Ridiculously simple, yet the best sugar cookies you'll ever eat, sugar cookie recipe...

3 sticks of softened butter
2 cups of sugar
(cream together)

add 4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
(beat with creamed butter and sugar)

2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
5 cups flour (I did 3 cups organic, unbleached white and 2 cups whole wheat pastry)
(mix in separate bowl first, and then beat together with creamed mixture to make dough)

Put dough in fridge for about 15 minutes to harden it a little. Roll out the dough to desired thickness and make shapes with cookie cutters.

I make these every Christmas and my family goes nuts over them. I know they are LOADED with fattening, ingredients, but, hey--it's Christmas. You gotta splurge sometimes!

New York, New York

I just got back not too long ago from a trip to New York. What an amazing experience. I have a cousin that I am very close to and grew up with that lives there. My friend from Las Vegas who is close to my cousin as well flew in to New York also. We all got to hang out like old times. I actually went by myself. No kids, no hubbies. It was great. I even flew by myself, which I was nervous about, but ended up loving it. I was only there for three days which was just enough. Any longer and I would have missed my kids too much.

I have to say, I absolutely love New York but I couldn't live there. I little too fast paced for me. Everybody is always movin' and a groovin'! Riding the subway was definitely an experience in itself. My cousin lives in Brooklyn so we spent quite a bit of time there. We also took the train into Manhattan and walked around (ALOT!) and did some shopping and eating. We went to China Town and Soho. I got to shop at the Whole Foods in Manhattan which was amazing. That place was huge with two levels and a huge restaurant area. I loved it!

One of my favorite places to eat was a place called Paloma's in Brooklyn. One of the contestants on "The Next Food Network Star" opened this place up. It had great food, amazing atmosphere and yummy drinks. This place was probably one of the highlights of the trip for me. My friend, Sheila, was freaking out because she didn't know that the owner was a contestant from "The Next Food Network Star" and she LOVES that show. She ended up talking to Camille Beccera and getting an autograph and picture with her.



I definitely want to visit New York again. I actually would like to bring my family with me next time and stay longer. It's one of those places that you at least have to visit once in your lifetime!

Free to wear Sunscreen!

I wanted to share this video with you. The words were written by a lady named Mary Schmich in 1997. She wrote it as an essay assignment. It was later published in the Chicago Tribune. This was also used in the movie The Big Kahuna. I hope it touches you like it has me!

First day of preschool!

Today was a monumental day in the Grigsby household. Maleah went to preschool. After 4 years of being at home with mom she is spreading her little wings and venturing out to make new friends and learn new things. She was soooo excited about going. She woke up bright and early and ready to go. I, on the other hand, was a wreck. Well, not really, but I felt really weird. I felt anxious and unsteady. We rarely get a babysitter for her let alone hand her over to complete strangers for five hours a day, twice a week. But, this preschool is awesome and I feel very comfortable leaving her there. They were very loving and nurturing towards her. I actually think it's going to be very good for her. And Lord knows I need the "me" time. I drove around today after I dropped her off and I didn't know what to do. It felt so foreign to not have her. Thursday will be different. I will get into a routine of cleaning the house, going to the gym, shopping, having coffee with girlfriends and whatever else may come my way. Lovely! I think I'm going to enjoy this season of my life.

First football game...

Here is a picture of Jarod in his football uniform at his first game this year. Doesn't he look good?! Unfortunately, they lost their first game. But I assured him it was okay because they had many more games to play and win. Go Jarod!!!

Hot Peas N Butter!

I bet you think I'm talking about food. Nope! Hot Peas N Butter is a children's musical group. They have been featured on Nickelodeon and Noggin. They are awesome! They were in town and we took Maleah to go see them. We had a great time. Their music is very appealing to adults as well. It's a little bit of jazz, funk, latino and some other really cool sounding music. We bought their cd and had each of the members sign their name on it. Malaeah even got to take a picture with them (sorry, it's a little blurry). She was pretty proud of that. Check them out at www.hotpeasnbutter.com

A new green smoothie concoction...

Let me first start off by saying that I'm sorry it's been so long since I've blogged. We haven't done the "Around the World" meal in a couple of weeks because Jarod has been gone. He was staying with his football coach while they had two practices a day; one at 6am and one at 6pm. It's a long drive to his practice, so to alleviate some of the pressure for me to get him there he just stayed with his coach for these past two weeks and came home on the weekends.

Now, to the subject at hand, green smoothies. As most of you know, I LOVE green smoothies. I have one pretty much every morning. Some people use coffee to get them going in the morning. I use green smoothies. I wanted to share with you a concoction that I came up with the other day that I'm really diggin' right now. It's pretty calorie loaded, but I don't eat anything else until lunch time.

1-2 frozen bananas
1 avocado (yes, avocado...it tastes good)
2 mandarin oranges
handful of spinach
1 cup or so of water

Throw in your spinach and water and then blend together. Throw in your bananas, your peeled avocado and your peeled and seeded mandarin oranges and blend. It's really creamy and yummy. If you can't find mandarin oranges (they look like oranges only smaller and darker orange) then you could use oranges. I really like the mandarin oranges because they are super juicy and they are sweeter than oranges; but they are also hard to find.
If you come up with your own yummy concoction let me know! I love trying new things!