Authenticity

xo

jeanne

Share It Saturday

Today I'm taking part in  Share it Saturday, which is a brand new linky party dreamed up by Jennifer Rizzo. The idea is to share something you read on another person's blog or website. You can read the details about it here. 

Last week I came across this photo of these yummy looking cinnamon rolls from Country Living Magazine on Pinterest. I don't know about you, but I find cinnamon rolls irresistible. And to make these even more delectable, they are almond filled cinnamon rolls. So I decided to test out the recipe and make them for myself. 

And the recipe certainly didn't disappoint. . .

However, I don't really need to be eating a dozen cinnamon rolls, so I think if I make them again I will cut the recipe in half.

If you'd like to make some of these Almond Filled Cinnamon Rolls for yourself, you can find the recipe here.

xo

jeanne

The Find

I recently discovered The Find Market Event located in Plainfield, Illinois. This is a once a month shopping market which opened last October. It happens to be not very far from where my daughter lives, so I decided to stop by last night on the way home from babysitting my grandson.

The Find is located in a warehouse-type space full of a wide variety of vintage treasures. They sell everything you can imagine such as furniture, architectural pieces like, doors, windows, shutters, spindles, etc., industrial items, bed springs, old enamelware, wooden ladders, quilts, chalk paint, vintage lampshades, suitcases, handmade tote bags, milk glass, silver serving pieces, corrugated metal letters, wire baskets, vintage tins, etc., etc.

There is even a cafe area where you can sit and relax and enjoy a beverage or snack under a unique chandelier made out of tiny lights and an old box spring.

The Find is open every third Thursday through Sunday of each month and you can find more information (as well as directions and exact location) at www.thefindmarketevent.com

Happy Valentine's Day!

xo

jeanne

Lady of Letters

This is my dear Aunt Helen from Dallas, who recently passed away. She would have been 102 years old today. She is my last tie to my mother's side of the family. She was the oldest of three sisters and my mother was the baby of the family. My mother died fairly young and has been gone for almost 38 years, so Aunt Helen has been like a second mother to me. Aunt Helen said that when I was born my mother told her she would share me with her, since my Aunt never had a daughter of her own. Little did anyone know all those years ago, that truer words would ever be spoken! 

Aunt Helen and my mother were very close and they shared the love of letter writing. Once my mother passed away I continued the tradition. We must have exchanged thousands of letters between us. She loved to correspond with people and she looked forward to receiving letters from them as well. Writing letters seems to be a lost art these days, but like my Aunt I quite enjoy it. It was a special bond we had with each other and I certainly am going to miss that now. I treasure all her letters, which were always so uplifting and supportive and funny too. About 10 years ago I began to save every card and letter she sent, thinking that once she turned 90 her letter writing days could end at any time. Little did I know that we would continue to write to each other for almost 12 more years! 

Family was always so important to my Aunt. She would share stories of growing up with my mother and my grandparents and I loved that so much. When I was a young girl and she would come for a visit, we would sleep in the same room and talk endlessly in the darkened room until one or the other of us would eventually fall asleep. We often laughed until we cried at some of the funny stories she would tell me. Now that Aunt Helen is gone, I need to start writing some of those stories down while I can still remember them. I probably could fill an entire book because there were so many of them! 

It makes me sad to think that Aunt Helen is gone now, but I am comforted by the thought that she is reunited with her dear husband, her sisters and my grandparents. I'm sure they are probably all sitting around laughing reminiscing about the good old days!

Winter Wonderland

It looks a lot like this snow globe where I live lately. Snow, snow and MORE snow is coming this weekend. Windy and below zero temperatures. It's pretty to look at from the inside, but not so pleasant to be outside in this kind if weather. 

Happy New Year

Merry Christmas!

The cooking, the baking, the shopping, and the wrapping are all done. Now it's time to enjoy!

Wishing you all a blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year filled with lots of happy memories!

Christmas Advent Gifts

My grandson Jase is 4 months old already. (My oh my, time sure does fly by quickly!)

One of the things he loves is books. He likes to be read to as well as looking at the colorful pictures.

My daughter wanted to do a "gift-a-day" for Jase, in lieu of an advent calendar. So she decided to check out the local thrift stores and buy children's books to give him each day in December leading up to Christmas. 

As you can see, Jase is enjoying these little gifts quite a bit! Have you ever done an advent calendar with your children? What kind of gifts or treats did you have for each day?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Veteran's Day

We honor and thank all those who have served and sacrificed for our freedom on this Veteran's Day!

(A blast from the past - I originally posted this digi-collage on my blog all the way back in 2006!)

Belated Birthday Celebration

Last night I went out with some girlfriends to celebrate my birthday. Never mind that my birthday was over two months ago. That's just the way we roll! Actually, I don't think we have celebrated the birthdays in this group of friends anywhere near our actual birthday dates in years!

Almost better than the gifts is the packaging of the gifts from these creative girls.

This one is my favorite because the paper bow is just some packing material tied with seam binding and a handmade tag. Who would have thought to use packing paper to decorate the outside of a package? I usually save everything and I know I have gotten things shipped in this kind of brown paper. Now I wish I would have saved some of it!

And I love the glitzy shabby chic look of this gift bag adorned with monogram initial ornaments from Michaels. Those will look great hanging in my office/studio. Too cute!

Pantry Weekend

This weekend I finally got around to cleaning out my pantry because I was running out of room to store things. I threw out any expired food items I found, donated a bag things to the food pantry, and the rest I decided to cook up to eat! (Gee, I wonder why I didn't do this sooner?) 

This bread is a Beer Bread mix that I bought at a home party a while back. There's something about the smell of baking bread in the fall. Tomorrow I'm going to make a pot of soup to go along with the bread. 

This morning I decided to make a veggie omelet using some of the green peppers my daughter gave me from her garden. 

And I found a box of hash brown potatoes in the pantry, so I cooked them up to go along with the eggs.

In the summer I like to keep a package of pasta salad mix on hand to make a quick side dish when it's warm outside. Well, I found TWO packages in the pantry, so I prepared both of them to serve with my lunches and dinners for the next few days. In fact, this will taste great with the leftover panko-breaded tilapia and sweet potato that I'm having for dinner tonight. So what are you serving for dinner tonight?

Boo!!!

It's Halloween! It is grey and rainy here in the midwest. But that is nothing new - it's generally is either rainy or cold (or both!) around here on October 31st. I remember many a Halloween back in the day when I was all excited to put on my costume, only to have to cover it with either a winter coat or raincoat while we went trick-or-treating! 

This year is especially fun because it's my grandson Jase's very first Halloween! My daughter took this photo early this morning. I think he a makes a darn cute little Jase-n-stein! 

Pizzi

"Pizzi" is what my daughter used to call pizza when she was a little girl. Sometimes we still refer to it as Pizzi. I found these 6-inch pizza pans at Homegoods a while back and thought I would put them to use last night. I didn't have any pizza dough on hand, but I did have a couple of small cans of Pillsbury Grands Jr. Buttermilk Biscuits (5 rolls per tube) in the fridge, so I used those to make the crust. Spray each pan with PAM and then using your fingers, press the biscuit dough onto each pan (2-1/2 biscuits per pizza).

Spread canned pizza sauce on each crust using the back of a spoon and then top with your favorite toppings. (I used green peppers from my daughter's garden and onions.) Finally, top with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake the pizzas in a preheated 400-degree oven for 9-12 minutes or until crust is golden. Enjoy!

A ride through the country

I spent a few days at the cottage and really enjoyed the beautiful autumn palette of colors. Isn't Mother Nature glorious?

Happy Birthday, Baby of Mine

It's hard to believe, but exactly 30 years ago, this beautiful little girl entered the world.

Her father and I couldn't have been more proud!

 

All our favorite memories revolve around her.

 She has brought so much happiness into our lives (and she still does).

 This mischievous little girl . . .

. . . Grew into this gorgeous, bright woman.

She married this wonderful man,

and eventually started a family of her own.

 Life has come full circle 

And now she understands the love a parent has for their child.

Happy 30th birthday my dear Natalie Jane!

I Love You!!!!