Rainy mornings

Started off this morning getting my butt kicked in bear cycle with Aurelia.
Quick meeting at  Truett Seminary
Impromptu Common Grounds outing with Morgan where we sat and talked about life whilst drinking soyboy caballeros with moca java blend

All in all one of the best mornings I've had all week.

Also since Aurelia and Morgan are my top blog commenters I felt I should honor them by mentioning them in my post :)  Thanks for a great start to my day friends!

Body, Mind and Soul

Watch out world.  Steven and I are on our way to being the newest power couple on the block...aka we will soon be replacing Bragelina and I'm sure get lots of offers for our own reality tv show.  :) Having one year of marriage under our belt we decided to examine our relationship and see what we could improve.  We came up with two areas and hit the ground running with a new semester of school!  This week has been filled with strengthening our body, mind and soul.

#1 Body:  Steven and I both decided that we need a little more consistent exercise in our lives.  I feel like I should tell you my philosophy on exercise here for clarity.  I am completely against weighing myself because I never want to be unsatisfied with my body if I don't fit within a certain number range on the scale.  To be honest I really don't know how much I weigh and I am completely ok with that. But I have noticed that when I exercise I have more energy (which is a must in grad school) and my pants fit a little better (which is a must when you are on a budget and can't go out and buy more pants. ha!)  So this past week we started working out every day at the SLC at Baylor.  I'm also attending my very first spin class tomorrow with my friend Aurelia!  I am scared out of my mind, but so excited!  It has been so nice to step away from the books for an hour every day and go lift weights/do cardio.  Hopefully we will keep this up throughout the semester!

#2 Mind:  I'm in grad-school...need I elaborate more?  To be honest this wasn't one of the areas of marriage Steven and I decided to work on for the time being, but I needed to add it in order to have the relevant title for this post :)

#3 Soul:  There is always room for improvement in spirituality, so Steven and I decided to look at what specifically we could work on as a couple.  We both realized we are really good at talking about the theology of our faith.  Between my seminary/social work classes and Steven's love to talk about faith and politics we have conversations around these topics pretty much every day.  Something we both struggle with though is the devotional side of faith.  I attribute this to our almost identical Myers-Briggs types: INTJ (Me), ENTJ (Steven) which highlight our amazing ability to analyze things based on facts but our struggle to be more in-tune emotionally with our faith.  We decided to start doing a devotional every night before we watch our Friends episode...um...I mean go to bed :).  We are using "A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants" as our liturgy for these devotions.  I would recommend this book for anybody (couple or individual) who struggles in their devotional life.  The best thing about this tool is that it does all the structuring for you.  It follows the church calendar and for each week provides you with a liturgy full of prayers, scripture verses, reflective readings and even a hymn.  It really has made the experience of leading a devotional life together very enjoyable for Steven and me.

Lady Gaga + Britney

It might be time to dust off the marimba mallets from college and ask my percussion professor if I can get my key back to the marimba room...

Only in Aggieland...

Let me first preface this post by stating that I am, through marriage, related to Aggies.  My amazing brother and sister in-law both go to A&M and I love them dearly...

Let me also state that I grew up with a father who made fun of A&M all the time and grew up hearing more Aggie jokes than I could possibly count.

Let me also state that when I started looking at colleges my father told me I could go anywhere I wanted, but if I wanted him to pay for college I would not go to A&M...and I'm pretty sure he was completely serious...I never tested him though.

So when I went this past weekend to good old Aggieland to see my brother-in-law Ryan graduate I couldn't help but snap this picture and send it to my dear old dad.  

Perhaps at first glance you aren't really sure what is so great about this picture.  I mean obviously this is an Aggie graduation because of the maroon...perhaps you are chuckling a bit at the man with a cowboy hat on...but then again you aren't to surprised because it is A&M.  What is truly endearing about this picture is that this man isn't drinking coke out of his Styrofoam cup...no friends, that is his dip cup.  Apparently doing dip (which of course implies having to spit it out at some point) is classy enough for a college commencement.  :)

What's even better is that later in the ceremony his father (who is sitting to his right, not pictured, with a cowboy hat on too) at one point reached into his front shirt pocket and brought out a little metal tin, almost like a teeny-tiny embellished trash can which he opened and spat into!  I'm still kicking myself for not snapping a picture of that...he was much too quick and sneaky with his superior spit methods as opposed to his amateur son with his Styrofoam dip cup.  I really wanted to ask them at what point you graduate from a Styrofoam dip cup to a metal embellished travel sized dip spittoon...but I was afraid I would embarrass my in-laws.

This is why I will forever make-fun of the Aggies...even the ones I love dearly :) 

Summer's best

Sorry for the overload of blogs in the past 24 hours.  This is due to two things mainly (1) it's the last week of summer and I have no job, no school, thus I have been BEYOND bored, (2) I've had diligently been taking pictures of my cooking endeavors and various excursions in order to make blog posts for the past month and now have time to post them (see #1).

I have decided to put two of my favorite meals I have made this summer.  Truly delicious so I will boast :)

Enchiladas!
These were delicious chicken enchiladas with green sauce...like the kind you take a bite of and then proceed to say "oh...my...gosh."  I think Steven loved me even more after this meal, and the best part is it was ridiculously easy and quick to make so everybody wins.

Cinnamon Rolls!!! 

Ok these were in no way easy to make but very therapeutic.  I made them with yeast so it was quite a long process and you have to make them the day before because you chill them in the fridge overnight before you cook them in the morning.  Most amazing cinnamon rolls I have ever had though and they kept really well so I had one for breakfast every morning for the next week :)

the rolls...the two weird ones on the left were the end pieces I cut off, thus they didn't have any filling.

Cream Cheese Icing.  A bit different taste than the icing in the pillsbury can (a staple growing up) but still delicious.  

One of these babies in the morning and you won't be hungry for lunch...perhaps I'm on to a new diet regimen?

As you can see there are no recipes this time...hopefully this will entice you all to come visit me or ask me to make you dinner.  It's my evil plan to fill you all up with cheesy mexican dinners and sugary yeast filled breakfast treats...(insert evil laugh here)

Meet Marcel

Posted by my cousin on facebook.  I laughed out loud through the entire thing.  If we have the same sense of humor you will too...if we don't have the same sense of humor you probably wont laugh at all.

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

So you will recognize me the next time you see me...

I now come with bangs :)

...and am very excited about it apparently