endless endeavors: Life Lately

Life lately has involved lots of time with friends & family. It is so good to have such sweet people in my life. My old college roommate, Abby (and her bff Britney) came to visit me the first weekend of June. It was nice and relaxing and we did some of her wedding planning for her upcoming nuptials. Here we are circa June 2008 in our apt at EX2.

Circa June 2011 at my apt in Dallas. Abby was, hands down, the best roommate I have ever had.

This past year, I joined a ladies bible study at my church. First semester, we studied Daniel (amazing) and second semester we studied Isaiah (challenging). Some girls suggested we start a Summer Book Club (SBC) so we could continue to grow in Christ while in fellowship with one another. We chose the book Radical by David Platt. It has opened up my mind and been a great topic of discussion within the group of girls. The book has opened my eyes to new ways of thinking. We have bible study at a different girls home every week - so a few weeks ago, I opened up my home. Since I have been following a few cooking (and baking) blogs lately, I thought what a perfect opportunity to try out a new recipe. I had been eyeing these delicious cupcakes (who doesn't love cupcakes?) from Bake at 350 blogs - Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. Let me tell you, they are absolutely amazing and I'm already trying to find another opportunity to bake them. I even went out and bought a cake decorating tip/bags to properly frost the cupcake - I'm on my way!

After baking the cupcakes, I scooped out a tiny bit from the center (and put them in a bowl for later consumption)

THEN, the recipe calls for a special "cookie dough" frosting to be made and placed in the center of the cupcake.

The best part - the frosting. Enough said.

One Saturday, my mom asked Brett to chop down a tree in our backyard. The tree was not properly growing and eventually would have fallen over - so mom just wanted to cut to the chase.