Treading Life

On my "To-Do" list,

there are 15 things

still to be done

before I can

be finished

Monday

10th.

I think that I

just might

live to see

Texas one

more

time.

m

a

y

b

e

.

Lenten Love Song

Sometimes,

I have plans to write

blogposts

that are wonderfully insightful.

Most of the time,

I have those plans

in the middle of the night.

But now,

it is in the middle of the day,

so this is all I've got ;)

My nephew,

Judah Emerson,

was born yesterday!

He's a sweet little thing,

& he looks a lot like Kohen did;

though, I think he's got

more of Chason (dad) in him

than Kohen, so that will be fun to see!

Look at 'im! :)

What a sweetie :) I miss him already.

In other news,

LENT

is winding down...

only 2 more days to go.

A friend inspired me to

really practice Lent this year,

so I've given up something new

every week of Lent,

and it's been really awesome

to notice how much more

I've noticed God

doing things around me,

and in me,

during these weeks.

I've been as excited for Easter to come

as I always am for Christmas!

Some friends and I have been meeting

everyday

this week at 6a.m.

for morning prayer

to start the day.

Yes.

It's very early.

No.

I most definitely usually

don't get up that early.

But I have a re-awakened love for the

early morning now.

I was such an early bird

when I was younger..

Until college...

But it's funny- I usually

have a very hectic class schedule,

but this week,

one of my classes has been cancelled

for the entire week,

giving me time to study,

or rest between classes!

It's really as if God is rewarding

me decision to get up so early this week...

SO.

I can't WAIT for Sunday.

Easter is completely one of my

new favorite holidays.

And not even because of the

chocolate that I will be consuming...

And finally:

I've tried a few new recipes

that are definite winners

and I thought I'd share them with you!

Red Pepper-Carrot Soup

(I modified the recipe a bit,

since I was only cooking for myself)

INGREDIENTS:

2 Large Red Bell Peppers (plus slices for garnish, opt.)

2 Tbs. Olive Oil

1/2 tsp Curry Powder

1 Bay Leaf

I Large Onion, sliced (2c.)

2 Large Carrots, sliced (1/2lb.)

4 cloves Garlic, peeled and sliced

1 tsp. Salt

2 Tbs. Lemon Juice

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place bell peppers on baking sheet, and roast 1 hour, or until skin is wrinkled and blackened all over, turning peppers occasionally with tongs. Transfer to bowl, and cover with plastic wrap 10 minutes to steam. When peppers are cool enough to handle, rub off blackened peel, and remove seeds.
2. Heat oil in 2-qt. saucepan over medium heat. Add curry powder and bay leaf, and stir 10 seconds. Add onion, carrots, garlic, and salt. Cover, and cook 10 minutes, or until onion is translucent.
3. Add 4 cups water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, 25 minutes.
4. Transfer carrot mixture to blender, add bell peppers, and purée until smooth. Stir in lemon juice. Garnish servings with bell pepper slices, if using.

(I used 1.5 peppers, 2 cloves Garlic, and no Lemon Juice.

I also sliced the peppers and baked them spread out on a pan for 10-15 minutes, until soft.

I didn't bother to take off the skins, since they were soft and blended well- saves time and effort ;)

Be warned- while boiling, this mix looks kinda iffy, but it blends really well, and is quite tasty!

A little extra salt helps, since it can be a bit bland for some tastes.

I imagine that it would be quite yummy with an added dollop of sour cream on top, too!

ALSO, I imagine that being liberal with ingredients would be good, if possible.

I think the 6 servings it's supposed to make would be little servings. I'd probably add at least 1 pepper & a few carrots...)

Honey Curry Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

6 chicken Thighs or boneless breasts

1/4 c. melted butter

1/2 c. honey

1/4 c. mustard

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. curry powder

1 package froz. Stir Fry Veggies

(or any fresh ones you like- I've used mushrooms, green beans, broccoli, WITH the stir fry ones)

(Rice)

DIRECTIONS:

(Prepare rice, either in pot, or by rice cooker.)

Cook the chicken in water, so it will be cooked but tender. Small pieces are best.

In a pan, combine all sauce ingredients, stir, and then add all remaining ingredients.

Let it simmer until veggies are to desired crunchiness/softness.

Serve over rice (or on it's own- I love it over Jasmine Rice!!!!)

And there you have it!

2 really good recipes to try.

I've been cooking a lot lately,

so I'll keep you updated with more recipes!

Have a wonderful day, my friends :)

Side Note (no pun intended)

(Ok,

so I feel like I ought to somehow

justify my choices of songs

that play in my little player in the sidebar.

Here's my only justification to the completely

random mix.

These songs make me ridiculously happy.

That's it.

Really.

If you come to this page, and don't smile when

Riders in the Sky

start singing,

PLEASE.

Tell me.

I will try my darndest to talk some sense into you.

okiloveyoubyebye.)

Confession:

I judge books by their cover.

Ruthlessly.

Hello, my name is Annie, & I am a judger.

But you know you do it, too.

And if you don't, congratulations.

I hope to never attain your level of benevolence towards books.

I tell ya,

if they made a math book that

had the perfect pages that

felt & smelled good,

AND had amazing illustrations that

I'd like to look at,

I'd do math everyday.

And we all know how I dislike math.

*********************************

Adult books.

Children's books.

I love them equally.

Although,

when someone asks me what I'm reading right now,

I'm not sure if I ought to tell them that

I'm enjoying Adventures in Odyssey books.

No, not Homer's Odyssey.

Adventures in Odyssey.

The whole series.

Or that I searched online for them & bought the last three so that

I could finish them all,

because I'm completely entrenched.

I highly recommend them for any teenagers that you know.

Or even for yourself.

You can read all 6 in a week, easy peasy.

Other kid's books I have are:

I haven't read this yet,

but hey,

it's Tolkien,

so it's GOT to be good.

This little jewel I got for free at a local free bookstore

(a good reason for you all to come visit me here-

just bring extra luggage for all the cooks you will pick up :)

It has amazing illustrations,

& is filled with all kinds of stories & rhymes

for young boys & girls.

I'm going to keep this one for myself,

to read whenever my nephews & nieces (someday?)

come to visit me.

(Love it- "Ye done all right fer a gal" )

This group of books I've collected over the past year or two,

& while I haven't yet read them all,

they're perfect little old books.

~Bad Little Hannah

~The Bad Little Boy

~Captain Courageous

~The Night Riders

~Der Buch Gestalten (german poetry book)

Now to bridge into Adult books.

"The Gentleman from Indianapolis"

looks like it's gonna' be a great western drama,

though I can't figure out which age group .

& then "The Melancholy Tale of "Me".

I got this book PURELY for the amazingness that

is that title.

I haven't read past the first page, but I can tell already:

G o l d e n .

Now I have a rather odd mixing of titles.

~ The Hawk & the Dove Trilogy

This is a fantastic book! It's so good &

is a perfect read for this Easter Season.

GO BUY IT.

~Oui, Je parle Francais!

This french instruction book is so wonderfully 60's. Love it.

~Sarah Morgan: The Civil War diary of a Southern Woman.

I haven't read this yet, but there's a possibility that I

am related to her.

Civil War stories + Possible Relative= Win.

& finally.

For Christmas, I was given a bit of money.

Instead of saving it for school, I decided to treat my self to some Goudge.

That's Elizabeth Goudge.

A wonderful authoress,

referred to me by my wonderful friend (and authoress, herself)

Sarah Clarkson.

So I bought 7 of her books, & I'm OH so excited to start reading them.

So there you have it. A little book fun.

Now I'm off to practice the new opera

that is being written for me.

(How many people get to say that?! :)

Avez un bel jour, mes amies!

Toujours amour

Buckaroo # 2

Introducing:

My newest and equally favoritest nephew:

Robert Sawyer Carmack IV

Feb. 23, 8lbs., 20 3/4'' long

He's just absolutely darling, with his Cary Grant chin and his little cheek dimple (like his dad).

He looks JUST like my little sister, though!!

I mean really....

Look at that nose.

The adorableness is just too much for me.

Since I'm in Baltimore and have only gotten to see him through pictures,

I have stolen all of these from random family members, so that I could share the joy with you.

We're a proud family.

Look at all the handsome little boys.

I'm already planning my cowboy posse ;)

My little sister...

...is having a baby.

Right now.

As I write this.

I can't tell you how crazy that is.

It's so exciting!

I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!

But I also can't tell you just how

sad I am to be missing it.

Growing up is hard.

News and (hopefully) pictures coming soon!

Snow, birds, and babies.

Mes Chères Amies,

Since quite a lot has transpired in the last several weeks, I shall write you a friendly, newsy letter to fill you all in on my goings-on. Picking up from my last blog post...

After a week of pathetically making it through classes while being deathly ill (just a bit dramatic..), I was so excited to hear that Maryland was expecting snow. And not just any snow, no. A b l i z z a r d.

It was to come on Friday, and even though many schools closed for the day and the governor declared a state-wide emergency, I was still skeptical: by 4:30 pm, the snow was barely sticking to the ground, not at all to the streets, and hey, I'm from Texas where almost no one (my particularly stellar and auto-smart family excepting, of course;) knows how to handle any bad weather. They cancel life when we're expecting bad rain....

Needless to say, I was delighted to find that by 11 pm, the world was wonderfully white, and big, white, fluffy flakes were falling fast. From a friend's house, I walked home in the middle of the thickly covered streets, snowball fights randomly breaking out all around me. I ran into a friend taking snowy photos, and we joined up with a few strangers for a snowball fight and to create my first snowman taller than 18 inches( that didn't have bits of dirt and grass and sticks in him, owing to the fact that to make any snowman in Texas snow, one has to completely scrape an entire yard to make an 18''x 1' snowman). He even had a tie. Handsome. By the time I made it inside, around midnight, the snow was falling horizontally with the wind. I was very excited. And very glad that, after two months, my appy heater was finally fixed.

Saturday morning, I had friends over for a pancake breakfast before we headed out into the white world for a play day. Our initial group consisted of 1 Texan, 1 Irishman, 1 German, and 1 Floridian, and we were eventually met up by 1 Marylander, and another Floridian. I'm sure the Marylander just had to laugh at the rest of us for being ridiculously excited. Baltimore was like a ghost town- like the end of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" where all the people come out of shelter and walk around the abandoned, snow covered cities. Just like that.And everyone was smiling and happy and chatty. Loving a day off from real life. We walked all the way down to Federal Hill (1-2 miles)to go sledding, but my friends Christian and Rachael and I decided to dig a snow cave in the side of the hill. Christian started at one side and I started at the other, and Rachael helped clear out all the snow from inside that we were shoveling out to her. In the end, the thing was about 10'x 7' across, and 2.5' high. It was actually quite warm in there, too. So we took a little breather inside, and when Christian decided to try and dig out a little higher on the 'ceiling' I began a speech on how me should all agree to use super human strength to make sure and dig each other out, should it collapse. "How do we get that?," Christian says. "We pray for it" I begin, and then:

THWUMP!

It caved in on us. 1 second of complete disorientation, followed by immediate laughter. We were only covered by about 2 feet of snow, so it was easy enough to get out of. Rachael and I, being from the south, however, didn't have good gloves, and our poor little hands were completely frozen. I can tell you that my hands have never been that cold. Ever. The guys tried to give us their gloves, but our hands were too cold to even put them on. Well, I was not about to lose my hands to frostbite in the middle of Baltimore, Maryland of all places, so I did what any self-respecting, classy, southern-belle would have done. Unzipped the coat and stuck 'em in the armpits. In about 5 minutes, they were back to normal, if somewhat pink. I'll leave the frostbite to a future Arctic adventure.

We ended the day by going back to the guy's house, called "The Rusty Saw" for dinner, and the rest of the weekend, and much of the next week was spent over there or at other friends' houses, talking, having church and fellowship and prayer, and just chilling out. School was completely cancelled the whole week, and I honestly didn't quite know what to do with myself! But I will be honest and own up to my nerdiness and tell you that, despite enjoying time off, I was hoping to have classes that week. I know. Geekola. School was also cancelled this past week, due to incoming student's auditions and entrance placement exams. (Can it really be a whole year ago that I did that?!)

So really, almost nothing in the past two weeks has turned out like it ought to have done. I scheduled my trip home around my church's location move. That didn't happen. They delayed the move 2 weeks... School was entirely cancelled, which set me back 2 coaching and 2 lessons, and since school was closed, the music library was also closed, meaning I couldn't check out the materials for the 3 projects and 1 exam I have this coming week, which means I'll be cramming- something I haven't done at all this school year. (It's a habit I've happily broken)I came home to be here for my little sister's first baby delivery. There have been days of contractions, but no baby. I'm scheduled to leave tomorrow at 2. I'm trying to talk myself out of being incredibly disappointed at missing out on it- It seemed too providential that she should be due the one week that I could come home. And my brother and his wife and son were going to try and get here to see me, too, but they won't end up getting in until Sunday. But my big bro's a filmmaker, and he's been shooting a film in Minnesota for 3 weeks, which is totally cool, and I suppose it can be more important than seeing me for a half of a day. :)

I have been learning so much the last few weeks about God and His goodness towards me, though. It's amazing what a little downtime will do. I'm part of a neat church with a great desire for community, and that's something I haven't been a part of in over 6 years. My thirsty soul has been quite refreshed and enlightened. The theme of last week was "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me." I think it's a beautiful hymn. God speaks to me a lot through Nature, and last week's theme was birds. They seemed to show themselves all over- in songs, on walks, during prayers. I even painted a picture on my appy wall about it, and it makes my heart happy to look at it and remember why I painted it.

All in all, a crazy, random, very unstructured few weeks.... I think maybe I'm supposed to be learning something... do you?

I wish you all the most wonderful Winter's weekend, filled with happiness and delight. Thanks for reading.

Tout d'Amour,

Annie

(P.S. Pictures of snow adventures coming soon ;)