An update on my problem...

They have been washed. But somehow, they have multiplied. I'm taking bets on how long the clean cups/coffee mugs/water bottles will sit in this exact position. Oh, and I have no idea where this UGA "Hoop Girls" thermos came from, by the way. Could I have? Would I have? EVER BEEN A "HOOP GIRL"? No. I'm assuming this is some sort of basketball thing, although it could very well be a hula-hoop thing, who knows? All I know is, my 5 feet tall body will never ever be in any sort of league call the "Hoop Girls" and hula hoop? Yeah, I never quite mastered that one on the playground. (Also? Monkey bars. We never became friends.) So, if you're the "Hoop Girl" who left this on my desk, please come claim it!

We may have a problem on our hands

But do you think I did anything about this problem after I snapped this picture? Um, no. There underlies the problem, people.

What to do with those old apples you told yourself you were going to eat but never did...

Make some muffins. The alternate title of this post could have been "Saturday Morning Baking", but I thought I'd just be more honest with you. My refrigerator and fruit bowl are where produce go to die a slow, painful death. I have the best intentions, but somehow, three weeks pass by and I still haven't cooked that sweet potato. Or steamed that broccoli. Or I've eaten a donut instead of an apple. It happens. A lot.

But Saturday I woke up, walked into the kitchen, made some coffee...(and yes, this is how we live it up in Alabama. Livin' on the wild side, baby.)

and stared at the sad, bruised apples in my fruit bowl. I couldn't let them meet the same fate as the potato that was, well, growing another potato out of itself. (Go ahead and thank me that I don't have a picture to show you for that one. It was scary and weird.) So I diced up the apples to a small dice...

I measured out milled flax seed, whole wheat flour, and white flour, as well as salt, sugar, and baking powder and mixed all the dry ingredients together...

Then I mixed together one egg, milk, and oil and added that to the dry ingredients...

and mixed until just combined. Then you mix in your diced up apples (and nuts if you like that sort of thing.)

Then spray your muffin tins and fill them about 2/3 full. This recipe makes about 15 muffins.

Pop them in the oven for about 18-20 minutes. At around 12 minutes, I sprinkled some brown sugar on top for a little crunch. You don't want to add this too early because your sugar might burn. Also, please notice my polished fingernails.

Bake for a few more minutes and then let cool. These were healthy, delish and super easy. Try them soon!

Whole wheat flaxseed apple muffins:

3/4 cup milled flaxseed
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups diced apples (about 3 small apples)
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional) (that's what she said)

Blend dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine egg, vegetable oil and milk. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Fold in apples and nuts. Batter will be thick. Fill well-greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until top springs back when touched.

And look, I even have nutritional data!
1 muffin = 175 calories, 2 g dietary fiber, 23 g carbohydrates, 4 g protein, 9 g fat (less than 1 g saturated fat). These would make a great breakfast!

Comparing God & Oprah

I came across a few quotes from one, Oprah Winfrey today that I wanted to share. One of the topic suggestions I received was to choose and discuss quotes on my blog. I’m just going to say what I know you’re already thinking: I am not the most philosophical, deep thinker. I like wine. And donuts. And Will Farrell movies. And making fun of people. I'm not too opinionated and I’d prefer to have a conversation with you, not about the separation of church and state or Senate majority leaders, but about what color finger nail polish you’re wearing and if you know of any good shoe sales.

But like I said, I came across these quotes today and was struck by how quickly a similar bible verse came to mind with each quote. (You’d think the effects of several years of wine drinking with its remnants still floating through my short body woulda knocked some of these bible verses from memory, but thank goodness - they stuck around.)

Now, I’m not knocking Oprah. I think she does some pretty great stuff. I just want to point out that the general idea of what she’s saying in these quotes has already been said. These words were said a long, long time ago. They were inspired by God. In whom I believe. Have I mentioned that? Yeah, I believe in God. I don’t use this here blog as a platform to preach and never will, but I do want you to know that I believe in God. I want you to know me, and omitting what is at the very core of my being would be like ordering a jelly-filled donut without the jelly filling. You get my point, I hope.

Ahem. What was my point? (See, I got side-tracked by donuts. It happens a lot.) Oh yes, my point is, it’s so easy for someone to hear and listen to and understand and believe someone as powerful as Oprah say something profound like this and think that she’s come up with the answer to life, to all their problems. However, reading words written a thousand+ years ago and inspired by a being who made blind men see, who walked on water, who took five loaves of bread and a couple of fish and fed five freaking thousand people, has somehow become defunct, irrelevant, and in-congruent with our modern-day lives.

Oprah says:
"No matter where you stand right now - on a hilltop, in a gutter, at a crossroads, in a rut - you need to give yourself the best you have to offer in this moment."

God says (via the prophet, Jeremiah):
"This is what the LORD says:
'Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and there you will find rest for your souls.' “ – Jeremiah 6:16

Oprah says:
"You can either waltz boldly onto the floor of life and live the way you know your spirit is nudging you to, or you can sit quietly by the wall and recede in the shadows of fear and self-doubt."

God says (via the disciple, Timothy):
“For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.” – 2 Timothy 1:7

I’ll let you be the judge: Who said it better?

Grilled Chicken and Fruit Salad

Lately, I've been trying cook more at home. Last week, I had delicious dinners of fresh veggie stir-fry, seared tuna steak with sauteed broccoli and baked sweet potato slices, a homemade pizza on whole wheat crust, and this salad. I'd say I've done pretty well!

This salad was so yummy, I didn't even put dressing on it!

First, grab a pack of boneless, skinless chicken tenders. Spray some Olive Oil Pam into a saute pan and throw in the tenders. You don't want to move them around a whole lot. Just let 'em sit there; they won't stick. To the top side, spray on a little more Pam and shake on some garlic salt and fresh cracked pepper. Let them sit for about 3-5 minutes before you flip them. After you flip them, shake on a little more garlic salt and pepper and let them cook for another 3-5 minutes on that side.

In the meantime, start your salad by putting some mixed greens (I like the mix with the arugula, spinach, romaine, and radicchio) in a bowl.

Next, dice up half of a purple onion and toss it on the greens.

Then, slice up about 5-6 strawberries and throw them on the greens.

Then, take a can of mandarin oranges and throw them in a colander and rinse them off pretty well. (If you wanted to take the time to peel a tangerine, then by all means, please show the rest of us up.) Throw them on the salad.

Toss on some slivered almonds.

Throw in some reduced fat, crumbled blue cheese.

And go ahead and sprinkle on some more cracked black pepper.

At this point, your chicken should be done, so just give the tenders a quick dice and throw them on top.

Toss it all together and give it a taste. If you think it needs some dressing, just drizzle on a bit of balsamic vinaigrette. I didn't put any dressing on mine, which made it all the more healthier! It was sooo good, people. It took about 15 minutes when all was said and done, start to finish. And I had about four good size servings from it. Try it when you need something fresh, healthy, and super quick!

Editing pictures in Picnik

If you have not discovered Picasa, the free photo editing software by Google, go discover it now. Go google it and download it for free. I'll wait.

This free editing software is the best thing since bras started coming with underwires. Seriously, it's awesome. Just in the very basic application, you can fix exposure problems, crop, straighten, get rid of red-eye, do some cool color changes. But I just upgraded my version of Picasa (for free!) and there's this new option called "Picnik" on the editing menu. Picnik allows you to do oh-so-many more edits. There are fun edits like this:

Or, you can do more normal edits like the ones I'm about to show you. I'll show you the original first, then the edited version. I snapped all of these pictures over the summer when Mark and I stopped by his grandad's garden one afternoon. I've got some favorite edits that I used on just about all of these pictures: Boost, 1960's, and Vignette.

Here we go!

Original:

Edited. I love the vintage-y look of this. It seems to make the fruit and leaves pop more. And I like the rounded corners, too.

Original:

Edited:

Original:

Edited:

Original:

Edited. This is by far my favorite one:

This one is kind of eerie to me. A late afternoon storm was rolling in and the clouds started getting pretty dark. Here's the original:

I did something kind of funky with the edited copies. This TOTALLY transformed the entire picture. There is seriously so much you can do in this program FOR FREE!

Another version. Kind of dusty. I acheived this by only filtering in one certain color:

These next few were so pretty on there own, they didn't need much. Here's the original:

And here, I 'boosted' it, and added the 'vignette' feature to shade the corners.

I love the angle of this picture. Original:

Here, I just clicked the "Auto Fix" button. This is a nice option for those of you who don't have time (to waste) to jazz up your pictures and want to get it all done in one click. I bet you're the type who likes shopping at Wal-Mart, too, aren't you? One stop shop kind of person? Now if only our lives came with "Auto Fix" options, huh? Auto Fix (subtle differences):

Boosted and vignetted:

What do ya'll think? Think you'll try it out? Should I start charging for photo shoots now??

Redecorating My Room...

And so continues our online window shopping. Today, we're browsing Pier 1 online!

I just moved. I have quite a bare pallet that I call my bedroom and bathroom. Pretty much all white. White down comforter in desperate need of a duvet, white sheets, white pillows, white towels...you get the picture. I need color in my life. I need it bad. In my online perusing today, I was being drawn to the combo of red and teal. Red has always been one of my favorite colors, but I've never paired it with teal before.

I've found some pretty great things that I would love for my new bedroom - most of which were on clearance! One thing you need to know about Pier 1 online though is that you can't make purchases online. You can check store availability and make an online shopping list that you can then print out and take to one of their locations.

Oh, and I so totally felt like I was on that show on HGTV "Design on a dime" because when I totalled everything up, my total was $995.75! Under $1000! Now, hang on, I'm not buying this stuff, I'm just getting an idea of what I'd like to decorate with. I'll use these as a guide when I'm out shopping for decor. I'll pick up an item here and there, or maybe even make some of the stuff myself, but please know that I don't have ten hund-o's to drop at this moment. Although there are a few things out of this group that I would like to eventually purchase.

Ok, moving on....

Stuff I already have:
1. Bed with dark wood headboard and footboard

2. Dark wood dresser

3. Dark wood trunk
4. Wicker nightstand

And then a ton of white stuff.

First up, furniture. I love this red ottoman. It's simple, it'll sit at the foot of my bed, it'll inevitably be a catch all for all my crap, but I think the color's great and so is the price. The color is Cinnabar and it's $199.95.



Next up, I love this wicker chair. I think it's modern enough to jazz up the room a bit, but is still cohesive enough with the rest of the furniture. It mimics the wicker in my nightstand, too. It's the Mombosa chair and it's $99.98.

I would toss this throw pillow on the wicker chair. It's the Peacock Circles Pillow and it's $23.96.

And maybe this one too. It's the Oblong Teal Print Pillow and it's $31.96.

Next up is bedding. I think I'll stick with my all white bedding, unless I find a cute, solid or textured duvet cover. For now, I want to just jazz it up with throw pillows. I like this one. It's the Embroidered Bird Pillow and it's $34.95. Gal darn, are throw pillows expensive or what?! Funny story about throw pillows...I once worked at a home decor store in my home town. I had neither the experience or the expertise to work at a home decorating store, but they liked me I guess, so I got the job. People. There was a whole WALL of throw pillows. I'm talking like thirty feet long and 20 feet high. It had little cubbie holes that we stuffed with pillows. Little old ladies would always, ALWAYS, choose the ones in the cubbies at the very tip top of the wall. I'd have to go get the ladder and yank out the pillow they wanted, only to have to put it back up again when they said, "Oh no honey, that's the wrong color." I finally got the bright idea on a slow day to color coordinate the pillow wall, putting the less desirable colors at the very top. I got employee of the month that month. Anyway...I like this one:

And is this one right here too crazy to throw behind the bird pillow? Maybe I could do the teal pillows behind the bird pillow on the bed and throw the Circle Button Pillow ($34.95) on the wicker chair and just eliminate the teal stripe pillow? Good grief, too much pillow talk going around here. Moving on.

Window and wall coverings. I'm not crazy about this aqua shade of Silk Panel ($55.96 each). I'd like it to be a little more tealish, but I think if I don't have it too close to other teal furnishings, it'll be okay. I could always try dying them???

I'm kind of in love with these wall hangings, although looking at it now, I'm not sure if the style quite fits and is cohesive with the rest of the room. Nevertheless, the colors are spot on and I love the dreamy nature of the prints. This is the Celestial Wall Art and the set is $129.99.

I would have this clocks babies. I love it. But do ya'll think it fits? It's a little rustic and western-y and that's not really the look I was going for. Your thoughts on this Salsa Clock that retails for $74.98, please?

These right here are placemats. But i'mma put 'em on my wall. That's right, ya heard? I think they're cute and you could easily glue or attach a picture hanger to the backs of them. They're light, they're wicker, they're whimsical and they're only $3.96 each. Ok, I just realized something. If we were going to play a game of "Which of these things is not like the other one?" with this stuff, I think it would have to be the dreamy, Celestial Wall Art. Everything else I've chosen seems to be more casual and rustic, while those are just pretty modern and ethereal. Oh well. I did love the colors in them, though. What do ya'll think?

Whenever I go shopping with my BFF, Jeannie, she'll pick up something that costs an arm and a leg and then I'll say, "We could so totally make that for like five bucks," and then we (I) never do. Well, Jeannie? "I could so totally make this." I have an old wooden four-pane window without the glass that Mark and I picked up out of someone's trash about 4 years ago. It has been with me through 3 moves and still just sits. Doing nothing. Being nothing. I'm spray painting that sucker teal and stringing wire, clothespins and pictures in it. It's new day just dawned. So booyah, Jeannie. This is what it'll look like only with the panes seperated. You could easily do this with any old picture frame! This one is from Pier 1 and'll run you $22.40.

I love lamp. Enough said. (Anchorman, anyone?) This red lamp is $19.98 and I'd probably get two!

I forgot to tell ya'll that I also have a white bookcase stacked to the brim with books. I think these planters would make pretty cute bookends! Potted Artificial Wheat Grass, $8. I need some potted artificial wheat grass in my life.

These are fun. And kitschy. And teal. And I like 'em. $24.88 and $29.88.

I love the wonky shape of this here thang. I'd probably stick some eucalyptus or some other kind fake filler in it, put it on the floor next to my door, and call it a day. Organic Chocolate Glass Vase $19.98.

I think this is super cute, and it mimicks the blue bird in my blue bird pillow. Cuteness to the max. This is $10.36

I like these. $5.98-$11.18.

And finally, I like this simple rug to center everything and pull the room together. Great price on this large rug: $79.98.

Well that completes the home furnishings portion of this post. I'd love to hear ya'lls opinions!