project 52 {life}

Breakfast.

So I'm doing a Project 52. A photo a week (at least) for a year. Clickin' Moms has a themed Project 52, and that's what this photo is for. Breakfast. From what I understand it'll be a mix of techniques and ideas, and I'm excited to stretch myself with someone else's prompts. I thought about a Project 365 (or 366 this year or 365+1, or whatever people are calling it!), and amazing people are doing amazing things with their Project 365 all over the place (You can check out one of my faves from a super fun blogger here.) Have been for years. It's not the picture taking that daunts me, frankly, it's the editing. Gah. So I'll do a quasi-one on my own, using Instagram and my phone. Although I may have missed yesterday. Whatev!

So, anyhoo (that's for you Annie and Elly), Project 52. I'll be chugging along with Clickin' Moms and also hacking away with Callum too. Still trying to figure out the particulars of that one. Random shots of Callum? Probably. He's a bit old to do shots of Callum in the same chair. And I still haven't worked out the details of how I'll post them. They may just show up in a gallery on my photography page. Really, this is still a re-entry week for us people, I don't start the New Year until the 9th at the earliest.

But breakfast. I'm not super thrilled with these photos, which doesn't seem like the greatest way to start off the year, but there you are. This means I'll see TONS of progression by December, right? RIGHT??? I was, however, super thrilled with breakfast. We're not big on breakfast around here. Especially during the week, it's a movable feast. We make sure Callum gets good and fed, but Neel and I are generally slurping our coffee as we're getting ourselves out the door. Sometimes, on the weekends however, we go big. On New Years Day, I was up before everyone (not unusual) and saw a cooking segment on the Today Show that included Egg Nog French Toast. Hello. Oh, hello. Our friends Seamane and Rob had sent us some homemade egg nog from Seamane's dad's recipe (also, YUM), and since we had some left, I decided to use it on the French Toast. Baked in the oven with crushed cereal on top (go figure). Yeah, it was as good as it sounds. Callum worried a bit because he's not a big egg nog fan, but really, it was just eggy, sweet and melty goodness. I love me some French Toast.

I've been thinking a lot about my photography lately. Almost constantly. Can you tell? (Snicker) Thinking about cameras. Trying to decide which camera to upgrade to. If I'm ready for it, and if I deserve it (read: am I worth spending that much money on & can I justify an expense that big on just me?). Trying to understand what my true vision as a photographer is. What do I really, really love to take photos of? What means the most to me? How can I make the leap from taking pictures just for me and this space here to doing more? What is MORE? How to leap? And learning. Everyday I want to learn more. I have so much to learn. I love it. Every day I love it. I was completely and utterly surprised and humbled to be mentioned on Carla Coulson's blog Carla Loves Photography today. Carla is a fellow Blogging Your Way alumna, and another powerful inspiration to me. Go read her personal story. She took the leap! In a country where they don't speak English! I don't feel half as brave. I go and read her every single day and learn something new. She is another woman who is not afraid to share what she knows, whether it's about living in Paris (if you love Paris, you'll love her blog!) or sharing what she knows as a photographer. Her friendship to me (even though we've never met) is a true gift.

I'm not sure what any of this means, and I'm sure you're tired of hearing me ramble on and on about it all. Remember, it's still re-entry week around here. I'll get pulled together by next week, whatever that means. But thank you for following along. Thank you for supporting and encouraging me. If you're here from Clickin' Moms, welcome! And thank you for making me feel so welcome in that wonderful space. If you're here from Carla's blog, thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you come again. Each and everyone of you mean the world to me.

In the hopes that some folks that Carla's blog pop by, I thought I'd throw up {life} a bit early today. Enjoy!

neighborly {life}

For our neighbor gifts this year we made homemade cocoa and marshmallows.

The marshmallows we'd made before, several years ago. This year I started to use a recipe from Smitten Kitchen that promised Jet Puffed-like marshmallows. Who wouldn't want that? About halfway through I realized that the recipe calls for egg whites and since we wouldn't be cooking them, Callum couldn't have any. No bueno. A quick scramble and reboot and all was well. Maybe not Jet Puffed, but still good. You can use powdered egg whites (which we don't have on hand), and next time I'll try that.

Making homemade marshmallows, much like Callum trying baseball for the first time, was a revelation. It's a relatively simple, but messy process, and when you're done you actually have marshmallows! I tasted my first one in astonishment. I simply couldn't believe I'd made a marshmallow. You can add all sorts of flavors or roll them in peppermint or coconut, but we're purists here.

The recipe for the cocoa comes loosely based from this blog. There's some mad good food on there if you want to go and check it out. We used Ghirardelli's Cocoa and extra sugar, adding cardamom and vanilla sugar sprinkled on top.  We packaged these up in mugs for Callum's teachers (remember from here?) and in Ball jars for the folks in the 'hood. I added a photo from among these you see here, along with directions and a warning: NOT! SWEET! Homemade marshmallows are so melty though. I think they'll go nicely together.

I should have a photo of the completed package to show you or a cup of steaming cocoa to round out this post, but I don't. Today is back to school for Callum, and he couldn't sleep last night. He loves school, but he loves being home too. Two worlds colliding is the worst, isn't it? After four, I finally got him up and we came downstairs. I think on some nights like that you're best off just conceding and changing your scenery rather than thrashing around and cursing the dark. If we'd had any cocoa left for ourselves I'd have made it, in the dark early morning. I made us some chai instead, and we snuggled under our favorite blanket on the sofa. He finally grew sleepy as he gazed at the photos on the screen saver. He actually said to me, "Momma, your pictures have really gotten better over the years." Sleepy sweet boy. After a bit, cuddled up there together, we both slept. Better than a photo of a mug of cocoa any day.