Life...Joyfully!

Tonight's dinner party was a success!  I made several things I had never done before:  Homemade caramel sauce, homemade whipped cream and homemade marinara sauce.  So very very good.  The caramel apple cheesecake was incredible and I definitely heard people say that it was the best they'd ever had.  I take joy in the fact that my kitchen is clean thanks to Rusty and Lauren who loaded my dishwasher and then washed the rest of the dishes by hand.  What a blessing they were for that!  I have LOADS of leftovers (apparently, I made enough for 15, not 10!) and am looking forward to eating on them the rest of the week.  Yum.

I had to do errands today after church, so I headed off.  As I was driving, the biggest most beautiful snowflakes started falling.  They were incredible.  I walked in and out of Staples with my tongue out, catching as many as I could!  When was the last time you did that?  I turn 29 in one week and am very proud to act like I'm about to turn 9.  It keeps me young.  I love finding joy in the little things...clean dishes, giant snowflakes, friends laughing over Italian food and a glass of wine.  What little things do you find joy in?

Tomorrow night is my small group.  And since it's Valentine's Day, we're having a special dinner.  I decided to go with Italian and then narrowed it to chicken parmesan this week.  The recipe I have calls for the chicken breasts to be butterflied, or cut in half horizontally.  Kroger has signs up saying that they'll cut any meat your way, so I was hoping they could do the chicken for me.  Which meant that I had to go during the day when the meat counter was open.  Which meant I needed to go on a Saturday.  I normally go to the stores late at night...like 10pm.  There's no one there, I can move quickly and it's nice and quiet.  Today was a madhouse!  Not only is it a Saturday, but it's the day before Valentine's Day and all of those men who have procrastinated on getting flowers for their sweethearts were lined up at the floral desk.  And we're supposed to have another big storm hit tomorrow night, so people were in stocking up.  Pure craziness.  I doubt that I'll ever go back during the day.  It's just not worth it to me. 

Besides the chicken parm, I'm making a salad and we're having garlic bread.  One of the girls in the group is bringing chocolate cake, but I also wanted something that was not as chocolatey.  The recipe for Caramel Apple Cheesecake on Annie's Eats fit the bill perfectly.  Annie encouraged readers to make their own caramel sauce and whipped topping.  I had never made either, but decided it was cheaper and would taste better.  The caramel sauce was very easy...3 ingredients and stir constantly.  And boy is it yummy!  Then, I had to crush graham crackers, mix with butter, sugar and cinnamon and press into my springform pan.  I bought the springform pan almost a year ago via Pampered Chef and had never gotten to use it.  I was very excited to try it out!  So, graham cracker crust, then caramel and pecans, then sliced baked apples.  I love my apple corer/peeler/slicer.  That thing is incredible.  It looks like this one:
Makes the job go so much faster and is way easy.  That all got baked and while it was baking in the oven, I started the sugar cookies.  I admit that I used a mix, but it was a Christmas gift from Tony's sister and her kids, so I needed to use it.  I made hearts with my wonderful metal heart cookie cutter.  I greatly prefer metal cookie cutters.  I think they have a much cleaner line.  After I rested for a while, I needed to work some potatoes I had that were getting ready to go bad.  So, I peeled, diced and cooked about 12 cups of potatoes.  I also love my vegetable chopper that my ex's mom gave me.  It's seriously the gadget I probably use the most in my house.  No kidding.  Mine came from Williams Sonoma, but I know other places sell them.  Here it is: 

If you don't yet have one of these suckers, go get one.  Today.  I bought one for my mom and she turned around and bought one for my aunt.  It's amazing.  I also want the multi-chopper, but that's another story.  :)

Finally, gold.  The US won it's first gold medal today!  Yay USA! Beyond our gold in women's moguls, it was great to see Apolo Ohno and JR Celski in men's short track speed skating.  It was a great night for the US.  And Celski's story is incredible.  In September, after qualifying for the Olympic team, his skate blade sliced his thigh and he had to have 66 stitches to close the wound.  Tonight was the first he had competed since and he took the bronze!  And Ohno has tied Bonnie Blair for medals with 6 after his silver from tonight.  Overall, it was a good day.  A great day.  Hope you had a good one!

I love the Olympics.  Love them.  I get all giddy and geeky and am pretty much glued to my TV for the 2 weeks or so that they go on.  Tonight's opening ceremony was somber.  In case you haven't heard, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed today on a practice run.  The video of it happening is pretty disturbing.  It was incredible to watch his team walk in tonight.  They all wore black arm bands and their flag had a black ribbon on it.  Definitely made me tear up when the entire crowd gave them a standing ovation.  This small eastern European country has seen much trouble and heartache politically and now this.  My prayers go out to his team, who had to have been close to him, who now do these games in his memory. 


I love the winter olympics.  Some people just think that they're okay, but I really love the winter Olympics.  I love figure skating and moguls and speed skating and bobsled and luge and skeleton and snow jumping and curling.  Yes, even curling.  I love it all.  I track the medal count online.  I feel great pride every time I hear the National Anthem being played when one of our guys gets a medal.  And I am proud to be an American.  I look forward to what these games are going to mean for our country.  Our sense of pride.  Our unity as one nation.  I think we can all use some good news and some cheer.  So come on Team USA!  Let's rock it out!

I've wanted to start a blog for a while now.  I used to blog.  All the time.  But I got away from it a year and a half ago and I've missed it.  I've sort of turned facebook into a blog, but it's time to create a place where I can share more thoughts.  I've named this blog Life...Joyfully because I always want to be live a joyful life.  God has given us such an incredible life and place to live and I pray that I will always find joy in the everyday.  In the mundane.  In the small things.  All I have to do is keep my eyes opened and I will not miss the joyous things that surround me. 

So welcome.  Is your life joyful?  Why not?