recipe | cinnamon shortbread cookies

I always love to have shortbread cookies with hot tea in a pretty little tea cup... I can pretend that I am in England and it's afternoon tea time! I usually like to just buy the Girl Scout shortbread cookies, but this year I decided to make my own! As it turns out, these homemade shortbread cookies taste much better the Girl Scout version. And they are so easy to make, with only 4 ingredients. The cinnamon was the perfect touch to compliment my favorite tea.

Recipe: Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients…

1½ cups Butter, softened
1 cup Powdered Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon
3 cups All-purpose Flour

Directions…

 Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until smooth. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar and cinnamon. Then, gradually mix in the flour, until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as you mix.

Sprinkle a clean counter top with flour and roll out the dough to be about ¼ inch thick. Use additional flour, as needed. Use a cookie cutter to create your desired shape or just cut the dough into squares. Place the cookies on to a cookie sheet, covered with parchment paper.

 Bake for 12-15 minutes or until they are just barely golden. Place cookies on a wire rack to cool.

Pour a cup of tea and enjoy!

photography | lilac blooms, part three

By now you can see how obsessed I am with taking photos of lilacs... 

This time I cut some to bring inside!!

photography | lilac blooms, part two

This morning, I enjoyed a cup of hot tea on the deck, smelling the lilacs and taking more photos!

They are still so beautiful. I wish they would last forever.

Oh, I just never get tired of these little beauties...

photography | lilac blooms, part one

Lilacs are my favorite!! These are from my favorite lilac bush in my backyard.

photography & thoughts | new life has come...

"But new life is only possible when the old life dies. There is always death before resurrection."

 //  quote by Emily P. Freeman, from her book, A Million Little Ways  //

I am currently reading A Million Little Ways by Emily P. Freeman. I am only 32% through it on my kindle, but I can already say how good it is! The quote above came at such an appropriate time, as it is almost Easter, and I have been thinking a lot about Christ's death and resurrection. Also, lately I have been going through the SheReadsTruth Lent study, which has really helped me to focus my thoughts on Christ over the past 40+ days. The older I have gotten the more I have enjoyed Easter for what it truly represents. In Christ alone, Him taking our sin to the cross, we are washed clean. In Christ alone, His resurrection, we can know that we are free from death and sin.

In Christ alone, new life has come and there is hope!

fyi... I took these photos last week, when I took an afternoon trip to the zoo. I really enjoyed looking around for all the little bits of spring popping up. This is such a special and beautiful time of year!

photography | march snow

These snowy shots were taken back in mid-March, thankfully not today!! That morning, I remember waking up to these big snow flakes covering all the tree branches and of course I had to go out for photos. I was really happy I did because the wind would blow the flakes off the branches and with the sunshine, it was really pretty! Now that April is here, the trees have little buds and baby leaves growing (YAY) but I figured I better post these snowy photos now, or else I wouldn't at all. Even though I definitely have "spring-fever", but I can still appreciate the beauty of snow!