MidWeek Munchies & Shame On Me!

It's been a weird few weeks! I know I have been spotty with my posts! So sorry! Shame on me! Now that I am so far behind I have tons and tons of stuff in the works! 

Today is Wednesday and that means it's time for MidWeek Munchies! I hope you will participate - we had a great week last week! So if you have anything VEGAN you would like to share and link up with we welcome you and your posts! It can be a grocery store haul, garden or farmers market trip, online purchase, or anything you made and munched on that happens to be vegan! 

As for me...this particular post is a boring one...so sorry! This past week I didn't buy all that much. I did, however, get some Earth Balance and Chickpeas. With the Chickpeas I made what you see above...it's one of the many Chickpea Spreads I have whipped up. This one has sun-dried tomatoes in it, too, and it was YUMMERS!

I also met up with one of my best friends on Monday. I took a vacation day from work. Her and I went to Wegmans and grabbed some Polenta and Salsa. She had never had Polenta before so I got some that was packaged and used a little of the Earth Balance and did it up in a frying pan and topped it with Salsa. We both enjoyed it! She and I met in college and have had a connection ever since. I wish I could spend more time with her! She told me that she is back to being a vegetarian again! Lacto-Veg! I thought that was wonderful! She was in college for a while, too, and she's really excited to start back up again! She might just be reading my blog now...so...if she is...HEY GIRL! 

The winner of the MyKind Organic's Vegan D3 Spray was Emily! CONGRATS! There will be another chance to win a prize from Garden of Life this weekend so stay tuned!

Tell me...what have you been munching on?

An InLinkz Link-up

Northern Railroad Bluegrass at Hadley

Last weekend my husband's band 'Northern Railroad' played at The Hadley House in Stow, NY, which along Chautauqua Lake.  I was able to attend as well as some of the other girlfriends and wives of the band members.  It was a nice time to catch up with some old friends, too!  They played outside and the weather held up for about half of the event.  They then moved inside.  I was able to take a few photos while they were out on the deck, tho! 

In the first photo you will see an extra member suiting up to play guitar.  This is a friend of the bands that they asked up to play a few songs.  There were a few other local musicians there, too, and they did a song or two as well!  It was fun!  Another rare occurrence was that both my parents attended for a bit as well as Nicole's mom, 2 grandmothers, and niece.  they are pictured in this 2nd photo.  My father is in the blue and white shirt and my mom in the black print shirt with their backs facing the camera.  Nicole is in the turquoise and her family to the right of her.  The other girl in the melon color shirt on the end is the bass players girlfriend Sharon.  The menu was pretty pricey but it was a fun night.  I know this sounds strange - I wasn't even going to eat anything at first - but I noticed they had a house dressing that I really wanted to try - so I ended up having a side salad with it.  It was a Key Lime Balsamic Vinegar.  It was FAB and now I want to try and make a version of it, too!

Here's a look at the surroundings of the Hadley House/Chautauqua Lake area.  I hope the guys will be playing there again in the future!  It was FUN!

Paper Crafting As Of Late & A Thowback Scrapbooking Page

First off thanks so much for the notes that my Best Bloggin' Buddies left me last week!  It's so wonder knowing I have people who care and check up on me!  It means the WORLD to me!  Thank you! 

So...this week...I'm back bloggin'.  I have lots to share but I have to say between everything that has been going on and the horribly EXTRA cold winter we are having I really haven't wanted to do much!  Gabby - one of our cats has always been small - and has been losing weight lately so I have been trying to up her food intake and give her private food time away from Charlie - our other cat.  I think it might be working.  Fingers Crossed.


I was thinking about making this one big long post but I figured I would space it out.  I'm sure I will have more than one post for today but I will be schedule posting a few others as well.  I have been averaging about a card a week and have enjoyed it.  I'm baby stepping my way back to paper crafting.  I used this card for the February Challenge over at Chalk N Stock if you want to hop on over and check it out and maybe even participate during this month's challenge!  I've been getting into pattered papers more as well as papers that kind of 'clash' with each other.  I'm not really sure why I'm currently into this look but I am.

Here's another card I did a couple of weeks ago.  I really liked the red against the black and cream colors.  The center checkered part is actually a ribbon not paper.  But as you can see I used the opposites or 'clashing' look - or mismatched - even - in this card, too!

Since I have been working on re-organizing my craft room I have found all sorts of things I am now using again that haven't paid much attention to the last year or so.  It's been FUN.

I hope to post at least one project a week on my blog from now on!

Here's another card I made - it was actually the first of the 3 I am posting here.  I'm trying to use my scraps more than I did before - I have TONS.

In this card I use the same red paper as in the card above.  I used some paper scraps for the black and cream strips and the flower you see is a hand crocheted flower one of my crafting buddies sent me a few years ago.  They are lovely!  In the center of the flower is a decorative brad I've had laying around for a while as well.

Overall...I'm fairly pleased with these cards!  They are a bit of a departure from what I was doing with cards prior to my crafting hiatus.  I'm looking forward to other projects as well!  I still MUST start in with those tins I was telling you about a while back, too!

Another now for a Throwback Scrapbooking Page.  I did this YEARS ago.  The reason I am posting it now is as a remembrance.  You see...the girl in the lower right hand corner photo was a good friend of mine (Actually one of two of my BEST Friends) from college who afterwards was a teacher at a charter school.  In 2008 her finance shot her and then himself.  It was a complete shock - of course.  It happened Super Bowl Sunday...I'll never forget that.  Everyone was notified and the word started spreading that following Monday.  I haven't looked at Super Bowl Sunday the same way since.  I probably never will.  Yesterday I spent a lot of time thinking about her.  I think of her often but yesterday I went thru photos and videos and had a few moments of silence.  Also pictured in this photo is my other friend Sarah and I in the other pictures.  The photos were taken in 1998 when we were in college and at an IVCF Retreat in Angola, NY.  The 3 of us were VERY active in IVCF during college and shortly after, even.

Photos From a 5-Year-Old

Meet Gavin.  He's the son of one of my very close friends.  She was in our wedding and I was in hers.  Her son is now 5 years old.  It's been a while since her and I have been able to spend any length of time with each other because she lives in VA and teaches.  She and her son visited the area last week and I was lucky enough to meet up with the two of them after I was done with work on Friday.  They met me at the Fair and when I was done at 5 we spent some time walking thru the barns, displays, and exhibits, and then on to the carnival and watched the rides for a bit.  He didn't want to go on any of the rides, tho.  We left the Fair Grounds about an hour and a half later and went to a restaurant in the city. 

We went to Kim's Kafe in Warren.  I know the owner and she always has veggie options - which I appreciate VERY much!  I ended up having one of their Veggie Stir Fries!  Kelly had a Turkey Wrap and her son had a Quesadilla.  Kim was 'in stitches' over Gavin.  It was quite comical!  What fun!

Afterwards, I took them for a quick walk around town.  They seem to enjoy the waterfront and parks and the weather was pleasant.  His favorite part was a downtown business that features an operating "Railroad/Train Set".  He could push the button from the street and make it 'work'.

After that we walked over to Friday Night "Music In The Park" where there was a regional band that played country music from the 60's, 70's, and 80's.  That's where HE swiped my iPhone and decided to take these photos!

Not too shabby for a 5-year old, eh!?

I think I got home about 9 or a little afterwards...it was the earliest night for me last week.  What a crazy week!  But I am so happy I got to spend some time with these two!  I do wish we were able to see more of each other but you know how it goes - life tends to get in the way!