Tropical Lime Cookies

My daughter found this gem of a recipe she made for a Luau party she is having. They are super yummy!!! It is from theCookies for a Year of Celebrations cookbook. Enjoy:

Tropical Lime Cookies

1 1/4 C Confectioners sugar

1 C Crisco (Butter Flavored) (We used regular)

1 egg

1/4 C pancake syrup

2 T lime juice (we used lemon juice)

2 T grated lime peel

2 1/2 C all-purpose flour

3/4 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 C flaked coconut

Confectioners sugar

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Place sheets of foil on counter for cooling cookies.

2. Place confectioners sugar and shortening in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add egg, syrup, lime juice and lime peel; beat until well blended and fluffy.

3. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add gradually to shortening mixture, beating at low speed until well blended. Stir in coconut.

4. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet.

5. Bake one baking sheet at a time at 325 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until bottoms of cookies are light golden brown. Do not overbake. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to foil. Dust warm cookies with confectioners sugar. Cool completely. Garnish as desired.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

His Calling

This past March, I had the lovely opportunity to spend some very much needed time in the beautiful Amelia Island in Florida. It was four days of being surrounded by the beauty of the Island and the beauty of friendship. Three very special girlfriends and I shared laughter, walks on the beach, hugs, stories, shared memories, and peaceful, quiet moments enjoying the awesome beauty of the Island, and each other. 


These women are strong women of Faith and being in their presence lifted me up and gave me strength to face the next few months of living in a new community (as we had moved from our home in PA of 14 years to Ohio in the late summer). I was bolstered by their friendship and love and our trip gave me the added confidence I needed to adjust to all the changes I still had to face as a new resident. It was so good to be in a place so full of beauty, love and friendship. 


The beach is one of my favorite places in the world! There is something so magical about the sounds of the waves crashing on shore, the breathtaking beauty of the expansive blue sky, the sounds of the little shore birds chasing the waves ("Peeps, as my family and I call them), the smell of the salt air. It's just the perfect place to find peace and rejuvenation.


While in Amelia Island, I came across the most lovely book. It is filled with the author's inspirational "Seaside Reflections" and gorgeous photography of the Island. It is definitely one of my favorites. I hope you will enjoy it. It is written by an Amelia Island resident by the name of Ann Marie Melson. The book is entitled, The Work of the Lord.  Amelia Island, by definition, means "The Work of the Lord." I would like to share an excerpt from the book for you. It is called, "His Calling."

     "The Lord said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in

         the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass 

by.' Then a great and powerful wind tore the 

         mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the 

         Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind

         there was an earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the

         Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a

         gentle whisper..."

                           ~ 1 Kings 19:11-12

I have come to know the Lord to be subtle in His call. Similar 

to Elijah, I often wait for obvious signs. Shattered rocks and earthquakes

grab my attention. In fact, sometimes I am so busy waiting for a shout, that

I miss the gentle whisper. This morning I woke up with a sense of urgency.

The stillness of the dawn captured my attention. My time on the beach

inspired a rush of thoughts. Waiting for the sun to hit the horizon, I came to understand

a characteristic of the Lord: His gentleness.

Listen for the quiet call of the Lord. Sometimes His greatest

lessons and most poignant guidance come in the form of a whisper.

He has a calling for your life. Have you listened intently to discover it?

What noise distracts you from hearing His call?

To what are you listening? Do not limit

yourself to the powerful wind or the fierce fire.

Some grace-given assignments echo 

in the softness of a whisper.

Between the fading stars and dawning in the new day's light

A time of simple stillness calls me out of the lingering night.

Before the buzz of life, I'm rising, stirring from my bed,

Now wide awake and to the shore, the place my heart is led.

Quietly, I listen for the whisper that will teach.

Barefoot, I will open my heart, in silence stroll the beach.

While feet brush into shells, my soul is touched by His own hand --

A morning ordinary? No, but rather something grand.

The shoreline sweeps beyond the bend, traced by a single bird.

The scene before my eyes: an ocean speaks the Living Word.

Humbled by His beauty and the sea breeze gentle kiss,

My heart pours forth its joyful song and fills with graceful bliss.

Today stands here before me; I won't let this moment fall.

Tomorrow is uncertain; faith today must heed the call.

Lord, make me your song's instrument and show me where to play,

And like this morning, cover me with warmth of guiding ray.

I yearn for overwhelming sound, for evidence to show;

Your gentle whisper echoes all I'll ever need to know

Of promises and faithfulness. Your perfect record cries

That we can trust the gentle voice that takes us by surprise.

~ Ann Marie Melson

Have a day full of Looking UP! Open your heart to hear the Lord's  gentle whisper.

Josh, You Raise Me UP!

Last night was an AMAZING night of Looking UP! I had the AWESOME opportunity to see Josh Groban in concert at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio. Josh Groban is magical! I can't quite put into words how his voice makes me feel. He has such a natural and genuine presence about him. The minute he comes out on stage you feel like he is singing JUST to you! That's how I felt the whole time! Like he was singing just to me. His voice sweeps over you like a warm breeze. It fills the deepest parts of your being with warmth and feeling...o.kay, that borders on being WAY too cheesy and gushy, but what can I say??? (I have to admit having a slight, school-girl crush on Mr. Josh Groban - just so you know. I could go on and on, it wouldn't be difficult, that's for sure.) 

But seriously, listening to Josh sing is really magical. And I have to say, he sounds exactly like he does on his CD's! Hearing him LIVE was all the more sweet because you hear him and see him sing. He is amazing! He has such a boyish charm about him, too. You just want to "take him home to mom," as the saying goes. You never know if an artist will sound the same live, as they do on a recording, but Josh's talent is transcendent. His band plays acoustically, and are phenomenal, too. A couple them have been with him since the beginning of his career, which started for him at age 17. He is only a young, 30 now!

He is such a down-to-earth performer, too - like "the boy-next-door," you just feel an instant connection to him. Here is this MEGA, MEGA superstar, multi-million or billion dollar man wearing simple black, skinny jeans, a white tee with a jacket and white sneakers, promising the audience that he will "try to sing his ass off" for us, as he said, we had "spent like a gazillion dollars to see him..." Too funny.. 

The first thing he did was welcome the Columbus audience, sharing with us that his dad grew up in Columbus so he felt very strong ties to Columbus. He told of going to his Great-Aunt Sis' for a visit earlier in the day, bringing her flowers and catching up. Then he and the band played some softball and hung out. He told us how a fan had given him a Buckeye bracelet and that he was so surprised, never having seen a buckeye nut before. He laughed easily as he said the fan compassionately told him "not to eat them, that buckeyes were poisonous," laughing all the while as he pretended to "give the bracelet back." He's so endearing. 

Something else that was so cute was that Josh went out into the audience numerous times throughout the evening. He was not afraid to be close to his fans and seemed very comfortable - totally like he wanted to be there. He stopped to talk to a little 7 year old girl asking if she was having fun. He said, "I have like 16 or 17 more numbers to do, so I hope you'll like them," something along those lines. He later invited this little girl up on stage, along with a couple from the audience who were celebrating their 37th anniversary and a young, pretty single woman. He brought out blow-up couches, a little table and offered and poured them wine and a big glass of milk for the little girl. He was so cute, as he said to the little girl, "you just keep drinking that milk, I never woke up naked on the floor from milk, you just drink your milk!" Such a great sense of humor! But can you imagine? That little girl will always cherish the memory of meeting Josh Groban for the rest of her life! What a special night! I hope her parents had their cameras rolling!  (Lots of great scrapping, there!!!!)

I love percussion, and Josh did this fabulous number where he joined his band with his own set of drums. He jammed on the drums! It was incredible! He is such a gifted and unbelievable musician. He sings, not only in English, but Spanish, Portuguese, French, Latin, "gibberish," as he says, AND plays the piano, and drums! I am in awe of that kind of talent - God Given, at that, because that is not something you can learn...I could practice til the cows come home, and I couldn't do what he does so naturally and with such beauty.

There was a Q&A session in which Josh answered questions from the audience. One of the questions was, "Have you ever sung with a female tenor?" Josh asked for the woman to come up to the stage with him, excitedly saying that he had never sung with a female tenor before. They sang Awake together. He invited her to sit right down next to him on the piano bench. (sigh...ahhh!) Another audience member asked Josh if he could ad-lib a verse for her using her name. He sat down at the piano and sang a little tune all about "Kathleen." Talk about cute. He also did some improv impressions that were adorable! He's quite the comedian.

Josh has a Foundation that he is very proud to promote. It is called Find Your Light. Here is a link to read about it. http://www.artsusa.org/news/press/2011/2011_07_06.asp

Continuing his show of support for the arts and education, Josh brought up an audience member, John Jacobsen to join him on stage. You may recognize his name as John Jacobsen had been on the show, America's Got Talent, introducing America to his Double Dream Hands dance.  His popularity has soared on YouTube and John has been invited to such shows as The Ellen Degeneres Show, among others. He, too, is a huge advocate for supporting arts and music in education. Josh was so excited to introduce him, sharing with us that he had had the opportunity to meet him and that he [Josh] was a big fan of John's and admitted to being a great fan of all things Viral!  Josh and John did the Double Dream Hands dance together. It was so cute and just a ton of fun. (I wanted to share the video of them for you, but for whatever reason, I had trouble getting it to show up on my post. I'll try to fix that later...) Josh thanked him and said "he's a teacher, I love him!" Again, soooo endearing!

After thanking the audience and going off stage, Josh returned for his encore and sang the incredibly beautiful, You Raise Me Up. The concert just wouldn't have been complete without hearing that song. The audience was invited to sing along with him on the choruses. Oh, his voice just sends goose bumps up and down. His voice touches you as the listener. It does something for your heart - it's soothes, calms, and envelopes you in its magic. It is the perfect way to "Look Up" and feel refreshed and rejuvenated. I will definitely be playing a lot of Josh Groban on my ipod in the coming days. A big thanks goes out to Josh Groban for an exceptional night of Looking Up!

If It Weren't for You, I'd be Looking Upside Down

If you are "Looking Upside Down"....call a friend!!! Friends are the BEST cure for a state of gloominess!  (Emerald Gem #no. whatever...) Yesterday I received a much needed surprise phone call from a dear friend. We hadn't talked forever. It was so great to hear her voice. We laughed and talked and caught up - and laughed and talked some more. The time flew by as we shared funny stories, cherished memories, talked about our kids, our hubbies, our interests, church - you name it, we talked about it. It was so good to just laugh out loud - I mean a good belly laugh - the kind that leaves you breathless, almost. My friend got me laughing so hard as she described her crazy neighbor who runs around in her bra. The other day,  my friend went to buy fresh eggs from the bra lady. She was greeted at the door by her neighbor who was wearing nothing less than her bra and shorts. The bra lady greeted her warmly, expressing, "Oh come on in........." like it was nothing that she was standing there at the front door in her bra. I might add that she is quite "amply bosomed" as my friend described. I was rolling in laughter. I don't know why, but it struck me so funny in that moment. My friend's laughter is really contagious, too. If you heard her laugh you would not be able to stop yourself from joining in. We ended our conversation by promising to call each other more often. That was fun!

Friendship is truly uplifting! One of my favorite sayings is "A true friend is one who knows everything there is about you, and loves you anyway!" I started my day off yesterday feeling rather upside down, and got right back to "looking up" after my wonderful phone call with my friend. Here's to friendship and "Looking UP!"

Serious Yumminess

Thought you'd enjoy some pictures of the Blackberry Bounty Cake I made from the fresh wild blackberries we picked from our property.

Wish you could smell this cake! Can't you just taste the yumminess?

A slice of heaven.

Here's the recipe: (from Global Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1/2 C butter, softened

1 C flour

1 C plus 1 Tbs. sugar

1 tsp baking powder

2 Large eggs

1 C to 11/2 C fresh blackberries

Powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Grease and flour a 9" spring-form pan. In a bowl, combine sugar and butter beating with mixer for 3 minutes. Add flour, baking powder, and eggs. Stir to combine, then beat on high until batter is stiff and well blended. Scrape batter into cake pan and spread top smooth.

2. Scatter berries evenly over batter. I added the following as a topping: 1/2 C sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/3 C flour, and 1/4 C soft butter, mixed together to resemble crumbs. (You can skip the extra calories if you want and just add a Tbs. of sugar sprinkled over the berries like the original recipe called for.)

3. Bake on the center rack of a 350 degree oven just until the cake begins to pull away from the pan, about 55 to 60 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes and remove outer spring-form. When cool, dust with confectioners sugar.

4. Note: You may use any juicy berry except strawberries, or cover surface of batter with a layer of fruit slices - plum, apricot, nectarine, peach, apple, or pear.

Here's to Looking Up! This recipe will definitely bring a smile to your face.

Mistakes

Your differences are what make you special!

I found myself replying to a dear friend's post on Face Book this morning with these words: "NEVER fear making mistakes! A sculptor can't turn a lump of clay into a thing of beauty without kneading and molding the clay first!!!!!! You are a fantastic, glorious work in progress! Don't run from the fires of the forge - it makes the strongest steel!!!" I started thinking about the words I chose and how I really need to heed my own advise. Gosh, making mistakes is how we grow. I read a great quote that says, "the only real mistake is never making any!" I love that! I have made so mistakes that I wouldn't even be able to list them here - I'd run out of room. The verdict is still out as to whether the outcome of these mistakes has been for the better (lol), but I do know that the things in life that cause us the most challenge are the tings that we are supposed to gain something from - something that could perhaps help someone else who is experiencing the same trial, or perhaps help us gain a new perspective or attitude. I love how something as simple as an attitude adjustment can make you see something so completely differently. Changing perspective - "Looking Up," in my case. Sometimes you just have to continue to "LOOK UP!" So, today, I will seek to change my perspective, and have an attitude adjustment of sorts. Today, I will Look Up! That same friend to whom I replied this morning also led me to another awesome quote by Audrey Hepburn: "NOTHING is impossible. The very word says I'm possible." 


Have a great week of possibilities, new perspectives, growth from mistakes and maybe you, too, will gain a new attitude toward what makes you stronger - the forging of the steel! Here's to Looking Up!