approaching joy

arty-crafty :: smash book

Just a warning: I am a little too excited about the subject of today's post.

Just like MJ mentioned earlier this week: Sometimes a girls just got to have a place to keep her thoughts.  This is my new place: my Smash book by K and Company.

 It has the book equivalent of pockets, which equates as "storage".  
First to store:  Washi tape. My new obsession.  Please click over here and join in this new obsession with me.
Secondly: the pens I obsessively hoard. (As anyone who has been to the bottom of my bag can tell you, I have a serious problem.) These skinny ones are Le Pen and are fantastic.  It's basically an itty bitty (super fine tip) marker that doesn't bleed through, i.e. my deam writing utensil.

 And these suckers are equally as cool!  A (very) slightly larger tip marker/ pen with glue!  Doesn't that just excite you about the possibilities of the things you can stash in this sucker?!?!  Okay, maybe it doesn't do anything for you but it thrilled the heck outta' me.

It has great graphic art sprinkled through out and that that definitely pumps up the fun/ irreverent factor (check out my Instagram feed for more pictures like this that can be found throughout this cutie.)

The premise of the Smash line?  Use it like you would a junk drawer; smash into anything that seems relevant at the time.   It's intended to be a place to record life while not taking things too seriously as... say a "real" scrapbook.  
And I'm all about not taking every day loveliness too seriously. 

 Right now this is just a place to keep my calendar/ thoughts/ emotions in check and all together. Later (soon?) if/ when I get a printer I may think about using this as a place to introduce some of my Instagram shots into the real (non-virtual) world, but I'm going to just roll with it as is at the moment.

p.s. I didn't get paid to say cool things about Smash.  I just thought it was a fun and pretty idea.

What do you guys use to keep everything together?  
Are you more of a tech-ophile?  (Please don't get it twisted- my Google Calendar is still essential to my everyday life.)  Do you use the year long monthly calendar with cute kittens like my mom has carried around since 1992?  (I swear that thing just reincarnates itself every 12 months... that little sucker is like magic...) Maybe a trusty composition book?! 
I'd love to hear back. 

tasty :: Food Blogger Bake Sale

I mentioned earlier in the month, I that I am participating in this years Food Blogger Bake Sale and was so stinking excited to see my name in the official news release.

Check it out:

(North Little Rock, Ark.) – April 20, 2010 – This Saturday, April 28, Arkansas food bloggers will join others across the country in the third annual Food Blogger Bake Sale, raising funds for Share Our Strength in the organization’s fight against childhood hunger. The Arkansas event, hosted by Christie Ison of Fancy Pants Foodie, will be held adjacent to the Argenta Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market in North Little Rock, 6th and Main Streets, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Offerings will include items made by local bloggers, including: Hillary Kleck ofSensory Sun; Lisa Mullis of Arkansas Outside; Sunshine Crawford of Make Life Delicious; Julie Kohl of Eggs and Herbs; Stephanie Hamling of Proactive Bridesmaid; Gina Knuppenburg of Desperately Seeking Gina; and Paige Burkham of Approaching Joy. Professional offerings will include gluten-free items by Dempsey Bakery, and other treats from the Peabody Hotel, Argenta Market, Brown Sugar Bake Shop, Whole Foods, Blue Cake Company and Gigi’s Cake Boutique.

Last year, the Arkansas team raised over $1,000 with its first sale, and all proceeds went to support Share Our Strength programs such as No Kid Hungry and Cooking Matters. Ison, a graduate this May of Pulaski Technical College’s Arkansas Culinary School, will be a volunteer chef with the Cooking Matters program in Little Rock this summer.

Organized in 2010 by Gaby Dalkin of WhatsGabyCooking.com, the national Food Blogger Bake Sale features food bloggers from across the country who unite to support the cause by holding bake sales in their states on the same day.

Share Our Strength®, a national nonprofit, connects children with the nutritious food they need to lead healthy, active lives. Through its No Kid Hungry® campaign – a national effort to end childhood hunger in America – Share Our Strength ensures children in need are enrolled in effective federal nutrition programs; invests in community organizations fighting hunger; teaches families how to cook healthy, affordable meals; and builds public-private partnerships to end childhood hunger, at the state and city level. Working closely with the culinary industry and relying on the strength of its volunteers, Share Our Strength hosts innovative culinary fundraising events and develops pioneering cause marketing campaigns that support No Kid Hungry. Visit Strength.org.  

I'm so pumped to be joining these other women to help out children around the state!  
Also, I "know" Christie, Gina, and Julie from web interaction and am excited to meet these (and other) blogging superstars in real time. Yay!

For the sale I want to make "chocolate chip muffins". This is where I take a chocolate chip cookie recipe and stuff it into a mini muffin pan.  The "mini"-ness allows people buying things at the bake sale to think they're getting more bang for their buck. ("Three for the price of one?!? And I don't have to make a sticky mess to share with my toddler?  Win..."  I'm not even a Mom and I can already foresee me making that decision.)  I hope to have a cute package design that beckons all potential FBBS supporters as well.

But here's the deal: This week has been so insanely crazy I haven't pinned down my exact recipe yet.  {Eek!} 
That's where you guys come in.
I have the internet so I have options, but I need opinions!

Should I go with this version from the Pioneer Woman?

{photo credit}

OR 

Should I go with this recipe from Smitten Kitchen?

{image credit}

What do you think?? 
For the last set of "muffins" I think I made the second version from Smitten and the Mister lurved them.  But the addition of coffee and flax really intrigues me on... Oh Pioneer Women... Always throwing me for a loop when I'm least expecting it.

#1 Please vote down below in the comments and I will announcement the winner (and post pictures of the resulting "muffins") later this week.

#2 Are you guys like me and go to your favorite blogs to search for recipes?  Or do you rely on Pinterest? Or are you more of a traditionalist and bust out the Ladies Association Cookbook circa 1992 like I've occasionally been known to do?

and now a word about leaving as opposed to moving...

As everyone probably knows by now, I am moving.
And I'm psyched about it; this change has so many positive aspects.
But I would be lying to say that there is a big part of me that is hesitant to leave.

I've moved before: D.C., NWA (version 1.0), KC... [obviously I have a thing for towns/regions that are known by acronyms].  This shouldn't be any different, right?

But when I moved back two years ago to finish my grad degree, I didn't realize it that my family's life was on the brink of a drastic change. 

My grandparents, who lived within biking distance of my home when I was younger, fell into bad health.  Southern friend food and bacon from home grown hogs finally caught up after 80+ years of enjoyment, which has led to by-pass surgery and debilitating strokes.  As a result, my grandfather (who has always been the towering state policeman from my childhood) was put in the nursing home and my grandmother (who swore she would never live with her children) moved in with my parents.  
All of this happened while they were kicking and screaming in dissension.  Because despite their health, or lack there of, they are still my beloved grandparents and I am convinced that these people have never given less than 100% in anything in which they have ever been involved.

This is the man who, after retirement, helped start a volunteer program for other retirees to go around the US helping to build churches for congregations who couldn't afford the cost of labor.  A sixty year old man up on a roof in the middle of a central Texas summer?  Think about that next time you're "exhausted" from the heat after visiting your favorite outdoor mall.

This is the woman who is always making something.  First, her children's clothing when the department stores were too expensive. Then countless parade floats, and quilts, and embroidery projects for county fairs through the years.  And even this past week, when she learned that her dearest friend passed away, she soothed herself by staying busy in the kitchen to feed the family, hoping that this was one last thing she could do to say "I love you," to her friend.

{I shot all of these picture over the past weeks while they were in the process of getting the house ready for renters.  Sad process but so happy some of the memories were captured.}

And because of all this change. this move is different.
I'm almost afraid that when I leave the memories of what "home" has been like will never be the same once I am gone.  

sunday funday :: girlmusic.april #2

Hey there!  Happy Sunday.

It's officially dead week here in grad school land.  (Does anyone else find it ironic that there is nothing "dead" about dead week?)  In honor of all the last minute papers, projects, and other stuff that the professor mentioned and you're just now remembering: here's a sound track to get you motivated (first part) or help you relax, once it all gets finished of course, (the second part of this list).

Black Light Dinner Party - Leave It All by Black Light Dinner Party

Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men

Delta Spirit - California by MMMusic

Isbells - Baskin' by Zealrecords

Marc Scibilia How Bad We Need Each Other WAV by Art Phillips

 

create.edit.share :: the sun

Have I mentioned how I am completely over this week?  
Yes... as I mater of fact I did.

No matter.  Tomorrow will be here soon enough and before I know it finals week will be come and gone and then I'm sure I will have something else I will handle impatiently...  
What can I say?  At least I'm starting to figure out how I handle things.

Be sure and hit download above.  All of these make fun screen savers (though some work better than others).  And if you're like me lately, you need a mini pep talk every time your see your computer screen.  
(grumble, grumble, grad school, grumble)