O Traveller! Don't stop now in the path, there still remains much travel.

Now that Derrick and I are pretty much settled in, I can officially post more.

So as you may or may not know, we just moved from Florida to Missouri. It's really more exciting than it sounds! Actually, in the two weeks we've been in Missouri we've done more than we ever did in Florida. 1) Because Florida is super-hot and I hated going outside. 2) It's dirt cheap to do things around here. 3) Things are much more accessible here. 4) The food is a million times better, and my chef-of-a-husband will agree!

It is with deep regret and sadness that I must tell you my Macbook, Alice, doesn't seem to have survived our trip. :( I tried to keep her safe with me the entire time, but the previous issues I've been having with her seem to have reinforced themselves, thus, she is deemed unusable. I believe the time has finally come to invest in a new laptop. We had a wonderful, prosperous life together.

Our trip was an adventure, I was a bit worried about us taking a 16 foot truck with our car attached to the back of it. Rusty (our cat) made the first leg of the trip rather gruesome to endure, but at least his howling and wailing and thrashing around kept us awake! After he realized we weren't going to keep him in that plastic box forever, the next day of travels he simply slept, only pausing to meow when Derrick started singing. :)

We traveled through Florida (obviously), and stopped for rest in Birmingham, AL. The next day we started to see the leaves and grass become greener and fuller as we traveled further north through Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and finally Missouri. Derrick pulled over at the Missouri/Arkansas state-line and decided to fulfill my "Be in two places at once" spot on my Bucket List. Then we continued through the Ozarks until we met our final destination in Springfield, MO!

Our apartment is a significant upgrade from what we came from. I'll post pics once we're finished with it. Derrick is in love with the fully equipped kitchen, Rusty enjoys snuggling into the cove above the fridge all day, and I find myself dancing and twirling on the wood floors.

We've spent the first two weeks unpacking and exploring the town. I've taken Derrick to all my favorite places to eat, and he hasn't been disappointed once. Our favorite is the Indian restaurant, Gem of India, where you can find authentic Indian food that is all made in-house. Derrick kept telling me he was full, then would proceed to fill another plate!

Of course I took him to Lambert's, because any foreigner has to experience getting a hot roll thrown at their face and fresh fried okra!

We toured some attractions in both Springfield and Branson including Bass Pro (HQ), the Titanic Museum, and the Branson Landing. We also strolled through Nathanael Greene Park, which has become quite magical since I last time I was there! They've expanded their strolling gardens, included a butterfly garden, have set up jungle-jims along the trails for kids, and have a whole new recreational building. However, I think the most magical part about it was seeing fireflies for the first time since I moved to Florida!

I've also had the opportunity to meet the team at the new salon I will be working at. I finally take my state boards this week, my theory test is Wednesday and then next Monday is my Practical in KC. Then, finally, I shall be a licensed cosmetologist! In the mean time...Derrick has already become rather good chums with my old friend, Josh...the two of them have been gaming together into the wee hours of the morning!

We are very excited to finally be able to get involved in ministry more. Derrick has found a liking to the churches here, namely the one we've been streaming videos from all the way down in Florida, James River. I'm incredibly excited to get back into the women's ministry, and he's looking to get plugged in as well. We'll be starting to go to a Couples Life Group next month in hopes of meeting other Christian Couples who also share a passion for living a solid, purposeful walk with Christ.

That's all I have to update for now. Once things are officially slowed down I plan to be updating much more. Now that we have an oven I'm going to indulge in my baking skills! I've also joined a new cause in which I get to read and review books before they're published, so I'll most likely be posting some of those reviews here.

I hope you all are well and God is blessing your lives immensely! 

What makes life on this

frightful sod so exquisite

is God's merciful propensity

to perform divine tasks

amid deeply flawed people.

Beth Moore

Homemade Butterfingers and Cran-Apple Cocktail

So for Game Day I decided I really wanted to try some new recipes. I found this recipe for Homemade Butterfingers that only require 3 ingredients. Yes, I said that correctly. 3 ingredients! And they honestly taste JUST like Butterfingers! They aren't as crunchy and flakey, but they're extremely delicious! This is what they contain:

1 lb Candy Corn

16oz Jar Peter Pan Honey Roasted Peanut Butter

16oz Package Chocolate Candy Coating

First, empty the candy corn into a microwave-safe bowl. Melt it on high for 1 minute. Stir and continue heating in 15 minute increments. Stir every time.

Next, stir the peanut butter in until evenly distributed. Make sure you get all the candy corn in the bottom of the bowl mixed in, because it really likes to stick! After everything is mixed together, pour it into an 8x8 pan and let it cool COMPLETELY. I put ours in the refrigerator because it was taking a really long time to cool (and the delicious smell was too tempting!).

After the mix has completely cooled, cut it into squares or rectangles. Then melt the chocolate and dip the pieces in it. Unfortunately, I couldn't have the chocolate, so I pulled a pic off the internet for you to see how they look with chocolate coating. It's easier to keep the chocolate on the top and sides so the bottoms don't get too messy. Let cool, then enjoy!

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Cran-Apple Cocktail

This was a drink recipe that just sounded so delicious I had to try it! I changed some of it to taste. The original recipe only called for 1 cup Ginger Ale and 50mL of Vodka, but we added more Ginger Ale and replaced the Vodka with Silver Tequila. This is what I came up with:

1 Cup Cloudy Apple Juice or Apple Cider

1 Cup Cranberry Juice

1 1/2-2 Cup Ginger Ale (To Taste)

50mL Silver Tequila

Ice

Whisk apple juice, cranberry juice, and tequila in a blender until light pink and frothy. Top with Ginger Ale and ice. Pour and enjoy! Serves 4.

Beach Cookout

Lots of posts today! We've been so busy I haven't gotten a moment's time to work on any writing or reading or photo-editing. I'm very pleased, at least, that taxes and FAFSA are done and all that New Year nitty gritty is at rest.

As I've stated before, mom and Roger have flown south for the winter, so they're staying about an hour away from us. Actually, my mother just finally blogged about some of the renovations they've been doing to their vacation home. You can see it here.

Anyway, Derrick and I decided to collaborate our families and have a nice cookout on the beach. Derrick prepared kabobs, artichoke, veggies, a super special secret family marinade, and of course, I brought the S'mores! I was very shocked to find out that my mother-in-law had NEVER had S'mores! Must be a northern thing. ;) It was funny to see two worlds collide. My family are very country meat-and-potatoes cooks, but Derrick's family practically has culinary running through their veins, naturally. We had never eaten artichoke like that before, so I guess everyone got to experience something new. It was a lot of fun, we exchanged gifts (which is when we received our awesome CROCK POT) and gave everyone a tour of our cozy little apartment. Here are some photos from our day:

The squirrels come right up to you!!

The chef himself.

First S'mores!

Easy Breezy Black Eye Lime Dip

Brought to you by....my husband! For those of you who don't know, my husband is a chef. People often ask me what his favorite thing to make is and I can never give a straight answer except, "His favorite thing to make is something he's never made before." He rarely makes the exact same thing twice, and everything he makes is great. I've never been so interested in food before!

Sorry for the poor quality, I had to record it with my iPhone cause the Flip is dead. This is really easy to make, and delicious!

For 2 servings you will need:

1 Can Black Eye Peas

2 Tsp Onion Powder

1 Tsp Hot Sauce

1 tbs Garlic Salt

1 Tsp Olive Oil

2 Tbs Thyme

2 Tbs Lime Juice