For Mother's Day a few weeks ago, I signed up to make the dessert. I had been leaning towards something light and simple, but I ran across this recipe and thought it was amazing. However, it's a lot of sugar! I didn't think my parents would like it at all, but my whole family surprised my by saying they wanted to try it, so I decided to go for it.

I remember Agapi Stassinopoulos the most. Since the summit was online only, every now and then, there were some technical issues. Agapi's session fell into that category. The video was so grainy, I could hardly make out her face. She was in a New York hotel at the time, and we could clearly hear the NY life outside. However, despite the technical difficulties, her speech was one of the sessions I remember the most. She was incredibly passionate about the subject of happiness, and clearly wanted to help others be happier with themselves.

Happy National Dog Day!! On Halloween of 2012, I adopted Zoey from Homeward Pet. She had been rescued on a Friday along with two other puppies. That Saturday I went to five different shelters looking for a dog. My initial thought had been to adopt an older, calmer dog, just for companionship. My first stop that day was Homeward Pet.

As some people may know, my birthday was this month, on July 9th. Lucky for me, my parents bought me a KitchenAid mixer (YAY, trying to contain the excitement).

One of my favorite events in the summer is Bite of Seattle. It's full of delicious food and awesome music. There are over 60 vendors with all kinds of food, arts and crafts, and 3 stages. Right when we got there, the Sound Wave were playing! That was awesome to see, Seattle's very own Sounders marching band, the only MLS team to have its own marching band. They were great and knew how to get the crowd going. I imagine there were lots of people in the middle of a heart attack during the performance though, due to the most disgusting sandwich I've ever seen.

During my senior year of college I walked by a ceramic painting studio at the mall and decided to give it a shot. I was surprised to find that it was an extremely relaxing experience. Since then, I've tried to go once a month, and have eventually begun working on bigger pieces. Here are some that I've painted in the past:

While cooking is not my favorite thing to do, I do enjoy making a few dishes. One of my favorites ever is chicken pot pie. At least once a month, I'll set aside a Saturday morning to make enough for the whole week and a few more to save in the freezer. While I've adjusted the recipe from my mom's original (it still doesn't come near hers), the idea is basically the same:

So a few of my friends who have seen my blog are surprised by the fact that I have birds rather than owls in my background. So, to give you a little insight, I may have a small obsession with owls. Check out the gallery at the end of the post.