new year.

I arrived home in Provo today, back from Christmas break. 

Opened up my suitcases to unpack, but didn't quite finish.  Made myself some steamed apples with cinnamon and raisins, and some cinnamon tea to enjoy by the Christmas tree.  Then took a little nap.

Christmas break has been lovely.

Here's hoping for a fantastic 2012, and hopefully some fun festivities to welcome it!

poetry

This spoke to me today.



Watch it.  You will not be disappointed.


In other news, I am home for Christmas.  Spent my morning preparing gingerbread and sugar cookie dough, to be baked and decorated this evening.

Seattle is so so beautiful every time I come home.  I never cease to be amazed by it.

Hopefully I'll get around to finishing a post or two while I'm here! 

hey hey

So! Hi.

This is my new blog.

When I said on my old blog that I was going to start writing again, I just started feeling a little antsy.  Time for a change.  I debated changing up the background, or getting a new title... and ultimately just decided to start all fresh and new.

The title?  It just came to me one day, in August.  I was out walking in the warm summer air, and BOOM. I just knew.  And that is how this came to be. Plus, it feels so... comfortable. Fitting.

I'm still working on adding things on the sidebar and such, but it's good for now. 

Welcome, friends, and enjoy!

P.S. If you want to see my old posts (from as far back as 2007, when I was just a wee 21 years old), go here.

welcome autumn.

Okay, let's face it.  Fall has been here for quite a little while at this point.  The leaves have been changing to beautiful shades of reds, oranges, yellows, even purples, and then falling off the trees altogether.  The weather has been up and down, but in general it has definitely been cooler than it was a month and a half ago.

But TODAY.  Today it is downright chilly.  And I feel giddy. 

As I drove home from work this evening, I couldn't help but notice it.  The sun was beginning to sink behind the mountains to the west.  The mountains to the east, the sky, and everything else were covered in the loveliest dusky shade of plum.  The cold air smelled perfectly autumn-like... a smoky, icy, warm and cozy all-wrapped-up-in-one type scent. 

I made a stop on my way home, and I couldn't figure out why I felt so excited.  Giggle-at-everything-excited.  New-crush-excited. 

And then I realized it.

I am in love with the changing of the seasons.  

It doesn't matter a bit which season it is; the whole process is entirely magical to me.  The way the weather gradually (or suddenly) changes temperature, the way the sun rises and sets earlier or later and in a more northern or southern part of the horizon, and the way the whole natural world responds.  New plants bloom and grow, produce delicious fruits and vegetables of all kinds, die, remain dormant.  The earth gets so hot and dry that it cracks, so cold that it freezes solid under a thick layer of ice.  Giant raindrops pour from the sky, snowflakes fall lightly and everything is calm, white, quiet. The sun rises and sets, painting great orange, pink, red, purple, and gold streaks across the entire sky, interlacing rays of light with wispy clouds. 

It is beyond beautiful, every time.

Granted, I feel privileged to live in a beautiful place.  Utah offers a lot of nature to be explored, and it is all very, very close.  For example, I live on a mountainside.  Beautiful valley below, mountains and canyons and foothills above and behind. 

Mmmm.  I cannot wait for cozy nights with a cup of tea.  Good books and movies, wrapped up in blankets with my favorite people.  Lovely brisk mountain runs in the chilly air.  And the holidays.

I can't believe how quickly time is passing these days.

Once upon a Valentine's Day.

Once upon a time, it was Valentine's Day.  I wanted to make something awesome for my roommates and friends because:

a. It was Valentine's Day, and growing up in my house, that meant everyone gives gifts. Of love. It wasn't really about romance.

b. Let's be honest.  They were/are the best friends and roommates ever.  Really, I mean ever.

c.  Why would I ever turn down a chance to make a delicious treat? My point exactly.

So, I decided to try a whole wheat cinnamon roll recipe.  I had been craving cinnamon rolls, and had heard of some good whole wheat recipes, so I thought I'd give it a go. 

 Rising.

I also tried a cream cheese frosting recipe that uses only honey.  And dyed it pink with raspberry juice.  Because it was the day of love and hearts and pink and red. Duh. 

Also, natural food dye? Awesome!  Though I think if you want a dark color, maybe using beets is better. I just didn't happen to have any beets laying around. In the middle of February.

I'm going to be honest here, I wasn't thrilled with how they turned out.  While I was making them, I wasn't sure if the wheat flour we had at my house was white wheat or red wheat, but they were so dense and heavy when they were done, I could only imagine that it was red wheat.  They were more like biscuits.  And even with my near-doubling of the butter and sugar in the middle, it was still dry. 

The frosting turned out okay, but atop the wheat-y biscuit rolls, it didn't taste very good. HOWEVER, they were made with LOVE, so that made all the difference (not to mention my friends are in to health food, so they thought the no sugar natural food dye frosting wheat-y-ness of them was fantastic.  And that is one of the many reasons that I love my friends.).

Then, for decorative/presentation purposes, I pulled out a bunch of old magazines and magazine clippings I've collected, and cut hearts out of beautiful pictures...

 ...and scattered the hearts on and around the plates of rolls, with a love note. 

The plate I left for my upstairs roommates looked like this when I came home.

I think that means they liked them.