“Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our family loves adventure. And we love to travel. We have kind of unofficially adopted Emerson’s quote as our family motto. We are blessed to have had opportunities to travel. And when we travel, we love to get outdoors as much as possible. We are a camping, hiking, exploring kind of family.

When we camp, hike, and explore, we find ourselves in national parks. Just this past summer, we visited three national parks, two national monuments, and one national military park. So, it was really no surprise when our son announced that he wanted the theme of his upcoming birthday party to be about national parks.

Theme parties are fun, but my philosophy is that they shouldn’t be stressful. I want to have as much fun as my son at his party (as opposed to being stressed out about getting the party together).  My style of party planning is fairly laid back. I gather items we already own, make easy and thematic snacks, and plan a couple of fun activities. This party was no different.

For the National Park Service cake, I made a chocolate chip cookie cake. After it was baked, I cut it into the shape of the NPS emblem, then iced and decorated it to mimic that emblem. This was fairly easy and became the focal point of the table.

Other snacks included Buffalo Chips (no-bake chocolate cookies) and popcorn.

Since water is a must when hiking in national parks, cold bottles of water were the beverage of the day (it doesn’t get much easier than that).

The table was decorated with items we already owned, most of which were souvenirs from recent trips to national parks. We used stuffed animals, Junior Ranger badges, maps, wildlife signs, postcards and books.

The activities at the party centered around what you might do if you were at a national park. Since most of what you do at national parks is done outside, we set up the party on our back porch. We also set up a tent. Before the party, we asked each participant to bring a backpack and a pair of binoculars.

My husband talked to the boys about reading maps and using a compass while hiking. 

Then, he led them on a short hike in a nearby group of trees. They watched for wildlife (saw a snake), observed plant life, and looked for interesting items along the trail. Many of the boys picked up items and brought them back in their backpacks.

After eating goodies and opening gifts, the boys (as all boys in Alabama do any time they gather) played some two-hand-touch football.

Need more activities for your NPS party?
Try making a geyser (like Old Faithful) using Mentos and Diet Coke.
Play Rattlesnake Tag.
Printables and coloring pages for NPS can be found here.

One blogger posts about a similar themed party: Junior Ranger Party.

Bad Weather, Good Times

What a doozey of a trip across the pond we have had. From an 8-hour flight with no a/c to accidentally falling asleep in the Muslim airline terminal during our 4-hour layover, I can honestly say I have more than once wished I had stayed home. It has been a number of years since I have been the passenger on a flight long enough to include a meal (one could safely question if it really was a meal) and, true-to-form, I found myself wondering just how many hands had touched my salad, how far in advanced was it prepared, and where exactly was it kept anyway? Is it really possibly to keep things sanitary 37,000 feet above the ground? I mean, sanitation (or lack thereof) was the motivating factor behind my successful determination to avoid the in-flight lavatory. Disgusting. Traveling as a party-of-90 is not without struggle - patience topping the list of mountains to overcome. Largely the reason I'm laying low this morning and enjoying my room at the Haydn Hotel. 

We arrived Sunday evening, a little worse for wear, to pouring rain (curse you, weatherchannel.com, for telling us we would be the lucky participants of a 75-degree, sunny climate) and no umbrella. Only one closed-toe pair of shoes in my bag - even these were thrown in last minute - and thankfully a sweatshirt and jacket made it's way into my carry on as the 57 degrees I spent all of yesterday with became the most ill-loved companion thus far. Fashion be gone - a girl has got to stay warm. It's noon on Tuesday as I type, though it feels like I should be sleeping as most of you probably are. The ballet rehearsal yesterday was beautiful and after snapping quite a few shots in the the a.m, I snuck away in the afternoon for an amazing wine tasting at a local vineyard. The enchanting history behind the family-owned vineyard left me wanting to spend an entire summer here learning the process and working among the vines with the fifth generation owner, Eva Wagner, who appears to be about the same age as myself. All things handmade and artisan by nature have appealed to me for as long as I can remember so it shouldn't be surprising that I would want to learn wine-making. 

I don't have have the ability at this time to pull any photos from my camera so I am forced to share only iPad/iPhone pics for now. Thanks for following along!

Aaand We're Off!

Tomorrow's the big day y'all! The Music Man and I are off to Austria. I've made the difficult decision to leave my laptop behind and am going to cross my fingers that my trusty iPad will get me thru. I am already missing my babies and had a brief, but so-serious, thought to just stay here. However, there are quite a few folks at our destination who will be oh-so-seriously annoyed if I not only waste my ticket, but fail to produce my digital end of the bargain. So I've tucked my bambinos in bed with some extra long snuggles and, after locating my almost-lost passport, I am ready. Camera gear in tow. Antibiotics, check (did I mention I have strep?). Nasal decongestant, yep. Too many chargers, adapters, lenses, converters, batteries, tripods, and straps to even count - I and my back may be wishing I had bailed last minute by the time I arrive in Austria after 16 hrs of flight.

I'll be blogging from my iPad (as I'm doing now) throughout our trip - feel free to follow along on our journey. For those of you that don't already know, I'm traveling along with the University of Oklahoma College of Fine Arts and photographing both ballet and choral performances in Eisenstadt, Austria this coming week. About five hours ago, I was handed a video camera and asked to gather footage as well...which is not my forte - I hope they aren't expecting too much. 

Baby Girl - 13 Going on 30

My baby girl is turning 13 next week. She's not the baby, but she is my only girl and her petite stature has forever warranted her the nickname "baby girl". She will always be my baby girl. I could not be more proud of the young lady she is becoming - thoughtful, organized, straight A student. Tender heart. Born again lover of Jesus. Petite frame, but oh-so-strong. 

She's a ballerina, basketball player, seamstress, artist, daredevil, baker, organizer extraordinaire, amazing sister. BEST BABYSITTER ON THE PLANET. Daddy's little girl...for always. I don't know what I would do without her and I can't believe I get to call her "daughter".  

Below are a few is an on slot of shots from her 13 year photo shoot. Thank you, Jesus, for blessing me far more than I deserve. 

        

Blueberry Lovin'

I just ate three of these. No joke. In, like, less than a minute...okay, maybe it took me three minutes, but still - inhaled these puppies as if it were my last day on earth with only an hour left to live and I have to run for my life while being chased by Nazi's with machine guns. Get that mental image out of your head.

Seriously, though, I love summer. I even like the heat, but mostly I like the fresh produce. Does a body good. Super happy to find fresh blueberries in abundance and really looking forward to making peach jam later this summer with my gal pal Mandy over at Stansberry Jam. Her parents have a peach farm in eastern Oklahoma - it's good to have friends such as these. *love*

For now, I'm cranking out these puppies and scarfing them down almost as quickly as they come out of the oven. Perhaps this is why my jeans don't fit. Oops!

Blueberry Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 Tbs. butter, diced
1 cup fresh blueberries
3/4 cup milk

For Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in cold diced butter until mixture has a coarse crumbly feel to it. Gently fold blueberries in to flour mixture being careful not to burst the blueberries if possible. Stir in milk, again being gentle to  keep the blueberries in tact. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and with floured hands pat into a rectangle. Cut the rectangle into squares and then cut the squares diagonally to give your scones the traditional triangle shape. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for about 15 minutes before drizzling with the glaze. Enjoy!!

I'm a Thief...You Probably Are Too...

I am an artist.

My husband is an artist.

Our daughter is already an artist at 12 years old.

It's mentally draining living inside the four walls of our home with all this creativity and thought processing and....mess.

Our oldest son, thank goodness, is an excellent mathematician and we receive a small break from the artist mentality by his presence....he will probably be an architect....well drat, I guess that's another artist too.  There's no reprieve - we're drowning over here, someone bring some algebra.

Unless you are an artist, or live with one, it may be a struggle to wrap your mind around a day in the life of...a Howard. As a creative soul, I experience waves of new ideas followed by moments of drought that I am certain must be similar to writer's block. Sometimes executing said ideas is so utterly exhausting the only thing left to do is mentally shut down and watch hours of Mad Men or Grey's Anatomy until my cerebrum feels rested.

Because I never want to forget a good idea, I carry little notebooks everywhere and sometimes often I lose them and then find them months (years) later.  Back in January I did a little house cleaning - not literally, who am I kidding? - but figuratively, going through my idea books and goals and coming up with a plan for my 2014. I plastered my personal agenda on all of my media outlets as a reminder to think outside the box:

Then one day, while scrolling through my Instagram, I saw where a friend-of-a-friend posted a snapshot of a book she was reading. I'll admit, it rubbed me the wrong way....

Artists are thieves?? What?  Naturally, I had to grab this book as soon as possible and downloaded it to my kindle app the very next day. We read in Ecclesiastes that there is "nothing new under the sun" and I shouldn't be at all surprised to find enlightening answers right there in the truly inspired Word - after all, isn't the ultimate artist our Creator as He alone created all the many things around us from which we draw our inspiration? Austin Kleon expounds on this reality with many helpful insights on being an artist, loving your work, and fully accepting the notion that without each other (!) our inspiration well would run a little dry.

It's true, whether cognitively or subconsciously, we mentally note the pretty things we've seen and tuck them away in the recesses of our mind, drawing on our mental supply of beauty to create our own works of art. If I'm being completely honest, the below feather cake that I felt was oh-so-original when I created it was most likely inspired from a Zoe Clark cake. The girl can rock some feather work.  The list could go on and on of artists who have inspired me.

With my nightstand remaining endlessly loaded down with books (mostly biographies or educational gems) I recently laid hands on this jewel and it quickly made it's way to the top of my pile. 

In my opinion, the biggest mental struggle of an artist is staying focused on my own work, keeping the blinders on, and taking my own personal goals head-on. Throughout the years, I've heard much skepticism regarding my business - "there are so many people making cake", "there aren't enough people ordering custom cakes", "won't it get old working weekends" - the list could go on. A more sensitive person, may hear such comments and shrink back assuming others to be right. Thankfully, my feelings don't hurt easily and the only situation that really ever gets me riled up is a perceived injustice - I will fight like a pit bull against injustice. Regardless, I have found it more helpful to remember that just as no two snowflakes are alike and no two finger prints are alike, the same rings true of artists. There is only one me. That may sound arrogant, but that is not at all how it is intended. My chubby fingers could be given the task of making the exact same cake as an artist standing right next to me and the cakes are going to be different. It's just the way it is. I don't foresee giving it up any time soon - I couldn't stop creating cakes even if I tried. My soul craves art.  For now, I think I'll stay right here by my oven and continue throwing around my eggs and butter...after all, cake chose me years before I accepted her proposal...

Photo Friday #49 - West Side Story

Meatball Veggie Soup

The end of winter is finally near and I've never been happier. While I've spent my fair share of years north of the Mason Dixon (including my birth if we're being honest), my heart sings happy tunes in warmer weather. That's not so say you won't hear me complain when we consistently top over 100 degrees this summer. Let's just say I don't like extremes - clearly,  I need to live in Hawaii. At any rate, a couple of weekends ago our temps dropped rather low again and I couldn't resist another go-round with a steaming pot of soup. We actually eat soup year round, but with exceptional frequency in the colder months. You can find additional soup recipes here, here, here, and here. 

For this meatball-veggie-pot-o'-crazy, I started with lots of good things....In the bottom of a heavy pot place:

4 TBS butter

1 large onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

2 jalapeno's seeded and chopped

4 medium sized potatoes, cubed

Saute and stir often until onions are transparent and veggies begin to wilt.

In the meantime, assemble your mini meatballs. In a mixing bowl combine:

1 lb. lean ground beef
3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup italian bread crumbs
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. peper
Dash of Worcestershire

Mix well with your hands and roll into quarter-size meatballs.

Place meatballs on sheet pan and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until no loner pink in the center.

The meatballs will appear to be too dry - you want this. They are going into your soup and need to be slightly dry so they can absorb the liquid in the soup without falling apart.

As soon as your root veggies begin to soften add to your pot:

2 cartons of beef broth (approximately 28-32 oz. each)

1 can of tomato sauce

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup frozen green beans

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

Bring to a simmer and gently stir in your meatballs.

Top with fresh grated parmesan and parsley. Enjoy and stay warm - summer is almost here!!

xox,
A