ah yes, the blog.

i haven't forgotten you, blog! but i have been extremely busy! since my last post several big things have happened, the biggest being that i actually finished my internship. after an extension or so i had a pretty strong goal to finish before our 5th anniversary/going home for christmas and i did! yipee! one last little unit to go and i am completely done with grad school! finally! four and a half years later! but more about that later.

since finishing my internship on the 21st we celebrated our 5th anniversary on the 22nd, and left for home on the 23rd. we had a great time with both of our families, and then yesterday i departed with my parents, sister, and brother-in-law to arkansas. josh has stayed behind in kentucky to spend a few extra days with his family and then drive back to north carolina. why am i in arkansas?! well, that long awaited (or dreaded?) time has arrived: my sister is leaving for south asia on the 1st. just typing that makes me stop and think. my only sister. south asia. three and a half to four years away.

OMG.

how am i handling it? well, as good as expected? better than you might hope? probably not. i don't really know. how am i supposed to handle this? i'm not sure. i'm not going to lie, i've shed a lot of tears, and i know more will come. my sister wants to have all serious goodbyes take place tomorrow night and have quick, happy goodbyes sunday at the airport. that's a great idea, but i'm really not sure how i'm supposed to make that happen. i don't know how to really say goodbye saturday night when i know i'm going to eat brunch with her sunday morning. i will probably be able to manage a few tears in the airport and then save the real sobbing for once i get in the car. with my parents. to drive to nashville. what a fun trip that will be! three depressed people. driving five hours. lord help us. i'm praying that i will say the right words and act the right way. i'm praying for a less selfish perspective and a more godly one. i'm working on it. promise. but when it comes down to it, i'm really going to miss my sister.

sewing with bri

my friend briana and i implemented weekly (or that's the hope anyway) craft/sewing nights to (ideally) make christmas presents! fun fun! our first couple weeks were devoted to a collaborative project to make our friend sarah's bridal shower gifts. we finally got to give them to her saturday and i think they were a hit!

reversible placemats and napkins! i think we did pretty good, because sarah definitely thought she registered for them at first! 

and a super cute apron! (modeled by bri here)

sarah sported it for the rest of the shower. is she a cute bride or what!?

me, sarah, and briana

tutorials here and here. 

don't hate

THERE'S ONLY 100 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!!


i love christmas. 


but today i'm also enjoying the first day of cool weather. yay!

brigadeiros

i was super excited when i turned on the today show earlier and saw a brazilian chef making brigadeiros - little fudge-y truffles that are the national candy of brazil. i had these delightful babies when i was in brazil back in late 2003/early 2004 and they are yummy! it looks like the recipe makes a lot so i probably won't make them until around christmas time, but i'm saving the recipe here.

Ingredients

2, 14-oz. cans sweetened condensed milk

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons heavy cream

2 teaspoons light corn syrup

3 ounces, or 90 grams, semi-sweet chocolate with about around 60 percent cocoa solids, chopped

2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup chocolate sprinkles from real chocolate

Preparation

In a medium-heavy bottomed saucepan, place the condensed milk, butter, heavy cream and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat.

When the mixture starts to bubble, add the chocolate and 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder. Whisk well, making sure there are no pockets of cocoa powder.

Reduce the heat to low and cook, whisking constantly until it reaches the consistency of a dense fudgy batter. This takes about eight to 10 minutes. You want the mixture to bubble like lava toward the end so it’s important to use low heat or the sides of the pan will burn. If you undercook it, the brigadeiro will be too soft; if you overcook it, it will be chewy. You know it is done when you swirl the pan around and the mixture leaves a thick burnt residue on the bottom of the pan.

Slide the mixture into a bowl. Don’t scrape the pan — you don’t want to integrate any of the burned bottom. Let the mixture cool at room temperature. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap

and chill in the refrigerator for at least four hours, preferably overnight.

Scoop the mixture by the teaspoonful — or you can use a mini ice cream scoop — and, using your hands, roll each into a little ball about 3/4-inch in diameter, about the size of a chocolate truffle.

Place the sprinkles in a large roasting pan. Roll four to six brigadeiros at a time through the sprinkles, making sure it covers the entire surface.

Store in a plastic container at room temperature for one to two days or up to two weeks in the refrigerator.

Serving Size

Makes about 50 brigadeiros

a big day i'm not a part of...

today is a big day for my family, particularly my sister and brother-in-law. unfortunately it's in orlando and i'm not in orlando, i'm at home in north carolina. but my parents and grandparents and brad's parents and grandparents and his sister are all there, so i feel like a crappy sister. remember that missing out post? yeah, i'm really feeling that today.

you see, today is a big step in the process of my sister and brother-in-law leaving for south asia. i am not handling this well. my only sister... across the world... missing out on christmases... and our children being born and growing up... i could go on but i'll stop for now. but let's be honest here: i had "south asian" cuisine a couple of weekends ago with josh on a date (it was really yummy!) and i balled in the restaurant before we had even got our meal. i am an awesome date!

but regardless of how i feel, i'm excited for my sister and brother-in-law and the new life they are embarking on. i'm in awe of their fearlessness with this new adventure, and i know that no matter where we are in the world or how long we go without seeing each other, we will still be family.

krystal, i'm sorry i couldn't be there today, but i also can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

never satisfied

i was staring at the broken clock on the wall earlier. it's broke in two ways: it needs new batteries and the time is off (except for twice a day, of course), and the glass (or plastic?) cover is missing, it was broken several years ago. that actually happened when we first moved to columbus (right about 4 years ago now) and my parents came to help us unpack and settle in. i had the clock sitting on the mantle resting up against the wall. my dad accidentally knocked it off or slammed the door a little too hard, and it fell, breaking the cover. for quite a while we had the clock in the closet, it was broken, after all. then when moving to greensboro we decided to put it on the wall in josh's office. a cover is not necessary for a clock to work, right? this got me to thinking about my dad and him accidentally breaking the clock cover. he felt really bad about it, and he even left money for us to go buy a new one. i've spent a good portion of my life questioning my dad's love for me, but i'm realizing now that he has just showed me love in different ways. he was there to help us unpack, and he felt bad about breaking something so trivial. he's a hard worker, and he primarily shows love through work. if you need something fixed, he's your man. as a young girl i wanted a hug and someone who would listen, but that just wasn't really him. and now i'm a woman and i have a wonderful husband who will always give me a hug and listen, but i want him to go take out the trash. why is that?

i think i'll go put new batteries in the clock.

today

today i went to zumba and sweat like an obese woman running a marathon along the equator. it was a good time. my pass ends wednesday ($20 for 20 visits living social deal) so i need to start scoping out where to go to next. i could buy a pass at the place i've been going to, but it's kinda expensive and the drive is a pain. we'll see... if you haven't tried, i highly recommend zumba (even for uncoordinated people like myself!)

today i'm excited about this rainbow fabric swap that i signed up for! i love all things rainbow, and the jewel tones just makes it even better. as a kid i had rainbow suspenders that i LOVED. i'm excited to make a quilt with the squares i get back. this one i plan to keep!

today my husband is studying very diligently, because he has started online classes to get his MBA! i'm super proud of him, but i'm also not used to him being so focused on school work either! ha! if you're curious, he's attending Louisiana Tech through a promotion with Murphy USA (his employer), so we are getting quite a deal!

today my sister and brother-in-law are flying to orlando for a very important week in the process of them leaving for south asia. (of course they're also going to hit up disney next weekend, and i'm pretty jealous!) i'm praying for safe travels and an awesome week for them. you can read more about their journey here.

today i'm also doing laundry and writing session notes. blah. i'm really not interested in doing either. i have lots of session notes to write (as always) because i'm now leading three groups every thursday at my internship! three groups + one session note for each kid in the group = tons of work for me! i might sew later. we'll see.

i hope you're enjoying your day!