Simple Abundance Friday, Jul 10 2009

This is what it's all about.

I love when situations or people surprise me– in good ways.  I’m not fond of times when people surprise me in bad ways or when people do things that I am shocked about or disappointed in… but I love when I am caught of guard by a good deed or a nice gesture.  For example, a friend of mine did me a favor right before I left my old job and went on to work at a new company– she wrote something for me that was better than I ever could have written and I could tell she put so much thought and time into making it unique and personal.  This meant a lot to me.  I’m not sure that she realizes how grateful I was/am for that, but I have thought about it quite a few times since.

I think that it’s so easy to get caught up in the monotony of everyday life that you sometimes need a surprise to wake up you again and remind you that life isn’t always predictable.  The beauty of life is that you never know where it will lead you.  Sometimes people that you thought you’d never see again end up playing starring roles in your life years later.  I hate to say it, but sometimes people that I have doubted at one time or another go on to surprise me and make me realize that I shouldn’t have doubted them.  This reminds me never to doubt people unless they give you a reason to do so…and to never sell yourself short.

The other day I got home to find a package waiting for me from my dad in Alabama.  Since he didn’t tell me he was going to be sending me something, I was excited to see what was in the box! 

Well, I opened it and saw that it was a hard-cover journal he found that I had given my grandma (Grammy) in 1998 for Christmas.  It was a gratitude journal with pages that were meant to be filled in by the recipient.  She certainly did a good job of adding detailed entries with little highlighted sections and scraps of paper when she had no more room.  She wrote down a lot of little things in her life that were going on… the people that came by to visit her, the things she did, what the calendar dates signified (like anniversaries or days she lost loved ones), the temperature outside, and even highlighted over the days that I called her next to a little smiley face she drew in (which was almost every single day).

I was so glad to get this book.  It is now one of the most special things I own– one of the things I would grab if there were a fire.  I love that my dad knew it would mean a lot to me and sent it, I love that he held on to it, and I love that he didn’t tell me he found it before he sent it.  Getting it in the mail made my day (maybe even made my week).  I was tempted to sit down and read the whole thing, but am forcing myself to read it slowly and enjoy the fact that the little things were enough to keep her completely happy…100% content with her beautiful, simple life.

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Picture of the Day… Friday, Jun 12 2009

Almost everyone appreciates chocolate!

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A Recipe I Love! Friday, May 8 2009

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

(Makes about 8 pancakes)

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup old fashioned oats (not instant!)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

2 cups buttermilk

2 tablespoons maple syrup

4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup raisins

cooking spray (for the pan)

Step 1: Beat eggs. Add buttermilk, butter , maple syrup and vanilla and mix well. Add whole wheat flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Mix well until mostly smooth (there will be a few lumps.  Don’t over-mix). Fold in raisins and let batter sit on the counter for a few minutes.
Step 2: Heat your griddle or pan over medium heat. Spray pan with cooking spray.
Step 3: Pour 2 Tablespoons of batter onto the pan. Cook on the first side until bubbles that form start to pop. Flip the pancake over with a spatula and cook until golden brown. I like my pancakes barely cooked, so I flip them as soon as I possibly can. Repeat until all the batter is gone. Serve and enjoy!

I like to sprinkle a little bit of powdered sugar on top to complete the look

…Because.  They are pancakes, therefore they are delicious…

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Don’t let Disappointment Mess With You! Friday, May 8 2009

This picture makes me want a vacation!

I think that it’s important to take disappointment in stride and have mini pity-parties every now and then, but I also think it’s even more important to just “get over it” and move forward.  Life is full of crazy disappointments.  Don’t let these things rule you and remember that everything happens for a reason.  The things that disappoint you today may be a blessing a year from now. 

Keep your chin up and stay positive!

…Because someone who is constantly sad becomes a sad angry person…

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Organized on the Inside… Thursday, Apr 23 2009

I like to consider myself “organized on the inside” but not necessarily organized on the outside.  What do I mean by this?  My desk at work and my room at home may not be the neatest and most organized (I think that living a life obsessed with color-coding, organizing, and labeling is hell on earth anyway), I make a point to remember important days that mean a lot to me and have a mini-celebration to honor people and moments passed. 

People that know me realize that I love to celebrate everything and anything I possibly can.  I also love traditions.

Examples:

• I like doing little things on Mark’s half-birthday for him.  Nothing crazy, but it’s always fun to celebrate milestones of all sorts.  I call it his “birtha-half day.”
• Heaven days: on days where close family or friends went to heaven, I do something to honor them.  On my Grammy’s heaven day, I wear her ring and I drink from her crystal glasses at dinner.  Sometimes I eat things that I know she loved to honor her.  On my friend Ryan’s heaven day, I will try to be as lazy as possible (I know he would encourage this) and focus on enjoying nature and animals.  On Nellie’s heaven day, I try to laugh as much as possible, enjoy my favorite shows on television, and try not to let anything bother me the whole day. 
• Engagement and dating anniversaries.  Mark and I don’t make a huge deal out of either of these two days because we now have a bigger (and better) anniversary to celebrate– our wedding anniversary.  We still make a point to acknowledge these two days though… and talk about fun moments we had in New York before, during, and after we got engaged.
• Mother’s Day.  I know almost everyone and their mother (hah!) celebrate this day, but I really like to get creative.  I think doing something interesting and unique every year is always appreciated more than I realize.

This is us in the middle of the night...

• Valentine’s Day Elves.  This is something that Mark and I started 2 years ago.  I’m sad that my dad no longer lives near me (he moved to another state about 3 years ago) because he hasn’t been able to experience the magic of the Valentine’s elves.  On the night before Valentine’s Day, we make gift baskets for our moms (and my step-dad Charlie) and we sneak into their houses after they are asleep to deliver them.  This way, when they wake up in the morning, they have a beautiful (and often delicious) assortment of goodies to start their day off with.
• m&m Christmas: every Christmas morning I must incorporate milk chocolate m&m’s into my breakfast.  This means m&m pancakes, m&m brownies (yes, brownies for breakfast; anything goes on Christmas), or just handfuls of those little gems.
• “Vacation-mode”: When I’m on vacation I allow myself to do whatever I want and simply blame it on vacation-mode.  Sleep in until 1:00pm?  Eat crap all day long?  Drink a bit too much?  It’s okay, anything is allowed when you’re on vacation.

I think it’s fun to come up with new traditions, develop new ways to celebrate, remember people you love, and always remember the times in your life that define who you are today. 

So, what was I doing 2 years ago today??

Getting engaged here!! Gramercy Park, NYC

…Because forgetting about days and people that made your life what it is means forgetting about what you are here to do…

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A Quote I Love… Thursday, Apr 23 2009

“It’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then…”

―Lucy Maud Montgomery

…Because perfection is not possible…

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Mmmmm Cupcakes! Friday, Apr 17 2009

Because the weather is wonderful and the weekend is fast approaching, today is the perfect day for a recipe!!

I'm making these on Mother's Day for my 2 moms!

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
Makes 20 cupcakes

For the cake:
2 1/4 cups  flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temp
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk (I use skim)
2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped

For the lemonade syrup:
1 cup lemonade concentrate, thawed
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

For the icing: 
1 cup fresh strawberries, roughly chopped
12 oz. cream cheese, at room temp
18 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temp
2 2/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tsp. lemon juice
1.5 tsp. vanilla extract

For lovely garnish:
Fresh strawberries
Lemon slices

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  

Line muffin pans with paper liners and spray the inside of the liners so the cupcakes don’t stick.  

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and lemon zest.  Stir together with a fork and set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until it is light and fluffy.  Add the sugar and beat until well combined.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.  Add half of the flour mixture to the bowl and beat on low speed until just incorporated.  Add in the milk and mix until smooth. Add in the remaining flour mixture and mix on low speed until just blended.

Fold in the fresh strawberries with a spatula.

Divide the batter evenly into the paper liners, filling them about 3/4 full.  Bake about 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (I always aim for less time so I don’t over-bake).  Allow to cool in the pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, mix together the lemonade concentrate and confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl to make the lemonade syrup.  Poke several holes in the top of each cupcake with a skewer and pour the syrup over the cupcakes, allowing it to soak in.  (Put foil paper underneath your cooling rack so you don’t make a mess!)

To make the icing, puree the strawberries in a food processor or blender.  Strain the puree through a mesh sieve to remove the seeds, and set aside.  Beat the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and very fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.  Add the lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated.  Mix in strawberry puree, a tablespoon at a time, until you achieve your desired texture and flavor of frosting (I added about 7 tablespoons of puree).  

Frost cupcakes as desired and garnish with fresh strawberries and lemon slices. 

…Because lemonade is awesome and so are cupcakes.  Add the two together and you can’t go wrong…

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Stop Obsessing! Friday, Apr 10 2009

I’ve noticed that the people who don’t seem to enjoy life are the ones who are extremely set in their ways.  Examples include the obsessive neat freak who can’t live with anyone because he’s so ridiculously demanding to the lady who dreads getting up every day because her life isn’t what she thought it would be.  Basically, anything to the extreme sucks. 

If you live your life wondering about the person you “could have been” or focusing on your “failures,” you won’t ever be able to get past the negativity and break free into the fulfilled and happy person lurking inside of you. 

This is true in many situations and of many people, like:

• The couple so obsessed with having kids that they stress out and make their journey worse.  No one wants to be lovey-dovey when they are stressed, and no ones ovaries function properly when they are busing worrying constantly about biological clocks.  If it doesn’t work out, everything happens for a reason.
• The woman so concerned about getting married that she scares off every guy in a 30-mile radius.
• Men who are so crazy about bulking up, thinking being “huge and hot” will make them happy.  They end up lonely and unhappy when they realize their only friends are other meat-head dudes and their protein shakes may not be as delicious as the occasional beer or two they have been dreaming about every night.  Life is meant to be enjoyed– restrict yourself sometimes but let yourself enjoy when you really want to.
• Career-obsessed people.  It’s good to want a challenge and to push yourself while you’re at work.  Everyone wants to earn a decent living and do work that they are proud of.  Working 80 hours a week and forgetting about your family and your interests is never a good thing.  The same goes for missing important family functions all the time.  You’ll have your family when you’re old, but your job won’t matter anymore– you’ll be retired.
• The bridezilla.  We all have our moments when we are planning our weddings.  We want things to be perfect and we want to look perfect.  Frankly, though, obsessing over every little place card and detail is ridiculous.  No one cares that much and people are there to watch you get married– not to stare at the linens or flowers.  Enjoy your engagement and stop making everyone hate you!!
• The crazy cat lady.  More than 10 animals is sort of strange.  You shouldn’t collect cats.

 

Do you think this guy does anything OTHER than lifting weights and weighing protein grams?

Sometimes the things you think are failures aren’t actually failures.  You may think you made a huge mistake now, but you may be ridiculously happy with how things turn out a few years from now.  Because it’s impossible to know the future (although I do have psychic moments from time to time), it’s impossible to judge the path of your life.  I think that trusting your feelings and following your heart will keep you from regretting things. 

…Because obsessive behavior is not healthy…

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A Quote I love! Saturday, Apr 4 2009

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.“

―Joseph Campbell

No one actually NEEDS a white picket fence.

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Remember the Good! Saturday, Apr 4 2009

I’m not sure how everyone else feels, but I am so sick of hearing about the economy and how bad things are (and how freaked out the world is).  I feel like even the most optimistic people could become depressed after weeks and weeks of hearing about job loss, foreclosures, and loss of faith in America.

Yes I do!!

I was doing some thinking this morning about the people that I have known who I would consider the “happiest souls” I’ve ever met.  I know I blog about her often, but my grandma (Grammy) was ridiculously awesome when it came to seeing the bright side.  She was content with everything she had– even though it wasn’t much.  She thought relationships and experiences were far more important than money and possessions.  Although she lived on very little, she never felt deprived and wasn’t ashamed of admitting that she didn’t have much.

Even though Grammy can’t be here to witness the economic debacle of today and tomorrow, I always think about how she would react to what’s going on.  I think she would laugh at the chaos of it all, make jokes about being glad that she doesn’t have much money to lose, and focus on what she does have in life that she is thankful for. 

Some of Grammy’s famous lines:

• “I’m so thankful for…” (insert one of her classics: my microwave, my VCR, learning how to use email, to be together for the holiday’s, my Bose radio your dad got me, or Klondike bars– to name a few).
• “Yard by yard, life is hard.  Inch by inch, it’s a cinch.”
• “I’m not going to worry about anything I can’t control.”
• “Life is too short to collect stuff.  I collect love!”

Here’s an old email I found from her a couple of weeks ago that made me happy:

From: Gladys Groome
> > > Date: Friday, February 13, 2004 8:18 pm
> > > Subject: Re: Hi Grammy!!
> > >
> > > > Hi Krissy. So glad to know that you think about me. I really think
> > > > of you every day and miss you so much.  Love, Grammy

I think that it’s important to hear about the things that are going on in America and to understand the real impact of our economic situation.  I also think that while it’s important to listen when you can, it’s also important to just turn off the TV and stop reading about it all every now and then.  Sometimes you just need a break in order to stay sane.

In moments where I feel that I may lose my sanity, I remember the people who are important to me, and try to see this whole mess as an opportunity to spend more time learning how to prepare financially for things in a reponsible way.  Hopefully the preparations will never be needed, but if they are, I’ll be ready.  In the mean time, I’ll be closer to what really matters in life– people and experiences.  Houses, lost retirement income, and savings accounts don’t matter if you die tomorrow of a heart attack from being so stressed about the “what-if’s.”  When all is said and done, what matters is the type of person you have made yourself into.

…Because money is just paper!…

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