Inspiration

Something beautiful that inspired me today...

Audrey Hepburn

Mushroom Risotto

Yesterday I prepared a delicious homemade mushroom risotto for my family. We paired it with prime rib, ahi tuna steaks, salad and a delicious bottle of Italian wine. I followed the most delicious recipe that I would like to share with you guys. It is truly a labor of love and is quite time consuming but it is worth it. Enjoy! 

Ingredients 

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 pound portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced 1 pound white mushrooms, thinly sliced 2 shallots, diced 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice 1/2 cup dry white wine sea salt to taste freshly ground black pepper to taste 3 tablespoons finely chopped chives 4 tablespoons butter 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 

Directions 

Warm 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. 

Stir in the mushrooms, and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Remove mushrooms and their liquid, and set aside.
Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to skillet, and stir in the shallots. 

Cook 1 minute. 

Add rice, stirring to coat with oil, about 2 minutes. 

When the rice has taken on a pale, golden color, pour in wine, stirring constantly until the wine is fully absorbed. 

Add 1/2 cup broth to the rice, and stir until the broth is absorbed. Continue adding broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring continuously, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove from heat, and stir in mushrooms with their liquid, butter, chives, and parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

The Finished Product

Merry Christmas

Home

Merry Christmas to all of my beautiful blog followers, friends and family! I have been at a loss for words lately but I think I am on the mend! The Christmas season is always a challenging one for my family. We often find ourselves stressed out, overwhelmed and disappointed that we are not able to have the Christmas's we once had. This year, we were not able to spend Christmas with our whole family which was hugely saddening. We are such a close family and love each other so much and to not be with the Sullivan's was difficult at best. The good news is that this Christmas season allowed my family to reflect on what we are thankful for and the reasons that we are motivated to be our best each day. Our Christmas Eve service was excellent and waking up to a very windy rain storm was perfect. We continue to be amazed by God's grace and miraculous workings in our life. So, even though we were not with our whole family, we still have a lot to be thankful for. Personally, I am feeling more inspired than ever and am so thankful to have yet another Christmas in my beautiful home on Mercer Island. I am continuously amazed by the love and encouragement in the family and I am looking forward to this upcoming year. I truly feel that the best is yet to come. 

I hope that all of you had an incredible day spent with loved one's. I hope that your day was filled with love, laughter, happiness, positivity and joy. May you all feel inspired, hopeful and thankful during this Christmas season. Always remember that we love because God first loved us and that we are blessed. 

My Little Muffin Justice Singing Jingle Bells

When it rains, it pours

My Beautiful Mother

They say that when it rains, it pours and today proved that statement to be correct. This morning, my Mom got into a bad car accident while she was driving to a pain therapy rehab for chronic injuries she has in her back, neck, and hands from a fall a few years ago. It seems too ironic to be true but it is. Thank God that she is okay and thank God that she was driving a safe car. She did have to go to the hospital and has two sprained wrists, a broken thumb, and severe whip lash in addition to her already pinched nerve in her neck and herniated discs in her back. The car was deemed 'not drivable' and was towed away from the scene.

My Mom is the strongest woman that I know. She has truly been through everything and is the glue that holds my family together. She is my inspiration, my biggest cheerleader, and the best possible Mother anyone could ever ask for. Words cannot even describe how incredible she is and how strong she is. The season we are in right now (and have been for three years) is one of pouring rain. My family just can't seem to catch a break but despite everything, my Mom remains so positive and faithful. I really don't know how she does it but she is the reason that I am here today blogging, attending Pepperdine, having great faith, getting by everyday, and trusting that in the end it will all be okay.

So tonight it is ironically raining in Malibu. I woke up this morning feeling positive, uplifted, and excited for the week to fly by. I end the night stressed out, overwhelmed, confused, and hurt. The scariest thing in the world is to have a family member, especially your Mother, who is in pain and you can't do anything about it. So, to all of you who follow my blog or read my posts occasionally please pray for my Mother tonight. She needs all of the positive encouragement, support, and prayer she can get so that she (and we) can move through this season.

Today served as a reminder that today has enough worries of its own and that tomorrow is not promised so we better live in the moment and cherish each second of our lives together. I am still amazed by the faith my Mom has tonight, even in the midst of great pain and suffering both physically and emotionally and without her strength, my family would be no where.

Mission of this Blog

People keep asking me about my blog and what the purpose of it is. Well, when I started this blog it was primarily to show people that life exists outside of suffering. Sure my suffering is all relative, but I want to empower people to embrace the seasons they go through in life and to share their story with others. To know that someone is going through something similar or completely different, is comforting on its own. So, my mission is to impact just one person. If this blog inspires and impacts just one persons life, then I know that this blog has been a success. 

It is raining this morning in Malibu and I could not be happier. There is something beautiful about waking up the sound of rain. Rain reminds me that even the dirtiest, most tainted things can be washed clean.It reminds me of home. 

A Kiss in the Rain

"Better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all"

Sisters

How do people make it through life without sisters? I am really not sure. Without my sisters I would be nowhere. I would be depressed, lost, and confused. My sisters are my rock, my backbone, my role-model's, and my inspiration. I love them more than they will ever know and am more thankful for them than they will ever know. It is a love that I cannot even comprehend. 

The best part about sister's is that every time you fall they will be there to pick you up and tell you that everything is going to be okay. They do not just say that everything is going to be okay because they are making it up, it is because they truly believe in you and know that you have the courage to persevere. 

Like I said before, life is full of seasons. Seasons of joy, seasons of heartbreak, seasons of loss, seasons of great gain. The beauty of sisterhood is the ability to understand one another. There are few things that you go through as sisters that one, or both, has not gone through. We have all experienced pain in our lives and we are honest and open about our struggles. We make each other stronger. I know that my sisters will never leave me to fail and they will both be my biggest cheerleaders throughout my entire life. 

One of my greatest joys in the past few years has been watching my sisters grow up and mature into women that I would be more than honored to resemble. They are both tenacious, passionate, beautiful, hard-working, dedicated, motivated, real, loving and intelligent. They are the women that I look up to, aside from my Mother, to guide me day by day. I hope that one day, I will follow in their footsteps and continue to live a life of integrity. 

The best part about sister's is knowing who your maid, or maids, of honor will be. They are everything and more to me and I am eternally grateful for the two incredible individuals they have become. 

Sarah

"She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who know when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink"

 "When sisters stand shoulder to shoulder, who stands a chance against us?"

Heather

"A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life"

"Sisters are blossoms in the garden of life"

Homemade Soup

Tonight I was feeling inspired to cook. Cooking has always been my way of relieving stress after a long day but for some reason my desire to cook has been nonexistent lately. At least until tonight. So, to cure my craving I ventured to PC Greens and decided to try something new. I am not a huge fan of recipe's so I purchased items that looked good. I ended up checking out with the following items:

• Kale
• A bottle of Chianti
• Orzo Pasta
• Carrots
• Onion
• Tomato
• Vegetable broth
• 1 Potato

When I got home I decided to throw it all together to make homemade soup. I was skeptical at first but it actually turned out to be delicious. I made enough for left-overs so I am quite happy. Here are the photos of my meal and if you decide that it looks good and you want to try a super healthy and easy dinner then read further to find my step-by-step instructions. 

Step 1: Find three large pots

Step 2: Place vegetable broth in a soup pot with 1/2 cup of water. Add in canned tomato's, kidney beans, garlic, salt, and pepper

Step 3: Boil the potato and carrots for about 15 minutes or until tender. Once tender, remove from boiling water and cut up

Step 4: Turn on vegetable broth/tomato pot on med. heat and slowly add in ingredients.

Step 5: Rinse and cut up kale and add to soup

Step 6: Add cooked potato's and carrot's to soup

Step 7: Boil orzo rice for about 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and rinse with cold water and add to soup.

Step 8: Add garlic to soup and let simmer for however long you desire

Step 9: Pour yourself a glass of wine and eat!

Kappa Kappa Gamma Presents Formal

I discovered my passion for event planning after being elected events chairman for my sorority last fall. I am so thankful that I was elected to this position because if I had not who knows if my passion would be as clear. 

Kappa Kappa Gamma

From a young age I have always had a gift for aesthetics. I have typically appreciated beautiful things more than the average person and typically get more excited about beautiful things than the average person. I am the girl who has been planning her wedding since I was a little girl. I am the girl that has a folder on her desktop entitled "inspiration" aka "wedding". I am the girl who gets excited over flower arrangements, candles, lanterns, wine glasses, antique china, engagement rings, perfect wedding dresses and sappy love stories. Some would call me a hopeless romantic and I would not disagree. I draw inspiration largely from websites such as stylemepretty.com, etsy.com, Rachel Ashwell for Shabby Chic's blog, various magazines, nature and stories. I hope to one day channel all of my passions for beautiful things into creating the perfect backdrop for couples on the most beautiful day of their lives--their wedding. Event planning makes me happy, it gets me excited, it is my niche. 

While Kappa Kappa Kappa fall formal is a bit different than your average wedding but it still allowed me to be creative and innovative with the resources I had. Formal took place on Nov. 19 in Marina Del Ray at the Fantasea Yacht Club and was dedicated to our new pledge class aka "Presents formal". It was for 150 people and was a hit. I used Rebecca Chung at Blossom Floral who executed my vision for the flowers perfectly, Susie Cakes for the dessert bar, Extreme Entertainment for the lighting, photo booth, transportation and set-up, and DJ Pat Swayzak for the entertainment. Here are a few pictures from the event:

The Fantasea Ballroom

Presents

Photo booth

DJ Pat Swayzak

My Date

The Sweets Bar

Mylo Xyloto by Coldplay

Front man Chris Martin has done it again. The heavily criticized band has released yet another album that critics are working overtime to bash. Sure, the bands music can be compared to U2, Radiohead, or R.E.M. --all bands that possess individual style and carry esteemed reputations but Coldplay’s signature style never fails its audience. Mylo Xyloto is not groundbreaking but is enjoyable in its entirety and is an impressive rendition of talent that may help to defeat its critics. Whatever happened to enjoying music that is simply pleasurable?  

Their array of songs is brighter, more upbeat, and more emphatic than past albums. They maintain their grandeur while challenging presuppositions by adding in a duet with Rhianna in “Princess of China”, slowing it down with “Up in Flames”, and offering the potential for great ‘danceibility’ with indie song, “Hurts Like Heaven”.

Mylo Xyloto’s content possesses a storyline that is followed throughout. According to Martin, the album is “based on a love story with a happy ending,” in which two protagonists live in a dystopian environment, meet one another through a gang and fall in love. Inspiration for the album supposedly came from “the White Rose Movement”—a group that called for an active opposition to dictator Hitler’s regime—and HBO TV series “The Wire”.

As usual, the lyrics are not mind-blowing or thought provoking but who cares. Coldplay’s signature style is solid on its own and they have proved that once again with album No. 5. Critics can continue to be haters if they please.

“Princess of China” opens with, “Once upon a time somebody ran” and “Once upon a time we fell apart” chronicles a fading love. The lyrics are so-so but you get the point. The music itself is upbeat background that is contagious. Listen to this song once and you will catch yourself singing it to yourself in the car. It’s catchy and enjoyable to listen to with an added Rhianna bonus. The trendy collaboration will give the pop industry a run for their money.

“So its over, this time, I know, it’s gone” is a slower sort of “Someone Like You” Adele-type feel. “Up in Flames” follows a love story with an unfortunate ending, referring over-and-over again to the relationship being up in flames and ending with a very sly, “could we pour some water on?” in a last ditch effort to save the relationship. The musicality is fairly simple for Coldplay and evokes great emotion in the listener.

Electro-indie meets classic rock is “Hurts Like Heaven”. It’s the type of song that makes you want to get up and do a dorky dance move. Its quirkiness pulls out hidden traits that are hysterical.

The lyrics are atypical for Coldplay—more upbeat and complex, “Written in graffiti on a bridge in a park 'Do you ever get the feeling that you're missing the mark?’” and “See the arrow that they shot, trying to tear us apart,” follow the love-struck couple who are battling approval by society. People are trying to bring them down but they refuse and “Don’t let them take control.”

Coldplay’s loyal audience clearly disagree with harsh critics as Mylo Xyloto debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, selling 447,000 copies the first week. Coldplay follows The Beatles and Oasis as the third group to debut at number one with their first five albums.

Mylo Xyloto showcases the bands talent and niche from the hook-ridden piano lines, the guitar motifs, the soft vocals and the electronica beats all into one phenomenal 44-minute-long album.

The album is irresistible. I find myself constantly playing it even when I consciously try not to. The music is uplifting, inspiring, “danceable” and sincere. Coldplay knows their strengths and places their contagious energy in the right places. The lyrics might not be groundbreaking but the colorful background music in combination with Martin’s falsetto vocals makes for a victorious album No. 5.

Coldplay continues to prove their talent and will continue to be regarded as one of the best bands in the world even while the haters continue to hate. After all, they are fierce competition and a force that cannot be reckoned with in the industry so why wouldn’t you hate them?