1 Congratulations! It’s SPRING! It is time to go through each room and make notes as to things that need to be repaired, cleaned and organized. Block off on your weekly calendar two afternoons to organize, two afternoons to repair and paint things and two days to clean every part of that particular room.
2 Go to the store and grab the trays that you can plant seeds in and some dirt and start seeds for both micro greens in your salads and also for your garden as well. These tiny transplants will be stronger and ready to produce faster with the assistance of your extra attention now.
3 Take potatoes that have started to sprout and plant them in the garden. Soon they will be making more potatoes and that’s one less thing you have to go buy at the market! It’s always easier, cheaper and just plain better to walk outside and gather fresh from the garden than to go to the store and gather there!
4 On my nightside table now is Texas Monthly’s Texas Women, Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert.
5 Make a scrub! Last year, I added scrubs to my things to make list. Its a master list that I use to keep a running total of projects that I want to try to make or do. The sugar scrubs are easy and slough away the dry skin left over from this winter. I make mine with nourishing coconut oil.
6 Plan a weekly movie night for your family. We are at a point in our lives where the time we spend with our teenage son is very important to us. Keeping the communication lines open and finding things that bring us to a common place is critical. I like to plan a lovely meal, rent a movie and then discuss the movie. We have had some very intellectual conversations in these special times. It is my hope that he will look back and remember the movies, the food and mostly the conversations with him and us.
7 Buy a copy of Glamour or Vogue and catch what’s expected for the spring 2017 looks and colors. Try at least one new something for Easter whether it be a new lipstick color, or a fashion trend.
8 Schedule lunch with an old friend. Pick a spot that you used to go to and bring along a gift of something that will remind him/her of the old times that you share together.
9 Start writing or shooting with your iPhone a series. It can be a series of sunsets, or a series of your cat each afternoon. Do this for 30 days and then build a collage with what you have captured. You’ll be surprised at how much better your composition will be just by your own hand and eye and practice.
10 As always make time to spend with the children. Put down a blanket under a tree in your yard and read a chapter from Charlottes Web, or Shakespeare and connect with their minds on something that is timeless… the written word!
The Perfect Meal for a Movie Night with your family
Now you know that the movie that you select can set a theme for what you’ll serve. For a basic go to that everyone will love here’s my go to for our weekly movie nights at my house.
Cream cheese stuffed jalapeños or chips and my homemade salsa
Pulled pork and Poblano and Oaxaca cheese tacos
Chopped fresh vegetable salad with pistachios
Molten Lava cake with vanilla bean ice cream and fudge sauce with cream puff and maraschino cherries (James Edward’s favorite!)
and of course….there’s the popcorn with pour over butter sauce and smoked almonds
Auntie A’s Chopped Fresh Vegetable Salad with Pistachios
You’ll need: 1 head of Romaine Lettuce
(I cut at the base in my garden sop the plant will regrow lettuce in a few days)
2 large tomato chopped
4 slices of red onion cut through and then broken apart
1 julienned cucumber
1/2 cup red bell pepper
1/2 cup of asparagus sliced raw
1/2 cup of pistachios
1/4 cup munster cheese pinched into small pieces
