So I was in mood for a little tea party last week. A tea party for me.
A nice cup of herbal tea and my favorite English treat – shortbread. Toffee Shortbread to be exact. I like my shortbread thin and crisp – not thick. You may remember the yummy lemon poppyseed shortbread I shared almost two years ago. It is lovely and is the perfect companion to a cup of tea. I decided to change up the flavor a bit this time.
I used the same basic shortbread recipe but instead of lemon and poppyseed I added toffee bits. Just one word – Yum! I can’t imagine anything not tasting yummy after you add toffee bits to them.
The recipe is an easy one. Everything goes into the food processor.
And then just pulse until clumps form.
If you don’t have a food processor you can even do it in your blender. The next step is to put it into your tart pan. I used my 9 inch removable bottom tart pan.
Use your fingers to push it into the pan nice and evenly.
The next step is to bake it at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, just until the edges start to turn golden brown.
The next step is important. One I have forgotten before. You need to cut the shortbread into pieces before it cools. If you don’t you will end up with one big mess! Trust me o this one.
The next step is easy – enjoy a piece!
With our without a cup of tea.
You don’t even need to have a tea party to enjoy a piece of shortbread. Make it just because. I think it would make a lovely Valentine treat for someone special.
Toffee Shortbread Recipe
Delicious buttery shortbread with pieces of buttery toffee.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Servings12 slices
Ingredients
1/2 C unsalted butter 1 stick, cold, cut into pieces
1 C all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
1/2 C powdered sugar
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1/2 C toffee bits
Instructions
Heat oven to 350° F. Butter a 9-inch fluted removable-bottom tart pan or round cake pan.
In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, process the flour, sugar, butter, and salt until moist clumps form.
Add the toffee bits and pulse once or twice just to combine.
Press the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake until lightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes.
Using a serrated knife, cut the warm shortbread into 12 wedges.
Let the wedges cool completely before removing them from the pan.
So I am usually not a big decorator for Valentine’s Day. But this year I got inspired by a few things I saw on Pinterest so I decided to take it up a few notches around here.
I had a couple of old empty window frames that I decided would look nice on my mantel in the family room.
I added some vintage valentine’s I bought off of Ebay, a few doilies, letters cut with my Cricut and some fun paper Valentines I put together with supplies I got at this fun little shop.
The wreath, the black candlesticks, the little cherub and the candlestick holding the container of hearts are all from Goodwill.
I am so happy I planted my amaryllis late this year, the timing was perfect for Valentine’s Day!!
I think it turned out pretty cute.
I also decked out my side table in the family room.
The brown kraft letters are from Joannes. The fun little Valentine’s hanging on the letters and on the cake stand came from Tai Pan in Utah a few years ago.
This second little cherub also came from Goodwill and I had the cakestand. A few vintage red books help with the Valentine theme!
These little shoes don’t have anything to do with Valentine’s Day other than I fell in love with them when I found them last week at a vintage store for $3.oo. Valentine’s is all about love, isn’t it?!
The containers are all from Goodwill as is the white doily. The hearts in the container on the left are from Joannes.
I did up the word art on my computer and framed it. (Saw the idea on Pinterest!)
I’ve compiled a list of my Recommended Reads for 2011 – Happy Reading!
Several of you have been asking when I was going to post my list of books read in 2011 – so here it is!!
You may also want to check out my book lists from 2010, 2009, 2008.
I only read 42 books this year, down from 53 books last year but I think I should get extra credit for reading all of Harry Potter. Those are some big books!
As I said last year, just because I read the book doesn’t necessarily mean I recommend it although usually if it is on my list it’s worth reading. If a book ends up with too much language or sexual content I will stop reading it and those books are not on the list. But my list is not G rated. Using movie ratings, the books on this list range from G rated to PG 13. So I highly recommend that you consult this great site – Rated Reads before you read the book to make sure it is something you want to read.
This year I have given the books I read a rating system (1-5 stars) There are no 1 stars on the list because those are the ones I didn’t finish. The lowest score that made the list was a 2.5.
We need to take personal responsibility for what we read and watch and we all have different standards so please be sure and check things out. Although the majority of what I read I would consider rated PG there may a few books that I have read that don’t meet with your personal standards so please be a responsible reader. I don’t want to offend anyone.
2011 was the year I finally read Harry Potter. Yes, believe it or not I had only read the first one but I can now proudly say I have read the entire series and watched each of the movies. I must admit I enjoyed them more than I thought I would and I was so sad when Dumbledore died. I kept hoping it really wasn’t true. I now have a list of Dumbledoreisms that I love! I am not even going to attempt to rate the Harry Potter books – how do you rate a classic? But there definitely are some I enjoyed more than others and to be perfectly honest with you they have all run together in my brain!
Picking my favorite book of the year is difficult and quite a responsibility. This year there were a couple. Of course, like many of you I loved The Help but hesitate to pick it as my favorite because it is such an “expected” choice. I loved it though and loved the movie almost as much.
My husband is not as big a reader as I am so when he started reading this next book and couldn’t put it down I knew it had to be good. He gets up very early for work but he would stay up past his bedtime to read. He couldn’t wait for me to read the book but I had to wait to get to the top of the waiting list at the library. That book was Unbroken – a sometimes difficult to read but beautiful story of endurance, strength, survival, and redemption. I loved it and it is one of my two top picks.
As always, I LOVE to hear what you have been reading. Please share with me what your top picks for 2011 are and what you’re reading right now and loving!! Just leave a comment below.
My 2011 Book List
Ape House by Sara Gruen (2.5) Probably my least favorite book of the year but I did finish it. I had read Water for Elephants and really enjoyed it but this one was a disappointment. Guess I just don’t like apes.
Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie Mallowan (3) If you have ever been an Agatha Christi fan you may enjoy this story of part of her life. It is not a book I would have picked up on my own but read because it was a book club pick and really enjoyed it.
When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin (4.5) Loved this book and want to read more of his work.
The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman (3)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
At the Little Brown House by Ruth Alberta Brown (3.5) A sweet G rated read
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (5) Almost loved the movie as much as the book
Once Upon a Time, There was You by Elizabeth Berg (3) Not my favorite Elizabeth Berg book.
A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz (3.5) Interesting view and interpretation of Pride & Predjudice
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Ten Thousand Sorrows by Elizabeth Kim. (2.5) Did not enjoy at all but kept reading because it was for book club.
Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen (4.5) Love all her books. Hope she writes more!
The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith (3.5) Don’t enjoy these as much as I did the first ones but I keep reading.
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (4) Watch the movie Midnight in Paris after reading this book. Story of Ernest Hemingway during his Paris years.
Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani. (3.5) This is young adult fiction. Love all of her other books better.
The Element by Ken Robinson (3.5) non fiction
The Go Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann (4) non fiction
The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel & Nancy Garfinkel (2.5) Not worth reading but there is a recipe at the end of each chapter.
Dreams of Joy (Sequel to Shanghai girls) by Lisa See (3.5 – rape scene may be offensive)
The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith (3.5) Again, read because I’ve read all the others.
A Year on Lady Bug Farm by Donna Ball. (4.5) First in the series of three. A delightful, easy read.
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (5.0) A book club but I would have read it anyway. Highly recommend
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis (4.0) My son’s favorite CS Lewis book.
At Home on Lady Bug Farm by Donna Ball (4.5) Enjoyed as much as the first
Love Letters from LadyBug Farm by Donna Ball (4.5) Was sad this was the last in the series
Distant Hours by Kate Morton (4.5) Really enjoy her books – a little Gothic Romance
I Still Dream of You by Fannie Flagg (3.5)
Eiffel’s Tower by Jill Jonnes (3.5) Interesting history of the Eiffel Tower. Similar type book as Devil in the White City but didn’t like it as much as Devil.
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (4.5) My third favorite book of the year
The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas (3.5) Nice story of women supporting each other.
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (3.5) Not sure why I waited so long to read this one.
Keys to the Castle by Donna Ball (3.5) Fun, easy read. Wish someone would leave me a castle in France!
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (4.0) non fiction
Heaven is for Real by Sandra Dallas (3.5) non fiction, story of life after death. Interesting.
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (4.0) I read it in English than time. In French the first time years ago.
Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews (3.0) A beach read
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (5.0) Parts were difficult to read but overall an amazing story and book.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (4.0) Not my typical genre (dystopian) but enjoyed it more than I thought I would
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton (4.0) Have read all of her books.
So is that about the weirdest combination of ingredients you’ve ever heard of for a cookie!?? I sure thought so when my mom brought me the recipe.
So don’t go running scared thinking Leigh Anne has lost it – salt AND pepper in a cookie!?!
Well, this particular cookie is an award winning cookie. My mom loves the show Chew. I haven’t actually seen the show but this recipe was their Cookie Swap Winner.
I think my mom was too scared to try it herself so that’s why she gave me the recipe. So this week I was craving a cookie. When that happens chocolate chip is usually my default winner. But I was in the mood for something a little different, a little more exciting so I decided to give this recipe a try.
I was a little leary but I figured it won a contest, it had to be good.
I love butterscotch chips so that was no problem and I also like pine nuts. Cookies always have salt in them so that was no issue either – it was the pepper that had me a little hung up. When I posted on my Facebook Page that I had just put pepper into my cookies I had several comments assuring me I wasn’t crazy but that you too had cookie recipes using black pepper.
The recipe calls for you to brown the pinenuts in butter – yum!
You keep stirring until the butter begins to brown and gets all foamy. They will burn easily so watch them closely!
Keep cooking and stirring until the nuts are a nice golden brown color and your butter is brown too – I loved browned butter!!
Now it’s time to add in that flaky sea salt and cracked black pepper. I have both in little grinders that I got at Trader Joes. You want flaky sea salt and fresh ground pepper not the fine stuff you usually have in your salt and pepper shakers.
I was feeling a little better about things at this point because the nuts browned in butter with salt and pepper tasted amazing! You let it cool a bit and then add it into your cookie dough. Onto the cookie sheet they go.
Bake until the edges are nice and golden brown – about 8 minutes.
So – the verdict. They were delicious. I loved all the different taste sensations going on in my mouth. I always like a little bit of salt but the kick of the pepper was so fun to – it comes after the sweet and the salt. I had to eat several of them just to see if they would react the same in my mouth – sweet, then salt and then the kick of the pepper!
Pepper in a cookie – totally a good idea!!
Salt and Pepper Butterscotch Pine Nut Cookies
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp table salt
2 sticks (1 Cup) unsalted butter (if you use salted butter eliminate the 1/4 tsp salt above)
3/4 C brown sugar
3/4 C granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 bag butterscotch chips (11 oz.)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 C pine nuts
1 Tbsp flaky sea salt
1 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper.
Mix together and cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat until nice and soft (the consistency of butter cream frosting) Add in eggs and beat for 10 seconds after each egg. Add in flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in butterscotch chips.
Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in a small non stick pan ( I used my cast iron) Stirring as the nuts begin to toast and brown. Use a wooden spoon. Be careful as they will burn easily. The butter will get nice and foamy as the nuts brown. When the nuts are golden brown and the butter is browned, remove from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Add in the sea salt and cracked pepper.
Add into the cookie dough.
Place dough by the scoopful on to a parchment lined cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 8 minutes of until they are golden brown. Cool on a rack. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
When my friend Marsha asked me what I wanted to do on my birthday I knew exactly what I wanted to do and I knew she would be up for the adventure!
But first I wanted to start my day out with Jim going out to breakfast.
I enjoyed this yumminess at a little Scandinavian restaurant, Cafe Broder, that we went to – Abel skivers with lemon curd and lignonberry jam! Our fun friends The Watts joined us too.
After breakfast Marsha and I headed out for our adventure. For my birthday I wanted to go to the Goodwill Outlet. This is not the regular Goodwill. The outlet is where things go after they leave Goodwill. Going to the Goodwill Outlet is almost like dumpter diving!
We quickly learned that there is protocol and a certain etiquette you need to follow at the outlet.
Tables are rotated in and out on a regular basis. When I new row of tables is brought in they are rolled in one at a time in a long line.
You must line up on either side of the line on the floor and wait.
You may look but you must not touch. Once the entire row is in place (about 8 tables or so) you are then allowed to go for it! You may dig away to your hearts content.
Let’s just say we met some interesting people. A lot of people who have an ebay business and resell what they find. One man had found a old movie camera for about $50.00 (you pay by the pound) and turned around and sold it for $2,000 that afternoon on ebay!
We did find some treasures – including this vintage tablecloth that is now on my kitchen table. (I washed it of course!)
Things are a little dirty and grungy so I recommend wearing a pair of gloves while digging through the bins.
My favorite bins were the ones with books in them. We found quite a few treasures. An old copy of Gone with the Wind, some sheet music and an old dictionary to use for some crafting as well as some other fun vintage finds.
Anybody have any idea what a 1898 copy of War and Peace might be worth!?
After we accumulated all our treasures we headed to the checkout where you pay by the pound except for books which are $2.00 for hardback and $1.00 for paperbacks.
I also found a cute Banana Republic sweater which ended up costing me about $1.50. Here are some of my other finds which include a vintage quilt!
I actually can’t wait to go back. We decided next time we are taking our husbands so they can experience it!
We got home, showed off our treasures and cleaned up so we could enjoy birthday dinner!
We reserved Gloria’s Secret Cafe, a teeny, tiny El Salvadoran restaurant in Beaverton. Sixteen of us squeezed into Gloria’s for a yummy dinner. We filled the entire place – it’s little!
There were four of us celebrating birthdays this month so it was fun to share the evening with them. They all got share my favorite birthday cake, a lemon poppyseed cake from Beaverton Bakery which is just down the street from Gloria’s. Happy Birthday to Darlene, Jane and Gerry too!
There is no better way to celebrate a birthday than with good food and good friends and of course a toast!
The whole day was a great way to kick off my new year!! I am lucky to have such wonderful friends and a sweet husband who shared my day with me.
Today I’ve got a birthday quote to share with you in honor of my birthday!
I had a wonderful birthday yesterday and I’ll share more of it with you this next week.
I appreciate so much all your lovely comments and Facebook messages. The daughter of one of my friends sent me a sweet Facebook birthday message and included a wonderful quote with her message.
I absolutely loved it and remembering hearing it for the first time and how it touched my heart.
It is how I try to live my life. Life may not have given me a golden ticket but I strive each day to discover and appreciate the pretty and delicious that life has to offer. To realize that it is up to me to be happy and this year especially, I will work to weave a tapestry of gratitude through my year!
I wanted you to be able to enjoy the quote too so I decided to make the quote up into a downloadable pdf so you can print it off and enjoy it just like I am.
I did a 11 x 14, 8 x 10 and a 5 x7 pdf version. Enjoy!
Today’s my birthday and I’m off to celebrate just how I like – with lots of good food, my friends and family (only Jim since the kids are at school), and a trip to Goodwill with my friend Marsha to find some treasures!!
I thought I’d share with you one of my favorite Portland restaurants while I’m out celebrating in my wonderful city!
While the kids were home for the holiday we did a little bit of eating, just a little bit. At home and out. We had to hit some of our favorite places and we tried a few new ones too.
One of my favorite Portland restaurants is Tasty n Sons. One day while we were out and about we stopped for lunch. There was as big a line at lunch as at breakfast but oh so worth it. Tasty n Sons is consistently rated as one of the top restaurants in Portland.
The restaurant is located at 3808 N. Williams and is open daily for brunch and dinner from 9a.m to 10 p.m. I have eaten there several times and have loved everything I have tried.
Food is served family style and the menu is made up of “smaller plates” and “bigger plates”. We went for a combination of the two. We loved being able to get “smaller plates” because that way we got to taste lots of different things! This time we ate at our own table but in the past we have sat at the communal table and had fun visiting with the others at the table with us. They didn’t even mind when I kept taking pictures of my food!
I loved the water bottles on the table. I recently bought a few similar to it at Ikea and I love using them on my dinner table.
Arrive early if you don’t want to wait. In the morning that means before 10:00 a.m. and after that you will just have to wait but like I said it is worth it!
There were four of us so we got to try several different things.
Our first choice was the Chocolate Potato Doughnut with crème anglaise. We ordered two and each had a half. We were pacing ourselves. Yummy, but I thought the creme anglaise was the best part!
Each dish is brought out as it is prepared so everything is fresh.
Our next delivery was the Auntie Paula’s French Toast with peach-maple & whipped cream. It was amazing. Maybe the best french toast I have ever had. The peach maple sauce was to die for and I wanted to lick the plate.
I had the a Fried Egg & Cheddar Biscuit with fried chicken. I am not a big fried egg fans so I got it with scrambled eggs. The biscuit was light and flaky and the whole thing was so good.
Logan went for the Pork Cutlets with fried egg & sautéed spinach which is melt in your mouth amazing.
And we found a nice gluten free, dairy free, red meat free option for Cali – Burmese Red Pork Stew with short grain rice & eggs two ways.
And of course there had to be dessert. We shared. Warm chocolate chip cookies with ice cream. So good.
I have made three visits to Tasty n Sons and still haven’t tried all things I want to on the menu. Darn, guess I’ll have to go back!
About the beginning of December I went out and bought my new 2012 calendar. I always buy the refrigerator version.
I have quite a pile of them now. A mini-history of our family.
I love a new calendar. I love how clean and fresh it looks, so full of possibility. I love my little ritual of sitting down with my new calendar and my old calendar and transferring all the birthdays and special days onto the new calendar. It is a new year in two ways for me – the literal beginning of a new year but also, since my birthday falls on January 7th (tomorrow), it is the beginning of a new year for me personally.
This year as I sat at our kitchen table, flipping through last year’s calendar I realized how many events I didn’t need to write on this year’s calendar.
I didn’t need to write down the school holidays, the days there was no school.
I didn’t need to write down the dates of Prom, Graduation, the school musical.
I didn’t need to write Spring Break on the calendar.
My calender is going to look different this year. My first full year as an empty nester.
My calender use to be full, chock full of children’s activities.
My calendar is still full. I have managed to fill, overfill, my days with lots of wonderful, good and fun things since my children have left home. In fact, somedays I wonder how I had time to be a mother!?
What we fill our calendar with fills our life. What do you fill your calendar with? What do you fill your life with? Are the things we are filling our life and calendar with the things that will help us move forward, progress and become the people we were meant to be? I am trying to fill my calendar with things that help me express and show my gratitude and help me Be Grateful. Things that will help me show my gratitude for my family, my friends and my Savior, Jesus Christ.
I have always loved the following quote:
I’m hoping that my calendar can be filled with things that will help me become who I was meant to be! Full of new and exciting possibilities. A new purpose.
Next week I’ll share with you how I feel about the importance of white space on my calendar and in my life!
I spend a lot of time contemplating and praying about what my word should be for each year. I have discovered that when I do this my word finds me. I don’t find it.
After much thought I had decided that my word was grateful. It was after I found the quote I used on my family Christmas card that my word found me.
I originally chose the quote because it had my Word for Life in it – Joy. But I soon realized that you can’t have Joy without being Grateful. The two are interconnected. They are joined at the hip.
There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy. Ralph H. Blum
So I thought my word was Grateful.
Then one day I was out for a run and I realized that my word needed to be TWO words. It was suppose to be BE GRATEFUL. Gratitude is not just an attitude. It is an action. My Word need to have an action word – BE.
So my 2012 Word of the Year is….
This year I want to Be Grateful. I want to show my gratitude through the way I live my life, the things I say and think and the things I do for others.
I have been given much and am richly blessed. I need to Be more Grateful for all that I have and to show and share my gratitude on a daily basis.
My sweet friend Meg gave me this for Christmas and it expresses what I want my word to be all about perfectly. I want to be GrateFULL every day.
There are days when that is easier than others. But I have learned there is always something to be grateful for. Thanks to Pollyanna for teaching me how to play the Glad game!
So 2012 is going to be the year full of Being Grateful.
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. Melody Beattie, Quoted in “Simple Abundance”, by Sarah Ban Breathnach
I am going to BE more Grateful by recording each day something I am grateful for in this cute little journal I purchased here
I am going to Be Grateful by expressing my gratitude for others more through handwritten notes and by developing and improving relationships with people I love and those I want to get to know better.
I am going to Be Grateful by sharing my time, energy and means with others. Even when I don’t think I have enough to share.
I am going to record through photographs the big and little things I am Grateful for. (more on this later)
When you are grateful fear disappears and abundance appears. – Anthony Robbins
My gratitude is not going to be silent gratitude – it is going to be a loud and important part of my daily life.
Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone. G. B. Stern
I have put little reminders around my house so I don’t forget to Be Grateful!
So when I decided it would be fun to share with you my Top Ten Posts from 2011 I didn’t realize how hard it would be.
Because this blog is all about sharing with you things I love – just about every blog post I do is about something I love! Thus, choosing just ten top posts was just too hard. I decided I would choose one from each month – twelve posts. That was too hard too. So you are getting my top TWO posts from each month of 2011. I decided I would pick one food post and then one other post (craft, entertaining, etc.) You okay with that?
January
I began the year as I begin each year, celebrating my birthday. In 2011 I shared with you some of the life lessons I have learned over the last 51 years!
Nothing is better than a warm chocolate chip cookie. Add in some toffee bits and you have heaven. A glass of cold milk doesn’t hurt either.
I like to get a little crafty now and then with treasures from Goodwill. Check out these fun little hearts repurposed from a sweater at my Sweet Sweater Heart Tutorial.
March
To celebrate my daughter’s performance as Amber in Hairspray I shared a fun tutorial on how to make your own cookie bouquet.
This month you get two recipes. I shared several old time family favorites. This knock off Magleby’s Roll is definitely one of them. We make them over and over again. Not only are they delicious but super easy too!
So since I gave you two recipes in April I’m going to give you non recipe posts in May. May was party month at our house. I hosted a pretty pink bridal shower complete with a crepe bar.
I also spent a lot of time preparing for Tessa’s high school graduation and departure to summer term at college. Preparing for an empty nest is not easy. I shared some of my thoughts about
In July we recovered from all our partying and adjusted to our empty nest. I shared my thoughts on discovering a new purpose. Believe it our not this was a post with no photos!
One of our favorite quick and easy dinner ideas is a Yummy Bowl. Mix up this delicious sauce and keep it in your fridge for a last minute dinner. A few of the ingredients are a little obscure but so worth the effort to find them!
Our tomatoes ripen late here in Oregon so we enjoy lots of tomatoes in September. Here is one of my favorite ways to enjoy t hem – Tomato Pesto and Mozzarella Tart.
September is also back to school around here but since I didn’t have any kids at home I hosted a Back to School Breakfast for my neighbor kids.
I started experimenting with new cookie recipes for the holidays early this year and fell in love with this chocolate sandwich cookie recipe.
And another I shared another recipe I make over and over again: Crescent Rolls.
December
I shared so many fun posts in December it was hard to choose but I loved sharing my holiday family photos with you! And those photos even ended up in the Wall Street Journal! I even shared the process I go through in choosing what we will wear for our family photo in my What to Wear for a Family Photo post.
I also shared my feelings about family traditions and the importance they play in a family.
All in all it was a pretty good year of blogging. Looking forward to 2012 and sharing more pretty and delicious things with you!
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