Fried Bread...

It is no secret in my family that my all time favorite food is beef stew with southern fried bread. Well.. I didn't make the stew today, but I definitely made the friend bread!.. I am fairly proud of making it all of my own haha ;)

You need a packet of Yeast, 2 cups of very warm water, 2 eggs, 4 Tablespoons of sugar, and enough flour to make it elastic/sticky... mix all of that together, let rise.. Then fry in a pot of oil. It is easiest to do it with a spoon to drop them in the oil, and a pair of tongs to get them out of the oil.

This is what it looks like before it rises.

After you fry, you get this!

I love. love. love. this bread haha :)

One of my friends came over and made no-bake cookies while I made the bread...
Then I taught some salsa in preparation for tonight.
It was a fantastic afternoon!

Tired Contentment...

A few days ago I was told I have a warm and inviting smile. I'm not really sure how someone has a warm and inviting smile versus a normal smile, but it was a nice compliment. It got me thinking about it though, and I realized the most common compliments I receive always involve my laugh and my smile. Apparently my two greatest distinctive features...

So, what makes me smile? Well, I could easily make a list a million miles long about what I laugh at and what makes me smile.. But, what I really want to do is actually address what causes me to be joyful... I mean here's an example of normalcy for me...

Saturday night I slept a grand total of.. MAYBE 4 hours. I mean I went to bed about midnight, and didn't need to get up until 7:30... but clearly God and I had some business to attend to, so about 1:30 I gave up trying to sleep, and read my Bible, journaled, blogged, and prayed... For HOURS. It was a great time with my Jesus...

Sunday morning I was definitely dragging a big.. I mean who wouldn't be after not falling asleep until 3-4am!.. But, I didn't feel it in my attitude or mood at all (which I don't typically have the problem of sleep affecting my moods), but it was more so than normal. I mean literally I was joyful inside, my heart was content, and I was happy... which carried over into Sunday school class, and church, and interactions with friends, and movie night..

I laughed a ridiculous amount.. I mean seriously. Our leadership team prays before anyone arrives for Sunday school.. we laughed and seriously struggled to pull it back together for prayer for a good 20 minutes or so. Then, lunch was lots of fun with a large group of people all laughing and enjoying each other's wit. Then I went to the park with several friends and threw a Football and Frisbee around for a while.. attempted to throw with my left over and over.. which caused my stomach to hurt from laughing so hard at my failed attempts lol I got to spend some great quality time with a couple friends.. Then went over to a friend's house and watched Bolt... Which is HYSTERICAL.. I mean seriously sooo funny. And my friends and I cracked up the whole time.. in part because of the movie, and in part because of each other's reactions to the movie. It was great.

So, last night when I crawled into bed... TOTALLY exhausted I was completely full inside. My "cuddle meter was full" even though I hadn't actually cuddled with anyone lol I went through the entire day tired, and lacking some serious sleep, but I was fulfilled.. mostly due to my extremely long conversation with My Savior where we talked about everything I was feeling.. But, also in part because the sun was shining (although the wind would take you away if you weren't careful), and my friends and I were able to just enjoy each other's company and humor and wit. I can't even begin to describe to you how truly good that combination is.

So, I highly recommend the occasional time of forgoing sleep to chat with your creator.