LG. Life's good.

Summer camp 2012--dunzo! 

Devan and I before a competition with the 10th grade girls!

Serious fireworks on our last night!

Beautiful pre-sunset :) 

Practicing for a skit our 6th graders came up with all on their own!

Cute 6th grade girls (and Julia!) before we had a pool competition! There were tons of games all week that the kids loved! These girls were so precious.

Oh wait this isn't from camp. Just Karen moon-bouncin.

Overall, camp was awesome. I am definitely exhausted, but it was also refreshing. I will say though, it brought my soul so much joy to worship again with our college group Sunday. I know that's where I'm supposed to be :) 

Today was a fun day off! And even though I need sleep, I will quickly tell you about it. Linds, Jen, Devan and I explored Tyson's 1 for the majority of the day. Oooooh, I loved it. I'm so nostalgic in Northern VA because it's where my grandparents lived and where my mom grew up. Specifically at Tyson's, I remember eating dinner at a restaurant that still exists there when I was probably about 12 with my aunt and uncle. Another time, my great aunt Kathy took me shopping there a few years before she died. So sweet to remember those good times. 

Anyway...we had fun:

Surfin in Pacsun!

Blurry, but the face of pure joy in the Disney Store. Dev had never been before :)

We also had Linds' and Caleb's birthday party tonight at the Burkes! Caleb wanted me to make something Reeses related, so I decided to concoct some chocolate peanut butter cupcakes with peanut butter frosting :)

Because of time I used a Devil's Food box mix as  base, but swapped about 1/3 cup of the recipe's water for brewed espresso and added a few spoonfuls of PB to the batter. The frosting: Smitten Kitchen!

Linds on left, Caleb on right, yummy cupcakes in middle!

Swimming and hangin the pool for the evening was so much fun. I just love these friends. The birthday celebration was definitely a hit! Happy Birthday Caleb and Linds! 

I'll update Thursday from our concert adventure--Brandi Carlisle & The Lumineers! I'm off to hit the pillow before work in the AM. Buenas noches! (I miss Guatemala!)

It's National Choco Chip Day!

In honor of National Chocolate Chip Day (thanks for the info, Twitter!), I am going to share with you my favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies.  My favorite way to make them is with dark chocolate m&ms, but for the following recipe I'll just use dark chocolate chips.

Chelsea's Chocolate Chip Cookies!

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar (I've used light before, and it's fine!)
3/4 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 12 oz bag of dark chocolate chips
2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp fine salt

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Position two racks in the center of the oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or if you don't have that (which I usually don't) just lightly spray with cooking spray.
-Melt the butter in microwave safe bowl on the medium setting until melted.  Let it cool slightly.
-Whisk the sugars, eggs, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth.
-In another bowl, mix your dry ingredients together--flour, baking soda, and salt.  Then add the combined dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, using a wooden spoon.  Don't over mix.  Then stir in your chocolate chips.  (Or if you're doing other mix-ins, add them in here)
-Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough onto the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart and form them into balls.
-Bake for 12 minutes, or up to 16 if you like your cookies more crunchy.  When done, they should be golden on the outside and still soft in the middle.

Here they are all dressed up for Christmas! (My freshmen year attempt at being artsy)

Like I said, this is my absolute go-to.  The dough is so versatile, so I've successfully used it as a base with other mix-ins as well as used it to make a killer Twix-stuffed cookie.  (All you do is make the same recipe with or without chocolate chips, then stuff a mini twix bar in the center of a ball of dough!)

Enjoy and eat some chocolate chips today!