Author: Megan

Carla’s To-Die For Chocolate Chip Cookies

| Megan

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Not too long ago, inside our little home in our little mountain hamlet, it was April. But it looked like THIS (above) outside. Yes, snow. This should no longer be a Spring surprise to mountain dwellers, right? But sometimes, I am still surprised. Wait. That robin I heard chirping his sweet song this morning? Wait. Those full bloomed tulips in my neighbors flower bed? Wait. Those greening buds and blueing skies?

Well, it’s Spring, not paradise, folks. So in this state of blear and drear I hatched a plan. (This plan may have also been formulated by the fact that I had to go to the dentist that day as well, and what better way to cap off a trip to the dentist than with sweets? Right? Anybody?)

I quickly cemented in my mind a desire to make chocolate chip cookies (I just can’t seem to stop with the dental puns here, sorry :). I was’t after just ANY chocolate chip cookie. I had a certain genus in mind. You see I live next to a baking goddess named Carla. I hope that Carla doesn’t cringe when she reads that line. (I don’t know why she would, the title is TRUE. But I hope she doesn’t get embarrassed because it’s the inter web.)

Anyway, Carla was called to this life to start a bake shop, but that business is hard and hot and doesn’t appear to always have the financial meat that a family in today’s world is looking for, and my friend chose a successful career in finance. Banking rather baking. Go figure.

Well, this is to the loss of the entire WORLD, because her BAKING is incredible. These chocolate chip cookies I’m about to paste down are THE BEST! Truly, the best in their class. Holy cow. Hold on to your gluten, cause they are going to knock your socks clean off!! 🙂 (Thank you, Carla, for letting me have the recipe and publish to high heaven!)

Here’s the thing. The recipe is SIMPLE. I’m talking simple! But the miracle in your mouth doesn’t taste that way at all! They are everything I look for in a cookie. Just chewy enough on the inside. Just crispy enough on the outside. Just enough chocolate chips. Just enough sweet to the salt. Just… PERFECT!

I cannot wait to hear how yours turn out! PM me. Comment here. FaceBook your results. Instagram your pics. Cause you’re gonna be happy you made these babies! Recipe below followed by picture steps. Please be sure not forget step 7 and step 8. Have a great day!

XX, Megan

The recipe is as follows:

1 C Butter Flavored Shortening
3/4 C White Sugar
3/4 C Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Salt
1tsp Baking Soda
2 1/4 C Flour
1 Package of Chocolate Chips

Cream shortening, white sugar, and brown sugar with a beater. Then add one egg at a time and beat the dough untill it’s light and fluffy– no more. Add the dry ingredients. Continue to mix the dough on the lowest setting. Add the flour at the VERY END. Barely incorporate the flour into the dough, until it is just mixed through. Add the chocolate chips. Fold in. Then mix once by hand.

375 for 9 minutes.

1. Cast of Characters.

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2. Get her going!

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3. Incorporate until just mixed.

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4. Stir once or twice by hand.

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5. Make into 1 inch balls.

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6. Bake at 375 for 9 minutes. Oh, BOY!

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7. Look out your back door to make sure it’s still __________ (insert current weather pattern here).

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8. EAT! Thank you again to my dear friend. The most incredible cook I know!

Nude Attitude: Blushing Spring

| Megan

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“My colors are BLUSH and BASHFUL, Momma!”

“Her colors are PINK and PINK!”

Name that movie. I’m pretty sure this sweater and bag combo constitute blush and bashful, no? Notice the buds on the trees in the background. Notice the absence of a coat, jacket, or outerwear layer. Notice the nude tones. More and more it is Spring! Before we know what to do with its temperamental hot and cold swings (as evidenced in tomorrows post, because there was SNOW here just a few days ago), everything will switch into Summer drive.

Don’t let my Spring adulation fool you, however. This sweater is still a light Merino, and I have a long sleeved shirt underneath to pinch off the cold. I also dig the entire accessory package for this ensemble. These bar earrings are so easy to wear– delicate enough for the everyday, special enough to throw on for a black tie affair. The necklace is several years old, a gift from my sister, and I still reach for it again and again. What are you throwing on for Spring?

May your Tuesday be brilliant!

XX, Megan

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Sweater: J.Crew (similar), Jeans: J.Crew, Bag: J.Crew (similar, splurge, save), Boots: J.Crew, Necklace: Ann Taylor (old, similar), Earrings: Gorjana, Watch: Invicta, Sunglasses: Karen Walker ‘Super Duper’, Lips: MAC Snob

Classics: Refined + Rugged On Pinterest

| Megan

Classics April 2015 Well, it’s Monday. Yes. And while I really wanted to barrage you with some more photo log fabulousness of our trip into the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, moderation calls for a break in that action. Am I right?

You can read my free verse chant here. Check out my picture log here. I will be finishing off with a recap of this trip with a day-by-day travel log on Friday. Today I wanted to talk two things 1) Classics, and 2) Pinterest. Let’s actually begin in reverse order and talk Pinterest for a moment.

I draw your attention to the adorable widget below, that now infamous red and white button. If you click this baby, it should send you to my account over on said site, Pinterest. I have arranged several boards of fun items for you to peruse.

Many of them are style based (even a board for “Him”), but I also have a board for food, words, and even a DIY category that I entertain on occasion (I swear some day I WILL make those rock bookends for my home. Like, SOON)! I like Pinterest because previous to this ingenious site I was emailing myself all of the links to these categories and boards anyway! Literally.

I’d find something I liked on the inter webs and send myself an email about it. Just a little personal reminder. The problem there is two fold. First, I would often forget what I titled the email to myself, and be hunting around the email search for long periods of time.

Second, I often forgot to simply add a picture of the item to my link so that I knew what the actual item, recipe, project looked like that so sparked my interest. As some of you may have found, links do not always live forever. I’d stumble across something in my email archive I’d want to cook, or wear, or recreate, and darn if the link was old, or dead, or inactive and I didn’t remember specifically enough what was in that unconnected connection to find it again!

Check out Rugged + Refined over on Pinterest!

https://www.pinterest.com/megsfarm/

Anyway, on to the classics. Caveat: everyone’s classics are different. I realize that some of the pieces I’ve stored in this category may not seem “classic” to some. A buffalo check coat, for example, may seem more “trendy” than “classic”. I simply have a hankering for buffalo check all the time, so I stocked it away in Classics because to me, it always will be!

Honestly, just like the Jennifer Anniston hair of the 90s that we all thought would never die. There are some classics that may not live forever. Dark wash skinnies are still going strong, still on my list of all. the. time.

I really hope they never die as a fashion staple, though some already decry and predict otherwise. They still hold an important place in my closet. Who am I to predict what my grandchildren will wear on their hover-boards? Sadly, it may not be a chambray shirt, black jeans, and a string a pearls.

But I do think there are style staples that have an ALWAYS tag, and a gorgeous string of pearls are one of those. Invest once. Pick your size of pearl, necklace length, and wear ON!

Beginning with the jacket in the top right corner, moving clockwise and finishing off with the gorgeous pearl necklace in the center the links are as follows:  Jacket, Tote, Camisole, Heel, Dress, Watch, Striped Shirt, Belt, Chambray Shirt, Earrings, Loafers, Pearls.

Add your favorite pair of jeans (skinny or otherwise), a rocking pair of sunnies, a simple white T, and you’re ready for anything. What are some of your classic style staples? Make it a good Monday!

XX, Megan

Desert Chant: Reflections on Wilderness Grand Staircase Escalante Part II

| Megan

DSC_0324 Some of the things I feel and think about the desert return to me over and over again. A desert mantra, maybe.

From the moment I arrive to the moment I leave I never cease to want to take it with me somehow. I don’t understand exactly how this works psychologically or physiologically or why I feel it so strongly. What makes you want to take landscape, skyscape, rock color, tree buds, flower blooms, blazing stars and hold it to you? Put it inside your chest? It feels as though the beauty is so raw, so deep, so filling, that if I could somehow contain it— take it with me— maybe I would never be empty again.

No technology, no technology, no technology.

In the same moment, I realize that another thing I love about wildness is juxtaposed directly opposite to that “take it with me” desire. The fact that we have managed to preserve (and up to this point keep) a fair amount of vast, open, uninhibited spaces for humans to venture “off the beaten path” whether relatively so or sometimes completely is another one of my desert mantras. Wide and airy and clean and open and unadulterated. So much space. So much beauty. It boggles and soothes me. Keep it that way.

No technology, no technology, no technology.

No technology, or very little, because we did use our phones as cameras. But I count that as a capture, a memory, a breath. Not constant interface. The singular reminder that we are all wanderers is a persistent part of the desert chant. All wandering. All lost. All seeking. All hoping. The desert reminds me of how fragile I am. How mortal. How sustained by the great pyramid Loren Eisley described. And sometimes I don’t know whether it brings peace or fear. I am reminded about how small I am.

No technology, no technology, no technology.

I am reminded of the Greater, the Creator, the Sculptor, the Crafter, the Master. The Grand Design. I am reminded that I should hold my ears more and listen inside of me. Not to the spew, churn, and tumult of all that surrounds me. I should listen to the beauty that surrounds me, teaching me that God is in the details. I should listen to me. To that thread of conscience from the Divine.

No technology, no technology, no technology.

Conscious deep breaths. Breaths allowing me to connect with the audacious colors of the sand, rock, and sky. Breaths seeking to hold in the goodness for another moment. Breaths clearing my head and readying my eyes for the vistas, the views– the scuttling lizard, the claret-cup cactus, the aubergine petrified wood, the desert bar berry bush, the someday arch, the desert firedot, the rocky mountain juniper, the emerald rivoli’s hummingbird, the rainbow gradient sands– the memory of being young and vibrant and unstoppable. Grounding, renewing, refreshing, giving me strength. Strength to return to the city, the town, the village, the civilization I have chosen.

No technology, no technology, no technology.

It’s not best to look behind as I leave, but forward. Life calls me on, away. I cannot stay forever, not this time. I feel the comfortable grit of desert days on my skin. Hair standing on end, eyes light with all they have seen, I tell myself I will be back again. Again and again. The van turns North toward home. Some things will come with me. Some things will always be different now. I am changed every time– better. Desert chant.

XX, Megan DSC_0326 DSC_0339 DSC_0333 DSC_0348 DSC_0365 DSC_0420 DSC_0379 DSC_0430 DSC_0439

Desert Vagabond Picture Log: Southern Utah’s Grand Staircase Escalante I

| Megan

“We need wilderness preserved– as much of it as is still left, and as many kinds– because it was the challenge against which our character as people was formed.” –Wallace StegnerDSC_0123

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Image 1- Headed east on State Hwy 95. This prominent rock feature is known as Jacob’s Chair. In the foreground you see White Canyon which parallels 95 until you reach the turn-off to 276.
Image 2- Hite Crossing Bridge. Crossing the Colorado on Hite Crossing Bridge, via 95, Mt. Hillers in the background.
Image 3- Grumpy Rock. Hite Crossing Bridge viewpoint.
Image 4- The mighty Colorado.
Image 5- Perspective.
Image 6- Wall and sky.
Image 7- BLM road 1200 meets up with the Burr Trail. Capitol Reef National Park.
Image 8- The Burr Trail Switchbacks.
Image 9- At the top of the switchbacks. Lay of the land behind us.
Image 10- Undulating teeth and a sandstone window.
Image 11- Just keeps getting better. Cutoff road 115.
Image 12- #vanlife
Image 13- Morning and moonset at the mouth of Little Death Hollow.

“We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we do no more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.” –Wallace Stegner, Wilderness Letter