Valentines for Veterans

Growing up Valentine’s Day was so important to me.   Remember the joy of making valentines for all of your classmates?  In elementary school when we brought our valentines to school we were also supposed to bring a decorated box, usually an old shoebox, so that when the time came, classmates could drop a valentine in your special box.  At the end of the school day we would be given time to look in our boxes and open our valentines. There would be lots of construction paper hearts decorated with paper doilies and some purchased items and every now and then a box of conversation hearts or a lollipop.  

As I got older I kept the tradition of sending cards to my close friends for many years but once I had children my time was spent helping them get valentines prepared for their classmates.  And each year I made a special valentine cookie which you might know as the cream wafer.   It’s an old recipe my friend Aggie gave me in 1975.   I would cut the cookie into heart shapes and tint the filling a lavender color.  (See the recipe below in case you want to make these delicious, melt in your mouth butter cookies).

 As my last child left the nest I’d stopped celebrating Valentine’s Day until a few years ago.  Now it is a big deal and the planning starts in January.   Why, you ask?   It’s Valentines for Veterans!!!  Last month we encouraged employees and their families to start making valentines at home.  We've got craft supplies in the break rooms so employees can make a valentine on their breaks.  Already we've shipped boxes of Conversation Hearts and handmade valentines to a military concussion center in Afghanistan, and sent beautiful valentines to our military friends and family serving overseas.  Next week children from our employee day care will be hand-delivering handmade valentines and candies to all of our veteran employees.  We’ve got an enormous box of valentines going to a VA hospital located in a rural area.   I’m seeing lots of red and really excited about it.   

Nicole has been helping coordinate all of these activities

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. Just in case you feel like doing some baking here's the best butter cookie you ever tasted!  

Ingredients for the cookie:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Sugar

Ingredients for the filling:

1/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/2 to 2 teaspoons heavy whipping cream

 food coloring

To make the dough cream the butter add the flour and cream.  Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 1-1/4-in. round cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Sprinkle with a little sugar. Prick each cookie 3-4 times with a fork.

Bake at 350° for 7-9 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool.

In a small bowl, mix ingredients to make the filling, adding whipping cream a little at a time until achieving desired consistency.

Atlanta Bloggers Celebrate Valentine's Day

Atlanta blogger Joyce hosted the nicest Valentine’s Day lunch for a group of fun Atlanta bloggers and I had to share a few photos.

We were asked not to bring food but instead we were asked to bring items such as toiletries, diapers, etc., for a local women and children’s shelter.  Isn’t that a great thing to do?   A heartfelt gesture was perfect way to celebrate Valentine’s Day. 

 Joyce had done a beautiful job decorating the table and we were all amazed when she told us the beverage glasses were from the Dollar Store!   Aren’t they cute!!!

Valentine decorations were everywhere….even in the bathroom!

The lunch was amazing.  The chicken pot pie was perfect for a cold and overcast winter day and the salad was incredible but the people were the best! Rose, Linda, Sue, Joyce, Sandie, Cheri....I loved the conversation and the laughter!  

Sue of Rue Mouffetard made some delicious popovers and oh my, the Linzer cookies! I loved the cookies!!!

I’m not too big on Valentine’s Day but it would be hard not to get into the spirit after visiting Joyce’s house.  Don't you love the sweet dessert plates with dogwoods?  And see the boxes on the table?  Joyce made the bigger box and Rose brought treats in the smaller box.   I haven't opened mine yet.  Should I wait until Valentine's Day?

Sue, let me know when you get your pictures posted so I can link up my post.  Your photos always put mine to shame so I appreciate your artist's eye!

Tony McCray, Stone Soup, Pajamas and More

It’s been a couple of years since I boasted on my neighborhood. I’m guessing that most neighborhoods have plenty of interesting people, but I feel really lucky to have so many interesting and fun people living around me.

Every couple of weeks one of our neighbors hosts Stone Soup.  The event is held on a Thursday evening which gives us all a chance to get a jump on the weekend.  The hosts of this event are neighbors Tony and Missy McCray.   Tony and Missy were the urban pioneers who moved into our neighborhood when most people were afraid to even drive through the area.  They’ve had six kids (homeschooling them all) and they both continue to help promote that small town community feeling in a metro area with the world’s busiest airport just minutes away! 

Tony & Missy's house

 I can’t always make the stone soup social gathering but somehow this week I managed to get home in time to put on pajamas and join the fun.  Most people didn’t want their photos taken in their pajamas but I had to share a few pictures of this month’s breakfast stone soup event.

Tony is featured on the left

 For years as our neighborhood was under renovation and development, Tony was instrumental in the design of our street signs, house numbers, mailbox numbers and the landscaping. He didn’t do all the landscaping but he did the work for a number of homes in our community and certainly inspired everyone.  

Hanging lanterns are everywhere

Our neighborhood glows in the evening thanks to Tony!

 Now Tony focuses his efforts on his business, Rust in Peace.  If you go to major fairs you are bound to run into Tony.  He’s always at Scott Antique Market, in the area for Marburger Farm and lots of other fairs and shows.   Click here to see a highlighted item on the Country Living website. 

Sometimes I get caught up by the thought of going to a faraway place to see something interesting or meet amazing people.  Isn’t it a good feeling when you realize they are in your neighborhood? 

We should have a virtual neighborhood party where we share our neighborhoods.  Might be fun to get to know the neighbors!

When Plans Change It Can Still Make For Some Good Times

Several things were planned for this weekend but lucky for me a few plans changed which gave me some unexpected free time.  It was wonderful to have fewer scheduled activities and more time to catch up on a household tasks and errands, meet up with a friend for a trip to the movies and a chance to gather with a few friends for an afternoon gathering.  The afternoon gathering was at my girlfriend's condo with the spectacular view.   Thought you might like seeing a few photos of her beautiful condo.  Several of the snapshots are upside down and if I can figure out how to correct them for posting I will add them later. 

Since I’m on the topic of décor I have to boast about  a fellow blogger and my cousin, The Milkweedpods.  She’s a DIY blogger and recently some of her projects have been popping up on The Pottery Barn blog!  Check out my cousin’s blog here.

Aren't the dogs adorable!!

This weekend the Cathedral Antiques & Tour of Homes kicked off and I’m really hoping to attend the Miles Redd lecture and tour the Inspiration House in the coming week.  It's going to be a great week!

Still Thinking About My Resolutions

Starting the new year with a rainbow.

We’ve Only Just Begun – And I’m Pooped! - The New Year kicked off a bit too fast for me this year.  Work was already in high drive for the year and already this month I’ve:

-       Attended an all-day board retreat and two half-day planning retreats for organizations;

-       Volunteered at the Alliance Française;

-       Helped produce an inaugural radio program for visually impaired children that will be airing monthly (the program aired yesterday-I’m so proud);

-       Prepared for our annual A Day On, Not A Day Off MLK Day volunteer event (it is going to be a great one!);

-       Hosted an event for the Latin American Association’s legal community;

-       Planned a nonprofit board training event in Dallas being held this week;

-       Organized a music benefit event for the GeorgiaInnocence Project (an amazing and very moving fundraiser event);

-       Worked on a firm-wide celebration...whew! I'm tired!

A Word of the Year  -  With all that has been going on it’s almost as if there was no room for thinking about anything but the tasks at hand at the beginning of the month but I was amazed at so many bloggers that were setting goals and making changes in their lives with just one word. The My One Word movement looks interesting and I did see some bloggers posting really good words like BETTER, EXCELLENCE SIMPLICITY but my favorite word is NO.  If I had to pick one word, NO would probably benefit me the most.

Visioning - So here we are near the end of the month and I’m ready to work on my plans for the year and I’m so thankful to be a part of a circle of women who come together for personal planning. For the past couple of years I’ve been working with these women not just in creating a vision for the things we want to achieve but holding one another accountable. Here’s how it works.  Our group comes together with magazines, poster board, glue sticks, etc., with the purpose of sharing our goals with one another then illustrating our goals on our vision boards.  Then mid-way through the year we meet up to talk about the goals we set and how we are progressing towards those goals.  The process is amazing.  It’s also fun because this group formed casually and most of us didn’t know one another very well but we’ve developed a very high level of trust and support for one another.

Vision Boards Go Paperless! So next Sunday is our vision board session and this year instead of using poster board to make our vision board, we decided to use cork or a magnetized board. (We will be photographing our boards as they change so we have an easy way to track our progress). Finding the right board has stressed me out!!! It’s a great idea and it gives us a lot of flexibility in creating our board but have you shopped a cork board or memo board lately?  After much looking around I decided this adorable magnetized board by Curly Girl Design.  

We will be visioning at my friend’s home – a gorgeous apartment in a high-rise with this amazing view. 

A great iPhone picture from her balcony.

How did she end up with such an amazing place?  It was part of her vision planning process two years ago and if I hadn't been a part of the process to see how effective visioning can be I wouldn't believe how hopes and dreams can become reality.

It’s a great new year with plenty of opportunity ahead.  I’m excited!