At the beginning of every January I write a list of goals for the upcoming year. I don’t classify them as resolutions… I tend to dislike the term. There’s something about the word ‘resolve’ that’s so formal and ‘contract-binding’ like. “We hereby resolve to…” It’s as if you didn’t solve the resolve that you have failed? The contract and agreement you made with yourself was a disappointment, a let-down. You then become further discouraged. And you then give up on the whole idea that sparked the resolution in the first place.

So I like to use the word ‘goal’ better. A goal is less formal. And reaching that goal then becomes a little less formal too; giving you more leeway as to how to get there, and when to accomplish said goal. It becomes about the doing, and less about the deadline, due date, and resolution itself. Just do - don’t resolve to do.

So yeah, I write down goals for the year, each year in January. And it doesn't have to be January 1 - it can still be December, it can be mid January. But roughly around that time of year, I plot out some goals for the upcoming year. I write it all down on actual paper...wood from a tree. Not in my iPhone - but on paper.

Did you know that the act of handwriting your goal instead of merely typing it out produces inside of you a whopping 40% higher chance of accomplishing that goal? Who said paper is dead? Right? Get a journal. It can be a cheapo one, a fancy one, a very expensive one…Just get one YOU enjoy looking at every day. Any way, get a journal and start writing down your goals.

Then follow up with those goals.

About half way through the year, roughly June, or somewhere into July, I follow up with the goals I wrote down on paper in January. It’s a reminder and a refresher for my brain. Oh yeah! I forgot about that one! Oooh… wahoo, I did that one! Or, oh yeah, that one’s still coming up!

Pete’s Bar was one of those such goals. One coming up. One I had to wait all year for. It was the act of attending a Thanksgiving morning party that could not be achieved or solved on January 1.

Thanksgiving 2019, I finally accomplished that bucket list of a goal. And it was such a good time that it goes without me even having to tell my brain I already know this is going to be a new tradition - an obvious must-do for next year.

In 2017, just after moving down here from Illinois, I found out about the Pete’s Bar tradition. I intended to go that year.

And it was that year in 2017 we had a Florida rainstorm of rainstorms early Thanksgiving morning. We did our turkey trot, and ran straight to the car. It was a summer rainstorm, in November. It might as well have been a hurricane. It was quite a rain. And we skipped Pete’s Bar entirely that year so hubby and I so we could reach dryer grounds. After all, we had been standing on pavement that had inches of water sitting on it, and cold and soaking wet gym shoes and feet, from doing our turkey trot in a flood.

In 2018. we had driven up to Illinois to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family. But that meant yet again, Pete’s Bar was missed by us. And knowing even more about the tradition last year, I told myself - next year, for sure!

So then 2019 came along. January was here, and I wrote down my goals for the year. I tend to think broadly and brainstorm broadly. It allows for more creativity and flexibility in all my goals that I aim for.

I put down some really fabulous ideas… like starting my Etsy Shop, making my first and very own set of business cards, creating a few wave paintings, attend some more painting workshops, etc. And really a whole page in my journal of purely business goals. I have accomplished ALL. OF. IT. Not one thing left undone for 2019 for Christine’s Floridian Dreams’ small business venture. So I continue working onward.

My personal goals are quite different. They are more detailed. Specific books I wanted to read this year, restaurants I wanted to try, towns I wanted to visit. Maybe a specific ice cream shop to try or a new coffee shop I want to visit.

And my list is long. Very long. And that’s ok! I write down so many varied and quite unique goals for myself that I know I might not accomplish them all. And that’s ok too! That goes back to GOALS - not resolutions.

We all know that the gym is alive and well, breathing, and packed on January 1. Every year. And we all know that by the end of that very month, and onward into February, gym attendance rates drop significantly. Every year. Without fail. People RESOLVE to hit the gym on January 1. And by February they are discouraged and give up.

I tend to think they give up because they only thought BIG on January 1. And they forgot to think SMALL as well.

Think year-round.

It’s those small and incremental changes that work best in life.

Don't start BIG on January 1!

Start small… And start today.

Why not start today? Why not start on November 29. Who said you can’t? Who said you have to wait until January to change your life? If you think of something you want to do, just go ahead and do it, now - get started - now!

My goals are broad, and many. I don’t mind one bit that I don’t accomplish all of my goals. I pick and choose the ones that inspire me at the time. I pick the ones that make the most sense to me throughout that year and at that moment. I pick the ones that speak back to me. It’s God’s hand in my goal-setting and it’s God’s hand in my action-taking. Only through what he tells me do I know what I’m going to do next. He leads me.

Well, fate and the Lord above, did lead me to Pete’s Bar on Thanksgiving morning of 2019.

While Thanksgiving is just around the corner, Christmas can never really come too early for me. Lights and trees, garlands and bows, ribbons and wreaths galore, popping up in every town along the coast… and it's all beyond beautiful to me.

And throughout all of Jacksonville there is an endless list of holiday adventures for both young and old alike, and all are starting right now.

We have Jacksonville’s Light Boat Parade, the San Marco Festival of Lights, Zoo Lights, lots of turkey trots, and Santa and reindeer runs aplenty. We also have St. Augustine’s 26th Annual Nights Of Lights which began this weekend as well; and it runs all the way through February 2, 2020! And of course much, much more. There’s way too much to ever take it all in - inside of one holiday season alone.

That’s why I’ll try to aim to attend at least roughly one or two new things each Christmas, and I then have some must-do holiday traditions as well. And Jax Beach’s Deck The Chairs is one of those such traditions.

It’s my HOLIDAY MUST DO.

It’s my CAN’T MISS.

And I think most other folks in town feel the same way. Besides all of our local area town tree lightings, if you live in Jax Beach, or close by in one of the other area island communities, Deck The Chairs is THE event of the season… here at the beach.

As an artist who paints every day, I can’t help but think I would have quite a lot of fun decking out a chair myself. Each year I go to the event, I contemplate about how I would come up with a theme and design???

Paint onto canvas = holiday decor onto orange chair!

And this year, it is my opinion that Deck The Chairs brought their A Game to The Beach. I’ve attended 2017 and 2018’s events, and this year by far was the most impressive. They’ve definitely stepped it up a notch or two, and I believe we need to give credit where credit is due. The sponsors and volunteers make this event possible, and you could see the dedication toward community spirit in this year’s chairs.

In both previous year’s attendance of the event I saw some plain chairs and chairs with just a sign of sponsor, and lots of lights not working or even connected. I remember last year a whole section was completely unplugged for a very long time so my hubby tried to plug it in and fix it. But this year, each chair was super! Each chair has a theme, and a theme dedicated to their cause.

In fact, Beaches Go Green was in a league all their own this year. I would guesstimate their massive display took about one quarter of the town square’s entire display space. In coordination with local area schools, they presented an informative walk-through experience, utilizing all recycled materials or garbage re-purposed as art and holiday decor. While also bringing awareness to how all that trash affects the coastal communities and creatures who inhabit them; it was very educational for the public too.

They had displays and posters made entirely of bottle caps, egg cartons, tooth brushes, and seemingly countless single-use plastic water bottles. And the classic jellyfish was back and still alive… thank goodness! The jellyfish is always my favorite part of Deck The Chairs and is also made entirely of trash and repurposed materials. Thank you to Beaches Go Green for the time and dedication it must have taken to put on such a splendid display.

*Part of Bean’s Baking Series*

With the holidays fast approaching, I’m here to broadcast a friendly reminder. It seems everyone may be a whole lot better off if we all stopped to smell the roses, even for a bit, during this festive, yet often hectic, time of year.

And while according to commercial advertisements, the holidays have already arrived, and yes, Thanksgiving is coming up quickly… whether we like it or not, Christmas will be over in the blink of an eye.

Snap. Just like that.

It’s always over too fast.

Don’t let it all go by so quick that you don’t get to enjoy those special, slow moments.

So between now and that blink occurring, I highly recommend baking some cookies. Whatever cookie you want, just do it. Because baking takes time. It forces you into your kitchen. It makes the oven come alive with wondrous scents.

But baking also allows you to slow down for a bit. There’s no rushing allowed in the baking process. You have to mix your batter to the correct consistency. You can’t undertake. The dough must rise. All of this takes time. And patience.

So don’t wait for the perfect day…
Just bake away.

Because sometimes, in life, you just have to stop what you’re doing and bake some cookies.

To me, food, baking, and the holidays go together like a ham sandwich. Or an oreo cookie. One part just doesn't happen without the other.

And I LOVE to bake throughout the month of December especially. I’ve got quite a few types of cookies in mind that I want to bake this year, so I figured I’d start now with the chocolate chip. Yes, even if it’s the simplest of simple baking… the classic and undeniably original chocolate chip cookie. Baking, and the scent it releases into the home, reminds me of Christmas… Probably because that’s the cookie we put out for Santa! Those, and some carrots, of course.

And baking cookies really doesn’t have to be an all day project. Never forget that dough can be made in advance and then frozen for later. Or even mix the dough on a Saturday, put the bowl in the fridge, and bake on the Sunday. By doing your prepping ahead of time, when it comes time to turn on the oven, it’s then the easiest and most enjoyable part of the process. Just turn the oven light on and watch ‘em bake.

I suppose I could say that chocolate chip cookies are a staple in our house.

Well, not really.

But I want them to be.

Can’t I enjoy cookies as often as I thoroughly enjoy eating slices of completely boring 100% whole wheat bread??? I guess not on that one either.

But if cookies were an everyday food, they wouldn't be as special when you do go ahead and make them, would they?

So that’s why it’s always important to treat yourself. Have those special foods. Don’t eliminate them from your life altogether. Go ahead and eat a cookie once in a while.

And you know those sayings that start off something like:

“You know you’re getting old when…” ???

Well, that thought temporarily crossed my mind the other day.

My entire life I could always simply walk down the baking aisle at the grocery store and quickly grab a bag of Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chips. It was the perfect bag size too… not too big - not too small. And it corresponded with the cookie recipe perfectly, of course.

Well - everything changed.

And I didn’t get the memo.

Never, did I ever have to look up the recipe for chocolate chip cookies online before. Because in the act of grabbing a bag of chips, the recipe was always printed on the back of the bag. That printed recipe would then direct me on through the rest of the grocery store to grab the sticks of butter, vanilla extract, etc. etc.

So, here I am at the grocery store, in said baking aisle. I grab the bag of original Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips - not the extra dark, not the mint or other random flavors that have been added to its selection over the years, but the original semi sweet that the classic recipe calls for. And the bag might as well have weighed five hundred pounds.

Let’s just say it was the Costco sized version of chocolate chips. And that’s what was available for me to purchase, no other option. They changed their portion size! Gasp. They messed with the original recipe portion. I could always just slice open the bag in the past and pour the chips into the mixing bowl, no measuring required. But this bag was much, much too big. This meant that I would have to go back and remember how many chocolate chips corresponded to the original recipe and divide it out myself or look it up online. Plus, I had to purchase about four hundred ninety nine extra pounds of chocolate chips that I didn’t need.

Never fear, I thought. I could very easily figure out what the portion size should be... I would just read the recipe on the back of the bag to figure it out, right?

I turn the heaping bag of chips around…

The bag reads something along these lines…

“Visit our website for the cookie recipe...”

Ha.

And.

Ha again.

We have now reached a point in time when the chocolate chip cookie recipe is found online, not on the back of the bag. Too funny.

I did find it funny, and kind of sad, at the same time. Just for a moment.

So there we stood, both hubby and I - in the baking aisle, on our phones, to pull up Google, find the website, and figure out the ingredients I needed to buy. And actually, I’ve made these cookies so many times in my life that I know the recipe by heart. But I still go through the motions and double check the printed version to make sure that I have everything in my cart. And that printed recipe on the yellow bag of chips was always my reminder. So in one trip to the grocery store… they changed the portion size, and took away the printed recipe. Sad face.

The bag of chips ended up being so big, and so much, that I just decided to wing it, and just poured in a ton of chips into the mix in the bowl. I was done. When we got home, I didn’t want to look up one more thing online in order to make and bake my precious and simple little cookies.

I just wanted to be in the kitchen.

Light a lovely cinnamon spice scented candle.

Turn on a podcast to enjoy.

And BAKE.

So we guesstimated on the chips. Those cookies we baked were extra tasty this time around.

In a world now where everything is GOOGLED for an answer to life’s problems, I just wanted to solve this minor little dilemma on my own. Not everything needs to be Googled. Not everything needs to be looked up online in order for the decision-making process in one’s brain to take place. Right?

Sometimes you just need to make a decision on your own. Small or big.

Don’t Google it...
Just Do it...

If it comes between guessing and Googling, go ahead and add some extra chocolate chips into the mixing bowl.

(But for all those bakers out there baking to perfection, I have included the ORIGINAL, CLASSIC, NESTLE TOLLHOUSE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE recipe below for all your baking needs.) Yes, you can read the recipe here, but just know you can’t read it on the bag.

So go ahead and make some cookies. Light a candle and listen to something you love… As you mix, and scoop, and watch the dough rise in the oven.

And next time you are faced with the almighty decision of reaching for your phone and pressing G O O G L E, I encourage and challenge you to S T O P right then and there.

Whatever it is, whether it's the address to a destination you are going to drive to, or the answer to why your arm currently hurts, or what the name of the movie Tom Hanks starred in where his character goes back to college after a twenty year career in the navy? Oh, what’s the name? It’s on the tip of my tongue….?????

Stop.

Don’t GOOGLE it right away.

CHALLENGE yourself.

CHALLENGE your brain for the answer.

Call up the person on the phone whose house you will be driving to and ask them what their address is? Think about Tom Hanks for a while… Contemplate where he is in the movie… think of the setting. Oh yeah... he has a crush on Julia Roberts in the movie? That’s right! I’m getting close…

Oh yeah again!... Julia Roberts is a college professor in the film.

A young and rising star named Rami Malek is also in the film… sitting in the back of the classroom.

The answer is coming to me….!

Oh yes, it’s from 2011 and takes place after the Great Recession. Before you Google up Tom, or Wikipedia search the list of movies he has been in throughout his long and very successful career, ultimately your brain might remember that the name of the movie I am referring to is Larry Crowne.

And Larry Crowne is WELL WORTH a watch by the way. Without giving away any spoilers, his speech at the end is priceless. And is spoken in such a way that only our dear Tom can deliver.

Yes, I AM in love with him.

But challenge that brain. Just as Tom Hanks’ character did in the movie by going back to school. To change. To grow. To nurture his brain.

The funny thing is Julia Roberts’ character in the film ‘suffers’ through listening to her GPS device while driving the same route from home to work every day. It’s not like she can’t remember the route from her house to the school. But it keeps talking to her and telling her where to turn. She was going crazy. Tom Hanks comes along and helps her turn the device off. It was running on auto-pilot and driving her mad during her commute.

While GPS is quite a perk of modern life, it’s definitely not always necessary.

And nope, not all change is bad. Even if the change is sad for a tiny bit of a moment in time while you are standing in the baking aisle at the Winn Dixie. And think, am I getting old? No, you’re not getting old. The world is just spinning onward a little bit more.

In the movie, Larry Crowne suffers some sadness and heartbreak. But because of those aches, he was also able to change his life most definitely for the better.

I picked up Larry Crowne from the Jacksonville Public Library. I had seen it before, and always remembered it for the speech Larry gives. It was well worth another watch, and if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. It’s one of those films that has it all.

Romance. Sadness. Tears.

Action... If you count riding around town on a scooter with a scooter gang - action.

Comedy, and A LOT of laughter.

So next time you’re looking for a film to watch, choose to revisit one from 2011, instead of one from 2019.

Stop and smell the roses once in a while.

Or the radishes.

Christine’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (Just slightly amended from the Official Nestle Tollhouse Recipe)

Ingredients:
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of butter softened
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup densely firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 bag of 12 ounce package (2 cups) semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix everything but the chips together slowly into a creamy dough, stir, then by hand or with a spoon as it gets thicker
Add chips last and mix and mix by hand together
Scoop roughly tablespoon drops of dough onto ungreased cookie sheet
Bake roughly 9-11 minutes
Cool on the sheet for about two minutes
Then cool on cooling rack completely

Share & Enjoy! ~~

I snagged up tickets in practically the same breath I found out about the events location. I live in on San Pablo Island, and just a few island hops north of me sits Amelia Island. Crane Island is a very small island within Amelia island… Have you ever been to such a place? An island within an island? I have fortunately, many times, and it never gets old.

Hop onto an island… and then hop onto yet another island… that is housed within the confines of and accessed by that larger island. Fascinating, right? Crane Island is its own island on Amelia Island.

To me, Amelia Island’s natural barriers seem like true southern low country. The tides practically touched the exterior of the home we toured, and all the surrounding properties on the quaint island. Breathtaking live oaks surround the islands exterior and draping over the roads leading there, along with nature at its best anywhere you look once upon Crane Island. Crane is a mere tiny little place, located right next door to the Amelia Island Airport. It’s somewhat off the beaten path, and with lots of round-abouts, difficult to find, without GPS.

We booked our tickets through the Eventbrite App - two tickets at $22.00 each, plus fees. It was worth every penny. Of course I took the hubby along - myself, going purely for the interior design and decorating features, and my husband, always interested in the architectural features of a home.

Back in Illinois, and prior to our move down south, we used to live in a home that was dated from 1840. A very old home by my standards, residing in a small strip of a national historic district… and always something wrong with it. So while I called it my very own Green Gables, it was also very much my very own version of The Money Pit. When we moved and sold our Green Gables, I was sick and tired of old. I just wanted new.

I absolutely adored the gingerbread house little accents acting as place settings on the dining room table. I’ve already put that idea directly into the back of my brain for a future project.

I loved basically everything about the home, really. I must say the only real thing I didn’t like about the concept, was of how much such a home and lifestyle would cost someone. That cost is really the only thing that I couldn’t shove into my brain, and wouldn’t want to, and definitely wouldn’t want to take home with me. But I adored everything else about the home.

PROS AND CONS ~~ OF THE EXPERIENCE ITSELF

While everything and them some I mentioned above was a pro, and the cost alone is the big and obvious con to me, I wanted to detail for you some features of the experience itself, in case you want to put the Southern Living Idea House tour onto your to-do list for a future outing, or even ahead to a future years Idea House. You’ll have some details on what to expect about the day itself.

And since any time I’m doing pro and cons I’m a fan of ending on a positive note if at all possible, I’m going to start here with my cons, and I’ll end with my pros:

CONS ~

***NON-TRANSFERRABLE - AND NO REFUNDS***
Rain or shine, your ticket is good only for the day purchased. Non-transferable, if you can’t come that day, there is no transfer or refund available. And earlier this week we had sort of a minor emergency in our household, so we both thought we were going to be out of luck and not get to go to the Idea House on our ticketed date - and we were definitely saddened by that. But alas, God answered my countless prayers this week to end our emergency, and the situation did end up working itself out, all was right in our world, and we could attend this weekend as originally planned. Just know, if you purchase tickets - no transfers - and no refunds.

***NOTE THE STAIRS - AND LACK OF RESTROOMS AVAILABLE FOR THE TOURING PUBLIC***
While I previously stated the cost didn’t break the bank, and I justified the cost in my mind… also in my mind, when someone pays $22.00 per person for something, I basically expected and assumed they would have a restroom available. And I was definitely not the only one under that assumption. Countless times I heard people asking where the restroom was. We traveled by auto ferry across the river, and hopped from island to island, drove over an hour in the car, onto Amelia Island and then onto the smaller Crane Island for this outing. And I’m sure others came from afar as well. I have an extremely healthy lifestyle now, and drink a lot of water, on the regular. When you pay for something like this, they really need to have a bathroom available to the public. And if there wasn’t going to be one, they should have mentioned it in the ticket specifications. I do read the fine print. It wasn’t there.

There were also a lot of older people at the event and I could tell the stairs were a challenge for them. If you’re going, plan for lack of restrooms and lots and lots of stairs. I’m not afraid to ask, so myself and many others had to line up and use the ‘unavailable’ and formal bow-tied toilet during the outing. So expect lack of facilities, or going where you technically aren't supposed to be going. With a whopping 5.5 bathrooms in the house, and charging what they do to get all the way out onto the sparsely populated island upon island, plus the lack of public facilities on Crane Island itself, they really need to have a facility available for the touring public. Note - I did share these opinions in my feedback survey they asked me to complete.

PROS ~

***COST***
At $22.00 per person, I do consider the cost reasonable. I easily could have seen them charging roughly $40.00 per person, and getting away with it, before it became an unreasonably expensive outing for what you are paying for. And $22.00 is not cheap by any means, but at that price, I was able to really have a once-in-a-lifetime experience, share that experience with my hubby, soak in all of this beauty, and not break the bank too much.

***AVAILABILITY***
The Southern Living Idea House is open and available to the public for a few months. Basically autumn through about mid-December. There are still tickets available, and many date options to choose from as well. The last available ticket purchase date on Eventbrite is for December 15th, 2019. If you are in the area, or this is something you are very interested in attending, I highly recommend going online now and buying you tickets… only a few weeks left! Plus, they were taking cash at the door, for anybody who just stumbled upon the place, or operates in last-minute mode. And cash at the door, I’m assuming, will alleviate the small fees charged by Eventbrite for booking, as well.

***HOLIDAY DECORATIONS***
While the Idea House has been open for a few months, earlier this week there was another Grand Opening of the home - in its new holiday attire. The Idea House being decorated for Christmas in the South intrigued me immensely. As soon as I knew there was to be decor for the upcoming holidays, I knew I wanted to book my ticket for after that second grand opening so we could see the home decorated. And it was definitely worth it.

And while none of the frosted, sprinkled, and decorated sugar cookies put out on display throughout the home were for us to eat (yes, they did make a point of telling us that much) the event itself can’t help but get someone in the holiday spirit. Plus, I really can’t wait much longer now in anticipation of baking my own Christmas cookies.

Yes, there’s definitely something a bit extra special during the holidays, anywhere you go. And the holiday decor was in each and every room of the house, including the food pantry - which was stocked with peppermints, cookies, and Santa tins. You just can’t miss the holiday spirit when something is decked out in its finest of apparel.

All in all, it was one fabulous outing. It was a 100% Michelle Tanner eating ice cream directly out of the ice cream truck type of outing for me. One that I’m thrilled I was in the vicinity and location to attend for the first time in my life. I probably wouldn’t do it again though - as I’d probably spend my next $22.00 per person on something completely different altogether. But it was worth it - it was worth the travel and the cost to attend. I do very much highly recommend going if the opportunity presents itself. And if you can’t make it to this years event, watch and read Southern Living Magazine in anticipation for their 2020 location.

Yes, It’s definitely good to eat ice cream directly from an ice cream truck once in a while. After all, not all ice cream is created equal.

I now challenge y’all to get out there and do something similar - whether it’s something small like a delicious ice cream cone from an ice cream shop you don’t normally frequent, or something as big as seeing an IDEA House, or bigger - but either way, get out there and do something that your eyes have only ever seen in print, only gazed upon while flipping through the pages of a book or magazine. Get out there and feast your eyes on something beautiful - in real life. ~

**Editorial Note: All photos in this article are by Christine Pieper (Christine’s Floridian Dreams) and by Bryan Pieper (BEPREADY).

• There’s a scene in the classic Disney film, Pollyanna, which goes something like this… “If we’re serving chicken, then she wants lamb’s broth. If we’re serving lamb’s broth, she wants calf’s foot jelly. If we’re serving calf’s foot jelly, then she wants chicken.” And on, and on, and on…

The scene is referring to a bed-bound woman who is being cared for by her neighbors. But the woman is never happy with her level of free care; never satisfied, never pleased. And she’s certainly never grateful of the others who are taking the time out of their lives to care for her. She has come to expect this care, and then still proceeds to complain about it. At some point in the film the people vent their frustrations about her (while still never giving up on her)... They declare and come to a vocal realization about her ongoing complaints and extreme levels of ungratefulness. They call her “cantankerous.”

They realize the most simple of facts… When they are offering her one thing, she wants the complete opposite. Almost as if out of spite. The woman is never able to be satisfied in any way whatsoever.

If you haven’t seen the film, I highly recommend viewing it. I’ve watched this film repetitively throughout my youth and I’m pretty near confident I have most of the lines memorized. I would say the film is basically about Pollyanna’s affect on those around her… With Pollyanna being introduced to a new home, a completely new way of life, and with that new life, a whole bunch of new people brought into her world.

And she plays ‘The Glad Game’ with all of them. Always finding something to be happy about, no matter the circumstance.

Without giving any spoilers for those who haven’t seen and may be inclined to watch… valuable life lessons are learned throughout the film, especially when things don’t go one's way.

And sometimes that’s just how life really is.

You expect a certain something, but you are thrown a certain something else completely.

Life is about how you handle those things you are thrown.

If you live your life fully and completely and are truly happy, you may understand that life is not about your wants and desires and dreams that haven’t been fulfilled and might never be… life is really about how you react to your certainties, your abilities, your strengths, and your weaknesses.

Life is sorta just like the saying goes…

Life is 10% reality, and 90% your reaction to that reality.

Please re-read that previous sentence. Soak it in. You can do whatever you want in life, merely by your reactions. Your reactions become your reality. With that key - you can unlock the potential to your complete happiness. So if you don’t have the reality you want, react to your reality, and that reaction will become your new reality. Life is your reaction, life is your perspective. PERSPECTIVE. MATTERS.

You can continually sit and complain and wait, and wait, and wait for LIFE to arrive at your doorstep. OR, you can go out there and catch life along the way and enjoy the journey you are on.

I’ll give you a simple and silly example. My hair has never cooperated with me - like, ever. My hair is the stuff of jokes, of classic Florida memes. My hair is the hair in the YouTube joke videos of Florida Woman stepping outside her air-conditioned vehicle, and two seconds later her hair is completely puffed out... along with her sunglasses being fogged up, and she can’t see a thing. It doesn’t matter if I had a salon style blow-dry treatment worth hundreds of dollars or more. When my hair hits that Florida humidity, it turns into its own living creature. Completely wild and untamable.

My hair is the Velociraptor in the first Jurassic Park who eats alive the Newman character from Seinfeld.

And usually, I just roll with it. I go with the flow. I have become really used to it. My hair doesn’t do what I want it to do... Ok…. Whatever… Sigh… And then I throw it in a ponytail and go on with my day.

And keep in mind that yes, I’ve tried all kinds of products and spent a ton of money on all kinds of tools and strategies and types of shampoos, etc. It doesn’t matter, my hair does what IT wants, not what I want.

But I don’t throw a fit. I work around IT.

I buy beautiful and colorful and fun barrettes to help attempt to calm it down. I buy fun and cheapo colored rubber bands to hold it all together, and I go through a million of them, as my hair is also so thick it breaks rubber bands way too frequently.

And so, well over a year ago now while visiting up in Illinois, I was getting my hair cut and styled buy my favorite hair stylist in all of the entire world. Her name is Faith. And she is a living, breathing example of exactly that - FAITH.

If you’re having a bad day… go see Faith. If you want someone to talk to, or listen to, just go see Faith. She’s like a frosted Christmas sugar cookie from a bakery, alive and breathing. You can’t see Faith and NOT have your day brightened in some way. Plus, you’ll have an absolutely gorgeous head of hair when you leave her station.

Faith is a Pollyanna to me. You just can’t go see her and not be glad afterward. She is a living version of Pollyanna’s Glad Game.

And I value Faith’s opinion greatly. Not only is she an absolutely wonderful human being, Faith is the only one on Earth who can work miracles on my hair. I leave her station refreshed, and with hair set for a night on the town - even if I’m only going out for some good ol’ Chicago style pizza afterward.

And the last time I saw Faith, which was much too long ago I might add, I was contemplating all of these above thoughts. I could sit in her chair, with my jaw dropped, watching her in the mirror fix up my hair to perfection. Mesmerized. I’m always in awe of what she is able to do with my wild hair.

I knew as I watched her doing it that I could never replicate it myself. Awestruck, I asked her what brand of straightening product she recommends for at-home use. At the time she mentioned BabylissPro. I had never heard of it, but kept the name in the back of my mind.

Later on, after my visit up in Illinois was complete, and I was back home down in the hot and very humid Sunshine State, I was thinking about BabylissPro, as I gazed upon my completely humidified and wild head of hair in the mirror. I did some research about straighteners, and quality straighteners, and I found the product online at Ulta.

Coincidentally, I had just previously signed up for Ulta’s awesome rewards program. So I researched which one I wanted. I decided that my hair needed the BabylissPro Nano Titanium Ionic Straightening Iron with the ceramic heater and the 1 ¾ inch thick titanium plate. The cost came to a whopping $139.95, before tax and shipping.

With new knowledge of the high price, instead of splurging on yet another hair care purchase, and not even knowing if it would do anything to help or if I was going to be wasting some real legit money, I decided to save up for the straightener with my Ulta Rewards.

I then bought all our soaps and lotions and makeup and shower gels and lip balms, etc. etc. etc. for well over a year. At some point I obtained the coveted Platinum status, and then started earning 1.25 points for every dollar spent.

Every time I needed a skin care product and was at the grocery store, I instead told myself I would order it on Ulta to get the points. Every month we got a box from Ulta in the mail. Every month I earned points. I saved my points and I saved my points. And I finally redeemed 2,100 points just a few weeks ago, ecstatic. My very own BabylissPro was finally on its way to my front door.

And it only took AN HOUR! Ha. No joke. It took me one whole freaking hour and I still could have worked much, much longer on it. I would say I could have spent at least another half hour on it to just maybe get it even near perfect. As you can see from the photo, it was definitely not perfect, but it was so shockingly improved, that I didn’t recognize my own hair. Around fifty minutes into the process I thought to myself…

Wow…. And I haven’t even burned myself yet!

Gosh... I’m so proud of myself… of this miraculous skill and talent I have for straightening my own hair! [Crediting only myself completely in my own mind, and not the expensive and very high quality product, but of course.]

And… of course... that’s right when I burned myself. I grabbed the plate the wrong way for a mere millisecond… And I screamed bloody murder!

300 degrees of heat, smooshed into my pointer finger… I dropped my BabylissPro in agony. I screamed again!

It was at this point I finally decided it might be best to stop straightening for the day. After an hour of hard work, and completely dripping with sweat, I finally decided I probably should just give it a rest. I knew I could keep straightening and straightening - maybe for another hour? How long would it take to fully straighten this wild hair? But after I burned my finger I knew I finally had enough for the day.

And I was absolutely thrilled!!! I honestly didn't expect it to look even half as good as it did. I expected NOTHING. I expected the same wild hair.

But I had the patience to try. I had the patience to wait over a year and earn up the product through reward points. I had the patience to stand in the bathroom mirror for an hour and work on it. I was very pleased with the outcome...

And then I went outside.

Into the Florida air.

And that was the end - of the perfect hair.

Florida heat, and extremely high coastal winds off the shore that day, blew all my hard work into oblivion; and almost immediately. Much as I had expected. A rubber band and ponytail were very much needed later that day. I didn’t care though. And I would do it again.

I am very pleased with the product. I highly recommend it. Yes, I’ve had many types of straighteners in the past, and no, none of them have done this well of a job. Mind you, all the former products I owned were very inexpensive, drug-store type products, costing well under $20.00; or found collecting dust from some random bottom shelf in the shampoo aisle at the grocery store. My BabylissPro was definitely the best, and most high-quality straightener I ever purchased.

I am looking forward to straightening my hair again, very soon. Actually, I need to remind myself that I can do this to my hair every single day if I really wanted to - now that I have my very own BabylissPro! But who wants to spend an hour in front of the mirror? For that? Every day? When there are so many other things I could be doing? No thank you. I’m so glad I own it, I envision using it a lot. But definitely not on the regular.

For now, and today, It’s the usual ponytail for me. It’s a head of hair that’s not cooperating with me in any way whatsoever. A head of hair that has its own mind, and is stubborn as heck, and wants the complete opposite of what I want it to do.

My hair is the CANTANKEROUS neighbor in Pollyanna.

When my hair decides to be curly, I’m trying to straighten it. When I’m trying to curl it, my hair wants to be flat and boring. When I want a thin head of hair, my hair puffs out trying to reach the ends of the Earth... As if it’s been ZAPPED into an electrical socket.

CANTANKEROUS.

Faith has told me that she sees many clients who would die for my curly, thick hair. Ha! OMG - I think. Who would want this?! I want the absolute opposite of what I’ve been given.

If the hair is naturally straight, they want it curled, if the hair is curled, they want it straightened. Cantankerous, folks!

The people in Pollyanna’s new world are dealt some serious blows. Life knocks them for a loop. In their own small town kind of way, there is drama, sadness, and of course, much happiness. But their lives in the film are merely how they react to what has happened to them. Aunt Polly, who, never been married, no children of her own, no husband or current love in her life, is dealt an orphan child arriving on her doorstep. Pollyanna. To come live with her. How will she raise a child? How will she react to Pollyanna? How will Pollyanna react to her? And the ripple effect of other people throughout the film that have change brought to them because of Pollyanna’s introduction into their lives.

Change happens. Whether we want it or not. It’s coming. There’s no stopping it.

Change is life.

Faith is life.

And Faith is a good thing to have.

If you don’t have a Faith in your life, go out and get one. Maybe Faith will be in the form of your hair stylist. Maybe Faith will be a frosted green and red sprinkled Christmas sugar cookie you pick up at the bakery. Maybe you will make your own Faith. Any way you get it, grab ahold of your Faith, and go.

Because...

Whether you want them to or not, the wheels are turning. Nothing stays the same.

Everything changes.

How will you react to that change is the biggest question of all?

Life IS change. My hair IS my hair. How I handle it is how I look, and how I appear, and is who I am. I can be all fancy and have a professional style blowout every day, spending hours in front of the mirror, and there's nothing wrong with that! But it’s usually just not for me. Most of the time, I throw my hair into a ponytail, and get out there, and live my life.

Life is your TIME. Life is your REACTION. LIfe is your PERCEPTION. Now get out there, grab a rubber band and put your hair up if you need to… and LIVE. ~

San Pablo Island is located just off the eastern coast of Florida, and nestled next to the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. The name of the island itself here is not known to most people… they tend to simply call home - The Beaches. And there’s yet even one other mysterious nickname given to our island home appropriately classifying it as ‘No-Name Island’ - very much reminding me of the funky, quirky, and strange and sometimes hilarious, names of some of the famous Key islands to our south.

But San Pablo Island has a rich and dated history going back hundreds of years, and even much, much longer. A vibrant Native American history lives and breathes here, and the Timucuan Indians lived here in the 1500’s, when a French explorer came upon the area. We now have the Timucuan Reserve named after them.

And while there’s a small and extremely old, weathered and worn, and really just a completely dilapidated sign welcoming you as much as you drive through our town - ‘You Are Now At San Pablo Beach’ it reads, (named after the San Pablo River)... I can only imagine how old that sign really is. And as the sign is so very old and worn, it seems to just camouflage itself to the natural grasses surrounding it. Many pass by daily not even seeing it.

We also locally have San Pablo Road, just off the Island and paralleling the intracoastal, and we have Pablo Avenue, right here at the beach.

A lot goes into a name… when you consider branding, logo, tourism, marketing, publicity, hotels and restaurants and newspapers and any press; history, town pride, changing times and culture, refrigerator magnets, tee-shirts, trinkets and treasures for visitors to take home, etc. Some years ago there was a push and really quite a major effort to help rebrand our area to more “officially” be called San Pablo Island. Hotels and the tourism industry in general liked the idea and I believe they still do. A name helps classify a location and familiarize those traversing to or through. A name slightly broad and confusing as “The Beaches” - plural - is not very brand-worthy it seems, except to those who already know the area and/or reside here.

And as those things tend to do, the effort and move to name-change seemed to stall, and fall apart in meetings and such. As many of those such changes and requests for changes tend to die out... Thus, today, we are still known as “The Beaches” to most, and confusion reigns for the tourism industry here.

In comparison, Amelia Island, located just to the north of us, is known as that - ‘Amelia Island.’ They seem to know their history, are ok with picking a name and staying with it, and they honor it well.

Princess Amelia, daughter of George II of Great Britain, is for whom the Island is named. But Amelia Island has a very rich and fascinating history as well, and they seem to be slightly more proud of it and they do a great job in educating the public of that history.

You absolutely cannot visit Amelia Island without learning upon arrival of the history of the eight flags. Signs will tell you as much and show you as much upon entry to the island. With my father being a huge history buff, I remember thinking at the time of learning about the eight flags that he would find it fascinating.

Amelia Island is famously known as “The Isle of Eight Flags” and is the only location in all of the United States with such a unique history. It simply means that the island has had power transferred through eight different flags before finally obtaining its current and official status as part of these United States. The history of the eight flags is known and proud on the island. When I first found that piece of information out I was utterly fascinated. And standing in great contrast is the tiny old and worn sign welcoming you to San Pablo Beach, here on San Pablo Island. It’s a welcome sign that really seems to get no care or concern, but it does its job every day and welcomes you to our island.

Hurray! Another Art Fest. And on yet another absolutely gorgeous autumn day in the South. All the variety of arts and celebration thereof here is actually one of the reasons I fell in love with Jax Beach.

This past weekend, The Beaches Museum hosted the 6th Annual Beaches Art Fest. It was a must-do for me. And while I had just recently attended the Jax Beach Vintage Flea Market some weeks ago, I had eagerly awaited this event all year as well.

This fest to me, supersedes any other fest around. The art on display is full of passion and color and depth. Every booth has the artist directly on hand to talk with as well which I especially love. And now, after being to many of these events, I’m recognizing names of artists that continue to come back and sell there each year.

I like to think that my passionate love of bakeries and their heavenly creations runs in my blood... My grandfather was a baker for well over forty years. And when he wasn’t working, both he and my grandmother were at home. They spent hours upon hours in the kitchen. Always cooking. And always baking. Some of my favorite memories with both of them include time well spent in that small kitchen. My sisters and I helped them cook all kinds of food. But my favorite foods they made were their baked goods, of course.

My Papa taught us how to hand-roll the dough to make kolacky cookies. We always started by pouring flour onto the table-top - that was my favorite part - making a purposeful and deliberate mess. We rolled the dough and we put in the jellied fillings. We watched them bake. My grandparents made hundreds of cookies, each and every Christmas, before their health declined and they could no longer do it. It seemed to me that everyone they knew was given a large and heaping full silver aluminum tray of kolackys to take home and enjoy on the holiday. I’ve yet to be able to replicate those amazing cookies. I am continually determined to try though.

I believe my grandparents teaching us these skills in the kitchen has held influence on my life and transformed my love of food, and really just helped me become the person I am today. Foods are tradition. And when my husband and I bake now, not making nearly as much at a time that my grandparents did in their prime, we are always sure to pass some goodies along to a neighbor, a friend, or to whomever we will be seeing in the coming days.

This holiday season I am looking forward to baking chocolate chip cookies, frosted sugar cookies, and Angeletti cookies with my husband. It is now tradition in my home, and someday I’m going to replicate that kolacky as well… maybe even this year.

When I lived in Illinois, there was an abundance of local bakeries. I could go in any suburb surrounding me, living just outside of Chicago, and find a bakery. There was never a shortage of places to pick up special cookies for Easter, a coffee cake to bring to a party, or a cake for a special occasion. And my hubby’s favorite item served at any bakery are always their frosted sugar cookies. Me - I like the chocolate donuts. Simple, basic, and the best ever.

In my hometown, the Orland Park Bakery is one of God’s best creations. I make it a point to stop there at least once, and most likely always much more than once, every time I go up for a visit.

Some years back, I remember one cold December day, my husband and I decided to make the trek all the way out to Chicago just to visit a local bakery and pick up their special St. Nicholas Day gingerbread cookies. My hubby had them in his youth every year, so we wanted to bring the tradition and memories back, and he really wanted me to try them for the first time.

Well, being a self-proclaimed bakery connoisseur by this point in my life, I should have well known that making the very long trek fighting through Chicago holiday traffic and ridiculously sloppy weather to arrive at a bakery around two in the afternoon... is really not the best time to arrive at a bakery.

Bakeries thrive in the mornings. They are the place to be - in the morning. After almost two hours in the car and arriving mid-afternoon, what in the world was I thinking? We definitely should have gone in the morning for this adventure? But that was a different life I lived, and now I am fully awake by five am daily. Anything later - I tend to consider myself sleeping in.

We parked and walked through the icy cold and the busy and festively decorated street to find the bakery, just about to close. The window displays were empty. And once inside, the shelves were near empty as well. Sold out for the day of all product. I was crushed.

We inquired... And somehow, by some miracle of the bakery Gods up above, they still had a few St. Nicholas Day cookies left… We’ll take them! We were ecstatic. We took all that remained. Thrilled. We also snagged up a pre-arranged box of their sprinkle cookies simply because it was all that reminded for sale, sitting on a counter and patiently waiting to go home with someone. It was only after this outing did I learn that I could actually pre-order special product at bakeries to guarantee them available when I arrive to pick up.

So we were on our way out of the bakery to leave them be as they closed up for the day. It would be many more years before I learned my lesson about “sleeping in” and my enrollment in my own 5am Club membership. To me, at the time, we had simply just ‘lucked out’ that’ they had some cookies left for us to purchase.

We then strolled just a short ways down the street from the bakery and dined at a local Bohemian restaurant. It was an old building, and a place beautifully decorated for the upcoming holiday. It was an altogether lovely outing. An outing entirely revolved around bakery as the destination.

When I moved to Florida, it was my definite perception and really became quite hard to find a good bakery. They weren’t nearly as abundant as they were in Illinois. And when we did find a bakery - it didn’t taste the same as up north! I am extremely biased though...Chicago has the best food, and nothing else even comes close. So it’s very difficult for me to compare the delicious food from the north with the different food in the south.

Today, bakeries are still part of my life. I recently lost a lot of weight and made a complete lifestyle change these past few years. I am much healthier than I was during the earlier part of this decade. I had gained weight during a lot of inactivity, and now I have lost it all, and am quite happy to say that I am very healthy. I lost 83 pounds lost to be exact. I go into great detail on my weight loss journey here if you’d like to check out how I lost 77 of those pounds in one year’s time.

How can I be so healthy now and still eat donuts regularly? The answer is simply moderation. And - Discipline. I can eat ALL THE THINGS. Just not ALL THE TIME. I believe that when one fully grasps and understands that simple and basic concept, it can truly be life-changing.

And I love baked goods so much that I currently plan a once-a-month outing to our local bakery - Cinotti’s, located in Jax Beach, FL. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Declared on the top of each box. I lost 83 freaking pounds, while eating treats and breads and pastas and pizza and ice cream - AND - bakery, lots of Cinotti’s Bakery.

I knew such places existed, and being an artist who paints daily, I even heard of cat cafes where you can have coffee, pet kitties, and paint at the same time! How freaking cool! But only recently did I find out that Jax Beach has its very own cat cafe - The Caffeinated Cat. Recently opened in August, I had read an article about it and was very intrigued by the concept. I had heard of such cafes in large cities like Orlando, and Chicago, but never one so close to home.

I needed to go check the place out for myself. And after my experience there, I’d like to share my impressions, my opinions on some aspects that really may need to be worked upon, and what I believe is quite noble about the concept. So here’s specifically my take on the good, the not-so-good, and the noble cause of The Caffeinated Cat:

THE GOOD:

The cats are from Mayport Cats, and they need to find their forever homes. Run by both employee and volunteer, the cats are fed and seemingly well cared for by staff, and get to be cuddled and petted throughout the day by caffeinated and coffee-sipping customers. The Caffeinated Cat serves coffee, wine, and snacks. And there is a small room in the back that sells merchandise such as tees and cat toys.

If you’ve been looking for the finest beignets on the island - and not just any random beignets - then look no further than Another Broken Egg Cafe… Because THEY have the best beignets at the Beach!

And, I know, this is definitely not New Orleans… beignets are not plentiful around here. But they really are the best around.

I’ve had the opportunity to visit NOLA three times thus far in my life. The most recent trip being in 2016, which feels like an eternity away from such fabulous memories. Such a very special place and a vibrant city that I could easily move to in two seconds flat.

So it was 2016 the last time I was blessed with the opportunity of being able to dine upon beignets. On that most recent visit, my hubby and I had arrived in NOLA by rail from Chicago; Amtrak specifically. I remember sitting outside at a table at the famous Cafe Du Monde. It was Thanksgiving weekend. The Christmas season was officially starting and beautifully decorated trees were popping up everywhere I looked. Everything we ate and drank that weekend was divine. But the beignets were the best of it all.

The beignets were a very unintended surprise, so I hadn’t planned that food into my day. A few months ago I completed a personal weight-loss journey and major transition to a very healthy lifestyle. But one of the commitments I made to myself during that change was that I would always allow myself desserts. I lost a total of 83 pounds, while never giving up desserts. I love treats too much to eliminate them entirely from my life, and I refused to restrict myself in that area. So any weight loss that occurred had to occur while allowing access to treats. The only difference now being continual moderation.

So, with complete confidence - as the completely unplanned powdered beignets were served to me, I was able to sample them. And THAT sample and THIS picture below are the prime reasons that desserts remain a part of my life.