Set the sky on fire.

To say that I'm excited for the 4th is an understatement.

It is definitely my second favorite holiday (only second to Christmas) and my court always has a huge party. I did my nails just for the occasion. Hopefully they last because they could also come in handy for my uncle's change of command ceremony in a few days too.

I love the 4th because I'm a proud American but also I just love fireworks. :)

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Four years later....

So I'm officially a Cal Poly Alumni now. Well, I guess it's not official until I get my diploma in the mail but whatever.

What am I doing now?

Back home....That's what. Yes, I'm back until further notice and searching for that elusive thing called a J-O-B.

Anywho, there are several developments taking place so hopefully I'll be free to blog more too. This summer should be interesting.

Hellooooo real world! I'm not sure if I like you yet.

Name? Birthday?....Hobbies?

"What's your favorite hobby?"

I hate this question. Mostly because I have waaaaaay too many and choosing one is nearly impossible. However, teachers tend to love this question, especially on the first day of classes. People usually stick to the cookie cutter answers and frankly I don't blame them, I do it too. My real hobbies are a little strange...for example, I like to create things -- meaning I take whatever is lying around the house (aka trash, toilet paper rolls, bits of paper, boxes etc) and make things. Or, another hobby, cutting out words from a magazine and making a collage...or I collect coins...or my signature hobby you could say, is learning about wolves....but I could go on and on...and on and on and on.

Today in class I just said photography.

But this got me to thinking about those Myspace Surveys people used to do back in the day. I loved them! Most people hated them. But I thought it was a great way to get to know someone. Plus, I just like to fill out surveys. Or forms, or even those slips of paper that are in between magazine pages that you're supposed to mail in...I would fill those out and not mail them. I guess that's another one of my strange hobbies.

But anyways, I've decided that no matter how outdated Myspace is now, I'm going to do a survey right here for this blog post. :)
I got most of these questions from a collection of actual myspace surveys.
So enjoy! or ignore if you were one of those people who hated these things.

1. What is your full name?
Lauren Aimee Donovan

2. Birthday?
April 5th, 1989 -- In a week!!! :)

3. Do you have any scars?
Yes, two. One on my wrist from where I attempted to make homemade root beer and it exploded and sliced my wrist open and the second one is from a high heel accident...I stepped on the top of my own foot with my heel haha.

4. Have you ever cried during a move?
Yes, a few. The main one is The Notebook...

5. What is your favorite flower?
Pink tulips! or roses haha.

6. Favorite season?
Fall and winter...I hate spring and summer. Spring because of my allergies, summer because I don't like being hot.

7. Have you ever been in a car accident?
I think two...once when I was little and then the second one was coming back from Tahoe we were in a huuuuge fender bender that involved two semi's and like 20 cars...it was a domino effect type deal...

8. Favorite smell?
men's cologne and christmas trees

9. What is your favorite sport to watch?
Football!!!! Go steelers!!! Sundays are meant to sit around and watch football all day...

10. What are you afraid of?
Sharks and scary movies.

11. Perfect pizza?
Hawaiian with bacon. Or combo.

12. Favorite alcoholic drink?
Champagne

13. Have you ever broken a bone?
Yes, three times. Once I was tide pooling, I fell and broke my pinkie finger...I broke the same finger in a roller blading accident and then I've also broken my wrist.

14. Favorite book? and last book you read?
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and I read like five books over Spring Break. One of them was Unbroken by the author who wrote Seabiscuit. I HIGHLY recommend it, one of the best books I've ever read. It's non-fiction and about this guy who was a soldier during WW2.

15. Favorite movie?
Pride and Prejudice, Band of Brothers....pretty much any war movies.

16. Are you religious?
Yup. I pray all the time and God shows his presence everywhere if you just take the time to look.

17. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?
Nope, sorry.

18. How many countries have you visited?
Canada, Mexico, Italy, France

19. How many states?
15...I might be forgetting one or two...

20. What is your favorite animal?
wolves :)

21. What is your dream car?
I looooove a hot car.....hmmm, A black Ferarri 599....but okay, if we're being serious, I'd settle for a Lexus IS250 or a BMW 335i...but regardless black is the way to go. Actually, I'd even settle for the the 2010 Subaru Legacy which is the car my mom has right now.

22. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?
Ireland or Scotland!

23. Have you ever crawled through a window?
Oh yes, a bunch of times as a kid...if I was on timeout I'd crawl out my window and show up at the sliding glass door around the other side of the house.

24. Who was the last person you couldn't take your eyes off of?
This hot guy in one of my classes...too bad he didn't get added from the waitlist :( there goes my eye candy!

25. Would you burn the American Flag for a million dollars?
NO WAY. I'll stay poor, thanks.

26. Think of a random person and give them a message here -- no names:
Hmm, I wonder if you read my blog. ;)

27. Do you have a bad temper?
I've been known to have a temper occasionally. Not many people have seen it though, consider yourself lucky.

28. Are you a forgiving person?
Typically yes.

29. Childhood memory?
Telling my younger brother that in order to join the club my best friend and I had, he had to eat a "cookie", well the cookie we gave him was a dog treat. Yes, he ate it. haha.
Or flooding my backyard with a foot of water just so I could play in the mud.

30. Favorite type of cake?
fruit basket!!

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Okay, so I have another one for your recipe books! I just made the best meatballs EVER. So yummy!





1 package of Ground turkey (or ground beef...I was going semi healthy this time)
1 can of tomato sauce (any brand)
1/2 onion --- 1/4 for the meatballs, 1/4 for the sauce (this depends on your preference, I love onions)
1 egg
Bread crumbs
Parmesan
Basil
Oregano
Garlic
Salt & Pepper


1. Finely chop up onion. Put into saute pan with garlic and saute until translucent. Don't brown them! You just want them to be soft.
2. Take the package of ground turkey and place on the cutting board. Crack the egg into the center, pour about 1/2 cup of bread crumbs over the top (this is a binder, so if they are too loose when you start to form them add more bread crumbs), as well as the parmesan and add in spices to taste (basil, oregano, salt and pepper).
3. With your hands, knead in all the ingredients until it's spread evenly throughout the meat. Don't over handle the meat.
4. Take half of the sauted onions and fold them in until evenly distributed.
5. Pour other half of the onions into another pot and set aside.
6. Create meatballs from the meat, make sure that whatever size you choose to make them, they are all the same size so that they cook evenly. I made five large meatballs, yes, they turned out to be around the size of a small baseball. :)
7. In the pan you sauted the onions in, place the formed meatballs in with a splash of olive oil so they don't stick and let them brown on the outside. Don't cook them all the way through, but let them seal in the juices and get a nice brown crust on the outside.
8. Now, take the pot you put the other half of the onions in, and pour the tomato sauce in. Bring to a boil.
9. Once it's boiling, put your meatballs in (make sure the sauce is deep enough to cover them, or at least only show a small bit on the top) and reduce heat to LOW/SIMMER. Cover with a lid.
10. Let cook for 10 to 15 mins. I'm not exact on the timing because I forgot to check, but after 15 mins, pull one out and cut into it and make sure all the pink is gone. I also waited until the meatballs were done until I cooked my spaghetti. I just put the meatballs on LOW so they stayed warm/continued to cook.

Plate them and ENJOY!! I sprinkled some more parmesan on top and it was amazing! I also used fettucini noodles instead of regular spaghetti noodles because I like the flat noodles the best but it's up to you!


(Image isn't my own, click on it for link to original)

Restrepo

I watched this movie last week and it was AMAZING!! It's a documentary about soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. One of the soldiers had a video camera and took it around with him and filmed their activities in one of the outposts.

I highly recommend it. I found it fascinating because it's real people, not actors. :)

If you have Netflix, it's on instant play right now. Go check it out!

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Okay, I just made another AMAZING dinner.

I took two chicken breasts (leftovers are your best friend) and stuffed them with garlic, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese and frozen spinach. I then topped them with more garlic (loooove the stuff), basil, salt and pepper. Before I put it in the oven I covered the entire thing with Cream of Chicken soup and baked it for 35 mins in an oven set to 350 F.

I took it out and sprinkled some more mozzarella on top and let that melt then ate it. SO GOOD!!!

Next time though I might add onions...I'm thinking of sauteing them first and then stuffing them in the chicken. Also experimenting with different cheeses, like feta cheese might be fun.

Also, different sauces can be put on top, spaghetti sauce, alfredo sauce or even just crushed tomatoes with basil, salt and pepper would be amazing with this.

I'm definitely going to try different variations but tonight's dinner was out of this world!! I highly recommend trying it. :)

I'm sorry I don't have a picture...the lighting and my camera are NOT equipped to handle food pictures. I hate when food blogs don't have pictures though sooooo.....

I guess this is what they kind of looked like prepared, except imagine cream of chicken soup covering them.

xxoo

Check out Sealed With a Kiss! It's a blog I'm doing in collaboration with my Mom.

We post our opinions on relationships, dating and pretty much everything else!

There is also an opportunity for you as a reader to ask us questions that we will answer with a blog post.

So go see what Sealed With a Kiss is all about! :)

Sealed With a Kiss