saturday upsides, christmas chili & les mis

Posted on December 30, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

Happy weekend, everyone! We made it back to southern California safe & sound tonight after visiting my extended family up north. It was a quick but jam-packed visit, filled with fun family time, delicious home-cooked food, and lots of laughter. Here is a pic of my brother and me with our Grandma & Grandpap {on our mom’s side}:

One recipe I forgot to share with you earlier this week is my Christmas chili! It’s the same as my California chicken chili recipe, only I added red and white kidney beans, regular chili powder instead of the “white chicken” kind, AND festive red and green bell pepper. {Which is why I call it my “Christmas chili”!} The reason I used the regular chili powder is that I couldn’t find the white chicken chili kind out here in California … but it turned out to be one of those serendipitous things, because I think this is my best chili yet!

I don’t know about you, but around this time of year I nearly always battle the post-holiday blues. It’s true: I love Christmas! I love the joy and excitement of the season of giving. I love being home with my family. I love not having to worry about the normal day-to-day stresses of school and work. I love baking cookies and special holiday treats. I love watching Christmas movies with my Gramps. I love small things, like the special flavors of Hershey’s kisses and chai lattes at Starbucks. {Greg snapped a picture of me on his smartphone at Starbucks, enjoying a gingerbread chai … mmmmm.}

I always get a little sad when the holidays are over. Does anyone else feel the same?

Then I went to see “Les Miserables” with my mom, aunts and cousin Arianna yesterday afternoon. I had never seen the musical before and did not know the story at all. It was beautiful. I loved the music and thought the film was very well-done. {Best supporting actress: Anne Hathaway gets my vote!}

And my goodness, what an emotional story that really makes you feel grateful for what you have. I am SO lucky to have a roof over my head, enough food to eat, a warm bed, a loving and healthy family. Those are my Saturday Upsides every week!

And another upside? Having people to miss is a blessing because it means you have people to love!

What are your upsides this weekend?

goals through the end of the year

Posted on December 27, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

This holiday weekend was such a whirlwind that I forgot to post my goals on Sunday! Here’s how I did last week:

~~throw a terrific bridal shower for my cousin Amanda~~ {see my recap post about it here}
~~take cookies and holiday cards to the local nursing home~~ {here’s my “saturday upsides” post about that joyful experience}
read The Zero by Jess Walter {started this but didn’t finish it yet}
~~watch Christmas movies with Gramps~~
finish getting email inbox and computer desktop cleaned out and organized {started this, still have a couple things to do to finish up}
write goals for the upcoming year {need to finish this still!}
work on short play to submit to festival {completely didn’t have time for this at all}

And here they are, a few days late, my goals through the end of the year:

revise and update calendar and syllabus for the upcoming semester
read & respond to all the workshop stories for the Key West conference
finish getting email inbox and computer desktop cleaned out and organized
write goals for the upcoming year
work on short play to submit to festival
finish reading The Zero by Jess Walter
prepare for my new “Act of Kindness” blog initiative for the upcoming year!

What are your goals for the rest of the year? Feel free to share in the comments below!

what i wore on christmas

Posted on December 26, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

Wow, Christmas seemed to fly by especially fast this year! It was a whirlwind! Writing camp, dinner with friends, my brother’s birthday, coffee with my good friend Erica, my cousin’s bridal shower, Christmas Eve with our extended family, Christmas Day with more family … and now we’re leaving for a road trip up to the Bay Area to see my extended family on my mom’s side. I haven’t seen my grandparents since my brother’s graduation this past summer, and rest of my aunts, uncles, and cousins since last Christmas, and I can’t wait to hug them all and catch up on everything!

So I might be a little MIA the next few days … but I’ll try to get some recipes from my grandma, who is an AMAZING cook, to share with you on here! 🙂

I think my favorite part about Christmas is the big breakfast we cook in my family. We are not usually big breakfast eaters, so it always feels like a treat!

This year my mom took care of the turkey bacon and scrambled eggs while I manned the waffle iron and the boys set the table.

YUM!

Today I’m linking up with Camp Patton to share “What I wore on Christmas” …

I am loving this polka-dot scarf my friend Erica gave me for Christmas {I think she got it from Target} so I decided to make it the centerpiece of my outfit! I paired it with a simple green top, white undershirt, dark skinnies, and my fave brown boots!

I only just managed to get these pictures taken before a certain someone wanted in on the photo fun:

… then at the last minute he decided to be camera-shy and not show his adorable doggy face. Oh, Murray!

I hope your Christmas was filled with love, joy, laughter, family and good food!

Thanks for taking the time to visit this blog … it means so much to me!

With love,
Dallas

a simple, successful bridal shower!

Posted on December 24, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

Yesterday afternoon, I was so excited and honored to host a bridal shower for my cousin Amanda! We were born only three months apart and went all through school together, from pre-school through college. She is one of my closest friends and I am so happy for her and her fiancee, Justin. They are so cute together and I know they make each other very happy.

In elementary school, we started calling each other “cuz” {short for cousin} and the nickname has stuck!
She will always be my “cuz.”

My Gramps generously let us use his beautiful, large living room to host the shower. {Having a lot of space was a necessity, as we had more than 20 attendees!} Can you spot him peeking out in the pic below, preparing to make his escape before the twenty giggly, wedding-giddy ladies showed up? Haha.

We set enough chairs around the room so that everyone would have a place to sit, but also tried to keep the room open to encourage guests to walk around and mingle.

And we designated an area by the fireplace for guests to set down their gifts for the bride-to-be:

* decorations *

Amanda’s favorite color is pink and her wedding isn’t until June, so even though we held the shower right before Christmas, we went for a summery pink-and-white theme instead of having a Christmas-themed shower.

Fresh flowers really brighten up a room!
Dress up a plain tablecloth with colorful streamers and bright napkins.
Use cups to corral forks, knives, spoons, and toothpicks.

* food *

We went with a simple veggie tray and some h’orderves. The real stand-out were the gorgeous cupcakes, made by one of my mom’s friends:

She’s a professional cake decorator; if you wanted to make homemade desserts, here are a couple of my tried-and-true recipes:
– red velvet cupcakes with coconut cream-cheese frosting
– carrot cupcakes with cream-cheese frosting

For drinks we did mimosas, red & white wine, soda and water. And of course coffee with dessert!

* games *

Amanda is a competitive person and specifically requested that we play some party games! After doing a little research for ideas, I settled upon two games: Pictionary using wedding-themed phrases, and a “Newlywed” style game to see how well Amanda could guess her fiancee’s answers to a series of questions.

Both games were a big hit, but they did require a bit of preparation. Here are the phrases we used for Pictionary:

To Have and To Hold
Happily Ever After
Just Married
I Do
First Dance
Bridezilla
Father of the Bride
Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride
Tossing the Bouquet
Bridal Shower
Till Death Do Us Part
Bachelorette Party
Tying the Knot
Wedding Cake
Wedding Bells
Going to the Chapel
Flower Girl
Ring Bearer
Best Man
Maid of Honor
Honeymoon

The Q-&-A game was an idea I saw on the always-wonderful blog Peanut Butter Fingers. Here’s how it worked: a couple months ago, I sent a list of questions to Amanda’s fiancee to answer about her, himself and their relationship. Then I wrote out these questions and his answers out on pieces of paper and made them into a book. I used a small, inexpensive photo album and cut each piece of paper to 4×6 inches to fit perfectly in each slot. Then I decorated the pages with colorful stickers and markers.

Here is a full list of the questions I asked the groom-to-be {feel free to add or subtract to fit your needs!}

When and where was your first kiss with the bride-to-be?
Where was your first date with the bride-to-be?
What do you think the bride-to-be’s favorite gift is from you?
What is the one item the bride-to-be cannot not live without?
What is the bride-to-be’s dream job?
If the bride-to-be could move anywhere without having to worry about a job or family, where would it be?
What is the bride-to-be’s most obnoxious habit?
What is your most obnoxious habit?
What turns the bride-to-be off the most about a man?
What turns you off the most about a woman?
What do you think is the bride-to-be’s favorite memory of your relationship?
What is your favorite memory of your relationship with the bride-to-be?
What does the bride-to-be picture when she looks into the future?
What do you picture when you look into the future?
What do you think the bride-to-be loves most about you?
What do you love the most about the bride-to-be?
What is a big dream of the bride-to-be’s?
What is a big dream of yours?
What is one thing the bride-to-be will never forget that you did for/said to her?
When does the bride-to-be want to have kids?
How many kids does the bride-to-be want to have?
How many kids do you want to have?
If the bride-to-be were an animal, what type of animal would she be and why?
If you were an animal, what type of animal would you be and why?

To make it into a game, we asked every attendee to guess the number of questions Amanda would get right. Then we passed the book around the room, taking turns reading out questions and keeping track of how many of Justin’s answers Amanda guessed right. The trick, of course, is that the “right” answer wasn’t always what was true for her, but what Justin thought was true for her. She had to try to think like him, which is the fun part! This game certainly evoked lots of laughter. After we made it through the entire book, we tallied up the number of correct answers and the two attendees with the closest guesses won prizes.

* party favors *

We found these cute scented candles and thought they would make the perfect party favors! To make them festive and pink, we just wrapped them in a sheet of tissue paper {folded in half} and tied with ribbon.

Here they are all lined up and ready to go for the party!

The bridal shower was a blast and I think Amanda had a really fun time! I snapped pictures throughout the afternoon that I’m going to print up and slip into a pink photo album for Amanda as a little post-shower gift, so she can look back and remember the day!

It was a simple, successful shower! Have any of you hosted a bridal shower before? What are your favorite party-hosting tips or shower games?

* This post is linked up at Fine Linen & Purple!

mom’s classic chocolate-chip cookies

Posted on December 23, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

My mom makes AMAZING chocolate-chip cookies! Back in college she’d send me big batches of chocolate-chip cookies and my dorm-mates would actually cheer. {I would share them of course!} Hmmm, thinking about it now, maybe I should thank Mom for helping me make friends! 🙂

This year, Mom gave me her recipe and I tried my hand at making a batch … they didn’t turn out quite as well as hers, but still pretty darn delicious. Crispy, buttery edges; gooey chocolatey middles. It’s hard to go wrong with a chocolate-chip cookie!

mom’s classic chocolate-chip cookies

– 2 and 1/4 cups flour
– 1 tsp baking soda
– 1 tsp baking powder
– 1 tsp salt
– 1 tsp cinnamon
– 1 cup butter, softened
– 3/4 cup sugar
– 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 2 large eggs
– 1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Cream butter through sugar.

3. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.

4. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

5. A little at a time, add flour mixture to wet ingredients, stirring well to combine thoroughly.

6. Add chocolate chips and cinnamon, if desired.

7. Scoop by tablespoons onto a baking sheet.

8. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until cookies are golden-brown and firm to the touch.

9. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then remove from baking sheet.

I like these cookies best when they’re still warm — and of course with a big tall glass of milk!

Hope you are enjoying these last couple days before Christmas!

-Dallas

———

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like:

– butterscotch pudding cookies
– aunt elaine’s peanut butter blossoms
– apple, brown sugar & cinnamon cookies
– pumpkin oatmeal cookies

This post is linked up to Menu-Plan Monday!

saturday upsides: special delivery to the nursing home

Posted on December 22, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

Happy Saturday, everyone! So we all survived the end of the world … hooray! There’s an upside right there. 😉

Another upside: today is my brother’s 23rd birthday! Happy birthday, Greg!!

We are going out to brunch, per our special sibling tradition, and we’ll be going out to dinner as a family. I’m excited to celebrate the birthday of my amazing brother! My first-ever memory is when he was born. I was two-and-a-half years old and I just remember standing in the living room of our old house, telling my mom to “Call Daddy, call Daddy!” My dad was at work and my mom was home with what she thought was the flu {it was two weeks before her expected due date} when her water broke … my dad rushed home and we just barely made it to the hospital in time! My family always jokes that I almost delivered my brother that day!

My final upside for this lovely Saturday is based on the idea “Do good, feel good.” There’s nothing like those warm-fuzzies you get when you feel like you did something nice for someone else — I find it especially powerful during the holiday season. It means so much to feel like I could make someone’s holiday a little brighter!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately of my friend Jewell, who passed away two years ago in February. She was an incredibly sweet and compassionate person and I used to visit her at the local nursing home, where we shared many meals and long conversations. Here we are about a year before she died:

And here she is wearing a scarf I made her for Christmas:

I used to enjoy making Jewell homemade Christmas gifts and cards, and last Christmas {the first once since her death} I really missed her. This year, I had an idea: I could still give a gift to Jewell by doing something kind for others in her memory.

So I whipped up a batch of sweet treats {my butterscotch pudding cookies & holiday white chocolate pretzels!} and spent an hour making homemade cards. I used crayons, stamps, stickers, and markers to make my own designs, and I also “upcycled” some Christmas cards we’d received in previous years by cutting off the front picture and gluing it to a new piece of cardstock to make a new card.

I made sixteen cards in total. Then I packed up some treats on a plate, gathered all my cards together, and headed out to the nursing home for a Yuletide delivery!

I could feel Jewell’s warm spirit with me as I delivered the cards and cookies to the nursing home residents. They were so happy and waved and hugged me and said, “Thank you!” and “Merry Christmas!” I hope Jewell was looking down and smiling.

Want to do a similar project in your town? Here are some examples of notes I wrote in the cards:

Hope your holiday season is filled with joy and peace! Love, a friend
Someone is thinking of you this holiday season and sending warm wishes your way!
Merry Christmas! Have a wonderful season filled with warm memories, hope and love!

Now I’m off to finish wrapping Greg’s birthday gifts! 🙂 Have a fantastic day!

what I wore to teach writing camp

Posted on December 18, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

I was delighted to teach a special one-day winter break session of my youth writing camp this past weekend! It was so much fun. I always come away from teaching creative writing sessions thinking, “I hope my students had even half as much fun as I did!” 🙂

When deciding upon what to wear to teach writing camp, I tried to come up with an outfit that was:
1) fun
2) professional, and
3) warm {it was cold by California standards this weekend!}

Inspired by Deme at Fresh Coat of Paint, I ended up layering a sweater underneath a pretty summer dress and pairing it with tights and flats. I also added some sparkly jewelry and a flower barrette for extra flair.

Here’s a back view:

I was pleased with the outcome! I think the pop of bright blue made for a cheerful and inviting look, which is great when working with young people and trying to establish and open, fun and safe classroom environment. {And I’m linked up at Fine Linen & Purple, woo hoo!}

I was really excited to find these babies at the grocery store yesterday:

PUMPKIN MARSHMALLOWS!!

I used them to make a pumpkin-y batch of my rice krispies treats, which I brought to writing camp as a snack for the kids. They gobbled them up! The pumpkin marshmallows are a nice seasonal change from regular marshmallows. Highly recommended!

Hope your day is going wonderfully!

-Dallas

———–

goals for the week of 12/16

Posted on December 16, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

Wow, this week flew by! Mike is visiting and it has been so fun to have him here with my family. We’ve seen The Nutcracker, played lots of pinball, seen a comedy show, watched some movies, eaten lunch at some of our favorite Ventura spots {hello, Snapper Jack’s and Nature’s Grill!} and even spent a day at my alma mater USC.

This week I also was relieved to get my grades submitted, two big applications mailed, and taught another super fun Winter Writing Camp through my organization Write On!

Here’s how I did on my other goals this week:

~~send out newsletter about book drive and writing camp~~
~~finish & send the remaining post-grad applications~~
read The Zero by Jess Walter {instead I read through a bunch of old New Yorkers I hadn’t had time to read during the school year … I’ll get to The Zero this week!}
watch Christmas movies with Gramps {we’ve got this on the calendar for the upcoming week}
~~address and mail Christmas cards~~
get email inbox and computer desktop cleaned out and organized {started this but did not finish it all the way}

And here are my goals for this upcoming week:

throw a terrific bridal shower for my cousin Amanda
take cookies and holiday cards to the local nursing home
read The Zero by Jess Walter
watch Christmas movies with Gramps
finish getting email inbox and computer desktop cleaned out and organized
write goals for the upcoming year
work on short play to submit to festival

What are your goals for the week? Feel free to share in the comments below!

saturday upsides: grieving

Posted on December 15, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

After the horrific shooting that happened yesterday in Connecticut, it seems difficult {or maybe even trite} to write about an “upside” today in my life. Then again, maybe it’s more necessary today than ever. I thought of Gretchen Rubin’s book The Happiness Project {review still coming soon on here, I promise!} and her recurring question/nagging fear: “Who am I to talk about happiness when everything in my life is fine?”

Grieving the tragedy yesterday, while also hugging my family close and thanking God for their safety and health and all the love I am so blessed to have in my life, I remembered one of the responses Rubin received on her blog: “Remembering that joy exists is tough when you’ve been traumatized. Joy is a big concept and utterly unbelievable when we are in the depths of catastrophe. But happiness … happiness is more accessible. We can be miserable and then find ourselves laughing, even if just for a few seconds. It reaffirms the will to live, and from there we can branch out. Happiness, and the belief we have in it, is the foundation for survival.”

Tragedies like the Connecticut shooting make us pause in the hectic flurry of everyday life and reflect on what’s important. For me, these are the questions running through my head:

How can I give more to others?
How can I spend more time doing what I truly love?
How can I bring joy to those around me?
How can I remember and refocus on what truly matters?
How can I use my blessings to make a difference for others?

I’ll be pondering these questions more in the coming weeks. I already have some ideas that I am hoping to implement and share with you here on this blog, and start a conversation with you about your own reflections. What matters to you? What do you hold most important in your life?

With love and prayers for you and your family,
-Dallas

my aunt elaine’s peanut butter blossoms

Posted on December 14, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

I have a delicious holiday cookie recipe to share with you today! My mom makes these every holiday season and they are always one of my favorite treats. You could make them any time of year, but in my family they are a special sign of Christmas!

I made these as a treat for my students for the last day of class. They are a classic combination of peanut butter and chocolate — what could be better? I like that they look special and pretty yet are very simple to make. I even health-i-fied my aunt’s recipe a little bit by cutting down on the sugar and substituting whole-wheat flour for regular white flour, and they turned out just as delectable as I remembered.

Enjoy! 🙂

aunt elaine’s peanut butter blossoms

– 1/3 cup sugar
– 1/3 cup brown sugar
– 1/2 cup butter
– 1/2 cup peanut butter
– 1 egg
– 2 tbsp milk {I used soy milk}
– 2 tsp vanilla
– 1 & 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
– 1/2 tsp baking soda
– 1/2 tsp baking powder
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 25 Hershey’s kisses {I used the dark chocolate variety!}
– extra 1/4 cup or so of sugar for rolling the dough in before baking

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Blend in peanut butter and milk.

3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir together.

5. Spread a thin layer of sugar in the bottom of a shallow dish {a pie pan is perfect!}

6. Shape teaspoonfuls of dough into small balls and roll them around in the sugar until they are evenly coated. Place them onto the cookie sheet, evenly spaced.

7. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until cookies are golden brown and cracked open and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

8. While cookies are baking, unwrap the Hershey’s kisses so they are ready to go when cookies come out of the oven!

9. When cookies are still warm, place a Hershey’s kiss in the center of each cookie, gently pressing down to attach the chocolate to the cookie as it cools.