It's all about The Dirt:

This was part of the Banff Mountain Film Festival that I saw in Durango a couple of weeks ago. This amazing picture and other short films took me to ends of the Earth on things like a bike, skis, parachute, and rowboat with all the moments of elation and pitfalls.

If this film festival is in your area and you love adventure, it’s a must see. I’m signing off to a snowy winter with lots of sweet pow, and hopefully next year we’ll have just the same (or maybe more). Injoy…

“Have you ever found gold?
Was it under a shining mountain?
Was it high in a gleaming castle?
Have you ever found gold just by looking in someone’s heart?

Gold makes you rich.
But one kind of gold
is worth more than all others.
It isn’t the gold you can spend, wear or hold…

It’s the kind you can find in a friend.

First you have to look for gold dust.
Maybe you’ve seen it
on the cheeks
of someone smiling at you.

Have you seen gold on helping hands?
On lips that say “You’re dear”?

Perhaps you’ve seen it
on the shoes of someone coming
when you need somebody near.

Sometimes gold dust doesn’t show.

Then you have to look closer and dig deeper.
But if you believe that you’ll find gold inside,
chances are you will.

If you give up too soon,
you may miss buried treasure.

It may take some time to find gold.
But it starts to shine
when you and a friend trade
secret secrets…

or dream silently together…
when you’re together sharing,
pleasing, caring,
in sad and happy weather.

When you see your smile
on someone else’s face,
you’ve just discovered gold.

For a friend is the most precious discovery of all.

And you’ll know that’s true,
when you know a friend
has found gold in you.”

This tiny picture book was given to my mom from a friend, then passed onto my two girls. They carry it everywhere as one of their “treasure” books, so I finally stopped to read it. I’m glad I did…

This is a quick pause to thank my sweet friends for the times they are in my life, who they are, and what they’ve given me. xo.

(Photo credit)

As I wrote a response to a blog post, it kicked off my own post.

Here it goes: I was a sugar junkie most of my life, with a knee-jerk reaction to candy bowls and the five desserts at every family party. Sweets ruled, and so did my irritability, blood sugar swings and cravings. The book “Sugar Blues” by William Duffy always resided in my thoughts, and finally I made the plunge to cut the sugar cold turkey.

Growing up with an alcoholic father was actually a twisted gift. He gravitated to a beer or a glass of wine (several, I should say), and if it wasn’t that, it was chocolate or candy. After dinner, there was always an unwritten rule that the staple box of “Fannie May” chocolates would soon be ripped open and devoured. Marching orders from my dad were sent from the basement to the frig to cure the sweet tooth. Or almost always, it was a big bowl of Breyers vanilla ice cream with Ovaltine on top.

To this day, it still makes my mouth water. But if I actually tasted it right now, I’d probably gag because it tastes so sweet!

Sorry, I need to take a break here and go down “Candy Cane lane”. Here were some of my faves:

♦ Lick-m-stixs or Lick-m-aid (I usually ate the stick before I finished the powder)

♦ Candy buttons (great to choke on)

♦ Sponge candy (a family tradition that is guaranteed a cavity or two)

♦ Rock candy (a must on the chair lift skiing in Colorado…multi-colored was best)

♦ Flying saucer wafers

♦ Botan rice candy (when we went for Chinese or Japanese food…we were eating paper!)

♦ Swedish Fish (blue ones were my favorite…blue fish?)

♦ Black Licorice (My aunt Meliss and I always ate the black jelly beans at Easter that no one wanted)

♦ Buttered popcorn Jelly Bellys

♦ Malted milk balls (by the carton)

♦ Marshmallow Peeps (sat opened for weeks to get stale, but they don’t get stale anymore…why? Maybe there are some sort of plasticizers in there.)

♦ Chocolate Necco wafers (the other flavors were used to pay tolls at the toll booth)

♦ Pop Rocks (probably the coolest oral scientific experiment ever!)

Going back, my childhood evolved around candy. No wonder my mouth is bombed out with fillings!

What were your favorite sweets?
And what symbolic meanings do they have?
How are they attached to your childhood memories?

(Candyland Photo credit)
(“Candy for Children” Photo credit)
(Box of Candy Photo Credit)

Stay tuned for part II of my sugar junkie confessions: Burst my Dubble Bubble

Fragile little flower
So gentle, so pure
You cast your blooming spell
upon me,
for sure

Fuzzy & soft
inside your center,
Yet silky your petals are to touch,
You rock me
to my core,
I adore you
so much

Veins of strength within you,
Held up by your stem of steel,
Sweetly bending
out of the mossy stone,
I’m in awe of your touch and feel

Your subtle colors,
Your innocent size,
Increase your boldness
To emphasize…

Your contagious love,
Your potent
aura,
Your radiant existence,
All revealing you are magnanimous flora

~Julie Feilen

So thankful to have images that truly capture the moment:
Images © Andrew Welyczko