2006 Year in Review

I was thinking back about all that has happened this past year in my life. It has been a busy 2006, no doubt about it!

I turned 30!!
My brother and his wife had their first baby (making me a first-time aunt.)
My best friend got married.
My grandmother died.
My aunt died.
I was named an Associate Editor for Texas Family Magazine.
After 3+ years, I gave up my "Candidly Caroline" column for the Oak Hill Gazette.
I was a finalist in the Austin Under 40 Awards.
I traveled a LOT:
Matagorda County, Texas Coast
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Gulf Shores, Alabama
Anna Maria Island, Clearwater/Caladesi Island, Tampa, and South Beach/Miami, Florida (five separate trips)
Southern Kentucky
San Diego, California
Coastal Maine

Here's to a little calmer - but not too calm - 2007!

Lots of Goodies

These are some of the goodies I made this Christmas. Here are my Chocolate, Vanilla, and Peppermint Marshmallows. Then, we have the Cranberry Pumpkin Bread and the S'Mores Bark. All of these recipes are my own creations.

Trail of Lights

We visited the Trail of Lights in Zilker Park again this year. I really enjoy that experience; it's fun to walk through and see all the different displays. I love the blue lights! The Trail is a mile long and a million and a half lights total, if I remember correctly - that's a lot of lights!!

Can you see me? I'm the one holding the camera. ;)

Another Christmas Angel

This has been a tough week for my family. Four days after my grandma's passing, my aunt died. Yesterday, we had memorial services for both of them. At least they, mother and daughter, are seeing Heaven for the first time together. Now, we have two new angels to look over us this Christmas.

Celebrating Life

Mourning death doesn't make much sense unless we celebrate life.

This week I was able to celebrate several events - my new niece Alivia finally coming home from the hospital (I am so looking forward to being an aunt!) and the birthdays of three friends - Ellen and Jennifer squared.

Welcome to life, Alivia!
And, Happy Birthday, Ellen, Jennifer, and Jennifer!

Goodbye, Grandma Shearer

Goodbye, Grandma.
May you live well in Heaven.
Until we meet again ... Love, Caroline

O, Christmas Tree

I finally got my Christmas tree up this weekend. It's another eight-footer and looks great, even with the one lonely present underneath it. I have done NO Christmas shopping yet and don't have any plans to start for at least a week. Oh, well!
I have my usual complaints about Christmas lights, of course. (I should not have to have a degree in electrical engineering for my lights to work properly, nor should I have to buy brand new lights each year.) With my outside reindeer, I have the sporadic problem once again of the front half of two deer lighting up and the back halves not. With the indoor lights, I checked them all before I put them on the tree, but sometime while stringing them, my clear strand that did all the neat effects stopped working. Now, it just sits on the tree, remembering how pretty it used to be.
I'm not worried about any of it, though. Christmas is my favorite time of year! I'm really looking forward to starting all my holiday baking. I tried out the S'Mores Bark, and it turned out really well so now I'm even more excited about having time to just get in the kitchen and create! I love exploring in the kitchen!

Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate Party

My friend Jennifer had a Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate Party this past weekend, and there were plenty of excellent choices of all three to be found -- plus, great people, of course! We had such a fun time!


Here's me and host Jennifer and then me and Ellen and another Jennifer.

Let the holiday party season begin! :)

Queen of Sky Book Signing at Mozart's

My friend Ellen, known to others as the "Queen of Sky," will host her very first book signing for "Diary of a Dysfunctional Flight Attendant: The Queen of Sky Blog," on Wednesday, December 6 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Mozart's in Austin. A reading and question-and-answer session will start at 7 p.m. Books will be available for purchase for $24, including tax. In the event of rain, the location will be downstairs on the covered deck. Books also are available at Book People or on Amazon. Click here for more information.
I will be there on Wednesday, helping Ellen with the event.

Little Miss Alivia Rose

Here is my niece, little miss Alivia Rose. She is 4 pounds, 14 ounces and 18 inches long.
Despite being itty bitty, she already knows what she wants. When Mommy and Daddy asked her where she wants to go to college, she said, "Sign me up! Texas A&M, Class of 2029. Whoop!"

Aunt Caroline

As of this morning, I am now "Aunt Caroline" to one itty bitty baby named Alivia Rose. She was so excited to greet the world that she showed up pretty early, but we are all very happy to have her. I will get to meet her this weekend!

Texas Family Magazine - New Issue

A new issue of Texas Family Magazine is out, this one featuring an article I wrote on teaching kids about money. I think a lot of parents don't get much beyond the basics in educating their kids about money; maybe this article will inspire some parents to pursue it further.
This is the first issue, btw, where I officially am listed as an associate editor.

Holiday Baking Season

Let the holiday baking begin!
As soon as I arrived back in Austin from my Thanksgiving travels, I started getting in the mood for baking all the treats I so love to make this time of year. I'm waiting until next weekend to start my Christmas season, but I know many of you are already there. I'm receiving a lot of requests for some of my holiday recipes. The favorites this time of year tend to be Homemade Chocolate Marshmallows (great for gifts,) Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bark (also great for gifts,) and Cranberry Pumpkin Bread (great for anything.) If you're wanting any of these recipes for personal use, I'm happy to e-mail them for free. (Of course, I charge for them to be published, as they are copyrighted and my own creation.)
I plan on continuing my experiments in the kitchen this year. I've made Peppermint Marshmallows and Vanilla Marshmallows before, and I think I'll try that again, maybe throwing in a little caramel dip for the vanilla ones. I'm also going to try a S'mores experiment with the Bark. That could turn out phenomenally. We shall see.
My theory in cooking is this: If everything going in to it is good, then it will be good! This has served me well. I love trying new things in the kitchen!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I've been sick again, pretty badly, this time for over a week. Clearly, I need a reduction in stress because, under normal circumstances, I rarely get sick. Hopefully, over the Thanksgiving holiday I will get some extra rest and get my health back to normal.
And, on that note, have a great Thanksgiving everyone! Eat lots of turkey and cranberries and all that good stuff!

Writing

My faith in the ability of future generations to write is being restored, thank goodness. I am a guest judge for a school writing contest, and I have been surprised pleasantly by what the students have produced, and, in particular, I have been surprised by their creativity. I've also been doing some volunteer tutoring, and it's interesting for me to see how the kids' personalities come out so differently in their work.
It's amazing to think about all the different thoughts and layers of thoughts we have running around in our heads. My head just doesn't turn off, ever, and so many of my thoughts are intriguing, to me at least. I could never even begin to get all my ideas out, even if I published two books a year, every year, for forever.
I wish I were a little better about putting my thoughts on paper. I should be more disciplined about it, but it is a long process to train myself, especially when it seems my spare time is so limited. I am making progress on my book, however ...

Lantana - Best in Texas Music Magazine

I wrote a story on a really cool music group named Lantana for this month's Best in Texas Music Magazine's "Stars on the Horizon" section.
Lantana is made up of three women who are at least 35 years old and starting off a new direction in their lives. They have a little bit of a kick butt attitude, in a good way.
I had fun with the story. In one of their songs, "The Juice Ain't Worth the Squeeze," they sing about a phenomenon so many of us women are familiar with - the miraculous "growing up" of men that usually occurs around the age of 40.
Only through November 2006, you can read the story here.

2nd Annual Game Night

I hosted my second annual Game Night this past weekend. It was a blast!! Lots of good friends and good food and a little dose of healthy competition.
Here, some of us are scrambling to see who can come up with the best answers for Scattergories!

I Am Like a Wild Horse

"I am like a wild horse. You can't tame me.
You put the oats in the pen, though, and I'll come in for a nibble every day.
But the minute you shut that gate, I'll jump the fence and you'll never see me again."

(Love it. Love it. Love it. Wish I'd written it.)

Get Going - Vote!

* They didn't give me an "I voted" sticker this morning. : (
I was out walking last night, and I heard a father call his son. He told him that if he went to go vote he'd buy him dinner afterward. The mom jokingly cried foul: "He's buying votes!"
I hope everyone takes every initiative they can to encourage people to hit the polls today - - especially if you are on my side of the aisle!!! ;)
Get out today and vote. Don't put off today what you can't do tomorrow!

Pretty Pictures from Waldo County, Maine

Here are some pictures I took that I just thought were really pretty.

It was a gorgeous time of year to visit coastal Maine. I never imagined myself to be big on leaf-peeping, but I particularly loved walking through Moose Point Sate Park along Penobscot Bay and seeing so many great trees, which is where the middle two pictures are from.