My Bliss.

       There are certain places that can free your mind. That just allow you to breathe despite any stress, anger, sadness or any other negative emotion - these places free you from it all, even if only for the moment. One of these places for me is the lake. There's something about it when nobody else is around that just allows me to let go and relax. The noise, the fresh air, the soft atmosphere - it all wraps around me like a blanket and takes away the tension.
       Normally by now I've been to the lake a few times, hell on an average winter I've still visited, but this drawn out, long, grey and cold weather has been utterly depressing leaving me home and antsy with cabin fever like none other. Today though; despite the not averagely warm temperature - I finally got up and went out to the lake for the first time this year for more than 3 minutes. [which by the way, the parking was covered in snow... go away snow. nobody likes you anymore!]
       I took the kids, we walked along the shore, searched for sea shells [and more sea shells of course!] and honestly - I felt better than I have in a few months. Even with the smattering of bad news I received today - this place... this is my bliss. This is where I find myself and my happiness wrapped up in grains of sand and cradled by waves.

 

Devilled Easter Eggs

       These are a lot of fun to make, and of course they're festive for Easter.
But you can make them for birthday parties, baby showers, and other holidays as well by doing selected colors rather than a bunch!

Well - I can't quite tell you how to make the devilled eggs

I all but swore upon a death bed for the recipe - but you can check out

this recipe for general devilled eggs to follow 

and I can tell you how to get them colored!

You'll Need: 

• hard boiled eggs, halved w/ yolk removed [& saved on the side]
• food coloring
• vinegar
• water

 *DO NOT USE FOOD COLOR GELS!*

Directions: 

1. Fill each cup with 2/3 cold water & 2 tsp. vinegar [1 cup for each color you want to use.]
2. Add 5-7 drops of food coloring for desired color[s]
3. Rinse egg halves under cold water and drop one half into each cup
4.  Allow to sit for approx. 30 seconds. [more or less depending on color desired. Less will be lighter, longer will be bolder]
5. Remove from cups & set upside down on paper towel to let excess water drain off then place in trays/on plates.
6. Follow the rest of a regular devilled egg recipe as you would regular eggs.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!!!

 

 

 

 

 

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Project 365

       I've been thinking about trying it again for a while now, but it's been so cold I knew I wouldn't make it past a week. I started one in April 2010 - I did really well and made it to day 292 and then my camera broke =/ of course... SO CLOSE! But anyways, I've been wanting to try again but either I was working wayy too much or it was winter and winter is a terrible time for me to start anything. So; now April is here and it's [supposed] to get warm eventually... so bam, I'm starting it today.

And so here is Day 1: sugar cookies 

we made for Izzy to take to school for her share day. 

Her's were actually frosted yellow with each kids initial piped onto it in blue =P

WISH ME LUCK!

                 Also; rather than posting every day - I'll just post once a week with that weeks photos! I'm so excited!

And; of course if you decide to try it yourself now or later; check out Project 365 Survival Guide - which I wrote while doing it the first time!

I hate butterflies - Happy 3 am

       Alright, so I just posted a poll feature of butterflies and you know what I realized about butterflies? I hate them, I don't like them one bit. They're pretty but upclose they're just creepy and moth like. Now that sounds crazy right? No, absolutely not; I have a serious phobia of moths. [that was my rationalization, I'm sure you're still thinking "okkkayyy crazy lady... but what's your problem?"] No, that IS my problem. I don't have the "eww that's creepy" phobia of moths, I have the OMFG I'M GOING TO DIE! phobia of moths because the next three words are I CAN'T BREATHE! know why? because I'm absolutely terrified and panic sets in and I have this sort of mini-break down where everything itches and I feel like my body is being swarmed by moths and OMFG I CAN'T DEAL WITH THIS!

       Okay; we're going to stop talking about that now because it's 3 am, there's about a trillion goosebumps on my skin right now and I am freaked the hell out... anyways, wanna know why I really hate butterflies? Butterflies haven't really bothered me... actually that's a lie; one time I was at the butterfly house and there was this really pretty [HOLY HELL! Did I just pull my feet up off the ground while sitting on the couch out of fear like there's some monster under there going to grab my ankles and eat me? Yes, yes I did... no joke]... anyways - this really pretty gorgeous blue butterfly sitting on some beautiful flowers and I was like oh, I'm gonna snap a picture of that little lady [because this is the butterfly house, not house of 1,000 moths right?] so anyways picture taken, la la la... well it landed on my arm [let's note that when you're there they actually TELL you not to touch the butterflies because well they're probably expensive and foreign and the 43 signs aren't warning enough] anyways; it landed on my arm and then it closed it's beastly horrid wings into MOTH WINGS!!!!! I couldn't even handle myself, it was ON MY ARM and it was so close to my face I started hyperventilating and crying right there. Swinging my arm about like a psychotic woman trying to get it off me ['cause you know, they told me not to touch them and I'm respectful]... so anyways... pretty blue butterfly I later turned out is ACTUALLY A GIANT MOTHER F-ING MOTH! from Brazil or something!

       Okay; that's not why I hate butterflies, I'm sorry we'll get to this... anyhow so you know the "more like this" feature on deviation pages... well, let's just say those weren't all butterflies! they were winged mothy little hell butterflies. And now that I think more about it; I'm not fond of butterflies either. I think they're pretty, but I don't like them... okay that's a lie, I love butterflies... but they can't have that ominous mothy look about them. They're evil.

       Back to my butterfly house story; wanna know what happened once I got a nice double dose of ativan and practically died tried to walk back to the ferry where I passed out and woke up in my warm cozy bed? [yeah... ativan and I... I'm 90 percent certain the main reason it works well for me is 'cause I pass the fuck out and whatever is bothering me is no longer important] but anywho... there was a freaking MOTH IN MY PURSE!!!!! I accidentally stole a foreign moth! So of course I kindly panicked again, and had the moth escorted back to where it belonged [away from me.]

Happy 3 am.

OMGOMGOMG! "Featured Heartist"

       Ever get a compliment where you just feel like you might not be able to breathe? That's exactly what just happened to me!  There aren't even words, even after a few hours of staring at this, there still aren't words! I'm so incredibly blown away and feel so honored right now ❤❤❤ 

       It's not even April Fools Day! Anyways; I got this from #deviantHEART, an amazing group on devinatART.com. If you're on dA and you're not part of this group, you should seriously reconsider and click on that link up there and hit join!

Marshmallow Flower Cupcakes

What You'll Need

• frosted cupcakes 
• 1 bag of mini-marshmallows
• scissors
• colored sugar sprinkles 
• sandwich baggie
• & patience!

Instructions

1.  Fill first baggie with desired colored sugar sprinkles. 
2. Cut mini-marshmallows in half diagonally and place into bag. [you can also cut them into thirds, that is how I did the ones above, but it's much less frustrating to do halves.]
3. Shake the baggie until the sticky marshmallow side[s] are covered in the sugar.
4. Carefully [I suggest starting from the inside] place marshmallows in a circle 'spiralling' outwards.

NOTE: if you do multi-colored [like pictured], I suggest doing a large amount of petals [marshmallows] before hand so you don't have to keep making different colors. I also recommend doing a few of one color first, it's much easier to do and less time consuming. [also I personally like the look of the single colored ones better to be honest.]