Happy New Year and the First Recipe for 2010!

In the Southern US, New Year’s fare traditionally includes Hoppin’ John, a stew of black eyed peas (for luck), and collard greens (to symbolize money). This year, my family needs not only luck and money, but good health. In hopes of bestowing this trinity on ourselves (and all of you) with the coming New Year, I’ve evicted the traditional hog jowl or hock from this recipe, and turned into a lovely, healthful vegetarian salad. It’s delicious!


Happy New Year to you all, and Bon Appétit!

Oodles of Noodles

Every family has at least one. You know what I mean - the saucy, pasta explosion of a child, forever captured on film. The Spaghetti Photo.

You know you've got at least one (and if you don't, you've either lived a sheltered life or don't dare ask your mother, for fear of what embarrassing photographic evidence of your gappy-toothed childhood she will unearth - probably from a tidily arranged and oh-so-cutely decorated scrapbook).

I'm not afraid.

It's spaghetti night here, and I recently gave away the last of our bibs...

Happy Holidays to All

I will be taking a few days off, as I'm sure many of you will. Enjoy your holiday, love your family, and look forward to the best of the new year!

Thank you to everyone who has been around for our family in this challenging year - we couldn't have made it through without you!

Best wishes,

Jen and Family

Mom Gets a Moment Alone

My family has gone for a short road trip, and I find myself alone, save for two tuckered out dogs. Hooray! I had forgotten what it felt like to be in my house without a chorus of "I'm hungryyyyy", "Molly/Scout/Dad/Sleeping Beauty, stop touching my stuff", or the newly added "How many days until Santa comes?" accompanying my attempts at working peacefully.


Alas, here I am this evening however, and I have whiled away the solstice dusk by drawing. As you can see, I’ve made the top of the blog resemble a refrigerator. Amateur? Yes. A well-spent evening of child-free sanity? Indubitably.

What do you think?

Wristbands Are Here!

They're here, folks..."Amelia's Journey" wristbands! Our silicone wristbands are orange, the color of leukemia awareness, and come tagged with a copy of Amelia's "Monarch" painting and a short bio.


A gift of $10 will get you a wristband, and all proceeds will be used to offset the costs associated with Amelia's 2 1/2 years of chemotherapy treatment.

To order, please email JourneyToWellnessMaine@gmail.com.

Thanks for your support!

PS- When you order your band, your location will be added to the "Amelia's Wristbands Around the World" map at the bottom of the blog. Pretty cool, huh?

Will Work for Pellets

Monday, December 14th was the first day of maintenance treatment. Though I somehow expected it to be like this...

Nice News

I just haven’t much felt like writing lately. Remember when you were picking on your little sister, and your mom would say (in a voice just shy of a raptor-like shriek – a screech which I have unfortunately added to my arsenal of parent-gone-mad vocalizations), “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”? Well, in the interest of holiday spirit and goodwill to humankind, I’ve turned my creative energies elsewhere for the time being. Seriously, who wants a missive from Debbie Downer in their inbox when one has festive parties to attend and themed cocktails to consume? Not I!


In the meantime, I've been gathering materials for a really groovy terrarium that I shall begin construction on soon. I've been making jewelry and a movie and relearning piano and hiking and taking pictures and refining my skills in paint.net. It's been fun! While I apologize for my unexplained hiatus, it was in your best interest as my readers and my best interest as, well, me.

Onward to the nice things I can finally say.