the older i get the more i value my friends. for some time now it has become more and more difficult to get together. have you ever tried to coordinate getting together with a mom, let alone 5 moms? so then you know and feel my pain. recently there was a get together for a dear friends birthday, and it felt like old times, in a way. the conversations have just shifted to what the kids are up to, how the men in our lives can be really amazing or really not (wonder why that is) and yes of course there is the occasional 'remember when' story. the thing that my girls have taught me the most is: unconditional love. no matter what they will always be there and love each other no matter what.
which always makes me think about why is that a constant in friends but not in family? the saying you can choose your friends but not your family is the only thing that comes to mind, repeatedly. i don't know about your family but with mine the perfection of quilt trips, demanding questions, constant jabs, undercutting with sideways compliments (if you want to call them that) and laying it on thick seems to be ever present. maybe that is just the inevitable relationships between mothers and daughters. or just inevitable with me and mine. whatever it is, it is definitely not the same feeling i get of unconditional love from girlfriends. something i even know doesn't come easy for most or at all. so i wonder is it even worth trying to pass something on through generations, or is it better to just break the cycle and start over? for years i have felt like i don't fit in with my family and have really stopped trying altogether; when i do try it is the same viscous circle again and again. maybe that is my answer; i have already broken the cycle and am just waiting to pass on what i am to the next.
much like the idea of passing things on through generations, girlfriends pass things on through a lifetime. i am not talking about a pair of traveling jeans here either. in my case at least it is something that is a little less tangible. i got home after our dinner night out and found an old scrapbook and the first page i opened to was from a couple of years ago, from one of my birthday get togethers and there we all were...it made me think about the changes that have happened over the years. how we have been there for each other through kids, marriages, divorces, careers starting and ending, legal issues, family fights, deaths and just about anything you can think of. we saw each other through with support, encouragement, and laughter through tears when nothing else worked. no one can pick you up like the ones that are there for you in your darkest times and celebrate with you when you are up.
so you learn random things in conversation; at least i do - little insights into the people you already know so well. but there is always more to know. like jodi girl has 40 pairs of black pants in her closet, and denise still thinks about the one man that she had a thing with for a minute (but in no way is he good or right for her) and wonders - what if? still. beyond the fun facts it is the little ways that your friends can surprise you. like when denise talks about her faith and how it sees her through challenges in both good times and bad and she feels lucky and fortunate with exactly where she is in life. when jodi looks at now and knows she is in exactly the right place to spend time with her daughter daily and think about what makes sense for her next without rushing the process. there is always strength and inspiration from these women to anyone that knows them. such different lives with such different directions but a connection all the same. ok it makes me think about the movie the divine secrets of the ya ya sisterhood and how the women had a pact of friendship that lasted a lifetime.
it can be amazing what binds people together, from similar tastes, hobbies, beliefs or because they grew up near one another. food, art and music seem to be some of the root foundation for cultures i think. i recently found myself wandering around the cookbook section of borders again and came across several cookbooks from other countries that showed a map with the region that food originated from. i thought - what a great idea. it would be an interesting thing to have a cookbook for women that showed recipes of what to use based on where you are in life: skinny single girl, pregnant with first child, after a couple of kids, starting a career, loosing a career, etc you get the idea. each section would have recipes shared from girlfriends when at those points in their lives. the very first recipe i was ever given was from my dear friend denise for swedish meatballs. if i remember correctly, jodi girl passed the recipe to her. so it would be the girlfriends cookbook: recipes for life.
of course the girlfriends cookbook would also be full of funny stories in place of where a regional map would be. there would be stories like tripping and grabbing onto a client and almost taking him down when wearing super high heals or yelling 'we got a dog taco' when helping a friend carry in her sick dog to the vet while busting through the door. basically stories any woman would laugh out loud at when reading. after all, life is serious enough to not laugh as much as possible. there is nothing better than a laugh that makes you cry, makes your stomach hurt and leaves you gasping for breath. or even one that catches you by surprise and makes you snort. those are my personal favorite.
i must say that i was somewhat misleading in my last post. beef bourguignon is what julia child made not beef bolognese; beef bolognese is from northern italy. so any of you real cooks out there or julia child fans, you probably caught that and thought it didn't make sense. well it kind of didn't make sense and it kind of did. the connection i was making, if the inferred reference is still not clicking, is that it started with a beef dish that spoke to me. paralleling this to the start of the julie/julia stories also starting with a speaking beef dish. beef sort of has that effect i think. how many times have you seen a picture of some fantastic beef food and it made your mouth water?
so in the spirit of cooking adventure, of course i wanted to make the beef bourguignon. what perfect timing to make a delicious beef stew than with the wonderful winter wonderland storm we got hammered with last night. not surprisingly it is still coming down today. i am hoping our weather reporters are accurate with it stopping later today; i have a full day of travel tomorrow between pretty far spanning cities and clear roads would be great. i had no idea that it would be such a long process to make what is basically a stew; but was it worth it! it was really fantastic.
so i am not really sure what has brought on this recent chain of events, well besides winter, in gaining inspiration from my home. it is where i spend so much of my time. recently having moved and still settling in probably has a lot to do with it too. i have always been a person who has taken pride in my home, but this is the first time i have made a home and it feels pretty good. so here are some of my home inspirations:
which always makes me think about why is that a constant in friends but not in family? the saying you can choose your friends but not your family is the only thing that comes to mind, repeatedly. i don't know about your family but with mine the perfection of quilt trips, demanding questions, constant jabs, undercutting with sideways compliments (if you want to call them that) and laying it on thick seems to be ever present. maybe that is just the inevitable relationships between mothers and daughters. or just inevitable with me and mine. whatever it is, it is definitely not the same feeling i get of unconditional love from girlfriends. something i even know doesn't come easy for most or at all. so i wonder is it even worth trying to pass something on through generations, or is it better to just break the cycle and start over? for years i have felt like i don't fit in with my family and have really stopped trying altogether; when i do try it is the same viscous circle again and again. maybe that is my answer; i have already broken the cycle and am just waiting to pass on what i am to the next.
much like the idea of passing things on through generations, girlfriends pass things on through a lifetime. i am not talking about a pair of traveling jeans here either. in my case at least it is something that is a little less tangible. i got home after our dinner night out and found an old scrapbook and the first page i opened to was from a couple of years ago, from one of my birthday get togethers and there we all were...it made me think about the changes that have happened over the years. how we have been there for each other through kids, marriages, divorces, careers starting and ending, legal issues, family fights, deaths and just about anything you can think of. we saw each other through with support, encouragement, and laughter through tears when nothing else worked. no one can pick you up like the ones that are there for you in your darkest times and celebrate with you when you are up.
so you learn random things in conversation; at least i do - little insights into the people you already know so well. but there is always more to know. like jodi girl has 40 pairs of black pants in her closet, and denise still thinks about the one man that she had a thing with for a minute (but in no way is he good or right for her) and wonders - what if? still. beyond the fun facts it is the little ways that your friends can surprise you. like when denise talks about her faith and how it sees her through challenges in both good times and bad and she feels lucky and fortunate with exactly where she is in life. when jodi looks at now and knows she is in exactly the right place to spend time with her daughter daily and think about what makes sense for her next without rushing the process. there is always strength and inspiration from these women to anyone that knows them. such different lives with such different directions but a connection all the same. ok it makes me think about the movie the divine secrets of the ya ya sisterhood and how the women had a pact of friendship that lasted a lifetime.
it can be amazing what binds people together, from similar tastes, hobbies, beliefs or because they grew up near one another. food, art and music seem to be some of the root foundation for cultures i think. i recently found myself wandering around the cookbook section of borders again and came across several cookbooks from other countries that showed a map with the region that food originated from. i thought - what a great idea. it would be an interesting thing to have a cookbook for women that showed recipes of what to use based on where you are in life: skinny single girl, pregnant with first child, after a couple of kids, starting a career, loosing a career, etc you get the idea. each section would have recipes shared from girlfriends when at those points in their lives. the very first recipe i was ever given was from my dear friend denise for swedish meatballs. if i remember correctly, jodi girl passed the recipe to her. so it would be the girlfriends cookbook: recipes for life.
of course the girlfriends cookbook would also be full of funny stories in place of where a regional map would be. there would be stories like tripping and grabbing onto a client and almost taking him down when wearing super high heals or yelling 'we got a dog taco' when helping a friend carry in her sick dog to the vet while busting through the door. basically stories any woman would laugh out loud at when reading. after all, life is serious enough to not laugh as much as possible. there is nothing better than a laugh that makes you cry, makes your stomach hurt and leaves you gasping for breath. or even one that catches you by surprise and makes you snort. those are my personal favorite.
i must say that i was somewhat misleading in my last post. beef bourguignon is what julia child made not beef bolognese; beef bolognese is from northern italy. so any of you real cooks out there or julia child fans, you probably caught that and thought it didn't make sense. well it kind of didn't make sense and it kind of did. the connection i was making, if the inferred reference is still not clicking, is that it started with a beef dish that spoke to me. paralleling this to the start of the julie/julia stories also starting with a speaking beef dish. beef sort of has that effect i think. how many times have you seen a picture of some fantastic beef food and it made your mouth water?
so in the spirit of cooking adventure, of course i wanted to make the beef bourguignon. what perfect timing to make a delicious beef stew than with the wonderful winter wonderland storm we got hammered with last night. not surprisingly it is still coming down today. i am hoping our weather reporters are accurate with it stopping later today; i have a full day of travel tomorrow between pretty far spanning cities and clear roads would be great. i had no idea that it would be such a long process to make what is basically a stew; but was it worth it! it was really fantastic.
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