13 Little Blue Envelopes

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

I borrowed this book from my friend while I was working at a summer camp and had some (a little actually) free time on my hands. While I didn’t read it until the fall, I really enjoyed this book. This book follows a girl as she travels through Europe on quests given to her in 13 little blue envelopes. Since I had been to half of the places she goes to, it was really neat to be able to visualize the places with the perspective of having been there. Anyways, this is a fun chick-lit book with a cute romance and a fun storyline.

Picture from amazon.com

St. Sebastians (Rome, Italy)

This is the first church we celebrated mass at while on our pilgrimage to Europe. I don’t have very many pictures of it, since I was going on twenty or thirty-something hours of being awake. St. Sebastian was a martyr, who was shot with six arrows and survived, and was later martyred by the same Emperor who had him shot. I believe there was as relic of him at the church, but everything was a bit fuzzy when I was there.

Here’s a picture of the little side chapel where we had mass. I’m fairly sure I half dreamed and half heard the readings of mass. The church is actually pretty small, but has catacombs underneath it, which we got to tour.

Here’s a picture of a crucifix that’s at the end of the catacomb tour. I literally fell asleep on my feet while standing here, which is terrifying, because it feels like all of your joints are giving out under you (you know the head-bob thing, but on a full-body scale).

Anyways, I guess this was a little more about me than the church, but it was a neat way to get started on our pilgrimage.

Sippin' Saturday

Although it’s chilly outside (snowing at the moment, where I live) sometimes it is still nice to have a cool, refreshing drink.


Starbucks Frappachino Mocha
This is the kind that comes in a jar, not the icy stuff. I really like this flavor, especially when you shake it up and let it get all frothy. I definitely don’t drink this all the time, since it does have caffeine, but it is a nice refreshing treat when I need something perfectly cool and sugary, but not sickly sweet.

Starbucks Iced Chai Tea Latte

Blech! While I do love a good chai tea latte, I didn’t like it at all iced. In fact, I gave it away to a friend after a couple of sips, because it was just that bad. While the warm, rich spices are great in a warm drink, they don’t work very well when iced.

Salted Caramel Frappachino

One friend described this drink as tasting like “caramel corn”. While I don’t think it’s really that salty, I agree with the sentiment. It sounds like a gross drink, but it is actually quite delicious. Plus, the consistency of the frappachino helps the prevent the settling that happens in the warm version of this drink.

Pink (All-You) Scarf

Today I’m going to share with you one of my favorite patterns. It is provided free thanks to lionbrand and All-You here.

This scarf is super cute and super easy to make – because it’s really only five rows of stitches. I made two in one day, one as a gift, and then one for me, because I couldn’t help myself. It was fun working with chunky yarn, and I love the color (although you could make it in other colors).

Fish!

I got a new betta fish yesterday, and I’m going to share with you how to take care of them, based on my one day of experience. =)

My fish’s name is “Firenze”, which is the Italian name for the city of Florence. It also looks like the English word “fire”, which is what my fish (sort-of) looks like.

Yeah, he's pretty awesome.

According to the guy at the pet store, a betta fishes natural habitat is muddy icky areas. So, a small bowl with (sometimes) poor water conditions actually mimics their natural habitat. This makes them the only fish that you can really get to live in a small bowl (less than 5 gallons). Apparently, their gills also don’t work like normal fish gills, and they actually get air from the atmosphere and not the water, which is why they don’t need a filter.

So here’s the basics if you’re gonna get a betta: You need a tank (mine is 1 gallon), rocks/decorations, water conditioner, a fish, and food. Make sure you rinse the tank and all decorations before using – then set up your tank as you wish, and let the temperature adjust to room temperature. Then, dechlorinate the water using the conditioner. Don’t just use normal tap water, or your fish will likely die. Then, add your fish! Voila! Also, feed it at least once a day. Bettas don’t eat very much. (At least, mine doesn’t. It mostly just plays with its food).

The whole setup

On a side note, happy birthday to my super-cool sister Emily! She's 19 on the 19th, which makes it her golden birthday. =P

Sketchy Behavior

Sketchy Behavior by Erynn Mangum

This year, I hope to read one book a week, and I’m slowly chipping away at my “to read” list. This book is by Erynn Mangum, who wrote two fantastic Christian Chick-Lit Series, starting with Miss Match and Cool Beans, respectively. They’re both about chocoholics (something I can relate to) and have quirky, awesome characters.

This book is directed to a slightly younger audience (high schoolers instead of twenty-somethings). Although it was enjoyable to read, it didn’t impress me too much. The story is about a girl who loves drawing and art, and accidentally ends up drawing a murderer for the police. Although a cute story, there were some plot holes that bugged me, and it wasn’t as well done as previous books.

Link on amazon.com

Pigs in a Blanket

Happy Tasty Tuesday! Unfortunately, I don’t have much for you this week, but keep an eye out for fun pork recipes in the future! I bought a whole pork loin, and that should last me for the entire semester.

This is more of a “tried and failed” type cooking but here goes. I tried making pigs in a blanket. But I bought the super puffy instant biscuits, and not the crescent rolls like you are supposed to. So my pigs in a blanket turned out to be more of pigs on a blanket. It still didn’t taste too bad though.

Oops