to you, from me

delicious. a winter pomegranate barbeque sauce for a Pork dish.

1 shallot                                           1 tbs. dark brown sugar

1 clove garlic                                2 tsp. mesquite liquid smoke

2 chipolte chiles in adobo        1 tsp. ground mustard

1/2 c. pomegranate juice         1 tsp. worcestershire sauce

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar             1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/4 c. pomegranate arils           1/4 tsp. salt

2 tbs. pomegranate molasses

Mix all ingredients EXCEPT arils in blender, until smooth. Pour into small pan and simmer until slightly reduced. Stir in arils.

prettiness

our kitchen is complete, minus appliances - and looks great! all new dishes, cooking stuff, re-arranged cabinets. the paint and new colors and decor are beautiful. i actually cooked every day this past week; & that's kind of major. moving on...Jay got the first two coats of primer on the craft room last weekend. we plan on finishing it next weekend. my vintage desk will be here in 2 weeks...then i get to move all my sewing goodies in. (see here) in addition, i'll finally have a home for all my photos and scrap booking goodies. i'm most excited about this room. it will be pretty. o' i'll post pics later this week of the kitchen.

finding strength

have you ever read nienie?

she is one of my favorite reads. her sweet husband has been updating her blog the past few days, as she has been in the hospital undergoing more skin grafts. i look up to this sweet, sweet girl. although not burnt, i understand her pain, physical and emotional. when i was 6, i was diagnosed with a skin disorder, due to an immune deficiency. i've battled with this my entire life, mostly since being out of high school. the pain at times have been unbearable and the the self esteem issue along with it, are haneous. i've never been as strong as she has; she is such a beautiful person. through her pain, her surgeries, the emotional burden of life never being as it was before, she amazes me. i find strength in her story. im thankful for an amazing husband, who has always been the most loving, supportive, understanding man. im blessed. i pray that i find strength like stephanie.

a little bit o' random.

it's wonderful to have sunshine back around these parts....as much as i love the cold weather, the snow, the scarfs, boots and coats....i think, for the first time ever, i am anxious for spring to come around. it's been in the low 60s the past few days after 2 weeks of sub-freezing temperatures; 'tis lovely.

sigh. i wished I could give more to the country of Haiti; more than money and supplies. i wished i could give my heart and soul, my help, my love. the children they are showing on news totally tears my heart out...the families crying out in desperation in search of their loved ones and the volunteers begging for medical supplies. so sad. please say a special prayer for the residents and volunteers.

and, i found this too cool software the other day, that totally makes polaroid pics. and on top of that, i found a brand new polaroid instant film camera last weekend at a local thrift store, for just $5. i am so excited. i love, love polaroid pics. so, i played around and took this too cute pic of the hubs.

thanks Jay for being my model, up close and personal style.

let the good times roll

this year will be the best year ever. i think they say, "you spend your twenties learning who you are, your thirties living & your forties on top of the world". i will hold true to this; i will see to it.

we have never been ones to mozy out of our little county. as locals, we stay pretty much local, even both as children. we escape to the mountains occasionally, which is only a small drive up the road and we've been to the beach a few times. we are defiantly escaping outside of our normal realms this year and getting involved in more things local, and are excited for our 2010 travels. were starting off with several small trips in the spring and heading to the Outerbanks in June; Savannah and NYC with day trips from there to other New England states will end up our year.

to add some fun, we are in search of a VW beetle, retro style, to do some traveling in. i would love to go to our beach destinations in the bug. history: this was my first car. back then, it wasn't "cool" enough; and i never did try to learn how to drive it. (banging head against my desk) as an adult, i realize how incredibly crazy i was. i miss that car.

traveling across the Eastern US, in a cute bug with my love....couldn't get any better.

change of events

its so weird how life changes and things or people that you once couldn't live without, now a safe distance seems only too close. i guess we grow up? if that's what this is. friday night, i had been wanting to go out for several weeks...i wanted to listen to music, be around a crowd. so, all day friday, i was looking forward to the plans we had made. but as the day went on, i started second guessing myself. we backed out once. but decided to go ahead and go......and so we went. and 32 minutes and $14 later, we left. so, here we were, 8:32 on a Friday night....headed back home. how perfectly happy we were to stop for a milkshake and spend the evening cuddled up on the couch. the once loud, exciting, dramatic crowd of others and places, no longer interested us; not even a little. perhaps it didn't when i made the plans...maybe i was still hanging on to a small part of the past instead of realizing that since i had turned 30, my life has been nothing but perfect.

it was a beautiful, December day.

the past 6-months have been such a whirlwind of change in our lives....and for the first time in my life, i can say i am happy. truly happy. & that is such an incredible feeling. some events over the last year were really, really tough and very hard and hurtful,  but i am now thankful they happened. as it was through the hurt, the anger, the waiting; i had so much time to look inside and reflect on who i was, who i had become. it was then i realized what i was missing and how we had gotten where we were. it was through this that we as a family, renewed our walk in God.  im thankful for such a wonderful husband, who hung in there with me during such a ruff year.

after visiting our church for the last year, we joined early December. this had been a decision that wasn't easily made on my behalf, but only because i had been a member of my home church, since birth. but we did. and  our lives since have been so abundantly blessed. we have so much to be thankful for, wonderful careers. beautiful families. our health. we have sweet friends (and I, the clarity on how my best friendship, went wrong)

God is so good. I'm so thankful he forgives and so thankful that he provides direction for our lives. Living each day with the focus of only making him happy instead of for myself, is how we got to where we are and how I can say I am truly happy.

This year has been beautiful so far....and only lovely things await. I'm so happy and look forward to every minute of it.