yesterday...

once upon a time, i woke up and left my house to find a parking ticket on my windshield. merry christmas.

then i was driving to T's house and an old lady cut me off and i was literally within an inch of my life, or the hospital.

after that wonderful start to my morning, T taught me how to change my oil, which was definitely a fun success!

i met up with miss emily for a delicious lunch date at crema, where we talked about life, the future, patience, trusting God, and then took photos of each other - of course.

that evening, t and i had invited our friends over for dinner, & i was so excited to try out a new recipe for them. last week, i had made a lemon-cream sauce with chicken that sent T over the moon, and believe me, it was absolutely delicious. but for some reason, last night ended on the same note my day had started on:

the sauce was overly lemoned and too runny
the chicken i baked was as dry as chalk.
and to top it all off...
i burnt the pasta.

who does that?! never in my life have i burnt pasta before, but i blame it on my pot...it was second hand, and the bottom was charred by the end of the whole smoke-alarm/open all the windows/fan the door ordeal.

so, the pot went into the trash, we pigged out on garlic bread, and headed over to yogurtland for dessert. most importantly, the company was wonderful and our evening was filled with uplifting conversation (well, for the girls at least. the boys discovered an old computer game and were cheering and yelling in front of the screen until 11pm...boys ;]).

and this morning, it's time to pack for a quick trip to vegas to watch my best friend's brother get married!

really, nothing about this was incredibly profound or deep, i just thought you might enjoy knowing that bad days happen to me too, from parking tickets to burnt linguine. at the end of it all though, life is about loving people and loving God (and really good food, sometimes).

much love dear readers!

fondue-ing

once upon a time, a girl & a boy celebrated 7 months of happy 'togetherness.' though t & i aren't religious 'celebrate every month' kind of people, this month, i wanted to do something for him. unfortunately, life happened and our plans didn't quite work out (raincheck rock climbing!), and so i spur of the moment thought of the fondue dipping set that's been sitting in my kitchen cupboard for ages - chocolate covered marshallows? how could you go wrong?!

i was pouring over foodgawker all day trying to find the simplest fondue recipe, and this is what i found - & it worked:

6 oz. baking chocolate (or chocolate chips - semi-sweet/dark/your choice)

1/4 whipping cream

place both ingredients in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds / stir / continue heating at 15 second intervals, stirring after every interval. all together, it shouldn't take you longer than 2 or 3 minutes until the chocolate is creamy and smooth - just keep stirring!

we invited over some of our dearest 'couple' friends jesse & kelly (an incredible artist - check her out!), and enjoyed a night in. luscious chocolate, marshmallows, strawberries, graham crackers, and cheesecake awaited us.

JUST as i had finished taking pictures of our scrumptious spread, BANG! i turned around, and there lay the bowl in perfect halves and chocolate everywhere:

instantly, we all started laughing, and quickly dug in before the chocolate oozed all over the table. and so our classy affair turned into quite the mess - oh, but it was memorable.


more importantly, i now need a new fondue set.

the end.

tuesdates

every tuesday, after both being at school all day, the boy and i go all homey and enjoy a night-in together. this past tuesday, i found a fun new recipe through foodgawker and tried out a BBQ chicken pizza on whole-wheat naan bread (after a very fun trip to trader joe's, officially my new grocer - cheap & healthy!). our verdict? delicious.

as much as we love adventures, quiet nights in are also so valuable, and last week, after browsing through our laptops and uncovering as many embarrassing old videos and pictures we could find, we know each other even better. believe me, we were coolest brace-faced kids.

in order to avoid 'stress' at all costs this semester, our night ended with a full-blown homework party, and to top off an already fun night, the boy offered to clean up the kitchen for me while i did some reading - i am the luckiest. is it just a girl thing, or is there really nothing greater than seeing a man in your kitchen, washing dishes, cleaning up, and letting you sit on the couch and snap pictures of him? it. was. great.

i am so grateful for the gift love is - God's plans blow my mind.

and i love this man.