Did I say Bacon? The Baconator Rules!

Hi friends!  
I'm hoping everyone had a delicious Thanksgiving weekend.
I am bursting at the seams to share our Bacon Turkey adventure!
While in L.A. two weeks ago my dearly beloved caught some episode on the Food Channel about a bacon wrapped Turkey Breast.  That idea became the Holy Grail of Thanksgiving this year.


The weekend before Thanksgiving we did a trial run and it was delicious.  Unfortunately, we ate the left-overs until Wednesday.  The next day we did it again for Thanksgiving!  It was even better, we had gotten the initial quirks out of the dish, however by then it was a little hard to choke down more leftovers.
Fortunately, our son, Rob gladly took them home with him.


I'd like to share our delicious process with you.  (Pardon our pictures of mugging for the camera!)
1. Buy a boneless turkey breast (we used a butterball)
2. Butterfly the breast and pound it slightly to flatten.
3. I made a stuffing ahead of time of Couscous mixed with mushrooms, onion, garlic, red pepper, celery, thyme, salt and pepper. (You could really get creative, use your own recipe, whatever you feel is festive!)

4. Spread the stuffing on the breast, roll the turkey breast into a bundle and tie it with twine.
5. Make a latticework of woven bacon on wax paper.  Place the Turkey roll on the top of the lattice and roll towards you.  This will make a woven bacon cover for your turkey roll.  Place the wax paper turkey roll in the refrigerator to set.

6. Fire up the B-B-Q and grill that bacon turkey goodness!  We started on high and took it low to cook for about an hour and a half!

Woo-hoo!!  We christened it the Baconator!

Here's hoping your Thanksgiving was as delicious as ours was.
XOXO

Rejuvenations

What is new in the studio?  Since mid- October I have been ripping and gluing in my latest journal.
I took a weekend workshop with the amazing Ms. Kelly Kilmer called Rejuvenations and haven't been the same since.
I took the class to have a breakthrough in my art.  I wanted to let it all out and play like never before on paper.  Ripping tearing gluing is good for the soul.  (Not to mention a new fascination with decorative tape!)
Yesterday I filled the last page and can't wait to continue adorning the journal with writing, taping and glitter.
Whew!

Here are a few photos, more to come-

Love from the studio,
XOXO

Where was I in October?

The fall seamed to fly by.  My dearly beloved and I left the Bay Area on the last day of September and traveled through the Southwest on and epic journey.  We drove 2800 miles through California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah to New Mexico and back.  All in 16 days!
We visited friends and favorite haunts in Santa Fe, hiked a little of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and saw some of the most beautiful skies and mesas imaginable.  There was searing heat, thunder, hail, rain and cold, followed by more heat.
We were blessed to see the aspens turning in the forests outside of Santa Fe. To say it was beautiful doesn't even touch the emotions I felt while hiking through a rain of golden leaves.  The wind sounded like water and the white of the aspen bark was ghostly.


And oh yes- the sky, the sky, the sky!

Here are a few of my favorite photographs...

XOXO JB

Washi Tape Special Delivery

Thanks to Kelly Kilmer and Gina (sweetsistergina blog) I have discovered the delights of Japanese Washi tape.  I ordered some from Karen in the Etsy shop Washimatta and received the most beautiful package of tape.  In the charming tradition of wrapping everything exquisitely, my package of tape arrived in beautiful style!
Take a look-

I felt like it was Chrismas.  Thanks Karen!

I have already used several colors in putting together my Song of the Sea Journal in Gina's online class.

XOXO JB

Half Full

I've been meditating on where I am in my life quite a bit lately.  After all these months of illness the fog is slowly clearing.  Is my cup half empty or half full?
Or does it go deeper, that feeling that I no longer have a cup at all.  As my dearly beloved and I like to say about Lyme Disease "every thing disappears".


When I saw the light on our barbed wire wreath it made me wonder..Is my life half full?

One thing I do know, my sense of gratitude needs a wake up call.  I have begun journaling about what I am grateful for each day.  Small or large I need to remind myself how blessed we are.


The following quote is my daily devotion-
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild & precious life?
- Mary Oliver


XOXO JB

Watery Bracelet

A sweet little bracelet that is all about the ocean and the watery way it looks on my wrist.  I love the Peruvian opals, moonstone and pearls with silver.  I was playing with making something not so symmetrical.  
If I were a mermaid this would be in my treasure chest!

XOXO

I Need Wings

Slogging through the last few months I realised I needed wings.  Wings to lighten the load or make me laugh or just to get above the fog.

When I walked up to my studio loft this morning I was thinking... I need wings....

There on my jewelry worktable a small set of blue wings have sat for many months now.  They were purchased from the cleaver, creative Llynn Davis at another time when I needed wings.  But in all this time, I've looked them over time and time again. They've been lost and found again, still I just couldn't picture how I should use them.

This morning was different.  I HAD to make something!  So I started and imagined and wrapped silver.  Putting pieces together and taking beads away.  Ohhh..  I liked where it was going.

In the end it turned into a lovely necklace, wings and all.

Sky colored ceramic beads, clear for the rain, pearls for clouds and dark blue and shiny silver to set off the sweet mood my wings put me in.

XOXO