Successful Zucchini Bread

I am a pretty avid cooker in my household. I try making dinner most nights during the week so when my honey comes home, it’s all ready to go for a nice dinner together. I usually get tired of recipes fast so I am always looking for new ideas. So I thought I would start compiling some recipes I’ve tried lately and succeeded with.


I have a vegetable garden and this year one of the things I’m growing is zucchini. My zucchini plant has exploded and I have had more zucchini then I can handle. I decided to attemp making zucchini bread for the first time about 2 days ago and it turned out so good.What I loved about the recipe is that it does not call for any kind of butter and it was super moist and delicious!  I did add more grated zucchini than the recipe called for due to some reviews I read.  Instead of 2 cup, I added 3 cups of zucchini. YUM.

Click here to find the recipe I used:
Zucchini Bread

The Journey to becoming Education

Being a planner has its pros and cons. It is great because it helps you acknowledge and set your goals, as well as help you to map out a way to get to that destination. The con is that not everyone else is like that and so my impatience starts to take over. Currently, I am in the process of planning out my next couple of semester of college. I had gone to the campus last week of the community college I will be attending this coming semester because I was informed it was a walk-in day for advising. Awesome, I’m there! I figured if I go to a walk-in day, I could talk to someone much faster then having to schedule an appointment. Come to find out, once I got to the school, the advising day was not taking place because the advisor who was suppose to be there that day was unable to come in. Boy was I irritated. So I ended up scheduling an appointment and now I have to wait 2 weeks for that appointment to take place. 2 weeks for this planning mind of mine is torture. I want to know the answers to my questions now!


I started back to college full time the fall of 2010. I quit my full time job, found a part time job and started attending school full time. I decided to go for my nursing degree and attend College of Western Idaho (a community college) to obtain my pre-requisites in order to apply into the program. When I first started thinking about finishing my degree in college, I thought small and said to myself that I would just get my A.A. degree. Then once I was in school a little longer, and realized I was capable and smart enough to have a bigger dream, I decided that I might as well go for my Bachelors degree. For a year and a half I worked towards that goal. The closer I got to the nursing program, the more I realized what a competitive degree it is to get right now. Apparently everyone decided the same degree goal as me. This helped push my hand to make in change in schools. I did all my research on Universities and in January of 2012 I transferred over to Northwest Nazarene University. They had an excellent reputation for being a great school, an having an exceptional nursing program. The nursing program an any college only accepts 40 student per year. The advantage to NNU was that no as many students are currently applying to there program due to the fact that it is a private Christian college and is much more expensive. Making this decision was tough because I knew I would have a little bit of a struggle financially. But to me, knowing that I would receive the best education from a school that was highly looked upon in the medical field was worth it. In the spring of 2012 I took just two classes to finish of the prerequisites required to apply into the Nursing program at NNU. I applied, did the background checks, and took the standardized TEAS test. In June, I received my letter from NNU that would tell me there decision about me being accepted into there program. Unfortunately, I was not one of the 40 that they accepted. I knew my odds of getting in were slim, but I still had some hope. I was bummed when I received my denial. But I quickly recovered and started thinking about other programs and what my options were. I knew for sure I wanted to be in the medical field, but the thought of having to wait another year before even applying again into the program was kind of painful. A part of me likes school and learning but I also don’t want to be in school the rest of my life. Someone mentioned I should look into being a Physicians Assistant. My initial reactions were heck no. I would have to get my Masters Degree and well, that’s just not possible. I definitely don’t have the brains for that!!! But I continued to look into it further, checked out different schools and examined what the next several years in would look like. After all my research I determined going the P.A. route was actually a pretty cool idea, and was able to build up my confidence enough to think I could actually do it. The one bad thing about living in Idaho is that there are not many colleges to choose from. I found only one college near me that offers a Physician Assistant program and that was Idaho State University. They are actually based out of Pocatello, Idaho which is quite a ways from where I live, but they recently opened up a sister campus in Meridian, the town I live. In order to apply to the P.A. program you have to have a bachelors degree, doesn’t matter what the degree is in. So I noticed that ISU had a Medical Laboratory Science Bachelors degree and it peeked my interest. I have actually really enjoyed biology and chemistry and working in the Lab has been something I have thought about. I figured if I go for that degree I can still graduate with a B.A. in 2015 and won’t be set back any additional years. So my class choices shifted and I will starting on this new degree path this fall semester. I also decided I might as well get my A.A. degree at CWI while I’m there and am hoping I can obtain that by the end of the year. And so this is why I am in need of talking to advising at the school. I want to make sure I have planned to take the right courses in order to obtain that goal. School starts in 27 days and I am anxious to have my schedule solidified and be able to start looking into getting textbooks. My appointment is not for another 2 weeks and so I will have to sit and learn to be patient. Wish me luck.

The Rising Sun

Blogging has been on my mind lately. Over the past couple of months I have had the urge to start blogging again, but have been fighting my own procrastination tendencies. In the years past when I began my blog site, my intent and reason for starting it was mostly to show my vacations, the things I've seen and places I've been to.  I saw it as a way to document a trip and be able to share with family and friends.  But lately, different feeling and events have inspired me to want to start a blog in order to just journal and say what’s on my mind. As I’m starting to get older (yikes almost 30), I realize there are so many moments to be thankful for.  Moments worth remembering, moments to learn from and moments to be inspired by.  These moments shouldn’t just come and go, passing by quickly without reflection. I love the quote “Life is all about the journey, not the destination”. All too often we get caught up in the destination of life, looking at the end result of what we have made for ourselves or what we have, when what we should be focusing on is all the little details along the way that have helped to shape who we are.

For the past year I have worked at a hospital, doing registration for patients in the emergency room. I work part time because I go to school full time, but my hours at work for the past year has been weekends in the afternoon. Working weekends has a bonus and also a downfall. Weekends are great if you’re a student because then you are available during the week for classes and homework, but bad if you have a family you want to be home with.  I have found it to be tough because it causes me to miss events with family, friends, and spending time with my wonderful boyfriend Noah. He works Monday through Friday so on the days he has off, I had to work instead of getting to spend time with him. It often put me in depressing mood when I was not been able to attend family dinners, parties with friends, birthday, etc. So finally, after a year, I decided I needed a change. I started to realize how important these “life events/moments” were to me. Though work is important and something I need to do, my family is my life and nothing is more important than getting to spend quality time with them. So I received the opportunity recently to get a transfer at my work to a brand new facility that has just opened, where I have changed my hours to work nights. I know, yuck right? It really isn’t that bad. Especially with lots of coffee in hand! I get off of work at 6:30am, which currently is the exact time that the sun starts to rise. I have had several mornings on my drive home that has totally inspired me to start blogging because my feelings of happiness and joy for my life are so overwhelming that I want to share with the world. With the morning air cool and refreshing, I will roll down my windows, crank up my Christian music and worship God while I watch the beautiful sun rise up over the mountain in the distance, shining pink, yellow and gold rays of light over the earth. In this moment of beauty I find myself thanking God for a brand new day. On my drive I look around and watch the world wake up. The birds are singing and flying gracefully in the air, people are going for a morning job, farmers are attending to their crops and I can’t help but smile. God is an amazing and without him none of this would exist. My heart starts filling up with the love that I know the Lord has for me. Then when I arrive home, it only gets better. I am blessed to have a beautiful home, and as I walk into the house, I get the joy of saying a quick hello to my two kitties whom I love with a little pet before heading to the bedroom to get ready for some sleep. As soon as I walk into the bedroom, I pause to watch my handsome, wonderful man fast asleep in our bed. Boy am I lucky woman. A huge smile crosses my face and once again my heart is filled with love and begins to overflow. The love I have for this man is often times overwhelming. This man has made me a better woman and made me happier than I ever dreamed possible. I quickly rush into the bathroom, get ready for bed in record time so that I can crawl into bed and snuggle up to his warm body, giving him a sweet kiss and falling asleep next to the man who makes my life complete. Truly, life is full of so many joys. We need to stop rushing around and be reminded of God’s amazing love for us and thejourney of life he has gifted to us.

Arrived in Venice

We got off the boat in Venice yesterday morning and began our adventure in Venice! And boy has it been an adventure, haha. We thought finding our hotel would be easy ..... So we walked around thinking we would stumble across it. Well, about an hour later and after asking a couple locals, we finally found it. We didn't realize how easy it is to get lost amoung the many tiny streets. But sure enough we found ourselves lost again later, and in the rain! We had a long walk of exploring and found ourselves dripping wet when got back to the hotel again. After a nice rest and getting warm again, we found a nice restaurant for dinner and enjoyed a long meal :). We learned you must have lots of patients in Venice!
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Last Day on the Boat

So today is our last day on the boat. We are heading back to Venice! Its been a relaxing day of sleeping in, laying out in the sun, a game of chess (on an over sized board and pieces, eating lots of food and now taking in a show. Its been a great trip!!!!
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Santorini, Greece

Stop number 3 on our cruise was Santorini. It looked pretty cool. Its a mountain with a bunch of houses and building at the very top. And we were in for a bit of a surprise on how to get up the mountain once we got there. Option one was take a cable car ride up - problem was there was an enormous line, next option was take donkey ride up a winding road, or three ... Walk up the winding road with steps! Guess what we choose? Walk up it! It was actually the quickest way. We noticed the donkeys were being stubborn for other riders, so we were glad we didn't do that one. The walk actually wasn't too bad. It was just really hot so that was the only sucky part! So once we got up there and got our barings straight, we snagged a taxi and went to the wine museum. It was underground museum that taught you about how they used to make wine a long long time ago. And also showed you old wine presses. It was cool but the manicans looked kinda creepy, haha. Then we went up stairs to the tasting room and tasted 3 different wines. It was nice because it was close to the end of there day so it wasn't busy at all. After that we headed back to the central part of town, bought some souvenirs and had a seat at an outdoor restaurant so we could watch the sun set. It was a beautiful view. Then we prepped ourselves for the walk back down the mountain. We originally wanted to go see some ancient ruins in the area but our dock times on the island were kinda strange 4:00pm to 11:00pm. So they were already closed. Oh well, guess we will have to go back to Santorini sometime! :)
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Mykonos, Greece

Wednesday we stopped in Mykonos. We kept it a pretty relaxing day and just walked around. We went to check out the windmills which was pretty neat. Along the water there was several outdoor restaurants so we sat at one of them and just took in the beautiful scenery. We had a great view of the ocean and of the windmills. I believe Mykonos is the smallest of the islands we stopped at, so there wasn't a lot of things to do. But we were ok with that. It was still beautiful and the water was the bluest water I've ever seen!
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Iraklion, Crete

Last stop on our cruise, Iraklion. This was the only stop that we choose to do a shore excursion through the boat. We did a Pottery and Vineyard tour. It was nice for our last stop to not have to worry or figure out what we wanted to do. And by doing this excursion, we got to go a little bit outside the town and see the beautiful rolling hills. Every inch of the hills are filled with olive trees and grape vines!!!.
When we got to the Pottery, we got to look around the owners workshop and we also got to watch him at work. He made two pots and boy does he make them fast! It was pretty amazing watching a blob of clay turn into a piece of art. Then from there they drove us to a winery where we watched an informational video and then got to taste some wines! And of course, being the clumsy girl that I am, I ended up spilling some red wine on myself!!!! Bummer!!!! Can't take me anywhere, haha. Once we were done there, we headed back to the boat. We didn't have a long time to spend on the island so the excursion was perfect- they got us back to the boat right on time! And now .... A day at sea to get us back to Venice!
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Our stop in Split, Croatia

Day 2 we stopped in Split. It was a beautiful sunny day! We got to enjoy a relaxing walk thru Diocletian's Palace. It is full of lots of shops but the architect was really beautiful.. We are still a little preoccupied with phone calls trying to figure out where our luggage it. We still don't have it. We might get it tomorrow-who knows. Good thing is I have a very smart wonderful boyfriend that bought travelers insurance, so we were at least able to buy some clothes and things we needed. After our little shopping spree, we got ready, made a reservation at a nice restaurant on the boat and headed to the casino to burn time until dinner time. Well little did we know, there was a time change at some point in the evening and completely missed dinner! We have had some interesting little snags but we are still enjoying ourselves and loving our time together. So now we are off to bed for some rest so we can be ready to see Corfu tomorrow!
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Corfu, Greece

Today was another beautiful day! We stopped in Corfu and rented a little car so we could do some sightseeing. We originally thought about renting a moped but decided renting a little car would probaby be safer. Boy was that a good idea!!! Crazy drivers, flying down some of the tiniest little roads I've ever seen. I think I may have been holding my breath for most of the car ride, haha. Anyways, we made it to the museum of Achillion Palace. It was beautiful! Then right across the street I saw a sign for distillery tasting :) so went into this shop and we got to taste some liquors very popular in Greece. From there we drove around the island for a bit, then dumped the car off. We walked to Old Town Corfu and wandered thru the shops. We finally got tuckered out and went back to our boat to have a wonderful surprise in our room. OUR LUGGAGE!!!! We were so excited!!!! We did a little happy dance and then threw our bathing suites on and headed for the pool! Nap time is taking place right now, well for Noah at least (this man can sleep forever, haha). Tonight we are trying to catch the dinner reservation we missed out on yesterday because our clock was way off! Can't for dinner. Going to be so yummy!
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Taking Off for Our Mediterranean Cruise

Yesterday May 7th, me and Noah took off on 1 of 3 of our fights that is to get us Venice, Italy. (Venice is where our cruise ship is docked). We managed to hit a few little snags along the way. Our flight out of Seattle to Paris was delayed an additional 2 hours (we were in Seattle for a good 5 hours). So because of our delay, we had to find another flight to Venice. Basically we ended up in Venice .... But our luggage didn't! Big bummer on that one! :( Our first stop on our cruise is Split, Croatia. We are hoping they will be bringing our luggage to the Split port. So cross your fingers for us! And in the mean time we are enjoying our quaint room and all the food our little heart desire! :)
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A Stuck Lync

Like I always say, my cats keep me entertained.  Tuesday night was laundry night.  I have 2 shutter doors that open to my washer and dryer in my apartment.  Well, naturally I had them open since I had them both running.  Well I walked down the hall and noticed both Parker and Lync up on top of the dryer. Parker normally does this but this was the first time I saw Lync up there.  On the way back down the hall, I only saw Parker on the dryer.  He looked like he was looking down the side of the dryer and Noah was over and made a funny comment to Parker "What did you do Parker, push Lync over the side?"  Don't know why, cuz I didn't think he would be down there but I decided to take a look back next to the dryer and sure enough ... there was Lync!!!! Down below! STUCK!  The doors don't open enough to allow him to get out. He would have had to jump back up on top of the dryer to get out. And I'm not even sure if that would have been possible for him since it was such tight quarters. Thank goodness Noah was over and he was able to help me push over the washer AND the dryer until we could get a little opening for him to get out.

Guess Parker did push Lync over the edge after all! haha!

2009 Halloween

I couldn't resist the temptation when I saw they had costumes for Kitties at Petco (on sale of course)  Naturally, I picked out what fits them both. Parker - a little devil and Lync - the little angel.  Anything naughty Lync has learned .... he learned from Parker! 
My boys were pretty ticked off when I put these costumes on them. HAHA it was the funniest thing ever!!!! Parker kept trying to shake his head to get it off and Lync didn't want to move :) Oh the things mothers do to there little ones!

They sure look pretty ticked off huh? :)  I wanted to get a pictures of them together, but of course they wouldn't cooperate.

Pumpkin for Halloween

My sister in law posted a blog about her pumpkin she carved this year. She alwasy does a football themed pumpking, always Tennessee Vols. So I just had to post a blog as well to show her my Boise State Bronco's pumpkin I carve this last weekend!!! Aren't you proud of me Liz?
I LOVE PUMPKINS! hehe

Stowaway

So yesterday evening was an eventful strange one.  I had a Junior League meeting to go to last night but a little time to spare after work before the meeting began. So I decided to go home for a bit, grab a snack and feed the cats.  I walk in the door and I see Parker sitting on the sofa, and then all of a sudden this strange unfamiliar cat comes walking out of my bedroom!?! I'm stunned and in shock. I quickly pick up the cat and call for Lync because he hadn't come out yet. Thankfully he came walking out of the bedroom soon after.  I look from Parker to Lync and ask them .... who is this little fella??? And how in the world did he get in?!? All cats seemed to ignore my demand for an answer!  (A little background on this kitty, I have seen him hanging around the apartments the last couple days in the evenings.  He looks very pretty and taken care of so I figured he belonged to on one of the residences.) 
What is amazing about this situation is when I brought Lync home as a friend for Parker, Parker hated him.  Parker was the spoiled only child type.  So Parker was not happy with Lync the new cat and was mean to him.  Now I'm looking at all 3 cats thinking how did they all get along?
So I take the stoaway cat outside and let him loose. Poor little thing just kept following me around and everytime I would go to my door he would run to me wanting in.  I didn't know what to do ... and I'm such a softy, I hated leaving him out there. (No I didn't let him in my home and join my family. I don't want to be known as the cat lady! haha) I went to the apartment office and asked the gal if she has seen him around and maybe knew who he belongs to and if someone that works at the apartments would have gone inside and maybe let the cat in.  She gave a no, and no.  So I walked out and saw a couple petting him and watching him and I asked if he belongs to them.  Aparently this couple lives upstairs from me and has seen his kitty around all week. They have been trying to leave food out for him but he ... or she won't eat. And they told me that the cat is declawed.  Oh now my heart is starting to crack a little, this poor little kitty can't stay out here - he belongs in a home. No one wanted to call the Humane Society because right now they are over flowing with homeless cats.  Thankfully, this couple took charge and put the kitty in a kennel was going to call Simply Cats, a no kill no cage cat shelter.  I hope this cat either finds it's original home or finds a new one. I didn't see him out last night so I'm assuming the couple upstairs has him and his trying to help him out.
And as for how he got in? I'm still in awe.  The only thing I can think is that he must have ran in when I walked out to go to work.  I know cats can be fast sometimes but I'm not quite sure how I missed that one!  Guess I need to start being extra careful whenI leave my apartment so I don't get any more stowaways!
Here is a picture of Stowaway. So cute and super friendly!

Final Day

So this is my last day in NY. Today was one day we didn't really have any plans. So we all decided to go see St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Public Library, Chrysler building, and Empire State building. My favorite was the cathedral. It was beautiful! We did lots of walking today so now we are back in our hotel for a little rest. Later tonight we will get some grub and some beers and I will be taking off early the next morning to catch my 9:30 flight. It will be sad to have to say good bye to everyone. It has been an amazing week.
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Metropolitian Museum of Art

Our first destinatiom today is the Metropolitian Museum of Art. It is 177,777 square feet and the largest musuem in the Western Hemisphere. This place is huge! And has tons of differnt kinds of art. I don't know how you could possibly make it thru the whole museum and see everything. Its pretty amazing!
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Broadway time!

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Broadway Show

In line to watch the Broadway show In The Heights. Its a 2008 Tony Award winner.
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Chelsea Meat Packing District Food Tour

Today we are doing a food tour of the meat packing district. It has some great history and amazing food. We had a delicious cookie, chocolate milk, lobster bisque and italian food to come.
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