Apple Pie (for breakfast!)

In the past, Apple Pie has always made me think of two things:

1. A story my mom has told us about her high school friend singing "High Hopes" whilst mopping the floor at her fast food restaurant job (you know, "I've got hiiiigh hopes; I've got hiiiigh hopes; I've got high-in-the-sky apple piiiiiie hopes..."
2. My brother with a big bite of apple pie in his mouth when we went to see what "present" our dog left for us in the garage (circa age 5 [me] and 7 [my brother]). He can't eat apple pie very comfortably to this day.

Neither of those things are very appetizing, but for some reason that's just what pops in my head ((and for some reason, I still love apple pie)).

After today, thankfully, I'll have something else to think about when I hear, "Apple pie":

 That's right, apple pie in a bowl! I was at a loss for breakfast this morning, so I scoured the kitchen for any worthy ingredients. I decided (predictably) on oatmeal. Here's what I whipped together--

l.o.v.e.

This, friends, is a video.

It's not what I anticipated when I first looked it up.

I randomly wanted to listen to what has become (thanks to The Little Rascals, of course) one of my favorite songs. So, naturally, I was lazy and looked it up on YouTube instead of looking for it in my iTunes library.

This song (yeah, I'll get around to posting the video eventually, promise) popped up as the first option. I saw a person with some sort of non-guitar stringed instrument doing a cover, and I thought, bleghhh... I hate watching less-than-semi-talented people do covers in front of a camera...Where's the real song?!

Then, naturally, I was lazy (or something?) and decided to watch/listen to it anyway, and I was quite pleasantly surprised.

mambo italiano

Sorry, no time for a real post today. I'm busy trying to learn the beautiful language of Italian...

I'm kind of still on the basics...

Tomorrow I leave Z by his lonesome and head to Central Florida for a bachelorette party (Yeeeehaw!), so don't hold your breath for another post. (...Unless Z feels like jotting something down.......yeah, don't hold your breath for that either.)

Happy almost-weekend!
-M

FAT Tuesday...

Lent starts today!

I was raised Episcopalian, so every year, right about halfway through Shrove Tuesday (whoa, gettin' all official on ya aren't I??) I sit around contemplating what is going on in my life that shouldn't be, or what isn't going on in my life that should be. Some years that's meant giving up complaining (10th grade), my nightlight (kindergarten), or chocolate (too many times to remember). Others it's meant consciously setting aside 10 minutes a day for myself and my God.

For many people, Lent is about giving something up, and I've definitely done that majority of my years, but every once in a while I try to create a little twist by doing something for the 40 days.

This year, I'm not giving up anything.

• not my athleticism
• not my metabolism
• not my hot bod self-esteem

My favorite meal of the day

Whether it's oatmeal, pancakes, a frittata, cereal, waffles, grits, french toast, an omelet, toast&jam[...okay, okay, you get the point], or something else delicious that I find in the kitchen and deem suitable,  

breakfast is hands down my favorite meal of the day. 

The favorable food options are, of course, a big part of the equation, but it's more than that--

MM #17: decisions.

Which way do I go, which way do I go?

Decisions.

Life is full of them.

In my life, I need to decide where I want to be studying next year--it's relatively simple--I only hafta pick A, B, or C, basically. Eenie, meenie, miney, moe, right?

Well (if you know me at all), I'm very likely in the Top 10 on the Most-Indecisive-People-in-the-World list, so it's not that easy for me.

distractions

Yes, I promised a post with some excellent recipes a while back, but I just haven't managed to check it off my to-do list. I do apologize. I keep getting distracted by one thing or another (okay, so some people might consider blogging as the actual distraction, not the things that get in the way of it, but never mind that), so the recipes will just have to wait, I reckon. [And by "the recipes" I mean "you" because I suppose you'll be the one doing the waiting...]

Today though, I promise I had a good excuse.

the future.

This, Z and I decided, is what we absolutely, positively do not want our future lives to be like:

"We get caught in a hectic maze. Rising when the clock determines. Battered 

by news headlines that seem remote and beyond our reach. Jangled by all the 

mechanical operations that launch us into activity and productivity. Tested by 

traffic, forced to calculate time and distance to the second. Elevators and phones 

and gadgets guide us through necessary interactions and keep human interactions 

superficial and at a minimum. Our concentration is interspersed by meetings and 

small crises. At the end of the day we rewind ourselves: traffic, automation, 

headlines, until we set that alarm clock to dictate tomorrow's awakening. Routines of 

ticking and timing. Little room for responding humanly and humanely to the day's events; 

little time to enter into the wisdom and freshness and the promise of its opportunities. 

We feel our lives closing in, confining and conforming us."

(from Spirituality of Compassion, by Joan Puls)

I apologize for the relatively long passage, but when I started typing it out and trying to find a place to cut it off, I just ended up wanting to add more and more on. Isn't it an incredible depiction of so many people's lives out there?

There aren't any plans yet on how to achieve this, but it seems like just keeping that goal in mind is an important step, right? We'll see. Anyone have any tips and tricks to offer?

-M

life is good.

Remember what I was saying about being thankful for the simple things? Well, folks, it's okay to be thankful for the not-so-simple things too.

• A BUNCH of dear friends turn a year older this week. Happy birthday to Brett, Kate, Judea, Josh, Sue, Bryan, Andi (and naturally, Charlie, her twin), Lacy, Lindsey, Noli (and her brothers Nester and Nelson (what do you say? "her triplet-mates"?)) and others. (wow, even more than I thought! No hard feelings if I left you out, I promise!) Life is good!
• I am taking a class in Gainesville about reading the Gospels, and it is both refreshing and humbling to be surrounded by people who know so much about God's Word. Life is good!
• My brother and I both received word of acceptance to two prospective schools for next fall! I'll say it again: life is good!

So celebrate life today (and everyday!), for it is good and He is faithful :)

Look for posts later this week about some successes that Z and I have had in the kitchen! Woo hoo!

-M
 

2.14.12

from us to you...

happy valentine's day, y'all!

I won't spend much time on how this is kind of a silly holiday...On how I shouldn't need a calendar to remind me to be thankful for all of the loving relationships I'm in...On how too many people despise this day because they forget that His love, ultimately, is all we need. Nah, I won't get into that. Instead, I'll just leave you with this--

For those of you in a relationship:

cherish it, grow it, love it.

 It makes all the difference.
 

MM #16

Today's Mindful Monday is about enjoying the simple things in life. I may not have learned a whole lot of Italian during these past couple of weeks in Gainesville (as was the initial plan...I'm workin on it!), but I have learned to open my eyes to the blessings that God pours down on us everyday.

Even if those blessings include a [very] simple, scrumptious dinner.

Some people might complain that all they have around the house is bread, cheese, and canned goods, but I've learned to see those things and be so thankful that I have bread, cheese, and canned goods when so many others have less. Deep, no?

Last night's dinner served as a refuge from the ridiculous cold front that has swept through. I don't know what was happening, but I could not get warm, even after a hot shower and being wrapped up in (get ready) two pairs of pants, socks, slippers inside of bigger slippers, two sweaters, a cardigan, a scarf, and a comforter. Geez Louise.

So I found some tomato-basil bisque and stuck it on the stove. And what better to go with tomato soup than grilled cheese? That's right: nothing is better. Here's what I did to fancy-fy my meal:

Stadiums

I grew up in Tallahassee. My oldest brother went to the University of Miami for college. My other brother stayed true to his roots and became a Seminole. Then Z, with four siblings, two parents, and countless other cousins and aunts/uncles (okay, not countless, but I don't feel like counting at the moment) who went to FSU, decided to go against the grain and become a Gator. As a Hatter myself, I never had to worry about my own football team (there wasn't one), so I always had my bases covered with the three of those guys as my reps for each school. It was a win-win[-win].

About a month ago, I joined my brother and his fiancée at Doak to do my first ever "stadiums." It was tough. I definitely felt accomplished (and tired) afterward.

FSU's Doak Campbell Stadium.

Today, Z's roommate and I jogged over to The Swamp to do my second ever stadium workout. Verdict:

hey there,

a list.

I'm going to make a list. This list, for you curious readers, is an unfortunate list. It is a list composed of unadulterated frustrations and never ending confusion. This list is essentially the story of my life.

In short, it is a list of all the problems I've encountered with applications I've submitted. Applications for college, awards, scholarships, and now even medical school.

I'll begin with 12th grade...

• I was applying for colleges. A bunch of them. All of the colleges that I applied to required a Guidance Counselor Evaluation, which is a complete waste of time if you ask me, seeing as I met the lady once in my life (at the meeting when I asked her to fill out some evaluations). A few of the colleges that I applied to (coincidentally, the few that were the most competitive [Harvard, Stanford, etc.]) took part in 'The Common Application,' so my counselor could type up one response and mail it to all the schools at once. How convenient, considering...

what I talk about when I talk about running. (MM#16)

[for you runners/readers out there, this post's title is in reference to 
a pretty decent book by Haruki Murakami. look it up.]

Today, I went for a run.

(that's not me, don't worry.)

Not that exciting coming from a girl who used to call herself an NCAA Div. I athlete, right?

Yeahhhh, well I was never really that good to begin with, and let me tell ya, it is way easier to get out of shape than it is to get into shape.

So here we are, just three months after my last college race, and it's a big deal that I got up off my lazy derrière to go for a run. (It would probably be more appropriate to say "I went for a jog," but I just can't reduce myself to that. Yet.) I went with Z's roommate*, and it wasn't anything special, just a few miles around campus. I guess it was special, though, to a certain extent. Let me explain.

A paradoxical life.

   "When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.
     To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side, I learn who I am and what God's grace means."

-Brennan Manning in The Ragamuffin Gospel

As I make my way through this list of books, I hope you don't mind if I pick some passages here and there to post. I'll try to limit them to one a day, but I won't make any promises : )
-M

our blog's namesake...

yep, this is the TV show from which this blog's title was born.

and yep, this show is on cartoon network. for, you know, like, small children.

can't believe it.

my reading list

So what's on my agenda, you ask? Reading, mostly. And learning Italian [fingers crossed].
Here's a visual list of books currently awaiting my eager eyes, in no particular order. Some are re-reads, most are first-timers, all are keenly anticipated.