Happy 2012!

Another new year is upon us! Happy New Year to you!

I've never been huge on "resolutions." I'm much more a believer in setting an intention and living by it. Whatever your practice as you traverse from the old year to discovering the newness that 2012 holds, you may dig this video I came across on yes and yes today. It's got some great intentions for the new year! Best to you in 2012!

Festive

The holiday season is rapidly approaching. Christmas (if you celebrate) is in one week! Over the last week I've been getting my festive on in cupcake, sweater and glitter form! The holiday party with my work peeps was on Friday night. It as at a co-worker's house and everyone was to bring a dish to pass, wear an ugly Christmas sweater and bring a white elephant gift for yankee swap.

Can you guess what I brought?! I knew I was going to bake something, but waffled back and forth about making a more elaborate cake and the festive cupcakes you see below. So obviously, the cupcakes won out!

I found the recipe on Pintrest. (Hello! I'm still pretty new to Pinning, but am somewhat obsessed!)  Chocolate cake with a peppermint cream cheese frosting. Super easy to make, but it looks like someone else did the fancy work! I was a little dubious about the distribution of striped frosting, but the recipe had a great tip for making it work.

I love how the snowman looks like he's rubbing his belly in anticipation of eating ALL of the cupcakes! "Get in my belly!"

One year for a Christmas present for our boss, a few of my co-workers and I booked a portrait session at Sears and we all wore ugly Christmas sweaters. This was like four years ago, before the ironic Christmas sweater craze really took off. I scooped up a few sweaters at Goodwill so we'd have some to choose from for our portrait session. I brought them back to Goodwill post photo shoot, so I had to come up with something special for the party. 

Back to my favorite Goodwill with fingers crossed.  No actual ugly sweaters to be found, but I did find the red sweater above in an unadorned state. I bought the plush Santa and Snowman ornaments at Goodwill, knowing they were destined for the sweater. I found the Santa fur trim and sewed that on. I already owned the belt, which I feel really pulls the whole ensemble together in a very Santa-riffic way! It was a fun project to orchestrate and a riot to wear! I'm set for years now with this creation.

I've seen a lot of glitter manicure photos on blogs recently, but remember seeing my first, done beautifully by ...loveMaegan. Of all the different photos she's posted since, this has been my favorite look. The pink she used was much more pink, but the subtle pink is what I already had. I finally got some silver glitter glue and gave it a go. Subtle, yet still glittery and festive. I love it! 

What are you doing to get festive for the holidays? 

Thanksgiving=Happy

"Nothing is either good or bad. It's thinking that makes it so."

--William Shakespeare

Most days I choose to have an attitude of gratitude and my days are better for it. Today being Thanksgiving and all, that is especially true. I am truly grateful for all the blessings in my life. 

Because it's Thanksgiving and I've been seeing "Happy Thanksgiving" greetings everywhere, I pondered its meaning. Do we really mean "be happy while you're giving thanks today"? To me, it seems like it should be "Thanksgiving=Happy." I know that when I'm looking for things to be grateful for, even if it's been a particularly crap day and I don't feel like I have anything to be grateful for, when I start making a gratitude list, my attitude improves. If I am giving thanks, for the big things and even the smallest things, overall, I'm a happier person. 

I hope you had a Thanksgiving=Happy day today and carry that over into every one of your days! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy New Year!

Image by Fresh Starr Fish, of Inside Out by Soraia Almeida

Are you big into New Year's Eve parties? Did you get dressed up and go to a great party? Dinner out? I've never really gotten into the whole New Year's Eve party hoopla. It's nice to spend the evening with people you love, a good meal and some laid back fun. It's also nice to cozy up with a movie and hit the hay before the stroke of midnight. I had a great day just going with the flow.

I cleaned up the house a little bit. Starting the new year with a clean house...literally and figuratively is a good thing. Out with the old (whether it's the stacked up recycling or old thoughts that no longer serve you well) so as to make room for the new.

The weather in Michigan has been odd today - rain and in the hight 40s! I was all suited to go for a run in my neighborhood. It wasn't raining when I was getting ready, but when I stepped out onto the porch - the rain was coming down pretty hard. I skipped the run, but did about an hour of yoga. I haven't practiced yoga in several years, it felt really good to be on the mat again. A good way to start off the new year too, getting grounded.

However you celebrated, here's to much goodness, positive energy and sparkle in 2011! Happy New Year to you!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you!! Whether you're knee deep in family, alone or with friends I hope you're having a wonderful day. I'm spending the weekend celebrating with different groups of friends since my family is scattered out east.

Christmas Eve afternoon I dropped into the Broadway Bar on the West Side of Grand Rapids. If you live in town and haven't been, you MUST go! It's like walking into a Christmas extravaganza, every inch of the place is covered with Christmas gear! One group of friends has been doing Christmas eve afternoons there for several years. Whenever I'm home for Christmas, I make sure to get over there. The family that runs it, is great...they ask you your name when they take your order and proceed to call you by name until you cash out. My big tab: a diet coke and the lovely grilled cheese and onion rings you'll see below!

Miracle on 34th Street was playing on TV (after they let us channel surf for something holiday appropriate!)

Twistin' Santa!

This is just one wall...pretty much covered with Christmas kitsch! The Broadway is wall-to-wall Christmas!

Anyone else have grilled cheese and onion rings for their Christmas eve lunch?

I've got a run planned in a bit, gchat with the family out East and dinner with running buddy A and her family tonight. When I decided the weekend was too short to travel to be with family for Christmas, I was bummed out. Not to get all spiritual on you, but Christmas is about so much more than shopping and the hustle and bustle. No matter what you believe, if you believe in a power greater than yourself, there's a peace in knowing that although you may be "alone" you're never truly alone. I made that spiritual connection this week after spending a couple days bumming about not being with my family. My heart is filled with so much love for them. I do miss them, but I'm with them in spirit and all is well. I'm creating my own special holiday joy here at home!

May the peace, love and joy of Christmas fill your heart today.

Tofurkey - for Real!

If you're a vegetarian with a few Thanksgiving's under your belt, you'll feel me on this one. I've been a vegetarian for over 15 years and luckily much of my family is also meat free - makes family get togethers that involve food (let's face it, almost all of them do!) a breeze. When I was newly meat free and it wasn't as mainstream as it seems to be, the question about Thanksgiving would inevitably come up - "...but, what do you eat on Thanksgiving?" Like those of us who aren't eating turkey are going hungry on Thanksgiving while the rest of the country gorges on everything from sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberries and pumpkin pie. Dude we can eat all that and there are some pretty good Turkey stand-ins to boot!

This year my cousins had been talking about the real Tofurkey and how the texture creeped out my cousin B. Cousin M thought we ought to try our own version of this meat free poultry stunt double. He mentioned it in passing late Wednesday night. I wondered if he had a recipe in mind. He said no, he was just planning on winging it. I'm pro-recipe, so I looked up a few recipes online. We ended up using one from vegweb.com as a guide and then somewhat winging it, since we got a very late start and were working with much less tofu than the recipe called for.

Here's roughly what we did:

3 packages extra firm tofu drained (we actually had one extra firm, one firm and one silken - not ideal from a texture standpoint)

poultry seasoning

garlic

dried minced onion

rosemary

thyme

salt

pepper

2-3 smaller portabello mushrooms chopped

Mix all the tofu in a food processor until smooth. Eyeball your spices and add them all to the tofu along with the chopped portabello mushrooms. We went for more spices, wanting more of a robust flavor rather than just the bland tofu.

Once everything was blended smooth, we spooned the mixture into a sieve lined with a clean kitchen towel (I'd suggest a smooth, thin one, rather than a thick textured one!), covered the top and placed a large rock on the top to help press the liquid out. The recipe we followed said to press for 2-3 hours, or overnight. We maybe managed 3 hours and there was barely any liquid in the bowl below the sieve. The towel was wet though, so I guess we got some liquid out.

Looks like a dip, but it's not! Tofu mixture in towel-lined sieve.

Towel-lined sieve, placed in a bowl with a rock on top.

Next, we shaped it into a log shape in a glass 9x13 pan and put it in the oven at 350. We mixed up the "glaze" in the recipe - basically red wine, balsamic vinegar and some of the same spices we used for the tofu mixture. Had we pressed the tofu mixture longer, the glaze probably would have worked a bit better. Our "log" sort of spread out flat. I believe we baked it for about an hour or an hour and a half. I sort of lost track!

Tofu log, ready for the oven!

The finished product. It's not pretty, but it's a tasty meat-free alternative to turkey.

My cousin and I did a ceremonial first bite at the dinner table - both a little scared it wasn't going to be any good. It didn't look pretty, but it tasted good! I was surprised and relieved. We'll have to get an earlier start next year and use all extra firm tofu rather than the mixture we used. It was so much fun though and I can't wait to try making this again!

Happy Halloween!

The swirling Halloween spirits and my secret agent gene had my my creativity bubbling this week. I wanted an easy costume to pull together since I wasn't even sure what I'd be doing. The idea to be Amelie hit me mid week. I love the movie Amelie, it's probably my favorite in terms of the story and the cinematography and Audrey Tautou is just too cute.

I stopped into a local Halloween pop up store after work on Friday saying, "if I find the right wig for Amelie, I'll pursue the rest of the costume." After navigating the packed parking lot, I walked right into the store and the second wig I saw was perfect. And so it began.

Next stop, Goodwill for some costume hunting! I found everything I needed - a black silk skirt with a small white circle print, a dark red top with a lace up detail and a pair of Doc Marten's. The skirt needed to be shortened. My trusty fabric scissors took care of that - I didn't take the time to hem. Although the Docs were the right size, they were brown, so I had to take some black shoe polish to them to turn them black and change out the laces. I don't think Amelie's were Docs, but they are very close.

Wig styling happened on Saturday morning. The unfortunate thing about synthetic wigs - you can't use heat to style them! I did a quick hair cut to get it more Amelie-length. I was a little worried about how sleek the wig looked-more 20's flapper than I wanted. I needed a little unruly-ness. I used some Aveda Sap Moss Styling Spray (did not know that it's no longer available!) to set a few sections in rollers for the day. When I removed the rollers, and sprayed the heck out of it with AirControl hair spray, I got the look I was hoping for.

I added a little jacket and black socks that I already had and bought a gnome to carry with me. From an authenticity standpoint, I would have liked to paint the gnome (green shirt, red pants) or find one that is exactly like the movie, but what can you do on short notice?

I stopped by my mom's prior to heading out then met up with my friend A and her friend M. We hit the West Side of Grand Rapids for a fun party featuring the bands the Concussions & Delilah DeWylde and the Lost Boys.

There were some great costumes! An Edward Scissorhands, Dwight Schrute, Sasquatch, a really good Captain Jack Sparrow, complete with beard braids. Delilah and her band were dressed in Amish garb. They guys even seemed to have real Amish-style beards. That's commitment to a costume! Costumes are standard whenever the Concussions play, they wore glow in the dark skeleton suits with skull masks.

I questioned when I was putting the costume together if people would know who I was supposed to be or if I'd just look a girl carrying a gnome. Sasquatch knew who I was. So did a friend that I used to work with, but I was met with question marks by almost everyone else. I even had someone I haven't seen in forever know who I really was. Well, hopefully, everyone who didn't know Amelie will find her on NetFlix and watch the movie so it can become their favorite movie too! I had fun, and that's all that matters when it comes to dressing up for Halloween!

Hope you have a great time today!

Happy 4th of July

Celebrate your freedom today by celebrating you - the choices you've made, the growth you've accomplished, the goals you've set and squashed and the adversity you've been strengthened by. Become truly liberated by feeling free in your own mind, free from our own negative self talk, free from past baggage, free to express yourself and be who you are meant to be. We are an integral part of this country and deserve to feel true Independence!

I'm celebrating with R and friends tonight with a barbeque and fireworks! Looking forward to it! How are you celebrating your freedom today?

Holiday Weekend Hightlights

So...the Memorial Day weekend was a good one! Oh, how I love the long weekend. I even had Friday off, which made it a full four days off. Delightful! That should really happen more often.

Highlights included:

Passing my written motorcycle endorsement test at the Secretary of State! Pretty excited about having the little CY on my driver's license now!

Having a lovely dinner on a sunny patio with some of my girlfriends and then seeing Sex and the City, 2. The movie wasn't as good as the first one or even the series, but it was fun to see the girls (and Aiden) again!

Playing lots of pinball (and playing pretty well, I might add) after a delish dinner at Stella's with R. If you go to Stella's, try the World Eater! MM...goood!

Doing a something akin to a circus act with R to trim the back hedge. Who says shoulder rides are just for kids, or playing chicken in the water? Our combined height came in pretty handy for tackling the overgrown hedge!

Wading through a torrential downpour yesterday afternoon with R to see the 2010 Regional Arts Competition, which is the juried art show for Festival of the Arts.

Helping a friend move her closet! R & I dug hanging out with A and her man B. for a bit in their new place. And I scored a few closet cast offs, can't wait to rock the harem pants, thanks, A!

Having book club dinner and ice cream on a beautiful Sunday night in the neighborhood. We didn't talk much of the book...but it's really more about spending time together and catching up with the BC gals who can be there. Missed our Depeche Mode-loving friend A, our friend CurlyGirl, who just had a baby boy and our on BC hiatus since she's living out of town friend, AP.

Having an indoor picnic at my mom's last night, complete with indoor s'mores!

What was the highlight of your Memorial Day weekend? Did you see Sex and the City? Good eats? Time with friends & family? Did you make it to the beach? Do tell!

Happy Easter!

For Easter dinner at my mom's I made this lemon cream cake with a lovely Peeps adornment. The cake is usually a stand-alone stunning-looking cake with this sugar crumb topping, but my cake rounds which I made ahead of time (last night) in an effort to save time were being extremely shy and would not come out of their pans. Ugh! When they did come out, they were a bit of a broken mess. I had to improvise. I dropped one cake in my spring form pan, layered on the lemony cream filling/topping then put the second cake round on top of that and added the rest of the lemon cream. Skipping the sugar crumb topping, I pulled the Peeps in for an improvised topper and called it good. Easter cake crisis 2010 narrowly averted!

The cake followed up a delish dinner that my mom put together. We had great company in R & D. Laughs and fun were a big part of the evening! I hope you had a lovely Easter and/or Sunday however you chose to spend your day. Peace out! Peeps out!

Happy New Year!

Wow, it's 2010!

This year, I'm on a quest to do new things, to become more engaged in my community and keep learning about myself and the world around me.

One thing that I won't be changing in 2010, training for and finishing a good number of races. I'll do my second 5/3 River Bank Run in the spring, my second Lowell Half Marathon in August and I'm even contemplating running a full marathon later in the season. I'm so glad I started running and am psyched for another year of training and races.

My family is going to have a reunion this summer. Everybody in the same place for the first time in probably three years. It's about seven months away, but I'm already looking forward to all the fun times we'll have together.

What are you looking forward to in 2010?

Christmas Eve

It's the eve of Christmas, y'all! I had to work a half day, which surprisingly was rather productive! Then ran to the grocery store to buy some fixins for dinner tonight and some things to nosh on tomorrow. The store was a little crazy, but not overwhelming. I talked to a few friends to wish them a Merry Christmas (a day early) and came home for a few last minute preparations. Tomorrow's the big day!

Here's a little of what I've been doing leading up to Christmas:

Sugar Cookie Cutouts with Royal Icing

Oreo Truffles

Fresh Ginger Ginger Snaps

I hope that whatever you have planned, you have a very Merry Christmas! Honestly, with family being all out east again this year (I'll miss them and all the hubbub of Christmas morning with kiddos), it's going to be pretty quiet here. And...there's an ice/freezing rain storm predicted, which would make things really interesting, no going anywhere! Glad I stocked up on snacks and DVDs!

the corner of blizzard and crazy

It's still snowing here in Michigan! I haven't left the house since coming home after dinner last night. Work at home days are great! I'm trying to get into the spirit of winter, but sub-zero temperatures and blizzard-like conditions aren't really helping. I'm already feeling a little cabin fever-y already as I head into four days off of work. Not good. Egads what will I do?!

If my plans work out properly tomorrow, I'm actually thinking I'll go into work for our holiday luncheon and to secure my share of some homemade vendor Christmas cookies. Crazy, right?! If you had these cookies, you'd know what I'm talking about. Really. These cookies are ridiculously good - same vendor brought them in last year and over the past year we've periodically discussed how good they were.

I've also got big plans for cookies of my own...holla for some Christmas cookies! Can't wait to get baking. I've got an easy new recipe I want to try and I'm going to bake a couple of other favorites - frosted sugar cookies (I just bought my first set of cookie cutters!) and ginger snaps.

What's your favorite holiday treat?

That time of year

It started snowing here in the midwest - and it's sticking. I'm not particularly fond of snow and cold. Like I just told R, everything is just better in the summer. It's warmer, obviously. More day light. Cute clothes. More shoe options. More activities. I'm going to have to make a concentrated effort not to fall into winter's cruel trap of isolation. Tonight I feel like I just might want to hibernate until April.

I sent off a box to my brother and sister in law who are expecting my baby niece any day now. I'm excited for her to arrive! Sending out packages though reminded me I've got a few more things to pick up and ship out to the East Coast in order to have my holiday ducks in a row. Ugh!

I have a few cookie recipes I want to try out for the holidays. I'm contemplating playing Santa for myself and picking up something that will make baking even MORE fun. I'll let you know if it comes together. There are some pretty good deals to be had right now.

Tomorrow night is the UICA's Holiday Artist's Market. R and I are going to check out that scene. Looking forward to going since it's been a few years since I've gone. From what I've read, it looks like there will be some cool stuff! We may even go to the tree lighting ceremony in front of the GRAM. Maybe all that will help me feel more at peace about the fact that it's actually winter again!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Whether you're happily synced up with the love of your life or single and looking to mingle, I thought you'd enjoy a cupcake! 

 I baked them last night. My secret family recipe chocolate cake and a new vanilla butter cream frosting I tried out for the first time. I really enjoy the whole process of baking and marvel at the results every time. Science in the kitchen that yields something pretty and delicious!

 Enjoy your day!

Getting into the Spirit

I got home from my Thanksgiving adventure and was jazzed for the coming Christmas season to get underway. Since Sunday, I've done the following things to set the holiday mood:

• Put up the tree on Sunday. It takes all of three minutes. Bring up from the basement. Find proper spot. It's in the living room this year. Last year's spot in the office gained a large potted palm plant to make room for the tree in the living room. Plug tree in. Enjoy the twinkle lights!
• Listen to favorite Christmas compilation CD provided a few years back by my Marquette relatives.  It contains some of the best old-school Christmas music.
• Put up lights around front door. All the extra lights probably help protect against S.A.D (Seasonal Affective Disorder - lack of light during winter darkness can make you sad, yo!). I like keeping these lights up well into January. The tree will probably stay up that long too. Why not? It's festive!
• Plan to buy wreath for the front door at Farmers Market on Saturday.
• Ordered photo Holiday cards. First time ever doing this. The photo and the opportunity were there in front of me, so I took the bait. Good way to commemorate a memorable event this year and share it with people.
  

What have you done to get into the holiday spirit?