My Vacation Blessings

Spur of the moment, I went on a 5 day vacation last week. My daughter graciously let me stay at her place. She worked. I vacationed. My list of 5 blessings is from my vacation.

To share your blessings or read others’ list, go here.

The following photos show my gratitude for . . . 

We made cookies shaped like hearts, stars, &  flowers.

1. Making mug rimmed cookies (an item on my Winter Bucket List). I saw these cookie cutters here.  And through a Facebook hook up, I had the cutters within an hour or so. My daughter and I made ginger cookies for an Indian themed dinner party at her home that night.

Elizabeth didn’t have a cookie jar, so I stored the leftover cookies in her Peter Rabbit Tea Pot.

The cookies were free of gluten, dairy, and eggs. And they were tasty. I will make them again!

To read about the chicken flavoured frosting, go to this post. Start reading at the first point, Baking.

We watched the movie courtesy of  Amazon Prime. It was a free movie.

2. Having an at home movie night. We prepared for comfort by coddling our bodies with snuggly blankets and pillows and satisfying our sweet tooth with ginger mug cookies.

We watched You’ve Got Mail. We haven’t seen it in years. And it was the perfect movie to end our day.

The King’s Speech is also a free Amazon Prime movie. But we wanted something sweet and so went with the Ryan/Hanks movie. I will make a date with Colin Firth soon though. 🙂

 I went to Vics Chaat and Market twice. 

3. Outings. I basically stayed home to rest, read, write, think, eat, and rest some more.

But I did have a few outings.

• Vics Chaat and Market: The first time I went with Jenn to eat (snacks) and drink Chai. The 2nd time I went (with my daughter) to buy 20 pounds of basmati rice. The rice is in the cute bag my daughter is holding.
• Los Canteros Taqueria: I had the best pork tamales and Agua Fresca here (across the street from Pixar!)
• Fenton’s Creamery: Andrew and I both had their Black & Tan. It was DELICIOUS and too much to eat in one sitting. It made a great breakfast before heading home Tuesday morning. 🙂
• Cost Plus Market: This store had all 3 cookie cutters that inspired the baking of the mug rimmed cookies. Thank you, Jenn, for taking me here and for introducing me to Vic’s.
• Friday night dinner at Jon and Celeste’s home was a comfortable outing and the food was YUMMY. We had shrimp tacos, chicken tacos, and Mexican rice.

In the front row are 4 hyacinth bulbs starting their stretch into the world.

4. Enjoying my flowers. I brought this arrangement with me from home. My daughter and I enjoyed looking at it and watching it GROW every day. It was quite amazing to notice the growth.

It was also heart-warming because the arrangement was given to me (by my son and his girlfriend) in memory of Chip.

My apartment patio is too shady to make many plants happy enough to grow. Someday when I have a sunny space, I will grow mounds and mounds of Spring bulbs.

Every blanket fort needs pillows, a mattress, hearty blankets, and a heating pad.

5. Sleeping in a blanket fort. I got to my daughter’s home before she did (Thursday) and I was so surprised to see a blanket fort in her dining room. I peeked inside and this is what I saw – her mattress and blankets.

My daughter has surprising habits. 🙂

The first night went okay. However, the 2nd night when I came back after a potty run, I knocked over a pole and the whole thing came down upon us.

The next day the fort was totally disassembled and we slept in my daughter’s bedroom. But it was brightened by the glow-in-the-dark planets and stars on her ceiling.

Or you can leave a comment on this post to be entered into the giveaway.

Bonus 1.  I have the good fortune to partner with Fawnda from Fireflies and Jellybeans for a giveaway of her tote pattern to a Fruitfulwords reader. (I was one of her pattern testers.)  Go to this link for the details. The deadline to enter is February 26th, 2012. Or leave a comment on this post to be entered into the giveaway.

BONUS 2. Watching 40, a Lenten allegory. 7 minutes captured my attention. … Only 7 people are left in LA. … Where is everyone else? … There are 14 episodes of 40. … The nest episode is EPISODE 2: A BIG ENOUGH BOAT – Friday, February 24th. … Watch episode 1: ASSEMBLY here:http://40theseries.com/reflections/

“A thrilling, post-apocalyptic drama … [on their website, Youtube, Vimeo and Facebook, with updates available through Twitter] … to help further one’s Lenten experience … takes storytelling to a whole new level and has simply never been done before. … is not just a series, it’s unique in that it also serves as a Lenten allegory. … At the heart of each episode are questions and scriptural meditations designed to enhance a person’s Lenten journey.”

Your Turn . . .  What are the blessings from your last vacation?

Related Post . . . Peaceful Ending to a Wonderful Day in The Land of the Long White Cloud