~Home Sweet, Spaghetti~

I am now very proud to say I have new curtains, a new giant picture, and new shelves in my living room! Yay for accomplished house projects! My sweet Nathan came to my rescue with drilling through the concrete, he's so strong.. :) Nathan's very proud of himself because he picked out the curtains and I love them too! That is a big accomplishment in our house for him to take the time to help me pick out curtains.. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't at all as excited about the whole process like I was, but we're both thrilled to have finally gotten rid of our PINK vertical blinds that we've had up for 6 months from the last owner. I just love my living room so much more now! Here are some pictures so you can share in the love. ;)

My living room still a complete mess from the project, but notice the PINK blindes!! NOT a good match for our new paint colors! haha

Before...

TADA!! Our new curtains! They're brown with a seperate ivory sheer on the inside. Ah, success!

.....After!!

Our fabulous new picture, which is huge by the way..

..Close Up..
And last but not least, our new little shelves that are still empty because I haven't figured out what to put on them yet.. I think they look like a face and the couch is the mouth, lol! But once I get some stuff on there I'm hoping they will look more like shelves. ;)
So, in celebration of our more stylish living room, I made Nathan and myself Spaghetti and Meatballs!!

The Sauce:

I just grab a couple jars of my favorite sauces from the grocery store. If I need more sauce I'll add a whole can of diced tomatoes, a small can of tomatoe paste, and italian seasonings (oregano, parsley, basil, and salt). You can use homemade sauce too, whatever you prefer.

For the meatballs:

• 1-1.5 lbs. of hamburger
• 1-1.5 cups breadcrumbs (seasoned with parsley, basil, parmesaun cheese & garlic powder)
• 1 or 2 eggs (enough so it sticks together)

Mix all ingredients together in large bowl and form meatballs as big or small as you want (mine are just smaller than a tennis ball). Then fry, turning them until they are brown on all sides. Add them to your sauce, and cook for 30 to 40 more minutes. This helps to cook the inside of your meatballs and they will absorb the sauce flavors!

Make sure you use a big enough pot for all of your meatballs..

When your meatballs are almost done cooking in the sauce start your noodles. Cook as many as you think you will need according to how much you are making, and cook based on package directions. Put it all together for a good meal! Garlic bread & a salad goes well with this.
Yum! Now this recipe makes ALOT of meatballs, so if its just for 2 people you could either lessen all the ingredients of just have lots of left overs! :) Enjoy!

Here's a sneak peak for next time.. :o)

~House Projects & Books~

Summer is almost over! What a bummer, I'll have to go back to school soon.. I even had a dream about it the other night, those dreams are always awful! No one wants to dream about school, or work either for that matter! One thing I have been day dreaming about it my living room!

Its about time I start decorating, & I'm enjoying it. This week's project is my living room. Hanging curtains and, putting up pictures, paintings, and shelves. So far my least favorite thing about all this is the curtains. Whoever thought hanging curtains would be easy hasn't come accross my walls! After drilling my first hole I encountered concrete; an unfortunatly unpenetrable force with my puny drill & drill bit.

So, after drilling more holes (thinking I could avoid the concrete, which I couldn't) I decided to talk to my neighbors. They gave me all the concrete drill bits I needed, and they lended me a big heavy duty drill too! I was able to drill one very perfect hole before I was exhausted! Drilling through concrete is NOT fun! Its hard, so I decided to call it quits for now until my neighbors get home. Then I'm hoping they'll come to my rescue and drill the rest of my hole so I can get my curtains up! We've had a bare window all weekend! So my task today was patching up all the holes I drilled for no reason (around 10)! I couldn't let my big boy neighbors come over and see all my failed attempts! lol That would be too embarrassing, so my wall looks good as new now! Thanks to spackle and some fresh paint! I should be done with all this by the end of the week!! I'm excited, Pictures soon to come!


In addition to my current creative nitch, I've still been reading! My most recent reads are:

This book is a Christian Fiction. Its about a man who was just going through the motions of Christianity instead of truly following Christ. One night God granted this man the ability to hear people's souls crying out for their greatest need. This gift enables this man to become passionate about winning souls for Christ by letting witnessing cosume his whole life.


A fun and easy read!








This one is also a Christian Fiction, focusing on spiritual warfare. Its about a small town who is becoming a major headquarters for a new age religion. The demons are taking over the people in the town and dragging them into this false religion. While angels are gaurding and strengthening God's elect and guiding them toward a prayer life that will overcome all the darkness in the town.

This book is also an easy read, and not too spooky. But remember it is a fictional book, so make sure you compare its authenticity to God's Word.

This book was INCREDIBLE! Definetly in my top 5, I very highly recommend this to everyone! It is a true story, the autobiography of a Rwandan Holocaust survivor!

Soft hearts be warned, it is a very tragic story and the truth behind the horrible acts of the people in Rwanda hurts the heart! However, it is a powerful story of how Immaculee became an unmovable woman of intense faith in God Almighty!

We can all learn from her!

~Book List~

So, I just finished this great book, "Same Kind of Different as Me". If you like touching and inspirational true stories, while sometimes crying too hard to see the words, then you would like this book!! I have gotten back into reading alot lately. Its great having the time to read again! Books I have read within the past 2 years that you should read too:

• The Heavenly Man
• The Shack
• The Chronicles of Narnia
• The Hobbit
• Lord of the Rings Trilogy (in the process)
• Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World
• The Pursuit of Holiness

More books are on the way as I finish them!

~Peanut Butter Brownie Cups~

Tomorrow is July 4th, and its always crazy in Daytona Beach from the Pepsi 400 race. Inspite of all the extra drivers clogging up our roads, I love July 4th! It gives me an excuse to make up a new dessert for me and Nathan while we avoid the traffic at home! Nathan's favorite dessert combination is chocolate and peanut butter. Who could blame him?! So, I found a recipe online for a peanut butter pie, which I completely changed. And since I've been craving brownies for a while, I figured I might as well put them together! :) I was excited! This is a super simple recipe and it tastes really yummy!

Peanut Butter Brownie Cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease 40 mini-muffin cups.

• Prepare boxed brownie mix as directed.
• Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups (about 1 heaping teaspoon).
• Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top is set and a toothpick inserted into center comes out slightly wet.
• After brownies are out of the oven, press down brownie centers. I used a measuring spoon to press the centers enough to fill with peanut butter filling.

While those are cooking, mix up the peanut butter filling.

Filling

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup white sugar (I used 1/2 powdered sugar & 1/2 white sugar)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whipped cream topping (Or you can whip your own with heavy whipping cream)

• In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, butter, and vanilla until smooth. (I had consistancy issues, it was too thick to blend so I added 1/4 milk and some vanilla yogurt until I thought it was creamy enough. (You don't want it to be runny.)
• Fold the cream into the peanut butter mixture.
• Gently spoon your filling into brownie bowls. Garnish with chocolate or cookie crumbs if desired. (I used mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels and some powdered sugar). Refrigerate until ready to serve.

TaDa!! :)

Hope you enjoy! Happy baking! :)

~Newly Weds~

Nathan and Me

My name is Jessica. In March 2010 I got married to such an amazing and hansome man, Nathan! ~Lucky me!~ We bought our first house together in December 2009, and this post is all about us! We attend an amazing church, Christ Community Church, have wonderful friends, and love our family! We love Jesus first and foremost, and we strive to glorify God in all we do! I love my husband and I'm very blessed to spend my life by his side!

Here are some pictures from the wedding :)

Our ceremony in Daytona Beach, FL

You may kiss your bride! :)

Bridal Party

My Family

My Inlaws

Reception Decor

Our amazing cake! *Made by my mama*

..How low can you go..

Pucker Up!