A new day in the my space

 Today, I spent cleaning out my creative space, this is part of my plan to organize myself and to have more time to creating rather than just cleaning up from the last creative project.This space also happens to be a corner in an unfinished basement that also holds lots of other stuff that I don't know what to do with. I had some help from my very organized mother (somehow that gene missed me!) and boy were we merciless! Four garbage bags, two boxes to go the second hand strore and a few things that have been re-purposed for storage.  I still have a ways to go however the floor is cleaned up and everthing has a home and I can certainly see that I need to do more purging! Things are just so hard to get rid off however I will continue to really think about what I really need! Some lucky new scrap booker who goes to the second hand store will find some really great things to get started with. knowing that someone else will benefit from it, makes it okay for me to pass it along. I recently heard that if you are having difficult getting rid of things, you should thank that item for being in your life and then identify how it was helpful. This is when you can let it go! and send it out into the universal to be helpful for someone else!

The Challenge - 365 Photos - one a day!

Well, for 2012 I am going to challenge myself and post a photo with something interesting to say about it on my blog.

I have been blessed by my family as they have provided me with a new sony camera after my last one
met the end of it's life by a Hot Chocolate at the Santa Claus Parade in November. I didn't realize how much that camera was an extension of my life and did truly miss having it  to take photos.

So I hope you enjoy the photo journey

Thursday - Recipe Day

Thursday is going to be the day I post a recipe to share.  I will come up with something creative to call it, but as I mentioned managing this blog is a work in progress. This is one of  our families' favourite snacks on a Saturday afternoon or while watching a movie. I love to serve it with Blue Tortillia Chips. I get asked to bring it to family and friend gatherings and believe me it dosen't last.

Basic Guacamole Dip

Ingredients

2 ripe Avocados

3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil Mayonaise

2 Garlic Cloves - minced

1/2 Onion - finely chopped

1/2 cup of fresh Cilantro - finely chopped

1 tablespoon of Lime juice or 1/2 lime squeezed

3 dashes of hot red pepper sauce (or to your taste)

Mash the avocados and mayonaise together.  Once those ingredients are mashed together, stir in all the other ingredients.  Cover and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

A few things I have learned about making this dip.

• Keep an avocado pit in the dip until you serve it. It helps keep it from turning brown
• Mashing with a fork works best
• Wash your cliantro, it tends to be gritty

Enjoy this with someone you love!

The begining of Thanksgiving Weekend

Well, Thanksgiving Weekend has just finished. It was a fabulous weekend for getting out into the countryside to see what Autumn does best, turn the world into a vibrant array of rich and golden colours.

Our family was fortunte to travel to the Bruce Pennisula, one of the places we love to travel to in Ontario. It helps that Grandma and Grandpa live there and provide us with a base as we set out on our adventures.

My girls have a few favourite spots that make the 3 hour trip more managable. One  is South Side Fries, just south of Harrison, This road side stand provides a fresh cut fried potates, a hard thing to find these days.  My husband's quest in life is to find the perfect fresh cut fries (That is a whole post in  itself! We usually share an order of fries between the four of us. The girls have aqquired a taste for hot sauce and enjoy just a bit along with the traditional catsup and cider vinegar. After we have finished our snack, that seems to ease the "We are hungry" sometimes if we are lucky they take a nap. So if you are traveling through Harrison, check out this road side vendor. The service is friendly and the fries are a great treat!

Welcome to Mel's Adventures

Well, I have decided to change the name of my blog for now. I wanted to call it something that reflects the things that I love to do and want to learn more about. Currently that  includes cooking, taking pictures, taking travel adventures around Ontario with my two girls and my  on going love affer with paper crafts. I will probably touch a few other things too. Hope you enjoy the Journey with me.

I  hope to include many photos, a weekly recipe and the world according to a five year old. My paper craft creations

So my next challenge is to figure out how to post photos and tell a great story to make you want to come back on a timely basis.

Thanks

new challenges

Well if I visit this blog a little more frequently I will eventually have a fabulous looking blog. This is part of my step back into understanding social media and how it works. Seriously this could become more enjoyable if I can remember how to do things. So Check I added my first widget, a family widget and played with a title for the blog. I wlll leave it for know and maybe revisit it when  I read a bit more. Some of the headers I have seen are pretty amazing. Uh who new. There a tonne of talented scrapbooking and card makers out there that maintain a blog and make that pretty too! That is my goal too! To make a blog to share my stuff so onward and upward. Now what am I going to play with ... the options are endless, watch for what I do next.\
Ciao for now,
Melissa

One Happy Scrapper and Stamper

Well, hopefully this is my last time registering a blog spot. I\m running out of names to use!!

So yes I am a happy scrapper and stamper. I try to dedicate  a few hours a week to my hobby between caring for two young children.