Home is where the heart is!

The other day, I had to make a run over to Baptist Hospital. No, I wasn’t sick or in too much pain, I needed to visit the Protein Queen (aka: Recovering Fatty) , and pick up some supplies! You see, I’m just like one of these guys you see standing on the corner with a sign that says…”Will work for food!” Only I do computer/blog work for protein :)

I had also picked up RJ from school, so he went with me. When we left, we found a parking garage near by, and thought it would be a great place to take pictures from. So, we grabbed the camera from the trunk, set up the tripod, and started snapping photos. The boy was like a kid at Christmas , running around hollering at what he found from his perch on high! The highlight, he found his school. He proudly proclaimed that his school was 15 miles away and he could still see it. In truth, it was less that a mile from where we were!

I love color, there I said it. I’m not a black and white type person. This is a renovated Government Housing Project near RJ’s school. Heck, these house’s look better than mine!

Just a simple parking garage at Baptist hospital. It was the angles and lines that drew my eyes to it.

But in the midst of filth and grime, in the center of all that is wrong with the world, one light shines through. God’s grace is always there to embrace us, to love us, and to shower us with beauty! Right there, on that cloudy day, the heavens opened, and He proclaimed that He is still there and on His throne!

I love my city!

Have a wonderful day!

Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins (With Cream Cheese Frosting)

Recently, during my searches for anything to do with photography, I came across a truly remarkable blog…The Pioneer Woman. 

This woman does everything you can think of!  She is a homeschooling mom, who entertains and throws dinner parties you would not believe.  How do I know this?  Cause she post photos of the said events, hence photography! 

She post some of the most interesting and tantalizing recipes I have ever seen.  What does this mean to me?  That I must deconstruct the recipe and make it weight loss friendly if possible. 

I saw this one the other day and thought it would go perfect for a meeting I had at work.  I was right!  By the time I got to take a picture, there were only 2 left.

Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins (With Cream Cheese Frosting)

Muffins:

1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup Splenda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
1 heaping cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional!)
2 tablespoons Splenda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 24 mini muffin tins.

Sift flour, Splenda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender until all incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Add raisins. Fold gently until mixture is just combined. Pour into greased muffin pan—batter hardly ever fills all twelve unless you keep it down to 1/2 full. Sprinkle generous amounts of cinnamon-sugar over the top of each unbaked muffin.

Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool. Ice with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup softened I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter
4 ounces fat free cream cheese
1/2 pound powdered sugar (I took Splenda and ran it through the blender to make my own!)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all ingredients on high until soft and whipped. Spread onto completely cooled muffins, or place into a large pastry bag with a large star tip and go crazy!

Store in fridge, as icing will soften at room temperature.

Yesterday was 24 hours ago…

…but today is now!

One of the blogs I read on a daily basis is…The Pilgrim’s Chronicles.  

Bill is a very talented photographer, a devoted husband, a proud grandfather…you get the idea, I could go on and on about this man.  But when it boils down to it, he is just that, a man who loves the Lord

His blog is undoubtedly one of the most satisfying reads I have each and every day.  Well, yesterdays entry was truly meaningful to me.  It asked the question, “How Good Are You?” 

Now, initially I thought about photography.  My mind went back to that first photo I posted on FLICKR.  It is Hazard Cave up on the Cumberland Plateau.

Then my mind raced to one of the last photos I posted of Nashville.  I could definitely see that I was better than before.  My skill has grown, I look at things differently than I did back then.  I feel more confident with my abilities.

But then something smacked me hard in the face.  No,   it was  not a frying pan thrown by my wife, it was God.  In the deep, dark recesses of my mind and heart a question arose…”Do you love Me, more than you did yesterday?”

WOW!  A journey of extreme proportions!  Whatever road my life takes, whatever mountains I must climb, I want to answer the question with a resounding YES!  I love God more today than I did yesterday!  And tomorrow…even more!

PEACE!