oreo cheesecakes

My apologies for being a horrible blogger lately. I have also been a horrible resolution keeper [if you were wondering]. However, I have been an awesome oreo cheesecake maker, and let's be honest, that's important.

Last night I made these for Valentines Day with my honey. We are both cheesecake people and I may or may not have an addiction to oreos, so they're right up our alley. They are super easy and not too expensive. I added a little red food coloring to the mix for festivity. I actually brought the rest to work and school today in an attempt to keep our love day treat from turning into love handles. 

I'll be back soon with fun things, promise!

GIVE! nail polish & freedom

This post contains 2 story lines. Stay with me.

1) A couple of weeks ago, I saw this post by Meredith over at Sweet T Family. I LOVE the idea of a blogger [or any] nail polish swap. I didn't know anyone, but I thought "what the heck, it's pretty impossible to have social awkwardness on the internet anyway." So I added my name to the list... 

2) Every Tuesday there is a huge bible study on campus at Texas A&M called Breakaway. Ben Stuart is amazing, and thousands of people come every week to worship and read through the word together. It has been one of my favorite things about A&M for the past 4+ years, but this past Tuesday I was worn out from two long days at work and school and just didn't feel like going. I had already made plans to go with a friend, so I went anyway and it was AWESOME. We are working through the book of Mark and every week is jam packed [in a good way]. It's funny how God works in you even when you feel you aren't open or prepared for it. Not only was Ben's message awesome, but he told us about a new "Shalom" Project we are starting next week... 

These stories fit together in a not so subtle way.

My partner in the polish swap was Abby. She is a super sweet girl and we ended up texting and emailing about school and nail polish [of course!] all week. I got Abby the color "You don't know Jacques." It's a fun gray/brown color with a ghetto-fabulous name.

Turns out I didn't know Jacques about what's STILL going on in Haiti. When the earthquake hit slightly over a year ago, I thought the celebs and political figures had it all taken care of. Turns out I was really wrong. 
The first organization in our Shalom Project at Breakaway is called Restavek Freedom Foundation. 

Restaveks are children in Haiti whose parents are not able to take care of them after their lives were shattered in the earthquake. They give their children to "upper-class" families in hopes they will have food, shelter, and education. In actuality, these children become slaves, oftentimes for sex. Restavek Freedom Foundation rescues these children, gives them love, education, and nourishment--all in the name of JESUS! For $360, one child can be taken care of for an entire year! Our goal at Breakaway is to fund 30 children for one year. Whatchu know about THAT, Jacques?!

Abby got me the color, Big Hair...Big Nails! I absolutely LOVE it!! It's such a summery and fun HOT red color that makes me want to sip a cold beverage by the pool. These "wintery mix" weather forecasts got nothin' on my nails! They are pure summer. 

It was SO MUCH FUN to open my mail box and see a little package with my name on it, so I can only imagine how the young girls in India feel when the As Our Own organization takes them in with the promise of a NEW LIFE! 
This is the second organization in the Shalom Project. Their "purpose statement" is amazing and explains the name perfectly.

"Our new name encompasses our true vision and lifelong commitment to each child: to care for her as our own—for life."

These girls mothers are often prostitutes [the amount of prostitutes in India is staggering] and when they are around 5 years old, they are sold in a duffel bag into the sex trade. As Our Own "adopts" these girls into their family and shows them the love of Jesus Christ that they, no doubt, have never heard of or felt before. For $3,300, As Our Own can save one girl for LIFE! Our goal at Breakaway is to give 10 girls a better life through As Our Own. We have a BIG GOD with BIG LOVE!

Thanks Meredith, for organizing such a fun polish swap. I love to check in and see what you and your sweet kiddos are up to. 
If you'd like to know more about the organizations above, check out their websites! I promise they are 100% legit. Also, if you'd like to know more about Breakaway, check out their site or download the podcast! Ben is awesome--he makes even the most confusing parts of the Bible applicable and keeps everyone interested with funny anecdotes. ALSO, Breakaway just released a CD called Breakaway//Live recorded last semester. It's mind blowing [my favorite is track 8, Radiate]. You should download it as fast as possible check it out on iTunes!!

Whew--this turned into quite a long post. Kudos if you made it this far. 

monthly resolutions - february

Let's face it, a year is way too long to make a constant effort on one thing. I haven't made new year's resolutions in forever because I can't stay focused for an entire year! The other day I read this post on Bower Power where she made a different resolution for each month. Genius. She pre-made resolutions for the entire year, but since I can't think of that many resolutions at one time, I'm going to make one at the beginning of each month and update on how I'm doing throughout--something serious, goofy, hard, personal, healthy, fun, etc. Maybe I'll throw in some longer term goals/bucket list items too. I thought I'd wait until March, so I would have time to think/an entire month for the resolution, but I think I've found one too hard to keep up with for an entire month that is perfect for the last 2/3 of February:

I resolve for the remainder of February to keep my car cleaned out. This is HUGE if you don't know me. My car serves as a second room/closet. Kiki and I are so pumped.

In other news, I finally found a jar for my sea glass collected in Kauai. It makes me wish I was back in Hawaii, especially with all this crazy cold weather Texas has been dishing out lately. 

learning from the master

A few months ago my roommate, Lauren, taught me how to crochet. Lauren is a master crocheter and I will be requiring more lessons before she moves out and gets married in August! Crocheting is a winter sport, so with the weather lately, I've been really packing it in. I've yet to venture into patterns yet, but I can see that in my future. I got a book of patterns for Christmas and it's full of weird drawings and abbreviations--this is where Lauren comes in. 

During our snow day last week, I finished up my mom's afghan/blanket. This was the first time I tried tassels and I love them!

With all the chilly weather here in Texas lately, my little guy needed a scarf to wear when he goes outside. He's a doll and looks adorable in his Aggie maroon!

I'm loving these bright colors and patterns. Maybe this will be next??

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This weekend my grandma, Nan, gave me this amazing sewing basket. She is a master sewer. In fact, I found out this weekend that she made my mom's and BOTH of my aunt's wedding dresses and ALL their bridesmaids dresses!! She has always had the coolest sewing room and she recently gathered up her favorite things and put together a basket for me. What a special gift, especially from Nan who knows all the tips and tricks of sewing.

Now I'm armed and ready to make THIS and THIS and even THIS! oh ya.

you win some, you lose some.

Just ask the Steelers. 

I just got done with a very long battle with Adobe Illustrator. In the first half, AI was killing me, but with a little help from the coach (thanks Dr. Raymond!), I was able to pull out the W in the end. Though it leaves my eyes wondering, why are we still looking at a computer screen??

For our superbowl party I made 2 items. The first is these pepermint patties as seen on Flythroughourwindow. Darby has the cutest ideas, and I basically did exactly what she says on her blog [heart shape, pink center, freezing before dipping in chocolate]. My shortening was sidelined [literally sitting on the side and just never made it into the mixer], but the recipe still worked pretty well. This definitely earns a W. 

The second item I made was edamame hummus. I love edamame, olive oil, and garlic so it sounds like a perfect [and healthy] choice. I even exchanged parsley for basil [love] and coriander for chipotle chili powder [love] and I still did not like this dip. I guess I'm not a hummus person. Several people at the party said they liked it AND it has a 5 star rating on the food network website, but for me, it gets an L. 

Don't take my word for it! Give it a try. Maybe you'll love it. 

sentences are overrated. finish my attic.

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I have this awful habit of trailing off at the end of a sentence or not finishing it at all. If I'm on my computer, forget it. It drives Rhett crazy and when I stop talking in the middle of a sentence he begins shouting out random guesses of what the end of the sentence might be. I say forget sentences will work on completing my thoughts in the future. I will also work on finishing my attic when I get a house. I think my boo will be better at finishing attics as well :) Attics are amazing because they have 1) angular walls 2) cozy spaces 3) trap door entrances. Take a peak at some of my favorite attic ideas.

love the nets

**disclaimer: may cause head injury for sleepwalkers

tin roof?

turquoise walls

more fabulous turquoise

sleepy bear bed

slats

rock wall

It's official, my junk will have to find another place to chill. These finished attics are too good to pass up. 

kiki gets an upgrade

Several years ago, I spent almost my entire net worth on a new stereo for kiki, my beloved Kia Sportage. This was back in the day before the auxiliary fad really took off, so the only plug-in on mine was USB [and my phone wouldn't play through that, at least not for me]. However, I am happy to say that kiki now officially has an auxiliary cord!! We like the radio, but it seldom plays music that fits our mood and we can't bear to hear "grenade" by Bruno Mars one more time. It's terrible. 

The guy at Best Buy also got my phone to play through USB [magic] AND bluetooth. Maybe kiki was trying to make me look/feel dumb to get back at me for overflowing her gas tank by 10+ gallons while picking up my dry cleaning? All is forgiven and kiki is officially ballin' out on every level. 

If kiki were to have a bestie or an outdoorsy alter ego, it might be this sweet pink jeep.

Imagine this pink jeep along with my gorilla juicehead's monster truck, Danielle and Scott's X-terra, and Cameron's jeep rollin' into any national park to get our camp on. Pretty awesome/intimidating car posse.

It's really stinkin' cold here in Texas. The only positives I have been able to find about winter are sleeping and cute boots. As I found myself wishing for summer, I saw this picture and thought it was pretty perfect.

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