Happy Thoughts & Sad Faces

It seems, at points, we all have been personified by this ironic exchange of happy thoughts and sad faces. Walking down the dirt road at sunset, I witness the brilliant rays of almost expired light, streaming through the hints of steam that rise from the surface of the cold ground. In that moment of beauty, I see a thousand moments of beauty that have come and slipped by too quickly. My one consolation?

This life and its beauty were never meant to last.

This is a mere shadow of the glory in store - the home that I was created for. The sun set on this earth the day man overstepped his boundaries and disobeyed his Master and Creator. Now, we live in this dark, ever darkening, world...bright stars, glowing elegantly against the blackened earth and sky.

I passionately await the dawn.


Until the hour of its arrival, I choose to shine this light of spirit and life with the power of Hope, pent up inside of my enraptured soul. On the day the Sun meets the horizon, all will be bright. On that day, my oneness with Beauty will solve its contrasts, and I will forever be...limitless.


Spirit of Truth. light my soul. let it burn for You.

Look What I Got In The Mail!

Some things just totally make you feel special and loved, you know?

That package I'm holding contained a very appreciated creation from my friend, Kaitlyn, who lives half way across the country, in Washington. We joke about switching states, because...let's face it...Washington is the home state of Starbucks!
(No, I wouldn't really move to Washington just for Starbucks. Kansas has enough coffee to appease me.)

What's inside??

Watch this, and find out!



As you now know, yes...it's true...my mother has a beautiful, magnificent, amazazing, perfect (ok, maybe not "perfect"), iPhone 4S, and I do not. However, after her bathtub incident, and the fact that she had to go without her own phone for over a week...yeah, she deserves it.

...and, you know...I get to play with it.

"Healthifying" & Your Answers on Blogging

First off I'd like to ask you a question...

Why does sugar have to be so darn delicious?

Actually, don't answer that. It really doesn't matter. With or without the delicious factor of sugar, other things are just as delicious, and I'm choosing the alternative deliciousness, so as to avoid the detriment caused by overdosing on the deliciousness of sugar. Make sense?

I like to call it healthifying.



My breakfast this morning - complete with spinach, matcha tea, frozen fruit, & a raw cage-free egg. Yum! (No, really...YUM!)

Praise the Lord tea and (black) coffee are healthy! Although, I must admit, I don't always choose to take them the healthy way.



Oh, and do you see that book next to my colossal cup of Yogi Kava Stress Relief Tea? (Yes, that was a shameless plug, because it is my FAVORITE tea!)



It's called The World's Greatest Book of Useless Information, and it's truly full of amazingly useless information.

For instance, did you know...

"One brow wrinkle is the result of 200,000 frowns."

"In 1983, a woman was laid out in her coffin, presumed dead of heart disease. As mourners watched, she suddenly sat up. Her daughter dropped dead of fright."

"Children born in the month of May are, on average, seven ounces heavier at birth than children born in any other month."

It's magically entertaining, and it's given me excellent silence breaking conversation topics ever since I bought it. Fun!

Ok, onto topic #2.

A few weeks ago, I wrote this blog post asking for your opinion on blogging - specifically comments, effort, and trends. You all gave me some great insight, and shared your opinion in much appreciated detail. I encourage you to go and read through the comments on that post - getting into each other's minds and understanding one another can really help us improve our blogs - but, I would like to offer a summation here.

Comments
In general, it seems that people are most likely to comment when they can either relate to the topic of the blog post, or if it's just a high quality and entertaining post. So, how does this help us? In posting, I really want to offer something to my readers; whether it's in relating to each other, and getting to know each other (encouraging the community aspect of blogging), giving someone a little something to cheer up their day, or a host of other things... The important thing is that readers leave having gained something from their visit. The more we focus on this, the more, I believe, we'll be blessed by comments, and really getting to know our readers on a personal level.

Effort
I think we're all in agreement that effort really needs to be focused on being yourself, and providing quality content that reflects that. Growing a blog isn't really worth anything if you don't stand firm in the integrity of your own uniqueness. Blogging is an amazing way to share the things that you've been blessed with the ability to share! When we're willing to show exactly who we are, unabashed, it makes people feel at home. We all crave a little "realness", right?

Trends
Well...first of all... *fist pump* You noticed them too! Ha! Most of your comments stressed the importance of good judgement when it comes to trends - some, are definitely great for engaging readers and enhancing the aesthetic of a blog, but we need to be careful that we don't do specific things, just because so-and-so with 10,000 followers does it. Once again, our blogs are reflections of us, and we should consider the trends that allow that to come through.

So, thank you so much for all of your input! I really appreciate it. Now, off to make myself french pressed coffee, and get to work on some things. Have a lovely day, friends!

My Momma's Birthday - A Recap

Some of you may have seen the post that I smuggled onto my Momma's blog this morning, in honor of her birthday. She didn't know I'd done it until this evening, when she had 30 comments already! I'd say that's some successful surprising! Thank you to all of the lovely people who commented on it, and helped make her day special!

Well, after a full day of...

thrift-shopping,

delicious food,

coffee,

cheesecake,

chilling,

{and}

spazzing, here and there

...we're done, and happy!
(I don't like cheesecake, but I took the time to make it, because it's Momma's favorite dessert.)

Momma and I did a vlog to tell you a little bit about her day, but to read more (and see a bunch of photos) go check out her blog post. :)

I've Got Pumpkin, I Need a Recipe, & I Have a Recipe for You!

Pumpkin can get a little overwhelming. You stick "pumpkin" in front of anything (e.g. scones, pancakes, bread, cake, waffles, muffins... people, lamps, unicorns, etc. etc.) and it automatically makes it sounds incredible.

My predicament is found in the massive collection of pumpkin recipes that I've found. How in the world am I supposed to make just a few of these ridiculously good-looking recipes?! So, I need your help.

Would you, pretty please, share your favorite pumpkin recipe with me?

You can...

• post it on your blog and give me the link in a comment
• leave the recipe in a comment
  (tell me if you want me to delete it once I've got it saved somewhere - just in case you want exclusivity)
• or you can email it to me
  (you can right click on the previous link and choose "copy email address" if the link doesn't work for you.)

Of course, whenever I make them, I'll post about them here, and send the love your way. :)

Now, I've got a recipe to share with you!



I don't know about you...but scones are a huge weakness of mine. Can't really get enough of them. Especially when they've got a thin, hard shell of icing on the outside.

Mmm.

So, the other day, I created a to-die-for pumpkin scone recipe, based off of my family's favorite chocolate chip tea scones.

(Do you pronounce "scone" as skōn or skän?)

We don't eat chocolate too often anymore, but these didn't need it. They were lightly sweet, just pumpkin-y enough, and filled with the beautiful essence of autumn... and yes, they had a lovely cinnamon glaze on top.

Pumpkin Spice Scones

3 C. Flour
1/4 C. Sugar
4 t. Baking Powder
1/2 t. Salt
1 t. Cinnamon
1/2 t. Nutmeg
1/2 t. Ginger
1/4 t. Cloves
1/2 C. Butter
3 Large Eggs
1/2 C. Pumpkin Puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Grease a large cookie sheet, or use an un-greased baking stone.

Mix together all dry ingredients, then using a pastry blender, two knives, or an electric mixer, cut in butter until course crumbles form. Beat the eggs in a small bowl with a wire whisk or fork, then add eggs and pumpkin to the dry ingredients and mix until just blended.

Remove dough from bowl and place on a floured surface. With lightly floured hands, shape dough into a round, until it's about 1 inch thick. Score the dough into 8 equal wedges, and bake for 20-25 minutes (until golden). Let sit for a few minutes, then glaze. Cool completely on a wire rack, then cut along score lines.

Cinnamon Glaze

Approx. 3 C. Powdered Sugar
Approx. 3-4 T. Milk
1/2 t. Vanilla
1/4 t. Cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together, adjusting amounts of powdered sugar and milk until it's a fairly thick, sticky consistency. While scones are still warm, spread glaze evenly on top.

Enjoy with a cup of your favorite roast of coffee!

Our only variation to that was that we used a biscuit cutter instead of scoring the dough and cutting it into wedges - if you do that, reduce the baking time to about half.



Hoping you like them as much as we did! Crazy delicious, they were. I'm looking forward to trying your pumpkin recipes! :)

P.S. I'm planning something exciting, here at Rear Window! Come back soon to find out what. :)

Bedhead...That's About It!

Before I start, I'd like to say...I WILL return as soon as possible to give you the two posts that I promised you!

But, for now...

Random things keep Momma and I inspired to do more vlogs. For instance...this morning went something like this:

"Mom, look at my bedhead... Hey! We should do a vlog in our pajamas!"



(I just checked, and yes, there IS a link to my artwork in my sidebar... but, you could just click here.)

Oddly enough, we forgot to say anything about our appearance in the video itself. Ha! I guess we were too interested in talking about randomocity. Either way, a very good (belated) morning to you! Watch it again tomorrow morning, that way it's at least somewhat applicable to your day. Ha. :)

See you soon, Loves!