Helen Jane

Hooray hooray! We’re in the home stretch.

Keep your eyes peeled, as we’re posting 20 more by Tuesday.

I’m thankful for you!

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More Graces - Can't wait to hear what you're thankful for.

Because we need them more than ever.

This week, I’m catching up, posting graces on Instagram and here.

Can’t wait to hear what you’re thankful for.

All #100graces, join me for some universal appreciating.

I spent last week in North Carolina for training – it was gorgeous and the people were very, very nice. This means I have a grateful dump for you today.

Wait. That didn’t come out right.

What I mean to say is that I’ve posted all the rest of the #100graces to catch up. Now I can post one on Instagram every day going forward. I love you all.

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This year I’m…

Hello! If you follow me on Instagram, you know I’m taking part in the 100 Days project from Elle Luna. Thanks to a trip to Green Bay, Mom 2.0 and a new job (!!!) I got a little behind. No matter! Instead of clogging your Insta-feed with pre-meal graces, I’m catching up here.

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Hello! If you follow me on Instagram, you know I’m taking part in the 100 Days project from Elle Luna. Thanks to a trip to Green Bay, Mom 2.0 and a new job (!!!) I got a little behind.

No matter! Instead of clogging your Insta-feed with pre-meal graces, I’m catching up here. Thanks for indulging me!

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Last month, I worked very hard on my animated video submission to The F Word video contest. The video was about “What Feminism Means to Me” When I went to upload my video, I realized that I’d misread the rules, and had missed the deadline due to the difference between EST and PST. I cried pretty hard that night. But just because I didn’t enter the contest doesn’t mean you can’t meet my…

Look inside or outside my passion hole, either way is fine with me.

I wanted to write every day last month. Then I didn’t.

There have been a lot of moments like that in the past year. Got a smidge of the mid-life crisis, suddenly thrown into a panic about what the hell was I even doing.

What was I even doing?

I’ve battled professional ennui for about 2 years, but this was a full-blown seizing up. I couldn’t get projects done, I was always busy with nothing…

Mustard season is here.

In wine country, this time of year brings the runny noses, the deep coughs and the irritable allergy response from the pollen in the air.

And it’s glorious.

This weekend, we celebrated the Superb Owl by taking our yearly photos in the mustard flowers. This weekend, I watched my friend Kristen targeted by internet commenters about the way she shares her family online.

The words we currently have…

It has been raining.

And it is glorious.

It's time to make my peach coconut granola recipe. You're going to like it.

I feel like this should be said in the tone of the Law & Order beginning. (Indulge me.)

Every year, we make granola for our friends and family. This is our recipe

This granola is perfect on thick yogurt. I’m currently loving it with blueberry Noosa, but you could love it with a Gogurt. I won’t judge, it’s your life, your yogurt.

Ingredients 3 cups oatmeal 1 cup almonds 1 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup…

If your eye's been offending you, pluck it the hell out...

A few weeks before I quit the church*, the priest talked about that cheerful old passage from Matthew 18:9 with that golden nut, “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out.” It’s a doozy, and easy to skim over if you’re not religious like I’m not religious. But something in his talk resonated with me. Since I have this internet weblog, I wanted to unpack it here.

Here’s the text he…

Every day in February, I'm posting. Join me for cultural irrelevancy, recipes and uncomfortable shifting.

I guess I understand boomers now.

When I was in college, and those 40 somethings waxed on about how music just isn’t the same anymore, man. The spirit of music is just so hollow, man. The zeitgeist doesn’t make sense anymore, man.

I couldn’t understand them, those Baby Boomers.

My response was always, like duh, things change. Things curve towards my cute 20 year old body, so get with the program,…

2015 Recap, 2016 Resolvations. We got this.

Goodbye 2015! You are done now! It was a put your head down and push against the boulder year for me. Was it like that for you? Probably.

Work trips and counter wipedowns. Procrastination and avoidance. Some really terrible phone interviews.

In 2015, I started exercising for real. Between my Tuesday and Thursday workout group and my three times a week barre class, I found strength I didn’t know…

Meal plan, this week. Tons of fixins. You got that right. #mealplan

This week, we’re prepping fixins galore. I missed the heck out California cuisine after 8 days in the delicious Midwest.

Did you know that we end up sticking to the meal plan about 60% on average? (That’s right, only about 60%)

See you at BlogHer Food!

This week, I’ll be speaking on a panel at BlogHer Food. I’m going to be up there with Danielle Wiley from Sway Group and Beth Lee from OMG Yummy.  We’re talking about making a business plan, JUST LIKE A REAL BUSINESS PLAN. Except for your blog. (Like a real business.)

After the conference, we’re headed back to the motherland, Wisconsin, to spend some time with my parents in their assisted living…

Cool and cozy all at the same time, it's Helen Jane's Apple Crisp Sipper.

My first apartment. Winter in Wisconsin. Homesick.

During a particularly brutal winter, in those early grown-up years, I learned to bake apple crisp.

The ingredients? Inexpensive staples. The outcome? warm and loving.

Now that I’m in sunny Napa Valley, November temperatures can reach the nineties. So when I’m craving something cold and cozy, spiced andsweet, fresh yet comforting, I make this…