Bon Voyage

I apologize for my lack of posting and commenting this week -- I have been been running around like a crazy lady these past few days. The reason? I'm leaving at 3AM to go to the mission field for 8 days! I will be going to Guatemala, which leaves me feeling both nervous and super excited. My nervousness mostly stems from not being able to speak a lick of Spanish, which is very sad considering I just finished taking Medical Spanish. My brain has decided that being trilingual is really not that important, and it can't be bothered to make room for both French AND Spanish. I desperately tried to learn Spanish, but when I try to speak it, only the French words come out. But God's love is not restricted by language barriers, and I cannot wait to share Jesus with the people I meet.

If you don't mind, would you please say a little prayer for my mission team? Just that we have a safe trip and that God will use us to bring glory to Him. I am just in awe right now because I can't wait to see how God is going to use me. I know that when I return to the States next Saturday I will not be the same person, and I find that immensely exciting.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and week ahead! I look forward to sharing the details of my trip with you when I return!

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perfection

I stumbled across this photo today, and I just think it is sheer perfection.

Wouldn't it be lovely to lounge on a picnic blanket with your closet friend, sharing a laugh and a cool drink? And those hats and dresses...be still my heart. This only reaffirms my love for picnics and lovely clothes.

{Photo credit: The Satorialist}

Obsessed

I've always had a love affair with pretty clothes. My style is distinctly feminine...98% of the time you will catch me wearing a dress or skirt. I am very wistful of the days when people always dressed up and ladies wore elegant hats and gloves. My favorite style decade is definitely the 1950's, and I am beyond thrilled to have my mom's collection of vintage patterns. All of this means that I am madly in love with the ladylike pieces that are dominating fall fashion. I have been obsessing over the Louis Vuitton Fall collection since Fall Fashion Week so many months ago. I'm already plotting how I will recreate these looks on my own using my patterns from the 50's.

Some of my favorites:

{Louis Vuitton Fall 2010 RTW}

{all images from Style.com}

What's your favorite style decade?

summertime teddy bear

As much as I complain about the summertime heat, I guess I should just be thankful that I'm not stuck wearing a black fur coat all the time. In the hopes of giving Heaven a little relief, we had the groomer give her a teddy bear cut. Honestly, I love it so much that we may keep it this way until the temps start to cool down in January. She is just left with her undercoat, which makes her the perfect snuggle buddy, just like a little bear.

{Heaven modeling her new haircut}

{"Thanks, Mom!" -- Heaven}

you want it...baby, you got it

Ask and you shall receive! Enjoy =)

BANANA SORBET

2 cups pureed overripe bananas

1 cup simple syrup**

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Place bananas, simple syrup, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture reaches 40 degrees, about 2 hours.

Transfer to an ice cream maker and proceed according to manufacturer's instructions.

**To make simple syrup, place 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan and cook over medium high heat until the sugar has completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Set aside to cool. You can cover and refrigerate this mixture up to 1 month.

going bananas

I have decided that summer is making me fat. It's too hot to run or do any other strenuous activities outside, and all I want to do is cool down with ice cream cones, popsicles, and Cherry Limeades from Sonic (and if you haven't tried their Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade, you must get yourself to the closest Sonic immediately....ah-mazing). Since I've been consuming copious amounts of frozen treats, I decided to try making sorbet (because sorbet is basically just like eating fruit, right? And fruit is healthy!). Plus, it was a great excuse to use the soda fountain glasses I thrifted. I'm convinced that soda fountain glasses make everything taste better.

{Banana sorbet}

What are you doing to stay cool this summer?

A Recessionista's Guide to Date Night

I know that some media outlets claim that the recession is over, but here in the Southeast things are still pretty bleak. Not to mention the fact that doctorate students aren't exactly known for being loaded (except on the day that student loan disbursements come it...yippee!). As a result, hubby and I have to get creative for date night. To be honest, I thought I would miss the expensive steak dinners and pricey cocktails with friends. But it has actually been way more fun coming up with new thrifty ways to spend some quality time together.

One of our favorites dates has become known as Salsa Night. We consult to formulate our recipe, then work together to cut, chop, and process until we have a perfect, amazingly delicious, homemade salsa....which we promptly devour while catching up on our favorite TV shows or while watching a movie.

{Salsa in progress: Cilantro, mango, habanero, red onion, avocado, lime}

{Variation of first recipe with avocado, peach, lime, tomatillos, jalapeno, red onion, and habanero}

What are your favorite {thrifty} things to do on date night?

Obsessions

Do you ever eat something that is just so delicious that you crave it for months afterward? Well, I've felt that way about a particular Italian sandwich since October (see here). Silly how something so simple could linger in my mind for so long, but this was one amazing sandwich. So what's a girl to do? Drive 45 minutes to get the sandwich, of course. I decided to take my new Holga along to see what kind of modifications I might need to make to it. I was heartbroken when not a single picture came out...light leaks all over the place. Hubby, not to be bothered with things like toy cameras and film, downloaded some iPhone app that produces toy camera-like images. Naturally, all of his pictures turned out just fabulous. This must be my payback for beating him at miniature golf (here).

{I imagine that I'm thinking about what an amazing picture I'm taking with my purple Holga}

{One of my favorite pictures that Hubby shot with his iPhone}

{The object of my obsession}

{Happy at last}

What food are you obsessing over right now?

{Honestly, I still want another sandwich. I fear I may be addicted.}

Return to life

I am finally back! Hubby is still recovering, but doing much better. This week he was able to go back to work, so I'm finally starting to get back to my own life. I am massively behind on all of your blogs, so please bear with me as I try to get caught up.

We had a very low-key 4th of July weekend because it rained ALL weekend. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate rain? I know that technically the earth needs rain, but personally I'm not a fan. I decided to dress patriotically for church yesterday, and I was feeling pretty cute in my red dress, blue and white scarf, and bright blue pumps...until I walked out into a monsoon. It was still pouring when we arrived at church, and I stepped out of the car into soggy muddy grass...which made me say a bad word...which made me feel extra guilty because I'm pretty sure it counts double against you if you say a bad word at church.

It's raining again today, but I had a chocolate dipped ice cream cone at Dairy Queen, which seemed to make everything better for a little bit.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!

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