40 Days and One Recipe

Welp, today is the start of Lent for those of us who observe it. I must admit, I'm pretty darn excited. It's been a while since I've had the ashes placed on my forehead and it certainly symbolizes a lot to me this year. I love periods of time that challenge me to become better.

In previous years, I've always taken a different approach to Lent - a time of self-examination, self-denial, and amendment of life. Instead of giving up a food or sweet something, I always decided to pray more. I wanted that period of self-reflection. So, in addition to praying every night, for the next 40 days [and hopefully after that], I will be starting every morning off with a meditation, a prayer of thanks, a prayer for peace.

Prior to this Ash Wednesday, I also decided there were some things I wanted to give up. Things that, with time, had lost a lot of importance in my life. I knew that what little time I was being spent with those things could be spent somewhere much more worthy of my time. So, those things have been gone from my life and I haven't looked back since :)

Now, where were we? Ah, yes... speaking of becoming better. Since the move to San Diego, I've been challenging myself to try a bunch of new recipes. When I went home for Christmas, one of the appetizer dishes I decided to make was stuffed celery. 

Here's what you'll need:

[This makes 16 servings]

+ 1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, softened

+ 2 tablespoons sour cream

+ 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

+ 20 green olives with pimento, chopped

+ 1 bunch celery, cut into bite-size pieces

And here's all you have to do:

In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese and sour cream. Stir in the walnuts and chopped olives. Spread filling onto the celery pieces. It's also good on crackers.

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I found the recipe over here while scouring the boards for tasty treats. My sister-in-law who doesn't love olives even liked the stuffed celery. Shoot, I'd even spread that stuff on sliced cucumbers. Yum! Super easy to make and just the perfect finger food! Last Christmas, I made spinach balls and they were a hit as well!

In the spirit of Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras earlier this week, I made Shrimp Jambalaya and, I must say, aside from my chocolate chip cookies, it is THE greatest dish I've made! Hungry now? Go make some stuffed celery ;)

I can't wait to see what positive changes will take place in these next 40 days and all the fantastic new recipes I've yet to try :)

Just Hold On

You’re probably expecting a Las Vegas recap by now, right? I’m taking my time on that. It will be a pretty big post {or two} so I’ll have to keep you waiting a little bit longer. I promise there will be good pictures and stories though :) Today, I’d like to reflect on how my Sunday went. As many of you know, I’ve been doing quite a bit of traveling lately and this was my first Sunday back in the DC area in a few weeks.

Church was on the agenda. In Virginia, I’ve only regularly gone to one church which is five minutes down the street from me. It was a congregation full of families living in this area. Well, my church also offers congregations of young singles – no families, no babies, just a bunch of people around the same age going to church. So, I figured I might as well start meeting with that congregation. I looked up church times. You’re assigned to a church time/location based on your location. The nearest building where singles would be meeting was about 30 minutes away and church started at 8:00am.

8:00. In the morning. Which meant I woke up at 6:00 for church.
It gets better.

I knew there were two different groups of singles meeting in this one building and according to the times listed, they were both meeting at 8:00am. That didn’t quite sound right to me. So, when I was walking in, I asked a guy where I could find my particular group. He said, “Oh, they meet here. But, not until 11:30.”
I beg your pardon.

Welp, I wasn’t about to either a) Drive half an hour back home only to drive back at 11:30 or b) Sit around for 3 and a half hours. So, I said to him, “Looks like I’m coming to church with you all today!” He promised I’d have a good time regardless.

Now, here’s where it begins looking up. I start walking into the chapel only to run into a girl I know! What are the odds? We hugged, she told me to come sit with her, and we chatted away until church started. Tell me that didn’t work out perfectly.

Here’s where I’ll say that I never plan to become preachy or super religious. I will, however, share some thoughts, lessons, or insights I receive whether I get them from church, a book, or even another person :)

So many of the things I heard in church yesterday were just what I needed to hear.
In one lesson, there was mention of something known as the “mist of darkness.” This girl told a story about her father who fought in Vietnam. He had said that at one point, the fog was so thick that they couldn’t see the person in front of them nor could they hear a thing. Can you imagine that?
Maybe, figuratively speaking, you’ve been there before. I think we all have in some way or another.
Stuck in the thickest of fogs. We can’t see. We can’t hear. We know there is a way out but we can’t see it for ourselves.

Well, this girl mentioned how you can’t just flick on a flashlight to help you see your way through. The only thing you can do is hold on to the one thing you know will guide you out of that darkness.

{via}

What is that one thing for you?
Is it your faith? Your family? Your dreams?

We might not always be able to see the big picture or even the way out of a difficult, challenging time. But, we must keep holding on and keep going.

Just something to think about :)