Favorite Things-September 2011

***This was posted on my previous blog, which I am in the process of migrating some of my posts from. I'm thinking this one may begin a "Favorite Things" series :-) -Sharon, 10/02/2015

So now that you’ve been reading my posts and a little about what is on my mind, I thought I’d do something fun to switch gears – and keep you excited about what I might write about in the future.

So who is Sharon and what has she been up to lately? What does she like to do and what might she post about in the future?

You know that I am a wife and mother who loves the Lord and is continually trying to figure out what God daily is teaching me through life's adventures. I love to share what's on my heart and the "fruit" God is cultivating in my life. However, one thing I haven't done yet on this blog is to post the things I'm doing, the projects/"fruit" of my labor so to speak. I love to cook and create and spend time with my family, garden and many other things that I am so excited to share with you along the way. So for today I thought I'd post a random smattering of images portraying some fun stuff I like to do-let it be a sneak peek of what's to come-enjoy!

I love to make bread and there are few things better than fresh bread with a little butter. I haven't made any all summer-it just gets too hot in the kitchen. The weather is cooling down though and I can't wait to get a starter going again and have fresh bread whenever I want. I'm thinking I might make a batch of bagels today-I'll let you know how that goes...My mom used to make homemade bagels and they were just delicious all by themselves-I'm anxious to make some and I know the boys will love them! A nice rustic baguette is my favorite though and pretty much delicious with anything.

Cooking, food, yum! If you know me at all you know I love food. My sisters and I can talk about food forever and of course it just makes us more hungry and fuels our desire to cook. If I see something that looks good or have a new, delicious dish at a restaraunt I have to figure out how to make it myself. See...Blooming Onion!

I've been roasting red peppers lately-they smell delicious and are wonderful in everything form salsa to quiche.

I have also been canning peaches this summer-I think I did about four boxes this year.

I know, I know it's all food so far but also a bit of photography ;-) Although I have to admit I've been using my iPhone for a lot of things lately as we've been so busy. It's just easier sometimes to reach in my pocket and not have to carry around an SLR...But I do plan on taking more pics with the big camera of my current projects-I want to put together a cookbook of some of my own recipes eventually-again, I'll let you know how that goes...

This still has a little to do with food but it was more just plain ol' country fun-I mean do I look like a redneck or what? Barefoot, pregnant and fishing for crawdads...

We got some! Cooked 'em up and had a taste. While I've heard plenty about crawdads with my dad being from the south and all, I'd never had them till now. They're alright-pretty bland, actually, and I can see why they are usually seasoned with bold Cajun spices (another thing I love). The boys thought it was pretty neat though and kept referring to them as little lobsters, which brings me to a topic other than food... critters, adventure and little kids discovering them.

I love that we live in a more rural area; in fact, this is where we chose to raise our children, on purpose.  There are opportunities everywhere for those who look for them but they seem so much more abundant and readily available in wide open spaces. I love waking to the sound of quail outside and having deer so close. We helped a little brood of quail back onto the sidewalk after the chicks got separated from their mama after falling off the curb-they were so tiny and cute. Of course grasshoppers are much more of a pest but still cool to little kids and I love helping the boys catch them-they just get so excited and it's kind of contagious. I love all the teaching moments that occur in these little discoveries as well. For example, the other weekend we found a most unwanted pest at Grandma's but it provided a good lesson on proper identification of black widows-I know, yikes!

I also love to create with sewing and have made some pretty fun things in the past including three wedding gowns. I don't find much time to sew these days though. I think if I had had three girls I might have done more sewing and who knows- I may just have a little girl yet. Every now and then I still find the time to whip something up though and I'll do my best to remember to share it with you all here.

Of course there's photography, again. I also love graphic design and hope to share more of these projects with you in the future, but generally these type of projects are part of something else and don't usually get featured on their own even on our photography blog. But here are a few more recent ones for you to enjoy- a fine art print and part of a carnival/fair themed wedding invitation.

Well that's all I can come up with for now-especially if I want to leave myself any time for making bagels this afternoon. I also have some lovely heirloom tomatoes growing in my garden and a recipe for homemade mozzarella I've been dying to try...so I'm off, I hope you all enjoy your weekend at the start of fall, one of my favorite seasons of all-

Sharon