Recipe + Five Things

The Easter bunny, AKA my husband, visited me over the weekend. I tried to get fancy with my photography skills. I am obviously not very talented...

Finding dried fruit without added sugar can be difficult, especially when you don't have any of the really awesome grocery stores near your home. Here is another recipe from the Power Foods cookbook that my sister bought me for my birthday.

Oven Dried Fruit (I used pears)

Some different fruits suggested include pears, plums, and apricots.

1. Preheat oven to 225.
2. Core pears and slice 1/4 inch thick.  Pit plums and apricots and cut into 3/4 inch wedges. Drizzle fruit with honey and toss to coat.
3.  Divide among parchment lined baking sheets. 
4. Cook until fruit is shriveled and slightly shiny but still chewy, rotating sheets from top to bottom halfway through, about 2 1/2 hours.
5. Serve with chocolate and roasted almonds.

We recently took a personality/strengths test at work. After responding to questions for 30-45 minutes the program provided us with our top 5 strengths or themes. There were several themes that I was sure would be used to describe me and others that I wasn't expecting. There was one theme in particular that was no surprise, "relator." For each theme we learned about the balconies and basements, or rather, the positives and negatives.  In short, it says that a relator is caring, trusting, a great friend, forgiving, and generous. However, it also says that a relator lives in a clique, has an inner circle, and plays favorites. Since exiting my high school years I have lived by the following motto when it comes to friends: quality over quantity. Friendships require a lot of effort, at least to maintain one in the way that I think is proper. I would rather have a couple of really great friends than a dozen friends that I rarely see, can't be myself around, etc. I would go into all of the things that I think make a good friend, but this post is already quite lengthy. This 5 things post is dedicated to my most recent friend to enter "the inner circle."  Five things I love about Melisa:

1. She pushes me out of my comfort zone. I have attended some activities that I probably would not have if it weren't for her. She also convinced me to run my first mud run and 1/2 marathon.
2. She is my running buddy, attempt to eat clean buddy, shopping/home decorating buddy...okay it's safe to say she is my buddy!
3. She is one of the most fun people I know. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have had the best bachelorette party (and pre-game night) ever! We created some great memories over our last couple trips to Tahoe and our trip to Vegas!
4. Speaking of Vegas...she is as much of a planner as I am and she loves to get away just as much as I do. Even if our plans don't always transpire, we always have something in the works.
5. We have easy conversation. I never feel like I am being too forward, judged, or searching for topics of conversation. We also seem to have similar "annoyances" and can vent to each other within our safe zone.
Bonus 6. She is one of my first personal shopping clients, even if I do it for free :)

I think I have been having a little bit too much fun with my blog. I have a couple of outfit pics, three recipes, and a lace/crochet collage just waiting to be posted. It takes some restraint to not post it all in one go. Do you like the recipes and 5 things or would you prefer if I stuck to outfit posts? (I know I am no Martha Stewart or Ernest Hemingway). I am also working on a giveaway for all you loyal readers!!!

 FYI, I love your comments! I get a sick little thrill every time I see a comment in my inbox :) I hope are all having a great week.