The very first time I did NaBloPoMo, it was in 2007 and I used the theme of ‘Food Holidays’ to blog about every day. Did you know that just about every day of the month, and every month in a year has a national food holiday?

For instance, November is National Pecan Month, Good Nutrition Month, National Peanut Butter Month, National Pepper Month, National Pomegranate Month, Raisin Bread Month and Vegan Month.

{{if you’re interested in learning about ALL the monthly celebrations…. go here}}

I first learned about these many years ago when I worked for a produce company and wrote their weekly marketing report. And having those daily prompts to write about made the very first NaBloPoMo really easy to navigate. Since then, I’ve focused on re-introducing past recipes to everyone.

And my Recipe Index has A LOT to showcase. But lately, my eating habits have turned in a new direction, and by the first of the year [[hopefully... right honey??]] my blog will turn in a new direction too, with a re-worked design and a more streamlined Recipe Index that’s much easier to navigate. And in doing so, I plan to likely wipe out several years worth of posts and recipes that have become irrelevant.

If you haven’t been around this blog long, and let’s face it, blog readers are flighty; they come, stay awhile then flit away to the next best thing. But without that history, it’s easy to consider eliminating what you don’t know is there.  I’ve been writing for 5-1/2 years. No one who hangs with me now goes back that far, and frankly, that’s fine with me. The first few years of this blog are scattered, unfocused and raw; like life itself, really, they lacked any kind of direction and my photos were terrible. I’d no more introduce you to those posts than I would eat a block of Velveeta. So, onward and upward.

There is a lot, each year, that I am so thankful to have in my life, and although it’s been the source of a great deal of angst and hair-twisting anxiety for me, this blog is one of them. In going back over the recipes I’ve collected, I’ve watched my life, and my eating habits unfold, change, grow and mature since 2006. I’ve seen photos turn from something that evokes a cringe and an ‘Oh dear….’ to a gasp and a ‘Wow’. I’ve seen recipes develop, tastes change and habits both form and disappear. Friends have come and gone, and family still opens the site with each new post. My boy has turned from a budding adolescent to a mature young man, and Mike and I covered a lot of ground together through these pages.

There is gratitude this time of year, and then there’s celebration, of the abundance, the fruits of our year of laboring through life, the joys of another bountiful harvest (or so it was, in the past) and it all comes together with feasting and family. The personal harvest this year, for me, has been a new-found level of health and well-being, new friends that are blessing me continually, and a bit more financial security, now that I’m working again. In years past, the last few months on the calendar have been filled with panic and fear. This year, these weeks feel much more calm, with far less anxiety. I’m so grateful for that presence in my life. I’m grateful for the willingness from Griffin to explore and be open to navigating the changes in our kitchen as we embarked on healthier eating; I’m grateful for the farmers who worked so hard to share the bounty with us, and I’m grateful for the ability to stretch, explore and learn about new foods, new ways to consume familiar options and the creativity to make it all delicious, fun and flavorful.

What’s on YOUR plate this month??

My new camera and I are getting along nicely, but it’s a whole new world to me, one I’m trying hard to get accustomed with. I am taking A LOT of photos, and then, deleting a lot of photos. I shoot in ‘Automatic’, watching the meter to see what it’s doing, then I switch to ‘Manual’ and try to adjust settings and make it work. Sometimes it’s ok……

And then sometimes it just doesn’t. That’s when I just delete more than I keep.

And then, I get really lucky, and all the stars align.

And once in a while, I capture something that makes my heart stand still……

It’s a learning process, and I’m ok with that. I know it will take time and experience to help bring out the best of this amazing gift and I’ve got plenty of that. And even though it might seem a bit crazy, my new camera has a name, Clara, and like having a new baby around, it’s a time of getting to know one another.

I know there are beautiful times ahead for both of us.

What’s on YOUR plate this month??

{{only five  (5)  days left of NaBloPoMo 2011}}

For the many blessings in my life…….

For the abundance that sustains us, the grace that guides us, the joy that fills us, and the friends that warm us.

May you all have a blessed and delicious Thanksgiving!!

We had our first snowfall of the season yesterday. It wasn’t much, really, just an inch or two, but there was an hour or so in the afternoon where the snow fell hard and the wind blew heavy and it LOOKED much worse than it was, and Minnesotans, even though they are a hearty bunch yew betcha, well, there was a lot of griping and sniping and exclamations of “I don’t have a snowbrush in my car!!” {{ahem…. that might have been from me…. cough cough}}

But in the end, it was just an inch or two. Certainly NOT this again.

This was last year’s incredible 24″ blizzard from about mid-December. Gorgeous and shockingly beautiful {{mostly because I enjoyed it from the comfort of my home}} and the impetus to usher in a Winter that saw more snow, more hassles and more headaches than we anticipated. Now that I am working, and got my first taste of commuting home in a snowfall, I’m not so eager to deal with an epic snowstorm, but I know, inevitably that the day will come where I am at work and the white stuff is coming thick and fast. And the only thing standing between me and the warmth of home is Audi’s legendary all-wheel drive, nerves of steel and a deep well of patience.

Oh the joys……

What’s on YOUR plate this month???

WHAT????

Yep. The word ‘GIVEAWAY’ just landed on my blog. Surprised? Yeah, me too. I’m really not one to get all that worked up over a Giveaway, either on my blog or someone else’s. If the item is really something I would like, maybe yes; like this gorgeous necklace giveaway that I won from my friend Anna’s blog. But other giveaways, even with cool products that I would love to have, always seem really out of reach due to the excessive number of people who respond.

That’s where THIS ONE gets fun!!

Because, you see, hardly anyone comments on this blog. So in doing a giveaway, if you comment, your chances of winning are greater. And this item is a pretty nice one for the upcoming holiday season.

It’s from Red Envelope, a high-end gift site, specializing in prime holiday gifts. Seriously…. just LOOK at some of these offerings.

 http://www.redenvelope.com/christmas-gifts-rcfav

Red Envelope has A LOT of great ideas for holiday giving. The site is loaded with every imaginable option, from home and garden decor, clothing and accessories, jewelry, baby gifts, gifts for the men in your life, kitchenware, barware, graphic art, candles, frames….. it’s an endless variety, and many items can be personalized as well. Of course, being so inclined to food and cooking, I went right to that area to see what was available.

Now I’m not one to buy a specialty kitchen item, made for one purpose, so I skim over those in favor of something that will get a lot of use in my kitchen. That’s why I settled on this hickory cutting board. I have a lot of really good quality, sturdy cutting boards that I’ve collected over the years, including a superbly heavy duty Boos board and I will spend good money on a board that will last forever. I know they will get used here. Every kitchen needs a wide option of cutting boards.

This hickory board is superbly heavy-duty, with a beautiful grain finish. It stands on two solid legs, with a handle designed for display hanging. I know this cutting board will serve us well in the years to come.

Do you love to cook and bake? You might like this page.

DISCLAIMER:
The gift code for both my gift and the one to give to one lucky reader were provided to me free
by Buttoned Up, and Red Envelope. I could choose the gift of my choice in return for this blog post.
All words, opinions and choices were mine.

I have been abundantly blessed to receive this beautiful Nikon D80 camera as a gift, straight from the heart of a wonderful friend.

And here I am, someone who is so good with words and story-telling, and I can’t find the proper ones to express my gratitude for her kindness and generosity. She has blessed me, abundantly, and I am so excited to get to know this little beauty better.

You have no idea how much I look forward to sharing with you all that we’ll be able to create.

This week marks the 10th Edition of Just Write Tuesdays, hosted by Heather, of The Extraordinary Ordinary.

I awoke this morning with a full heart, enriched from an experience last night that really blew me away. I’ll share it soon, when it manifests in reality. But it got me thinking, with Thanksgiving approaching, about everything that I’m brings me gratitude in my life. I could go on endlessly, because my life is filled with abundance for which I am deeply humbled about, but today, in this quiet moment with the sunrise, two cuddly cats and a steaming cup of coffee, this is what comes to mind.

Today I am grateful:

~~for chances taken, despite how ridiculous they sound in my head.

~~for my job, which is about to get crazy busy and exciting and fun and I’m looking forward to every moment of that.

~~for fun, because we all need to have fun in our lives.

~~for the support of my amazing husband and for an equally amazing son.

~~for two loving felines in good health.

~~for a warm home, good food, abundance and never-ending grace from above.

~~for a reliable vehicle.

~~for endless creativity and spark that keeps me excited for life and each new day.

~~for rest, even when it’s fractured.

~~ for friends, amazing, loving, warm-hearted, passionate, silly, engaging, strong, beautiful friends. My life has been so richly blessed by the presence of so many incredible people and the kind and generous ways they’ve guided me. I don’t know where I would be without them in my life.

What’s on YOUR plate this month??

There is no moment darker than the middle of the night, when some tiny slip of interference inserts itself through my consciousness and rouses me from a deep restful sleep. The worst part about most of these moments is that there is nothing happening outside the cocoon of my bed that needs my attention.

But there I lay, awake yet not awake. I’m exhausted and unable to fall back asleep, struggling to find the off switch to a high powered mind that never seems to want to stop moving. My thoughts don’t awaken me, but the moment my conscious mind senses ‘Awake’, the process begins to spin, dance and swirl. I’m on some weird lifetime sleep deprivation program, it seems. And there is no relief. The word ‘Insomnia’ hovers over me daily. But I adjust, surprisingly. My body has learned to make it through most any day, with or without the sleep it needs. I push through fatigue and churn out the energy needed, and sometimes, dinner is barely over and I know it will be one of those nights there I collapse in to bed far earlier than normal, the deprivation biting at my heels. There is only so much one can handle before total collapse. Blessedly, those nights are long and deep with good sleep and I awaken refreshed. I have no idea what it’s like to have that good sleep, night after night, to have the energy every single day that I possess after those marathon sleeps. What I could accomplish, were that the case.

Those moments, awake with myself in the night, aren’t all bitter and salt, forming a bad taste in my mouth. There is quiet, a subtle peace that comes in the midst of everyone else’s sleep, where I feel like I am the one being awake in a world unconscious. I can’t count the nights I’ve risen to stand at the bathroom window, listening to the owls outside, hooting for territory and mice, passing silently on feathery wings through the trees. When it’s intolerable, the awake state at 3:00am, I’ve risen to avoid the endless toss and turn, and in peace have sat in the darkness, enjoying a few moments with myself. I can open my computer and pour out my mind and release the thoughts that churn inside and then, finally, make my way back to bed, the warmth of my spouse and a sleepy cat or two and drift off. Thankfully those days are gone, and the conscious moments past midnight now are not so intense. Still, they come and I awake and I wonder what drew me from sleep so I listen to the house around me, the cats snoring, my husband breathing deep and peacefully. This is my life, whether it’s a imperfect slice, here in the pre-dawn utter darkness, or a moment of daytime that takes my breath away. This is what I have, and it’s me and a part of me, without fail. I manage to make it through, daily, on energy that I find from places I don’t know exist. And when the deprivation becomes too much and I can barely make it through dinner, I climb the stairs at far too early an hour and collapse, shutting the door behind me, drawing the quilt over my shoulders and settling, with a deep sigh, into the rare night of uninterrupted sleep.

I marvel at the energy I can grasp from these nights, incapable of realizing just how far I might go, how deep I could reach within me to release what I know is there, if only I had endless and consistent sleep.

It’s Tuesday. And you know that means Just Write is back.
Check out The Extraordinary Ordinary for more posts.

Happy 9th Anniversary to the love of my life. I’d marry you all over again, in a heartbeat.