Julie's Musings | Julie Saffrin

5 Spring Reads

April 16, 2015 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

<a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13965849/?claim=53dccu8dvf2″>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a> My husband knows how much I hate winter in Minnesota. So, he proposed we take one week each in January, February and March to get away to a warmer climate. I think I’ve found a cure for my winter blues. During my times away I had a lot of time to catch up on reading. Here are my favorites: 1. If You Find This Letter by Hannah Brencher I read this book in two days. It’s Hannah Brencher’s non-fiction story of how she sets out to be not another number in the cog in the current…

The Connect Retreat: The Resilient Survivor April 8 through April 10, 2015 for women cancer survivors and those with them on their journey

March 18, 2015 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

The Resilient Survivor | https://juliesaffrin.com

So grateful and very much looking forward to being with some incredible women on April 8 through April 10, 2015. If you are a woman at work on cancer surviving, or are someone who has walked alongside a family member or friend through her journey, consider signing up for this retreat. You will come away rested, refreshed, and resilient.

From Trial to Triumph: One Woman’s Response When Cancer Came

March 13, 2015 • Julie Saffrin • 2 Comments

As my time grows closer to being with women April 8th through April 10th at The Connect Retreat: The Resilient Survivor put on by Allina Health Buffalo Hospital, I wanted to post something from the point of view of a cancer survivor. Here is the pdf brochure for The Connect Retreat if you are interested in attending this wonderful retreat. I think you will find the following essay one that is both powerful and moving. It is written by Theresa Montgomery*. Theresa wrote this essay to her family and close friends both as a way to process her thoughts as she journeyed through cancer…

Easter Egg Decorating

March 12, 2015 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

Easter Egg Decorations | https://juliesaffrin.com

Twenty years ago next month I made Easter eggs based on an article about Ornamental Eggs in the April 1995 Martha Stewart Living magazine. My sons were not quite 4, 7 and 10 and they enjoyed creating them as much as I did. As Ms. Stewart says in her article, Easter eggs are as beautiful as Christmas decorations and should last just as long as those we hang on a tree. Our Easter eggs have preserved well. Every year I store them in several egg cartons to protect them. While Ms. Stewart suggests purchasing an egg blower, I used a long…

blessing for the new year

December 31, 2014 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

New Year Blessings | https://juliesaffrin.com

A Modern Christmas Tradition: Bundt Pan Rice Krispies Wreath

December 16, 2014 • Julie Saffrin • 1 Comment

Julie Saffrin's Christmas Wreath | https://juliesaffrin.com

December 16, 2014 In my post of December 15, 2014, I wrote about Christmas baking traditions from years gone by. Today’s blog post is about a new baking tradition I created about 10 years ago: A Christmas wreath made using a bundt pan. This post is for my friend, Nancy Biber, who always requests that I make a holiday wreath for our holiday gift exchange. Happy Hanukkah, Nancy! Creating a wreath began when I fell in love with Rice Krispie bars and the little green Christmas wreaths made from cereal. And while Rice Krispie bars are easy to make, I never had…

Christmas Traditions of Norway: Sandbakkels and Krumkake

December 15, 2014 • Julie Saffrin • 3 Comments

sandbakkels and krumkake | https://juliesaffrin.com

December 2014 At Christmastime, my Norwegian grandmother, Alma Score Otto, took the Greyhound bus from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, to our Bloomington, Minnesota home. She carried one suitcase and a round old tin the size of a Tupperware cake carrier. Dad carried her suitcase, but she did not allow him to carry the tin. She guarded that tin with her life. Inside, between sheets of wax paper, lay dozens of fragile and delicious homemade sandbakkels and krumkake. To this day my Christmas tradition includes making sandbakkels and krumkake and, like my grandma, I guard the tin I store them in with my life. I freeze…

Gert’s Fantastic Brownies

November 19, 2014 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

Gert Saffrin’s Fantastic Brownies November 19, 2014 Unfortunately, the above image is the only evidence I have that Gert’s Fantastic Brownies are worth your time to make. Yesterday marked two events. A birthday celebration for my first born, Sam (affectionately called Sammy) and what would have been my mother-in-law, Gert Saffrin’s 96th birthday. Sammy’s dinner wish was shredded beef tacos, cole slaw, brownies and Kemp’s Moose Tracks ice cream. He received his wish with some hors d’ourvres tossed in. Here was the menu, with links to the recipes. Appetizer, Layered Ranch Dip – recipe is from Holly Lofthouse’s website Life in the…

Summertime Whatevers

October 29, 2014 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

Julie Saffrin on the way to the pontoon | www.juliesaffrin.com

I water-taxi to Dead Lake’s North Bay. As I set off from my dock, I feel as though I am taking my dog to the vet to be put down. I hope the wind dries my tears before I reach the access so no one will know this silly woman cries when she says a seasonal good-bye to her pontoon. Around every cluster of reeds I navigate and every downed leaf I pass along my liquid road, I grow closer to the boat access and our Quonset hut where the pontoon will hibernate until it’s “ice out.” Last year, the…

New Book by Julie Saffrin: “Kissing the Shoreline: Quotes and Reflections to Live By”

September 8, 2014 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

KissingtheShoreline | https://juliesaffrin.com

Two seemingly unrelated things happened in the summer of 2014. 1. My birthday. 2. Being restlessly perturbed. Converging upheavals tend to disturb life’s even keel. I was a year older in June and questioned what I had done to show for it. I did what I always do when upheavals pile up. I go into semi-seclusion and reach for a book. In this case, one of Julia Cameron’s. A random open and two words in I found the reason for my funk. “Finish something.” It comes easy to me to start something. As well, I consider myself an in-process person.…

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