Thursday, September 29, 2011

Happy Birthday to my John

Dear John,
I am so glad I get to celebrate every day of life with you!


I look forward to celebrating many more days together.

"There's a place I go
where it is safe to be myself...

There's a place I go where laughter and tears,
hopes and fears
flow freely...

There's a place I go
where truth is spoken
and dreams are shared...

It's a place
of acceptance and understanding,
honesty and love...

It's a place called friendship
and whenever I'm with you,
I'm there."

Happy Birthday



(The poem is from the birthday card I got John from Carlton Cards)




Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Real and the Phony

Ever since I started editing photos (back in the day I used Picasa) I have asked myself how much is too much.

Have you ever asked that question while editing your photos?

Software like Photoshop makes it so easy for us to create a person we wish we could be. Example: shiny eyes, flawless skin, white teeth…the list goes on. As a photographer I think about these details as I edit photos. I know that I could make a person look like a model on a magazine – but the truth is that instead of capturing the real person, I would be creating a phony version of that person.

I stumbled upon this website – and I wanted to share these before and after (Photoshop) images with you. My desire is to show you that sometimes what we wish we looked like is completely unattainable. It is computer created. It is not real.

We all have pores, scars and birth marks. These details make us unique.

I am working on accepting the real me.  I want to look at myself in the mirror and see the things that make me unique. I want to cherish the things about me that are real! It is time for me to stop wishing I looked like this or that – and start appreciating the things about me that make me who I am. I will never be perfect, but I want to be me!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Flourless Chocolate Cake

As I write this I am enjoying a very yummy chocolate cake! It is almost as good as my favorite dessert ever: the lava cake

Since I stopped eating products that have gluten back in May (have I mentioned that I have become gluten intolerant?) I have had to stay away from some of my favorite things like bread, pasta, lava cake, bread, oats, soy sauce, bread. Can you tell that I miss bread?

Back to the cake...

Over the past three years, John has been the baker in our household. I cook yummy meals and he bakes yummy desserts. However, we both have very little experience baking gluten-free desserts.

When we were invited to a dinner/game night at some friend's home, I started looking at different gluten-free desserts that we could take with us.  I stumbled upon this great recipe ... showed it to John who totally wanted to give it a try and we still cannot believe how yummy it turned out to be!

Folks, this is NOT a fat-free dessert! It includes 18 ounces of chocolate. Can you believe it?

We cooked it a day ahead and let it cool in the fridge over night. Our home smelled so good John and I kept going back to the kitchen to 'take a look' at the cake. We had to control ourselves to not eat the cake in the middle of the night, but the wait was worth it!

The next day, we served it cold with frozen raspberries, raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream. It was wonderful and all my gluten-friendly friends loved it too!

If you are ever craving a ridiculously dense and yummy chocolate cake, make sure to check out this recipe! By the way, allrecipes.com is one of my favorites websites. I would probably not know how to cook if it wasn't for the great recipes and reviews I find here.

***I don't have a photo of the cake because I was too excited about eating it and totally forgot to take a photo of the final result. Maybe next time!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Has Someone Seen My Brain?

I am not sure what is going on with me, but I have been so forgetful lately. My mind feels foggy and I can’t seem to remember the simplest things. I am becoming less efficient as the minutes go by. Here are some examples:

-          I put butter on a pan to make scrambled eggs and a few minutes later was wondering why the butter had not yet melted. It turned out that I had forgotten to turn on the stove burner.
-          I created a grocery list and left it on the counter. Walked back to get it and then forgot why I had come back inside. Walked back to the car and remembered that I was supposed to get the grocery list.
-          I had to print the same CD label six times because I kept forgetting to make the changes I needed to make after reviewing the first label.
-          I left my keys on the kitchen counter and quit looking for them a few minutes later because I had no idea where I had put them.

What is going on?

I am going to start walking around with a notepad, writing things down so I don’t forget them.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Reading Together

John and I really enjoy reading together.

The first book we ever read together was The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. I believe we started reading this book shortly after we started dating. Since then, we have read quite a few books together. These are a few of them:

·         The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis
·         Now You Are Speaking My Language by Gary Chapman
·         Preparing for Marriage by David Boehi, Brent Nelson, Jeff Schulte, Lloyd Shadrach and Dennis Rainey
·         The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns
·         The Pursuit of Holiness by Terry Bridges
·         Brain Rules by John Medina
The list goes on…and yesterday we finished reading The Chronicles of Narnia!
John’s favorite book is The Last Battle, while my favorite is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It is so fun to read together, talk about what stands out to us and share what we are learning from the books we are reading! If you have never read The Chronicles of Narnia make sure to get to it at some point in life. While this series was written for children, I thoroughly enjoyed the different stories and many adventures.
I don’t want to spoil the story for you, but I will tell you that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is my favorite because of the story of Eustace as a dragon and his experience with Aslan as he once again becomes a boy. So profound and unforgettable! (P.S. The movie does not show this story…so go read the book).
We will begin reading The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan next. Can’t wait to share with you the lessons I learn along the way!

Friday, September 2, 2011

I Have Been Working On These Lovely Photos

Go to Danielly Nobile Photography to see more of my work!

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