Pinch me!

I'm afraid I might be dreaming.

I really love my old camera.  I do.  But I had a problem with my old camera.

You see, my old camera couldn't do this.

And it couldn't quite do this.

Or this or this.

It couldn't do this as beautifully.

And it most certainly couldn't do this or this or this.

As I was oohing and ahhing about my new camera, 

I was telling Lee these things about my old camera.

You know what he said?

"I think it prefers to be called your point and shoot."

Fair enough.  I'm sure it will still be getting plenty of use.

Point and shoot, meet DSLR.

And let the good times roll!

Taste and see

"Taste and see that the Lord is good; 

blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." 

Psalm 34:8

The morning of the day that I received my surprise gift of Godiva truffles from a friend, I had been at Bible study.  The topic of the day was God's unfailing love.  Some of the discussion focused on the little blessings he sometimes puts in our path to remind us that he is with us, caring for us, loving us, helping us persevere, and sometimes even just spoiling us rotten.  Many times, the blessing comes in the form of a beautiful reminder from scripture that the God of creation and all of history completely understands my circumstances in this moment of 2011.  Often it's a word of wisdom or encouragement, a reminder of a simple yet profound truth I'd forgotten, and sometimes, frankly, it's the kick in the pants that I know I need.  Truly, the Bible is full of rich, delicious truth.

Many times God's blessings to us come through our family members, our friends, or some success along the way.  Sometimes, they even come in the form of decadent chocolate!  But one thing is certain:  His love for us is LAVISH.  Go ahead...INDULGE!

"Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days."  Psalm 90:14

"The Lord your God is with you; he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."  Zephaniah 3:17

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."  Ephesians 1:7-8

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1

Sweet Indulgence

A few weeks ago a friend of mine was tired of all the locals griping posting about the weather on Facebook.  To change the subject, she asked people to name their favorite flavor of Godiva truffle.

I told her that I truly wished I could, but had no experience from which to draw an answer.

This week when Lee came home from Bible study, 

he gave this to me, and told me it was from my friend.
(Now seriously, you have to absolutely love a friend
who has this level of commitment to knowing your answer!)

I was in awe!

My very own box of Godiva truffles!

I had to save them until I had a few moments

to properly photograph the flavor testing.

There was:

Chocolate Lava Cake

with rich, dark chocolate, and molten chocolate inside

Red Velvet Cake

creamy chocolate flavor inside,

with the lighter taste of white chocolate coating

Cheesecake

creamy and not too dense,

with milk chocolate coating

complete with tiny graham cracker chunks

Tiramisu

with a surprising mocha flavor

dipped in both milk and white chocolate

the best of both worlds

Carrot Cake

with a rich, cinnamon middle

swirled with a cream cheesy complement

and rolled in pecans

Strawberry Torte

which actually has a hint of rhubarb as well!

Some of them required an extra bite.  Or two.  

The choice of a favorite flavor cannot be made lightly.

I loved them all.  

That mocha tiramisu--yum!  Or was it cheesecake? The scrumptions red velvet?

Surprisingly, in the end, I would never have guessed that I would love chocolate

paired up with CARROT CAKE

better than anything!

Oh my goodness!  Heavenly.

Note:  My friend passed on another treat that I didn't know about.  If you go to godiva.com and join their free rewards club, you can get a FREE GODIVA CHOCOLATE every month at your local store.  No purchase necessary.  Yes, you too can be a Truffle Tester!

A place for all seasons

The kids were out of school for conferences last week, so we took advantage of a beautiful day to skate at one of my favorite places.  We have enjoyed this lakeside park many times, but never been out ON the lake. We nearly had the place to ourselves.  There was classical music playing over the loud speakers.  It felt like we were on a movie set.  So fun!

See if you recognize the place in the summer photos here and here.

Young Entrepreneur

My little Girl Scout is selling cookies.  Of course.

She is all business.

She even made a special carrier.

She's been taking orders by email, responding to each personally.

She fills each order, giving special attention to detail.

These are no plain old cookies, after all.

They are special.

I love the way she makes each of her customers feel special.
And I love these little glimpses of the person she is becoming.
(I also love her self-appointed assistant, who has never been much of a spectator.)

Miscellany

Since I started my Photo a Day project on January 1, I've been taking pictures every day. It's been fun!  Some of the photos I thought I would post have been replaced by better ones later in the day.  Some have had stories waiting to be told.  I have quite an interesting little back log.  Here are a few that deserve to be recorded.

Bethany gave Ben a homemade card with coupons for Christmas.  One of the coupons was for a breakfast in bed.  He recently redeemed it, and scored a gourmet feast of eggs with bacon, toast and pancakes, hot chocolate with creamer and gingerbread man marshmallows.

I was on my best behavior and did not even drool.

I hope I get coupons for Christmas next year.

But I ALMOST drooled in front of the bakery case at the little French cafe near us. I have taken photos of it several times, but I think this is the first one I ever posted. Snapping a photo was good enough.  I ate only my yummy salad and sandwich.

I was at school one day last week, so I gave the kids a ride home.  I needed gas first, and before I knew it we had made a detour to Panera for hot chocolate.  Which somehow turned into hot chocolate and a heart cookie.  Bethany didn't make me breakfast, but she did share her cookie with me.

Ben was wearing his Steelers jersey that day.  Apparently he should have saved it until yesterday. Do not ask me why he is a Steelers fan.  He does actually like the Vikings better, but the Vikings didn't make it to the Super Bowl.  In case you hadn't noticed.

Remember Kevin?

He has been with us for a year now, and he is as cute as ever.  He still runs away from us though.  When we take him out of his cage to play with us, we have to go in the bathroom and stuff a towel under the door so he won't escape.  We love him.  I'm pretty sure he loves us too.  

Unfortunate Mixup

Dear Mama Robin,

I don't quite know how to break this to you, but...

I think that maybe two of your calendar pages stuck together.  Did you know that today is February 1?  It seems you skipped Valentine's Day, and just went right on to March.

Or maybe, MAYBE you just wanted to get a jump on Punxsutawney Phil and announce an early spring. We can only hope you're right about that!

Either way you probably noticed that it's still REALLY cold here. That won't change for awhile.  EARLY springs arrive in late March around here.  So I'm wondering...

What are you gonna do now?

Whatever you decide, it's good to see you.  You remind us that we have a lot to look forward to.  Stay warm!

Tracy P.