Resurfacing

Slowly but surely I am re-entering the blogging world.  So, to anyone who reads this...(Hi mom!)...i'm sorry it's taken me sooo long.  I really do feel a little guilty.  What have I been up to?  In the past 2 months I graduated, was a part of two weddings,  had my own wedding, honeymooned for a week, moved to Dallas, and found a job.  It seems that I like to get most of my big life events over with at one time.

I guess the most important thing to tell you about is  my wedding.  IT. WAS. PERFECT.  My only complaint was that I wish it didn't go by so fast.  I keep replaying memories from that day over and over again in my mind, like i'm rewinding a video tape.  The people, the place, the flowers, the breeze (thank you God for that breeze!)...everything was beautiful.  David and I agree that we wouldn't have changed a single thing about it.

The whole day I felt completely calm, relaxed, and happy.  The only time I was nervous was right before I was about to walk down the aisle  (and then of course I felt the sudden urge to use the bathroom). The best part of the day was standing up there and saying my vows to David; it was pure joy.  Afterward we proceeded to an awesome reception where we had BBQ, beer, and lots and lots of dancing (oh man, you should look forward to seeing those photos).

It's hard to put into words on here how great that day is in my mind, the seriousness of how much it means to us, and just simply how much fun David and I both had.  We feel overwhelmed with the love that the Lord has showered upon us. 

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Get excited, because the next couple of upcoming posts will include: pictures from the wedding (I don't know how i'm going to narrow down which ones to put up here), pictures from the honeymoon, and probably some good recipes as well!

And I promise to try to be a more dedicated blogger. Forgive me once again.

Recap

Okay for the sake of time, and since i'm currently down and out with the flu, I will just picture recap the big events that happened in the month of May.  I simply don't have the time to write a post for each event like I had originally intended.  So deal with it :)

This was from out first wedding shower thrown for us by my sister.  This was for us and our college friends, and it was SO much fun.  We laughed, and laughed, and laughed some more.  The highlight of the night? Wedding mad  libs.

The next weekend we went to Houston where we had our second shower thrown by David's family, and then attended our friend Erin's beautiful wedding.

Then there was my graduation from the greatest place on earth, The University of Texas!

And my graduation present? Nikon D500...i'm so in love.

Then some of my best friends in the entire world got married.  Congrats Tiffany and Wayne! David and I were honored to be a part of it.

Lastly, a fun filled Memorial Day weekend with my future in-laws.

As you can see,  May was awesome.  May was filled with great things and great people.  And to all the people in my life right now...my family, my new family, my friends...I want to say the biggest "thank you."  You're such a blessing!

It's not you, it's me.

So, it's been a looong time since i've blogged.  It's kind of ironic because there's been a lot happening that I can share with you...but it's because of all of these events that I have less and less time to write about it.  Oh well.

Right now i'm going through finals week, so I have no time to focus on anything outside of Biology and Psychology of Language.  But I promise to resurface next week and share pictures and stories from our two wedding showers we've had and the other things i've been up to.  I'm currently accepting prayers to get me through these last two finals.  Thank you.

Busy bee

It's been a while since I updated last, I felt like I needed to let you recover from that cupcake recipe. MMM.  Moving on...

I ran my first 5k this weekend! I know this might not be a big deal to anyone, but it is to me!  I really don't enjoy running...maybe it's the swimmer inside of me that is used to non-load bearing exercise, but whatever it is, I pretty much have never liked running.  I still don't.  Well, I have some friends who work for the UT Autism Project, and they had organized a 5k to benefit it.  Since 1) I needed to get my butt into shape, and 2) my money was going towards a cause i'm passionate for, I signed up...with only two weeks left before the actual race (oh yeah, and have I mentioned that I don't ever run?). Oops.  So with only a couple of "training" runs in, I somehow completed my first 5k.  This was only made possible by God for not letting me die, and by my friend Tiffany for doing the whole thing right next to me even though she's an experienced runner and could have lapped me.  My hips and hamstrings have been in pain, but I hope I can make myself spontaneously sign up for another one someday...(maybe next time a little more prepared though).



Tiffany and I at the end...I can't believe how normal she looks after running 3 miles.  Makes me sick ;)



The evening after the 5k was my friend Erin's bachelorette party.  We did dinner, drinks, presents, and karaoke! Perfect night.

The bride-to-be



Making a fool out of myself



Beautiful ladies



In my own wedding department, David and I took our engagement pictures! I 'm SO pumped to see how they're going to turn out.  We also mailed the invitations and booked the rehearsal dinner.  I'm on a roll...with a million more things to get done.  Less than 2 months now :)

After I finish my awful research paper, there are exciting things in store for the upcoming weekend too: my sister coming to town, bridal portraits (as long as it doesn't rain), tiff's wedding shower, my own wedding shower, and the one i'm most excited about is GOING TO THE PHOENIX CONCERT!!!  Can't wait, I might die of happiness.

As promised...

I'm a woman of my word, and this post is dedicated to sharing a delicious cupcake recipe.   But for those of you wondering,  we received all good news concerning David's health: NO CANCER!  God is the ultimate healer, and David and I definitely felt the outpouring of prayers from all of you.  Rejoice!  And now onto something yummy:  Strawberry & Mascarpone Cheese Cupakes...Rejoice some more!

Here's what you'll need:

1 box of vanilla cake mix

1 8 oz container of mascarpone cheese

1/2 cup  strawberries

1/3 cup sugar

2 Tbsp lemon juice

• Grab your box of cake mix and cook according to the cupcake directions on the back of the box.  Once done baking, set aside and let them cool.


• In a food processor, combine strawberries, cheese, sugar, and lemon juice and blend until smooth.  If you're a poor student like myself and lack a food processor, chop up the strawberries as small as possible and just get a fork and mash everything up as fine as possible.


• Transfer the strawberry mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a small tip. Push the tip gently into the bottom of a cupcake and squeeze in the strawberry mixture until the cupcake plumps.  Again, I lack a pastry bag, so I took the round handle end of a serving spoon to create a hole...as you can see, i'm extremely professional *insert a sarcastic, dramatic eye roll here*


• Take the remaining strawberry mixture and spread on top of the cupcakes.

Disclaimer:  This recipe is an accidental adaptation of Giada de Laurentiis' recipe.  Her recipe has a sugar glaze that you make at the end, but for some reason the first time I made it, I totally left that part out somehow...but I enjoyed the way I made them so much, why change it?  So if you're into the sugar glaze thing, check out the real way she makes them.

Seriously, I have fallen in love with this recipe.  I'm not a fan of icing, so to have a substitute for that as the topping is just perfect for someone like me.  They're light, fruity, fluffy, and you won't be able to stop eating them.  You've been warned.



This post has made me realize two things:  1) I want to make these cupcakes a third time, and 2) I really hope someone's gracious enough to buy me some kitchen items off my wedding registry (hint, hint).

Hope everyone y'all are having an amazing day.