The Inspiration Cup

When you look at life through grateful eyes, considering each day a gift, wonderful things happen. Yesterday was peppered with microbursts of inspiration from a sweet soul brimming with talent to the serendipitous meeting of like-minded fiber artists. I had arrangements to meet a fellow Raveler in person to discuss possibly testing some of her new designs. I had no qualms about going to meet a relative stranger, because I’ve always found fiber folks to be so kind and generous. My only reservation was, what if I’m not crazy about her patterns? I wouldn’t dream of hurting a budding designers feelings yet don’t want to devote a lot of time to something I don’t really care for. The moment I walked into the bakery, I spotted a crocheted teal cap on a lovely young woman surrounded in yarn projects and was immediately at ease. She showed me some of her work and it was just exhilarating to hear her gush about her love of the craft, her ideas and hopes. This gal just oozes talent and I felt blessed to have met her. Working with her will be an honor. I went from there right over to my LYS to get some color ideas and met Jennifer. She is helping in the store now and was an instant comrade in craft. Later that evening, I went to Brilliant Daughter's concert at her school. My hub had to work, so I sat in the crowded audience alone. When I spotted a lady pacing, looking for a spot, I offered the seat next to me. As she sat, I glanced down to see familiar sight, so asked her, “Did you knit your socks?” Her whole face lit up while enthusiastically nodding and pulls from her bag her latest project. We got to chat quite a bit and could have lit up the room between a shared love of fiber and pride of our daughters playing music. My humble little cake was also big hit so the night was quite a success.

 
In a era of extreme budget cuts, and schools really hurting to provide, I'm really grateful for the band program that gives my girl so much joy.
Yesterday, my cup runneth over with inspiration.

Extra Sweet

A delicious aroma is wafting through the house right now, curling it's fingers and calling me back into the kitchen. Brilliant Daughter has a Marching Band fundraiser tonight so I'm supposed to bring a goodie. It should be something not messy, so I've made the easiest bundt cake ever in one of these newfangled silicone pans.(Thanks mom!) My mama always made one of these to go with tea when company was coming. It's moist, yummy and I can just slice it up and serve on pretty napkins.

Have you tried these pans yet? I'm likely one of the last to, considering that I don't buy many kitchen gadgets anymore. I just stick with my old faithfuls.

My handed down bowls from Grandma. They make baking extra sweet.

Besides, for some reason the silicone made me nervous. They're really cool with their wobbly floppiness, but made me worry I'd open my oven to see something like this...


Well, the timer went off and I opened the door...Beautimous! Now I'll arrive looking like I slaved over this pretty cake when truly, it only took a few minutes.
Wine Cake
Ingredients:
1 package yellow cake mix
1 package instant vanilla pudding
1 tablespoon nutmeg
1 cup wine, sherry or port
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
Directions:
Mix the above ingredients well and pour into a greased bundt or tube pan.
Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes.
Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar or drizzle with mixture of
1/2 cup powdered sugar and 3 teaspoons milk.

Aglow

Hello there, dear readers! This morning I psyched myself up into preparing for this upcoming long weekend. Took Brilliant Daughter to school and ventured off to the grocery store to conquer "the list". Look out - woman on a mission! This crowd-averse gal knows full well that further into the week there will surely be turkey day mania, so get the goods now. Any last minute goods can be retrieved by my ever loyal and long-suffering husband who will, by then, likely welcome a trip out and away from said woman on a mission. Once back home, I pulled right up to the front door to unload what seemed like a freighter and huffed up the sidewalk mumbling about all that need be done, when I looked up to see this Japanese Maple at the corner of our house absolutely glowing. It was alive and took my breath away. In my hurry-scurry morning it stopped me in my tracks. We all need a moment like that each day. A 'gasp moment' that makes you think, " I'm so fortunate to be alive in this exquisite world."

I grabbed the camera to attempt to capture it, but the glow was fleeting, as I stood on a carpet of exquisite red gold leaves.

That's okay though, I got the point. I hope you experience a good 'gasp' moment today.

I'm so grateful for trees.

Winter

Just in time for the storm that is rolling in, I discovered that there is a fresh Twist Collective for Winter 2009. The kettle on the stove is whistling, so I'm off to make some Chai and hunker down. #19- I'm thankful for the blustery wind that's making the trees dance and shake off what's left of their leaves to the music of the chimes on our deck.  #20- After this very long week, I'm so grateful for weekends. Happy Friday and to all a great weekend!

Squirrels Love Me.

You may have noticed that there is a soft spot in my heart for acorns, so I was inspired to make these hot pads using some Amy Butler  and plain cotton fabric.They add a little Autumnal touch to my kitchen.

I didn't write a thankful post yesterday. Oh my, what an ingrate. So #17 I'll add now.. Rain. We had a storm come through last night, so opened the bedroom window, despite the cold just to inhale oh-so-fresh air and be lulled to sleep by the tip-tap of raindrops. WoNderFul.

#18 Paper. With cell phones, iphones, PDA's, etc. that can do everything but make your breakfast, folks now push buttons rather than write things down. Me? I'm a sucker for blank notebooks (especially Moleskines) little scraps of paper, even receipts.  I have notebooks in my bag, a few in the car, and usually paper in my pocket at all times. No kidding, I'm an obsessive writer-downer for fear that I'll forget appointment times, poetic thoughts, or what I need at the grocery store. I've been known to pull over the car to write something down because if I don't, it will be gone forever before I reach my destination. I doodle on everything. Junk mail envelopes, receipts, grocery bags. I loathe to waste paper and attempt to utilize every piece and recycle what I don't because I revere it so. It's easy to come by in our day, yet still under-appreciated.
Often I embellish the plain notebooks just to make it more "me"

I'm taking another online writing class, so this one is currently in my bag and goes everywhere that I do in case of inspiration.

Time with my Best Buddy

#16. I'm so grateful for unexpected, fun time with my husband. No matter how random or odd I may be, my hubby "gets me" or at least says, "uh-huh, that's nice honey."  He was off of work today, so I tagged along with him on errands just for the company. We have deep philosophical conversations. Ha, yeah, right. More like silly conversations and sing alongs. It is so wonderful to be married to your best friend.

Check out the "new-to-me" clock I found at the thrift store. Being a German girl, when I saw it I squeaked! It now cheerfully tick-tocks in my little kitchen.

#15

Phones. I'm so grateful that I can call my family and check up on them. Email is awesome, but my 82 year old grandmother isn't computer savvy. Sunday evening is traditionally a call and catch up night. Going to see the movie 2012 yesterday really made me think about what if I couldn't contact my loved ones?

The movie had great effects and the little girl, Lilly had great hats! I'm in a hat making mood. Look out Ravelry, I'm coming to browse.