Cake Pops

This break was quite the crafty one. There are a few posts to come this week of some of the DIY projects I did (with the help of some friends). The first one I am going to share with you is the magical wonder of Cake pops. I know, you're mouths are watering already! These things are so good. Seriously. Here's how it's done:

What you need:

-Cake mix

-8 ounces of cream cheese

-2 cups confectioner's sugar

-1 tbsp milk (more, if needed)

-white chocolate bars
-sprinkles/things to decorate then with
(Recipe found on www.thekitchn.com)

First, you bake a regular yellow, white, or chocolate cake and let it cool for a good, long while. 

In the meantime, you make some yummy cream cheese icing (cream cheese, powdered sugar, and milk) by mixing these ingredients in a bowl until smooth.

We happened to dye ours green...

Once the cake has fully cooled, you crumble it up into small crumbs in a large bowl. 

Then, mix the cream cheese icing you made with the cake crumbs until you have a nice thick mixture. Place this in the fridge until it is firm.

Once the mixture is firm, cover a baking sheet with wax paper. Roll the mixture into small balls and place them on the baking sheet. At this point, you can place a lollipop stick into each ball. These can be found at Michael's or craft stores. Then place them in the freezer until frozen.

While the pops are freezing, melt the chocolate bars in a double-boiler, or the microwave if you're lazy like me. Then you can dye the melted chocolate with food coloring if you wish!

Remove the cake pops from the freezer, and dip them individually into the melted chocolate. Immediately put the sprinkles on them, or whatever else you wish to decorate them with! And enjoy!! 

P.S. Keep them refrigerated if you notice the chocolate melting too much at room temperature. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!

Lazy Day

This is the first time I have had a lazy day in which I had no control over (for the most part). This weekend I went to Clemson to play in a volleyball tournament. On Friday night, I got to enjoy some time with friends at a bbq, and then hit up some Japanese to celebrate my girl Sarah White's birthday. Saturday, I played some volleyball all day and then cheered on the Cougars against Clemson in some basketball. Front row baby! Sunday is where the lazy day comes in. So here comes a long story:
My friend and I had all of our bags packed and by the door of the room we were staying in by 7:45 AM. We walked down the hall to do a quick restroom break in preparation for our long drive. When we walked back to the room, the door was locked. Yes, we locked ourselves out. Without shoes, keys, money, phones, clothes (we were in our pajamas), or any of our possessions... The two girls that lived in the room we were staying in were both out of town. So we spent two hours talking to the supervisors of the dorm trying to get in to at least get a phone and some money, but under no circumstance would they let us in without one of the roommates present. We then found out that one of the roommates would be getting back at 5:30 PM!! So we had to wait for about 9 hours in Clemson. Without phones, money, shoes, or anything. We luckily had my car keys, so we drove to the Ridge (apartments) and found some friends we could hang out with. We sat in their apartment for about 8 hours- thank you Lord for patient and gracious friends! We watched maybe 6 episodes of friends and a bad Christmas movie, and hit the road finally at 6 PM!
This day was completely unexpected, very frustrating, and amazingly relaxing. Separated from phones and all the possessions but the clothes on our backs and a car, I was humbled. I realized the value I take in the things I own, and the Lord had a plan with yesterday's trials, as He always does.

Yes, I'm alive..

You heard right! I am still alive, despite the fact that I haven't created a post in quite some time! Just to do a brief little update on my life (SO much is going on, so prepare yourself):

- Nannying is moving right along smoothly. Driving kids to gymnastics and tennis, making snacks, cooking dinners, and preventing kids from injuring/killing themselves while climbing trees is not as easy at it looks. So here's a shout out to my mom and all the moms out there- I get why you are always so stressed... ha.

-Youth group is great, although getting small groups on the move is taking some time. We gained 3 more girls last week, adding that to our original 1. But God is faithful, so more updates will be coming on that after this week's meeting.

-I am now a math tutor. This has been so great and God has been bringing so much fruit out of it, not just with the academics. My student brought her grade up to an A! And the opportunity to meet with her every week and catch up on each other's lives has been such a blessing. Not only have we realized how much we have in common, but we've been able to share and talk about the hard things we are dealing with throughout the week.

-Club volleyball is also going well. We got third in our first tournament at USC two weekends ago. Going to Clemson this weekend for the second. Bring it on!

So, not that you know all the details of my schedule, here's what God has been doing. He has been showing up in MAJOR ways. Whether it is helping me through my stressful week by miraculously telling my teachers to reschedule every test and paper to a later date, or it is giving me a beautiful, restful day with perfect weather and no red lights. He has been making Himself so evident every single hour of the day in so many ways, and finally I am opening my eyes to see how much He loves me. One struggle in the midst of this is time. Finding the right time of day to get into scripture and to meditate on God's word has been really challenging for me.

Enough of all that, now that I have bored you to sleep. I've been taking lots of photos since the last time I talked to you guys. Here are some of my favorites from the past month or so: