LIFE {ramblings and more}

Getting wrapped up with school slowly but surely is putting me in the mood for some time in the blogosphere...But I must say, this has the potential to be a very boring and rambly (is that a word? probably not.) post because I am just a wee bit exhausted. Anyhooo....Spring has put the bee in my bonnet to be outside and doing all sorts of DIY stuff. I kind of spaced out how close Mother's Day was and so had to scavenge around to make some kind of present for my momma.
 (Who, by the way, is an AMAZING mother, and I love her to the moon and back infinity amount of times.)
So, to cut to the chase, here what I made her and the recipe is below:

 ~Vanilla Cinnamon Coconut Sugar Scrub~
1 cup brown sugar (I used white because we didn't have brown, and it worked just fine)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon vitamin E oil (I'm pretty sure we got this in the pharmacy section of Walmart or something...)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
(optional) 1/2 teaspoon (or however much you want to add) cinnamon
You just mix all this in a bowl and then pour in a jar or whatever. You can modge-podge labels onto the jars like this one if you want to give as gifts or something. Also, I heard you can mix coffee grounds into it for a different aroma or pumpkin pie spice, different extract flavors, essential oils or whatever :) It actually works really well!

That was my first time doing something like that, and I will definitely be doing it again.
And my mom liked it so that's the clincher :)
I also got to spend almost all of Mother's Day shopping for flowers with my mom and we bought all the plants for our garden and flower bed....I am seriously so excited to plant our garden and I would be doing it right now instead of writing, but alas, it is drizzling outside....Call me a weirdo, but gardening and canning and that sort of thing is right up my alley. I'm no expert yet...I'm pretty much clueless as to what I'm doing, but my goal is get better and better, so practice makes perfect!
AND...to top it all off, tomorrow we get to cook Ethiopian Doro wat (like a spicy chicken stew) to bring to a friends house for some African fellowship which means I get to be in the kitchen for hours chopping onions, mincing garlic, and simmering tomatoes and berbere over a stove. yay yay yay yay!
Ethiopian food has become a big part of our lives since we brought home my brothers from Ethiopia almost 8 years ago. Really, the food is a main tie to the culture and over the years we have all grown to love the sour injera and spicy wats that make up this cuisine.(maybe pictures to come...)

Just some random pics of what's been going on lately...

My friends and I went on a photo-shoot at a park nearby and we had a ton of fun! :)

My AWESOME bro Isaac turned 13...yep. I feel old now since I remember when he was born. He's my buddy.

ROADTRIP! For spring break we headed out on our long anticipated trip to see some friends that moved away and then our cousins. We had a blast. Getting to spend time with family, fellowshipping over good food, shopping, just chilling and drinking tea, going to museums...ahhh...it was so relaxing!

 We ate at skyline chili for the first time...and wow.

TEA PARTY TIME!

At a petting zoo, my brothers never referred to this animal as a camel, but 'hump day.' :)

Okay...well...that's about all I can think of now! thanks for bearing with me...
~ Bugg