daily bliss: happy spring, happy easter

Happy sunny morning

Happy spring awakening

Happy renewal

Happy. Happy. Happy. 

daily bliss: bubble therapy

Sometimes, it's as simple as this:

a deep tub, rumbling and roiling, smelling of lavender, puckering my hands and feet.

a tall flute, filling and fizzing, light pink and ever so slightly sweet.

a wedge of deepest, darkest chocolate stout cake.

a thick novel.

empty pages.

fast pens.

quiet.

ahh.

twd: pecan powder puffs

When I lived in Alabama, Aunt S would send me a care package right before Christmas. In that package: a ziploc bag filled with Mexican wedding cookies. I would sit in my apartment, looking out at a blue, warm-ish December day, and dream of snow, and home, and family with each taste.

Dorie's version skips the chocolate kiss in the center, is light on sugar, and heavy on pecans. I made my cookies diminuitive, and keep popping them in my mouth on each pass through the kitchen.

These cookies bring a smile to my face, and make me think of fun times with Aunt S, who has a great sense of humor (she has to--she has three now grown sons!).

And, they make me think of Grandma C, who sent me a bag of pecans from boomland, an all-purpose fireworks and gas and pecan store in Missouri. She picks up a few bags each time she and Grandpa drive from Michigan to Arkansas to visit our kin, and we munch away for weeks afterwards.

I can't wait for summertime to eat pecans and sip wine and sit by the pool and catch up with my Michigan kin.

For now, though, I have a small pile of buttery, nutty, sugary goodness.

[note: i've been absent from TWD, mired in a difficult winter and too many responsibilities at work all while being vilified by many as a "lazy state employee." my return is less than triumphant, because, um, i'm a week behind in my recipe. please forgive me! and please enjoy these cookies just the same. they were selected by Tianne, of the awesomely named Buttercream Barbie blog.]