Easter 2013

Happy Easter from Dustin and I! This year we stayed home in Nashville for the holiday. Dustin played keys for worship at our church's Dream Center campus in West Nashville. It was such a powerful service, one I'd recommend taking a listen to here. What was incredible about this particular service was that about 20% of the congregation accepted Christ! I couldn't help but sneak a peak during prayer and to my amazement a wave of hands went up over the whole room. It was powerful. Praise Jesus! The heavens were rejoicing yesterday!

After church, we spent the afternoon with our good friends and fellow band mates (& their wives) of Dustin's. It was a lot of fun. We had chili and cornbread, yummy treats from Wholefoods, played games and watched The Bible!

We all took "Easter Memories" photos with an Easter basket. Seth didn't want one, but I snagged a photo of him anyway!

Molly insisted we do a little bunny dance. It was hilarious, as you can see through my expression. Later in the evening we watched the finale of The Bible with our friends Alex and Oksana. Man, that series was awesome, right? I wanna get it on DVD! Happy Easter! He is Risen! ♥, mK

Budget: Movie Rentals

Dustin and I have always believed in a good budget, but since we recently started the house hunting process, we have strapped down our wallets with a tighter lock in hopes to invest more into our new home and less into our instant gratification tendencies. Really saving money takes patience and organization and lets face it, it's just not that sexy. But, it can be over time!

One of our main instant money guzzlers lies in the entertainment category. I am a HUGE movie fan and if we could, we'd go out to the movies all the time, rent movies or even better...BUY movies and have a Beauty and the Beast-esque library full of movies (+ music & books alike). But, that adds up! So, one way we have learned to save money is first facing the fact that we don't need to own everything we want. The local library is awesome for that (and even more so now that Blockbuster is almost non-existant). They have just about any movie we could want in their database. If a movie I want is not at my local branch, I can wait a few days and have them deliver it there. It just takes some planning ahead. So, if Dustin and I want to have a movie night, we can reserve a bunch of movies either through their convenient iPhone app or via the web. It doesn't cost anything for us and we can check-out multiple movies and let everyone at movie night choose!

Today I am having a Saturday afternoon movie-date with a girlfriend of mine and I checked out five movies for us to choose from, for free! Some I had to reserve ahead of time and some I picked up off the shelf.

Funny story about just that. After swiping my copy of "What to expect while your expecting", the adorable elderly man checking out my movies offered me a very pleasant "Congratulations"! With a look of panic I quickly responded, "Oh no, I'm not pregnant, I just think the movie is cute!" And as I walked away, I couldn't help giggling thinking how odd I must have seemed in that man's mind, renting an "instructional" video, just because it's cute. Oh, life! ♥, mK

Yogurt Chicken Salad

This week at work, I decided to dress up the lunch plans with a healthy take on chicken salad. It's very simple to make and super tasty. Here's the recipe.

1/8 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 teaspoon rice vinegar (or white wine vinegar - I just really like rice vinegar)
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/4 cup plain yogurt (Greek works great as well)
chopped dill and chives to taste
1 can of chicken (or use left over chicken from previous meal)
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 red onion, chopped
1-2 pieces of celery, chopped
1 teaspoon curry powder (or to taste)

Mix together, serve cold on salad or bread. This is wonderful over a bed of lettuce or between two pieces of toast. To insure gluten-free option, use GF bread as pictured above. Note that this recipe is best served on the day of making it. The onion can steal the show after a few days in the fridge. Enjoy! ♥, mK

Oh, I've just been cooking!

If you frequent my blog and have been following along for some time now, first thank you, but second, you might have noticed I kinda slowed down pace in a major way. Well, if you are wondering why, it's because I am a full time out-of-the-home worker these days! Yep, my once part-time job has taken over my calendar during the week days and I am thrilled for it. I am a full time nanny and home manager. Prior to moving to Nashville, I didn't realize how much of a career nannying could be and IS and I also didn't think I would enjoy it like I do. I guess that makes sense considering I am always drawn to working in the non-profit sector. It's a rewarding job and the things I am learning now will be monumentally helpful when I have kids of my own.

If you are curious what my job encampasses, heres a quick glimpse. Theres: Kid 1 at 5 years old, Kid 2 at 3 years old, laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, extra driver, a giant green monster (per the 3 year old), meal planner, cook and whatever else comes up such as cleaning windows, raking leaves, or being an extra pair of eyes at a coffee shop or school event. Not every task is as enjoyable as the next, but the variety is so satisfying in a job!

Lately I have been thinking how I need to start documenting all of the meals I have been making at work, especially considering my nanny-family is 100% gluten free. I thought I'd start with a dessert that caught some attention via my Instagram; Gluten Free Coconut Donuts with Cream Cheese Chocolate Icing!

I made these donuts with the help of the 5 year old girl I nanny. She loved being in the kitchen and helping to make something she knew she would get to eat later! Plus, the decorating process at the end was super fun! 

Ingredients (makes 6-8 donuts or cupcakes)
1/2 cup of coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
6 eggs
1/2 cup of honey (or other liquid sweetener)
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1/2 cup of coconut oil, melted (butter, or regular oil will work as well)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix dry ingredients together. Blend wet ingredients into dry ingredients. For baking, you will need some sort of donut mold. We actually improvised by using miniature bundt cake molds. Fill the mold 2/3 of the way with batter. Bake for about 20 minutes.

For the icing. We mixed together confectioners sugar, cream cheese, cocoa powder, vanilla and a bit of milk until we had the consistency and the taste we liked. I'd say this part was fun just for the 5 year old, but who am I kidding, it was soo tasty I had no problem taste testing the icing til we got what we liked best! Once the donuts were cooled, we added the icing and decorated the donuts with everything from nuts to candy rocks to m&m's and sprinkles. Have fun with it! We sure did! ♥, mK (and in light of talking about my job...for this post, the "mK" stands for Miss Kate)

A Gift for You

A few months ago, an online friend of mine, Hollie Marie, approached me about reading and then eventually giving away a devotional book of hers, 31 Rays of Hope! I am quite honored to be able to share this great achievement of hers as well as give away two copies to two readers!

I'll be honest, I am totally not a morning person. I love the idea of it. I love the peace that comes in the morning, the fresh sunshine and waking up feeling renewed and relaxed. I also think breakfast could potentially be my favorite meal of the day. However, when it comes to starting the day off in the Word or spending time in prayer, I quite literally suck at it, to put it plainly. I am much better (and more focused) at spending solitude time with God in later parts of the day. However, again, I like the idea of starting the day out reflecting on, praising, and thanking God as well as getting my mind into the right perspective. So, Hollie Marie's 31 Rays of Hope has been an awesome addition to my mornings. I can pull up a bowl of oatmeal and this devotional and it's 5-10 minutes of refueling my body with breakfast and my heart and mind with a short little encouraging devotional. For me, it sets a tone for the things that I can be thinking on and talking to God about throughout the entire day.

I am pleased to say that Hollie Marie is giving away two copies of her devotional via my blog! All I ask that you do to enter the giveaway is leave a comment below between now and the end of March. April 1st, I'll email the winner! Best of Luck to you all!

To purchase 31 Rays of Hope or read more about it, please visit Tate Publishing here! Visit Hollie Marie's blog, Shades of Sunshine, here! ♥, mK

Congrats Mom!

While I have been stepping slightly back from blogging, my mother, the talented writer that she is, has been stepping up to the blogging plate. I am so excited, and so proud of her, that I had to shed some light to it! Neighborlies, found here, is a brand spankin new online magazine run by editor-in-chief, (AKA my cousin, AKA Amy Grant-esque role model of my childhood) Jeane'! There are ten beautiful women, from ten different walks of life, welcoming each reader into their homes and lives through their articles.

My mom, Carla, is the woman who taught me all I know about writing. Yes, I had teachers, but my mom was the one who sat with me for however long it took after school, assisting me in completing each paper to the best of my ability. I remember some days wishing I could just go play since she seemed to be writing my paper just fine with out me, but I am happy she didn't let me do so, because I too grew to love writing. And while I will not associate her with my grammar and sometimes improper usage of punctuation, I will say she continues to inspire me with even her beautifully written emails, let alone the post I am about to direct you to here.

You can subscribe to a weekly issue, conveniently emailed to you each Saturday. I do and I hope you will as well. ♥, mK

Pursued

Dustin and I are so very fortunate to be going to an amazing church that we love and call home. I feel like whenever I talk about my church, I can't start without saying how thankful I am for it. When we first started attending, I didn't think I would enjoy being a part of a church of Crosspoint's size, but as we get to know more people within the church, the leadership and also the more we are getting involved, the more we are seeing how community really can happen in a large church!

The teaching at our church is phenomenal and I just couldn't let this week's message slip past without sharing it here. Usually we are taught by our pastor Pete Wilson, however this week Pastor Justin Davis, another leader in our church, closed the series "Pursued".

If you don't have 30 minutes to sit down and watch, try putting it on while cleaning or working on a project and listen to it as you go. You will be incredibly encouraged. I would LOVE to hear any thoughts on the message, if you care to share! ♥, mK