who knew that chocolate cake and cream cheese could be such a good mix? Not moi, but I found this recipe inside the Western Family cream cheese box, and thought I'd give it a whirl. Two words: Yum-my.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

1 8oz. package cream cheese

1 egg

1/3 cup sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

6 oz. chocolate chips (about half a bag)

1 devil's food cake mix

Mix cream cheese, egg, sugar and salt together. Add chocolate chips; set aside. Prepare devil's food cake mix according to package directions. Fill baking cups 1/3 full with cake mix; add heaping spoonful of cream cheese mixture on top. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

You'll be happy you did.

Smile Worthy

Pretty sure this is the coolest kid ever.

Doesn't he just make you happy?

Love Day

Chris was up for planning love day this year. He wasn't sure what to do, so I told him that all I wanted was for him to cook me dinner. I also mentioned going to the nickelcade... he jumped at the opportunity. We went to the new Nickel Mania on State Street, and spent a total of about 20 bucks. I won't disagree with anyone who says it's a waste of money. But it was totally worth it - we had a blast.

Our prizes were no less than awesome....

Stick-on earrings

Weapons - bow and arrow sets and knives

And tattoos - Chris got the chicken, I went with the cow.

Afterwards, he asked me to go somewhere while he made me dinner. I headed off to Barnes and Noble to look for a certain book for him - which they were out of. I settled on this board game, which we played after dinner and turned out to be a lot of fun.

 It's not what we expected. They have a competition category, which involves everything from who can build a taller house of cards to who can do more push ups in one minute. Surprisingly, I won the push-up contest.

This is what I came home to.

Bacon-wrapped scallops, marinated steak, and potatoes with asparagus. 

It was beautiful!

Thanks again honey, for a great day. I love you.

Inspiration

My ward Relief Society has started this program to read the BofM in 100 days. I have enjoyed it very much - I like having to read every day no matter what. My days seem to go better. However, I would like to study them in the morning. By the end of the day, I am tired and ready to sleep.

President David O. McKay spoke of how "the morning hours, before we are cluttered with the cares of the day, are especially conducive to inspiration" (Wherefore, Ye Must Press Forward [1977], 121).

I very much agree. I'd like to study my scriptures in the morning, but I'm having a hard time getting myself up early enough to do it. Does anybody have any suggestions for me? Anyone who has had success in this area themselves?

Loved It.

*Warning: Long Post (due to pictures)*

I had a great weekend. I loved every minute of it. 

Friday night my family got together to make cookies for V-day, a tradition in my family. It's usually just the girls, but the guys tagged along this time. We had french bread pizza, compliments of Heather, and frosted the cookies while getting into a game of American Idol Encore on the Wii. 

The judges critique you... and it's not accurate, But it's fun.

I think everyone enjoyed making the cookies, especially the kids.

But the big kids had fun too....

My grandma Thelma

My crazy brother TJ

Me and my dad

My sister Heather and I being dorks... you don't have to tell me 

I look scary in this picture. I know I do.

The karaoke was awesome. Even my dear grandma got into it.

In this shot, she is singing, "My Heart Will Go On." 

TJ and Chris singing a duet

This is my Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus-loving niece Cessna. She wanted to sing, too. She complimented her singing with her dancing - which is always a treat.

My brother in law Jeff with a Hannah Montana guitar that my nephew Lance, pictured below, brought out to entertain us with.

He looks like a natural, doesn't he?

On Saturday I got together with Jacci and Tara from my ward and had our own little sewing class. Tara, despite what she claims, is a professional. She basically coached me and Jacci through the project, which actually turned out well. We made checkbook covers.

Mine is the one with the red flowers on it. Inside, it's black with white polka-dots. Very cute. It was a perfect beginners project, and I had so much fun doing it!

Saturday night we rented a couple of flicks to watch. Of course, when there's a movie on T.V., even if you have it, you always seem to want to watch it... "Holes" happened to be on, so we watched that first.

I LOVE this movie.

After that, it was "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist." Not a great movie, but Michael Cera did well.

The Secret Life of Bees was next. 

I didn't read the book, but I enjoyed the film. 

It was a little depressing, but for the most part, I liked it.

Since we were on a roll, we decided to watch "Hitch."

I don't know one person who doesn't like this movie.

We hadn't seen Stranger Than Fiction in a while, so we popped that in.

I enjoyed this more than I have in the past... I like when Will Ferrell is serious. And I really like Maggie Gyllenhaal in it.

By this time, it was 4:00 in the morning. Why I was on this sudden movie kick was beyond me. Chris didn't mind; he's used to staying up late. We decided for our next movie we'd watch Night at The Museum. 

About 5 minutes into it I was fading.... and by 4:15, Chris was waking me up and we went to bed. But, I do love this show as well. Can't wait for the second one.

On Sunday we started reading the book Coraline. We really want to see the movie, and we decided to read the book first. It's kind of an eery book. It's a quick read, only 192 pages. The font isn't small, either - we read for only about an hour or so and we're 81 pages into it.

We finished off the weekend at Chris's parents house. We had roast and potatoes for dinner, which Chris pointed out is total comfort food. It just makes you feel good.

Symbols

For work, I am an administrative assistant to the owner of a graphic design studio. We work on movies, mostly, designing logos and character art and such. I look at logos all day every day, and I actually don't care for them. Not that the work the designers do isn't good, I guess I just don't have that "creative eye" for art? Whatever it is, sometimes I get tired of looking at something when I'm asked my opinion - most of the time, it's completely opposite of what the person asking "sees" in the work they are doing. They are very talented at what they do and I feel like I'm just not the right person to ask when it comes to that kind of work.

My boss is a member of the Stake Presidency. It is nice to share common beliefs with your boss. I find myself talking to him, even asking advice at times on things. Not anything personal, but it's nice to talk to someone of a little bit of authority when it comes to church-related topics that I think about. He also asks me to work on things for upcoming events for his stake. If he's got a talk coming up, he asks me to help him research the topic. More than once, it's happened to be what I need at that moment in my life - whether it be about marriage, families, friends, the scriptures - I find myself feeling the spirit as I'm working, and I enjoy that feeling.

My latest project has been to look at logos... not work related, but logos for something he has coming up, the topic being about symbols. Symbols that represent us - as the world, as individuals and as us who are members of the church.

As I was researching logos such as Abercrombie, Nordstrom, ESPN, NFL, X-Box, Nike, Addidas, Apple, Prada, Calvin Klein and many others, I tried to think of what kind of symbols or logos represent me? I admit that I was into brand names when I was younger (who didn't want a pair of lucky's?), but this "project" gave me a chance to put some thought into what I'm about now.

It's difficult to sum up what my life is made of with just a few things, but here are some symbols/images of things that make me who I am.

I love to read.... and have found a new love and appreciation for libraries.

 

I love to dance. I no longer dance professionally, but I love to mess around. 

And I LOVE watching it.

I think violins are beautiful, as well as the sounds that come from them. I am learning (once more) to play this wonderful instrument. I'll admit that I'm not the best when it comes to practicing, but I do love to play.

I love tulips. Any color.

I am grateful for prayer and I feel closer to my Heavenly Father on my knees than anywhere else.

I love to sleep. And I sleep in this position a lot, actually (not by choice).

My friends mean the world to me - and I am so lucky to have so many.

The temple is the most holy place I have ever been. On several occasions my eyes have filled with tears as I have walked through the doors of this holy house and I've felt at home.

My family means more to me than anything, especially my husband Chris. 

He can make me laugh like no one else.

He shares my love to travel, and we share the same favorite place of Lake Powell.

We laugh with each other, cry together and support each other through everything. I would be lost without him.

I love my life. It's simple, but it's fun - and I love what it brings from day to day. I know that I am incredibly blessed and I love being me.

What symbols represent you?

Deep Thoughts

I saw these on Carly's blog the other day (thanks for sharing...;)), and I couldn't not post them on mine. Too classic.

DEEP THOUGHTS

by Jack Handy

If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let'em go. Because, man, they're gone.

If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.

To me, it's a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when you walk around. That way, if anybody says, "Hey, can you give me a hand?" You can say, "Sorry, got these sacks."

I believe in making the world safe for our children, but not our children's children, because I don't think children should be having sex.

If you ever catch on fire, try to avoid seeing yourself in the mirror, because I bet that's what REALLY throws you into a panic.

Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny.

Probably the earliest fly swatters were nothing more than some sort of striking surface attached to the end of a long stick.

Maybe in order to understand mankind we have to look at that word itself. MANKIND. Basically, it's made up of two separate words "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery and that's why so is mankind.

If you go flying back through time and you see somebody else flying forward into the future, it's probably best to avoid eye contact.

To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kinda scary. I've wondered where this started. I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus and a clown killed my dad.

If you're a cowboy and you're dragging a guy behind your horse, I bet it would really make you mad if you looked back and the guy was reading a magazine.

If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will try to catch you - because hey, free dummy.

Anytime I see something screech across a room and latch onto someones neck, and the guy screams and tries to get it off, I have to laugh because, what is that thing?

February Reading

We had a great discussion on Star Girl last month, thanks guys for coming to lunch. It was fun! We want whoever can come to be there this time. We will be reading the Lovely Bones.

We'll have lunch again on the last Saturday of the month. Hope you can make it!