by Savannah of Chasing My Bees
Savannah lives in central Arkansas with her ridiculously handsome husband and three adorable, exceedingly well-mannered children. When she’s not avoiding laundry or grumbling about the school pick-up line, you can find Savannah at Chasing My Bees, on the twitters as @SavannahB, and on Instagram as @savannnahb. She thinks you look really pretty today.
by Keisha Pittman, Miss April 2014
NAME – it’s something you’re born into, something you’re given or in the case of social media, it’s something you pick for yourself.
Sometimes it fits like a cozy sock, slipping on and fitting tight as a glove. Sometimes it’s something you have to grow into like your dad’s clumsy shoes when your little and stumbling around the house.
Sometimes its representative of a time in your life of even better an embarrassing moment you had.
Maybe it’s my inner You’ve got Mail Meg Ryan psyche, but as social media continues to grow and we all have to keep developing our “handles”, I’m always curious what the letters and numbers that make up who we “are” to the world say about us. Of course, we all stay on heightened alert to not use any important numbers like our social security number, address or birthday (yes, those are all typical pin codes…be smart people!), but when you choose a number, I’m assuming it has to be something very important to you; and the letters even more significant.
BIGPITTSTOP – it’s a name that chose me.
My sister has always been the athlete in the family. And, when I say “the” athlete, I’m referring to the fact that only one existed. I’m clumsy and I don’t like to sweat; it’s a title she earned all on her own! She’s never been one to be called her actual name and you can tell what part of life people know her from based on the name they call her. But, the one that stuck for the majority of her life was lil pitt. When she started her freshman year of high school, I started my senior year. So, being the younger, and opposite, version of me she had to have her own identity. So, lil pitt stuck and somehow big pitt developed.
While I never really “went” by it, I kind a liked it because I knew to be big pitt, lil pitt had to be just around the corner…and I’m a BIG fan of lil pitt.
So, sometime later when I developed a landing page for my shutterfly photo account, I came up with my own combination – “big pitt” and “pit stop” and mashed them together. Seemed like a cheeky little play on words in an emerging “personalized” website forum. Yes, I’m talking like 2004.
March of 2008 came and I found myself quickly needing to develop one of those “blog things” to communicate a series of information to a large and somewhat anonymous group of people. I wasn’t interested in inundating my Facebook followers with the news of my recent cancer diagnosis, but I was also tired of sharing the same thing over and over. So, as I typed in “blogspot.com” for the first time, I felt the pressure of forming a creative name that might not just be representative of this “time” in my life but would be personal enough to be a space only I could use for a long time.
Drunk on the emotion of a tough diagnosis, I was stripped of creativity and normal thinking so I just went with something I already had created – bigpittstop. Made sense. Seemed short. So I hit submit and my blog world opened.
It wasn’t until a week later, while I was having a conversation with a way more savvy communications friend that I realized an underscored play on words that had organically come about. Cancer (which we’ll talk about next week) wasn’t going to get me… it was just a pit stop.
I’m not sure what a pit stop is to you – might be a gas station, a scenic pull off, or a friendly visit along the way to somewhere else. If you’re a NASCAR fan, you know a pit stop as a place where cars go to change tires, repair mechanics or sometimes even change drivers; all of which are necessary for optimum performance.
Wikipedia can give you way more strategic analogies than my life experience may have found. We’ve all be there. We’ve all gone through things that don’t seem to make sense. Our mechanics may have needed repairing, the tread on our tires may be been a little worn and the standard crowbar may not have been enough to get our hubcaps replaced. But, afterall, life is just a journey of pit stops that we are moving through to refuel for the next part of the drive! Live your journey BIG!
I love to eat sushi, and so do most of my friends. It’s tasty, exotic, beautiful…sadly, it’s also expensive. I remember feeling flabbergasted when I realized that there were actually people who made their own sushi at home, but friends, I have become a believer. While I will always enjoy eating sushi out, making it at home is less expensive and super fun to do with a group of people. In fact, it’s become one of my favorite things to do when I’m getting together with friends.
There are plenty of wonderful step-by-step tutorials out there on the internet (the Pioneer Woman, for instance), and there are also plenty that will make you feel like you can’t make sushi unless you’ve trained under a chef. I’m going to tell you what you need to get started on your own sushi adventure, and give you the best piece of advice I have: don’t be intimidated. You’re not trying to be a sushi master, just have some yummy fun at home. Get a group of friends and get going!
You need a few things to get started. Fortunately, most of them are inexpensive:
· Bamboo sushi mats
· Sushi rice paddles
· Chopsticks
· Optional: sushi dishes & a rice cooker
Now, some of you that know what you are doing in this department are already gasping at me. I can hear you, aghast that I would say a rice cooker is optional. Here’s really what I mean: rice cookers can get pricey and I don’t want you to run out and buy one just to try making sushi. You can make sushi rice in a regular old pot. Try that first, or better yet, find a friend with a rice cooker and invite them to the sushi party. I do think the rice is better out of a cooker, but I am not going to complain if someone hands me sushi with rice from a pot. My mouth will be too full.
You will also need some condiments that you might not have in your pantry already:
· Rice vinegar
· Soy sauce
· Pickled ginger
· Wasabi
· Optional: Spicy mayo, Eel sauce
Wasabi is available as a paste or as a powder that you can mix yourself. You can buy pickled ginger and spicy mayo and eel sauce or you can make your own. You can get all of these things at an Asian market (they are usually cheaper here) or the international/Asian section of a larger grocery store.
Finally, you need the sushi ingredients:
· Roasted seaweed sheets (or nori)
· Sushi rice
· English cucumber (the long skinny ones)
· Avocado
· Salmon, imitation crab, tuna, or tempura shrimp
Let’s pause here because I know this looks overwhelming. If you’re just starting out, get a couple of mats and paddles, and divvy up the ingredients/condiments with your group. Maybe you just want to make one type of roll the first time; I would suggest grilling some salmon with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and rolling it with avocado and cucumber. Do some with just salmon and rice if you have kids around.
If you want to go bigger, get a couple of different types of seafood. For my last sushi party, we had grilled salmon (about a 3 lb slab from Sam’s), a package of imitation crab, and 2 boxes of tempura shrimp (from the frozen fish section). We rolled those with a combination of avocado, cucumber, and cream cheese. We also cooked 9 cups of sushi rice, because that’s the most our cooker will hold, and used about 25 sheets of seaweed. We ran out of rice first, but I actually like that, since it leaves some extra salmon and shrimp for those who might not like rolls as much.
Now it’s time to make sushi!
Prepare the rice: well before you want to roll, cook your rice, dump it into a large bowl and sprinkle it generously with rice vinegar. As you roll, keep that vinegar handy. We usually sprinkle it several times – you just want to make sure your rice has that slightly sour taste.
Prepare the fillings: grill your salmon, heat your shrimp in the oven, etc. Slice avocado and cucumber very thinly. Remember how fun this is for a group? There’s a job for everybody!
Roll: lay your seaweed on a mat, rough side up. Spread sushi rice on it with a paddle (or your fingers if you’d rather) and place your fillings in a line close to one side at the bottom of the mat. Then, bring the edge of the roll and mat up and over, and keep rolling the mat over the top of the sushi like this:
When you roll the mat all the way over, your roll will close, like this:
Cut: I find this works best with an electric knife. Arrange your beautiful rolls on plates. Eat the ends as you go. Bonus!
Eat: Make a beautiful plate complete with soy sauce, pickled ginger, spicy mayo, and wasabi. Be sure to instagram your fun and then enjoy!
If you’re still reading this post, here’s a fun fact for making it all the way through. At the gathering where I took these pictures, we fed 9 adults, 8 teenagers, and 3 younger kids – all of whom ate their fill – for about $15 a family (about $75 total). We even had 2 large Ziploc bags of leftovers for lunches the next day. We always have a great time, everyone in the kitchen cutting and rolling and laughing – I hope you’ll try a sushi party soon!
Sarabeth Jones is a creative at Fellowship North who enjoys all kinds of artistic work; her latest project is bringing the national live-reading show Listen To Your Mother to Little Rock. She lives in Sherwood with her husband, Bryan, and their kids, Elizabeth, Jonathan, and Will. She loves to write about they way they make her laugh on her blog, thedramatic.com.
By Talya of Grace, Grits, and Gardening
As the daughter of an Arkansas cotton farmer, Talya grew up making mudpies and does her best thinking wearing gardening gloves. Talya is passionate about writing and spends most days working on her first book and blogging at Grace Grits and Gardening. She and her husband, John, live in Dallas with their two miniature schnauzers, Lucy and Annabelle. They have two college age children – a Texas Longhorn and an Arkansas Razorback.
Written by Miss April 2014 Keisha Pittman of BigPittstop
Last Tuesday Northwest Arkansas experienced some crazy weather. As I was leaving town traveling to another part of the state I hit the crazy weather in waves. It was just beginning to rain as I left Rogers. By the time I got to Springdale, the clouds were gone and the sun was shining and in a matter of moments as I passed the Garland Ave exit coming in to Fayetteville, a series of dark clouds blew in and settled low.
With our topic this month on my mind and the wide open road of 540-S in front of me, I began to really think about life over the past 10 years. Somehow, the picture of my morning really seemed to play out. I’ve heard it said before of life that you are either in a valley, coming out of a valley, or about to head into one. Valleys, storms, sometimes they just kinda feel the same.
As a kid I can remember any time it rained, and the sun was out, I started looking for a rainbow. My dad is the one who helped me understand rainbows. Well, at least that when there was rain and sun, there had to be a rainbow somewhere. I’ve seen a full rainbow. One that stretches the horizon and makes you wonder if the pot of gold exists. And, I’ve seen the barely there rainbow; the one you have to get just in the right place to see.
You’re right; you know exactly where I’m going with this.
Life has a way of doing something very similar. We’ve all had the storm; a tough diagnosis, a change in family status, a big move or a trying day. Thunder, lighting, the big dark clouds. They all seem to roll in.
I’ve never been one much for a rainy day. Clouds make me tired, rain makes me wanna sleep and a combination of the 2 can just about put me in the sourest of moods. But, sunshine. I love sunshine. Vitamin D and I completely agree and I’m almost certain to have a big fat smile on my face when the sunny day rolls around.
But, life can’t be all sunshine and rainbows. Whether it’s to appreciate them when they come or to somehow know to distinguish the difference, we have to have to storms. We’ve gotta have the tough days, the trials, the hard times. For, it’s in those places that we discover the best of ourselves. We find out what we are made of and who will journey with us. We are refined.
April in Arkansas always tends to be a little treacherous. We spend a few more nights gathered close to the 10 o’clock news and loose a few good night of DVR space to recorded storm coverage. My life in April tends to feel something similar. Seasons change, life picks up and I somehow always go on record for declaring I’m going to cut something out that I never do.
I found it rather ironic last Tuesday, about 35 minutes into my drive Laura Story’s Blessingscame on the radio. If you are not familiar with the lyrics, the chorus says this:
What if your blessings come through raindrops?
What if your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know you’re here?
What if trials of this life, are your mercies in disguise?
Not one much for being a fan of lemons or lemonade, I think I’m operate from here on our under the mantra – When life brews up a storm, start looking for the rainbow! 
By Terra Maples of Ahoyfriend
This is vegetarian, pretty dang good for you, and oh so easy! So let’s get that Meatless Monday party started with this easy-to-adapt recipe.
I am a music loving, wine drinking, book reading, art making, dancing fool who transplanted to the hills of Northwest Arkansas from Kansas City in 2011 with my man and my mutts. Ahoyfriend is where I share my story and occasionally get on my soap box. It is also, and perhaps most importantly, home to daily photo posts from my best friend and me. I hope you will stop by!
If you don’t want to commit , you can just stalk me on Instagram (ahoyfriend) , Twitter and/or Pinterest.
Written by Natalie of Great Contraditctions
As Winter is starting to transition into Spring, we are taking the time to enjoy being outside. I have been trying to be a gardener for a while now. Gardening is definitely an art form I have come to appreciate as my meditation from life’s stresses. I have a few tricks that I have learned along the way that can hopefully help you find your joy in gardening. Once I got a little more confident in my abilities, I brought the whole family on board. My boys love seeing what is happening in the garden. We talk about what we find, what do we want to make with the foods, and what we want to grow next. We talk about why bees are good (like that our strawberry plants would not produce berries without their pollination help). We talk about why we love the rain despite having to stay inside because it helps our garden grow. Something that started out as a personal escape has turned into a bonding experience for our family to engage even more in healthier living.
Getting started: Think about your limitations! Do you travel a lot? Have inconsistent schedules? Let’s be honest…are you forgetful? If you want it to work you have to find plants that work with your limitations. I am the forgetful gardener.
*Starting with some forgiving plants like succulent plants can give you instant gratification. My personal low maintenance favorites are sticks of fire {featured in picture below on left) and crown of thorns cactus (on right). While typically you may think of just plain green and boring, these varieties are more than that! Sticks of fire are smooth green sticks that turn red with sunlight. Crown of thorns have small pink flowers that add some softness to this thorny cactus.
*I have learned to accept help like from a soaker hose to save me from having to personally water the whole garden by hand and automatic timers when we travel.
*As well as setting daily alarms to remind me
*There is no shame in being on a budget when gardening. Gardening can save you money on regular meal staples. Also keep your maintanence costs down by making your own compost bin or rainwater barrel while doing sustainable gardening practices.
Finding happiness in your yard no matter how big or small
Due to us moving every few years, I have been a huge fan of container gardening. I find happiness in seeing how far I have come that I can’t leave my babies behind. Now that we have 2 glorious acres for gardening, I have expanded.
Some of my favorite container plants: Tomatoes, Peppers, herbs, and blueberry bushes
If you have even a little bit of space, raised garden beds are amazing for edible gardening. We currently have greens, herbs, and strawberries visible as well as carrots and radishes waiting to sprout. I find it amazing that in such a small corner of our yard we can grow all of that delicious food!
Getting over the fear of failure
Gardening is not about perfection. As in everything else, gardening is about the journey and the joy it brings. The feeling I get when I walk out my backdoor is pure relaxation. I may get a dirty out in the garden, but that is proof of my hardwork. Just digging your hands in the dirt soaking up the sunshine is amazing!
Here is the most important tip in all of this…
The world is not over if you kill a plant. Actually I would say that it makes you human. The police will not come to arrest you for plant murder. Just regroup and try again! If you notice, we had a dead cabbage plant in our raised bed. It happens!
Natalie Zanatta is the mom of 3 wonderful boys who recently moved to Central Arkansas. Natalie writes about healthy living covering gluten free cooking (due to Celiac Disease), DIY, gardening, fashion/beauty, and more to help us all be healthier inside and out. Check out her blog Great Contradictions to be inspired!
By Shannon of nwaMotherlode
Shannon Magsam is co-founder of nwaMotherlode.com, a website for mamas in Northwest Arkansas, and NWA Mom Prom, the ultimate girls’ night out (happening on April 26th this year!). Shannon also moonlights as a freelance writer and PR specialist for a Fayetteville-based global firm. She was previously a newspaper reporter covering a broad range of topics, including crime, courts, business, education and food. Shannon and her husband, John, are lovin’ life with their 12-year-old daughter, three chickens, two cats, and 1 standard poodle.
