Thanksgiving...and my favorite side dish!

"It doesn’t matter where you are in life, it’s who you have beside you."

I ran across that quote today & it inspired me to start my Thanksgiving planning. Thanksgiving didn't used to be my favorite holiday, but it's becoming that now and I don't even eat turkey! For me it has nothing to do with Columbus discovering America, but a time to gather with friends and family and be thankful for having them in my life. (I also gave up the fight to try and stay home for Christmas so it was just easier to make Thanksgiving our holiday)

I want to share a recipe that I've made several years for Thanksgiving, always to rave reviews. In fact, our Great Pyrenees, Daisy, finished them off last year when we left them too close to the edge of the table-and she hates vegetables! I can't take credit for the recipe, but I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes

2-1/2 cups cubed, peeled, sweet potatoes
1/2 cup half & half
3 T. butter, softened
2 T. fresh lime juice (from about 1 lime)
1-7 oz. can of chipotles in adobo sauce
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided

1. Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 min. or until very tender.
2. Drain and return potatoes to pan. Add half and half, butter, and lime juice; mash to desired consistency. Cook 2 min. or until thoroughly heated, stirring constantly.
3. Remove 2 chiles (you can add another one if you like it hot) from the can and chop. Save the rest for another use (I usually freeze them). Stir chopped chiles, brown sugar, salt, and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon into potato mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon.
   

Makes 8 side dish servings.

And with that, let me leave you with a toast.

"May the roof above us never fall in,
and may we friends gathered below never fall out."

ACL Fest-what I've learned the past few years to make it better!

ACL is here, yeah! I swore I wouldn't go again after my first time, but here I am again with a 3-day pass ready to run around from stage to stage for 8 hours seeing as many bands as I can.



Here's a picture from the first year I went:

I thought my camera was broken at first, but that's all the dust in the air. Yep, that was 2005 when it was 108 and there wasn't a blade of grass left in Zilker Park by Saturday night. I was sick for a week afterwards & swore I'd never go again.

Until the next year. They promised it would be cooler and I love festivals. So I went again!

Keeping with my theme for this weeks posts, here's what I learned to make it a lot more fun! I know it's not everyone's style, but here goes:

• I go early and leave before the last band. What????? Yep, I do. I go to ACL to hear a lot of bands, especially ones I haven't heard before. I don't want to spend all day camped out at the main stage waiting for the headliner-I run from stage to stage the whole time. I may only listen to a song or two and if I don't love them, I just leave and check out another band. I've found some great new music this way! Last year I saw over 45 bands in 3 days, and left in enough time to shower & go to dinner. When you're at the back of the crowd you can't see or hear very well anyway so I don't feel like I miss out on anything.
• I go alone. Whenever I say this people always say, "you can go with us!" And I really appreciate that. But I turn them down. I know so many people that will be there so when I want company I just find them. Some have flags so they're easy to find, others have spots they hang out in, I text them, etc. I love that I can go from stage to stage without having to wait for everyone to gather & figure out where we're going to meet up if we decide to separate. I can do whatever I want, it's fabulous!
• I wear a CamelPak. I don't think it will be as hot this year, but even in the 80's it's hot when you're in a crowd of thousands. The best thing about a CamelPak is you have ice cold water all day. An even better thing to do is pack ice packs around the bladder and your back stays cool too. This year they're allowing you to bring ice in your CamelPak as long as the liquid's separate, so fill it with ice and bring your 2 1-liter bottles of water and you'll be hydrated for a while.
• Decide what else you want to carry for comfort. I brought a chair a few days last year & decided against it this year. I move around too much so it got to be a pain. If you don't move a lot, it's nice to have a place to sit. I will bring a small umbrella and one of those pump spray misters if I can find one.
• I don't drink liquor during the day. The only time I do that is if I'm on the lake or by a pool. Otherwise it's naptime, at least for me.

If you're going to be there this weekend I hope to run into you! Would love for you to share your festival tips, I know I learn something every year so it would be even better to learn them BEFORE I go.

Things I learned from the Germany trip

I'm back from Germany! Actually I've been back for a few weeks but have been so busy catching up & planning more events I haven't had time to post.

The trip was so much fun! I didn't know where we were going in Germany until we were on our way to the airport so that was a fun surprise. We started out in Berlin, took the train to Munich, overnight train to Paris, train to Cologne, and then back to Berlin for a few days before we left. I'll post some pics and stories about the trip later, but thought I'd share a few travel tips I learned.

• We had WAY too much luggage for a trip that involved going from city to city. It was a struggle to get up & down escalators, find space on the train, and a pain to carry around. I don't think I'd go as far as a carry-on (mainly because of the liquid restrictions), but I'd definitely bring one manageable sized bag. After all, when you're in several cities on your trip no one even knows you wore the same outfit the day before!
• Reserve your seat on the trains. I wouldn't do it until you get there because then you have flexibility, but it ensures you have a seat in a non-smoking car (if you want) and you have to have reservations for some trains (much to our surprise!).
• If you're on an overnight train, don't go into an empty berth to get away from your berth-mates. We learned that mistake at someone else's expense when he got woken up by a German conductor yelling "where's your passport?" "give me 20 Euros!" "get out". Not a pleasant way to wake up.......
• Water is more expensive than alcohol in a lot of places. At one of our dinners in Paris the water bill was more than our wine bill. Had we realized that we would have forgone one of the waters for another bottle of wine! After all, you can always rehydrate later. Since I only like still water (I only like bubbles in my alcohol), we started asking for table water, which is tap water. That saved at least 10 Euro a day, which is a lot considering the exchange rate is about $.75 Euro to $1 US.
• Bring an empty zippered bag in your luggage so you have room to bring souvenir's home. Still take the first piece of advice (bring less shit) but bringing an empty bag saves you the hassle of having to search for an inexpensive bag when you're in a foreign city.

My last piece of advice is don't try to fit too much in. To me, the point of a vacation isn't to spend the whole time rushing from place to place or setting your alarm every day. Sleep in if you want! Get off the beaten path & find something out of the ordinary. Go out for a walk without a specific destination in mind-just make sure you have a map!

Look for a FemmeTastics! travel adventure to be announced in the next few weeks. We'll be doing some preview events including storytelling and travel journals. You can get ready by sending me one of your favorite travel photos along with the story that goes with it!

Off to Germany!!

I had a workshop preview for a friend of mine tonight, and it was a lot of fun! One of the things he said was "what do we listen to more often, our inner critic or our inner champion?". Of course, most of us answered our inner critic, because that's what we do. But I encourage you to compliment yourself, starting today!

Since I'm the one who's writing, I guess I'll start. I'm going to compliment myself on being able to enjoy the moment, and be spontaneous. I've been like that most of my life, and I like it. I found out this afternoon that I had an opportunity to go to Germany for 2 weeks with one of my best friends, on airline miles. If I had been too wrapped up in planning, I would have said no. But I didn't, and am ready to go! (A good reason to keep your passport up to date!)

I know this would make many people excited, and just as many terrified. It's all about what you're comfortable with. But find something you like, wait, find something you LOVE about yourself and write it down. Remind yourself of it when you're having a "beat yourself up day" (you know, I'm fat, I hate my job, why can't I have a good relationship....) and if you believe it, it'll turn your mood around. Promise. Even better, write 3 or 4 things you love about yourself and then come up with some for the people you care about and share them with them. Guaranteed they'll brighten their mood too.

I can't wait to tell some travel stories when I get back. Hearing travel stories and seeing the pictures are some of my favorite things, so if you feel the urge, send them to me!

Sisterhood

I've been writing blogs & not posting them for weeks now because I don't think you'll want to read them. It's not a self-doubt issue or anything, I just don't like them myself. So everyday the BLOG is becoming bigger on my to-do list. I have good ideas! I have things to say! But nothing. I think it's because my energy comes across live, in person. I just don't do well on paper, or in pictures. It's why when I was on Match everyone who met me said "you look soooo much better in person". I never knew whether that was a compliment or not.....

But here it is, I'm just going to post this.

I started the FemmeTastics! for a lot of reasons, but one of them was for the sisterhood. And that's what's the hardest to create. Everyone wants a partner, whatever that means to them; but no matter what, we always need friends. And we can take them for granted (especially if we're in a relationship) and when we're busy they can be the first to be put on the back burner. But don't! Make time to nurture & grow your friendships because you'll need each other at some point.

It's been a hard week for some friends of mine. One, a newer friend, had a double masectomy last week & is having a horrible time recovering. Another, an older friend who I'd lost touch with, just lost her 4-month old baby to SIDS. My heart hurts so much for both of them! At the same time, another friend is celebrating the birth of her first baby. It's exciting, but most of her friends have grown children so it's different.

Things change so quickly, you never know when you're going to need someone to lean on, or when someone's going to need to lean on you. Keep your friendships alive, and take the time to rekindle ones that mean something to you. And if you're looking for new friends, make the effort (this is where the plug for FemmeTastics! comes in.....LOL) to come out and meet some fabulous ladies. I've been amazed at the people I've met through this venture and continue to meet everyday. It's wonderful how many friendly, funny, smart women there are!!

And if you need something, whether you're part of the FemmeTastics! or just ran across us, let me know. Really.

With that, I promise my next post will be lighter; especially if someone else wants to write for me. Anyone???? :)

Have a great weekend and hope to see you on the boat on Saturday-rain or shine!!