Yeehaw

Cowboy Church.

Have you ever heard of it? It's a celebration of Jesus while being surrounded by God's incredible creatures: horses.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of dress shopping for the perfect attire to go with my worn-down cowboy boots. Yes, that's right... My handsome boyfriend took me on a date to cowboy church.

To start our blazin' hot evening (I mean that in the sense of mother nature, of course - 100 degrees) we drove approximately 55 miles outside of town to a small barn in the middle of no where. We were greeted by stables of friendly horses and cheerful people. We ate salsa, mingled and made good friends with a freakishly tall horse named Domingo. I've decided horses are like big dogs, they all have personalities and crave attention.

After about an hour of snacking, befriending, and sweating the sermon finally began. We listened as flies swarmed the barn and were taught on scripture about prosperity, and - of course - horses.

Following our service the church put on a hoedown. It was such a delight! An old lady taught everyone to square dance, and giggled and boogied till it was past my bedtime!

I highly encourage everyone to be adventurous. What a blessing it is to be able to cherish such memorable and magical moments. Plus, it doesn't hurt I have a stud of a boyfriend to share my life with. 

And most of all: Let your Light shine☀

Excuses, excuses.

I have been busy, and distracted and completely procrastinating about posting on here. But, as my grandma says: Enough is enough. (Ok, I lied, my grandma doesn't really say that..)

With summer school well on its way to becoming overwhelming, I am still making time to enjoy my summer. The sunshine is brighter than before, the sweating more intense, but what goodness it is to be able to enjoy late nights, friends coming home, and eating veggie burgers on the grill.

I haven't taken the time to mention details of my INCREDIBLE trip to Africa, but one of the many things that changed me when I returned home was my eating habit. I no longer am eating meat! Surprisingly it is actually going quite well, and as I explore the ins and outs of this lifestyle I will share some recipes that have worked well for me. Starting with my veggie burger dish from last night!

Dillon and I headed to our local Whole Foods market, bought eggplant and black bean packaged burgers, tomatoes, avocados, buns, brown eggs, and onions. We fried the eggs, cheesed and grilled the burgers, sautéed the onions, spread the toasted buns with avocado, layered the tomatoes.

Best. Burger. Ever.

I highly recommend substituting your meat one day this week with one of these. Yum!

The patty I ate was made from gardenburger, black bean chipotle flavor.

Have you had a veggie burger? If so, what was your thought? If not, try it and please tell me how you liked it in comparison!

Let your light shine.

Breakfast of Champions

I believe that food is a staple to our lives. Not simply because the substance is something our body needs to survive, but it is a consistent feature in almost all bonding experiences. First dates typically involve a dinner, family get-togethers have snacks of some sort, and holidays always end with a home-cooked meal and lots of conversation.

So often you see married couples of many years eating silently across the table with "nothing to talk about." But I find it hard not to converse when someone so handsome is sitting directly in front of me.

I'm talking about Dillon.

Not too long ago we decided to clear our morning schedules and get breakfast in a place I had never gone before. If you know nothing about me, here's one valuable fact: I love breakfast. Dillon knows the way to my heart, and after already dining at this small local downtown diner, he immediately decided that I had to go, and he was going to take me.

I'm so glad he did.

Longhorn is like an upscale Waffle House - except with pancakes and they don't call you by a pet-name. Dillon and I were so intrigued by all the menu choices we decided to each get a meal, as well as share a plate of pancakes.

Needless to say our table was so full we had to remove extra condiments so everything would fit.

You may say gluttony, but I say it is memories.

With bellies full of lots of food and our hearts full of love, our entire morning was priceless. 

Let my experience be an inspiration to you. Add some valuable conversation to your life over a meal this week, and fall in love with the intimacy food shares. Be even more daring and go to a restaurant you've never been before.

Live a little, and let your light shine.

Give me a break

Today marks the end of my last undergrad spring break. My "junior" status in school has been promoted to senior as I project a December graduation. Thus, while writing this blog it came to my attention that having delightful "just because you deserve it" breaks will be coming to a complete end. Unfortuantley, spring break won't happen when I'm a "real person." By real person, I mean an adult.

Ohh, my.... I just cringed a little at the thought.

Nonetheless, I will look back on this week and cherish the little spontaneity I had.  I am well pleased with the extra hours of sleep, the pain in my legs from a decent run and the excitement for the new things that have been introduced into my life.

Instead of giving you a split second recap of my entire break in one blog I decided it'd be best to formulate a few blogs about the days I spent not doing homework.

I will start with the highlight of my entire week.

Wednesday.

On Wednesday I went into the woods with Dillon, my handsome boyfriend, and Gibson, my adventurous pup.

The weather was perfect, the water was cold and the sun was shining. Needless to say, the hike was perfection. That is until Dillon twisted his ankle, but we won't focus on that part.

I have come to terms that the only time my dog ever really behaves is when he's in the woods. I'm not sure why, but I can let him off his leash and pretty much guarantee he'll be nearby rolling in the mud, running the trail or smelling a bush in our path.

It's amazing how good he is.

Gibson climbs rocks like he was born with thumbs and swims in the water as if he were native to it. Ironically, the same goes for Dillon but lucky for him - he was born with thumbs.

I, however, get somewhat prissy when it comes to being dangerous and always sometimes require a piggy-back ride.

On a complete side note, I have lost my red lipstick! It's time to buy a new stick, any suggestions to a "kiss-proof" brand?

Why my boyfriend is the best

My Christmas gift: Wand salt and pepper shakers. Do I need to say anything else?

Didn't think so.

To say I love them would be an understatement.

If you, like me, realize your life is incomplete without these kitchen necessitites - find them on amazon.

3 Years and Counting

First of all... It's been a while since I've posted. This is because the end of the semester is stressful, holidays are busy, and more significantly... I have moved out of my apartment and into my new home. Life is busy, but life is good.

Why is life good, you ask? Well, today is a pretty important day.

Today is my anniversary with Dillon.

Today we celebrate 3 years of being together, 3 years of growing together, 3 years of laughing, love, tears, smiles and so much fun.

So, Dillon, thanks for the memories. When I type that my mind automatically goes to that tacky Fall Out Boy song. Make. It. Stop.

Regardless, I love you and I look forward to many more years - cliche, I know, but I mean it <3

This picture is from a carwash-date we had when we FIRST started dating back in '08

And this picture is from my 21st birthday back in September, isnt' he so manly and handsome?

Carving Smiles

The Saturday before Halloween I was blessed to spend the day with my precious and handsome fellow, Dillon. So for a huge chunk of the day we carved pumpkins, which I haven't done in years.

If you carved pumpkins recently, you will know that it's not nearly as easy as it was when your parents were there helping you. Just the whole process of cleaning out the seeds and whatnot took me a good minute. 

After that the pumpkin design I decided to carve was without a doubt much harder than I had anticipated. I bought the cheap pumpkin carving kit at Walmart, which didn't really suffice for getting the job done of scraping away at the outer skin stuff. 

Regardless, I didn't give up! And so these are some moments that my delightful roomie captured for us.

Enjoy!