en route to chicagoland

Hello, friends and readers! 

 

By the time you're reading this, I'm already on my way to (or in) the grand city of Chicago, Illinois! Chicagoland, The Windy City, The Second City, The City of Big Shoulders, Sinatra's kind of town.

life without a laptop. also, i am liz lemon

1. Oy. What insanity has ensued over the past two and a half weeks...

Lemme tell ya... Life as a pseudo-blogger is muy difficile when your laptop is sick. Well, life in general is hard without a laptop. I have to say, though, in a way, it was a very much needed break from internet-land. I'm happy to say I've officially kicked my Facebook addiction over the past fourteen days. It may not sound like much, but it's SO lovely not to worry about what's going on there. (Still working on Instagram.)

But alas, I have missed you folks. How are you? What have you been up to? I have so many things to catch up on here.

Here's what I've been up to:

emergency survival trunk essentials

A few months ago, I was bouncing down our field of potholes which some people like to call our road, and I noticed a terrific wooden trunk sitting on the side of the road next to the neighbor's trash bins.  It isn't anything special or unusual... just a little wooden box held together by metal clasps and painted a dark shade of green, but it looked old and rustic and homemade, and y'all know I have a weakness for things like that.  I wrestled it into my car, and just as my mother was rolling her eyes at me about the new stray thing I'd rescued from the side of the road, I thought, how cool would it be to make this into an emergency survival trunk to keep in my car?  So that's exactly what I did. Because you just never know what could happen.

(Plus, it's kind of cool to know I could run off and go camping at any given moment, only needing to throw a few extra things in a bag.)

featured blogger: devra @ the personalist project

Welcome to Featured Blogger at Country Girl's Daybook, a fun way to get to know some favorite bloggers and blogs in the little community we've made. Last month, I was joined by the lovely Jenna of Call Her Happy.  Today, I'm happy to introduce a wonderful lady known to me as "Mrs. Torres" (but you can call her Devra), whose daughter Miriam and I were part of the same homeschool program for years, and where we wreaked all kinds of havoc on the world. She runs a great family, this one. Please, pour a cup of tea and join us. Take a peek into her life!

ginger chicken stir fry {recipe}

Other than Italian, Chinese cuisine is undeniably my favorite. Man, I love a good stir fry. So, a few weeks ago, I made one. I began with a recipe I found online (which has since been lost to me), but I veered from the original plan and created my own. And today, I'd like to pass the spoon and show you lovely friends and readers how to make it for yourself.

I suppose this could also be called "stir fry stew," since I like my veggies cooked through and soft.

First off, get thee a cast iron skillet. I love ours. I suppose a "normal" pan would work for this, but nothing trumps cast iron for the best result.

Cast of characters:

morning glory muffins {recipe}

Muffins. I love muffins. And you can't get better than delectable, and healthy muffins. This is a new favorite in our house, a recipe given to my mother by the lovely lady she works for, and it is rapidly becoming a much-requested treat among my friends.

Behold, Morning Glory Muffins:

the fourth

We have such a beautiful flag.

photographical musings // black and white

... or more aptly named, One Click Changed it All.