You know today I just woke up and I said you know instead of waitin' on a good day waitin' around through up's and down's waitin on something to happen I just say; We're gonna have a good day...


Now, I don't even know that song. But I like it :)


Today was a great day! I just really realized (again) that not only does God love me and want me to be happy, I also remembered something one of my companions used to say all  the time on the mission "Heavenly Father is so merciful to me"  I totally feel that way. Do you want to know why? (As Rachel would say-- You're going to tell me anyway, so go ahead). 
I'll give it to you in bullets.

• Today work was great, I was early and it was just super productive, and I just really love my boss. Beryl is so great, and such a great example to me. 
• While I was at work I got a text about my favorite little 4 year old (almost 5 eek!) having her teddy bear marry her doll and having bunny babies. Cute right? 
• I found a parking spot in a prime spot right by Rachel's house and did what I needed to do for my class. I haven't found a spot in that lot in weeks! 
• My class let out early so I could go study for my test.
• I ran into one of my friends and he said "Emily, you are like sunshine to me!" I hope he meant in a friendly way, but it still made me feel happy!
• Then I went to take my test and I got a 96% on it! In the testing center that means that you get an encouraging message like "Great Job" or like today, I got "Congratulations!" It made me SUPER DUPER happy!
• Ok, so in my test I was filling out the answers, and I prayed before I started my test, and I was almost done, but as I went to fill in the bubble for number 23 it was already filled in! I was so frustrated, also, as I looked back past my answers to see where I skipped a line, ALL of them were filled in, I obviously filled in one answer twice! So, I huffed and puffed, but went to  find which one I missed and while looking through the answers and realized that I had gotten one wrong! But because I messed up somehow, I saw where I messed up and got to fix it! Heavenly Father answers prayers... even ones about silly family finance tests. I'll keep praying (because I have 2 more tests before Tuesday!)
• THEN my Domestic Goddess BFF came so we could go to the Sister's reunion (!) and she brought me a half birthday present that I am SO excited to read it! (and it's autographed by the author!) And we went to the sister's reunion. And it was so great. I had zero anxiety about seeing the president (which is a first) and it was relaxed and casual and... just so nice! And Brenda called Eric a Schmuck! Which pretty much made my life.  
• Then I talked to my mom! (Which was great, as always). 

Are you jealous of my great day? I am :)

A realization...

Today I was chillaxing with my favorite 19 year old sister, (actually we were on our way home from the grocery store) and I'll skip the part where I was being petty in this story, but I had a realization. Can you really see me married to a guy who wears this:

in public? Or private for that matter. This should have been a sign unto me... alas, now I have dodged the "husband who wears silly ties to important events" bullet.

I'm just sayin'.

(PS: if your husband has this tie, and you love it I am very sorry.)

The Down Side to Dinner Group

Can I just say that I heart my dinner group! I totally do! I love that we have so many people. I love that it means that I know 12 people in the ward fairly well... and I have a warm meal 4 days a week that I only have to think about once every 3 weeks. The down side to being in such a great dinner group is that I only have to cook once every 3 weeks, (which is a little sad, I like cooking), until I find something I really want to make, and even have most of the stuff for, but I don't get to cook for another week and a half!

So I'm telling y'all about it... that's right, y'all! Currently in my freezer, I have one of these----->
This 7 pound boston pork butt roast I got for only $1.48/lb.(Sweet deal, right?)
 I was going to do a classic BBQ style pulled pork sandwich (you know, with BBQ sauce), but then... Oh but then...

I've been missing the mission lately, and so, I'm going to do a Southern Style meal!

For the main course we'll have Southern Style Barbecue on buns with coleslaw.I suppose that people have the choice to eat the slaw on the side, but I, for one, would be so disappointed!  *(Southern Style BBQ is a vinegar based sauce rather than the tomato kind we're most used to)*

I found these awesome recipes:

Southern Style Pulled Pork BBQ

Please click here for the slaw recipe

• Pork Roast (approximately 5 pounds)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar (that is one and a half cups, not eleven cups ~giggle~)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Put roast in slow cooker and sprinkle salt and pepper over. Pour cider vinegar over. Cover with lid and cook on low for twelve hours (I cook it overnight). Remove pork roast and shred with forks (this will be very easy). Drain juices from slow cooker, reserving two cups of liquid. Return pork to slow cooker. To the reserved liquid add: Brown sugar, hot sauce, and crushed pepper flakes. Stir well. Pour over shredded pork and place lid back on. Place on low or warm setting until ready to serve.

Vinegar Slaw

• 4-1/2 to 5 Cups finely chopped or shredded cabbage (about half a head)
• 1 Cup white vinegar
• 1 Cup sugar

Place cabbage in a bowl. Add in vinegar and sugar. Stir. Cover and place in refrigerator a few hours or overnight before serving. Will make more juice over time.

The side dish I'll serve is HUSH PUPPIES! 

1/2 cup flour, sifted
1 1/2 cups white cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 egg, beaten

Combine all ingredients. Drop into hot oil, 1 teaspoon at a time, until golden brown. Serve while hot.Serving Size: 4

Then I'll maybe make a broccoli salad...

 we'll see, and for dessert, 
Apple Crisp and whipped cream.

 I can almost taste it! MMMMmmmmm!

I haven't even started cooking yet and I feel a little amazing... Too bad I don't cook for another week and a half! I'll let you know how it goes :) 

Based on my experiences of the last couple of weeks, I am never having babies. This waking up dry heaving crap is not even worth it.

Adoption: it's about self preservation

I love impromptu dance parties

My roommates and I just had a dance party that lasted 3 minutes and 33 seconds. There was one night last year, when we sat in my apartment in Alpine and studied for midterms. The tension and stress was so thick you could cut it with a knife. So we just decided to dance off the stress. The song of choice was the All American Rejects, Gives You Hell. Tonight, once again, there was a much needed stress relieving dance party. The same song was appropriate, but this time we turned out all the lights and let loose! (and oh boy do we have such mad dance skills)
In particular, in my jaded state one stanza of lyrics stood out to me.


Now you'll never see what you did to me
You can take back the memories they're no good to me
And here's all your lies, you can look me in the eyes
With the sad, sad look that you wear so well. 


I hope it gives him hell someday... 
but for now, I'm going to play Yatzee!

Why I have the very best roommates.

Most of you know that life hasn't got exactly the way I thought it would for the past month and a half... in fact, it's been harder than I knew it could be. I'll spare you the gory details, but the short story is that boys are dumb. The slightly expanded version is that the boy who was telling me he loved me and that I was his other half less than 2 months ago is now engaged, to another girl, who he met while we were dating. Yeah... seriously.

Amid the stress/distress this has caused in my life, I've come to realize how blessed I am. I have so many people who care about me, and who do so much for me. Tonight I'd like to highlight my roommates Malia and Shelly.

Malia is pretty much the sweetest girl on the planet. She is so caring and loving. When I remarked that I didn't have my comfort object anymore (The one I was using is in the back of a closet waiting for a bonfire, and my teddy bear got left at home :( ) She brought one of her bears from home for me to cuddle with. She also makes sure I sleep by supplying me with Tylenol PM (since I just ran out). Isn't she the sweetest girl ever?

Shelly always can tell when I need someone to talk to. I woke up the other morning to a poem she wrote for me on sticky notes on my bathroom mirror. Today I was taking a little rest in my bed and she came in to see how I was doing. She also force-fed me. Which is probably a good idea since eating hasn't been my strong point as of late....

And Aline, she's just so sweet. (it's 11:11 right now; make a wish!). She is so tolerant with my craziness, and always asks how I am. I just have the very very best roommates ever!

That's all...

Break me off a piece of that...

PITA BREAD!

I've been craving hummus for a few days now, so tonight, I decided that despite my super long day (class from 10 to 1, work from 1:45 to 5:45, and then hanging out with one of my favorite people ever, and then out with Rachel.

So after getting home, I stole a recipe from Kristen's blog and made YUMMY pitas, and hummus that actually tasted good. THEN, when I was sick of the garlic (because in true Zimmerman style, I put 3 cloves of garlic rather than just one) I made honey-butter .

I'm not going to lie. Sometimes, I feel like I out do myself.

I'm that awesome...  (and humble)

Ok, enough about me, here's the recipe stolen from K-bob, stolen from Joy. Joy of Cooking, that is...

Pita Bread from Joy of Cooking
3 c flour
1 1/2 TBSP sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 TBSP yeast (2 pgks)
2 TBSP butter, melted
1 1/4 c room temperature water

1. Mix flour, sugar, salt and yeast in mixer. Add in butter and water. Mix about 1 minute until ingredients are combined. Knead for 10 minutes.
2. Place dough in oiled bowl, cover with plastic or a towel and let rise about an hour, or until doubled in size.
3. Preheat oven with pizza stone in it to 450 degrees. (I don't have a pizza stone, so I just used a cookie sheet, it seemed to work great)
4. Punch down dough and divide into 8 balls. Cover with plastic and let rest for 20 minutes.
5. Roll out balls into rounds, about 1/8" thick and 8" in diameter. (Thicker ones will be easier to open and fill.)


6. Place rolled out dough on heated pizza stone for 2-3 minutes, flipping half way through the cooking.


Hummus
1 can garbonzo beans (chickpeas)
2-3 TBSP lemon juice
2-3 TBSP olive oil
1 clove garlic (or 3, if you are afraid of vampires, or aren't thinking about kissing anytime soon.)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
dash of cayenne pepper and black pepper

Place garlic in food processor until finely chopped. Add remaining ingredients and process until desired consistency. Add more/less lemon juice and oil depending on desired thickness. 



Nom nom nom nom nom. The only kind of nom-ing that will be happening any time soon. 

The epic cake revisited!

This is the cupcake version of that epic cake...
White cake, custard filled, whipped cream topped.
Chocolate covered Strawberry and a pirouettes.
Epicness. Pure and unadulterated epicness.

But if not...

Despite a few challenges, I would say that this past summer was one of the very best summers of my life. (Of course I said that about last summer too... I'm ok with that). All summer long, when things happened, or didn't happen, good or bad, I had a mantra: God loves me and wants me to be happy! This was the reason for everything from why there were Sister Missionaries in the Homer ward, to why I had the most amazing roommate ever, or why plans fell through.

I came back to 'the lower 48' a month ago today, full of excitement for what I thought would be a life changing semester in the romance/marriage department. I quickly found out, to my astonishment, that this was not to be. NOTHING was going to be the way I planned it, or thought it would go. I have been struggling, these past few weeks with what to do with those changes. I wish I could tell you I've handled everything with grace and dignity. That would be a lie.

Today in church I had a startling realization. In recent weeks, I have stopped saying that God loves me and wants me to be happy. My faith and trust in the Lord was conditional upon him giving me the blessings that I thought I needed, or perhaps upon my understanding why things happened. Perhaps I don't know how these things will work together for my good. I can't see the plan. I don't always have to be in control, but I like to know what the plan is. And here, I have a chance for more growth and learning. I was so happy. But then... sigh. 

I am reminded of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednigo. (I'm too lazy to look up the spellings, sorry). They were threatened with the fiery furnace, and said essentially; "We have faith God will save us. But if not, we won't stop worshiping Him." I have ignored the "but if not" clause. 

God still loves me, He still wants me to be happy, and He blesses me! But, if it's not the way I want it, I will strive to continue on in the faith. to hold my head high, and to smile. 

When the Lord told Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail that ""all these things" shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good" I'm sure the Prophet wondered a little. But the Sunday School answers, are the Sunday school answers for a reason. So I'll try to be better. 

CS Lewis said:

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace."

So there we have it. I might be frustrated right now because I can't see the blueprint, and I am feeling much abominable discomfort. I may even whine because I was content to be a decent little cottage. But if God needs me to be more. Here I am. 

Some metaphorical sugar to go with the month full of lemons please?

I'm just feeling sorry for myself. I think I deserve that for a few days, ok?

I mean... Seriously? This is MY life? Who does this crap happen to?

Whose boyfriend goes to Boy Scout Camp and meets another girl? Seriously?

Except he tells you that he can't commit. What he meant was he can't commit to you.

Who goes to get a blessing and gets felt up? Yes, it's true, really.

What kind of boy tells a girl she's his other half, and less than a month later is dating someone else?

I just don't understand.

Pardon my pity party.