Resolution Update

Okay, so one of my resolutions this year was to cook more dinners again. It was spurred on by my refrigerator clean out. It's been going pretty well. Below are some of the things I've made (and remembered to take pictures of).

Chicken Pot Pie

Doesn't look very appetizing in the picture but it was really good. I have a couple of these cooking dishes that make it much easier to half or quarter recipes to make portions for 1-2 people.

Asparagus and Bacon Bake Omelet

I wasn't expecting this to be very good so I added the bacon. It turned out delicious, made me like asparagus more. I would probably cut them smaller next time I make this.

"Fried" Pickles

Okay, this is the first recipe I've tried from my Pinterest pins! Turned out pretty well. Next time, I want to figure out the correct baking times. The recipe I had called for using the broiler, but the pickles themselves were not as hot as I wanted and too crunchy.

So, this resolution has been successful for the month of January!

P.S. Mom, that Cutie clementine you put in my stocking this Christmas got me hooked. I've been eating them all the time. Thanks!

Resolution: Change it Up!

Alright, since Cindy has posted my 'hoard' of nail polish, I decided I need to be sure I use all of them. So these next couple months I'm going to change my nail polish often. I've assigned them all a number and have been randomly painting my nails. The count was 88 nail polishes not counting top coats, crackle coats, or glitter. I think this will help me find new favorites and possible get rid of some I don't like. So far here is what I've worn.

SUNNY by Zoya
SECRET AFFAIR by Essie
TEENY WEENY PINK BIKINI by OPI
SHEER PEARL by Revlon
RUSSIAN NAVY by OPI
JULES by Zoya

(No one at work has mentioned anything ; ) Should I keep going?

New Favorite Brand

I forgot to mention that on my shopping trip Monday, I stopped at Sally's to see if they had some nail polish on sale. I picked two. The first was an iridescent, which was just okay. The other was a purple shade. As it turned out, I loved it! Even with the SV topcoat, it looked great. But of course the topcoat makes any color look better. Anyway, here are the pictures. The polish looks blue, but trust me, it is the prettiest shade of purple. I can't stop looking at my nails. I'm going to pick up some other shades and see if I like them as well.

My Favorite Beauty Guru

Tony and I had the best time visiting Amy for her birthday. She has a very impressive make up and nail polish collections. Just have to share a couple of pictures, but stay tuned for her own tour of all her make up.

Fashion Show, Fashion Show, Fashion Show on H.A.C.K.

I hadn't been shopping in awhile. Sometimes when I go too often, I just see the same things. So I went to my favorite store, Marshalls, and tried on several pants and a skirt, but didn't like them. Then I went to Ross, which might now have earned recognition as my new favorite store. First I found an eye shadow palette by ELF. Amy told me that Target had carried them, but I couldn't find them at ours. Anyway, I picked it up for $4.99. Then I grabbed a few dresses off the rack. It's hard to find dresses anymore, but I loved the one I got. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's gray jersey. the top has kind of a double breasted detail with four buttons. It was $7.99. I have a pair of grey and black tights that go perfect with it. The shoes, I call them shooties, are black leather and black canvas, so very casual. Again, the shoes are cuter in real life. I picked up the pant suit because I loved the jacket, 3/4 length sleeve, double breasted, and it fit perfectly. I would have gotten the jacket just by itself because I have other black pants, but the ones that came with it are really good quality and I like how they fit. I will be getting rid of my other black pants because these really are nicer. The suit was $39.99. Oh, and the shoes were about $15, I think. I also went to Sally's Beauty and got a couple of new nail polishes, but I'll post those later, after I try them out. Shopping is so much fun!

2012

It's a new year! And I have to say I think it's off to a really good start. Last week I went to the Passion 2012 conference in Atlanta, Georgia, and it was amazing. I decided I wanted to make a post telling you guys about it, but I think it might have to be several posts, just because there was so much that happened that I want to share with you. It was only 5 days, but those 5 days were packed with stuff, and it might take me a while to get through it all, but I think I can manage.

Just to start things off, let me tell you a little about Passion. Basically it's a conference directed to students between 18 and 25. It's hosted in Atlanta, Georgia, and this year they held it in the Georgia Dome. 45,000 people were there this year. That is a lot of people. And that's a lot of people together for one purpose, and that purpose being to glorify God.

The day was broken up into segments called main sessions and community groups. Main sessions were like a worship service. There was music followed by speaking of some sort followed by more music. Music was led by Christ Tomlin, Matt Redman, Charlie Hall, Kristian Stanfill, Christy Nockels, David Crowder Band, Hillsong United and Lecrae. Speakers included Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Beth Moore, John Piper, and Christine Caine. Community groups were divided into where you were in school or something, so I was in the gold community group for high school seniors. Within those community groups you broke into family groups of about 8 people and with those people you had Bible study and discussion with. That was pretty much what all the day had.

Here's a sample of the schedule:
Jan 02 :
- 7:00p Main Session
- 9:30p Community Groups
\- 11:30p Late Night Options
Jan 03/04 :
- 9:00a Community Groups
- 10:45a Main Session
- 2:00p Main Session
- 7:00p Main Session
- 9:30p Community Groups
- 11:30p Late Night Options
Jan 05 :
- 9:00a Community Groups
- 10:45a Main Session

We went to bed around like 3 almost every night then had to be ready to leave at 8 the next morning, so we were pretty exhausted.

Every year, Passion does this thing called Do Something Now. In their own words, "Do Something Now is a movement rooted  in the belief  that together we are a force for good. Both here and beyond Passion 2012 we want to be for the kind of worship that weds songs with action." They always have a cause they support and raise money for and this year it was freedom. I'll get into more detail about that another time, but basically, today there are 27 million people living in slavery all around the world, even in the US. During the conference they shared stories and testimonies of people who had lived in slavery, and they shared about the various organizations that they partnered with to prevent, rescue, and restore. So they asked us to donate, and their goal was 1 million dollars. By the end of the conference 45,000 students raised 3 million dollars. That blows my mind.

Passion was an absolutely amazing experience, and I'll probably post about it more, because there is so much to say, that one post won't suffice.