Is willing to accept that she creates her own reality except for some of the parts where she can’t help but wonder what the hell she was thinking.

~Story People

This movie looks sweet and funny and its got BILL MURRAY!

Genius x 2 = Awesome! via SF Girl by Bay  Available with a long wait on Netflix.

In March, date with Mr. Smoothpebble!  Avett Brothers live and in person!

Roasted Vegetable Salad with Quinoa

• A mixture of chunked vegetables, I used zuchinni, mushrooms, roma tomatoes, red pepper & red onion.  You could use whatever sounds good or whatever you have on hand – peppers, squash, asparagus, green beans, etc.  Toss with 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil, salt & pepper.  Roast at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.
• While the veggies are roasting prepare 1 Cup Quinoa (pronounced keen wah) in 3 Cups Chicken or Vegetable Broth.  In a medium saucepan bring to boil, then put lid on and reduce to med-low for about 15-20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.  The Quinoa I buy is pre-rinsed.  You may need to rinse your Quinoa before you cook it.
• After Vegetables are roasted let them cool slightly and then combine with 1/4 C. vinaigrette or Italian dressing*.
• Garnish with feta cheese.
• Serve with the Quinoa.

My always in the refrigerator homemade Italian dressing from the Better Homes and Gardens red-checkered cookbook circa 1981.  This dressing is great on pasta salads, as a marinade, to drink straight from the bottle – ok that was a joke.  really.  don’t try it okay.

In a screw-top jar combine 1 C. canola/veg. oil; 1/2 C. cider vinegar, 1 T. sugar; 1 & 1/2 tsp. salt;  1 tsp. celery salt; 1/2 tsp. pepper; 1/2 tsp. dry mustard; 1/4 tsp. paprika; and 1 clove garlic, minced.  Cover; shake well to mix.  Chill.  Shake before serving.

Any recipes I’ve shared here I consider the best of the best.  Next week – Island Bananas Foster!

Oh, book pile.  Here’s a sampling of my stack of books to be read…I also downloaded a list app for my kindle to keep track of books I’d like to read…

• A Thousand White Women/Jim Fergus
• The Empire of the Summer Moon/S. C. Gynne
• Please Look After Mom/Kyung-Sook Shin
• My American Unhappiness/Dean Bakopoulos
• Daughters of the Revolution/Carolyn Cooke
• Tolstoy and the Purple Chair/Nina Sankovitch
• Long Drive Home/Will Allison
• So Brave, Young, and Handsome/Leif Enger

Oh, book pile.

p.s.  You my readers are a very thoughtful bunch!  I appreciated your thoughts on the subject of my last post.

I just watched the documentary Who Does She Think She Is?  Hmmmm.  I don’t know if any of you have seen it, but here’s what I took away from it.

1.  Women are completely underrepresented in the art world.

2.  It is a hard row to hoe to try to buck the system.

3.  There are multiple factors at play here.

4.  Creating and carving your own path does not happen in a vacuum.  There are often devastating consequences in being true to yourself.  So it sometimes becomes a question of which demolition can one tolerate? – demolition to self, possible demolition to relationships, demolition to self-worth in the form of labels such as; selfish, uncaring, non-nurturing.

5.  Being a mother and emboldening upon a career are a tricky balance at best.

I often find that when I’m bouncing around the internet I see these messages that speak of following your passions, and I frequently read the Etsy Quit Your Day Job series.  I’ve certainly read many a post addressing passion and living wide open, fervently praying the message to myself.  And I believe them – I really do! BUT, I think it needs to be understood that it’s not as simple as an inspiring quote or e-course might make it seem.  It takes hard work, dedication, clarity about what it is you want and your desire in that deep place within yourself, and also the ability to communicate clearly and respectfully to those who may experience the ripple effects.  In addition one must assess the grey area of where their responsibility to others begins and ends.  Coat it all with a thick layer of finances and being realistic without squashing one’s dreams.  Complex.

I just felt a need to express how complicated this idea of following one’s heart can be.  I don’t often see that side of it.  (I am willing to acknowledge that my personality can take something simple and make it complicated…which is really a procrastination tool for not pursuing my heart’s desire.  But that may be a subject for a  future post.)

Here are a few places where the complexity is explored:

Louise Edrich’s poem – Advice to Self  I see it as acknowledging that some things have to be let go in order to accomplish other more important things.

Summer Pierre’s post – Desire, click through to read her Huffington Post article as well.

Brene Brown’s writing.  I like that she understands that being authentic means being vulnerable.

Hula Seventy – nine words.

Harriet Lerner’s book – The Dance of Anger

I just finished the last of my handmade Christmas gifts.  Yea me!  I made 6 sets of everyday napkins.  So, let’s see… about 80 napkins.  Phew, no wonder I’m only now getting done.  As far as sewing projects go these were a blast to make.  I was able to use a lot of fabric on hand, much of it vintage.  The sewing was straight line stitching and completely uncomplicated.  And I absolutely love how they turned out.  Wonder how long it will take me to mail them?