Quotation

A little known fact about me is that I like Maya Angelou!

I have rediscovers a few of my favorite quotes by her today and thought I would share.

Enjoy!

 “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

― Maya Angelou

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
- Maya Angelou 

 

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.
- Maya Angelou 

  

While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation.

- Maya Angelou

 

 History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.

- Maya Angelou 

The rub of journaling

   This year I have been trying to get myself into journaling more. However I am neither the most entertaining, nor imaginative person when it comes to journaling topics. As such I found and printed off this “helper” from the Paper Coterie web site. 

  

   The idea is super cute and solves the age old issue of writers block. Basically there are 52 questions that you randomly pull out of a jar, or in my case a make shift envelope I engineered from left over Christmas wrapping paper that I glued to the back cover of a journal I purchased for $0.52 (Creative? Not much. Cheep? You bet!). The questions range from simple inquiries, quite silly queries, and a couple a hard hitting doozies (yes, I said doozy).

   

   The question posed last week was not, I believe, intended to be as perplexing as I made it out to be. It was something to the effect of “What is something you regret not learning?” Again, not that perplexing, right? I could have answered simply with “the harp,” “cooking skills,” or “the ever elusive game of “water polo.” But no, I of course cannot make it simple.

   

   After some introspection I decided that the something I regretted not learning while I was young would be the skills of foresight and adaptation…Why you say? Well I’ll tell you.

   I have never been really apt, or even, dare I say, fond of change. The unknown and unfamiliar has always clenched my heart like a raccoon upon finding something shinny, or like that one creepy guy in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Dramatic? Maybe. But truly change and I did not play well together. 

   Imagine little Sara. A petite little thing that never had to relocate as a child, never had to change schools, not even many of her friends or family left or altered her world in many ways. 

I must clarify that she was not immune to any change.  However the changes she experienced, like entering high school or starting to drive where a part of her life, but most of these were celebrated and anticipated events that marked steps into womanhood (though I won’t go into the fears connect to becoming a woman. You can ask my mother about the tearful nights concerning projected boob development later).

   As I look back I feel like the gift of a little foresight may have not only calmed a few fears, but maybe given me a bit more courage to explore beyond “my world” sooner than I did. Maybe some of the obstacles in my life would be easier.

   However, as I re-examine the question and the projected results I find myself doing a proverbial double take.

   If had been more efficient with my foresight-ic and adaptation-al (I realize these suffixes are in no way in line with any English major’s acceptable parameters…Boo parameters.) abilities, I may not have made some of the decision that brought me to where I am.

An example; If I had the foresight to see what 3 years of a private collage would do to my later finances I probably would have looked into alternative options. 

  What if I had?...

  Aye there's the rub!

   I would not have attended a school that was base to the most wonder filled and adventurous years of my life. I would not have made the many friends who are held dear to my heart and were culprits to most of my memorable adventures. MOST terrible of all I would have not met my husband, who I owe my current happiness to.  

   I suppose it all boils down to how much fate, destiny, and providence play a role in your current beliefs.  I have begun to believe that though I may have saved myself a lot of heart ache and trouble if I had learned things a little earlier, I would not be who or where I am today. And I am happy. Change still is not my best bud by any means, but I have found him to be a tolerable and in some case an enjoyable companion.

The welcome home party. 

i haven't seen this much ice since i lived in virgina

This one is not as entertaining but it does show how solid the snow/ice is

Aussie didn't know what to think about the ice. What you are about to watch is a dog on a half inch sheet of solid ice.

*snow* *SnOw* *SNOW*

Today was fun in the snow!

Aussie sure enjoys 

the snow. 

We were the first ones in the field!

It's like a blank canvas.

Aussie and I made a little snow man.

I made a snow angel.

And on our way home we saw some holly berries!

Come on 2013!

Soooooo, let’s be honest with each other. 

If you are glad to see 2012 gone raise your hand. 

OOOOOH MEEEE!  PICK ME!

Those of you who did not raise your hand in agreement, kudos to you. 

I however am not one of those. I will be glad to see 2012 slowly, or more preferably yet less likely to, quickly recede into the back recesses of the unused parts of my temporal lobe.

I am not saying that the year of the dragon did not contain some positive.  It did…I just can’t think of many at the moment.

2012 was a year of stress, hard work with little to no reward,   unwanted social pressures, unwanted work pressures, people I would rather have deleted from the entire year,  optimism beat down to the depths of  pessimism, and a whole heap of financial anxiety…To say the least.

I am not expecting 2013 to change things over night. But the blessing of the New Year is new hope, new optimism, new anticipation, new opportunities, and some old revived faith deliberately and full heartedly thrown in.

Come on 2013!

I used This video in a group last night. I thought it was rather powerful.

A beautiful Book of Mormon Story

AMEN!

Das’ right! I show that I am semi domestic.

I made PESTO! Completely natural, amazingly delicious, and made from scratch…Let me rephrase that just in case there are those of you who still don’t believe in my domesticity. I made homemade/ homegrown PESTO! (I underline the word homegrown here to emphasize the fact that Adam and I are capable of having a successful garden. You heard right. I have two very fruitful (or leaf-full) basil plants in our herb garden!)
What is pesto you ask? Well pesto, pronounced pest-o, is a sauce originating in Genoa, Italy. It traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil and pine nuts blended with olive oil and parmesan. The name comes from the Genoese word pestâ (Italian: pestare), which means to pound, to crush, in reference to the original method of preparation, with marble mortar and wooden pestle (get it? pesto? pesta? pestle?...Pretty awesome huh? Remember to reference the bottom of this blog for more on this). However, the slightly untraditional and yet so much easier way to make pesto is not "pounded" but thrown half-hazardly into a food processor.

 Lovely shade of green, no?

A basil leaf from the garden. Potent yet very tasty little buggers.

These jars will stay good in the fridge for up to 8 weeks, and up to 6 months in the freezer.

You can't really tell in this picture, but the two bottles on the bottom are a different

shade than the ones on the top.

 Why? Because I planted two different basil plants in my herb box this year. 

Large leafed "Sweet Basil" and the smaller leafed "Pesto Basil"

I wanted to experiment to see which made the better pesto.

Verdict: I cant tell the difference. LOL

Pesto is great on pasta, chicken, fish or bread. It is a well known fact that I really like warm pesto-butter French bread. If you have not had it yet imagine the yummiest garlic bread you’ve ever had. Then add 40% more flavortastic-ness! To make pest-butter you mix ½ cup butter with 2 tablespoons of pesto. Then you spread that mixture over your favorite French bread and broil it until the butter is melted and the edges of the bread look golden. Yummmmmm!

Soooo, if you have yet to experience that exceptional taste that is pesto-butter French bread I suggest two things:

1) TRY IT! But you can’t just go to the store and buy it. Store bought pesto is far too oily. So if you can get your hands on the homemade stuff that is the way to go.

2) Come on over to my house and I will share with you the amazingness that is pesto-butter French bread!

Additional

I recognize that I have made some…o.k. quite a few new words in this post. Nevertheless, please keep in mind that some of the most used and beloved words have been made up, and in most cases were complete b.s. In fact, you could say all words started that way. Like the aforementioned words pesto, pesta, and pestle. These words were derived from the same Italian word pestare, and yet one could argue that they were MADE UP!…Yup, I still think that’s pretty awesome! My made up words may not be in the Webster’s dictionary, but they are most definitely derived forms of bonafide words found in the English language. I like to think that I am just adding to the cacophony that is the English language.