This is among the most precious pieces of art I've seen in a long time. A mother, Adele Enersen, started taking photos of her sleeping daughter after creating a scene around her from household items. Each scene different and stunning. So stunning that her blog, Mila's Daydreams, averaged 200,000 hits a day.
Unfortunately, she's encountered some copyright infringement issues, which is really too bad. But you can see one of her first photo creations here and a post with thumbnails of her work here. Worth your time to look. Just beautiful.
February 2, 2011
February 1, 2011
My One Little Word
As noted in my post on New Year resolutions, I have a less than traditional perspective on the subject. Not to repeat myself too much, but often New Year's resolutions attempt to ‘fix’ things about ourselves, rather than accepting what's already great about ourselves and looking for opportunities to tap into that more in the year ahead. For me, I wanted 2011 to focus on strengthening myself rather than on "fixing" things. Nuance perhaps, but an important one in my mind.
Ali Edwards One Little Word concept is a fantastic way to do that. You can read all about the premise behind it here, but in essence it is selecting a word that has meaning for you and that you want to invite into your life in the New Year. On the surface it is certainly less concretely action-oriented than a traditional resolution, but it leaves you ample opportunity to make it what you want. To live it in a way that's true to you.
I've followed along with Ali's past OLW journeys on her blog, always enjoying her thoughts and perspective. I decided that 2011 was the year I'd join her. I'd find that one little word that was personal and that would help me create a more meaningful 2011.
Now. not to sound to zen. I also know enough about myself to know that I just can't pick a word and let that be it. As much as I believe New Year's resolutions often have the wrong focus, I do believe in planning, action, and goal-setting. If I don't write it down, if I don't plan to make it happen, then it won't.
So I didn't just say 'ok open' let's be friends in 2011. Instead, I enrolled in Ali's online OLW class, which includes monthly prompts to help keep this word top of mind. For me this is key. Otherwise, I've no doubt that when there's a crying baby at 3am and I'm exhausted, open would fall off the back of that wagon never to be seen again. (In fact at 3am, I'd likley be waving goodbye as I untied Mr. Open and pushed him from his hitching post). Instead, through the OLW class, I'll be reinvited (at a sane hour) to reflect on those moments and use my word to learn, to be stronger and to live more meaningfully through it all.
One of the by-products of the class is creating an album. And yes, while this attracts many a scrapbooker, you certainly don't have to be one to follow the general premise and make this concept work for you. A plain old journal would likley work equally as well. Or a blog. (Another thing I'm hoping will help me keep my OLW top of mind in 2011).
As a scrapbooker, I will be building my personal OLW album as we go along. Here's a glance at some of the pretty papers I picked up at the Paperie to use in my album over the year.
Ali Edwards One Little Word concept is a fantastic way to do that. You can read all about the premise behind it here, but in essence it is selecting a word that has meaning for you and that you want to invite into your life in the New Year. On the surface it is certainly less concretely action-oriented than a traditional resolution, but it leaves you ample opportunity to make it what you want. To live it in a way that's true to you.
I've followed along with Ali's past OLW journeys on her blog, always enjoying her thoughts and perspective. I decided that 2011 was the year I'd join her. I'd find that one little word that was personal and that would help me create a more meaningful 2011.
 |
| Photo from Ali Edward's Blog |
So, back in December when Ali said she'd begun thinking about her 2011 OLW and prompted her readers to do the same, I did. And my word really just came to me without much effort. Though strange to say, in a way my word picked me, not the other way around. That word is {open}.
Why open? Well, as I was thinking about choosing a word, I thought more about what lay ahead for me in 2011 and what I wanted to learn from the year, what I wanted most from the year. What lies ahead is quite likely the most meaningful, life-changing experience I will ever have - becoming a mother. Everything about this experience is unknown to me and I knew, I know I want to be fully open to what it will bring. The changes, the love, the life. Everything. Anytime I thought about the year, the experience, becoming a mother, the word open seemed to be present. So I knew, it was my word for 2011.
Now. not to sound to zen. I also know enough about myself to know that I just can't pick a word and let that be it. As much as I believe New Year's resolutions often have the wrong focus, I do believe in planning, action, and goal-setting. If I don't write it down, if I don't plan to make it happen, then it won't.
So I didn't just say 'ok open' let's be friends in 2011. Instead, I enrolled in Ali's online OLW class, which includes monthly prompts to help keep this word top of mind. For me this is key. Otherwise, I've no doubt that when there's a crying baby at 3am and I'm exhausted, open would fall off the back of that wagon never to be seen again. (In fact at 3am, I'd likley be waving goodbye as I untied Mr. Open and pushed him from his hitching post). Instead, through the OLW class, I'll be reinvited (at a sane hour) to reflect on those moments and use my word to learn, to be stronger and to live more meaningfully through it all.
One of the by-products of the class is creating an album. And yes, while this attracts many a scrapbooker, you certainly don't have to be one to follow the general premise and make this concept work for you. A plain old journal would likley work equally as well. Or a blog. (Another thing I'm hoping will help me keep my OLW top of mind in 2011).
As a scrapbooker, I will be building my personal OLW album as we go along. Here's a glance at some of the pretty papers I picked up at the Paperie to use in my album over the year.
So far, my OLW album is in early stages. I've completed the January prompts and have started to put some of the pieces together. The page protectors I ordered from Two Peas just arrived yesterday, so I'm looking forward to putting those pieces into the actual album, and sharing some pics, soon.
What about you, do you make resolutions, pick a word, or otherwise plan for the year ahead?
January 31, 2011
Weekend Baking - Made Healthier
I love sweets. Cookies, cakes, pastries, you name it, I love it. I’d take sweet over salty any day. Seriously, a bag of potato chips could spend weeks in my cupboard before I’d be tempted enough to dig in. Chocolate or cookies barely survive the week. I swear they call to me from the kitchen. So, with my goal to eat healthily most of the time (and appreciating my own lack of willpower), I try to limit temptation by keeping only dark chocolate that I can enjoy in moderation in my house.
However, I also love to bake. And sometimes the desire to bake something, anything, is stronger than my desire to avoid temptation. On a snowy Saturday, that was the case. After sussing out the ingredients on hand, I settled on making peanut butter oatmeal cookies using this recipe from marthastewart.com as a base. As usual, I did alter a few ingredients to make the cookies a little healthier and allow me to enjoy them somewhat guilt-lessly (I’m telling ya, willpower and me, we’re not friends).
I started with these ingredients:
I won`t bore you with the full recipe here, as you can get that from Martha Stewart`s website. I will, however, share my alterations. First of all, I cut the whole recipe in half ... 6 dozen cookies is way too many to have in my house. Way. Too. Many. I used quick oats instead of old-fashioned, as that`s what I had on hand. And while you do see the white sugar bag in the pic. I didn`t use it. I substituted in Splenda instead. I substituted applesauce for half the butter (next time, I think I`d try using all applesauce). I also didn`t have peanuts or chocolate chips, so I used raisins and coconut as add-ins instead. I actually think these are tastier, healthier additions and make these cookies totally viable as a breakfast choice. (what can I say, willpower+me=bad breakfast decisions!). Moving on:
I didn`t have the ice cream scoop the recipe calls for to measure out the dough, so I just used a table spoon. Worked just fine. Also note that I first sprayed the cookie sheet with cooking spray and then opted to use parchment paper instead. Parchment paper is the bomb. I just forgot I had some. Blaming the baby brain.
The recipe calls for 13-15 minutes in the oven. In my pre-heated oven, 13 minutes was perfect. Any longer and I fear I`d have black-bottomed bitties instead of tasty goodness.
I skipped the step of allowing the cookies to cool on the sheet for five minutes before moving to wire racks. I needed to get more cookies on the sheets and into the oven. Patience and I also have our differences.
I ended up with 27 cookies and I`d say you could get 28-30 if you don`t eat the dough in between batches (I have a serious problem with willpower). I`d also guess if you made the full recipe you`d probably end up with 5 dozen cookies instead of 6 dozen, unless you made them super-small. And who wants a super small cookie?
After my alterations an adjustments, my cookies work out to be about 92 calories and 3.8 grams of fat a piece (calculated using Calorie Count Recipe Analysis), as compared to about 148 calories and 9.1 grams of fat using the original recipe and assuming 5 dozen cookies (of course if you made the super-small size cookies, the cals and fat would be less than that).
The verdict: Very tasty and somewhat healthy. A success indeed. Now if you`ll excuse me, there`s a plate of peanut butter oatmeal cookies calling my name in harmony from the kitchen.
However, I also love to bake. And sometimes the desire to bake something, anything, is stronger than my desire to avoid temptation. On a snowy Saturday, that was the case. After sussing out the ingredients on hand, I settled on making peanut butter oatmeal cookies using this recipe from marthastewart.com as a base. As usual, I did alter a few ingredients to make the cookies a little healthier and allow me to enjoy them somewhat guilt-lessly (I’m telling ya, willpower and me, we’re not friends).
I started with these ingredients:
I won`t bore you with the full recipe here, as you can get that from Martha Stewart`s website. I will, however, share my alterations. First of all, I cut the whole recipe in half ... 6 dozen cookies is way too many to have in my house. Way. Too. Many. I used quick oats instead of old-fashioned, as that`s what I had on hand. And while you do see the white sugar bag in the pic. I didn`t use it. I substituted in Splenda instead. I substituted applesauce for half the butter (next time, I think I`d try using all applesauce). I also didn`t have peanuts or chocolate chips, so I used raisins and coconut as add-ins instead. I actually think these are tastier, healthier additions and make these cookies totally viable as a breakfast choice. (what can I say, willpower+me=bad breakfast decisions!). Moving on:
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| Dry ingredients, less sugars, mixed together. |
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| Sugars, butters and other wet ingredients creamed together. |
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| Dry and wet ingredients get together, with raisins and coconut, to hang out. |
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| Cookies ready to feel the heat. |
The recipe calls for 13-15 minutes in the oven. In my pre-heated oven, 13 minutes was perfect. Any longer and I fear I`d have black-bottomed bitties instead of tasty goodness.
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| Tasty goodness, cooling off. |
I ended up with 27 cookies and I`d say you could get 28-30 if you don`t eat the dough in between batches (I have a serious problem with willpower). I`d also guess if you made the full recipe you`d probably end up with 5 dozen cookies instead of 6 dozen, unless you made them super-small. And who wants a super small cookie?
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| mmmm, enjoy. |
The verdict: Very tasty and somewhat healthy. A success indeed. Now if you`ll excuse me, there`s a plate of peanut butter oatmeal cookies calling my name in harmony from the kitchen.
January 30, 2011
The Simple Things
Not wonderful photo, no, but it makes me smile all the same. We officially began work on the nursery this weekend! As D taped off moldings and edges, getting ready to paint, I snapped a few 'before' pics so we can see the difference once it's all done.
Getting ready for the wee one's arrival, now that's wonderful.
January 28, 2011
Weekend Breakfast Routines
I find it interesting how routines change. One day we're entrenched in them, can't imagine doing things any other way. Life works perfectly just as it is and, as the saying goes, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Yet somehow at sometime, those routines change. Sometimes it's a sudden change, brought on by a big trigger (oh let's say, something like having a baby, or at least that's what I've heard) and other times, it happens so gradually you're completely unaware of it until what used to be no longer is.
That latter is where weekend breakfasts fall in our house. When we were first together, Des and I started going to Auntie Crae's on Saturday mornings for breakfast. Like clockwork, we'd head downtown for coffee, scones and the Saturday papers. If we happened to sleep in closer to lunchtime (I know, I know, those times are soon to be long gone, thank you growing-baby-in-my-belly), it might've been sandwiches instead of scones. But, for the most part, the routine was the same. We got to know one of the cashiers, Christine, by name. We knew what goodies were likely to be in the display case and which special treats were worth changing up the norm for. We went to Auntie Crae's almost every Saturday morning for several years. And it was perfect. It was us.
Auntie Crae's is no longer (insert sad face here), but that wasn't what caused a change in our weekend routine. I can't even recall what did. All I know is that somewhere along the way, we began staying home on Saturday mornings. We began brewing coffee using this coffee pot and whole beans from Coffee & Co. We began making homemade versions of Tims-style breakfast sandwiches, only healthier and tastier. We switched from reading the newspaper to readings news websites and surfing the web, while some cooking or car show ran in the background. While the core elements remained the same - enjoying each other's company, coffee, tasty treats and catching up on the news - the where and how had changed. Yet, it too was perfect. It too was us.
Now I'm noticing it is changing again, albeit only ever so slightly. While coffee and news at home is the same, we've started to introduce blueberry pancakes into the mix. Having seen a recipe on TV one morning (ironically, it was probably some Saturday morning while eating breakfast sandwiches) I tested it out one weekend. They were not only healthy, but hearty and delicious and have been edging their way onto the weekend breakfast menu more and more. So much so that I've nearly depleted my frozen stash of berries months earlier than usual ... thank goodness mom has more!
That latter is where weekend breakfasts fall in our house. When we were first together, Des and I started going to Auntie Crae's on Saturday mornings for breakfast. Like clockwork, we'd head downtown for coffee, scones and the Saturday papers. If we happened to sleep in closer to lunchtime (I know, I know, those times are soon to be long gone, thank you growing-baby-in-my-belly), it might've been sandwiches instead of scones. But, for the most part, the routine was the same. We got to know one of the cashiers, Christine, by name. We knew what goodies were likely to be in the display case and which special treats were worth changing up the norm for. We went to Auntie Crae's almost every Saturday morning for several years. And it was perfect. It was us.
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| patridgeberry scone for me, blueberry for des, fruit and cheese to share. mmm. |
Now I'm noticing it is changing again, albeit only ever so slightly. While coffee and news at home is the same, we've started to introduce blueberry pancakes into the mix. Having seen a recipe on TV one morning (ironically, it was probably some Saturday morning while eating breakfast sandwiches) I tested it out one weekend. They were not only healthy, but hearty and delicious and have been edging their way onto the weekend breakfast menu more and more. So much so that I've nearly depleted my frozen stash of berries months earlier than usual ... thank goodness mom has more!
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| so tasty! I'll share 'the making of a blueberry pancake' soon |
Certainly far from a significant change in routine, it is just blueberry pancakes after all, it did trigger a moment of reflection. I wonder what Saturday morning's will look like 3 months from now, with a newborn in our lives. What about 3 years from now, with a toddler? Or even 13 years from now with a teenager? Somehow I think I can safely say that sleeping-in will no longer be on the schedule, nor will the leisurely simultaneous web surfing. I'm also going to bet that coffee will increase in prominence (and value!). Otherwise, it's anyone's guess what routine will shape Saturday morning in the Ryan household. But one thing I do know is that it will be like the routines that preceded it. It will be perfect. And it will be us.
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