Beginnings....

Hello and Welcome! Thanks again for visiting the Adventures in Abundance blog.

I have been debating for a few weeks now on whether or not to start a blog. I love reading other blogs and getting ideas/inspirations from them. However to begin your own is rather daunting.

I decided to name this blog adventures in abundance due to lately my life seems full of adventures and changes. They may not be the prior grand schemes that I plotted away with my husband, but are really internal adventures. I choose abundance because recent life changes (job losses, etc.) has lead me to contemplate the meaning. My horoscope today really sums it up:

You may have entered a financial "Twilight Zone," and nothing you do right now makes much sense of your current fiscal picture. Even the simplest decision about buying something you need might set a whole sequence of events into place, culminating in your realization that you don't have an endless supply of money. Today the idea of manifesting abundance may be easier to come by than actually having enough to get what you want.

The focus of this blog will probably be random - but let me overview some of my interests:

Cooking - I adore cooking and search the web endlessly for recipes and ideas. Since financially we have to tighten down the money bag I have cooked more at home so of course that increases the joy of cooking even more (except the dish washing part). I believe Top Chef has increased my culinary arts skills. I am excited about the Slow Food movement and believe buying local is more important than buying organic. Oh yes I said that! But I digress...

Camping/Backpacking - this is a joint effort from both my husband and myself, however Michigan winters do stalemate the adventures. There is nothing like being outdoors, getting dirty, and hiking through the woods.

Photography/Natural World - I love photography, however feel that I am not quite up to par as most people. I use to have skills, even worked in a dark room for a few years in high school, however the skills fell to the waste side. Instead I enjoy the visual stimulation of looking at others' works.

Scrapbooking/Card Making/Knitting - I have just stumbled on the joys of scrapbooking and card making due to my recent nuptials and large quantities of wedding pictures. There's something to be said about large amounts of paper/stickers/glue/pictures that just get me. It's like being a kid again with your own grownup sticker collection. Knitting was a past time I partaked in last winter and quickly forgot this winter. Hopefully I will begin again and appreciate any encouragement or ideas on either subject!

Reading - I was named bookworm in elementary school (really fantastic for a girl with glasses, curly hair, and braces, eh?) and that has carried on throughout my life. I don't know how many times I have spent hours in Borders or Barnes & Nobles looking for books, until someone rescued me.

Feminism/Social Justice Issues/Poverty issues - To not disclose too much I must add that I am a social worker graduate student. I have been a feminist since I picked up my first copy of the Feminist Mystique when I was 16. Changed my life! I have definetly calmed down over the past years but due appreciate a good protest & my bimonthly Bust subscriptions. As I work more in the field, issues regarding people who live in poverty or low income really touch home with me. I would go off on this subject, but I want to keep the intro brief.

I am sure there is more, but the blog will have to unravel these adventures!
** I do have to place a disclaimer here. This blog is for personal enjoyment and I do not present myself as a professional writer. So please any comments discussing the validity of my statements, grammer inadequacies, or failure to provide witty comentary can be placed elsewhere, unless provided as constructive criticism. Also I am pretty new at this blog thing. **