Party.

I don't know what it is about Wednesday mornings, but for some reason... I love them. I'm always (well maybe not ALWAYS, but often) in an extra good mood. Most people resent hump day, and I may track more with those feelings toward the end of the day... But Wednesday mornings? I love 'em...

It's possibly because things seem slower at work. For some reason, people don't have their 401(k)s on their minds on Wednesday mornings which means I get to have some quality time with the blog world in between calls. This morning I came across Annie's Eats post about a birthday party that she threw for her daughter's first birthday. It was so cute and now I want to throw a party. Really bad. I wish I could throw a baby shower for my friend Jessie... but she lives in Austin. I wish I could throw a birthday party for my brother Joel... but he lives in Austin. Or my cousin Julie... but she lives in Oklahoma City. (Poor Abby, all of her friends up and left her...) So, I guess I'll have to be on the look out to throw a party for someone. Because I'm in the mood to party. And it's Wednesday morning.

Yep. It's official. I want to be a party planner. It involves: creativity, organization, people, and celebrationg... AKA everything that I love!

Here are some parties that I've seen on various blogs that I think are pretty stinking cool.

First Birthday Party

Shimmery Silver and Mocha Party

Vintage Gothic Wedding (a wedding is a party, right?)

Pinwheels and Polka Dots First Birthday Party

Summer Fun & Games Night

Try-It Tuesday: Gingery Chicken with Peaches

Happy Tuesday everyone! Spring is alive and well so I decided to make something kind of spring/summer-like for dinner tonight. Gingery Chicken with Peaches! Peaches? Yes, peaches. My dad was a bit skeptical going into the meal. Peaches with chicken... really? ... It was good, though! We enjoyed it! It was very fresh and light and pretty tasty! My mom and I were big fans. Dad said that it was good... but he's still a "pineapple man" so the peaches were a little weird for him. I'd say a do-over... at least in my peach-friendly opinion.

I'm tempted to not even show my picture because it looks nasty... but it tasted good!

The peaches themselves were actually better looking than my picture of the meal, so I thought I'd leave you with these... Happy Tuesday!

Awareness.

Driving to work with this sunrise as my backdrop.

I've been reading this book called A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller. I'm not going to lie... it's kind of been blowing my mind. For a pretty upbeat person, I never realized how incredibly cynical I am when it comes to God and prayer.... until reading this book. I've learned a lot: about myself and God and everything in between. (You should read it. Seriously.) Anyway... I was reading it today, and there was this quote from a non-religious woman about Christians and their outlook on life. She said:

"They have an expansiveness of spirit. When they walk along a stream, they don't just see water falling over rocks; the sight fills them with ecstasy. They see a realm of hope beyond this world. I just see a babbling brook. I don't get the message."

While it makes me pretty sad for the woman in the book... I am pretty thankful that I'm on the "ecstasy awareness" side of life. Pretty thankful that God has opened my eyes to the glorious things out there. Here are a few examples of the things that have caught my attention recently...

"Laying" about 100,000 Easter eggs for an Easter egg hung that my church put on.

Having the afternoon off of work and doing nothing but laying in bed watching Hulu.

(I love the New Girl, by the way.)

Seeing glimpses of the sunrise through a sea of cubicles.

Taking the winner's trophy home that my friends and I have for game night.

(God can appreciate competitiveness... right?)

Admiring the beautiful tree in my front yard.

Try-It Tuesday: Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Oh hey, it's Tuesday! I'm worn out, so I'm going to make this quick. I made dinner tonight... I don't know if you know this... But that's what I do on Tuesdays. After searching for recipes all day, I went with Annie's Eats recipe for Creamy Chicken Taquitos. It was really easy so I whipped it up in no time. I'm not really sure how I felt about the recipe though... It was good. But was it spectacular? I'd say no. It was lacking something... a kick, or a spice, or something. I think I'd like to do it again but add red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper or something... But I'd say if you're a fan of taquitos, you should give it a go!

One thing that did get me excited is that I made my own guacamole! Before last week I had never made it before... It's the little things that get me excited. And tonight... homemade guacamole was it!

Happy Tuesday!

Try-It Tuesday: Baked Chicken Pesto

Happy Tuesday! You know what that means... Abby's cooking! Get excited... for another week of (Lazy) Try-It Tuesday. Ok, it wasn't that I was lazy, just resourceful... maybe? I had pesto left over from last week's meal and wasn't sure how long it would keep and wanted to use it up so I headed to Pinterest, did the ol' search for "pesto" and had lots of options to choose from. While I really wanted to choose something like Pesto Gnocchi or Pesto Grilled Cheese or Pesto Calzones or classic Pasta with Pesto, I didn't. My mom and I were talking about how hard it's been to lose weight lately and then we realized it was because I was making junk like cream cheese laced Baked Ziti and peanut butter tumor topped Chocolate cookies (my friend Kruse gets credit for the tumor comment...) The best way to resist eating that stuff is by not making it in the first place. Genius idea, I know... So anyway, I decided to try to go a little bit more healthy this week. A little bit, I said.

I chose this recipe for Baked Chicken Pesto. It had three ingredients: chicken breast (which you know I love), pesto, and mozzarella. No cream cheese, no peanut butter, no oil, no heavy cream. That's pretty good, right? I did make some rice to go with it, but I used long grain rice, which is supposed to be better for you... right? We also had carrots (cooked and glazed like Valeria taught me in college) and strawberries (not cooked.) With all that said... the meal was a hit! If you like pesto, and chicken, and easiness... this recipe is for you.

P.S. A co-worker asked me to bake him some peanut butter cookies, and I did tonight and used this recipe... Ya'll, it was probably the best peanut butter cookie recipe I've ever had. And peanut butter cookie is my favorite kind of cookie... so this is a big deal.

P.S.(2) The whole point of this recipe was to use up my pesto... turns out I didn't have enough so in the middle of preparation I had to run to the store... Awesome. Just thought you should know.

KU Cake for my Unca Dave!

(Rock Chalk!)

March Madness is alive and well, and thankfully my beloved Kansas Jayhawks are alive and well, too!

Tonight KU played North Carolina so we planned a mini get together with my aunt and uncle and pseudo-grandma to watch the game. They were providing dinner so I offered to bring dessert because... that's what I do. I'm the dessert girl. I asked if my aunt or uncle had any requests and my uncle Dave said, "Sure, how about a cake... with a side of sugar cookies." He was joking, of course, but I decided to go along with it. I baked a cake and made sugar cookies! And I decided to go all out and decorate them KU-themed, too. I loved baking them with my uncle in mind. Baking just to love on someone, and say, "Hey, I baked this just for you!" is the best kind of baking, I believe. I loved every minute of it. And I think my uncle liked it, too...

You know what is even better than a KU cake? A celebratory KU cake! Thankfully my cake became just that because KU beat North Carolina (take that, Roy Williams, bet you wish you were still a Jayhawk, huh?) The night couldn't have been more perfect. Now on to the Final Four... What shall I bake next week...?

(My dad, me, and my uncle Dave with the KU baked goods.

Photo courtesy of my lovely aunt Georgie!)

Forgetting...

Have you ever wished you could erase your memory so you could experience something again like it was for the first time? I have. A lot. Especially with stories. Like books and movies and TV shows. My brother Joel and I were talking about this last week when he was home. He told me about the following quote that went along with this thought:

"See, I like forgetting. When I see a place for the first time I notice everything. The color of the paper, the sky, the way people walk, door knobs, every detail. Then after I've been there a while, I don't notice them anymore. Only by forgetting can I remember what a place is really like... so maybe for me forgetting and remembering are the same thing." -David Byrne, Talking Heads

The following list is silly compared to the deepness of the above quote. But here is a list of things I wish I could forget so I could experience them for the first time all over again...

The Hunger Games series

Friday Night Lights

LOST

Pride & Prejudice (the book and the movie - Keira Knightley version, of course).

If you haven't experienced these things. Please do it for me. Because I can't do it for the first time again, so you should.