High Five For Friday

A belated High Five for Friday:

 1.  Last Saturday we spent the morning with friends at the Brickfair Lego Convention. Jesse loved playing with Legos as a kid, so it was fun to see all the different creations from people young and old. The most impressive to us were the skyscapers and various action scenes. It was so cute because many of the objects were created by kids who were there to represent their piece. They stood so proud and nerdy behind their works of art!

 Apparently there is a Tampa, Florida Lego Team. They created the downtown area of Tampa, complete with skyscapers, intersections, schools, and banks. Very impressive!

 A fight scene from The Lone Ranger. Check out the guys swinging off the train!

 The Alabama Theatre, created by a local lego artist.

And a pair of glasses (with built in eyebrows, of course)! Made by the braided, bearded man to the right. This was the only piece you could touch; everything else was roped off.

2.  This week I went to yoga class at my school's rec center. I really enjoyed it! It was a decent workout (more than my normal... which is nonexistent), but before you got too heated, the instructor would wind you down and work a different part of your body. And at the same time you are stretching everything out. The class is early in the morning, which I enjoyed being a nice before-class workout to get the day going.

3.  I learned how to use my BIO this week. This allows me to view through your pupil and into the back of you eye at fairly high magnification. It's a very particular technique and skill, so seeing my first image through my lens was very exciting! Below is the view I get, except it's only a very small portion at a time, which I have to piece together in my mind and remember what I saw in each section. Oh, and the image I see is really upside down and backwards from reality, so I have to keep that in mind to. :)

4.  I re-organized my "study" more with a new bookcase. Mostly because I have too many textbooks now to keep orderly.

5.  Last night we watched the movie "The Butler" with friends (Hi Scarlett!). It was a wonderful movie - interesting to follow the main character's view of changes throughout just one lifetime on racial perspective and civil rights.

From Our Kitchen - Sour Cream Pound Cake

My entire life I can remember my mom making pound cake. Her mom made pound cake; she makes pound cake. It is one of her go-to desserts to bring to family get-togethers or church events. Pound cake is pretty much a staple at any Southern dessert table, and my mom's doesn't let anyone down. Just one piece is often not enough.  Don't worry about needing ice cream, or strawberries, or anything else to go with this cake. It's perfect just the way it is. (That is most likely due to the quantity of butter and sugar... but we won't think about that too hard.)  My mom gave be a beautiful bundt pan for Christmas, and I figured it would be appropriate to break it in with her best recipe! Plus, a good Southern woman should know how to make one, after all.

Click HERE for the printable recipe.

First, you will want to preheat your oven to 275 degrees. Low and slow for this deliciously moist cake. Also, grease and flour your bundt pan. I used a generic version of Baker's Joy, which is an oil spray that has flour in it. I chose this method because my pan it nonstick; it might be best to actually grease and flour other pans to be safe and avoid any sticking.

Separate your eggs, and set each aside.  (I put my whites into my stand mixer's bowl, because those will be used first.)

Sift your flour and baking soda together in a bowl, and set aside as well.

Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat (with the whisk attachment) until stiff peaks form, then set these aside.  I was so excited about this part, because I have never down this before. (I still would like to conquer making and baking a meringue.)

(Check out this adorable apron, handmade by my wonderful mother-in-law! Her stitching is perfect!)

Next, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla together until well blended.

Then add one egg yolk at a time, mixing well after each. You will see the mixture begin to turn it's classic bright yellow.

After your egg yolks have all been added and mixed, your will have a nice, thick batter.

Next, fold your egg whites into the mixture.  This part made me a little nervous. I didn't want to undo all the fluffing I did to my egg whites.  To do this, add 1/4 to 1/3 of the whites to the batter, cut down the middle of the bowl with your spatula, scraping underneath the whites, scoop through the batter, up the side of the bowl, and dump batter up and over the whites in the center of the bowl. Turn the bowl and continue until the whites somewhat incorporated. Add another portion of the whites and continue folding; repeat until all are incorporated.
(Apparently I was so concerned about this step I didn't stop to take a picture.)

Now you are ready to fill your pan and bake. The batter is still fairly thick, so I evened out the top with my spatula.

Now you wait. With grand anticipation. Because sweet, buttery glory is on its way.
After and hour and a half, check with a toothpick to see if it's cooked through. Let it cool ~30 minutes in the pan, then flip and remove it. Cool the cake on a rack.  Try to resist the urge to eat it while it's still burning hot.
Now, the very best part is the crumbly top that crackles as the cake rises while it cooks. If you are planning to put this on a cake stand, I suggest you leave this part and do not cut it off to make it perfectly even, as you might layer cakes. Unless you want to keep the best part for yourself. In that case I wouldn't judge you too much.  ;)

And there you have it! Mix, bake, eat, and enjoy!

High Five For Friday

1. Survived the cold.  I realize it's been cold everywhere, and the northern states were hit much harder than the South, but there were record breaking single digit temps down here and we are not built for the cold. I dreaded Tuesday morning, as I had to dress up for clinic, and was sure the frigid wind would cut right through my dress pants. It did. But I made it. Mostly thanks to a scarf that is usually overkill for Alabama, and a thermos of hot tea.

2.  Community group; personality test.  This Sunday's sermon at church was about resolutions for the new year, and how you should get to know yourself well enough to be able to make better resolutions, otherwise you are making resolutions that you can never achieve. We were asked to take the Briggs-Myers personality test, and bring our results to community group to discuss. Jesse and I took them earlier this week and had a great time laughing over how precise mine was (ISFJ). His was pretty close too (INTP).  Go HERE to take yours to see what it has to say about you. It was a lot of fun to read aloud the things that make me tick, and it only takes 10-15 minutes! If you take it, come back and comment with your results!

3.  I started back to school. Not much else to say about that, except that it's full speed ahead already!

4.  Community Eye Care One of the classes I am taking this semester is Community Eye Care, which is wonderful because it allows us to see real patients and remember the reason we are all in this! Each week we have a different location to go to, to set up a vision screening.  Each student is assigned to a specific skill or task to perform on the patient, which is usually fairly quick and is pass/fail. At the end, each patient is counseled on the findings of the day and advised appropriately, whether that is to continue their current scheduled care with their optometrist, or urging those that haven't been in years to go for a full eye exam.  This week my group went to a local senior center, and we had a blast! The patients were fun and hilarious at times, especially when they like to tell you all about their love life and "lady friend."

5.  Jesse and I went to visit friends Mike and Kelsey after I got home from school today. Just an impromptu hang out to relax and chat for a while. Thankfully Addy woke up from her nap and provided us with extra entertainment. We love seeing this princess! (Her new thing is to wear her tiara = adorable.)

High Five For Friday

I'm sad it's Friday.  It's usually the opposite, I know. But my winter break is almost over and that means a new semester of school starts Monday! I'm not feeling it this time. I am excited to learn more and get to use new equipment, but last semester kind of burned me out. Studying is just so time consuming and it's always in the back of your mind. Anyway, I'm not inviting you to my pity party, or having one for that matter. I've just thoroughly enjoyed not having anything to do over my break except relax.
So let's look back at this week's high five:

1. Not gonna lie. My main goal for the week was to catch up on Grey's Anatomy. The 9th season has been sitting on Netflix, begging to be watched for a while now. So I watched it. All the episodes. It was the right thing to do.

2. We rang in the new year - see that post HERE.

3. At the end of each semester the house gets a deep cleaning. I worked on that throughout the week, and was excited to get my "study" organized. Christmas is a great season to weed out some old things we no longer need or use as we receive new things.

4. Our church here in Birmingham (Christ City Church) is moving into two new locations and out of the one place we've been renting. Jesse and I were able to help with part of this transition yesterday by going to our Lipscomb campus to clean and help set things up for church service this coming Sunday. It's an exciting time for everyone involved! I love that it's happening at the beginning of the year when we're all in the mindset of new beginnings and change.

5.  Kelsey and I tackled Hobby Lobby's Christmas clearance on Monday. Between the two of us we filled a buggy with lots of cute decorations for New Years and next Christmas. It's the best time to go when everything is 80% off - can't be beat!

Happy New Year 2014

We rang in the new year with lots of our friends. We started at a local Mexican restaurant for dinner, then gathered at our friends Mike and Kelsey's home until the midnight countdown. Kelsey had a couple of activities planned and a chocolate fondue with a few other snacks to keep us going until midnight. And what's a party without a photobooth and props?

(that was apparently after we had devoured most of it) 

(the host and hostess)

A few of us stuck around and played a new game afterwards.

I'm so glad we have shared so many fun times and made so many memories in 2013 with these friends! Can't wait to see what 2014 has in store!

Christmas Round-Up

A quick review from some of my favorite (captured) moments this Christmas season.  Thankfully Jesse had the week off for Christmas too, so we went to Luverne to start the Christmas rounds. It was a busy time, going from house to house to visit different parts of our families, but I love spending time with everyone. It doesn't happen that often.

I got coal for Christmas!! And Jesse's stocking for packed full. :( 

Not really.  Jesse and I only did stockings this year, which was fun to see what little goodies we would pull out next.

Moseley Christmas

SO glad we got to see ALL of these faces, especially Ethan and Amy from California.

Yay, my parents got new towels for Christmas! :)

Hatcher Christmas. There were lots of surprises and a little danger...

...and cuteness. Just look at that face!

Wilson Christmas

Budraitis Christmas
(I promise Matt was there, just behind the camera!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

New York Vacation - Day 5

It was kindly brought to my attention that I haven't gotten around to posting the last day of our trip. (Which means I have at least one reader! :)  )
We didn't have much time for any major sight seeing before our flight out of NY, so we split up for breakfast and a little exploring. It was nice to have the morning just me and Jesse. Vacationing with others is often more fun, but it's good to have a little time to ourselves too.  The last morning was perfect for this since there was no plans or no where to be except the airport later.  Jesse found an aquarium shop to visit, so we walked in it's direction to find breakfast first. We found a little nook in the wall place called the Fiat Cafe. I had french toast with a deliciously foamy latte and Jesse had egg's benedict with smoked salmon. 

I had said that I would include a list of our top favorite things, but to be honest everything was amazing! I'm glad we did, ate, and drank every single thing. So I made a map on Pinterest (because you can do that now) of everything we did (which has pretty much been included in these posts) is on there. View it HERE. Maybe you can use it one day to plan your own trip. New York is definitely worth seeing once in your life - if you have the chance, take it!

Catch the beginning post of this trip, starting with Day One.