Sunday Morning Visit to the Farmers Market

One of my daughter and my favorite weekend things to do is visit the Minneapolis Farmers Market located at 312 East Lyndale Avenue North.

We like to go very early Sunday mornings, around 7am.  There are less people and so it's easier to browse through the booths.

We visit the market from early spring to late fall.  This year, we are going to venture there in the winter to buy a Christmas tree.

No visit is complete without a smoothie for my daughter and a mocha for me.....

And the mini donuts are a must have too.....

Here are the things we purchased today..... nut bread, pickles, Honey Crisp apples, raspberry apple cider, apple cider, heirloom tomatoes and sunflowers.

We buy cheese and organic meats all season long and flowers in the spring to fill our outdoor pots.  We buy whatever vegetable is in season and we've even found a few gifts for friends from the textile/craft vendors.  Check out the Minneapolis Farmers Market website:  http://www.mplsfarmersmarket.com  Here you will find directions and hours, a list of vendors, recipes, what's in season and even a "fresh and local" podcast.  I've signed up for the once a week email so I can keep up with all of the new things that arrive each week.  I love that my daughter enjoys these early morning shopping trips too!

"By shopping at a farmers market, you support local agriculture, which has a great many benefits.  You keep farmers in your community.  You keep land from being sprawled with houses and shopping centers.  You have the experience of shopping in the farmers market, which is the new public square.  You support a lot of values when you shop at the farmers market."  -Michael Pollan

Unique Clothing Website/Store

Chris has been asking me what I would like for my birthday and my response, "Anything from Deisgual"!  I am obsessed with this store ever since my girlfriend Lisa introduced me to it on a shopping trip to the Mall of America.  They have an on-line store as well:  http://www.desigual.com/en_US/?gclid=CIO8nuXN27ICFYVFMgodZ04ABw

The neat thing about this place is that everything is ALMOST one of kind.  For instance, if you like a particular skirt, each one is a little different.  The design and colors are similar but there may be just a little extra flower or a shift in the colors or a swirl a little higher/lower and so on.  It's not enough to make it look completely different....just enough to make it a little different.  This is the skirt on my birthday list:

The items are pretty pricey but they do have some good sales.  Even just having few of their great accessories can add so much to otherwise plain outfit.  It's something unique and colorful and fun!  Makes me happy just browsing through the store and their website!

"If everyone would look for that uniqueness then we would have a very colorful world."  -Michael Schenker

My Grandma's Button

My grandma had a blue fake fur coat that she got from her aunt.  I don't remember her wearing it much but I loved it.  I don't know what happened to the coat but when my mom was helping to clean out my grandma's house, she found a button from that coat tucked in a drawer. 

My mom recognized the button and thought that I would like to have it.  I think I surprised her in the manner in which I "beautified" the button.  It's a necklace that goes great with a royal blue blouse I have.

Making something new again doesn't erase the memories of when it was old......it just adds new memories to the ones you already have!  This button reminds me of my grandma when it was an actual button but now it also reminds me of my friend Libby who gave me a 40th Birthday Party and I wore this necklace.  It also reminds me of my daughter playing dress up and begging me to wearing this as the crowning touch to her amazing outfit.  It will remind me of my birthday dinner and concert with my husband when I wear it with my new black dress on Sunday.  Can't wait to make more new memories!

"So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good."  -Helen Keller

Comfort Food Cookbooks

Now that the weather has started getting colder, I find myself craving recipes that are heartier and have that "stick to your ribs" quality.  I have stockpiled a lot of recipes from magazines and newspapers.....

and I have loads of cookbooks.....

My favorite recipes for this time of year come from two of those cookbooks and happen to be by the same author.  They are The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbooks by Ree Drummond.

 These are recipes that I wouldn't make on a daily basis - too much comfort food can lead to an expanded waistline and a rise in cholesterol!  But they are full of Sunday dinner-type recipes that fill my home with wonderful smells of simmering dishes and make my whole family rush to the table when "dinner" is called.  Some of our favorites are:  Cinnamon Rolls; Simple, Perfect Chili; Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich; Onion Strings; Cowboy Calzones; Meatloaf; Rib-eye Steak with Whiskey Cream Sauce; Comfort Meatballs; Olive Cheese Bread; Mocha Brownies; Rigatoni and Meatballs; Fancy Mac and Cheese; Spicy Dr Pepper Pulled Pork; Beef Stew; Shepard's Pie; Pork Chops with Apples and Grits; Rib-eye Steak with Onion-Blue Cheese Sauce; Buttered Rosemary Rolls; Dulce De Leche Coffee; Tres Leches Cake just to name a few!!!!  Tomorrow night it's Ranch Style Chicken complete with bacon and cheddar cheese.  Mmmmmmmmmm!

"In addition to detailed step-by-step photographs, all the recipes in this book have one other important quality in common:  They're guaranteed to make your kids, sweetheart, dinner guests, in-laws, friends, cousins, or resident cowboys smile, sigh, and beg for seconds.  (And hug you and kiss you and be devoted to you for life.)"  -Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman Cooks

CUPCAKE Love!

Cupcakes.....we love cupcakes.  Our favorite place to go for them is CUPCAKE on Highway 280 and University Avenue in St. Paul.

 

They have a fabulous selection of specialty cupcakes.....Paris Hilton (which my daughter is holding above), Cookies and Cream, Lemon Sunshine just to name a few.  Click here to see all of their selections:  http://www.cup-cake.com/gallery.php.  They were recently named Grand Champions of the Food Network's Cupcake Wars.

Cupcake also offers a "cafe menu" for lunch and dinner.  My daughter and I often go there for lunch and then get a selection of cupcakes to bring home.  (You can purchase single cupcakes in person.  When ordering online, they have minimum orders.)  These are the ones we decided on at our last visit:  Caramel Cubed, Cup O'Mud (which got a little caramel on it), Blueberry Cheesecake and Mad Cow.

We've also gotten their cupcakes for birthdays.  This is a display of the cupcakes for my daughter's 9th Birthday Party:  Paris Hilton, Cookies and Cream (the confetti colored ones they no longer have available).

My oldest child turns 16 on Monday.  We may have to make a trip to CUPCAKE for some birthday treats!

"You can't buy happiness but you can buy cupcakes.  And that's kind of the same thing."  -Unknown

Books as Gifts

I am leaving my current job in less than two weeks to start a new and different venture.  I'm leaving a very vibrant and busy elementary school for the serenity of my own office.  I have been thinking about my co-workers and how much they have taught me and been a wonderful part of my life.  I'd like to do something special for them but gift cards to the local coffee shop doesn't seem like enough or at least doesn't seem to convey the good bye and thank you message I want it to.

While waiting for my daughter's musical theater class to end tonight, a brilliant gift idea came to mind!  Books as gifts.  Not just any books though, children's books donated to our school's library honor of my co-workers.

This is not a new idea for me.  Every year since my now sophomore in high school was a kindergartner, we have donated books to our children's school library in honor of their teachers as an end of the year gift.  I always tried to pick a book that reminded us of that teacher somehow.  For example, when my oldest was in 4th grade, we donated Eldest (the second in the Eragon series) by Christopher Paolini in honor of Mr. Gillson.  Our son hated to read but Mr. Gillson stuck with him and got him to read, and love, Eragon.  When our daughter was in kindergarten, we donated Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell.  Her teacher, Ms. Anna, taught her it was OK to be quiet and sweet but she could also be independent and a leader - never be bullied.  Something this book conveys.

So......over the next few days, I will be thinking of children's books that fit my co-workers personalities, the jobs they do at the school and their outside interests.  I think this will be a lasting gift that they and the students they work with can share!  Here is how we've "marked" the books for donation in the past and this is how I will do my co-workers' gifts/books.

Purchase a book or books.  In this case, we purchased the entire series in honor of my daughter's 4th grade teacher.

Next, make a nameplate for the inside cover.  Make sure to put names and dates.

Glue the nameplate to the inside of the book - be mindful that if the book has a jacket, the nameplate will be covered by the inside flap so glue it to the inside page instead.

Use clear contact paper to cover the nameplate to keep it from coming off of the page and protect to it from little fingers!

It's done!  Wrap it and give it away!

"The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read."
-Abraham Lincoln

Children as Real Photographers

I go everywhere with my camera.  I have uploaded hundreds of thousands of pictures on to my computer and I have a few external hard drives housing the rest.  Part of the "problem" is that I'm not the only one in my family who loves photography.

I have three children who all seem to have an eye for picture taking.  When they were really little, I bought one disposable camera after another and let them snap away.  We would take a walk and they'd be in the stroller, happily taking pictures of cracks in the road, squirrels running up trees, leaves in the gutter, their feet, the sky......pretty much anything and almost all was out of focus.  None of us cared.  I bought them each a photo album where they kept every single one of these priceless photographs!

Then came the age of digital cameras.  At first, they shared a camera with my husband and me.  It was fun to instantly see what they saw.  Here are some examples of those early photographs:

Daddy

A sweet Mother's Day sentiment

A chainsaw Christmas ornament

Daddy and cousin D playing cars

Daddy putting the star on the top of the Christmas tree 

 A Spongebob puzzle

A friend's dog

A bunny in the backyard

It gave me joy to see the every day things through their eyes.  To see what they found interesting and beautiful.  NOW, it still gives me joy as they have each developed into amazing photographers.  Even my 10 year old daughter "sees" things and takes some amazing pictures.  Here are some examples of their recent work:

I like to think I had something to do with their love of photography and maybe their genes helped give them an artist's eye.  Every day I can't wait to see what pictures they have uploaded to my computer.  Sometimes they surprise me by changing my desktop picture to a photograph they're proud of or they know I would like.  It gives me joy to see what gives them joy!

"You don't make a photograph just with a camera.  You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved."  -Ansel Adams