secret agents, tea tree oil, & the days you have an overwhelming desire to look like lisa frank.

1. due to my recent “alias” kick, i have dreams where i am a secret agent all the time. so far, i have been successful on all my missions...i even threatened a bad guy with a knife. it felt pretty good, because then he left me alone. not only do i have the dreams, but when i am alone at night, i actually (silently) dare any creepers to try and attack me (but not really) because i think i have a shot at taking them down.

**disclaimer: when a woman dares you to do something, she’s really saying, “do this and you’ll be sorry” which is what i mean when i say i “dare” someone to attack me. i do not actually want anyone to attack me, ever. didn’t think i needed to clear that up, but you never know. 

2. tea tree oil is the remedy for everything! it cleans bacteria and soothes skin. when i had my nose pierced, i used it to prevent infection. currently, im using it on my nail beds to sooth pain from hangnails. my pain instantly goes away when i apply it. i got my bottle from whole foods market. it always comes in handy!

3. let’s face it, every little girl wanted the latest lisa frank folders, pencils, “trapperkeepers,” and accessories. going back to school was bearable for me as a child, because at least all my school supplies would be lisa frank. secret: i still love her. and sometimes i just want my world to be swirling with rainbows and hot pink cheetahs. enter hair chalking. i found this lovely trick on the glitter guide. you simply get some oil pastel chalk (i got a huge pack from hobby lobby for $7) and wet your hair. then color random strands of your wet hair until you get the desired color. then blow dry so the heat will set the color. this is great if you want colored tresses for just a night, because it washes out with shampoo! and yes, you can look like a character from lisa frank! 

so to sum it up... if you are a creeper, i might distract you with my rainbow hair and chuck a bottle of tea tree oil at your head and then sprint away. you have been warned. 

"i look up to the sky and say 'You're beautiful.'"

date night at the loveland bike trail...God's glory is all around! 

marveling at the wonder of the Creator... and sneaking in a smooch or two when the bikers have cleared the path. 

eating brick oven barbecue chicken pizza! nom. 

after all this fun, we went to kroger. when you're married, sometimes you have to add grocery shopping to your quality time together. ((warning: when you take your husband grocery shopping with you, he will intentionally embarrass you in front of as many people as possible. you will also buy much more junk food when he is with you. however, he'll let you ride on the end of the cart and push you around...this makes up for everything else.))

we ended the night with some ice cream, a comfortable couch, and "alias" on dvd... a recent obsession thanks to my friend allison! 

date nights are my favorite night of the week. i love ya, boo! 

i thank my God every time i remember you...

the end of this summer for me is so bittersweet. being in youth ministry, graduating seniors and sending them off is a norm. but these specific girls that are leaving for college are so special to me. these precious girls have been coming over to my house every friday to study the Word, talk, laugh, and pray together for a year and a half. it has been amazing watching God grow and absolutely transform them. i am humbled and blown away that God would allow me to be a part of what He is doing in each of them. 

last night was our farewell celebration as it was our last meeting with everyone together before they start leaving for college. we celebrated with some salsa dancing on fountain square (they do this for free every thursday night during the summer!) and eating at a delicious mexican restaurant, nada. the food there is so yummy!

((they are all so beautiful!!!))

after some great food and dancing (attempting to/watching), we came back to my house for a sleepover. the girls sat me down and surprised me with this beautiful scrapbook! each girl created a page with an encouraging note and pictures. i am so blown away by it... this is truly one of the best gifts i have ever received. i will cherish this forever :)

i also wanted to send the girls off with something special, so i put together a little somethin' for them. 

i wanted to give them some items to remind them about their identities as daughters of the King. each item represents something about who they are in Christ. the above description may be hard to read, but says: 

A reminder about who you are...

Jesus has ERASED your sin (eraser) and made you a DAUGHTER OF THE KING, also known as a PRINCESS (princess wand). He has MARKED you with a seal (tattoo), His promised Holy Spirit. He is WRITING a beautiful story (pencil) that He asks you to be a part of. POUR OUT YOUR HEART to Him (journal) in thanksgiving, gladness, and joy. The King is enthralled with the perfect BEAUTY He has bestowed upon you (mirror). 

after exchanging gifts we prayed over one another and indulged in a yummy purple ombre cake. 

each of these girls have walked through some hard times and have never wavered in their faith and pursuit of Jesus. this is so encouraging to me. i have a crazy amount of confidence in their walk with Him and how they will be used to impact the Kingdom. He will be faithful to complete the good work He started in each of them! i am so thankful.

"i thank my God every time i remember you." philippians 1:3

diy embellished journals.

blueberry cheesecake macarons.

thursday my friend allison and i tried our second hand at macarons, but instead of making a basic vanilla, like we did the first time, we tried making blueberry cheesecake. we couldn't be more happy with how cute and yummy they turned out to be!

so we gathered our ingredients (including the adorable macaron book allison sweetly gave me!)

shell:

3/4 cup ground almonds

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 extra large egg whites

1/4 cup superfine sugar (we just used regular sugar here)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

blue food coloring paste or liquid 

filling:

1/2 cup cream cheese

2 tbsp sour cream

1 tbsp confectioners sugar

heaping 1/2 cup blueberries 

to make the "shell," or the "cookie" part of the macarons, follow these steps: 

first, we used a food processor to grind up our almonds. you will want to make sure your almonds are ground up as fine as possible. 

while allison did a fine job grinding up those almonds, i started whisking together our egg whites and sugar. the trick is to beat them "until holding soft peaks." this will take awhile, but if you have a handy dandy mixer, she will make a gorgeous, glossy meringue for you. once the meringue is nice and glossy, add in your vanilla extract and food coloring. we used a couple drops of wilton "sky blue" to help us achieve the "tiffany blue" color that is so fabulous!  

next, you'll need to combine your confectioners sugar and ground almond and sift. the. crap. out of it. this definitely is the most time consuming part of the whole macaron baking shebang. neither of us own a real sifter so we did it manually...but don't worry, it's a nice arm workout. sifting=nicely toned arms.   

once the almond and confectioner sugar mixture is completely sifted, fold it into your pretty blue meringue, 1/3 at a time.

the batter should have a "thick, ribbon like consistency."

pipe your batter onto a baking sheet using a piping bag and a 1/2 inch/1 cm plain tip. 

use a spoon to help even out your circles if you need to. let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. meanwhile, preheat your oven to 325 degrees. after macaron batter has sat at room temperature, put in oven and bake for 10 minutes. we kept a pretty close eye on them  in the oven so we could take them out earlier if needed, but 10 minutes worked perfectly for us. 

let your cookies cool completely on a cooling rack. 

to make your filling, simply beat your cream cheese, sour cream, and confectioners sugar together until very smooth. crush your blueberries and fold into your cream cheese mixture. when your cookies are completely cool, use this mixture to sandwich your cookies together! 

we are so proud! 

of course we had to sample some to make sure they were adequate. i planned on giving mine as a gift so i needed to make sure they were yummy enough ;) sure enough, they were!   

side note: macarons really do make awesome gifts! i gave mine to my best friend for her birthday, whose favorite color is tiffany blue. find a pretty way to package them, and voila! sweet and personal gift. 

i think allison and i may have started an obsession. first the vanilla macarons, now these...i wonder what flavor we'll try next?! check out allison's post about our macaron experience and let me know if you try making any for yourself :)

life lately.

wore a little sparkle for the 4th... why not dress like fireworks? 

spent a little time eating, catching up, and shopping with my beautiful roommate. 

baked some vanilla macarons with my friend allison.

became inspired by this adorable little macaron book allison so graciously gave me! (we are baking more later this week... blogpost to come)

spent evenings with friends who welcome us with nice little signs :) we were feeling the love. 

baked these lemon blueberry cheesecake cookies...yum ((please dont make me fat)). 

i am a blessed lady. thankful. 

we're still alive.

dear long lost bloggy friends,

we are alive. and i shall return as soon as possible. between trips, power outages, life changing events, and more trips, i havent been able to blog. 

i love you all, though, and happy birthday to america tomorrow! 

best,
courtney