Remember all of your senses in those simple moments

Lately I have been thinking about all of the senses that the human body generally has, including hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste. Of course there has always been discussion about the sixth sense or intuition as well. We use these senses in different ways all day long to live our every day lives. Some people have stronger individual senses than others and some don't have a particular sense so rely on others even more so.

How many of you rely on your senses with memory? Which ones? A certain sight might catch you remembering, or hearing a particular song or tasting a meal that touched your soul. For me, I think about a particular sound that comes in the spring/summer, along with the warmth of the sun, that brings me back to my backyard at my childhood home. Smelling the air. Hearing the birds and insects alive in just a certain way can instantly bring me back 40 years in an instant. I remember the way my grandparent's house smelled-a mix of history, life, Armenian food, books, love, safety, home. Sitting 11-20 people in one modest room, the television in the background and books on the shelves witness to multiple conversations about everything from family history to food to love to sports to politics. Boboo would have been 102 yesterday.

Pictures do a lot to bring memories to life. Sometimes photographs become the memory itself as years wear on and small details fade.

I think about technology and the role it plays in our lives now. It has always played a role in life across generations. On this Mother's Day, I think about our lives as children and I think about our childrens' lives. How they have never not known life without a school shooting in the news, or life without a cell phone. While it is difficult for us to identify with what it is like to be a teenager in this day and age, I think about the power of their technology. While it is terrifying, it is also truly amazing. The fact that they have all of these ways to express their creativity and themselves is awesome. They are able to take a picture and design it and post it to share with their community. They are able to share music among their friends in an instant. There are many negatives to the positives of course and I hope they don't forget to experience life and not just document it but then I think about the fact that this is the present and the future. We need to support them and find ways to make sure they utilize their skills and talents in all forms. Making sure that every kid understands what makes them unique, special and important in this crazy world.

Like Sage's picture from art class above, Be yourself. Be kind. Accept others. Forget haters.

Put on Flapper Girl by The Lumineers and let's get cooking!!

This year I ventured into meal services and there are a million of them out there now. Life got a little crazy and I went through a serious rut of figuring out new recipes that the family would enjoy. Having two meals determined for me during the week was just very helpful. We have tried two different services. Hello Fresh and Plated. Hands down I like Plated better in terms of the tastes and the recipes and the kinds of meals are more suited to my liking. I think the quality of the food is also better and as you would imagine, it is a tiny bit more expensive. I will say that my kids probably like Hello Fresh better because I would say the recipes have more comfort food meals included.

That said, I am going to include a link to a meal I made this week from Plated. I really enjoyed it because I love the tastes in this food. Plus it was pretty and colorful. It wasn't as popular with the kids but it was very good.

Moroccan Beef Kefta

The finished product:

Enjoy and have a happy day, everyone!!!!