I can hardly stand it

Seriously.

I can hardly even stand it. This amazingly talented gal makes me swoon nearly every day when I visit her blog. My blog should be retitled as "What Ashley Said Yesterday". She is just that amazing.

She recently put together this gift idea that serves as a daily calendar/notepad that very simply records the best of your days through out the year. It hits all my hot buttons: gratitude, reflection, pausing for a moment, simple (!!), easy to create and maintain, etc.

[source: ashley anne]

And, being the super quality woman that she is, she is sharing her template with all of us so that we can make them too. What a wonderful gift for a New Year's party (i know, just a little late for that!). I am making these for my kids, hubby and I tomorrow. I have to admit that I am seriously bothered by the fact that we are already on day 10 of January. I may have us go back through our calendar to try to remember the best of those days, just to appease the perfectionist in me.

Before you do anything else, click on this link and go download the template to make this for yourself or someone you love. You are guaranteed to put a little happy in their day.

Just in case you see this post, Ashley - thank you for sharing your amazing ideas with the internet. You are a beautiful picture of the Proverbs 31 woman and your children will surely arise and call you blessed. xo

Pita Pizzas

Over Christmas break we discovered a new favorite way to make personal pizzas. We are big on pizza here in our house. I constantly crave this whole - wheat goat cheese, proscuitto, and carmelized onion pizza. My kids, however, are fans of the kiddo fave - cheese pizza, or if they are living really dangerously, cheese and pepperoni.

Enter a new way to prepare pizza - on pita bread. How have I never heard of this before?

Ingredients:

whole-wheat round pita breads (1 per pizza)

sauce of choice (my kids love a basic marinara, but get creative and try olive oil or an alfredo sauce)

cheese of choice

toppings of choice

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. I think it works best when you place the pita breads in the oven for a few minutes to toast the underside prior to putting toppings on, but if you don't mind your pizza not having a crisp crust, you can forego the toasting.

2. Build your pizza with sauce and toppings of choice. This is the kids favorite step!

3. Place pizzas in the oven on a cookie sheet (line with parchment paper to save yourself some clean up).

4. Let cook for 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted on top and ready to eat.

Enjoy!

My brilliant sister shared this new way to make pizzas with me. In the summer they build their pizzas and pop them right onto the grill for cooking. What a fun summertime party idea! Trader Joe's sells mini pita breads (about the size of a silver dollar) - I am excited to make little mini pizzas as a snack.