Traveling Near

It feels like trespassing, entering without invite into the home of another.

Literally taken, it is. 

Figuratively understood, well, that's where the fun begins.

That's what traveling is, right?

It is submersing yourself in the culture of another place for a few hours or a few weeks.

And yes, it is a stretch to reference Lincoln, NE as having a different culture than northwest Iowa, but even so, it's the example for today.

I've never felt like I needed to leave the country to see something new, gain perspective, or whatever other reasoning the wanderlust movement gives.  Something in my brain tells me that you can see the whole world and miss most of it, looking for the main event and flying past the backroads.

So here's to flyover-country cities,

Their brick streets and history,

One-of-a-kind restaurants,

Quirky bookstores and recommendations,

Empty coffeeshops and first-time orders,

Mellow winter days,

Film photographs,

Adventures, and good company.

May they never be in short supply.

- Grace

When Life Gives You Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie.

It's classic. 

It tastes like summer sunshine in late spring and standing barefoot in cool, green grass.

The sharp lemon filling meets fluffy, creamy meringue and the crust does perfectly in its background position.

It's like Don't Stop Believing by Journey: it's timeless, and should be introduced to everyone at least once as part of their initiation into the human experience.

To those who take one look and run: you poor, unfortunate souls have no idea what you're missing. 

This recipe is from a cookbook I received for my birthday, titled "Me, Myself, and Pie."  It's full of recipes for every event you could possibly need, with simple directions. and beautiful photos.

It's aesthetic as all get out.  I mean, look at that piece of pie.                      

Using the classic Lemon Meringue filling from the books, I used my own crust recipe, and topped the whole thing with a swiss meringue from Zoe Bakes (check her out on Instagram if you want to see some beautiful cakes and baking tutorials).

Now for a disclaimer: meringue is not impossible, but meringue can be very complicated if you're new to baking.  I watched it made once, failed the first time I tried (it was grainy, flat, and overcooked), but by the time I made it to this pie, I had a much better idea of what I was doing both wrong and right. 

Baking is an art, and the thing about art is that first drafts exist.  There are even projects that get tossed out.  First drafts might be less noticeable in a laptop trash folder, but they are rejects, accidents, and mess-ups nonetheless.  If you saw this post and thought, "I could never make that," just know that not too long ago, so did I.

Here I am, a few batches of meringue later, smarter, happier (because I have pie, duh), with a feeling of accomplishment that doesn't come from getting it right the first time. 

Look at baking like that.

Look at life in the same way. 

- Grace

Me & My Bullet Journal

I bought a planner for the first time this past year at the urging of the more organized people in our house.  Upon doing so, I was reminded of one of my favorite tumblr posts which, while giving college advice, highlighted this key bit of information:

"Buy a planner.

BUY a PLANNER.

USE THE PLANNER."

My right-brain shuddered in fear at the thought.

"BUT I WILL HAVE TO FOLLOW IT TO THE MINUTE," it said. "You're not GOOD at THAT." 

How true you are, right brain, but planners don't just come in one variety.

I have a Blue Sky planner for academic purposes and a bullet journal for my own creative purposes. 

The bullet journal is really more of an art project/personal journal than a planner, and I think I prefer it that way.  I copied most of the layouts from Pinterest, added a few of my own, and made some tabs.  It's a really fun way to keep track of the less time-oriented tasks of life while creating something at the same time. 

Here's a glimpse into my journal:

I have a few more pages which aren't pictured:
- Saving Up (organized by goal and amount)
- Big Goals (spaces for four major goals per month or one per week)
- A Year in Pixels (coloring one box per day by mood)
I'm especially excited to see how these look at the end of the year.

It's really fun how the things I find therapeutic line up exceptionally well with this type of journal:

1) checking off boxes
2) striking through tasks
3) collecting an inordinate amount of colored pens

Do you use a bullet journal?

- Grace

Stories Down Snowy Gravel Roads

A highway runs near our house.
South on the road takes you to my favorite little town; head east and the next town is the one I  frequent most.
North lies the town I visit least often, only if I'm running a specific errand.
"Getting the best coffee in the county" is one such specific errand.

So it was that yesterday, 2 whopping degrees that it remained (-windchill, but we're not going to talk about that okay, okay), I found myself in the backseat of my sister's car, she and Grandma discussing the weather.  To be fair, it was pretty #extra even for Iowa on this particular day.

From the gravel to the highway and north to coffee we traveled.  You may remember hearing about this place before, but if you haven't, I'll direct you here: Coffeeshop Chats
Also, if you, noting the temperature, thought that I would have ordered hot coffee to combat my chilled fingers and face, you underestimate my love of iced coffee.  Holding mine in gloved hands, my two older, wiser companions burning their tongues on their hot drinks, we began driving home.

~~~~~

One of the great things about growing up in the same area as the previous three generations of your family is that your family members are founts of knowledge.  I swear my grandma knows the family trees of half the people in the area, and the surrounding land records down to the 1/4 section for the past 60 years.

"Right down this road," Grandma started between sips of her mocha, "is the farm where your great-grandpa played for barn dances."  She continued, pointing out farm places in the neighborhood.  From these anecdotes, I'm not sure how much of a dancer my Great-Grandpa Ed was because they all revolved around him accompanying on his accordion.

Morgan turned onto the next gravel road, her car adapting the conditions.  As close to a square-mile grid as you can get, it's pretty easy to locate farm places, even with certain pieces of roads having been demoted to B-level maintenance, or removed altogether.

A few different buildings sat on this acreage, including the one featured in the above photo; they varied in both age and structural integrity.   The barn we were meant to see rested at the bottom of both comparisons.  One side had collapsed long before our excursion, the other three remained mostly upright.  However, the barn which held so many social events was, as we might have guessed, no more.

It's a weird sort of nostalgia to miss things of which you never took part, like barn dances which, decades ago though they were, took place less then ten minutes from my house.  Like the people who gathered there, the buildings are no longer with us, certainly not like they used to be.  But the events live on in stories passed down, and in four-wheel drive adventures on snowy gravel roads.

- Grace

December Mixtape // Christmas Edition

It's Christmas.
Yes, you people who started listening to Christmas music on the Fourth of July, it is actually, literally, positively, STILL Christmas, the second day, to be exact.

So here are my favorite Christmas songs and a handy dandy playlist of them for you: Life of Pies Mixtape

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Deck The Halls - Mannheim Steamroller
It's really not the beginning of my Christmas preparations until I've played this song, preferably as background music while decorating the tree.  It's the most memorable Christmas song of my childhood.  While you're at it, listen to every Mannheim Christmas album because it's the peak of Christmas music, in my honest opinion.

The 12 Days of Christmas - Straight No Chaser 
It's the song you love to hate, in a version you'll immediately love.  You're welcome.  I usually play it on repeat until I'm asked to change the song.  If I interrupt one of your Christmas songs with another song, you may blame this song.

Underneath The Tree - Kelly Clarkson
This is a rather new addition to my playlist, a guilty pleasure, secular holiday song.  It's my jam.  It's also on a playlist titled, "Festive Pagan Tunes" if that makes you feel better.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Michael Buble
This whole album is a joy to hear.  Allow the beautiful sounds to bless your eardrums this holiday season, starting with this great cover.

Baby Boy - For King and Country 
I admire any artist who steps outside the normal realm of Christmas covers, and enters the world of new and original songs.  If you're a fan of covers, their rendition of Little Drummer Boy is probably my favorite one that exists.

White Christmas - Bing Crosby
It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Frank Sinatra
Listed here are a few of my favorite classic Christmas songs.  They need no description, but they all deserve to be added to your Christmas playlists.

White Winter Hymnal - Pentatonix
Their style is so appealing to me, and it always seems like their music is even better around Christmas.  Harmonies like these make me happy. <3

(There's No Place Like) Home For The Holidays - The Carpenters
I was only introduced to The Carpenters in the past year, and I'm slightly salty about it because I missed out on so many years of listening to their beautiful music during the holiday season.

A Charlie Brown Christmas - Vince Guaraldi Trio 
This one is an album from my favorite Christmas movie of all time (except maybe Die Hard [I kid, calm yourself])

As a note, if you wish I would've made this list longer, you have my distinct permission and even recommendation to listen to the full album of each these songs, so long as you do so in the order they are listed.  We can't have any of those full album-shuffle disasters.

What are you favorite Christmas songs?
Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?
Leave your answers in the comments section.

- Grace

Secret Recipe Sugar Cookies

'Tis the season for Christmas baking, and these cookies are on the top of my list every year. 

My favorite kind of recipes are the ones passed down from each generation to the next.  They're most often titled with the name of the first person to make them, or at least the first to make them famous amongst our extended family.

Though I don't remember my Aunt Eileen, I always think about her when these sugar cookies show up at a family event during the holidays.  They are the perfect cut-out cookie with a secret ingredient which keeps them soft, even though they won't last long in your house.

They are so incredibly easy: one bowl, no sifting, no nonsense, just straight-up sugar cookies meant to be made and decorated and devoured (not always in that order, if you're asking the cookie dough thieves in our family).

Our favorite way is to take a can of white frosting (I know, *cringe*, but just roll with it), whip it in a bowl to make it go further, divide it into 8+ little bowls, make a bunch of fun colors, grab some sprinkles, and go to town.

I highly recommend Wilson brand paste dyes for your frosting.  When you want true red for your candy cane stripes, you'll thank me that you needed a little blob of dye instead of an entire bottle of the drop kind.

They're really fun to make with kids, and even more fun to decorate with friends and family.  Try them out with your favorite baking comrades during these 12 Days of Christmas.

Sugar Cookies
Makes 12 dozen cookies (this varies based on the size of cookie cutters you use, the thickness, etc.)

Ingredients: 
1 C butter
2 C white sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
5 C white flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 C sour cream

Directions:
1) Cream butter and sugar with a mixer; next, add eggs, vanilla, almond extract, and mix together.
2) Add dry ingredients and sour cream to the bowl and mix to combine.
3) Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4) Roll out with plenty of flour to between 1/8" and 1/4", and cut into desired shapes.
5) Place on a greased baking sheet, or an ungreased baking stone.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.
6) Cool, decorate, and enjoy.

- Grace

When the Childhood Magic of Christmas is Gone

It's almost Christmas. 

The first real, sticking snow in our area rests on the evergreens around our house.

I can see the magical, white blanket continue across the road onto the rolling hills of our neighbor's horse pasture.  We will have snow for Christmas.

Our Christmas tree is set up, the living room rearranged for the holidays, and a few wrapped presents sit beneath its limbs.  The rest of the wrapping will be done today.

The stockings are hung, the nativity scene is set up, and the advent calendar is almost complete.

But sometimes, it still doesn't feel like Christmas.

The general consensus among my generation is simple: Christmas, at some point, stopped feeling like the Christmas we remembered.  The magic has disappeared.

But what kind of magic did we feel then that we're missing now? 

A commercialized frenzy of viewing, asking for, and receiving the newest toys?

The joy of fresh powder long before we were handed snow shovels?

The thrill of waiting for a creepy old guy to break into our homes while we slept?  To be honest, I'm really not sure how my paranoid-self ever accepted this story without question.

Now that I reflect on the past excitement of Christmas, I can divide it into two categories: one is timeless and true, traditions based on the story of Christmas which hasn't changed in 2,000 years; the latter is gone as soon as you catch your parents putting presents under the tree at 1:30 AM.

It doesn't surprise me to hear that my generation no longer feels the joy of Christmas when the joy they were sold as kids is built only on the love of presents and a twisted story of Saint Nicholas.  It only sets up children for disappointment later when they realize that the only traditions they know are as superficial as the mall santa's beard.  

This is not to say that you shouldn't teach your kids to appreciate the fun of Christmas, or watch Frosty the Snowman movies, or watch them experience the excitement of "Santa gifts."  But no matter which traditions you make with your kids, old or new, please teach your kids what Christmas is really about.  It is about Jesus Christ, who was born in a manger, who came to earth to live the life we couldn't and die the death we deserved.

Take them to church on Christmas.

Read Luke 2 with them.

Tell them more about Jesus than you do about Santa Claus.  

Teach your children what peace on earth looks like: Christ in the manger. 

Teach your children what real love looks like: Christ on the cross.  

Share with them the joy that is true and the peace which surpasses all understanding.

These things can't be outgrown.

- Grace