Sweet AND Sour AND Sweet

Some things are Sweet...

Like seeing a rainbow as you drive to San Diego for a day of adventure with your husband.

And some things are Sour..

Like finding your sweet and innocent puppy looking like this.

Sometimes sweet is cooking a delicious meal with your other half.

And sometimes Sour is seeing a breakfast dish and knowing you won't make him another breakfast for six months.

Some moments are Sweet.
Like dog piles and self-portraits.

Some moments are Sour.
Like "See you laters"

Today I said "see you later" to my best friend, he will be deployed with the United States Marine Corps for six months and that is Sour indeed.

Lucky for me I will love him just as much then as I do now. Lucky for me I have an amazing support system here at home.

Lucky me, I have a Sweet friend who made sure I got my run in today and got those endorphins kicking.

Lucky me, I have cheerful things like peacock feather headbands, to brighten my attitude and make going out of the house seem Sweet.

Lucky me, I have dark chocolate M&M's, which always make life Sweet.

And so, while things may seem pretty Sour at times over the coming months, I will keep my chin up and remember that our love is Always Faithful.

Buttery

Life can be downright buttery sometimes. And I love butter. Sure, I drizzle olive oil with the best of them and have used the occasional margarine spread but when I want real, deep, rich, delicious flavor I can't help but come back to butter. I won't try to con anyone into thinking that the all- butter-all-the-time diet is going to start a new craze, I realize that it isn't the most healthy thing on the face of the earth but I don't think a little indulgence will do us that much harm! On the other hand, buttery things are slippery and hard to hold onto and latley time has seemed a little buttery, like it is moving too fast and is too slick to be held onto.

The entire month of December melted away as quickly as a pat of butter on a Saturday morning breakfast skillet. We enjoyed simmering in buttery evenings with friends, including nights out and nights in. Chris had his first meal of sushi and loved almost everything he tried, for a sushi lover like myself this was indeed a rich and buttery moment of enjoyment!We opened our home to friends several times and celebrated the Christmas season with some homemade Butter Cookies with cinnamon icing. They were that wonderful buttery texture that simply melts in your mouth.We have relished those moments of rare calm that come when few and far between when you have two dogs. But sometimes, in those moments of calm we sneak a peek at our fur-babies in their cutest element. Wonderfully buttery moments to be sure!

And so, before we knew it, 2009 had come and gone and here we site in 2010. Our blessings were many in the past year and though 2010 will surely hold some less than buttery moments we are excited to see what adventures it will present for us!

Aromatic

One of the most enjoyable parts of the holiday season is how aromatic everything is. Thanksgiving starts off with cold birds and raw vegetables and progresses into a perfect combination of sweet and savory scents that waft through the air and tickle your taste buds. Outside there is a different type of aromatic experience. The faint scent of burning wood mixes with dry autumn leaves and the hint of caramel from passersby holiday coffees. As Christmas comes into focus the perfectly pungent aroma of balsam mixes with the ever present undertones of cinnamon and sugary tastes of cookies and frosting.

Not that I am under the delusion that every moment will be a splendid aromatic experience. Some days work smells like sweet baby skin and clean onsies and some days it smells like dirty diapers and bibs with spit-up. Saturday I washed the dogs and Chris made dinner. When he brought in the dishes from the grill I burned my arm on the hot grill plate. So that evening the aromatic essence was of wet dog and charred flesh.

Luckily these negative scents never linger quite as long! Sunday we filled our home with friends to celebrate the holiday season. Along with the laughter and friendship came the wonderful aromas. The house exploded with cookies and breads, meatballs and chex-mix, mulled wine and honey ham. The boys lit a fire in our big copper fire bowl and the smoke drifted through the air as the cold air lulled us to relaxation.

As I tucked into bed last night the sweet scents of smoke and meat lingered in my curls and rocked me into a peaceful sleep.
What favorite memories of your are tied to wonderful aromatic experiences?