the game of life

hello everyone, how is everyone's summers so far? i've been working all day on weekdays and lounging around all day on weekends. doing fun things like listening to music, cooking, baking, drawing, reading, online window shopping, exercising, ebay-ing, laying out. i guess i'm not much of a social person. i have fun doing things by myself, haha.

now some serious God talk. hmm, when i was far from God, i didn't want to be a "true" Christian because i always thought that i was not able to experience happiness and have fun because of so many restrictions that the Christian faith places on worldly pleasures. but in reality, my greatest joy is brought about by the glorification of God. i've been reading Desiring God by John Piper, which is GREAT book by the way. it looks into the definition of being a "Christian hedonist." doesn't that sound so contradicting? haha, but it's not! Piper says that we have the most pleasure in honoring God. why? because He is the only good and pure thing in this world. it sounds kind of crazy because it seems like Christianity is so constricting like they're brainwashing us to submit to this higher unseen power. it's always good to be open-minded, but some say that religion can "close" your mind. yes, that can be true in a way. sometimes, it makes me doubt myself, but in the end, i know that Christianity is not merely a religion but a relationship with a omni-loving God. as for the supposed "close-minded" part of being religious, think of life as a basketball court or any sport field for that matter. when you play basketball, you have to play within the boundary or else the game of basketball would be chaotic. there needs to be a certain set of rules to abide by or else it's not basketball, it's chaos. same thing goes with life. you need to within a certain boundary or else life wouldn't be life. that boundary is a relationship with God. of course, it's optional. but life is always better with God, yes? yeah, just something i wanted to share. oh, the basketball analogy is from bokum unni. props to her! thank you :)

decided to make some more awesome food today. i wanted to bake some pizza but i didn't wanna make fresh dough and bake it in the big oven so i just made some mini rosemary chicken and potato pizzas on some pre-baked sourdough bread. here's how to make it! take some minced garlic and Smart Balance butter (it's better for you!) and heat them together in the microwave. use this as your base instead of a tomato-based sauce. mix shredded cooked chicken breast, alfredo sauce, garlic seasoning, and minced garlic in a bowl. thinly slice some potatoes and toss with olive oil, rosemary, oregano, and a little bit of salt in another bowl. place sliced sourdough bread on aluminum foil and coat each with the garlic and butter mixture you made before. then place a spoonful of the chicken mixture and spread on each slice of bread. before you put it in the oven, you can add a dash of rosemary seasoning to each pizza. place them in the oven at 350 degrees. after about 10-15 minutes, put the oven on broil for a few minutes to get a nice crisp brown on top. whilst you're waiting for your pizza in the oven, stir fry your rosemary potatoes in a frying pan. after your pizza is finished sitting in the oven, take them out, top with potatoes, and serve right away while it's hot!

yum! this dish is reallllyyyy flavorful so make sure you balance it out with something like red raspberry wine vinegar tossed baby spring greens salad. enjoy!

ooh and i was playing with kids today at church and this girl had a 

whole bunch of silly bandz. she had a water bottle, baseball 

player, iPod, golfer, and chucks! my favorite was the converses!

how cool are these?!