February Challenge Day 26: Favorite Recipe

February 26, 2014June 25, 2014 ~ Laura ~ 4 Comments

Okay, folks. This recipe is a little dangerous because it’s super easy and ridiculously good. Beware 🙂

For those of you who prefer a wordy recipe with words:

1 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

Dash of vanilla

3 Tbsp. flour

1 egg yolk

Chocolate chips ’til yo momma tells you to stop pouring 🙂

For those of you who would prefer pictures and estimates, see below. I don’t measure anything anymore and definitely have learned ratios better from doing this lots of times. Be sure to do a little flour at a time because if you use too much it’s GROSS. Also be sure to not microwave too long or it will turn into a hockey puck.

Without further ado, here’s how to make the ultimate chocolate chip cookie in the microwave. Have a cup of milk ready!

DSCN6046 — Blurry vanilla is the best. Be generous.

DSCN6049 — Yolk only. Yes, I stirred with a plastic knife . . .

DSCN6052 — Chocolate. Use the whole bag if you want.

DSCN6055 — Stir. Consistency should be kind of like a thin hummus.

DSCN6056 — Microwave for 45-60 seconds depending on how gooey you want it.

February Challenge Day 25: Hello, past!

February 25, 2014June 25, 2014 ~ Laura ~ 2 Comments

Linking up with Bailey Jean for the Blog Everyday in February Challenge and Jen for the 7 posts in 7 days challenge! Today’s prompt from the February challenge is a letter to my 16 year old self.

Dear 16 year old me,

Get excited! You have absolutely no idea what’s in store for your future. In fact, no one does. This time in your life is so exciting, and rightfully so. You are just discovering your love of the pro-life movement, and don’t let that go. Become good at what you’re passionate about. And keep at it. Doors will open that you could never have imagined when you’re open to God’s plan for your life.

Know that your friends are going to come and go, but your family and God are always there. Give a little more in your relationships with people and build them up. Pray more. Learn more about how you work and function and come up with ways to become a better version of yourself.

You know some of those bad habits you have? Work on them. Push yourself to become the best version of yourself, but don’t compare yourself with others. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, and always try to be better than that.

Rise above what the world offers you, and always strive to learn more about your faith. Strive for excellence, because it’s what you’re made for. We’re all given talents and abilities, and it’s your job to put them to good use.

You’re young, and you’ve got a whole lifetime ahead of you. But don’t let that give you the license to put things off. Be proactive and never slack off. You’re made for more than that!

Find what your passions are. Pursue them. I know you’re just beginning that, and it’s so exciting. Isn’t it? Dream so big that what you accomplish in life will take more than just your little self to accomplish. Be part of something bigger than yourself. Looking back now, I am so excited for what the next few years will hold for you. And at not even 20 now, I still know there’s so much in store that I can’t even comprehend.

Your life is amazing. Everyone’s is. Live like it. Be the light to people around you and work on being better at things you’re good at and improving where you sometimes fail. Life is pretty awesome, huh? Live every day to its fullest and don’t forget to keep your intentions rooted in God as you pursue the life you’re meant to live.

Love,

Your not-much-older self 🙂

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February Challenge Day 24: Guest Post!

February 24, 2014June 25, 2014 ~ Laura ~ 1 Comment

Please welcome Natalie, a lovely nursing student at Franciscan University who blogs at Here I am, for this guest post!

Laura asked me to guest post and it was a wide open topic. Thankfully she then came up with the idea that both of us attend a passionately Catholic school, her at Benedictine and me at Franciscan. Well there you go, lets run with that. So I begin here…Advice to Ladies at a Passionately Catholic College.

First, I speak with no authority. Heck, I don’t even have my diploma yet (so close). In addition I transferred to this here University after going to another less than passionately Catholic school for a semester. Secondly, what is a passionately Catholic school anyway? I use the term due to Franciscan’s admission’s coined term “Academically Excellent. Passionately Catholic” (Which had previous been “academically challenging”. You can see where the problems laid.) Passionately Catholic means we know Truth, and we know that Truth is contained in the Catholic Church, the Church established by Christ. The University-it’s goals and daily life-reflect this passion. You can learn more about the mission of Franciscan University here but from a student’s perspective, Franciscan runs this school with the purpose developing mature men and woman who know the Truth and are in the world living and breathing the Truth. Because of this our everyday life is filled with prayer, holy men and woman, and challenges to break away from complacency.

Now after all that formal introduction I present before you Advice to Ladies at a Passionately Catholic College.

1. GO TO MASS! Here at Franciscan we have three daily masses on campus not counting the local parishes’ daily Mass. Go to at least one weekday Mass and I promise you your life will be changed. There are two things in my life that I think greatly affect who I am today. The first is the day I was baptized. I was only a few months old but I was forever then called a child of God. Secondly, the gradual devotion the Lord has grown in me for daily Mass. I by no means go everyday but typically go at least two or three days during the week. Make time for Mass and the Lord will abundantly bless you. Just do it.

2. Form relationships. If you are at a passionately Catholic college you are surrounded by men and woman who are striving for holiness. These are the people you want around you for the rest of your life. Nurture these relationships and I am confident they will abundantly bless you in life.

3. Take awesome classes. I have a Theology minor for no other reason than to have one. I have been gifted the opportunity to take awesome classes-Mariology, Angeology, Christian Marriage, Lives of the Saints- with some world known professors. If you have that opportunity, enrich your mind even if it has nothing to do with your aspired career.

4. Struggle, feel lost. Just because you are at a passionately Catholic school doesn’t mean everything is always going to be a smooth road. Sometimes it is is even harder because you are drawn to relativism. You will struggle with your faith, you will fill distant from Christ, your prayer life will have ebbs and flows. It is going to happen, it just depends what you do with it. If you are at a passionately Catholic school you are being nurtured in God who is good. You will thus be held accountable for knowing what good is. “To whom much is given, much is expected.”

This one is specifically for any Frannies…..

Join a Household. The sisterhood is irreplaceable. It comes with daily struggles and sacrifices but in the end you have, if you are as lucky as me, 100s of sisters praying and sacrificing for you.

Well there you go ladies. I know this is just skimming the surface but I really stand behind all of it. Our faith is a beautiful, dynamic thing that fills every aspect of our life. It needs nurturing and if you are blessed enough to attend a passionately Catholic college, then you have so many resources available to you. I love comments and emails so if you are at a passionately Catholic school or planning on attending one I would love to hear from you.

Natalie blogs @ Here I Am a little bit about alot of things. These lots of things include the awesomeness of being Catholic, nursing school (including #chroniclesofnightshift), life as a student at Franciscan University, running, and life of a single lady. She also admits to a chronic problem of blog link ups . . . and there is no cure in sight. Take a look at her sweet place on the internet and leave her some love in the comments!

February Challenge Day 23: Joys of Blogging

February 23, 2014 ~ Laura ~ Leave a comment

When I started blogging a little over 3 years ago, it was to record pictures and what I experienced at the International Pro-Life Youth Conference. After writing this guest post for Timmerie, though, everything kind of happened and now here I am.

Now I write because:

It helps me be a better writer.

People read what I write and sometimes they like it (and with the pro-life stuff, sometimes people stop and think because of it).

I enjoy connecting with other young women bloggers and sharing parts of our lives with each other.

It helps me stay connected with people back home while I’m away at school.

It’s my getaway. As an introvert, blogging is a great way to have time to myself when I need it.

It makes me think. Writing about something makes me think about it critically and formulate what I really think and know about it. Sometimes it takes a bit of research and learning before writing something, which is also good.

All those things all bring a little bit of joy in their own way to my life, and hopefully some of them bring something positive things to others.

Only a few days left in this challenge! Check out the last topics below.

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February Challenge Day 22: Fighting Fear, Stress, and Anxiety

February 22, 2014June 25, 2014 ~ Laura ~ Leave a comment

Well this is definitely an area I could improve on. If I could change some habits (*ahem* occasional procrastination), these issues could be avoided altogether . . .

But since fear, stress, and anxiety are part of pretty much everyone’s lives, here’s how I might handle them.

Fear

There aren’t too many things that scare me. Not because I’m brave or something, but probably because I don’t come in contact with a bunch of scary things. Spiders are gross, not scary. Car crashes are scary, so I try to avoid them. Some movies are just plain creepy, and I don’t watch those. Like I talked about before, one thing that I do find scary is evil/demonic things. So I just have to keep up my spiritual game and remember the St. Michael prayer.

Anxiety/Stress

Stress was not something I had fully experienced before coming to college. And I’m happy about that. Being stressed is not fun, AND it’s usually self-inflicted by situations I could have avoided. *sigh* Let’s go back to last semester when I had a huge accounting test I had to get a certain score on for the class. Two days before, I studied for about 8 hours straight and was freaking out. I freak out internally much more than externally. So most of the time you wouldn’t know how stressed I am (unless you look at the condition of my room).

A friend had an assignment she was freaking out about at the same time, so we sat down. I knew what the 6 (or 8? I don’t remember) sections on the test would have, and got out paper and outlined how to work out each kind. And then I sat there and studied, going through each one. But I absolutely can not sit down to study for that long. So what I do is power through the task at hand (maybe sending up a prayer to St. Jude if it’s desperate) taking occasional breaks. I’m pretty sure we took random dance breaks and blasted songs. That always works 🙂

I depends on the stress inducer, but most of the time I tackle the task and take occasional breaks so I don’t go crazy. And I try to remember to pray to keep myself focused on what’s most important.