Banana Boat

I've heard of this dessert before somewhere and then saw it on the food network this week. It is simple, easy, and quick! I think it may be the perfect portion of dessert and level of 'sweetness'.

With the peel on and intact, cut it down the middle lengthwise, but not all the way so as to make a 'boat' to place the fillers. I stuffed in marshmallows and chocolate chips, but I am sure you could get creative. Wrap it loosely in foil. Put in the oven at 300 degrees for 5-7 min or until the chocolate chips are nice and melted.

Yummy and yummy!!

To Know His Word

I wanted to share a method of memorizing scripture that I learned last summer during a women's Bible Study!  I have always tried to memorize scripture, but would only work on it for a few days, then forget about it.  Or, I would memorize the verse, then forget it 2 weeks later.  Now, what is the use in that?

Some may wonder why it is important to memorizing scripture.  There are so many places in the Bible that teaches us why it is important: knowing His word to keep our lives pure (Ps 119:9), used for teaching and admonishing one another (Col. 3:16), know the Word accurately and can know when you hear false teaching (2 Tim. 2:15), Psalm 119 tell us of the passion we should have for His Word.  We can memorize verses that will comfort us in time of need, direct us in a decision, reinforce His promises in times of doubt, give us strength to work diligently for the Lord (Col. 3:23-24).


This method of memorizing scripture as been extremely effective! I remember verses that I first memorized back in June, when I started it with the Bible Study.  I can't tell you how many times these verses have come to my mind in time of need (for comfort, direction, encouragement, etc).  Here it is:


Get yourself a index card box or binder.  I got a binder because it is small and fit anywhere if I want to bring it anywhere.  This is what mine looks like when I open it up...

I think I got this one at Office Depot.  It came with two tabs.  You want to make a section for "Daily", "Weekly", and "Monthly".  The verses in the front of mine are the "Daily" verses.  

I put the number of verse that I am on in the left hand corner.  In the right hand corner, I put the month and year that I started memorizing it.  This is just for me to know. Of course, you don't have to do this!

On the back of the index card, Write "D, W, M" to represent "Daily, Weekly, Monthly".  You will read the verse once a day for 50 days, then once a week for 50 weeks, then once a month for 50 months.  I know that it sounds like a lot at first.  All you have to do is read the verse once in that day.  I add one verse each week.  Sometimes, you may have 25 verses to read in one day, but if you only reading them once, it will only take a few minutes!

This really is such an easy method and is extremely effective! I am so grateful that our Bible Study leader shared this method with us because it has definitely been such a wonderful discipline in my life.  I hope I have shared a method that will encourage at least one person.  

If none of the verses above encouraged you to memorize scripture, let the truth that it is God's words, a way that He communicates to us, be the reason for knowing His word by heart!

This will surely bless you!

A First for Me: New York City

Recently, I got to make a trip to New York for my first time! One of my best friends, Paige, just  moved up there in September because she is adventurous and spontaneous.  No really, she moved up there because this was a perfect time in her life to just move to a new city, find a job, and love life! I mean, how fun is that?  I am so glad she took advantage of this time in her life, because there are not many times (if none at all) in life where you can just say "I am going to go live in New York for a while!"  I am so happy for her that she is experiencing another pace of life, another culture, a new job, and new relationships!

Before I left, do you know what one thing that I might have been only slightly nervous about? Getting a taxi.  I know, I know laugh at me.  I am really not nervous to do or try anything new.  I think I was picturing a bunch of people waving down taxis along with me trying to do the same and someone abruptly jumping in the one I hailed down. Because, well, that is how I pictured New York.  I grew up in Dallas, so I know what a "big city" is like; however, I knew that New York was different level of "big city".  Don't worry, the taxi issue played out just fine except when me or the taxi driver didn't really know where we were going at one point.  To ease nerves (mostly my mom's nerves), we figured it out together and he was the nicest taxi driver!

As we were circling NYC and preparing for landing, I am pretty sure I saw Times Square from the airplane.  Once I was on the ground and got to see Times Square for myself, I realized how that was a great possibility considering it is so bright that for a second you might think it was daytime.  Anyways, I got to Paige's apartment and waited for a little bit for her to get back from work.  She is a nanny to a great family and has the most hilarious stories about one of the kiddos.  I think Paige might be secretly in a nanny reality show considering the consistent hilarious moment she shares with me.  It had been five months since I had seen this girl, so needless to say we embraced each other for a good couple minutes.  Anybody else might find that an awkward amount of time, but I consider it just making it up for all the hugs that would've been given and received during five months.  A lot of squealing and "Omg, I am so happy", "I can't believe I am here" moments occurred.  We didn't waste any time and headed out towards Times Square. Let me just say, I had my first NYC subway system experience this night and it was the most confusing, "how did you know to get on this one?", "how do you know all of these streets and where the subway stops are? moment ever for me.  I was so impressed with Paige and kept telling how proud I was of her, because I don't think she would mind me saying that directions were not her strong suite while we were in Dallas :-) I was so happy to see her grow up in front of my eyes, hehe.

We went and ate at this restaurant (Oops, forgot the name) and had some amazing pizza.  We met Matt, Paige's awesome boyfriend, for dessert at Juniors.  It was so great to see Matt because I met Matt and Paige at the same time when we all worked at Pine Cove a couple years ago.  Sunday morning we got up and went straight to the roof of her apartment to take some pictures against an amazing view of New York.

This is actually a view from Paige's apartment window. What a great view!

We headed from there to indulge ourselves in the most amazing burger-shake-fry combination I would experience to date.  (Note: I still have a committed love to In-N-Out. This was just an East Coast version, ok? Settle down).  I am not embarrassed to say that we actually talked about this meal for the rest of the day.  Ok, maybe I should be embarrassed of that.  Oh well, it happened. I loved it. Then I got more Shake Shack before I left for Arkansas. The end.  

We frolicked and skipped and giggled our way down to Central Park. Ok, maybe none of those actions took place.  However, our moods would've matched them perfectly.  Central Park is bigger than I ever expected.  People are getting their work out on, food trucks and carts, children playing, fountains, and... caricatures? Yes. Guess what? Paige thought it would be a great idea to sit down and let the guy draw us and let people laugh at us.  Do you know what the hilarious result was? It looked like the SAME person, twice! Paige and I have come to realize we look nothing a like.  So, when we saw this...sketch.  We were confused and I think the poor artist could see it on our face.  However, it was a hilarious adventure that we will remember!

On our way out, we had a magical idea of topping our cheesiest moment ever and capturing it.  We asked this gentlemen to take our picture.  When he grabbed the camera, I stopped him and said "Please don't judge us.  We are about to get really cheesy and you might laugh at us".  We took our places and BAM! Cheesiness captured.  I am not ashamed.  It captures our relationship perfectly.  Also, I will not complain about the amazing background!

We walked around any girls' dream location: 5th avenue.  Tiffany's, Louie Vuitton, Bergdorff Goodman, and all their fellow, luxurious sisters.  Obviously, Paige and I tried to walk in and acted like it was a reality for us shopping there, but I am not sure our dropped jaws and "oohhhss aahhhs" hid that very well.  

That night, we went to the famous restaurant, Serendipity's for some serious dessert! Happy that I got to experience some of the restaurants everyone talks about when they go visit New York.  Monday morning, we got up early to go get tickets for Sister Act on Broadway for that night's show.  So exciting!! I am just going to go ahead and say that it was a flawless, entertaining performance.  I think my jaw may have been dropped several times from the amazing talent that was on the stage.  I was amazed that they performed like it was their first time, even though they do this night after night! 

We decided to head to Rockefeller Center to stop by the Today Show.  By this time, it was about 10:45am and so we weren't expecting to see anything since the show wraps up around 11:00am (I think).  Nevertheless, I was so excited to go because I watch the Today Show all.the.time.  If I am home in the mornings it is at least on in the background!  When I can watch the later segment, Kathie Lee and Hoda Kotb crack me up.  Anyways, we walk around the corner and there they are sitting in the window! It was so strange seeing someone you have seen on TV for several years right there. We were both very giddy!! 

At this point, there is a lady next to me screaming "KATHIE LEE!!! KATHIE!!!!".  I immediately ducked out of the way because I didn't want to be on TV with her.  I am sorry, ok? I am sure she is a really fun woman.  I mean you would have to be really fun to be willing to yell at Kathie with the camera pointing at you.  So, kindly, I stepped away because I wanted her to have her moment of glory, because those were my intentions of course. In reality, I laughed really hard and actually did duck out of the way.  In the end, Kathie Lee kindly turned around smiled and waved.  Happy Ending for funny, nice lady.  

Our frolicking in NY continued.  That day, we had the most delicious thai lunch, stopped at Magnolia Bakery (so delish!), went to the most giant, fun M&M store, strolled around Chelsea Market - one of my favorite parts of NY - and saw Sister Act!

At one point during our miles of walking, I realized we were sprinting.  Ok, not really. Sprint-walking.  Everyone is in a hurry in NY, even if you are not actually in a hurry. I mean, I got a great workout.  But, hey, let's stop and smell the....cement or just take it in.  I loved diving into NY culture.  That is a main reason why I love traveling.  I love to see the "normal" for other people. What they see and do on a normal day.  It is so interesting and exciting to me!

Sweet, cute Magnolia Bakery

On that day, we stopped into a Forever 21.  A four story forever 21.  I tried to capture all the escalators into one picture.  Excuse, the terrifying manikins that looked like they were thinking about attacking me. That's beside the point.  We were mindlessly shopping and this lady with a headset and clipboard comes up to me and says "Hey, I'm with MTV.  We are shooting a pilot downstairs for a fashion-type show.  We need extras to line the runway and be interviewed on their votes.  Would you  be interested?" I immediately think, Why not?  We didn't have a schedule or anywhere to be at any time.  So, Paige and I went downstairs and became extras.  We watched as the models walked down the runway, then voted on which designer we liked the best and then were interviewed about it.  They never told us the show's name or when it would air, so I'll try and keep my eyes out for it.  The designers had to come up with a "Night Out" outfit under $100.  We voted.  I later told my husband "Babe, I think I might have been super awkward on camera during the interview". Do you know what his response was? "Probably".  How supportive and encouraging!! :) Haha, I thought it was funny though.  I think Paige and I kept looking at one another for affirmation as we were talking in the interview.  Oh goodness....

The next day, Paige had to work, so I was on my own to explore the city!  This was exciting for me.  At this time, I felt fairly confident of my subway skills.  I am sure I did not appear confident, since many of my friends have told me that you can tell what I am clearly thinking by looking at my face.  I have been working on that recently, because as you can imagine, that is not always a very good quality and could ensue an awkward situation.  I had the opportunity of going to Greenwich Village to go see my Mom's cousin Debra, her husband John, Jake (son), and Jessica (Debra's niece). They were SO gracious to take me to lunch and show me around Greenwich Village.  I loved it!

 I think if I ever lived in NYC that is where I would want to live.  The next day, I said goodbye to NYC with a farewell meal at Shake Shack with a new friend, Sarah, Paige's roommate :) Thanks for showing me around Brooklyn!

Even though my post was long, I wanted to record my amazing adventure in New York City with Paige and all that I was thinking and seeing while I was there.  I am so grateful that I was able to go and visit her and see her life there.  She was an excellent tour guide. I am so thankful for her! She has been a loyal, loving, adventurous best friend.  I loved that even though it had been five months, as soon as I saw her it felt like I saw her yesterday! 

Graduation

It's almost been a month, but I wanted to document a very exciting time for me - Graduation!

During the week of graduation, my nursing school has a Pinning Ceremony.  We are pinned for the the work we have accomplished and the service as a nurse that we are about to embark on in a short amount of time.  I appreciated the personal aspect and celebration of the Pinning Ceremony.  During that time and on the day of the Commencement Ceremony, I have never felt such a feeling of relief, accomplishment, and excitement.  Relief because I knew the work of "nursing student" was over, which to be honest, was brutal most of the time.  Accomplishment because I knew the amount of hours, focus, and diligence had paid off to the fullest.  Excitement because of what opportunities and experiences are ahead of me with a Bachelors of Science in Nursing next to my name, especially the patients that I will have the opportunity to help make the most of their day & their life circumstances.

Pinning Ceremony

(Blurry) Getting Pinned

It was such an honor to have both of my families - mine and Lee's - come and celebrate with me.  They have been a family of support, enthusiasm, and encouragement to me these past years.  I could never explain my gratitude to my parents for their support in EVERY sense of the word - financially, spiritually, emotionally, etc! My mom always let me call to "vent" and tell her that my world was in extreme stress and chaos, which in all reality I was being slightly dramatic even though I very much felt like it was doing that during school.

It would not be a complete "thank you" without acknowledging my incredible husband, Lee.  Wow, this man has integrity and is unwavering through all times! I told him after graduation "thank you for loving me even when I was being unlovable due to stress".  I am pretty sure I emphatically told him on multiple occasions "I will NOT be a nurse.  I am changing my major tomorrow. I have no idea why I chose this major". He would carefully listen to me, nod his head, and let me be crazy for a moment.  In the morning, I would tell him "I'm just kidding.  I love nursing.  I was just being emotional and ridiculous"....He would respond "I know".  He was sound of reason and wisdom especially through this last year and a half of nursing school while we were married.  I will be forever grateful to him for his steady patience and love!  This really was graduation for him as well ;-)

Elizabeth, Emilie, and Ryan were so gracious to come to my Pinning ceremony!  It was so meaningful to me because of how all three of them have been there since the very beginnings and some even before of me pursuing my Bachelor's.  It makes me so grateful to think of all the years that we have watched one another grow through so many different situations and circumstances in our life!  Their pictures represent so many of my friends that have been consistently there to support and encourage me more than I could have ever asked for in a friendship! I am so thankful for all of my friend's enthusiasm for me and wanting to hear my weird/gross stories from clinical :) Thank you to each and every one of you - you know who you are! I hope I have made my gratitude evident to you.

 

I am so thankful to the Lord for continually reminding me of my calling and the passion that he has given me to be there for people at one of their most vulnerable parts in life - when they are sick, healing, bringing in new life - wherever the Lord leads me as a nurse!  I am so looking forward to see what position God has for me as my first nursing job.  I pray that I won't look at it just as a "job", but as an opportunity to meet people's needs where they are at, working for His kingdom, and loving people in their most vulnerable time!

Now, I must study hard for the NCLEX.  I sort of need that "RN" next to the "BSN" ;-)

Blackberry Cobbler

Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago, but I wanted to share this recipe for Blackberry Cobbler.  A good ol' southern recipe (from Southern Living).  They really don't let you down.  Be prepared for sugar, flour, butter, and cream.  Those are the usual ingredients to good southern food, am I right? ;-)

Blackberry Cobbler

5 cups fresh blackberries or 2 (14 oz) frozen blackberries, thawed & drained
1 cup sugar

3-4 Tbs all-purpose flour
1 Tbs lemon juice
Crust (recipe below)
2 Tbs butter or margarine, melted
1 teaspoon sugar

Crust

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 Tbs sugar

1/4 cup shortening

1/3 cup whipping cream

1/3 cup buttermilk

Combine first 4 ingredients. Mix well. Put into a lightly greased 8-9 inch square pan. Prepare crust. Spoon mounds over the blackberry mixture. Brush with butter and sprinkle with 1 tsp sugar. Bake uncovered, 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until brown & bubbly.

I was watching Pioneer Woman's show the other day.  She also made a blackberry cobbler but had a different approach to it.  It looks delicious as well and I would love to try it some time.  She is awesome and hilarious.

A Pumpkin Dessert

We had dinner with our friends the other night and I was asked to make a "festive" dessert.  Lately, when I go to the grocery store, I usually get a few cans of pumpkin puree because I know I'll be making something with pumpkin in it.  I ended up making this dessert.  Everyone said it was delicious, so I had to share it on here, just in case anyone would want to make it!

Via All Recipes

The Great Pumpkin Dessert

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1 (12 fl oz) can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 box/package yellow cake mix
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice.  Mix well and pour into the baking pan.
Sprinkle the box of yellow cake mix evenly over the top, then drizzle it with melted butter.  Top with walnuts.
Bake for 1 hour or until the knife is clean.
*Note - some people do not like walnuts.  It is definitely not needed, but I liked the crunch.

Enjoy! We sure did...it was a delicious, warm, fall dessert!

Some Truth to Throw at Your Fears

I found this on the internet and I had to share it.  We need to remember and own this TRUTH. Just some encouragement for this very day you are reading this.  It does not matter the day, but this is the day the Lord has made....therefore, he has full control over it.  Hard to remember at times. But we must choose it.

Psalm 118:6 "The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?

Romans 8:31 "...If God is for us who can be against us?

Little humor with some BIG truth!