Bestest Blueberry Muffins

 This morning, I made what is quite possibly the best blueberry muffin I've ever tasted. That sounds quite a lot like bragging, but it's really delicious, and I love food, so I thought I'd share the recipe I used.  So that you too, can have this amazingness for breakfast(or anytime, really). 

Adapted from here. 

Bestest Blueberry Muffins- makes about a dozen muffins

Muffins:
2 3/4 c. flour
3/4 c. white sugar
1 T. baking powder
1/8 t. fine salt
1/8 t. nutmeg
3 T. veggie oil
6 T. applesauce
1 c. milk
 2 eggs
2 T. lemon zest
1/2 t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. blueberries (preferably fresh, but rinsed and thawed if frozen)

Glaze:

about 1/3 c. brown sugar
2-3 t. lemon juice
1 T. lemon zest

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Whisk together dry ingredients.
Mix in wet ingredients until just mixed, batter will be lumpy.
Fold in blueberries.
Pour into greased muffin tins.

Put in the oven.
Mix together the brown sugar and lemon juice/zest, as it's baking.
After 20 min. put about 1/2 teaspoon of glaze over each muffin, covering it, and place back in oven for 5 min.  (total cooking time: 25 min.)

Eat these right away, and they're just amazing.

I'm usually not a big fan of blueberry muffins, but these were blue-berry-y and moist and tangy and delicious. 


Enjoy!

Lillian ♥

Well I won't be found

 The other day my wonderful friend Abigail and I decided to dress up and take pictures.  We nearly froze, and Abigail was tired but we persevered and had lots of fun.  Here are some of the results.  :)

we called this one "romance with a tree" ;)

Well if I ever see the morning
Just like a lizard in the spring
I’m gonna run out in the meadow
To catch the silence when it sings

I’m gonna force the Serengeti
To disappear into my eyes
Then when I hear your voices callin’
I’m gonna turn just inside out
Well if I ever get to slumber
Just like a mole deep in the ground
Well, I won’t be found

Deep in the dust forgotten gathered
I grow a diamond in my chest
I make reflections as the moon shines on
Turn to a villain as I rest
Well if I ever get to slumber
Just like a mole deep in the ground
Well, I won’t be found

 I know there is a hollow
I need to fill it with a draft
Of all the words that I wont way
And with a quiet whisper
I send a curse upon the day
That never used the sun to see
The light

I’m gonna float up in the ceiling
I built a levee of the stars
And in my field of tired horses
I built a freeway through this farce

Well if I ever get that slumber
Ill be that mole deep in the ground
And I won’t be found

 My camera was acting up and our light was almost gone at this point though. 

Happy Monday :)


Lillian ♥

p.s. this

I like the cold.

I AM… Lillian.

I WANT…  to live my live to the glory of God and be the woman He wants me to be.  

I HAVE… more than I deserve. 

I KEEP… tickets and letters and photos and stubs of things.

I WISH I COULD… fly {like peter pan}, and visit far off lands.  

I HATE… goodbyes, labels {not clothing labels, people labels}

I FEAR…  losing my family.
I HEAR…  the rumbling of my stomach.

messing around in photoshop.  I am just so clever.

I DON'T THINK…  that I am grown up yet.   

I REGRET…  every time I've let down my parents.
I LOVE…  my family, my God, mounded up comforters on a cold morning, cold apple cider, hot tea, knitting, reading a good book at two in the morning, organizing things, getting dressed, thick socks, yummy smelling body spray, hair ribbons, taking pictures in the quiet, laughing, playing guitar all alone, singing loudly til someone tells me to stop, listening to powerful music, wind in my face.

I AM NOT… fluent in french… yet. 
I DANCE…  everywhere.
I SING…  all the time.
I NEVER…  seem to be thouroughly satisfied with any artistic endevour.

I RARELY…  hang up all my laundry.
I CRY WHEN…  my friendships are rocky.

I AM NOT ALWAYS… awake.       
I'M CONFUSED ABOUT… most things, most of the time, especially math things. 

I NEED…  Jesus' patience and love. 
I SHOULD…  get off the computer, and go to sleep.  Like, now.

Goodnight.  ♥




{"I AM" post idea taken from the lovely Hannah over at Aspire}

I still don't get it

I do love it when people notice my outfits.  It's something I have fun with, and I like feeling special I guess.  But when the focus is so obviously on me, like it is when I make a post like this, I don't know what the point is I'm trying to make.  I like getting dressed, and apparently other people like seeing my outfits, so that's what I do, but maybe the problem is the focus is on me.  I don't know.

God has made me who I am, with a love of color and a taste for patterns.  He's the one who's orchestrating this beautiful life he's given me.  So when I question what the purpose of sharing my outfits is, I'm searching for what God wants me to do with this gift he's given me.  My getting dressed and posting it, isn't bringing glory to Him.  I need to find that way to use this as a God-glorifying outlet, not just a self-centered one.  Any thoughts?

And my little sister is super cute, by the way.

Lillian ♥

P.S.  My lovely coral necklace is made by my friend Josie.  Thanks Josie! :)

An Outfit.

This is what I wore to school today.  No biggie, I just like getting dressed.  

{Outfit Details: Top- Forever21, Tunic-gift, Leggings- Old Navy, Boots-Marshals, Belt/Necklace-Thrift}

I've felt very self-conscious when sharing outfits lately, because I almost always feel like it seems superficial when I publish it to the (small portion of the) world (that reads my blog).  But I like getting dressed, so I'm going to share it here.  So there.


Happy Friday!

Lillian ♥

Life, according to my itouch

 1>>Christmas Baking    2>>Sisters    3>>New HP DVDs   4>>Day-After-Christmas card games

 1>>Markers    2>>Homemade ice cream    3>>French Braiding sister's hair    4>>uh.. me..

 1>>Playing Guitar    2>>Snack at my bestie's    3>>Grocery shopping w/ my bestie    4>>Socks

 1>>Museum Telephone booth    2>>We were bored    3>>Valentines mail stamps   4>>Little Girls

1>>Fancy Nails    2>>Doodle    3>>Doodle     4>>Skyping with Ani ♥

1>>Asparagus    2>>My favorite new mug from Santa    3>>Chocolate    4>>More dinner

I got an ipod touch for Christmas this year, and I quite enjoy snapping little pictures throughout the day, as you can see.

All the special little moments.  The little things that make life more interesting.  The little things make me happy. 

Lillian ♥

A thirst for the barely tasted.

I have a thirst for the unknown, and a thirst for the barely tasted.  I want to travel.  I want to see the world.  Who doesn't, right? 

This summer I went to Hungary on a missions trip to teach English to teenagers.  It was a really great trip, and I hope to go back in the future.  It was my first time out of the US, a day in England, a few in Buddapest, and a week at a camp in Eger.  The new sights, sounds, smells, people, it all was so wonderful to take in.  I smile thinking about it.  I have so many fond memories.

Exploring a castle in Pest, meeting all the wonderful students at the camp, staying up past midnight laughing and talking, getting lost in London, eating fish and chips at a terrific restaurant in london, strolling along the river in Buddapest.  There are so many wonderful things from that trip that I will never forget.
  
And that trip was just the beginning.  As I hopped on trams and buses and trains and ran across busy streets the rush of it all was so exhilarating.
   
I want to go back.  So badly.  I hope that some summer in the not-so-distant future that I can go back, to the English Camp, for I miss those friends badly, and also to backpack around Europe.  I know it's cliche, but I don't care.  I want to lose myself in a new and exciting place, I want to live out of one backpack and love it, for a whole summer.  I want to immerse myself in the languages and customs.
I have a great and terrible thirst for it.


Lillian ♥

Food and Dreams

I really like food.  I say it all the time and my dad laughs at me ;) but it's true.  I like cooking and baking as well.  I like the colors and the smells and the different flavor combinations.  I like simple foods and complicated ones, and I like changing recipes to be my own.

It's a little adventure for me to take a recipe and find something that makes it even better.
I like planning the meals out and going grocery shopping for the ingredients.  I often cook for my family, and feeding them, and seeing their faces as they smell something delicious (or if a meal doesn't smell delicious ;) is so rewarding(or comical).

I know that whatever I do in life, I will always hope to have a kitchen and mouths to feed.  I love children, and hope to have many of my own.  I hope to pass on my love of food, and teach little hands to cook.  

I want to teach children how to make a pie and flip a pancake.  I want to feed the hungry.  Now, and for the rest of my life, I want to be willing and eager to be hospitable, to feed, to laugh and to talk with all of God's children.

Lillian ♥


this and this.  ♥

A New Year

On the first day of the new year I cried several times.  I've been stressed on a number of levels and the new year, though not off to an altogether terrible start, has reminded me of the decisions I have to make.

And though I usually scoff at the New Year, with all its superstitions and unrealistic resolutions, it does make one think.

What are my resolutions?  I don't particularly like the idea of them.  Everyone knows they're broken by January 2nd.  I don't want to make something that's not planning on lasting.  Instead I'm always seeking God.  I'm always looking for ways to praise him and glorify His name.

But frankly, I haven't done well on that.  And the new year brings such things up when you're asked what your resolutions are.  I've been putting off decisions that need to be made.  I've been putting off necessary planning and not putting 100% effort into my schooling.  I've been lagging behind in the things I know I should be working diligently on, because I don't want to go forward.  I want to stay cosy at home, and not grow up.  I have been infected with a Peter Pan bug, and it's difficult to face the reality of school, ballet verses work, school, friends, church problems, and I have not been casting my cares on Christ. 

I have a verse on a post-it stuck to my computer.  It's Phil 4: 4-7
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Every time I read this, it has new meaning to it.  I've known it for a long time, but my deeds show otherwise.  I'm carrying the weight of my stress on my own shoulders, putting off the inevitable, and not casting my cares on Christ.

So Resolutions?  I'm not going to say that I'm going to work on school more diligently, or blog more frequently, or read more, or any of that.
I'm simply renewing.  Reminding myself to give my cares and worries and wants to Jesus.  To let Him change me from the inside first.  I want to be a light for him, not a blubbering mess, crying about how I don't know what to do.  

I still feel stressed, and I still don't really want to grow up.  I still see those deadlines on the horizon.
But Jesus sees them too.  Not only has He seen them, He put them there.  And that, is a comforting thought.  God has got a plan for me, and not only is He here for me, a have some very loving parents too.   

So I've wiped away my tears, and hopefully they'll stay away.  I'm going to keep God at the front of my mind, not let Him get pushed behind the stresses I feel looming above me.

And, knowing that this isn't a resolution but a reminder, a renewing, it'll last longer than January 2nd, right? 

Here's to living, loving, learning, and laughing in 2012. 

Lillian ♥