The dividers for each month are my favorite designs from two old Paper Source letterpress desktop calendars I still had lying around/was hoarding (depending on your perspective.) It made me super happy to find a good use for them. This is exactly why I save things!

Knowing that I have big hand writing and wouldn’t be able to keep my thoughts to half an index card (like the example on Design Sponge), I bought the larger index cards (4×6) and cut them to the size of the calendar pages (5.5 inches.) Least favorite part of the project. Before I take on my next massive cutting project, please remind me to go buy a larger paper trimmer. But it’s done now.

I could have just written the month and date on each one but instead used this as a good excuse to go buy a date stamp. (I feel like my next project should be to create a card catalog and library cards for all of our books. Maybe I will! Just kidding. I think.) And, of course, I couldn’t just let my little journal sit on my bedside table without something pretty to put it in. My first thought was that it would be a good reason to buy one of Anthropologies’ Farmer’s Market Baskets. However, the width was too small (I’ll have to find another reason to buy those….) so I searched Etsy next and found the basket I used from Baskets8899 . Perfect.

Oops. The surfaces burned before the middle cooked through. I decided the griddle must be too hot and the pancakes too big. So I tried again. Only they still turned out too big and sloppy. But at least they weren’t as burnt. Despite their appearance, they did actually taste good. Still, if anyone has any suggestions on what I did wrong please let me know!

Maple Crunch Muffins (from Better Homes and Garden)

I can’t take any credit for the recipe, I followed it directly from the link above except for doubling the frosting (2 oz of cream cheese is not very much!) I can, however, take credit for the delicious granola I used. That recipe is below. I plan on adding more granola to the muffins next time. I was worried it would overpower the bread but, especially with the smaller grain of the steel-cut oats, I think more crunch would be good.

Homemade granola (adapted from Epicurious)

• 2 c steel-cut oats
• ½ c wheat germ
• ¼ c maple syrup
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (it’s what I had, you can also use pecans)
• 2 T brown sugar
• ¼ t salt
• 3 T vegetable oil
• 1 T water
• 2 t ground cinnamon
• 2 t vanilla extract

1. Pre-heat the oven to 275° F.
2. Spray 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray.
3. Combine first 6 ingredients in a mixing bowl.
4. Bring syrup, oil and water, to a simmer in saucepan over low heat. Stir in cinnamon and vanilla.
5. Stir syrup mixture into dry ingredients.
6. Pour mixture into pan and squeeze into small clumps.
7. Bake for 45 minutes.

If I make this to top yogurt, I add about 1/3 cup raisins during the last 15 minutes. Yum!

Here’s a quick excerpt from the Board of Trustee’s September meeting noting just a few remarkable alumni achievement during the period June 30, 2010 through July 1, 2011. One of the women, Clara, graduated the class below me. In addition to her achievements listed in the link, during the second half of 2011, she was also named to Fortune’s 2011 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs and the Starbucks Board of Directors. Oh, and she had a really beautiful wedding in San Francisco.

My friend Ani and his company Sanergy are also off doing great things in Africa. Their focus is “to build and scale viable sanitation infrastructure in the slums of Nairobi.” And they’re being awarded some pretty awesome grants to help them continue their efforts to do so.

Pretty amazing. And more than a little bit humbling when all you do is go to work, come home and make dinner, and try to make things pretty. But I figured, if not for any other reason, I’d volunteer at the career fair to tell these high schoolers that it’s OK to just have a normal life.

I noticed a few really interesting patterns throughout the night’s conversations. A frequent question was how I decided to do what I do. Honestly, it was a series of decisions that I made piece by piece at the points I had to make them. Each time I repeated that answer to someone new, I’d get a big look of relief. In their world, they think they’re supposed to already have this all figured out.

They also asked questions, in different forms, that kept bringing me back to the same topics of the things I do like to do. It was a nice reminder through the eyes of curious bystanders instead of just the same cycle of conversations that go through my own head. One of the things I kept repeating though was that, no matter what they pick, they can always change their path. I hope they believed me.

We were going over to their house around lunchtime so I offered to bring something for all of us to eat. I wanted something easy to prep ahead and  just pop in the oven once we got there. Pete and I love making homemade pizzas (though I haven’t ever made my own dough – I should try soon) so I decided to make three pizzas with different toppings on each one. Here are the before images which we just covered in foil to carry over.

Tomato sauce, italian seasoning, sausage, green pepper, and onion

Left: Olive oil, shallots, ham, swiss, and thyme

Right: Olive oil, tomato, mozzarella, salt, pepper, and fresh basil (after cooking)

Yum. Just looking at them is making me think pizza will be on the menu for next week.

Since it wouldn’t be nice to bring food over just to eat it, we also brought over stuffed shells for them to eat or freeze. I didn’t take any photos though and I just follow the recipe on the back of the box of shells. But there’s a specific brand I like (which I only know by sight) and when Pete went to the store they didn’t have it. The directions on the box he got were different than usual so I tried to improvise adding and subtracting where I thought necessary. It ultimately turned out OK but not without some bad doubling the recipe math on my end. And we have a lot of mascarpone in our fridge right that I need to find a use for.

Maybe it will go on next week’s pizza…

{Image found via a Facebook share – please let me know if you know the source!}

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t really make New Year’s resolutions but I do try to spend some time reflecting and making goals for the upcoming year. As 2011 came to an end, however, I found myself feeling even more reflective than normal. The thing is, I’m not an overly sentimental person. Single days don’t often hold much meaning to me. But, for some reason, it felt really good to close the door on 2011 and have a fresh start with the new year.

Interestingly, 2011 wasn’t that bad of a year. There were a few overwhelming stressors that don’t get talked about on the blog because this is my happy place. But it also wasn’t the worst of recent years. In fact, to go along with the bad, there was also quite a lot of good this year. Time spent with family and friends near and far, new friends made (even those I’ve never met in person), weddings, babies, new adventures with Pete, healthier eating habits as I strive to nurture our bodies and my soul, a new camera, the confidence to take on photography clients and even shoot my first wedding.

We have a good life. A good life indeed. And I am grateful.

But I still don’t feel very good. I’m exhausted. I’m stressed. I am always SO. FREEZING. COLD. (Though my new Eddie Bauer down coat – kind of like this one but down to my knees – is maybe the best purchase I’ve ever made in my life.)  I’m pretty sure I’ve trained my body to be in a constant state of fight or flight. And, in case you’ve never been to Chicago, let me assure you my daily life is pretty safe. So, needless to say, it would be helpful to my nervous system if I could give it a break.

Now, the people who know me in real life would probably say these are not the things you see on a regular basis. I hide it well. But the pieces are getting harder to hold in as the cracks are getting bigger. I’ve been saying it for several years now (check out my 2010 and 2011 goals) but I really really need to learn balance and find peace.

And I am trying. Oh, am I trying. I started getting acupuncture a few months ago to try to calm my system. I stopped drinking coffee and am limiting alcohol and dairy. We switched to all organic food to hopefully increase the nutrients my body will take in (considering I don’t exercise and sometimes accidentally lose weight, I’m worried I don’t generally get enough nutrients even when I am eating. Sometimes when I’m really stressed I stop eating which is another issue all together.) So my body is getting more attention than it has in a long time.

I also took “Winter Break” for the first time in I can’t remember how long. And I spent it doing as close to nothing but taking care of myself as possible. It was a bit strange and confusing and sometimes made me feel anxious that I was supposed to be doing something else. But the point was, I wasn’t. And I’ve discovered a few books and blogs (like The Conscious Perspective) to help me work on calming my mind and soul.

It sounds like kind a lot all at once. Almost overwhelming. But, actually, it feels good. It just doesn’t leave much of me to share with everyone/everything else right now. From seeing friends to blogging to focusing on those clients and possibly growing this photography business. I want and need to do those things too. But I’m probably going to have to keep putting myself first for a while as I get this all figured out.

The good news is, I’m feeling at least a bit more re-charged, I’m ready for 2012. My friend Kristy shared the image at the top of this post on Facebook last week and it sums up my high-level goals for 2012 pretty well. I would, however, have to make the following tweaks:

• Change “Drink Good Coffee” (now that it’s out of my daily habits I may as well keep it that way) to “Be Mindful”
• Change “Write More Books” (writing blog posts takes me long enough, I can’t imagine trying to write a book) to “Share Even More” (I forgot it was on the top, but as this is a big one for me this year, it seems fitting to put it on there again)
• Change “Grow My Blog” (I still don’t often tell people about it, see “Share Even More” above) to “Start a Photography Blog”
• Change “Workout until it shows” (this isn’t about how I look, it’s how I want to feel) to “Workout until you have more energy”
• and, under “Learn New Stuff” I would cross off what’s there (I tried to make macaroons once, actually, and totally failed) and change it to “Photoshop, my food processor, and spontaneity)
• I’ve also been instructed to “Have More Fun” so we should go ahead and add that one on there too.

Putting them out there like that, they sound more like resolutions than usual. But perhaps that’s not a bad thing. Let’s see what we can do around here. One day at a time.

{P.S. Sorry for such a long post today. I just have a lot on my mind. Clearly. I promise to get back to projects and happy things though. There’s quite a lot cookin’ over here lately. Now to just get a chance to photograph, edit, and blog them!}

• You can never go wrong with food
• I’ve wanted to make a homemade hot chocolate mix
• This would be the perfect opportunity to do so
• Plus it would be a great excuse to wrap something in a pretty jar – yes!

After reading quite a few recipes from all over the internet, I decided to make the hot chocolate mix as follows:

• 2 cups non-fat dry milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

When you’re ready to make the hot chocolate, stir 1/4 cup of hot chocolate mix (or to taste) into 8oz of hot water.

I obviously couldn’t give this as a gift without testing it out first and it was quite delicious. I’ve been on a peppermint hot chocolate kick lately so I decided to crush up some candy canes to add in the peppermint flavor. I can not wait to save the $4 per cup I was spending at Starbucks!

To turn it into a gift, I put the hot chocolate mix, crushed candy canes, and some marshmallows into individual sandwich bags and layered everything into a jar. (It would have been prettier without the bags, but not nearly as functional to get to the mix at the bottom if you had to dig through everything else!) Pretty red ribbon and a tag (which came after the picture was taken) and it was all set to go.

If you need any last-minute gifts, this was really easy to make!

First, here’s what the inspiration ornaments looked like:

The pin only links back to the image, no instructions on how to make them, but Tiff and I figured we’d just improvise. A few weeks before our crafting date, I bought a bunch of children’s Christmas books from our local thrift store. A few days before, I purchased the glass ornaments from Michael’s. I already had the glitter and plenty of mod podge/other adhesives so we were all set to go.

In classic DIY fashion, the first one I made took an hour as I tried to figure out to best get the glue and paper to stick. My time dramatically improved with the second one and I finished in a mere 20 minutes. However, with my target of 30 ornaments, that was still way too long. This is where Tiff’s awesome engineering brain came in. She realized that the thinner the paper, the easier it was to apply (because the glue sticks better to the paper with less application and the paper itself is more shape-able to the ornament). And, by that logic, if we used tissue paper it was going to be even easier. Yes! So much better.

As luck would have it, I had a few sheets of Christmas tissue paper at home so I scrapped the cute books and decided to use that instead in the interest of time. I just wish I had known in advance so I could have picked out different paper. But oh well. What I had certainly works.

{P.S. If you’re reading this and your child gets an ornament, feel free to pretend to be surprised. If you’re reading this and your child doesn’t get an ornament, please move to Chicago. I didn’t think the glass would mail well. }

A few other things to note about the process:

• To glitter the tops, I removed them from the ornament, slathered them in mod podge, and then dunked in a little cup of glitter. This seemed to work well.
• I tried spraying a clear coat over the ornaments at the end to hold in the glitter. I’m not sure this was very successful though so you may want to skip that step.
• I wish I had prettier, more consistent hand writing. Sigh.

Also, in case you’re wondering how the paper ones turned out, I really really like them. So much so that this one is staying on my tree!

I didn’t have much time to think about decorating so everything is pretty much the same again this year. Some people like things the same. I tend to get very bored. But let’s also remember that we live in a small condo. Sometimes there’s only so much changing you can do without buying everything new (which is not the kind of change I’m going for.)

I did make one quick swap of the ornaments filling our hurricanes from shades of blue to brightly colored (we already had the colored ones, just on the tree) to go better with the icicle ornaments on the branches. It’s one of those things that seems so obvious I can’t believe it took me a few years to actually do.

I was also on an errand at Lowe’s when I came across disco ball ornaments. Leave it to me to find the girliest, sparkliest thing in the whole home improvement store. Of course I bought them. My guess is they won’t be put away with the rest of the Christmas decorations.

In other uncharacteristic news, I didn’t start Christmas shopping until Friday. Friday. That’s crazy. Luckily, we were able to get a lot done at our local stores (I love where we live and was so happy to support the shops) before heading to the bigger name stores on Saturday. But the last-minute shopping meant I just wanted the presents wrapped and done. The thing is, I know the recipients won’t care. It’s just a bit funny to not be excited about something I usually like to do.

But do you know what? I’ve been spending my time doing a lot of other things I like (photography) or need (cooking) to do. And so, it’s OK. It’s OK to not be able to do everything. I certainly can’t do it all at once. And so, it was nice today, as I put things in gift bags instead of carefully wrapping them, to not be upset by that.