indulgence!

In keeping with my picture a day of something that makes me smile or that I'm thankful for, here is today's!



I love Dr. Pepper! Can I just say that again, and louder this time, I LOVE DR. PEPPER!!!! It is seriously, next to chocolate, one of my guiltiest pleasures. I, however, rarely give in to my love for this tasty beverage because, well, lets be honest, it's loaded with calories, caffeine, and sugar..it just does not do a body good, and before you say to me "well Cricket, just drink diet, it tastes the same.." I will say, with every fiber of my being, a very loud and aggressive "HECK NO, IT DOES NOT TASTE THE SAME!!!" LOL! If I can't enjoy the fully loaded version of my favorite beverage, then I don't want it at all!!!

This morning, I decided after ignoring the one, lonely little bottle of said soda delightfulness in my fridge, that I would take today as my day to indulge and pour myself a nice big glass of Dr. Pepper! It was divine! In fact, I might have just heard some angels sing!! I certainly wanted to as I took my very first sip! It's so sad, and yet so fabulous that something so small and insignificant in the world as a soda, can made a person so totally happy! Yes, this morning I walked around with a big smile, savoring this glass of Dr. Pepper and thanking the soda god's above for their creation!

So, what is it that you would like to indulge in today? What is your guilty pleasure? Allow yourself to give in to them on occasion, life's to short not to enjoy!

Until next time,
blessings!

Smiles and other things that make me happy...

For awhile now (and believe me, it's taken a while to get here) I have tried to focus on the things that make me happy, the blessings that I have and all the many reasons I should be thankful and grateful for and in my life. Having a strong faith in my God has helped me enormously in this effort and I find that every day it gets easier and easier (kind of like a habit) to be in a more positive and thankful state of being. For this alone I am extremely thankful! LOL!

This month of November, I have been posting on Facebook, a daily thankful. Something each day that I am thankful for. Whether it's big or small, just the act of thinking about what I am thankful for that day sets me in a good mood (okay, so maybe it's a bit selfish as well, but selfish in the best possible way, right? LOL). My intention is to then, at the end of the month, collect all the posts I've made and turn them into a book for myself. This way, I will have a keepsake, a reminder of some of the the different blessings I have in my life so that when I am feeling a bit down or weary, I can flip through this book and lift my spirits up!

Then, the day before Thanksgiving I read about something so cool that I knew immediately I had to participate! The Brave Girls Club posted on their blog about a challenge they were doing, a words of kindness challenge. In this challenge they are asking that you print out or write out on small bits of paper, different messages of kindness, you know like "you are amazing" or "take care of yourself, you are worth the effort", things of that nature and then you are to hand them out to random strangers or individuals you encounter or see! Now, it might sound kind of scary and awkward to actually walk up to another person, someone you do not know at all, and hand them some words of kindness or encouragement, but I tell you this for a fact, if you do, you will not only feel really good about yourself, but, and this is my experience, the person will be so receptive, maybe a bit confused as it doesn't seem to be in our societies nature at this place in time (sad as that is) for another person to lift up the spirits of another just for the heck of it, but you will be warmly received, you will have made them smile, you will have done something good and that in itself is worth it's weight in gold!

I have started my campaign to give words of kindness to people. I hand wrote on little post it papers, some kind words, added a smiley face and the phrase "my words of kindess for you today" and have begun handing them out. The first was to our waitress at lunch. After I paid the bill, I slipped my little paper into the receipt folder and left it on the table. Now, I wasn't there to see her reaction to opening it up and reading it's message but I just know, I made someone feel good!

Wednesday night I went out with friends for a few pre-holiday cocktails and as I ordered my drink, I handed the bartender (a young girl who was very busy with what felt like hundreds of people shouting out for drinks) my credit card and a little slip of paper with kind words..I watched as she headed to the cash register to process my payment, stopped, read the paper and then turned to me with the biggest smile and mouthed the words "thank you" to me...I just nodded my head and smiled back. When she returned to me with my card, she said "this drinks on me!" Wow!!!! I think this will be a moment I'll not soon forget.

Today, as I paid for my latte at Starbucks, I told the cashier that I wanted to pay for the drink of young girl (okay early 20's but that's young to me now! LOL) behind me. I handed my card, and said just ring it up when she orders...I walked a bit away and could hear Linda, the cashier (yes I worked at this Starbucks for awhile so they are my friends) say to the gal after she ordered, "the person in front of you paid for your drink" the girl was so taken aback...I heard her ask "who was it" to which Linda must have pointed me out, the girl came up to me and said "did you do that on purpose?" like nobody had ever done something like that before! I said "yes, happy holidays" and she smiled wide, said thank you! As I got my drink and turned to leave she thanked me again...yep, selfishly, that made me feel so good it will stay with me all day long! I do know, as it's happened to me before, that random acts of kindness will and can change a person, can lift a soul up if only for a moment, it creates happiness and smiles and positive thoughts. That is how I am trying to live these days. To help those I can, to try and bring a smile here and there and to, above all, be thankful for the things each day that I have. Life is so short, you never know when your time to leave this earth will come and I just want to make sure that when I do leave this life, I will have, just maybe, made someone feel good and smile!

To add to my intentions of recognizing my blessings, I am trying to take a picture a day of something, anything that makes me smile. I had been on the search for years for an antique typewriter (the wanna be writer in me loves old typewriters)! One day, while walking through the antique mall with my girl, and just as we were about to leave, she looked down and saw this baby!! It sits proudly on my end table and each time I see it, I smile! Here's my picture for today....



As I leave this post, I just want to say how thankful I am for all my friends and family who do visit my little blog, who leave me nice comments and words of encouragement. Thank you for being in my life!

Until next time,
blessings!

How I love blogs!

I absolutely LOVE blogs! I have files and files of different blogs I like to visit..some in the scrapbooking world, some in the sewing world, some in the cooking world, some in the faith world...you get the idea...anyway, when I am feeling particularly bored or verklempt, the one thing that always seems to make me feel better is to surf my favorite blogs! I am always looking for more, fun and inspiring blogs to add to my list and that is just what happened to me yesterday morning!

I was on my favorite scrappy site, Scrapfreak, when I clicked on a post and saw a link to a blog. Looked interesting enough, even if the original post was geared toward someone else to take a peek at this blog, I clicked on over and OH MY GRAVY!! What fabulousness I found there! Smashed Peas and Carrots is the name of this blog, how stinkin' cute is that to begin with...well, Maggie, the gal who writes this blog, she has the most amazing stuff there..all kinds of crafty goodness as well as some over the top, yummy sounding recipes! I immediately was hooked, bookmarked her blog into my file and knew that I was going to be baking soon...her recipe for Cinnamon Chip Bread sounded too good to pass up. I had to run to 4 markets to find the cinnamon chips but by golly I found them...after lunch yesterday I set about making some Cinnamon Chip Bread of my own!

Let me just say, I've always been a wee bit scared to make yeast breads from scratch, I'm always afraid I'll kill the yeast, or not use it correctly and the bread will come out all yeasty and icky, but this recipe is so easy to make and I can say, with 100% assuredness, that if you try it, you will love it! Super easy to make!

After taking them out of the oven yesterday and letting them cool, I sliced off a smidge to taste test. Now, I'm someone who watches every stinkin' thing that I put into my mouth and I know that this isn't a low-cal kinda treat, so I just tasted it...one bit from a slice and I was hooked!!! It was soooo yummy!! I told Mandi that her breakfast was going to be the bomb diggity! This morning, she gobbled up that toasted slice of cinnamon yumminess like it was going out of style! LOL!

For once, I decided to forego the watching of said calories and indulge myself as well! Here is what I had for breakfast this morning too! Doesn't it just look to darn inviting?!



after toasting and brewing a second cup of coffee (something I rarely do in the morning), I enjoyed!!



I swear, I could have had a few more slices this morning but I will be good...well, maybe! LOL! I'm off, finished off all my house cleaning chores and the laundry is done...I'm heading out for a run to Starbucks (too bad they don't have the awesome cinnamon chip bread to snack on...sucks to be them!) and get my nails polished (said cleaning has destroyed my pretty manicure!)..if you make this bread, let me know what you think...you will find the recipe on her blog!! and a special thanks to Chickie, thanks for posting a link and letting me discover a great new blog to add to my list of loves!

Until next time,
blessings!

Maple Pecan Tea

Doesn't that just sound yummy!! Well, it is! LOL! I was in World Market today grabbing a bottle of wine for the weekend and saw a table with canisters of "The Republic of Tea's" new, limited edition tea, Maple Pecan. I knew I had to buy it...even if I didn't like it (which, how could that seriously be?) I knew Mandi would (she is a huge tea drinker)! I just brewed myself a cup and it is seriously delish!

So, here I sit, sipping my tea, trying not to freak out since I seem to have toasted myself a bit in the tanning bed this afternoon (I know, I know it's unhealthy...you needn't tell me so..LOL) and I decided that I needed to post another one of the pictures I took the other day.

This picture is of this wonderfully curious little road. Each time I come upon this road (it sits at a stop sign and you either go left or right, not down this cute road) I wonder who lives at the end...I never see anyone driving on it, or walking on it...just gates closed letting you know "DO NOT ENTER"!!

I had to stand in the center of the road, a road that cars fly down at speeds of 55mph or more but I got the shot. Again, I don't claim to have an "eye" for photography, but I do like the looks of this road and have always wanted to capture it on my camera.

I tweaked it's curves and hue/saturation, then played around again with a couple actions...whatcha think?

Straight out of camera:

After tweaking the colors and curves:

Using the Action Soft and Faded (courtesy of Totally Rad Actions):

Simple Edge Burn:

And my favorite of them all, Rusty Cage!!:


I honestly like all of actions used today but there is something about the Rusty Cage that just has me hooked! Of course you can't go wrong with an edge burn or vignetting, looks that I always adore!

So, there ya have it, I have a couple more pics to edit (listen to me..sounding all professional and stuff..I mean play with!!) and I'll share those soon. Tonight it's off to dinner at a friends and I need to get myself ready...hope that this dang tanning bed burn goes away fast!

Until next time,
Blessings!

70 degrees??

In Chicago, in November?? Say what!!! Yep, that is exactly what I am saying! We have been blessed to be enjoying some really beautiful weather here these past few days. Temps in the high 60's to low 70's with tons of sunshine and blue skies (although today it's a bit more cloudy out there but who's complaining...not me!). These last few days (I'm sure) of wonderful weather have put me into such a good mood! I've been inspired to be more active and have found a little bit of the creativity I seemed to have lost awhile back! Ah, life is good! In a perfect world, or rather, my perfect world, I would have temps like this year round..well, one season of hot temps and then the rest of the year could be like this! I've even been able to wear my flip flops again for a couple days..sure will miss that when winter shows her very unwelcome face here in Illinois!

There have been a few things around my area that everytime I drive past them (and I'm talking years worth of driving past) I've wanted to photograph. Not that I'm a great photographer or anything, more of a snap shot kind of girl, but I try. I have always been to afraid to pull my car off to the side of the road and snap away. Well, no more. This past year I've learned that in order to enjoy my life more fully, I needed to embrace whatever it is that scares me, to take it on in the face and beat it. Now, it might seem silly to you that someone would be afraid or embarrassed or whatever to simply pull off the road and get out of a car to snap a picture, but I always felt weird about doing it. Today I faced that fear! Being that the weather was so nice, my house is clean, the laundry is done and I had nothing pressing on my schedule, I decided today would be the day I took those pictures. If for nothing else, to prove that it isn't any big deal to do it! I have to say, it was a success! I even, if you can believe, stood in the middle of one road (where traffic flies at 55 mph) to get a picture (of course no one was heading down the road at the time..LOL). After it was all said and done, I hit Starbucks, enjoyed my latte and came home to load them onto the computer and see what I got!

Here is just one. I'll be playing with the others and posting as I go. This is the cutest, dang little General Store! It totally reminds me of days gone by...horses pulling wagons, penny candies and gingham...I know..sappy! I'm not too sure what it really is now, it is located at the end of a road in a historical area close to my home. I have, on occasion, seen doors open and people inside but I'm not all together sure it's actually a General Store...might just be a museum of sorts. Anyway, be prepared for the pictures...I took one...and then I played in Photoshop (another of my goals, to learn PS better!). I'll start with the photo directly out of camera:

See, like I said, just a basic snap shot. Colors not terrific, looks crooked, stuff like stop lights and wires that I didn't like..so, I fixed it:

then I decided to have some fun with actions. I love actions! I love how I can take a picture and totally change it's look with just the click of a button! All of the actions I used with the exception of one are from Totally Rad Actions. Which one do you like best???

Action = Faded (least favorite of mine I think)...

Action = Old Skool (kinda fun!)...
Action = Rusty Cage (really like this one!)...

Action = Vintage (I love old photos!)...
Action = Vintage + Blur (love this!)...

For me, it's a cross between Rusty Cage and Vintage + Blur..and, what surprises me even more??? that I didn't do a black and white one! I mean, most of my pics I turn into black and white..just love that look so much..another day I guess!

So, that is how I spent my day, thoroughly enjoyed it and that makes me happy, I mean, life should be enjoyed right? and I am trying harder not to forget that! Thanks for looking if you made it this far!

Until next time,
Blessings!

Yumm...

So, yesterday I was checking out Facebook, like I always do, and my girl La had posted a link to a bunch of really yummy sounding recipes made with Butternut Squash. Now, La and I are kindred spirits, I mean, we both have a serious addiction to eating squash! LOL! I seriously eat squash about 4 times a week...all different kinds, I love them all. When I saw these recipes I just knew that I was going to have to make the one for Roasted Butternut Squash and Shallot Soup! Of course, as luck would have it, the Butternut Squash I had on my counter was not going to be big enough, so off to the store I went to get myself another squash and some shallots (something I don't normally have in my possession either), so that I could make this soup for dinner. It was super easy to make and can I just tell you, when I was roasting the squash and shallots, the house smelled divine! Best news of all...only 112 calories a serving or for those of you following Weight Watchers, 2 points!! SCORE!! :)

I have to admit, I haven't done much cooking lately, just haven't felt the mojo to do it, and being a vegetarian (and my girl is not), makes it a bit more difficult to cook these days...not that I can't make stuff for myself, but the idea of fixing two dinners or lunches or what have you can seem a bit stressing at times...and, nope, the girl would not even taste my soup...sucks to be her I guess! LOL!! But, after making this soup yesterday, and doing a bit of baking lately, I am feeling a bit more inspired to play in the kitchen. I suppose with the coming of winter and cold temps, being outside isn't an option so staying in, baking, cooking or playing in my sCRAP room is what I will spend time doing. Not bad...not bad at all!

So, what will be my culinary adventure tonight you ask? NOTHING!! all the dang roads leading to the grocery store in town are under construction and for some reason, today, the traffic build up is insane!! and to top it off, the local grocery store decided, in all it's infinite wisdom, to re-surface their parking lot...I drove in, not a space to be found, drove out and said..looks like take out tonight!! Oh well....

Until next time,
Blessings!