my mom's jello salad

A holiday food ritual in our home, a requirement really.  This was the one and only dish that could make my mom happy when she was a kid.  If she was too warm, too cold, under the weather or just simply blue, this molded jello happiness turned her around.  Not surprisingly, it works the same way today.

1 package red jello (raspberry is our preference)
1 package yellow jello (ok, lemon)
(let it be noted here that you don't want to mess with the sugar-free versions; just stick to the tried and true)
4 oz cream cheese (low fat is ok, but none of this nonfat business) - room temperature
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
crushed pineapple; drained

Dissolve red jello in 1c boiling water.  Pour into mold; chill for a few minutes - watching carefully.  When it's just starting to thicken (but before you actually have to break up jello chunks), add pineapple and mix in gently.  If you're using a metal mold, this will only take 10ish minutes.  If it gets away from you, you're sorta screwed so keep an eye on things.

Dissolve lemon jello in 1c boiling water.  Cool to slightly chilled (in fridge or freezer).

In mixer, whip cream into firm whipped cream  Then, add thickened lemon jello and cream cheese and whip until light and well-mixed.  Some small lumps may occur - don't stress it.

Pour yellow base into mold (red should be firmly set by now) and chill until ready to serve.  Needs about an hour to really set up.

Unmold by lowering mold into a shallow sink of warm (not hot!) water for a few seconds and then inverting the mold onto a serving plate.  Shake a bit to release the suction and the jello should slide right out.

Slice, enjoy.

and olé to you

I'm a ridiculously huge fan of Elizabeth Gilbert - she of the Eat, Pray, Love fame and untold other pieces of writing genius.  What I love most about her writing style (and that of another of my all-time favorites, Martha Beck) is that their voice - their personal, wonderous, unique sounding voice - comes through so resoundingly in their words.  For me, this is what I strive for when writing.  Either for myself or for my clients, it's my sincerest goal to have that honest, true voice speak through my words.  Sometimes it's professional, branded and on-message.  Sometimes it's funny, forthright and a tad sassy.  Regardless, I always hope that I can bring the voice through the message so that it connects and resonates with the people to whom it's directed.

I love how Liz talks here about this insane idea of creative genius, spreading out the love/blame for the quality of writing and just continuing the work regardless.  Olé indeed.

pretty as a picture

This is a bit of an aside, but as I've written about the fact that I office from home and live in a smallish footprint loft, my home and work lives are gorgeously intertwined.  Ok, not always so gorgeous (see piles of paper in the post before this...which I'm still working to banish to their rightful files: dropfile, circular file or recycling pile).  But I'm working on it.

This weekend I was gifted with a beautiful photo - framed and all - and I think it's going to stay right here next to me on my desk.  My fella is taking his photography to very lovely places lately and this particular one just screams spring to me.  Plus, it's pink.  And that's just how I am.

a little spring clean up

Fully 2 1/2 months of the year have passed us by already...how did THAT happen!?  More and more over the past 3 weeks, I've realized how completely disorganized my life has become.  While embarking on serious relationships with both my health and a new fella (old fella, well, it's a long story) - which are both going amazingly well and feeding my spirit - I have completely lost the rest of my way.  Sure, there's an issue of balance going on here but there's also the (wonderful) issue of being busier than ever with Segnavia Creative.  So, this is me not complaining...well, maybe just a bit.

If nothing else, the past few weeks have made me step back, look intently at how I'm spending my time and then hone in on how to be more productive and less frenetic.  Instead of taking things as they come (my natural and slightly procrastinating state of being), I need to find a way to get more proactive.  Gain some semblance of control.  You know, if that's possible.

And there's no denying that spring is the time to consider things such as organization, fresh starts, clean ups, clear outs and generally making life a bit tidier.  And since this is a blog that's about my work/life integration, you can bet my entire world is fair game.  Here's what I'm thinking about:

• Generally detoxing my home.  I wrote about this for Simple, Good, and Tasty (a website about local, sustainable, organic and fair trade food and the people who love it) back in January which you can read here:  kitchen, bath/laundry, rest of the house.  And I'm happy to say, I've taken a lot of these steps including reducing the number of non-homemade cleaners I use around here, adding plants to the house, using up old candles to make a complete switch to all-soy, getting organized (a bit more about that in a second), and re-enlisting many things around the house to serve new & improved purposes instead of just buying new.  There's constantly room for improvement, but I'm feeling good about just getting started.
• Putting better organizing systems in place, which inevitably has to start with some purging, recycling and an honest consideration of what my needs are.  I know there are a bunch of things that either aren't working or weren't well set up when I re-launched my business last year.  And you know, you just feel like, "Eh, I'm not that busy.  I'll figure out a "real" system once I have more to organize."  So many flaws in that logic, I can barely type it without blushing.  So I'm re-dedicating my dining room as my office (no really, this was an intentional decision last year as I realized that I honestly hated working in my office...and quite frankly, everyone gathers around the kitchen island to eat, anyway) and finding better systems for sorting out business operations,  typical home stuff and an awful lot of recipes.  My curse and my joy.
• Being more and more paper-free.  I sit on two boards and, let me tell you, we produce a lot of paper.  As the boards are becoming more dedicated to sending out digital versions of our minutes, agendas, and other materials, I'm just going to haul my laptop in and read through things on screen.  It's not brain surgery, but it does make life a bit less complicated when all of these theories align to keep the paper down.
• Treating my body to a regular cleanse and also a shift in my eating habits.  I started off the year with a month-long detox; I'll probably continue to do that detox once or twice a year because it's my old standby.  I know it works for me, and I know I can choose it without feeling deprived.  Next, I'm test-driving a 3-5 day juice cleanse from Organic Avenue in NYC.  Well, I wish I lived in NYC because you can just buzz over there and pick up your day's worth of juices, shakes and food to line up with whichever cleanse you've chosen.  But from spring thaw-y Minnesota, I'm going to follow the version publicized by Gwyneth Paltrow in her GOOP newsletter.  (Sure.  She's always going to have that air of "my life is infinitely better than yours" but I think that's mostly because her's probably IS better than mine.  And 99% of other humans as well!  But I can't hate her because she's talented, happily partnered and raising beautiful children, fit & healthy, drop-dead gorgeous and connected.  I (*gushes*) sort of love her even more for it.)  Anyway, she was kind enough to use her connections to get a download on the program, the recipes and after I read this NYT piece about another woman who gave it a go, I decided I'd try it too.   I'm only on Day 2 so I'll spare you any half-baked reviews at this point.  If you get real excited, you can follow Organic Avenue on Twitter here.
• Carving out time to write.  This is one of my true passions and is also an area that needs practice and refinement.  I get that - first and foremost - from just sitting down and writing.  This blog, my personal blog, whatever.  I also get it from writing for my clients (Simple, Good, and Tasty being my biggest blogging commitment at the moment).  But I'm also hungry for feedback, so I have a couple of classes in mind from The Loft in Minneapolis.

Most of all, I'm looking forward to spring.  It's - by far - my favorite season and the continuation of my January 1st fresh start is warmly welcomed.  I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings.