Adopt, don't shop

Today on Lightstyle I would like to talk about something that's very dear to my heart. ARF animal shelter in Walnut Creek is offering free adoptions through June 11th. We adopted our fluffy love at Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation over a year ago and couldn't be happier with the service and the entire adoption process they offer. 

Let me tell you why you should go take a look for yourself, by telling you a little story. 

Communication 101

Improve your communication

and conflict resolving abilities

First of all, let's look at what communication is exactly. The most basic way to describe communication is the conveyance of a message from a sender to a receiver.
Staticly it looks like this:

As communication is a very complicated process, there are many other factors that influence how and if a message is received and also if it's received correctly.

Austrian Kaiserschmarrn

Every winter growing up, my parents and I would make the 9hr drive from our home town in Holland to our second home town in Austria; Hopfgarten. That sounds like a long drive, but to us it was so worth it. Nine hours in the car for ten straight days in the snow. 

These weeks were by far my favorite time of the year. No school, no work, just me and my parents in the snow. Skiing to our hearts content. And eating to our hearts content, because man was the food amazing. Wiener schnitzels, germ knödel, pom frites, Tiroler Gröstl, Brixentaler knoblauch suppe. And my all time favorite Austrian dish, Kaiserschmarrn. I would eat this every single day. Although technically a sweet dessert, I would have this for lunch, breakfast, dinner or desert. It didn't matter as long as I had it at least once a day. 

Maria Susanna de Bruijn - Kamperman

Maria Susanna de Bruijn - Kamperman 

The remarkable woman I was named after. (Marjolein Susanna Alida van Leeuwen was the name my parents gave me at birth). 

I couldn't be more proud to carry my grandmothers name. 

Slow cooked BBQ pulled pork sliders

 

Slow cooked BBQ pulled pork

This is a favorite recipe of mine for any potluck, BBQ or game time party. It's very easy to make (hurray for crockpots!) and if you serve it with sliders also looks super festive.