Get Your Greens Challenge

Hello beauties,
Are you ready to kick off the New Year with a challenge?  Join me in Sophie Uilano's "Get Your Greens Challenge".  The challenge is to eat 1 pound of dark leafy greens in a day.  The best way is in a ginormous smoothie!  Sophie has all the details on her website and her Facebook page.  Check it out.  Let me know if you give it a try and how you are doing.
I prepped tonight for me and hubby so I'll be making two ginormous smoothies a day!
This is just day one.  That's a lot of greens!  I'll post a pic tomorrow of the smoothies!  We are going to do one each in the morning and one at lunch.  We already drink a smoothie a day but not with this many greens per smoothie!  I hope our energy is amazing!   Good luck!

Happy New Year 2017

Happy New Year,  lovelies!
I love the new year.  I feel like it brings fresh starts, resets, clean slates,  and 365 days of opportunities to be a better person that I was yesterday.  It makes me want to organize and re-arrange and declutter our humble little home.   The new year brings visions of better self-care, better eating and more green smoothies!  I'm not making resolutions, just looking at what I want to do better than the year before.  I hope to share with you my journey this year.  This journey of everyday life.  Hopefully I'll be sharing some recipes that I'm trying, products, adventures and much more.  I hope you will join me as I'm going to do my best to keep this blog current and fresh.
I wish each of you a year full of blessings, peace and good health.  Take time for you.  Take time to love on those around you.  Get outside and enjoy the beauty all around you.  Move more.  Drink more smoothies and eat more greens.  Stress less and breathe more.  Smile more. Do what you love.  Be kind.  Be grateful.  I hope this year is your best year yet!

Spring Blooms

Hello beauties,

Did you enjoy your first day of spring?  I know many of you may be getting snow instead of sunshine so here's a little inspiration for the hope to come.  I am behind on planting but hope to get a few herbs planted.  There's nothing like fresh mint for the sweet tea served up in mason jars on a hot summer day.  Basil is a must as pesto is on of my favorite summer dishes.  I put it on everything!  The kitty is missing catnip in the garden so going to plant some for her and for my frazzled nerves.  

What herbs and flowers are you planting this year?  

Beautiful rose from the Antique Rose Emporium -   Cramoisi Superieur 

Hot lips salvia

Another beauty from Antique Rose Emporium but her name has escaped me. 

Purple lantana - blooming in March

Yet another beauty from Antique Rose Emporium.

Spring is almost here!

Hello lovelies,

It's been a long time!  I've missed you all.  

Spring is almost here and the flowers and birds are telling us so.  

These beauties were blooming in the yard this week.  The rose bush has lots of amazing buds so stay tuned for more roses.  Isn't it amazing how such beauty can lift our spirits and make our hearts smile?  

All is Well

As the sun was setting this evening, I looked up and the sunlight coming through the trees was stunning.  Another one of those moments that made me pause and say "thanks" for the amazing gifts.  "Thanks" for the gentle reminder of hope when things may seem dark.  The beauty of nature has become my sort of sanctuary these days.  It's those moments when I'm outside that I can feel God's presence.  My heart feels joy.  A smile comes across my face.  I see the kitten jumping and playing and chasing things I can't even see.  The red birds are singing and flying from feeder to feeder.  During this time, amongst all the chaos of this crazy life, I feel my soul say, "All is Well."

Beautiful reminders, whispers and nudges

Hello sweet beauties,

 

It has been awhile, hasn't it?  I've missed you all.  We are in the season of renewal and hope and I'm so looking forward to it.  How about you?  Isn't it amazing how there are so many beautiful reminders of this in nature?  Do you plant flowers or have any growing in your garden?  If not, please take some time to create some beauty around you.  Even if it's one pot of pretty flowers on your porch or patio.  It will bring you so much joy and lift your spirit in a way that you can't imagine.  Last year my garden brought so many blessings to me.  This year it continues to do the same.  Everyday I go outside and there is something new or beautiful to lift me up.  Our spirits this past season have been heavy and burdened.  At the end of many days, I am tired and weary.  Today was one of those days.  I was at the kitchen window and I saw something new in my iris bed.  I walked out and found this beauty.  What a lovely surprise to end a crazy day.

After a very stressful week last week, I walked outside on Saturday and these lovelies were bursting at the seams.  Their scent is subtle but so comforting. 


Last year, I had Sweet Peas in a pot.  I collected as many of the seeds as I could with every intention of planting this spring.  I still haven't planted them but over the weekend these little babies emerged right by the trellis.  I felt like they were saying, "No worries, we got this!"


The site of the bluebonnets in the front yard this year are such a wonderful memory of the precious lady that planted them when we first moved in our house.  I've spent many an afternoon just standing amongst them breathing in their scent.


As I sat on the back step on Monday, the doves were singing their gentle "coo".   Such a peaceful song to calm my anxious heart. 

There are reminders and signs from the One who loves us everywhere.  We just have to stop and seek them out.  We tend to think the signs must be "ginormous" but really they are gentle nudges and whispers.   Go outside and seek them out. 

Herbs and Spices

Hi Sweets,

It's been a while hasn't it?  Where has this year gone?  We are coming upon my favorite time of year.  October is probably my favorite month of all!  I bought the first fall scented candles today even though we are having some of the hottest days of the summer!  I just couldn't resist. 

I have had some Basil and Sicilian Oregano drying.  Tonight I got out the mortal and pestle and my recycled jars and created my own Italian spice.  Little did I know how this simple task would relax my spirit and take me to a place of calmness and peace.  This shouldn't be a surprise as working with herbs and things in my kitchen always does.  I've been absent from that for a while and I guess it just felt good to get back to it.  The scent of the herbs as I worked them in the mortar and pestle was intoxicating.  The smell of Basil is just incredible.  I have heard that drying diminishes this but I've never had this experience. The use of the mortal and pestle releases the oils in these plants that give off that wonderful aroma.  It also makes them more flavorful when you use them in your cooking.  Maybe it's just using the mortal and pestle that takes me back to a simpler time.   How rewarding to know where these herbs came from and the love and energy that went into to them.  I will have a little piece of summer every time I use these herbs in my fall cooking.

I think I will try peppermint next as it did very well in the garden this year too.    What a yummy and uplifting tea! 

Do you have any culinary herbs growing in your garden?  Give drying them a try and create your own spices or tea blends.