Your investment in health and happiness...

Hello dears!! Yes, it is Christmas-time and it seems strange that I would write about anything other than that, but it seems too good to even write about. Let me promise you that I am enjoying it immensely - it has always been my favorite time of year!

Now, on to the goods. I am a seasonal "cash register girl" at our wonderful Teavana store. I get to work with a couple of my closest friends, so I've dubbed us the Teavana Dream Team and we are legit to say the least. Although my first love will ALWAYS be coffee, these people have convinced me over the past couple years that tea can be pretty dang great. Here are some of the things I have been loving and that you should go out and grab asap.
This is a white tea called Youthberry that is literally the stuff. It's great iced, which doesn't work so well with my frigid nature, but it's worth the shivering.

White Ayurvedic Chai. Figured out today it's great with some warmed up soy milk...so cozy and delish. Nice and spicy. The Perfect Tea Maker!! This thing has made my life soo much easier. If you could ever envision yourself in the future liking tea, turn off your computer right now and go get one. It's also really fun just to watch it...why? You'll have to go buy one and find out!

As Cash Register Girl I am supposed to say "Your total investment in health and happiness today is only..." and while I could've been a punk about it I decided just to embrace it and start doing this right from the beginning. I've been made fun of a couple times, but it's all good and pretty entertaining to watch customers roll their eyes at me. It's all in the holiday spirit, guys.

Hope everyone is watching plenty of classic Christmas movies, listening to Delilah play Christmas music on the radio 24/7 and bein cozy.

.ginger.

p.s. I helped today with a group of women at church who are throwing a Christmas Cookie Party for single-parent families in the area and my part was to bake 6 dozen cookies. It was fun, but I would be happy to not look at another cookie or brownie for a good month or so...

Finding Fellow Foodies

With my newest obsession of foodie blogs, I am quickly discovering that I am not alone in my love of all concoctions involving oatmeal! My favorite blogger KERF has an entire section of her blog entitled "Tribute to Oatmeal" and this is where I discovered these ridiculous oatmeal pancakes.

1/4 c. oats

1/4 c. egg whites (or 1 egg)

1/2 tsp baking powder

Cinnamon

1 Tbsp Flax Meal (optional)

1/2 mashed banana (or applesauce, or pumpkin, etc.)

Mix it all together, let it sit while the pan heats and then pour into pan.

They brown quickly and then you cover them with whatever your heart desires. The pictures have sliced banana & toasted walnuts/sunflower seeds. Delish!!

Go try it. You won't regret it for a second.

p.s. Kath from the aforementioned KERF opened my eyes to the fact that you can actually "toast" nuts in the microwave! 1.5 minutes in the microwave and they'll come out piping hot, sizzling, and smelling wonderful. It sounds questionable, but just give it a try, trust me.

Say What?

[source]

It's full-on fall, my friends! And as is customary at this time of the year, I have donned my Ukrainian winter goat socks and retreated to the warmth of my kitchen where I have been cooking and baking much more than necessary. Acorn squash, pumpkin cookies, and now my newest marvel which I am here to share with you today:

Black Bean Brownies

What??? I know...craazzzy. I thought so when I first heard about it.

We did a test run a couple days ago and then I took it a bit further

in my boredom today, so try it out! You will die of shock/deliciousness:

1 box brownie mix (today's was Duncan Hines Ultimate Fudge)

1 TBS Cocoa Powder

1 tsp Cinnamon *Or add coffee! Both do wonders to enhance the chocolatiness*

1 can pureed black beans

1/4 cup mini marshmallows

Mix it all together, toss it in the oven and bake it until you can't wait any longer!

The best part is giving it to people and then waiting until they've devoured it to tell them your secret ingredient! I had a field day with it.

Enjoy!

i took a trip on a train and i thought about you

happy autumn! i've spent the past 2 weekends (going on 3) out of town and have had hardly enough time to catch my breath much less contribute to this little blog of mine; however, before i head off to austin tomorrow (ACL here i come!!) i thought i'd leave a minor update.

here's a quick trip through the scattered mind of this ginger and the things that have been catching my eye:

..great little closet transformed into built-ins..

..our house is in a madmen rut and we find ourselves constantly
discussing how adorable betty draper is..

..vintage globes..

..i've been scheming up ways to refurbish a $1 headboard i bought at goodwill and

i love what this blogger did with just a pallet and old door..

[one, two, three, four, five]

When the moon hits your eye...

Whenever I think of spaghetti my mind immediately goes to an image of an infamous couple of dogs eating the same romantic little noodle...I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about. With my new favorite vegetable, the horror music that your brain automatically plays at the thought of pasta can be put on mute. Now we can have our spaghetti and eat it too!

Let me introduce you to my newest obsession:

Spaghetti Squash!

I picked this mysterious vegetable at the farmer's market last weekend and finally brought myself to make something out of it tonight. I roasted it for 45 minutes and was ecstatic when it turned into exactly what everyone said it would - strands of squash that look just like pasta! The great thing about it is that it has a pretty neutral flavor, so that makes it a good palate for all kinds of delish pasta sauce. I had a bounty of basil and onions I needed to use up, so I simmered a homemade spicy (cue the jalapeno) marinara sauce for a couple hours and put it on top of my "noodles". SO GOOD! Any and everyone who reads this must try it. I can't wait to make it again.

I feel it...

It's coming!! Can you feel it?

Fall is almost here, people. Although the weather has been wavering between glorious and nasty for the past few days, i have tasted the first of the fall weather and it has gotten me all excited inside!

I'm ready for knit caps, leaves changing color, and being able to drink tea and coffee without breaking into a sweat ;]

I want to ride my [imaginary] bike through the adorable neighborhoods of Nashville, eat dinner on the patio without the accompaniment of bugs and just marvel in the beauty that is autumn.

Now who's with me?

My Dear Octopus

Dodie Smith, author of the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians (yes, it is a novel) once referred to family as "that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to."

Today has been a day of bittersweet appreciation of my dear octopus.
I feel fortunate to be able to say that I genuinely like my family. To love one's family is generally expected and required, but to like them...that's something special. After years of simply putting up with the various tentacles that make up my family, things have shifted. They are my friends. Wierd? Lame? I won't accept the assignment of such adjectives to this emotion. I am too busy being thankful that I have been blessed with a family who I am [almost] always sad to part from.
Speaking of parting, the reason I'm writing this is because my amazing younger brother moved to Los Angeles today to pursue his dreams. Good for him! I would never want anything less for him than the whole-hearted pursuit of his passions. However, selfish as it may be, I want that tentacle back! First the sister moves to Atlanta, then the brother moves to LA (taking the parents with him for the time being) and all of a sudden I am left alone. You cannot be an octopus if you are one lone tentacle! Has anyone ever seen such an octopus?! Never! So come back all of you...okay, but don't. Keep roaming and searching and living life to its fullest because I have and will be doing the same, and you wouldn't bring me back either, no matter how much we wish we could all be together.

Like your families. Cherish them. They're God-given and in your life for some reason, regardless of how crazy they are or how crazy they drive you at times.

I leave you guys with a memory from our childhood. One that surely none of you will understand, but this memory has been worth so much to me lately. Big Elephants. A game that we made up that consisted of starting out on opposite sides of the room and stomping toward one another until we collided, landing in a big noisy heap on the ground. Does it get any better than Big Elephants? As we say in our family, "No way, Jose."

I love you, my dear octopus!!