"There's a teacher in the classroom. She is cute."

My goodness it's been an eventful two weeks! When I last left you, we were about go to Opening Day. Well, it was a beautiful day! (I even got a little sunburned!) We spent some time exploring all the ballpark renovations they did over the winter and I'm excited to go to another game to try out some of the new bars and restaurants. The only downside of that day was that it seems the Tribe has, well, forgotten how to play baseball. It could be a long season if they keep playing the way they have been for the past two weeks.. 

We spent the following weekend in the Hocking Hills with some friends. We went on a couple of beautiful hikes and were both feeling very inspired to go hiking again. Hoping we can make good on that little promise to ourselves.  Here are some pictures from the hikes we went on!

The week after that was unfortunately pretty rough. We came home to discover my car had a flat tire and spent two days trying to resolve that issue. We ended up only needing to get one new tire, thank goodness. Then on Thursday that week I got sick with some kind of sinus thing and I'm only now starting to feel better. Ugh. 

My classes are going well. We are heading into the final stretch! Progress testing starts next week.  My students were especially awesome last week - they must have sensed I was having a rough time. One of them brought me some decorated eggs for Orthodox Easter.

Another day, one of my classes told me that I looked beautiful that day - so much so that two of my students started taking pictures while I was teaching!  I had them send me the photos so you could enjoy some "action shots" ;) The last one was taken during our break in the middle of class - I don't carry my cell phone while teaching! 

 

In my two multi-level classes, we did some work with "there + to be" (a chapter from the book Grammar in Context, which I really love!) I was having my students come up with "real life" examples to practice the construction "there is a.... it is.."  I had my students give examples and they said things like "There are dictionaries in the classroom. They are black." and "There are chairs in the room. They are uncomfortable."  One said "There is a teacher in the classroom" and the two things they wanted me to write to describe the teacher (me!) were "She is cute" and "She is a good teacher."  Have I mentioned lately that my students are the best? ;)

A few other notable items in brief from these past two weeks:

-Conway got a new squeaky toy. And he loves it :) 

-We went to see the folk duo Dala and they were just lovely. 

-I've been on a bit of a cleaning-out-my-closets binge. I bought a huge rubbermaid container and packed away a lot of my clothes. Not going to get rid of them just yet. But I want to put it somewhere out of sight and if I don't miss the things in there - then I'll do something with them. I hope to spend some time this summer really working on going through some of my other areas of life/the house where I just have too much stuff I don't need!

-I spent some more time with my sewing machine last weekend and got this skirt finished. I'm in love. Now I just need warm weather again  so I can wear it (it snowed this week!) 

And that's it from me for now! I could write more, but then I'd never get this actually posted :) Have a great weekend everyone!

Apparently it's spring break..

You wouldn't know it from all the snow outside or the fact that our high today is about 15*, but I'm (slightly unexpectedly - long story! Ask me privately if you really want to know) officially on spring break! And feeling very anxious to catch up on my to do list, which includes updating this blog!

But first, I just hit my 1000th blog view! So thank you to whoever that was :)

Things are going well here, just a combination of being very busy and having terrible weather which makes me want to hibernate. We just set the record for the coldest February in Cleveland since the 1870s! Average temperature for the month was 14.3*. No wonder I didn't want to leave the house.

Teaching has been up and down. I have some fabulous new students and in general my classes are going well. Everyone is loving my experiment with the self-directed activities. I love that everyone gets to work at their own level and pace for at least a little bit every week and I also love that I really get to spend some one-on-one time with my students. It's so rare when I'm teaching the whole class that I get to sit down and really talk to / help anyone individually for more than a minute or so, but I get to do that during the self-directed activity time and it's awesome. The biggest problem so far this semester has been the weather - K-12 schools have been closed a lot, which means parents haven't been able to come to day classes, and the weather in general just makes it difficult for my students who walk or take public transportation. But hopefully the end is in sight. After tomorrow, the entire 10 day forecast is above freezing!

My other "fun" teaching adventure was driving to monthly meeting with my online students in a snowstorm a few weeks ago. My normally 2.5 hour drive was closer to 4 hours! I was so thankful when I got there and the majority of my students had actually made it to class. Whew :)

Things are also going well in Thirty-One land. I did my second vendor event and feel like a pro now! I have a pet expo coming up at the end of the month (I have ideas, but suggestions for what you'd display are welcome!) and am going to be a vendor at wing cookoff in June and two holiday shows in November/December. I also have a few feelers out for some other events, but I think I'm off to a good start. I have a drinks and desserts open house at my place tomorrow and I'm very much looking forward to having the excuse to hang out with some friends :D

And, even more importantly, I had a very successful fundraiser last month! We raised enough money to buy 127 kits of nail files and tubes of chapstick for Hanna House at University Hospitals. I talked to the director of the activities center this week and will be dropping them off during my spring break next week :) Thanks again to everyone who participated!

We've also been having a ton of fun things going on these past few weeks. J and I went to go see our favorite band, Gaelic Storm. For those new to our story - our first date was to a Gaelic Storm concert and almost exactly two years ago we got engaged at their concert :) This year, we brought a framed and matted copy of the picture taken with the band on the night of our engagement and got the entire band to sign the mat. I can't wait to hang it up!

Gaelic Storm, dancing on the bar at House of Blues

Speaking of autographs, we went to a minor league hockey game last week and J was incredibly surprised to see two-time Stanley Cup winner Ruslan Fedotenko playing for the visiting team. Fedotenko was on J's favorite NHL team when they won the Stanley cup! J and his buddy managed to get autographs :)

And, finally, last weekend we went to our friend's annual Arnold Schwarzenegger movie marathon :) We had a good time hanging out with some awesome people, eating and drinking way too much, watching movies, and generally being lazy.  Since I'm not always good at being lazy, I also made some good progress on the sweater I'm knitting. It's finally starting to look a little bit like a sweater! Since it's my first one, I don't have any delusions that it will be perfect, but I'm really hoping it's at least wearable. I'm pretty happy with how it looks so far. Maybe I'll have it done before next winter ;) My crafting progress is so slow during the school year! I'm hoping to make progress on my Etsy shop stock next week during my spring break, though I have quite a few personal sewing projects I also was hoping to work on. Why do I have a feeling that one week isn't going to be enough for all this? ;)

Stay warm, friends! Spring is just around the corner :)

Snow Day!

Actually, if we're being honest - it's really more of a cold weather day. I think we finally hit 1* sometime today! Tomorrow is going to be slightly warmer, but still pretty brutal.  I'm thankful for the time off, especially since I'm pretty sure none of my students would've come today (most in that class take public transportation and/or have children in public schools, which were also closed today).  I've spent most of my day trying to be productive. Including reorganizing the shelves on my bookcase where I keep my ESOL teaching materials. They actually look pretty neat AND are in some kind order so I can easily find things! I almost wish I'd taken a "before" picture :)  We're slowly making progress on getting the place organized!

We won't talk about what the rest of the bookshelf looks like... 

The picture of Conway above was actually taken on Valentine's Day, which was snowy, cold and blustery! J and I had a pretty low key day. We went to brunch, spent the afternoon shopping for home organizing supplies, had dinner (and a margarita) at our go-to Mexican place down the street, and rented Frozen from RedBox :) I also spent some time working on the sweater I'm knitting. It's my first one and is going slow, but steady, so far. I know it won't be perfect, but I do hope it's at least wearable! 

Things in the classroom are going relatively well, though classes have been smaller than usual with all of this nasty weather. My self-directed activity time experiment has been going well so far. It seems my students of all levels particularly enjoy doing word finds. I think that different levels get different benefits from them.  For example, the vast majority of my level 0 students are native speakers of languages that use very different alphabets (Cyrillic, Nepali, Arabic), and a few aren't even literate in their native language, For them, the letter recognition aspect of word finds is great practice. I like to use word finds that have themes. This week's theme was "baking" and my more advanced students enjoyed learning new words like "bundt" and "butterscotch" :) 

From a chapter on clothing I was working with a student on this week. I'm pretty sure the answer here is "A".

 I also wanted to thank everyone who donated to my fundraiser! We raised enough for 127 kits of a nail file and tube of chapstick for Hanna House! You guys rock! I'll be sure to post pictures when everything arrives :)  In other Thirty-One news, I'm doing my next bridal show this weekend! Hopefully the weather will cooperate and there will be lots of people there. I'm also hosting an open house at my place on March 6. If you're in the area and want details, let me know! There will be desserts, drinks, and the chance to check out some of the new items from the catalog, including my new favorite - the limited edition Mini Diamond District :)

And that's all I've got for tonight :) Stay warm, everyone!

Musings on community (and some things for ourselves!)

As you can tell from how long it's been since I last posted, the first few weeks back at work have been very, very busy! And a little stressful with all of the snow/ice/winter weather. (check out that picture of my classroom last week five minutes after class was scheduled to start!) But I'm getting back into the groove.

Before I get into what I've been up to, I wanted to let my readers know about a fundraiser I'm doing! (My apologies to those who have seen this before!) In honor of the anniversary of the Thirty-One Gives campaign, I'm currently doing a fundraiser that benefits both University Hospital's Hanna House and Girl Talk (Through Thirty-One's charity, Thirty-One Gives).  The goal of this fundraiser is to show how every little bit helps and that, by working together, we can make a big difference!

University Hospital’s Hanna House Skilled Nursing Center, a local subacute care facility, lists nail files and chapstick as two items they are always in need of. With the purchase of each URU nail file from Thirty-One, the company makes a donation of 31 cents to Girl Talk, an international non-profit peer-to-peer mentoring program for middle school girls. 

For your donation of $2.50, you can sponsor a kit of 1 nail file and 1 tube of chapstick for Hanna House AND contribute 31 cents to Girl Talk. My goal is to raise enough for 100 kits by February 14th.You are welcome to sponsor as many kits as you’d like and donations can be made in honor of a loved one! (Makes a great Valentine’s Day gift!) Are you in? Even if all you can give is $2.50, it would still be a big help! Just let me know (you can comment here!) and I'll send you payment details. You can either send a check or send money though PayPal. 

I've bee thinking a lot about community lately. Not only this fundraiser, but on a larger scale. Last week, J and I (and my mother-in-law) went to the meeting of Greater Cleveland Congregations, which is an interfaith group that works together to take action on social justice issues. At this particular meeting, there were over 1000 people of all faiths gathered to present a list of recommendations for the Cleveland Police's Consent Decree to the Mayor and US Attorney Steve Dettelbach, and Department of Justice Civil Rights Section Chief Jonathan Smith.  It was such an amazing and moving experience and I'm so glad we were a part of it.  You can read more about it at Cleveland.com. 

I am also always amazed by the community I find in my classrooms. Today in my lowest level class, we all made valentines for each other. A little silly perhaps, but for some in this group of students, even just writing the names of their classmates is a big struggle. And it was really sweet to see them all giving each other cards, especially those who are from very different cultures.  I also made some pretty darn good red velvet cookies for them as part of our Valentine's Day celebration :)

I've been feeling very thankful for my friends recently, too. Things have been so busy lately and I tend to get tunnel vision and forget about everything other than work. Huge thanks to our friends who invited us to a basketball game this past weekend. It was so nice to catch up with them (and the seats were pretty amazing, too!) I've also had several friends really step up to help me with some things in my Thirty-One business and I am so, so grateful for their support. 

And, finally, on a more selfish note - J and I had our first meeting with a home organizer this past weekend! It's a bit of a leap of faith (especially as she does things like rearrange our furniture - neither one of us is that good with change ;)  ), but we're hoping for good results. We've got some homework from our first meeting and when we finish that, she'll come back to help us organize our storage room. That will be a difficult task for sure, but I'm really excited about the possibilities.  Now I just need to work on my own issues with letting go of stuff! Anyone have any good advice?

and I'll leave you with this image in honor of Valentine's Day (and because we used conversation hearts as bingo chips in my classes today!)

Going back is hard...

I'll be the first to tell you that I *love* my job. I really do. But going back after 6 weeks off is hard! Especially after a busy, busy weekend.  Last Friday I had an all-day staff meeting. Saturday I had to drive 5 hours round trip to meet with the students from my online class. It's always good to get to meet them face-to-face, but boy does it make for a long day! 2.5 hours driving, 3 hours teaching, then 2.5 hours back home!

And Sunday. Sunday was the bridal show! I think my booth looked quite nice. I think I have a bigger table at the next event, which will help it look not quite so crowded. I met and talked to lots of very nice people, added a few dozen new names to my mailing list, and had a few women express interest in hosting a party! I've followed up with them and am crossing my fingers something will come through. 

The thing that most people liked about my booth was my (slightly obsessive) wedding day checklists. I had a list of ideas for things to put in a wedding day survival kit for your bridesmaids (pictured here). I also had a wedding day emergency kit checklist, and a bathroom basket checklist. All of the brides were very, very happy to get that handout and it will definitely be a staple in my wedding expo toolkit :) Next one is a mall show in February. Let's hope it goes even better than this one.

On Monday I started back at work. I've got some new students and that always changes the class dynamics, but I think it's going to be a good semester. This week we've gotten to know each other with a "find someone who" activity and by interviewing each other. I had my students come up with the interview questions themselves. In my evening class, we laughed so hard that my abs literally hurt afterwards. I love it. 

I mentioned in a previous post that I'm trying some new things in class. I'm starting the self-directed activities with my multilevel classes next week, but I started them with my level 0 students this week. My level 0 class is almost harder than my official multilevel classes sometimes because you make progress SO QUICKLY when you start from nothing. So my students who came in September saying "No English!" are light-years ahead of the student who arrived in the country a month ago and can barely tell you their name. Adding into the mix that a couple of the new students are pre-literate and it gets real interesting.  My students were very skeptical of the self-directed activities at first and really wanted me to tell them what to do. But after three days they are getting much more comfortable. I think it will be really beneficial for all of them.

My current new obsession for my level 0 self-directed activities is the game "Spot It!"  It comes in several different varieties, but it's great for a mixed group. On each card, there are several different pictures. Each pair of cards has exactly ONE picture in common, so the object of the game is to flip over two cards and try to find the matching pictures as quickly as possible.  Some students point to the pictures, others then help them identify them and say the names of the objects.  Plus it's been a great way for students of different cultures to interact with each other (I have two main ethnic groups and they tend to cling together). I've just picked up the alphabet one and the numbers/shapes one and I think we'll play one of those on Monday! 

And, finally, in "never a dull moment" land - there was a fire in the building I teach in today! They only ended up evacuating half the building (not my half), but it was a bit of an adventure as the fire trucks pulled up and the firemen starting coming into the building. I'm hoping for a little less excitement next week!

Pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone

This past week and the next few weeks are busy, busy, busy.  And I've been busy finding inspiration for new directions and trying new things in my various jobs.

First, and most importantly, I just finished reading a book about teaching ESOL for multi-level classes. And there was SO much good information in it. Sadly, a lot of it was like "Wow, this would be perfect if I had 8 hours to prep each lesson!" but I think I can slowly start to integrate changes and re-use some of the materials from year-to-year once I've prepared them.  The biggest change I've tried so far is having "self-directed" time in the classroom. I have to admit, like many teachers, I have trouble giving up control of the classrooms. I sometimes feel like if the students are working quietly, I'm not doing enough. But I'm trying to let that feeling go.  What I've done so far is organized several different worksheets/readings/games and let the students pick what they want to spend a set amount of time doing. This is particularly great for community classes and multi-level classes, where the goal isn't necessarily to progress from one level to the next, but rather to work on skills that are important to each individual student.   I think this worked very nicely in the temporary class I was teaching this month and I'm excited to try it out in my regular classes! Wish me luck.

Last week I had a new consultant meeting for Thirty-One. The woman doing the training AND all of the other women there had such great ideas and I'm very excited about trying things out and working to grow my business. This weekend I'm taking a big leap and am going to be a vendor at a local bridal show!  I've been flexing my creative muscles thinking of ideas for products that are particularly helpful for brides-to-be. Pictured here is a bathroom basket for guests (in a Double Duty Caddy) This whole adventure is definitely stepping out of my comfort zone and requires a little bit of a financial investment, but I'm really hoping it pays off.  (Again, wish me luck ;) )

I haven't quite gotten to the point where I'm ready to launch my Etsy shop, but I've made a lot of progress. I'm a little over halfway to the number of products I'd like to have before I open the store. I've purchased shipping supplies. And business cards and return address labels are sitting in my online shopping cart, just waiting for me to pull the trigger....

This picture kind sums up this blog - sewing, an ESL book, and a flyer from KnitPicks... ;)

And, on a lighter note, speaking of firsts and trying new things - I went to my first Cavs game last night! Our seats were pretty good, the Cavs won, and a good time was had by all :)

And that's it from me today. It's going to be a busy, busy weekend and it's time for me to get to preparing!

A very crafty Christmas + my favorite baby blanket pattern

Conway does his best burrito impression (using our comforter)

It was very cold and windy this morning. The kind of cold that makes your eyeball hurt. Not fun. No one wanted to get out of bed this morning and definitely no one wanted to go outside. Walking Conway was not pleasant. And, yet, despite the fact that his feet were obviously cold (even though I used paw wax, which usually does the trick) he kept stopping to smell things instead of just doing his business and going home.  Dogs are weird :)  The class I was supposed to teach today was cancelled, which I think was a good call. All of the students in this class are refugees, many of them walk a mile or more to class. Often in clothes that were donated to them because they came from countries with warmer climates.  I don't think it would've been safe for them to be walking 20+ minutes in windchills of -20* (actual temperature was around -2* when class was scheduled to start).  The only thing I like about this cold weather is the satisfaction I get in knowing that something I made actually is good enough to keep me warm in these temperatures. Here I am bundled up in a hat and scarf I knit :)

Speaking of making things, I wanted to share some of the handmade Christmas gifts from this year, now that some of the craziness has died down and everyone has been given said gifts :) The one that isn't pictured is J's PJ pants. I still need to do some adjustments for size on those (that's the beauty of sewing clothes for yourself and loved ones, right? That I can actually make those changes so that they fit him right!)

First up - a Cleveland Browns tote bag for my brother-in-law. He loves everything Browns. This bag has a hard bottom (my first time attempting that) and is great for groceries, tailgating supplies, or any other random things. I am planning on posting my go-to bag-making method on this blog in the future, so stay tuned in the next few weeks for that.

Next are the pressed-flower necklaces I made. I actually made a few of these. For my mom, my mother-in-law, and for myself. What makes these necklaces special is that I made them with flowers from my wedding bouquet :)  I decided not to get the bouquet professionally preserved or to keep it as a whole bouquet, but I wanted to have some keepsake from it.  I learned while making this that I am capable of making necklaces :) and I hope to include some in my etsy shop eventually (though they're not a priority just yet!)

This lace scarf was not really a Christmas present, but it was something I had been working on for a while and finally finished in time to wear to church on Christmas Eve. For this one I used a pattern I found on Ravelry: Simple Lace Scarf. Made with one skein of Patons Silk Bamboo. It's a lovely yarn!

Last up on my show and tell is this baby blanket for my dear friends' little girl! (I've always been a blue and green fan myself, so why not make the blanket in those colors instead of pink??) I made this with Bernat Baby Blanket, which I'm now in love with. They make a version of it in "grown-up" colors and if I didn't have so many other projects in my queue, I just might make a blanket for myself with it! 

My Favorite Baby Blanket Pattern

I used one of my favorite blanket patterns for this. I love it because it looks nice, it's easy, and it's very versatile. You can use any type of yarn you'd like and can make pretty much any size square. I've made it with both this yarn, as well as Lion Brand Pound of Love. Some of you may recognize it as a typical dishcloth pattern, but it translates very nicely into blankets, too.

Decide on your yarn. The needle size and amount of yarn you'll need will depend on what you've chosen. I recommend going with the suggested needle size for your given yarn (which was size 11 for this one). You'll need circular needles for this (or very,very, long straight needles. But I recommend going with the circular ones!)  I used about 260 yards of super bulky yarn on this project and the blanket is probably "stroller sized". If you need help estimating how much yarn to buy, I recommend Jimmy Beans Wool knitting calculator. This will give you a good place to start. 

Cast on 4 stitches. That's it. Just four :)

Row 1: Knit 4.

Row 2:  K2, yo, knit the rest of the row.

Repeat row 2 until the blanket is a triangle that is half the size you want the full blanket to be (you will basically complete the square.)

Row 3 (when you've reached the halfway point): k1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, knit the rest of the row

Repeat row 3 until there are 4 stitches left on your needles

Row 4: knit

Bind off

And that's it!

What about you? Did you make any gifts this holiday season? 

Starting the new year off right

So far, 2015 has been off to a good start. We've been working hard on getting organized and I've been making good progress getting some new projects off the ground. We've got two huge Ikea bags of old clothes ready to go to Goodwill, two grocery-sized bags of books to take to Half Price Books, and even found a place where we can recycle our old printers (yes, plural!). I've started a new eating plan and so far (*knock on wood*) my stomach's been feeling better than it has in months. Cross your fingers for me!

Yes, folks, that's the t-shirt folding thing that Sheldon on Big Bang Theory uses. J loves it!

Things are starting to move forward at my various jobs/projects.  I just finished my first couple of headbands for my etsy store! I will open that (and start looking for craft fairs) once I feel like I have enough of a stock to really start advertising and selling.  I've also booked two vendor shows as an exhibitor for Thirty-One Gifts. One bridal show and one pet expo! Should be fun. If you're in the area, let me know and I'll give you the details to stop by. I may also have one more bridal show in July. Additionally, I've been putting out some feelers for possible January parties. If you're interested in hosting one, just let me know! (Double hostess credit in January! I do online and catalog parties, too :) )

My online class started this week and I'm trying not to be too overwhelmed by the fact that the number of students I have has nearly doubled. Yikes. But I got my teaching evaluations back from last semester (I'm teaching the same course again) and they were very good. 100% of my students who submitted evaluations said they'd recommend me as a professor (90% said they'd "strongly recommend" me) and 100% said they were satisfied with the online course experience. This is good to hear as I gear up for the spring semester.

I also started teaching ESOL classes again today, though only a three week session for an organization my regular employer works with. This organization helps refugees and they (the refugees) have required hours of English lessons. Since my real job doesn't start back for another 3 weeks, I offered to teach for their clients a few times a week until then. Today I had mostly planned to do introductions and had planned for a very low level class, but it turned out the students mostly all knew each other and were at a higher level than I anticipated. We finished what I had planned for the class 15 minutes into a 2.5 hour session! But one of the things about being an adult ESOL teacher in mixed-level community-based classes is that you have to be flexible and learn to go with the flow. I pulled a couple of picture dictionaries out of the supply closet (I use both Oxford Picture Dictionary and English for Everyday Activities: A Picture Process Dictionary) and we went over a few pages of those books. Then we played a game where I divided the students into two groups by level and gave each group a stack of cards. Each card had two words written on them that were either the same word (for example: "cares cares") or two similar words ("cares scare"). The students worked together to determine if the words on each card were the same or different. With the more advanced students, we also discussed the definitions of the words on the cards.  It actually worked out really well!  I think I'm going to look for some more games to play with this group as a "fun" way to learn English before the official classes start up again in a few weeks. Any suggestions?

And, finally, I thought after 2.5 weeks off - I'd be bored out of my mind and ready to go back. But, alas, I wasn't. It's not that I don't love my job. It's just that I had so much I was going to do to be productive over my break and I didn't even come close to finishing it all! The good news is that I'm only working part time for the next 3 weeks so I still have time to make a little more progress on that to do list. Wish me luck! :)

Stay safe and warm, everyone!

White Chocolate Cranberry Bars

I will never be a food photographer!

Today I'm sharing the recipe for my White Chocolate Cranberry Bars. This recipe has been adapted from a couple of different places and is basically a knockoff or copycat of Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars. And it's good. :)

But first - just have to share that I had my LAST class of the year for my ESOL teaching job this week (and my last party ;) )  I also surviving finishing up my end-of-semester paperwork. This is one of the things I like least about my job. But the paperwork is what helps us get the grant that funds my program, which means my students get to take free English classes and I still get paid. So at the end of the day, it's worth it (even though I will continue to complain!)

After taking this picture, I spread all the paperwork out even more across the table! 

Keeping everything organized! Party supplies in the bag on the left, paperwork in the middle, and the day's lesson plans in the bag on the right  :)  Check them all out here.

I managed to make it to run club this weekend, which was great. I did a total of 5 miles on Saturday, including 3 with a friend at run club. He is a professor and also on the board of the department where J works, so we spent a lot of time discussing very academic and intellectual matters ;) And yet it was still strangely relaxing because we were running while having that conversation. Later that day J and I got our Christmas tree (finally) and hung our wreath on the front door. Hopefully soon we'll get around to actually decorating said tree!  We also went to two holiday parties. At the second party, we met a man who said he worked with musicians in Nashville (he is a musician himself). He mentioned that he didn't really like to work with the larger groups, but preferred small-time artists. Like Joni Mitchell. (that sound you just heard was my jaw hitting the floor!) J is particularly fond of Joni, and this man promised that next week when he talks to Joni he will tell her J says hi. I think that's pretty darn cool.

Before I share the recipe, I just want to say how much more I enjoy baking since the wedding because I have such nice tools now and using them reminds me of the lovely people who gave them to me! So thankful with this recipe for my stand-mixer (not required, but certainly makes things easier), my actually-non-stick bakeware, and my microplane zester :)

 And, without further ado, the recipe:

Cranberry White Chocolate Bars

Ingredients:

Blondie:

1 1/2 sticks butter (melted)

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used half all purpose, and half King Arthur Flour White Wheat flour)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 cup dried cranberries

6 oz white chocolate chips

Topping:

1 8-oz package of cream cheese (room temperature)

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 Tablespoon orange zest (feel free to do this to taste. With this amount the orange flavor is very subtle, but you may want more.)

3oz melted white chocolate (chips worked fine, but melts or baking chocolate would probably be better)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

optional: melted white chocolate for drizzling on top

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9x13 pan with nonstick spray. (note: the blondie layer will be pretty thin in this size pan, you can use a slightly smaller pan for a thicker blondie. I think 10x10 would also work nicely.)

2. Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a medium bowl.

3. In a large bowl OR the bowl for your stand mixer (if using - it's certainly not required!), combine brown sugar and melted butter. Let cool.

4. Beat eggs and vanilla in with brown sugar/butter mixture.  Gradually add the dry mixture to this.

5. Stir in the chocolate chips and cranberries.  This will make a very thick batter.

6. Spread mixture into pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

What it looks like before frosting!

While it cools, prepare the frosting:

1. Use electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar together. Gradually stir in the melted white chocolate. Add orange zest (and feel free to taste it at this point to decide if you'd like more than I used in my recipe!)

When the blondie layer has cooled, frost it and sprinkle the cranberries on top. If desired, drizzle additional white chocolate on top. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

All done! (I made a double batch and put some into smaller pans, hence the not-9x13-pan in the picture)

And try not to eat the whole pan yourself :) 

Tomorrow I've got a date with 38 final exam essays for the class I'm teaching online. I probably should start tonight, but the sewing machine is calling my name...