A Few of My Favorite Things

Today, I feel the need to share just a few of life's simple pleasures.  I'll let them speak for themselves.

• Green Beans with Lemon Pepper.  I was introduced to this amazing combination by my sister-in-law's mother.    It's as easy as that--cook your green beans your favorite way (steam, simmer, saute, whatever) and then just toss them with some lemon pepper.  Fresh, tasty and way less calories than the butter I would usually use.
• iPhone "My Shopping List" app.  This handy, dandy app puts your grocery list in order by department.  Since I make my list by going through each meal for the week, it used to take me forever to do my grocery shopping---everything was on the list by meal.  Now, I simple put the item into my list on the phone and Voila!  Everything appears in it's correct category like meat, dairy, baked goods, fruits & veggies, etc.
• Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman.  Part parenting book, part cultural study, this book which compares parenting in the U.S. to parenting in France was funny, practical, and offered a little mental vacation to Paris.

• Onion and Rosemary Focaccia Bread.  I made this from the "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" book and it is delicious. 
• Sunny warm days.
• Bright Daffodils

On  slightly different note, I just read about this "My Favorite Things" party idea and would love to do one!  I love the idea of sharing all these little things with my friends!  Read more about it here My Favorite Things Party. 

Really? It's been that long?!

So, I know that I am waaaay behind in writing and it is combination of things that has kept me from being really present here.  I didn't realize until just now that it had been almost two months though!  Argh!  I'm sorry, dear readers.  Some of the reasons (not to justify, but more to explain):

• No batteries for the camera...easily remedied, but forgotten about many times until yesterday.  No camera, no pictures.  No pictures in my mind means really boring blog.
• Baby Berger mania.  Yes, my husband and I are expecting a baby in November.  Not that I have been consumed with getting ready for it.  Yet.  It's just that in my free time I would rather pour over my book "Bring Back Beatrice" (fun little baby name book) rather than sit down and blog.
• Planning, prepping and pulling off The Soul Sisterhood Retreat.  A rather momentous week, all fabulous and fun, but a ton of work.  I kind of felt like I'd been hit by a truck when it was all over and it took me a week to recover.
• Just life in general...summer seems to be whizzing by and I'm wondering where all the time has gone.
• And although I am really happy and excited about life right now, I just haven't felt very interesting.  I've been crafting, but not ready to post about.  Cooking, but nothing really new or different.  Dreaming, but not ready to share yet. ;-)

So, lame-o excuses out of the way, I think perhaps I've come across the perfect summer project for my blog.  I've been reading a glorious book called "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp and it is so inspiring.  Basically, the premise is to find, record, and delight in one thousand things that you love.

One Thousand Gifts


It is an exercise in cultivating gratitude and a recognizing all of God's grace and glory made present in our world.  My friend Becca, is doing the One Thousand Gifts challenge this summer on her blog (http://www.beccagroves.blogspot.com/).  I want to try this out too.  It will probably take longer than summer, but it is something fun to try!  I don't have a plan for how often I want to post, but I plan to use this as my place to record my one thousand things.