By this point, we know there are no shortage of things I love about my Day Designer. But one in particular, one you might not pick up on while watching me prattle on about it for a whopping 7.5 minutes, is that it’s centered on your strengths. I’ve made subtle changes to my to-do lists over the years along similar lines. They no longer contain things I think I should do, but don’t want to do. Or things I think I’m not so great at, but want to get better at. That just sets me up for failure. My Day Designer took that strength-centered approach to the next level, which I discovered as I worked through the pages in the beginning. There is no place in the book for things you are terrible at now, but want to do better someday. In the book, you list your strengths, and you list your goals and dreams. And those are things you might have to work for. But there’s nowhere to take something that is a struggle, and try to turn it into something bright and sunshiney. That’s a different kind of work entirely. That’s misery. Whitney English has no time for that. She tells you to find what you love, and to do it more. I have to think when you live it that way, the rest of life will take care of itself.
You play to your successes, and they build on each other.
Elise takes a similar approach when she shares the first month’s progress on her #eliselovesmornings Instagram project.
{I am having fun with this because I love mornings. I’ve had a few comments along the “I wish I loved mornings” variety and my response to that is “Why?” If you don’t love mornings that’s no big deal. Don’t waste time wishing you love anything and instead think about something you already love and celebrate that.}
Celebrate. There’s that word again.
After a couple recent kitchen fails, I decided I needed to get out of my little rut. I read this post about sneaking away to the kitchen to make sprinkle cookies for breakfast, and I realized that idea was right on. A “snow” day today was the perfect time to make it happen. These cookies are so simple, I knew I couldn’t fail. Adding 3/4 C rainbow sprinkles to sugar cookies? OMG! It’s like they’re smiling back at you. I used Averie’s recipe. Celebrate, indeed.
To make a couple dozen, you will need:
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1 egg
- 3/4 C sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 1 1/2 C flour
- 2 tsp. corn starch
- 3/4 tsp. baking soda
- pinch salt
- 3/4 C rainbow sprinkles
Mix butter, egg, sugar, and vanilla in bowl of mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Let mixer run for 5 minutes. Timing is everything here, dear readers. You want everything to be light and fluffy, like so.
That means you really have to wait 5 minutes, stopping only to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. I find it helps to do an annoying kitchen task that I would otherwise roll my eyes at. This time around, I unloaded the dishwasher. It only took 5 minutes. 5 minutes! Why do I dread it so much if it only really takes 5 minutes? Ugh, I’m a pain.
Add flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt, and mix just till combined. Fold in sprinkles by hand. Refrigerate dough, at least 2 hours, or overnight. Also, who waits overnight to bake cookies? I don’t have that kind of patience. If you do, and you do leave it overnight, let the dough come to room temperature about 15 minutes before you scoop it out.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line baking sheet with parchment. Scoop out heaping mounds of dough (Averie uses a 2-inch cookie scoop) onto baking sheet, and spread cookies about two inches apart. Bake 8 minutes, until tops are just beginning to set. These are soft-baked cookies, so you don’t want to bake them much longer. The dough will settle and cook a bit more once you set them on the stovetop. Let cookies cool on baking sheet about 5 minutes, and then remove and cool completely on wire rack.
Scarf down as many as you can in a short time. Because they’re that good, and because RAINBOW SPRINKLES!!!!
a glass of milk 