CURRENTLY AT A VOLCANO

Good morning, Sunday readers. Yesterday we took Katie to Jaco beach and even though we only got about two hours of beach time because of the rain, the whole day was a success! Today we are headed to a volcano because you can't come to Costa Rica without seeing at least one.

Reading: the book Night. A co-worker lent it to me and told me that even though I enjoy stories from this time because I think they are very interesting, this book would most likely make me cry. I've just started it but I'm nervous to find out how it progresses.
Writing: nothing! Except blog posts. I am on vacation until Wednesday and taking advantage of it.
Listening: pretty much my same playlist from last week. 
Thinking: about how fun our day at the beach was yesterday. More on that this week!
Wishing: that I could have a friend from home with me in Costa Rica all the time. The laughs are endless!
Hoping: that we will get to actually see the volcano we are going to visit today. Unlike last time, when it was way too cloudy.
Loving: that I can show Katie my little life here in Costa Rica. It is always interesting showing someone else how you live when they are accustomed to other things.
Wanting: the next few days to go very slowly.
Clicking: through all the pictures we took yesterday.

Linking up with The Sunday Currently

THIS AND THAT AND TWO GIVEAWAYS

Having a friend here the past few days has been awesome. I got to bring Katie to work with me on Friday and I was really interested to see what she thought of my students. They were their normal selves, a little roudy but still very sweet and I was glad they didn't act any extra crazy just because she was there. She said she probably wouldn't be able to handle them ;)

We are off to the beach today to take advantage of Paris's day off and the sunny weather since last time we were rained out. I hope you enjoy your weekends. I will leave you with two giveaways that I am participating in. $210 in Paypal cash!

Independent Travel Cats | t.o & fro | Lost in Travels | Lip Gloss & Lunges The Boots Parade | Living in Another Language | Brachel Boulevard | Found Love Now What One & Twenty | Treasure Tromp | Creatrice Mondial | LB in Wonderland A Fabulous Life in Jamaica | Stamp in My Passport | Northern Belle Diaries | Postcards f/ Rachel

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You can also go here to win a whole bunch of gift cards, ad space, and design credits!
Good luck!!

LOVING: TINY HOUSES

via 1,2,3,4

A few weeks ago I read this article about tiny houses and was immediately interested in the phenomenon of living in a small space, with in turn, means living with less things. With the thought of moving back home into my bedroom at my parents' house, I have been thinking a lot about how I can redo, rearrange, or just change up my living space so that it is much much less cluttered and no longer full of stuff.

At this point I have been living abroad for 3 years. As I'm sure you are aware, when you move abroad, you can't exactly take all of your possessions with you. So I have had to learn how to make do with less things. At first, it was an adjustment. What do you mean I can't bring ALL of my shoes? Or, of course I need four different purses to go with different outfits! No. I've learned to cut back and I've learned to use what I have until it breaks or is no longer usable. I wouldn't quite yet, call myself a minimalist, but I am working towards it.

Of course, pinterest has been fueling my new interest of tiny spaces. I've been sifting through and searching for ideas on utilizing the space in my room better so that when I go back, I can have a cleaner, and like I said, less cluttered look. I can't help but also look at the beautiful tiny houses that are around and hope that one day I can have my own small house that feels big once I turn it onto a home.

Would you ever live in a tiny house?

You can view my small spaces board on Pinterest here.

RECIPE: APPLE CINNAMON PANCAKES

I am a huge fan of breakfast for any meal of the day. As I write this sentence, I am really having a hard time thinking of my favorite breakfast food. There just isn't a favorite. However, pancakes are high on my list. I've been thinking about my blog a lot lately and in a few months when I am back at home, I plan on sharing a lot more recipes. Not just breakfast recipes, but things I have been wanting to try and haven't, and some of my favorite recipes from my mother's kitchen that I really want to share. So I thought I would start off with this apple cinnamon pancake recipe that my dad and I tried a few months ago. I shared this as a guest post but I never actually posted it on my blog. I hope you enjoy!

Here is what you need to make apple cinnamon pancakes:

1 cup of old-fashioned oats

1 cup of all purpose flour

3 table spoons of sugar

1 table spoon of baking powder

3/4 teaspoon of salt

 1 teaspoon cinnamon

1.5 cups of skim milk

3 table spoons of vegetable oil (we used apple sauce!)

1 large egg

1 small apple (peeled and thinly sliced)

Combine all the solids together. We sifted them but you can also just stir them all together in a bowl.

Beat the milk, oil, and egg until blended. Then pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and stir. Next, stir in the apple slices until everything is good and mixed together.

The batter will seem a little liquidy for pancake batter but thats okay! Then you just make your pancakes on low-medium heat.

This recipe is perfect for fall because so many of you have probably already gone, or are soon going apple picking and need a recipe that involves all of those apples waiting to be eaten. You'll have yummy apple cinnamon pancakes for breakfast (or any meal) in no time!

You can check out another pancake recipe I tried here.

WEEKLY WISHES

Good morning, Monday. I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and is ready for the week! My goal for last week's Weekly Wishes was to plan my upcoming long weekend with my friend Katie who is visiting me. Well, I met my goal about 50%. I planned a few things for us to do and the rest I really left open for us to decide in the moment. To be honest, I haven't mastered the whole planning every single day's activities thing so I left it planned about halfway and we'll see how it goes from there.

For this week, my goal is simple: get everything done before Katie gets here! This, I think will be easy-peasy because luckily I have half days at school every day this week. Yup! I certainly lucked out time wise. When my school has exams, which is twice a trimester, we get half days (a huge perk of my school). I plan on getting all of my online coursework done, all of my blog posts written, and all of my grading and lesson plans done by Thursday afternoon. Do you think I can do it??