Did you know?

Did you know tomorrow is World Vegetarian Day? I didn't. But, know I do! It's always fun to learn something new. Here are a few more veggie-type related links:

Eat A Rainbow Everyday
Annoying Orange
A Veggie Venture

Planting seeds of gratefulness

1. Oil pastel color crayons. I love the way color so effortlessly glides onto your paper.
2. Wind blowing through the trees because it sounds like ocean waves crashing into shore.
3. Good books that make you laugh and smile and think and mention Shakespeare about a hundreds times. Wednesday Wars does it all.
4. Surprises of the cake-y kind. Yum! Thanks, Mom!
5. Faraway friends thinking of me.
6. Chickens who get fatter and bigger every day. They are so cute.
7. Questions at dinnertime being our most favorite part of dinner. Thanks to How Does She for introducing me to this idea. My kids love it! But, now I have to come up with my own questions as we are down to the last 5 from the ones the site has posted. Doh.
8. My son using my behind as his punching bag. It's not as bad as it sounds and it reminds me how small he still is and treasuring that he hasn't gotten too "big" yet.
9. Being able to go to my daughter to help me solve game puzzles. She's that smart and I only hope she gets smarter.
10. Mindy Gledhill's voice in this song:

Wordless Wednesday: The Fall

Do you know what goes good with rain?

It's our 3rd straight day of rain here in the Pacific Northwest and nothing goes better with rain than a hot bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. It's comfort food. You don't need a recipe for grilled cheese, but may I recommend Tillamook Cheese. I am brand loyal on certain foods and I just haven't found anything better than Tillamook. It's the go-to cheese for your sandwich. And when you don't have time for homemade soup, you just have to go with Pacific Foods Organic Creamy Tomato Soup. It's super yummy. Oh, and it doesn't necessarily have to be raining to be in the mood for this combo, but it sure helps!

med·i·ta·tion n. A devotional exercise of or leading to contemplation

Luke and his friend enjoying a quiet, contemplative moment at the lake. Ommmmm.
It has been a long road of meditation for me. I'm still learning and finding new ways to meditate and make it more of a habit. Recently, I participated in The Chopra Center's 21 Day Meditation Challenge-Summer. It was an awesome experience and I urge anyone who enjoys meditation or wants to commit to a practice to give these types of challenges a try. If you allow them to, they will have you tap into a part of yourself that you don't get to hang out with very ofen. It's that soft voice inside of you that you sometimes gets ignored because the world around it is too loud.

I have to admit that I have a hard time meditating on my own. I am one of those that need a guided meditation to keep me going and focused. I told you I was still learning.

So, in my search for more guided meditations I found another free meditation site named OnlineMeditation.org. On this site you have a chance to take 12 meditation classes. You begin by learning the basics of Sahaja Meditation. I really like the way the classes are broken up into 4 sections with one section being a guided meditation. I intend to open myself up to a new teaching and give myself some time with that soft voice inside.

Because Friday really means Funday

My husband and kids love this site that merges faces together. It's called Morphthing. It's a fun way to waste some time... if you have time to waste. If you are in the Doctor's office you may get some stares when you start laughing to yourself. Some of the images you can create are hilarious. Most are interesting. This one of two classic actresses is pretty cool. See if you can guess which two I morphed (scroll down for the answer).











Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe

Grateful Thoughts

1. All the new colors that are peeking up everywhere.
2. The tree-lined street where I live.
3. Motivation finding me this morning so I could take a nice run.
4. Recommendations for new books to read... Sarah's Key.
Have you read it?
5. The happy way the sun shines on the green grass.
6. Sweet smells of lavender wafting through the dryer vent.
7. Cool, refreshing, clean water to drink.
8. Finding a moisturizer that doesn't cause a terrible reaction to my skin.
9. Crunching on cucumbers
10. A neat video to remind me about what's important:

Wordless Wednesday: Happy International Day of Peace!!

"Chai"

A cup of tea does wonders on a cool, foggy morning. It warms you up from the inside out. Here is a tasty recipe for "chai":

1 cup of Almond Milk
1 tbs. Agave Syrup or Honey or even some Raw Sugar (whatever floats your boat)
a sprinkling of Allspice (add as little or as much as your tastebuds like)

Mix all in a saucepan and warm to your liking over medium heat. Sit down, put your feet up and enjoy.

Sprinkle Kindness throughout your day

image found on Practice Random Acts of Kindness

I'm no Mother Theresa, but I do try to be kind daily. I think the world is full of kind people and when you've been touched with an act of kindness you just can't help pass it on. Kindness can be a habit you don't want to break. Spreading kindness can even be just a thought... a pure thought sent out to the unsuspecting. Check out some creative, fun, kind ideas here:

Spread Kindness
Operation Nice
Random Acts of Kindness

Funky Finds Friday

Soccer season has started and that means sitting outside for long periods of time... and cheering and having fun, of course. Audrey is on a new team this year and in a new league. She's happy the league colors include her favorite color blue. So, naturally she needed a new hat to brave the sidelines when the weather gets chilly. I present Scoops to you.





I'm so glad I found this pattern. It's a cute, happy and fast knit. I went with a thicker yarn than suggested and smaller needles. This means I used fewer stitches as well. I like the way it turned out, but I do want to knit another hat with some thinner yarn. I used Plymouth Yarn's BAZINGA! in color 05 on size 9 circ needles.

Thankful Thursday

1. Possibilities of new friendships
2. Donuts
3. A hubby who surprises me by making the bed in the morning
4. A short break in my cleaning day to sit, have tea and update my blog
5. Cool IKEA desk
6. The sun peeking through for just 5 minutes on a cloudy day
7. My kids' laughter
8. Watching my cat, Max, sleep
9. Trusting that everything will be okay in the end because if it's not, then it's not the end.
10. This video meditation

Wordless Wednesday

Tasty Tuesday

Blackberries are everywhere! Our new home has vast amounts of blackberry bushes growing in the front and back yards. And since there are so many a blackberry pie was only necessary.



For my crust I used Ruth's Grandma's Pie Crust recipe on AllRecipes.com and it is friggin' unbelievable. The dough is super easy to work with and it comes out ever so light and flaky and justright. It makes about 4 9inch pie crusts.

The berries took minimal work (well, aside from picking them, of course.). Just gather 4 cups of berries, 1/2 cup of flour and 3/4 cup sugar (less if your berries are super sweet). Mix together until all the white is gone and pour into your crust. Bake according to your crust recipe. YumYum!

A Mindful Monday

I love this picture my daughter took of Spirit Lake up near Mount St. Helens. It was a lake created from the eruption in 1980.The water is crystal clear and the area is beautiful. It's amazing what can come from destruction. It's a lesson learned and I'm taking heart.

I'm hoping to get my blog a little more organized by attempting daily themes. We'll see how that goes. I think it will make it easier for me to share what I'd like to share with you.

So, on Monday's I want to try and be mindful. What helps me do that? Well, since you asked (heehee)I'd like to let you know about Notes from the Universe. If you haven't already heard of these, then OH JOY!! These little notes are sent daily via e-mail and they will light you up when you open and read them. They are little reminders of the small things that make up our world. Here's an example:

"The best way to find "love," which, incidentally, is just as true for finding money, is to focus less on these by-products of a life well lived... and more on a life well lived.

Simple is as simple does.
The Universe

Dance life's dance, today, without preconditions."

I urge you explore the whole site at TUTs Adventurers Club. It's the yang to the yin (you know, those yucky days or moments when you think the world and all of its inhabitants just can't seem to make it work). Carpe Diem!