About

Hey guys. These pages are filled with my life, my family and friends, and the adventures we have shared and the memories we have made. It all started as a way to share family recipes and photographs with family and friends.  It turns out I have a lot more to pass on than just recipes and photographs.  So here we are.  Here I can share my passion for my family, travel, food, and photography.

I can’t remember when I fell in love with cooking. It seems like forever ago.

I’m not a trained chef but I’m a really good cook. In fact, my husband jokes that’s how I got him to marry me.

The kitchen has been the heart and soul of our homes. My childhood home, my adult home, and now my children’s homes. It’s comfortable. It’s warm. It’s where I baked cookies with my mother and grandmother. And fought with my sisters to lick the bowl. Treasured family recipes that become more and more treasured as we make them over and over again with family and friends. And every time I make those recipes, I think of Mother and Mamaw. And they are with me.

Over the years my sisters and I would call Mother or Mamaw for “the” recipe. And later, each other. We would dig out the handwritten recipe from Mother or Mamaw’s recipe box. I’ve been talking about compiling family recipes and holiday menus into a book, forever! Then about 15 years, I started getting emails or texts from my son. “Mom, what’s the recipe?” And just like that, I was digital!  Some of my favorite recipes for family gatherings and special occasions came from Mother and Mamaw.

Sharing a meal with someone is one of life’s greatest pleasures. For me, food isn’t about perfection. It’s about love and family and tradition.

Travel is something that I’ve fallen in love with over and over again.

I travel. A lot. My love of travel came from my father. He grew up in Mexico and traveled most of South America as a young professional. I remember watching slides and hearing stories of faraway places. He had a subscription to National Geographic and I devoured every issue. It all seemed so magical and mysterious. I knew at a young age I wanted to learn about the world by seeing it through my own eyes. My first big trip to Mexico, with my father for my high school graduation, let me experience the magic of another country, its people, and its culture. But it also opened my eyes to global poverty.  I want my children and grandchildren to learn what I learned through that trip. I want them to learn kindness and empathy and compassion. And philanthropy.

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”

Things I love –

My Family. Being someone’s wife, someone’s mother, someone’s grandmother, and someone’s sister.

My Friends. New and old. People are amazed that I still get together with my grade school and high school friends.

• Cooking for my family and friends
• Photography
• The Eagles
• The Ocean – A room with a view
• Mexico – It’s in my blood
• Roses
• Pearls
• Starry Nights
• Whales
• Watching mindless TV with my husband (I love that he watches Hallmark with me)
• Pink

Shelley’s Bucket List (In No Particular Order)

• Be awed by The Northern Lights
• Dance at my son’s wedding
• Lay flowers on my paternal grandparent’s graves in Chihuahua, Mexico
• Visit all of the National Parks (Allan’s Bucket List)
• Cruise The Baltic Sea from Amsterdam to Saint Petersburg
• French Polynesia
• Visit my roots – Scotland and England and Ireland
• Visit Allan’s roots – Eastern Europe √
• Trek the Inca Train (perhaps take the train) √
• Patagonia
• Spend a month (two weeks) Under the Tuscan Sun √
• African Photographic Safari √
• Australia √
• Iceland