Sending Hugs and Kisses

This month on Studio Calico we are using childhood pictures for our avatars, this is the one I used and I sat here thinking about what I remember from when this was taken... I don't remember that much from this time in my life, I remember moving around this age, I remember that I didn't like it, not surprising that I still don't like change. I do recall that I loved to feed the birds in my socks, seriously I refused to do it in shoes or bare feet and I still love to wander about in my "stocking feet", as Gram called them, to this day. I remember how much I loved hearing my Mom, Grandma, or Grandpa read me a story, I can still remember the distinct cadence of each voice. I remember having a hoodie that I loved and going to McDonald's outdoor playground with my friend Betsy, we always wore our shiny pink satin jackets. My Mom and I used to split a big breakfast at McDonalds on Saturday mornings. We still got McDonalds on the way to school sometimes when I was in...

Here is a quick recipe for a super yummy spring salad! Salad: 1 bag of bag spinach, washed and dried 1 pint (or more) of fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered 1/2 a block of Feta cheese crumbled 1 cup toasted pecan pieces Dressing: 1/3 cup strawberry preserves 2 tbsp Olive Oil (light in flavor) 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 1 tbsp dijon mustard 1/2 tsp crushed black pepper 1 tbsp (or more) of warm water to make it the consistancy you desire Put all the salad ingredients into your salad bowl. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight sealing lid and shake vigorously, this is the fun part! Pour over salad right before serving! Hope you all had a fantastic holiday!

I signed up for the Glimpses class in December, I forgot about it with the holiday rush. Next thing I know it's the end of March and Stacy Julian was coming to our store for a Glimpses Reception. I was so excited to get an invitation to the event... and then I realized, whoops, I signed up for the class and I hadn't even started it yet!!!! For those of you know me it will come as no surprise that my people-pleasing-overachiever-self had to get this thing done, I couldn't meet Stacy empty handed!* I buckled down and got to work on my album, had a false start, listened to the audio and started again. What began as a push for a finished product took on a life of it's own as I snapped picture, gathered meaningful words and put it all together. It began to have deeper meaning for me, I realized this album is a gathering place for the little bits that make up me, a place to save pieces of myself to share with future generations. It's not finished and I don't know if i...