If only!

Today was an amazing day, let me be more specific it was an amazing weather day if we don't mention the wind. I was able to capture this picture from my office window......

I love my job, and I can't wait to get to work everyday. However,I do have to admit views like this make me want to be on the golf course from time to time.

Love,
Jen

The memories

So I had this roommate in college, she was extraordinary, an amazing sister in Christ, my rock, my encourager, my shoulder to cry on when men were being men, my sounding board when my professors were causing me gray hair, we had each other’s back no matter the circumstance, she was and is my best friend. I think I may have mentioned her from time to time here in my blog. Nicole and I don’t live as close in geographical terms as we did in college, so every now and then I must, for my own sanity do some things that remind me of her. Tonight was one of those nights.

You see when we resided at Jefferson Commons in Stillwater, more years ago than I would like to admit to the world I would make no-bake cookies…….very often. I remain in shock today that Nicole and I were not the size of a small country following our senior year. More no-bake cookies were consumed during that year between the two of us, than bread is consumed by the entire United States military.

I have not made no-bake cookies since college that is until today. I have my last Financial Peace class tomorrow and we were encouraged to bring a sugary or salty treat. This college tradition was the choice of goodies for me, and the memories that came flooding back in my kitchen tonight were priceless.

You will need:
½ cup butter
2 cups sugar
¼ cup milk
¼ cup coco powder
2 tsp. vanilla extract
½ peanut butter
3 cups quick cooking oats

Preparation:
Bring the first 4 ingredients to boil, boil for 3 min.. Remove from heat and immediately add vanilla and peanut butter. Stir until peanut butter is completely melted. Add oats and stir thoroughly. While still hot scoop out by tablespoons and place on wax paper to cool completely.



Enjoy,
Jen

An unexpected hour

In a common place, in an unexpected hour, do we see the beauty around us? Do we stop to appreciate the splendor, or hurry by on our way to an important meeting, a special dinner date, a soccer game, work, or any other "important" aspects of life that fill our time?



I know for myself I need to slow down and enjoy the God given beauty around me.

Pink Warrior

Last night at the CBR we were blessed to be part of a Candy Coburn concert. Candy is a celebrity Ambassador for Komen for the Cure®, an amazing woman, with an unmatched spirit, and an extraordinary voice. For any of you who have not heard her music please visit her website at www.candycoburn.com and listen to a bit of her song “Pink Warrior”. A song that forces you believe in the strength of a woman.


She wore a pink tutu and her cowboy boots, and her big brother’s superman cape


Shootin’ down dragons from her little red wagon to keep the backyard safe


Stubborn as a grass stain, runnin’ ‘round in French braids, tough for such a little girl


Livin in a big boys world-------


Oh—shes a pink warrior


She’s a fighter like her mama always taught her to be


Got an army of angles marchin’ around with her, she won’t give in, yeah she’s gonna win


She’s a pink warrior


She wears a pink ball cap and a pink durag, pink ribbon on her SUV


Its been a long hard fight but she’s kicked it twice


Cause she don’t know the word defeat


She’s walkin for the big cure, mothers, daughters, sisters—


They’re facin’ this head on-


Talk about being strong


Oh—shes a pink warrior


She’s a fighter like her mama always taught her to be


Got an army of angels marchin around with her


She won’t give in, yeah she’s gonna win


She’s a pink warrior

Written by---Kaci Bolls, Candy Cameron, Candy Coburn, & Roxie Dean

It was pink night

I squeezed myself into some tight fitn’ jeans, pulled up my cowgirl boats, saddled up my horse and road off to the CBR. For those of you who may have stumbled upon my blog by accident you may be thinking “what is the CBR”; well you are in luck I am here to answer that question…..CBR is short for Championship Bull Riding. Yes my friends I had the opportunity to watch some good looking cowboys try to survive on a bull for 8 seconds all the while being whipped around faster than a Texas tornado.

This adventure landed in my lap by way of my job. The Championship Bull Riding presented by American Airlines was on a “Tour for the Cure”. So much fun to see all the pink at a bull riding event!!!


There were pink boots!


Pink chute gates.


People of all ages......


were wearing pink.


There were cowboys in pink-I think they wear pink well.


And just because I love this picture I thought I would include it!

It was a great night!!!

Love ya,
Jen

An Epic Journey....

I have an unhealthy love affair with change, which happens to be great because when one thing changes for me it seems my entire life changes. This has been the trend for as long as I can remember. Therefore I figured when I took my new job I might as well move across town also, it just made the most since, don't you think?

I enlisted some help to assist me in the moving process. The cast of characters was quite diverse….


Brecken (age 1.5)


Breena (age 4)


We believe in child labor, start them out young in knowing what hard work is all about.


Bethany (I want to remains friends so I will leave her age out of my blog, we will simply say EXTRAORDINARY mother to Brecken and Breena and wonderful friend)


Dave (dad, handyman, and my go to moving friend)


Barb (past co-worker and good friend)

As you can see……an extremely diverse crew.

It has been a week since I set out on the epic journey to move across town…….. it is still an adjustment.

Love,
Jen

Spinach & Peppers Lasagna

This past Sunday I made a lasagna dish. If I must be honest……it quite possibly was the best lasagna EVER!! In fact I was not able to use all the ingredients, subsequently there are left over’s and I have been contemplating making the dish again this Sunday evening and freezing it. I need to give a shout out to my dear friend Bethany who emailed this AMAZING lasagna recipe along to me; thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Here is what you will need:

2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
½ pound baby spinach leaves
1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 large orange bell pepper, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced
42 ounces tomato sauce
Sea salt & pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
8 large fresh lasagna noodles or cooked lasagna noodles
3 cups low fat cottage cheese
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided

Preparation:

In large skillet, heat olive oil and sauté spinach for 2 minutes. Add bell peppers and garlic. Saute until just tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Simmer for 5 minutes then remove from heat.

Coat a 9x13-inch baking dish with olive oil cooking spray and set aside.

In medium bowl, mix the cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, and ¾ cup of the mozzarella cheese together. Season with pepper, if desired.

Ladle about 1 cup of sauce in bottom of prepared baking dish. Top with one layer of lasagna noodles. Spread one third of the cottage cheese mixture over noodles. Evenly spread another cup of sauce over that. Repeat the process until all of the noodles are used, ending with the last of the sauce. Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup mozzarella cheese over the top. Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake until cheese is browned and the lasagna is bubbly.

Enjoy!!!

Take me out to the ball game....

Time for a confession of sorts……..I am picky. We are not talking about the average; I don’t like caviar…picky, or picky in terms of my favorite college phrase “I only drink canned Bud Light; I don’t like it out of the bottle”. I my friends, am picky on a monumental level, and as fate may have it I seem to get worse by each passing year.

This degree of pickiness spans the entire spectrum of my being, leaving no inch untouched. That said men happen to fall into an aspect of my life, believe it or not. There are certain characteristics and attributes that I look for in a guy. You all may be thinking……….well we all have things we look for in a person we may potentially date, I will simply say I have been told on a number of occasions “Jennifer you are too picky, you will never find a guy”. Although I thought I knew myself and what I wanted and needed in a man, I am however beginning to wonder if that simply is not the case. Unfortunately my percentage of choosing the wrong men based on certain qualities is 100%.

My life has been a larger than life collection of new adventures, innovative journeys, eye opening experiences, and uncharted opportunities the past month. As a result, when a co-worker approached me about going on a ‘blind date” with the brother of her son-in-law I thought “why not”. I checked my pickiness at the door and went into this adventure last Tuesday with an open mind.

I was not sure what to expect as I opened my front door at 6:30 sharp. There standing on my front porch was my company for an outing to the ballpark. He was nothing I expected, which I don’t know what I was expecting exactly, being I knew only what my co-worker had mentioned to me over the past couple of week which really wasn’t much.

The game was good, wait, no that is a lie, the game itself was atrocious.





The Drillers were certainly not playing any sort of high caliber baseball, but the conversation between my new friend and I was good. I learned about his career, his family, his love of college football (well his brother told me that fun fact). His brother…..yes I met his brother who just happens to oversee operations for the Drillers; consequently he is at every game.

I don’t have any earth moving, juicy, over the top stories to share regarding this outing. Conversation was good, the weather was amazing for a baseball game, and a relaxing evening was had.

Hellooooooooooooooooo

There are not going to be any promises made today, but I am going to try my hardest to be more consistent with keeping you informed about my adventures, my perplexing experiences, my awesome cooking journeys and everything else that keeps my life in orbit.

However, I regretfully admit I have some catching up to do…………

The past three weeks have more or less been a blur, between my new job,


Training in Dallas,


Outing…….some like to refer to them as dates,


Meetings, events,



And moving (I had a lot of little hands helping),





I am not sure at this point which way is up or down.

Love,
JB