Opening Lemons & Zesting Cans

  Last Friday evening you would have found me busy in the kitchen cooking dinner - chicken & rice and baked broccoli, which is delicious by the way! It makes boring broccoli into delicious broccoli, check out the recipe. Anyways, it's not that unusual to find me in the kitchen Friday nights, I usually try to cook dinner once a week.

  Cooking is really fun for me, I like to try out lots of new recipes - don't want it to get boring! :) And all was going well.. chicken was finishing up in the oven and it was time to put the goodies on the broccoli (lemon zest & juice and Parmesan cheese). So, quick grab the lemon, quick grab the little zester mechanism, and zest.. no zest.. try again... still nothing...

  I must have been distracted.. I am ashamed to say that I tried quite a few times, even going back to the fridge for a firmer lemon, before realizing I was trying to zest a lemon with the little can opener that makes holes in the top of cans! *forehead smack* I couldn't help but laugh at myself!

 

They kind of look alike, right? :)

Well, I do look forward to experimenting in the kitchen again, but maybe next time I won't be so distracted! :)

 

~Amber Nicole

Leading Bright Lights

 

 

"My question is, would you be interested in praying about whether the Lord might want you to become part of the leadership of the Bright Lights group?"

 

 

This was asked by a friend of our's about two months ago, February 10th.  She was in a courtship relationship, thinking about the future of her Bright Lights Bible study, and wondering if I would be willing to slowly take it over!  This came as a total surprise to me!  First off, I really hadn't had much opportunity to talk to this friend, thus I didn't know her that well, so how was she suppose to think that I might be a good person to take over her Bible Study?!

 

And before this I hadn't been thinking about starting my own Bible study, or doing any such thing.  I'm more of a reserved person and not the greatest fan of talking, sometimes I think I would like to say "Lord, use my hands, use my feet, but don't take my mouth, I don't like to talk!"  But the Lord does like to use our weaknesses and make them our strengths, so I accepted!

 

And the timing of this was also perfect, as five days earlier I had learned that the girl's Bible study I was in was going to end after this spring.  I will really miss this group of girls!  It has been so special and we have made such good friends!  But it is amazing to see God lead in new directions!

 

So March 7 found Anna and I going to our first Bright Lights meeting!  Of course going into the unknown was a little scary, but it helped to already know a good number of the girls there.  And as Anna and I continue to go, I have been so blessed by all the girls there!  We have already made special and lasting friendships and every girl has been very welcoming from the beginning!

 

I have also enjoyed the singing of hymns around the piano, the encouraging lessons, and the Christ focus and the Spiritual challenges continuing through activities!

 

Then on April 4th I lead my first study!  The whole thing from preparing to presentation was truly led by the Lord - it went so well!  Joyfulness was scheduled to be, so that is what I spoke on.  But first we sang:

Rejoice Ye Pure In Heart
Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
As The Deer
He Giveth More Grace
Rejoice In The Lord Always (round)

Considering I had never really taught a whole lesson for so many people, it went very smooth, because all glory to God, He had brought everything to me, took away most of my nerves, and really was led by Him!

After that we really enjoyed doing some Sword Drills - the girls racing to look up more verses about joyfulness, then finished up with a little hand clapping game (learning each other's names better) before having our snack and socializing time.

I look forward to seeing what comes as time goes by!  It has been really exciting to see what the Lord brings - and sometimes so quickly too!

Have a blessed Sunday!
Amber

Pride & Prejudice

 

The love has not been there long, but it is strong... I'm talking about Pride & Prejudice of course!  It really wasn't that long ago that I first read the book - but some of my favorite books were written over 100 years ago, so it of course soon joined the list!

 

Not long after we watch the 2005 movie version of P&P - an instant favorite with all of us ladies of the house!  We at times went a little crazy watching it so many times, but it is so good and with those kinds of movies, just the costumes can keep me entertained.

 

 

So with being a big fan of both the book and movie; the Keira Knightly version to be exact.  I'm sorry, no Colin Firth mentioned here, well, not anymore.  ;-)  I suppose I'm rather bias, being I have never really watched any other version.  But being such a big fan, it was enjoyable to see a BBC documentary on TV about Chatsworth.  Before then I didn't even know it was the "home" of Mr. Darcy but slowly I started to recognize the statue room and hall.  Through that documentary it was neat to see what usually goes on at that gorgeous mansion.  And it is said that Chatsworth was actually Jane Austen's inspiration for Mr. Darcy's home.

 Sadly you won't be able to meet Mr. Darcy or any of the other Pride & Prejudice cast there, but they still have the statue of Mr. Darcy as a souvenir.  Which I thought was neat. :-)

 You can also visit the Groombridge Place, a house with a moat surrounding it and the home of the Bennet family.  But I don't know if you can visit the potato warehouse where the first dance scene was filmed. ;-)
 

Over all, what a well made classic movie!  One of the must sees if you have not already!  And thank you for letting me rave on about it. ;-)
 

 

Blessings <3 and thank you for visiting,
Amber


There's An Etsy Post For That

I knew that Etsy has AMAZING things for sale, easy opputunities to sell your own items, and great help on how to do that.  But with the blog being such a vital way to share about yourself and steer people towards your crafting business, they also have some great suggetions on how to keep posts flowing to your blog (even if you don't have your own handmade business) via Etsy's very own blog, Storque.  I may not be very good at taking an every day week and turning it into a post, so I found this post helpful and fun.

 

Tell Your Every Day Story On Your Blog

 

And I thought I would try it out..

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1. Three Things You See Or Hear Right Now I see my sister reading, I hear the clock ticking (it's evening at our house and in the evening it is very quiet), I see the book "How To Make Money Using Etsy" by Timothy Adam. 

 

2. Three Things You Did Last Week I made bran muffins (I think my next project will be poppyseed muffins), I babysat two of the cutest kids from our church, read lots of the "Adventures in The Northwoods" series (those books never get old however many times you read them).

 

 

3. Three Exchanges You Had With Someone Else I laughed over a Lazarus Bible story felt figure with a friend, talked to a man on the phone who was trying to get me to compare auto insurances, until he found out I was not the lady of the house, and heard one of our Awana Cubbies sing her clean up song: "clean up clean up, everybody scare yourself".

And I think I shall add my own section..

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4. Three Things You are Thankful For  Pink cardigans and matching hair ribbons, the nice weather before the deep freeze, and family outings.

 

Well, I don't know if I could make a complete post from one of those items, but even listing it like that makes it fun.  And hopefully this will help and encourage me to keep posting regularly.

 

Many blessings,

Amber Nicole

Cozied Up with Fabric

For sometime now it has been a great interest of mine to be selling my own crafts (specially at Etsy.com and craft fairs).  At first I was rather hesitant and slow to begin the actual process, feeling rather unqualified to make sewing in to a business, but now it has been such fun to spend a good part of the day sewing!  Also, if anyone has any suggestions on where to find good crochet yarn and vintage/vintage style fabric, please share! 



My first completed project are these cotton fabric napkins in an adorable owl pattern - to fun!

Now that fall is here I have also enjoyed doing some of the fall-type things: romps in the leaves, apple cider, buttoning up the garden, and a party in a friend's barn loft!  I also learned that when you're pulling out the sweaters for yourself, you can't forget you're mug...

Isn't this to sweet!?  Coffee needs a hug sometimes too!  You can buy these dear little things at Mug Sweater Shop.

Have a blessed Autum!

~Amber Nicole~

Wilderness Lodge Again

Just last Friday we got back from another great time at Wilderness Lodge water park.  I have lost count of how many times we have been there, so it feels like I am saying the same thing each year I post about it.  But there were a couple new things.. mainly a couple new slides:

The red one is a practically straight drop of five stories while the other is a loop (which is cut off to the right of the photo).  I was planning on going on both of them - just to say that I did - but the lifegaurd said that people wearing skirted swimsuits have more troubles making it over the loop:

And as I had already seen people make it up to the top of the loop and then slide back down to where they came from, I opted out!  But with the red one there was no chance of going to slow! :)  Probably the scariest part was standing at the top on the platform and then having the floor drop out from under me as I go zipping downward!



Over all it was a fabulous vacation, the weather was just wonderful!  Oh, and I had fun going in the hot tub only for adults (18+), just because I could. ;)

Day at the Zoo

Last week my Grandparents took my six year old cousin, sister, and I to the zoo and amusement park.  It was so much fun to spend a day with family exploring the things to see!



Seeing the animals up close and riding the rides was lots of fun, but the main part was spending good, quality, time with family!  Christian (our cousin) always keeps us laughing and very entertained, and even though we only have one cousin, I don't see how we could have more fun with any more! <3  He kept us smiling and it was fun to see what it would be like to have a little brother.

 We were also able to ride the old carousel and go paddle boating for the first time!  Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of boating - I wasn't sure if I should chance taking my camera out on the water or not, but I wish I did.  Both were fun experiences though!  And you can be sure that after eight hours of fun, we were ready to spend a relaxing evening at home!

Many blessings on the rest of your summer, friends!