Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Mocha round two!


Mocha round two.
So, last week... cupcakes did not happen, class did not happen, teaching did not happen and very minimal work happened... thank you "strep throat" (all my tests came back negative). And sadly on the realm of cupcakes, we've got nothin' new and exciting this week... just my Mocha cupcakes, round two.. with a couplechanges!

I LOVED loved loved loved loved the cake part of my last week's recipe and my youth group girls requested mocha cupcakes so alas, they're back. I did change a couple things this time. Last time I made these I accidently made my coffee kind of weak so this time I made sure to not do that, I wanted my cupcakes to have that real coffee punch to make them more mocha-y. I also decided to be a wee bit lazy and use store bought chocolate frosting- simply due to the lack of time this week. I thought my youth group girls would like chocolate better anyway. I used a piping bag to put the frosting on to make it a wee bit more decorative and I also used a tip that would make a little flower and inside that flower i put a chocolate chip-- to go along with the theme of chocolate chips inside the cake. (they make the cake so so so so yummy!) So anyway, if i see you at Anthem tomorrow and there are extras you might get lucky. :P

(excuse the photo taken on my phone)

Week two of training = couch.
So, due to sickness last week I didn't get to run or workout ONCE. This was so hard. I had a great first week of training the week before and literally not being able to move from the couch last week was horrible. Today was my first day back on the training schedule and let me tell you ... 7 full days off makes running harder. -- that's the thing with running, if you take time off it makes getting back into the swing of it and back to your normal pace a lot harder. I ran 3 miles today at a rather slow pace- due to my extreme lack of love for the treadmill. But it felt good, real good. I followed it by some strength training, weight lifting and 100 abs. I promised myself that every time I worked out-- EVERY time I would do 100 abs (doesn't matter how, but just 100) and a 7 minute workout I learned from Runner's World. (it's awesome) It builds speed and strength. I thought a 7 minute workout would be a piece of cake, but not when it comes from Runner's World. :P If you want to check it out here it is! (7 minute workout) It's technically a warm up but I do it at a variety of times - warm up, after running and even as a circuit if I am feeling up to it.


The only moment that is real is right now.

This week at church Shane taught about Eccleasiates 3. I really love when Shane teaches and I don't know why, I sometimes think he reads my mind and teaches it just for me, no but really. I took 4 solid pages of notes. Ecclesiates 3 is the part of the Bible where it talks about "There is a time for everything... " and the way Shane put it was that Ecclesiates is a document about reality- it points out what reality is but makes no judgement about it at all. I could easily write a lot about what I learned but I'm just going to point out some things that Shane said that really stuck out to me:
- What never changes is that things are constantly changing.
- All of our problems will go away with time, they always do, we just have to wait and be patient. This same thing goes for when your life is wonderful- it won't stay this way forever- its part of living in the realm of time, things are constantly changing.
- Time speeds up and time slows down- when we experience Joy time disappears. Its like the saying "time flies when you're having fun" -- this is SO true.
- The human heart has so relation to time. There is a place in every human heart where there is no time, it is unchangeable, joyful, pure bliss.

and my most favorite...
- The past is a figment of our imagination-- but it is not here anymore, it set sail and is asking us to let it go. The future has not yet happened, the only moment that is real is right now, NOW is the only FOREVER.

listen to the whole thing here.

Grace, Peace & Happy Running. :)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Here goes nothin'...

Alright, so literally... here goes nothin'. You see, I have only "blogged" for class, minus on measly attempt to blog a couple years ago... and I kind of think blogging is cheesy but I also think it is a really great creative outlet, something many of us need. I am naturally a really creative person and because my life is extremely busy with teaching, working two jobs and training for a half marathon I don't get much time to paint or draw so here we are... blogging.

I have an odd obsession with running. I ran my first race in 2009 and have ran 7 others since. If you ask me, they are addicting. :P I also love sweets, oddly though... I love to make my sweets more than I like to eat them. I love eating them too, don't get me wrong but really, my joy stems from making them and giving them to others. Partially because I love to make people happy with food and partially because the quicker they are out of my house and in the hands of others the less likely I am to eat all of them. :)

So, this blog... I am not quite sure what it is going to be. Probably some updates on my training for the Bayshore Half Marathon in May, some cool exercises, healthy recipes and of course the cupcakes I am going to so desperately try to make weekly. (along with recipes) So friends, be ready to eat cupcakes because I'm gonna make them... and bring them to you!

Oh, and I might blog about some cool things Jesus is teaching me... because he is pretty cool. And well, let's start with that...

My new years resolution was to read my Bible more and I was doing just that the other night. I am working my way through Ephesians right now, little by little and I have been writing about it too, just to help it soak in more.... but anyway... this verse in Ephesians 4 really stuck out as something I should read EVERY day.... it says: "Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them." (Ephesians 4:29) I definitely feel like my words can be very harsh and hurtful sometimes, definitely not good and helpful to those who hear them, so here's to me trying to remember that my words need to be good and helpful... not foul or abusive.

Okay, FINALLY we get to talk about the cupcakes. I decided that Mocha Cupcakes would be really, really amazing... so what did I do? I googled just that! Good old google, never lets me down. :) I came across another blog with the amazing recipe. You can find it here. For the frosting, I made a coffee buttercream, and sadly I don't have a recipe because I just threw some butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and coffee in the bowl and turned on the mixer. It didn't turn out as thick as I wanted because I ran out of sugar, but the flavor was good! :) And from what all my friends are saying, apparently... this is the best. cupcake. ever. :)


p.s - no picture this time. :)

toodles, grace + peace.