Sharing Thanks

Fresh herb garden at Barilla's new restaurant in New York City I love cooking with fresh spices. Had a wonderful lunch with my girl friends at Academia Barilla Restaurant on 52nd St and Avenue of the America's. Loved the wonderful aroma of fresh basil, oregano, and rosemary wafting through this affordable restaurant. I have fresh mint and basil in growing outside on my patio. Thankful for making spaghetti with meat sauce with my fresh basil! Love the simplicity and flavors of a home cooked meal. Thankful for fresh mint in my home made ice tea. I love Lipton's cold tea bags so I can make home brewed ice tea. Fresh mint, slices of lemon, and a hint of sugar and voila home made ice tea. The taste of summer. Thankful to have lunch out with the ladies! Love finding affordable, fun places to eat in NYC! Thankful to find this draft blog post I started and being able to finish it. I love writing some gratitude about an experience I had with my girlfriends months ago. Grea

Word art by Daniel Patrick Helmstetter I want these beautiful plates and sayings for my kitchen! I was lucky to grow up in a house where creativity was encouraged and appreciated. My mom is an artist, photographer and teacher! I am also fortunate to have good friends who thrive on creativity and love to go to art shows and museums. My friend Liz was fortunate to get passes for us to go to the Fountain Art Fair at the armory on Saturday. The Fountain Art Fair was founded in 2006 and showcases the talents of smaller independent galleries, collectives and artists so they can reach a wider audience of collectors and critics. What I loved about visiting the show was the opportunity to talk to some of the artists themselves. It is fascinating for me to hear about the process that goes into their works. I met an artist who paints on fire treated papers.I met an artist, Joshua Knoblick who creates sculpture from pictures of sounds of famous quotes. It is uplifting to meet people who are pa