back from prague.

Hello dears!

I hope you are all doing well. What can I be praying for? I just arrived home last night! Currently I am trying to overcome jet-lag, but I will write a full post soon. Until then, here is a picture from Prague!

Love y'all so much!

xoxo,

Liz

summer warmed the open window

Well, I'm home. Last night, the Subaru was packed full of the past 9 months and as we got closer to home, I could feel the curves in the road with the familiarity of a bird to its nest. I could see every star with rich clarity and I was thankful for the absence of city lights. As we drove up the driveway I could see Flicka in the window. Mother said that when we got closer to home, she began to cry at my door. She slept with me last night, her head on my shoulder, just looking at me as we fell asleep. :o) I couldn't have been happier.

I start work next week at the Hospital, so this week I am just settling in and getting ready for some summer courses that I will be taking. I'm mostly unpacked now, I pulled out the easel and paints and decided that tomorrow, I will set them up outside and paint our house.

After school got out, I went to my sisters for the week to work on exams. She's about to have her first baby and I am so sad that I couldn't stay to see the birth. I'm so proud of her though. She is having a home birth with a midwife and she also has a birthing pool. She is so strong and she is such a good example to me. I did a little baking while I was there and made thesecookies. So good! Also, The Pioneer Woman is such a fun website. She has a great blog and her recipe's are a lot of fun to make. She's also super funny. :o)

I got off of Facebook for the summer/undetermined period of time. I just wanted to get off the radar for a bit. Also, I'm running a 5K in about a month. I'm excited, especially since I kind of got out of my running habits this last semester. It will feel good to get back in the swing of things. :o) Anyways, I love you all ladies! I'm excited to keep hearing how your summer is going and what you're up to.

-EGE

Healthy Eats, Latin Beats, and Final Feats

Hello!

Tatum, Amanda, Liz, and Esther, I miss you guys so much! This will be quite the long separation. But I am enjoying being here with my family and falling back into the beach bum routine. I've had a great time running and zumba-ing with my mom and dad (well dad didn't go to zumba, thank goodness :) ). And I've been loving trying new recipes with my mom! With many more ingredients available here than the great hall, it has been quite fun.

Here are some things we have made so far!

Turkey-Quinoa Meatloaf

This was sooo good! It had quite the zesty kick from the pepper sauce. I will definitely make this one again. And I love the idea of swapping breadcrumbs for quinoa; it takes an empty calorie filler and swaps in for a protein packed power house!

Mediterranean Crunch Salad

This was tasty as well. And I was surprised at how flavorful it was with the only "wet" ingredient being red wine vinegar. Lots of wonderful, fresh spices in this one.

One more concoction I have been having fun with is Greek yogurt (Esther, Greek!). My mom switched to it about 6 months ago because of its higher protein and lower fat. I thought it always looked funny so was hesitant, but then finally tried it earlier this week. I was missing out! It definitely is different (it has more of a sour cream consistency), but by mixing in granola, flax seeds, and dried cherries, it is scrumptious and more filling. We've been using the brand Chobani.

I am soooo glad to be back doing zumba! My mom, Laney, and I go to a really fun class, and I love being able to pretend that I am a good dancer haha. J Lo really gets your heart pumping :)

Also this week I worked much too long on my Bio Perspectives final. For real... that took way too long. 12 pages seems a bit too extensive for a test. But I did really like wrestling though all of those ethical issues. It has been a great conversation starter among my family. And Dr. Morris wrote me the neatest response ever back! He actually wanted to respond to some of the questions I raised in my paper. It just reminded me why I love Covenant so much.

So I am all finished! It feels great :)

I hope you all are having a great start to your breaks! Liz, I can't believe you are going to Prague! Have a wonderful time and be safe!

Love to you all from Florida!

Jamie

Summer starts...Now.

Hey girls! I hope everyone is safe and sound at home after all of the tornado/evacuation/power outage craziness at Covenant. I have had a fairly uneventful week this week. I have enjoyed getting plenty of sleep, finishing up the one take-home final that I had, and finalizing plans for the summer. I called the cancer center about a volunteer position yesterday so we will see how that goes. I should start work at the library on Monday which I am kind of excited about. I will get to see the girls that I work with and have something to do to pass the time.


I am also enjoying having a full kitchen to work with and have already made a couple of meals and baked a few things so far...Here is the one that I enjoyed the most. It is Paula Deen's Grilled Chicken Pitas! I love this recipe because it is flavorful and healty, but also very easy to do. It is such a great summer lunch or dinner recipe and it is a great recipe that works well as leftovers too...Here is the link for the recipe if you are interested: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/grilled-chicken-pitas-recipe/index.html

The most exciting part of my week is visiting Covenant on Saturday. I am going up to see all of the awesome seniors graduate, but specifically my roommates! I am also going to Heather and Brenda's graduation party after graduation. Going up to see everyone during graduation will be bittersweet because I get to see a lot of people, but I have to tell them goodbye for the summer and tell my roommates bye for a longer amount of time. I am sad that I don't get to see you girls for a while, but I am excited about keeping in touch this way!

Liz, I pray for your safe travels as you go to Prague! That is so exciting! I pray that all of you girls have an amazing week!