Kickoff!

We have officially experienced the kickoff of summer at our house... we had a Key Lime Pie!!

My Grandma used to make a fabulous recipe with 1/2 cup of lime juice and we found it today and made it for company. It was sooooo yummy!!

I've also officially become pooped of the kitchen. In the last 24 hours I have made:

1. A batch of my famous chocolate chip cookies for a cast rehearsal/get-together

2. 4 12" cakes
3. An overly gourmet icing to put on two of the four cakes that included mascarpone cheese, cream cheese, AND whipping cream

4. A pumpkin pie

5. the Key Lime Pie

I must confess, though, that I did not make the pie dough from scratch. (Thank you, Pillsbury!)

Just in case my claims seem too outlandish to believe, I have documented my baking marathon with photos. Unfortunately I forgot to take a pic of the sliced cake... I shall try and remember to do that for future posts. Until then... enjoy the view, but no drooling please. ; )

The Key Lime Pie
(I didn't make meringue cuz no one in the
family seems to like it besides me... boo.  )

Birthday cake with gourmet icing

                     
                                                        The Pumpkin Pie

And for proof that I did indeed bake them all at the same time?

There you go. :) Man, was that fun!! 

Phones and Otters

Hello hello!!

 I am loooooving summer!!!!!! It brings such a wonderful break from the assignment after assignment after assignment of school.
Thank God we've been getting a lot of rain so our drought is gone, so grass is green, flowers are blooming and the temperature isn't too hot (yet!).

My sista's birthday is Monday-- she has the perfect time of year for a birthday...not too hot or cold, not during or right before school, early enough in the summer that people aren't vacationing yet--so we're going to have a few people over for a small celebration. She doesn't like much hoopla so it will be quiet but very, very sweet. :)

I've finally gotten a new phone!! My whole family is up for renewal and we found a great website (www.amazonwireless.com) and you can get really expensive phones for ONE PENNY!! It's amazing... you should check it out. Anyway, I had a EnV3 before and really liked it. The LG Octane was really similar but I thought it was a really, really ugly version of it. So I decided to get a LG Cosmos Touch, then swap it out for the Octane if I didn't like it. Well, the Cosmos Touch has so far been a BLAST!
I loooove the operating system, the design, the feel, the style, everything!! I have to admit that in the store I saw a picture of an adorable sea otter on it and after that I was a goner. It looks very similar to this little guy:


 

Admit it-- you just went "Awwwww!" didn't you?!? Hook, line, sinker... I was sold on the dang phone because of ONE PICTURE!!!!
I am such a girl.

Well I have a room that needs to be cleaned... so I must say adieu.
Before I go there's  a verse that's just been making me thing and I wanted to share it with you:

He delivered me because He delighted in me.
~Psalm 18:19b

Wow. Just think about that for a minute; it'll blow your mind.

Rapture...right?

Okay.
So, I have to say discuss the hype going on about May 21 (which at the moment, started like... one minute ago)
I am a self-professed big rapture freak. I've been excited about it since I was young. I've constantly learned about it, read books on it, listened to Left Behind: the Kids audio series (which I've listened to dozens of times... I LOVED that series!), heard my pastor preach on it, and have watched experts talk on aspects of it (www.prophecyinthenews.com!!), I am fairly sure that something big is happening soon. Like, within the next year.
Yeah. I know. I can picture you, blog buddy, furrowing your eyebrows, shaking your head, and thinking, "This girl should be put in the loony bin!"
BUT--that's just how I live my life on a daily basis. The rapture is an imminent thing, so technically that's how Jesus wants us to live, always ready for His return!

Now on Mr. Camping's prophecy that the rapture is happening tomorrow and the world's ending five months later??

Absolutely. And. Completely. Un-Biblical.

God bless him, I'm sure he believes he's right, but there's NO chance that the rapture will happen today!!
A mathematical equation is not the key that unlocks God's secret date for the rapture. Sorry, that ain't how it works, y'all.
You really wanna know what's gonna happen and when? Look at Israel. It is God's timepiece to world events. And, just FYI, Israel's been in the news quite a bit lately. :D
Bottom line, what really upsets me is that anyone who isn't a Christian is going to have even MORE reason to mock Christianity when May 22 rolls around and life is going on.

So anyway, I guess I just want to say: enjoy your Saturday. There may be a chance of precipitation where you live, but I'd estimate that the chance of Doomsday is 0%.
But, as Gary Stearman on Prophecy in the News appropriately encourages:

Keep looking up! 

:)

Oh, the drama...

Aaaaah!
Life is soooo crazy right now.
Today is the first Thursday I haven't been to school since, like, all the blizzards! :) And I have every right to NOT be at school... cuz
THE SEMESTER'S OVER!!!!
Just thought I'd reiterate that. :D It felt so good to sleep in past 6AM!! Whoo!

I am, however, just trading one stress for another,
with construction going on everywhere, and trying to have a show in the middle of it--and Steel Magnolias only has, like five more rehearsals until tech week! And we're far from being done...

But that's OK. If I remember right it's like this in just about any performance. We're down to the wire and things are not coming together properly but then on opening night, things just magically come together! A strange yet wonderful mixture of nerves, talent, and team work somehow creates a masterpiece of a show. :) Happiness.
I was having a horrible time trying to get into the groove of Annelle because it's been so horridly long since I was in my last show. I was almost like having to relearn all my acting techniques... stage movement and directions, creating and becoming a character, speaking in a believable accent for long periods of time... all that. But a few days ago I put on some legit 1980's outfits, and it was like my dweebiness just began oozing all over the place and I finally felt like Annelle! It was such a wonderful feeling. Then it kinda went downhill from there, because last night--exactly FIVE practices before tech week--we lost an actress. And when you only have six people in a cast (especially in a complicated production like Steel Magnolias) , there's automatically 1. a ton of dialogging 2. a ton of blocking  3. an imperative need for each actress to know what she's doing and 4. be at every practice.
Thankfully we have a replacement who I think will be wonderful.
And, really, this kind of drama is expected around this point of practice. Things are starting to come together and everyone is supposed to be stressed out! We have a really strong cast so I'm not concerned.

Is anyone else experiencing a more chaotic and crazy summer than they expected?
Anyone taking a wonderful trip or enjoying a new job?
Or is everyone else bored out of their minds and would like some of my stress for some excitement? ;)I'd be happy to share!! :D

~Annelle

It's a storm! It's an earthquake! No, it's...

Outside, I hear a lot of commotion, scraping, loud noises, and incessant pounding.
No, it's not a thunderstorm.
It's the roofers.
The last time we got a new roof I was so young I don't remember a thing about it. But I do know that it was just me, my sister, and my mom at home, huddled inside the house with black drop-cloths covering all the windows. My dad was at work and we didn't have any pets at the moment.
Now, the whole family is home and we happen to have a dog who is rather skittish (thanks to her original owners) and freaks when it storms outside. And well, to a dog, replacing the roof sounds a heck of a lot like  a thunderstorm.
Thankfully she seems to be quite calm now that we've reassured her that the roofers are "our friends" and I sat and pet her so that she would relax.
Unfortunately they haven't started putting on  the new roof yet so the pounding and hammering that will shortly follow will cause a whole new level of flipping outness.
It's kind of interesting... hearing all these people up on your roof. The sound has a soothing white noise effect (in a weird way). I'm sorta wondering why it hasn't been added to the soundtrack of soothing sounds for all the insomniacs out there. ; )
Thankfully there are no black tarps over the windows yet. I might have to leave if the do that. It'd be a bit too claustrophobic for me.

FINALLY

I truly never thought I'd see the day that I would get to say this, but I am finally done with school!

Yes, that's right! As of 12:20 this afternoon, I am a free woman!
 I have just survived my Freshman year of college!!!
And not to be a childish Disney freak  or anything... but I have to do this:

Yeah. I watch the HSM movies. Call me crazy but I actually like them. :)

 What time is it?!?

SUMMER TIME! Yeah-- school's out! 

One of the best lines in that song? "We can sleep as late as we want to!" No more 8:00 class! Wooohooo!

 Okay. I'm done now. :) 

I hope everyone else is enjoying the sweet freedom of summer too! 

Hangin' Around

I really don't have anything productive to say today, but I thought I'd pop on and post something fun. Like this cute little guy:

                                                                                    (weheartit)
Just because I could, and I'm feeling happy and hopeful and perseverant right now.
I'm not letting worries or cares weigh on me at the moment, and it doesn't look like Mr. Squirrel does either.  And why should he? If the Father cares for every sparrow certainly He cares just as much for every squirrel. ;) I'm thankful that He watches over me and cares for me in every detail of my life too.
Sometimes it's nice to take a minute and be reminded that my Father God:
knows the very number of hairs on my head, has all my days written in a book, and keeps my every tear in a jar. 
 Hmm... maybe I'll go hang out on a branch for a while too. It looks pretty fun! :)