in case i forgot to mention

We're in Michigan for two weeks, catching up with family, friends, enjoying the snowy weather, making snow angels and putting some miles on the sled. This little girl from the desert looks quite at home. Stay tuned...

With love from The Motherland.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

The forecast for Christmas Day is sunny and 60 degrees. I couldn't ask for better. We'll be to the snow soon enough. Until then, we're trying to spread a little Christmas magic indoors. Merry Merry!! The tree has been Kat's favorite project. Let's just say the ornaments haven't exactly stayed in one place.

With love from The Valley of the Sun.

i went walking

Living in the desert is tough for me (anyone who knows me and my affinity for water will totally get this), but I've found a bit of solace and enjoyment hiking preserve land around The Valley. It doesn't replace my passion for the shores of Lake Michigan; the water speaks to me in a totally different way. It can't be denied, though, the desert possesses its own unique virtues. And, ok, brown as it is, it can be terribly beautiful at times.

Unfortunately, the opportunity to wander in the desert isn't a year-long passion the likes of Lake Michigan. Around late February, early March, I put hiking on hold - especially at times later in the day when the temperatures rise. That's about when the rattlesnakes decide it's warm enough to start sunning themselves on rocks and roaming around trying to fill their bellies after a long winter's nap. Yeah. No. No thanks.

Anyway, our weather has finally turned splendiforous. It stayed hot well in to November, but finally the mornings are cool and wonderful and perfect for hiking. The snakes have high-tailed it into their burrows. I'm good to go.

Last week I headed out to Lost Dog Wash on McDowell Mountain Sonoran Preserve land. There are miles and miles and miles and miles (I could go on, but I won't), of trails for hiking, mountain biking, or trail riding. It's beautiful, pristine desert land and, thankfully, it was not all cluttered up with tourists and interlopers. For the most part, although I'd run in to hikers here and there, it was just me, the sky above and the ground below.

There is something incredibly renewing about a solitary communion with nature. I feel very fortunate to be able to get out there into the midst of such a beautiful place and do something I love to do. It gives me time to focus, clear my head, organize thoughts, and unwind from the whirlwind and stress of everyday life. Admittedly, I occasionally have to talk myself in to remembering this, too, is a beautiful place in a very different way. And that's not a bad thing. I think a lot of it is about the constant striving to find happiness in the moment. Not in a place that once was, or in a place I long for in the future.

Here. Now. My eyes are open.

With love from The Valley of the Sun.

crunchy snowmen

My mom ordered me a subscription to Family Fun Magazine last year because I'm always looking for ways to keep myself from losing my mind fun things to do with Kat. She loves crafts and she loves to teeter on the step ladder and cook/bake with me.

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With her school Christmas party approaching, I was thumbing through some magazines looking for a cute idea to gift her classmates. This idea appeared in the December issue and it looked easy enough.

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That is...until one frazzled, perfectionist, over-caffeinated mom, and one over-excited, not-so-perfectionist, finger-licking 4.5 year old decide to make them together. Yes. That's when all mayhem breaks loose and the perfectionist finally has to give the not-so-perfectionist her own pretzel rods, spreading tool, bowl of melted chocolate, and handful of mini choco chips - to do with what she will.

You can find the recipe for Crunchy the Snowman here.

These were really fun to make. You have to work pretty fast in terms of getting the pretzel rods dipped before the chocolate starts to harden, but re-microwaving for a few seconds here and there kept it at a good consistency. Also, the decorator gel they recommended for the "carrot" nose never seemed to harden. This is really only a problem if you plan to bag them and transport them. If I'd been aware of that ahead of time, I'd have used a different product, or found some little orange candies at The Sweet Factory.
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I haven't tried them so I have no idea if they're any good. But, from the response at school...I'm thinking they must have been pretty yummy! Enjoy.

With love from The Valley of the Sun.

hangin' with my girls

I know some amazing women. It's one of the best blessings a girl can ask for...cool friends!! And not just any cool friends, but cool friends who will let you come over and bake in their kitchens, and spill flour on their floors, and slop melted chocolate all over their counter tops. Then, after all that, they send you home with some of your own cookies and some of theirs, all the while telling you not to worry about the mess.

Yes, those are the girlfriends with whom I like to surround myself. There just doesn't seem to be a down side I can think of.

Although there may be a "round" side if I can't pawn a few of these off on some other people! Like Jen's homemade Pizzelles...

...and Thumbprint Cookies, full of Trader Joe's sugar free raspberry jam, oh my!
Lori's Candy Cane Twirls......which, as she warned, have a propensity to fall apart if you don't handle them carefully. This, of course, is just the perfect excuse to clean up the little pieces.

And my cookie choice, the Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Spice Cookie...thanks to Amanda at I am Baker (which, by the way, won the November baking challenge over at Tiffany's site, The National Cookie Network). Let me say, if I might, these are spectacular and it's no wonder they won. Lovely! Lovely! Lovely! (Amanda, I apologize for stealing your cookies-wrapped-in-ribbon idea for the photo, but I couldn't resist).

I love these friends. Few women can hold a candle to them and, well, they're mine...all mine! I think I'll keep them.

With love from The Valley of the Sun.

i'm a quitter

Generally, quitting is for losers. I like to stick things out, see things through to their logical conclusion, get the job done! But, today? Today, I quit! I've had enough.

You see, for the last couple of months, my reading routine has been disrupted by The Twilight Saga. I set aside a list of much anticipated books to read the series because, well...everyone was doing it. (Que mom's voice over, "If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?")

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And I have to admit, the first three sucked me in. Hours and hours of my time was spent hunched over this, admittedly, creative tale late into the night. Thousands of pages. Many stolen moments. Lots of laundry left undone.

But as I plodded through the first few pages of the fourth in the series, Breaking Dawn, I had a revelation: I just don't care how it ends. I don't care if Bella and Edward end up together. I don't care if I never know what happens.

I quit. I'm going back to my regularly scheduled reading - which, at this point, could be anything as long as it's not teen vampire romance written at a 4th grade level. I've never read romance novels until this series. And now I know why. Unfortunately, that's a whole lot of time I'll never get back.

To make up for it, I've just started Joyce Carol Oates' The Gravedigger's Daughter, and a girlfriend of mine recently gifted me a copy of Pride and Prejudice. Hopefully they'll aid in the recovery of my mushy gray matter.

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With love from The Valley of the Sun.

desert treats

A lot of things in the desert are still very foreign to me; the weather, for example. I mean, it's mid-December and I don't even know where my mittens are. Or, maybe it's the fact it's mid December and flowers are blooming.

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And then there's the fruit. The oranges and grapefruit are coming right along. In a few weeks, they should be ready to pick and eat. Last week on one of our afternoon walks, a kind gentleman offered us one of the most beautiful lemons I've ever seen. It smells...incredible. I wish I could link to its fragrance because you'd be complete bowled over.

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On that same walk, we came passed one of our neighbor's houses. They have a large tangerine bush in the front yard, and another bush covered in tiny, yellow orbs about the size of key limes. There were a lot of them already fallen to the ground, so Kat and I gathered some up to use for a Christmasy art project.

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The next day I ran into our neighbor at the mailbox and felt compelled to admit we'd pilfered a few handfuls of fruit. Never mind most citrus in The Valley goes to rot. It just seemed the right thing to do. Since I didn't know exactly what we'd taken, I had to ask. I figured they were over-ripened key limes. As it turns out, they're Mexican limes, perfectly ripe, perfectly usable for cooking, limeade, pies, or just looking pretty.

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And the fragrance? Yep. Wish I could link to it. It's heavenly.

With love from The Valley of the Sun.