Seeing Red September 29, 2008

Last Saturday, I went to Olivia Jade Hair Salon for a trim and got some red highlights put in by their head stylist, Jessica. They did a fabulous job. Wouldn’t you agree?

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars September 21, 2008

This weekend, we tried an amazing recipe for pumpkin bars with cream cheese icing.  We shared them with family and friends and received RAVE reviews.   Here’s the recipe:

Paul’s Pumpkin Bars from Allrecipes:

PREP TIME	15 Min
COOK TIME	30 Min
READY IN	45 Min
Original recipe yield 2 dozen

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 4 eggs
• 1 2/3 cups white sugar (we used 3/4 cup – didn’t miss it at all)
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (we also added some allspice which was a nice touch)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• (the recipe didn’t call for it, but we added a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter before putting it in the pan – amazing!)
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir into the pumpkin mixture until thoroughly combined.
3. Spread the batter evenly into an ungreased 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in preheated oven. Cool before frosting.
4. To make the frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Stir in vanilla. Add confectioners’ sugar a little at a time, beating until mixture is smooth. Spread evenly on top of the cooled bars. Cut into squares.

Short Hair is Sexy September 20, 2008

My photographer friend, Justin Hackworth, recently did a shoot for Metropolitan Salon in Provo.  Herein lies proof that short hair is sexy.

I’m a believer!

SNL: Tina Fey as Sarah Palin September 16, 2008

Here’s the video everyone is talking about, starring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. Enjoy!

Women Who Run With the Wolves

One of my favorite books of all time is Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.  It is filled with myths, stories and fairy tales collected from all over the world that are then dissected and mined for lessons of life.  Anciently, it is said that women were taught about life’s rites of passage – love, marriage, sex, child-bearing, death – through stories, which is exactly what she does in this book.  My copy, purchased for $5 from a used book store, is dogeared, underlined and well loved.

This weekend, I had a terrible dream about a man who was following me and couldn’t be defeated.  Recalling Estes’ discourse on Dark Man Dreams, I looked it up and here’s what she had to say about dreams like these:

“There is one specific instance in which women are highly likely to experience dark man dreams and that is when one’s internal creative fire is smoking and banking all by itself, when there is little fuel left in the corner…

“In these cases, the dark man dream, even though accompanied by heart-jumping fear, is not an ominous dream.  It is a very positive one about a proper and timely need to awaken to a distruction movement within one’s own psyche, to that which is stealing one’s fire, intruding on one’s vim, robbing one of the place, the space, the time, the territory to create.  … The dark man dream is often enough to scare women into creating again.”

If I were stranded on a desert island, Women Who Run is the one I just might bring along.

What are some of your favorite books that you’d never be without?

Porn for Women September 10, 2008

Don’t worry – it’s clean!  Sabina sent this from Vancouver and I couldn’t help sharing it with you.  ENJOY!