Orange zest
Sour cream
Sugar
Butter
Flour
Salt
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
Orange juice, freshly sqeezed
Combined together, baked for a short time, and wa-la, the most delightful cupcake ever. 
The smell of fresh cilantro, so clean and crisp. Such a specific flavor that adds so much to any dish. I made a delightful dressing with lime, olive oil, sugar, salt and of course cilantro. Blended over lettuce, spicy chicken, corn and black beans. The perfect simple dish after a long, hot day.
I was lucky enough to be a “ma” with my hubby as a “pa” on trek this last week. If you are in Utah then you might recall the lovely wind, rain, hail that we received. I was camping in it. It was fabulous. The best part about it was, we stayed warm and dry and our “kids” didn’t complain. They were helpful, happy and absolutely delightful. Ah to be younger again. 
I am thankful, so very thankful for the sunshine!
We had a surprise birthday party for my friend Jesse on Saturday. The best part about it was the fact we had one for him last year so he totally didn’t suspect a thing. There was good food, conversation and best of all company. Thanks for coming!
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My garden is growing…and a few weeks ago I took some pictures of the little plant nubbins emerging from the ground. I also had forgotten all that I had planted. Thankfully I did write it down. However can you guess what they are?
I had my first Calc Exam today. I felt pretty good about it and knew I knew most of the information. The simplest problem came up…my mind went blank…I skipped it. I went back to it later, still nothing. I finished the rest of the exam and reviewed all my work to look for any silly errors (- signs, etc.). Took a deep breath and guessed. I should have thought of it logically what I didn’t make any sense, and it was completely wrong. So I am super bummed.
I can hardly believe it. How old am I? How long has it been since I first started college? It seems like yesterday but feels like forever. The later is probably a more accurate description. Anyway my major has finally been whittled down to an absolute and I’m on track to graduate next fall. I will be a super super senior with loads of credits and an enormous amount of experience. It’s not over yet, I still have full course loads with very specific classes each semester but I can almost smell the end. So it’s officially official I will be graduating with a BA in Mathematics Teaching (the BA because I didn’t want all of those lovely Korean classes/credits to go to waste) and will need all sorts of comforting words of motivation to make it to the end. So…all those college grads..or anyone who has had to endure through something that seemed far away, that you wanted to finish so dearly but didn’t know if you had the gumption to do…any words of advice for the last year?? I would love your pearls of wisdom!
So I thought I had posted this on the 6th…apparently I pushed save instead of publish …
Wednesday night I drove with Heidi down to St. George to pick up her niece who has finished up with Dixie college. We had to use all puzzle-type skills to get all her stuff loaded into the suburban, but we did it. Since it was such a short trip we decided to spoil ourselves with lunch in Zion’s. We asked some of the locals for the best eats and were referred to WhipTail Grill. Oh boy was it delicious!! There is a Green Salad with an avocado stuffed with cucumber salad, a spaghetti squash and goat cheese enchilada and a grilled tofu with a tangy zesty asian dressing coated with sesame seeds. All included a fabulous dressing on the salad, spicy chipotle. If you’re heading down south I highly recommend this place!!!!
I am not a big fan of e-mail forwards. Every once in a while I find a true gem. I have no clue on the validity of it but I laughed so hard…
Life in my West Boynton neighborhood
From a guy in Florida :
My neighbor is a “lefty” of sorts (Obama bumper stickers, gung-ho socialized medicine, “guns should be banned”, etc.). So this past spring I put this sign up in my yard after one of his anti-gun rants at a neighborhood cocktail party. The sign wasn’t up more than an hour before he called the police and wanted them to make me take down the sign. Fortunately, the officer politely informed him that it was not their job to take such action without a court order and that he had to file a complaint “downtown” first, which would be reviewed by the city attorney to see if it violated any city, county, or state ordinances, which if there was a violation a court order would be sent to the offending party (me) to “remove the sign in seven days”. After several weeks he was informed that the sign was legal (by a quarter of an inch) and there was nothing the city could do, which obviously made him madder. I tried to smooth things over by inviting him to go shooting with me and my friends at the hunt club but that seemed to make him even more angry. I then asked him if he wanted to go to a Tea Party rally but again he declined my outreach efforts to bring about a better understanding between political and social opponents. I am at a loss how to reconcile our long relationship (notice I did not say friendship), any suggestions would be welcome. Maybe I’ll ask him if he want to go deer hunting, which opens up November 1st, you know, just a bunch of guys running through the woods chasing Bambi, then sitting around the campfire roasting marshmallows, drinking beer, and singing our favorite country songs to the accompaniment of Jake’s harmonica (he is a better lawyer than a harmonica player but don’t tell him I told you). I even made him a bumper sticker and that made him madder than he already was! Anyway,that’s life in our neck of the woods, how’s about yours?
I have one final left. Take home. Open Book. All before “finals week” even starts. It’s a beautiful thing. I am so excited to be done…for two and a half weeks…yeah for Summer semester!!!
