Pretty Close to Heaven on Earth

I’ll post the recipe later. Yummmm.

Top Referring Sites for October

Thought I’d give some love to the friends who sent the most clicks to my blog this month.

1. I’m Not Good With Titles (Kathleen)
2. Blessed (Katie)
3. ChadVaughan.com (Chad)
4. Life As Entertainment (Josh)
5. This is My Story (Alex)

Tag, I’m It!

I was tagged by Carolyn to do this little “survey”…I did a similar survey in April (here’s the post), so some of this may be duplicated.

Ten years ago I was…
1) loving life as a sophomore at Palm Beach Atlantic University;
2) skipping class in favor of the the beach;
3) getting ready to celebrate my 20th birthday (don’t do the math…that makes me almost 30!); 
4) not realizing how good I had it while in college;
5) learning how right my parents were all the time and beginning to understand and appreciate their wisdom.

Five things on my to-do list:
1) BSF Lesson;
2) Investigate opportunities on elance.com;
3) Get school portfolio up to date;
4) Read;
5) Blog.

Five snacks I enjoy:
1) frivolous ones;
2) chocolate;
3) chocolate;
4) chocolate;
5) chocolate.

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1) give lots away;
2) pay off family debts;
3) save;
4) who am i kidding?!!?  SHOP, of course;
5) travel…lots…with people i love.

Five places I have lived:
1) Gainesville, FL;
2) Sanford, FL;
3) Lake Mary, FL;
4) West Palm Beach, FL;
5) London, England (UK)

Five jobs I’ve had:
1) LimitedToo;
2) Disney;
3) Blockbuster;
4) Target;
5) Christ Fellowship

Now, five of you jokers with blogs are supposed to do this…comment back!

Adventures with Wontons

Yesterday, Kati and I ventured out to try a new pumpkin ravioli recipe. We made the ravioli by hand with wonton wrappers. I was excited about trying this new recipe as I’ve made ravioli in this way before with my sous chef, Chad (see that post here), and loved it. To no fault of our own, the pumpkin ravioli was mediocre. I would not recommend it given the time involved.

After making the raviolis, we had a few extra wonton wrappers and I found a quick snack, “dessert” recipe for us to try out. The Cinnamon Wontons were good…kind of like Cinnamon Twists from Taco Bell, without the twist. Kati and I agreed that, in the future, we wouldn’t go to the store just to get wonton wrappers in order to make this recipe. However, if there were random wonton wrappers sitting around (when does that ever happen?!) this simple recipe would be a good way to create a snack and not waste the wonton wrappers.

So…in the event that you find yourself with extra wontons, try this recipe!

Cinnamon Wontons

Ingredients

½ cup sugar 
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon 
32 wonton wrappers (or however many you have sitting around)
4 tablespoons butter, melted 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400F. 
2. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. 
3. Separate wonton wrappers and place on baking sheets, about 1⁄2 inch apart. Using a pastry brush, brush lightly with melted butter. Sprinkle evenly with cinnamon-sugar. Bake 5 to 7 minutes, until crisp and golden. Be careful not to overbake. Cool on a wire rack. Keep tightly covered in an airtight container. Makes 32 (or however many you have sitting around).

Isabellaboo Giveaway…

My friend Lisa just sent an email with exciting news that this blog–www.raisingpeanuts.com–will be giving away one of her cute little baby items this week. Go check out the blog and enter to win!!

isabellaboo

I just wanted to share this with you all. My college roommate, Lisa, has started creating some very cute baby clothes and items. She always has been quite the crafty one! She is selling her cute stuff via the website Etsy.com. She’s got all kinds of great custom made things that would make perfect gifts for any little baby in your life. So…go check her out at www.isabellaboo.com and here’s a quick picture of my favorite item at the moment modeled by Lisa’s sweet little girl.

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Surfing: I had wanted to learn to surf for a long time, and my wonderful, patient and encouraging friend, Melanie, agreed to teach me a little more than two years ago. So at almost 28 years old, I started surfing. Surfing can be fun and frustrating all at the same time. I love that each day in the water is different. I’ve surfed in the rain, the cold and the bright sunshine. My favorite days are those that: 1) don’t require wetsuits; 2) there’s not a cloud in the sky; 3) the water is beautiful and clear; 4) the waves are perfect for my 8 foot funshape pink Erie longboard; 5) my friends are all surfing together. My favorite places to surf are: Tamarindo, Costa Rica (especially at sunset), the Jupiter Inlet and Ponce Inlet in front of the beach house.

Sunshine and Summer: I think I have mentioned this before, but I am a Florida girl through and through, so I combined these two. I LOVE the sun and the heat. Summer is my favorite time of year. Yeah for Florida! 

Sweets: Do I need to elaborate on this? Just about anything with sugar, chocolate or sugar and chocolate is my friend.

Shopping: Sometimes a little retail therapy is necessary and, well, shopping is just plain fun. Sometimes I don’t even need a real reason to shop. As my brother-in-law says, sometimes I go to Target “just because the building is still standing.”

Blog Makeover?

I’m thinking my blog needs a new look…possibly a new name.

Any suggestions?

Two of My Favorite People

Russell and Sami Allen are now bloggers! Yahoooo!

Russell joined the ranks a while ago and Sami is a relative newbie.

Stop by their blogs and say hi!

http://russdallen.wordpress.com/  and  http://sameallen.wordpress.com/

A Monumental Day

So Friday was quite a monumental day for me–for two reasons.

 

1. With the help of Chad, Matt and Brooks, I brought my belongings to the hard-to-find-on-a-map city of Minneola, Florida and took up residence in the only “extra” room in my sister and brother-in-law’s house. How kind of them. After eleven years in sunny South Florida (mostly West Palm Beach, to be exact), I am back in the greater Central Florida area. It’s hard to believe, but nonetheless, here I am.
2. My trusty little 2003 Mazda Protege 5 hit the 100,000 mile marker! This little car has been so good to me. Thinking back over my history of cars, I am pretty sure this would be the longest amount of time I’ve ever had one of my cars (us Paul people tend to go through them quickly for some odd reason). Anyway…here’s a little photographic proof of the big milestone!
   

   Almost there...

   

   ...THERE! 100,000 miles!

   

   Over the top! Go, little Mazda, go!