Always Thankfull!!!

If the only prayer we said in our whole lives was, "thank you," that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart

I feel like it's been a while since I've done one of these...  It's definitely something I need to get better at..  Being THANKFUL for all of the blessings that come my way, on an everyday basis...  :)

• surprise lunches from the deli!
• Friends
• talking late into the night with the girls...
• quality time with friends over coffee
• special projects, and the "responsibility" that come with them

• compassion
• understanding
• helping people
• movies
• self-reflecting time..... alone
• work
• planned trips...  let the countdown begin  :)
• late afternoon naps....
• phone calls, just to say hello!
• new babies  :)
• meeting people "halfway"
• cameras, pictures
• exploring the old "stomping" grounds... again
• impromptu last minute dinners at a favorite place
• homecooked dinner with the parents
• surprise summer storms
• the smell of rain...  :)
• driving in the rain with the windows down...  I know I'm borderline rebel!  ;)
• Bridal Showers
• BEAUTIFUL sunrises on the way to work....
• appreciation
• finding some worthy additions for my personal "quote book."  ;)

There have been so many things for me to say "thank-you" about, I hope I got them all!!  :)  

While I was looking for a good quote for my heading I ran across these others that I really liked, so I thought I would share!!  ;)

Friendship helps us realize how beautiful the world really is, for a friend truly makes the earth a better place to live.

Good friends remind us that even if we cannot be stars there’s no need for us to be rain clouds....  :)

Here's to hoping everyone has a week or two full of gratefullness!!  :D

A fun July Bridal Shower!

Another one bites the dust!!  ;)  well it's that time...  one more of the dorm "kids" is getting hitched...  haha!!  there used to be 4 of us left...  Now there's only 3...  Charles met the most awesome girl to marry... 
The oh soooo cute cakes, complete with chinchilla's made out of fondant...  Angie LOVES chinchilla's, and funfetti cake!!  ;)

Annie made these mandarin orange/mint something or other cupcakes, they were so good, and really cute!  :)

...and they had Maggiano's cater our lunch...  YUMMMM!!!  My eyes are ALWAYS hungrier than my stomach is!  ;)

Me and Angie, I am proud to call her one of my friends now too!!  :)

The bridal party!

The dorm girls....  :)  minus a few.... seems like we're always minus a few!  ;)

LOVE these girls...  :)

NEW FRIENDS, OLD FRIENDS!!  :)

Afterwards we went out for coffee, and a little catching up...  It's amazing how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends in my life...  these girls made college life away from home so much fun, and so "do-able"  It's GREAT to think of how much we've all been thru in 14 years of friendship....  Here's to hoping for a lifetime of more memories!!  :)

Photo Challenge, Day 22......

......Hands

Friendly, loving, loyal, understanding, supporting hands, conversing well into the night....  These are the hands of

Friendship!  

Photo Challenge, Day 21.....

...Faceless Self-Portrait

LOOOONG day at work so it was, stay home, and watch the game day....  ;)

Photo Challenge, Day 20....

...Something that means a lot to us

....For this one I picked the Serenity Prayer...   The Serenity Prayer comes to me at the times in my life when I am desperately looking for direction, when I am looking for a "sign" from God...  It started when my dad was very sick and in the hospital a few years ago...  At that time we didn't know what would happen, I remember I prayed a lot, I pleaded a lot, I asked for direction, for answers...  would he be ok, would we be ok?  would we make it?  It used to come to me at work, in the shower, while I was driving...  and it still does, it comes to me now, in the moments when I'm searching within myself for answers..  The Serenity Prayer is MY reassurance from God that I will be ok, that everything is the way it should be, that I am on the right path, on the path that he has chosen for me...  It is also a source of comfort for me...  the other day I was feeling a little sad, a little confused, and maybe a little lonely and lost...  and there it was the prayer in my head...  :)  ahhhhh...  REASSURANCE, that in time everything will work itself out!!  :)

Mozzarella stuffed meatballs

THIS is BY FAR my FAVORITE recipe...  I LOVE mozzarela and meatballs aren't bad...  ;)  I made some changes to this one, to cater to what I liked and had readily available...  :)  We ate these with spaghetti, and also in rolls as meatball sandwiches...  :)  the possibilities for this recipe are ENDLESS!!!  :)
The original recipe can be found here
I used
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 egg
ground beef, you can probably use ground turkey for these too!
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
1/2 cup of finely chopped white onion
1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of milk
2 Tablespoons of minced garlic
a little mustard
regular salt, a pinch
black pepper, a pinch
garlic salt, a pinch 
mozzarella balls, or 2/2 mozzarella squares, 10-15 should be enough
Mix all ingredients except the oil, and mozzarella, together make balls out of the meat and stuff them with the cheese...  make sure they are all covered and set on a 9/13 baking dish with a little sauce on the bottom, that was my personal preference!  ;)
and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes!  ENJOY!
I skipped a few ingredients from the original because I either didn't have them, or didn't know what they were or what they would taste like!!  ;)   
My "egg nest" meatballs.... 

....all closed up, and almost ready for the oven!

Her recipe doesn't call for putting sauce in the pyrex for cooking, but I added a little sauce to the bottom just for kicks, and because i didn't want them to burn or dry out..  and let me tell you that it added a little extra flavor to them that was AMAZING!!  :)

Ready to go in!!! 

look at that ozzing heavenly cheese...  ;)  in case you didn't know I LOVE cheese!!  ;)

...and the final product...  in a roll...  YUMM...  nothing like a good ol' meatball sandwich for dinner after a long day at work!  ;)

Photo Challenge, Day 19....

.....something ORANGE!!!

Whadddaaayyyaa know?  I found me an orange fanta float at Sonic today!!  :)  talk about a little piece of Heaven in a cup!!  ;)

Photo Challenge, Day 18.....

..... my shoes

today was a work day...  so I wore the shoes on the right, while totally wishing I was wearing my oh so comfortable flip flops on the left!  ;)

Photo Challenge, Day 17.....

.....Technology

...what would we do without these fun little gadgets??  ;)  Digital Cameras, external hard drives, iPod's, cell phones, skype, blogs, online picture ordering, online shopping...  you name it, it's there!  ;)  seriously what did we do...  before we got a hold of these guys??

a new blog.... :D

....Finally!

I've been tossing around the idea of a "treat" blog...  mostly pictures and maybe some recipes...  ;)  so tonight I did it...  as I was updating the hello kitty cake pops and the batman cake here I decided that it would be fun and nice to have them all in one place...  so i went ahead and created, mj's treats and sweet delights...  come check it out..  ;)  it's nothing big..  just a place to put pictures of sweet and delightful treats!!  ;) 
here's the linky link!!  ;)

A turn in the Road....

..... A Review....

I LOVE to read,

I enjoy almost any kind of book, I am forever browsing the book sections at work, target, costco, and just about anywhere else that has books, just to make sure I don't miss a good one..  ;) 

This one... 

 I picked up at Target one night, and let me tell you, it didn't dissappoint...  it was definitely one of those all around feel good books, that make you believe in miracles, around the "broken" road!!  :)  this one get's two thumbs up, it is definitely a love story!  :)  I think Debbie Macomber is slowly but surely becoming one of my favorite authors...  :)  LOVE, LOVE her!!

Photo Challenge, Day 16.....

......my BIGGEST insecurity!

...I've been thinking about todays picture for 16 days now!! haha...  I asked around to see if people could help me identify my biggest insecurity..  the answers I got were very helpful, but not really insecurities I have now...

being alone, mom's with kids, married couples, growing old alone, being lonely, sometimes, but not enough to matter...  skinny people?  not really now, 6 years ago?  absolutely, the reminder of a car accident years ago, forever on my face? nahhh, I don't even notice it anymore...  when I was 12 and in Junior high?  ABSOLUTELY....  it was interesting though to see what people came  up with, because their answers illustrate to me what their insecurities may be... 

after lots of thinking, and careful consideration, I came up with this...

...an old manager I had used to tell us, "never assume, it makes an ass out of you and me!"  haha!!  I always liked his quote, and it made sense... 

I will forever be insecure about people's thoughts, and assumptions about my happiness, about the things that I do, and the "reasoning" behind them... which 95% of the time is absolutely nothing... It's just me being me, it's my personality...  I am too old to be explaining myself to everyone...  AND I will forever be thankful to my friends who always humor me when that insecurity peeks it's ugly head...  reasurrance that I'm somewhat normal, that they know it's just "me", always makes the insecurites go away!!  :)

Potatoe, po-ta-to.....

....ahhhh...  I am seriously a creature of habit, I LOVE food, and I LOVE to try new things..  BUT when I find something I like I usually stick to it...  hence my always eating a chile relleno burrito, it's been my "new" favorite for a while now...  today I had a craving...  and I decided to try something new...  well not completely on my own..  haha!!  I think Ruben and Steve tried to reason with me, by saying that I wouldn't know if I liked it unless I tried...  and really what did I have to lose?  nothing...  right??  right...  so off I went, everyone I know LOVES the el potato, with Shredded beef, so that's how I had it...  :)

mmmmmm......

....how could you not enjoy this?? 

...well I enjoyed it, BUT I WAS REALLY FULL for hours after....  haha...  It is now 10pm and I just now started thinking about eating something for dinner...  I guess the el potato is waaaaayyyy too big for anyone's good...  BUT it was definitly GOOD...  and yes I think I would order it again...  but next time I will make sure not to have eaten the day before!!  ;) 

GUESS I FINALLY MET MY MATCH....  haha!!  ;)

Photo Challenge, Day 15......

.....Silhouette

Nothing like an early morning "sunrise" to get the silhoutte of a tree!!  :)

A visit to the old stompin' grounds!!!

My friend Charles LOVES photography as much as I do...  and his now wife entertains our crazy outings and photo shoot ideas!  ;)  Thanks Angie...  :)  Today we met up for dinner at one of our favorite "home style" italian restaurants in Brea, Lomalie's...  They seriously have the BEST food ever!  :0  We ended up bringing Chris with us this time...  AND he was pleased with the food....  it passed the Chris test, so that's always a good thing!!  ;)

our first course...  Yummy salad, and our complimentary glass of wine! 

The bread is to DIE for!!  ;)
Look at the size of that meatball...  YUMMMMM!!!

..and spumoni for dessert...  ALWAYS spumoni!  :)
Charles, setting up his shot!!  ;)

Here's me...  :)

Bikes on the bike rack.... 

....and the library!  ;)

....and a random ship that was "wrecked" in the middle of the lawn....    this was new????

...and Angie and I picked out my Christmas Tree.... 

Charles' took this one using long exposure...  isn't it AMAZING!!!  :)

...and I fell in LOVE with this palm tree!

Then we trekked on over to the Art Department in search of the infamous ice cream cone!  ;)  On the way there we ran into this fabulous world, and it was nice enough to take it's picture with me!!  ;)

....  and Angie found this other fun sculpture....  ;)

....and we found the ice cream sculpture...   I still don't understand why I was the only one who remembered this??  I guess I spent way too much time in the art department in college!!  ;)

Charles decided he wanted to taste it!!  ewwww...  gross!!  ;)

Then we went back to their place and played pictures, and chatted, and discussed wedding favors and wedding planning!  :)