"Mediocre people do exceptional things all the time"

The world seems to be getting more and more cutthroat. Sure, there are more opportunities, greater technology to reach a bigger audience, but it also seems more difficult?...daunting?...harder to leave your mark?

Think about it: it seems that everyone has their own etsy shop. Everyone dabbles in photography, art, or making some kind of product. If youre a blogger, someone has already written it (and they wrote it better). I feel like the arts are becoming like Mary Kay. Everyone's selling it, so where's the opportunity for someone to leave their mark?

Ok, so artistic styles differ compared to standard Mary Kay products, but the concept feels the same. The doubts are the same - what's different about what I have to offer? It's enough to make me want to give up before I've even started.

Yet, as human beings, we all have an innate desire - or even a need - to create. Whether it's a piece of art, a photo, a meal, an accessory, an item of clothing, a song, we all want to create something that didn't exist before. We want to leave our mark. But...what do we do when there is no more room on the canvas that is life. Or when all the marks on it seem the same that ours won't even stand out? How do we make our voices heard? How do we continue to create when every message we hear tells us "why bother"?

I think what I want to know most of all is, what even is my voice? What do I want to leave the world? Am I a writer, an artist, a craftsperson, a photographer, a stylist, a chef, a DIY queen?

To echo Sondheim, "what I want most of all is to know what I want."

Fancy

Feeling 33

On my list of things to do before I turn 33, one of them was to make a soufflé. I'm not sure why, they just always sound so fancy and elegant, and it makes you sound like you know your way around a kitchen. Think about it, someone asks, "what did you make for dessert?" You say, "oh, I made some brownies." Sounds yummy, but it's pretty common (not that that's a bad thing. I'm never going t turn down brownies!). Now, if someone says they made a soufflé for dessert, my eyes widen and my voice gets all high and I go, "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!" Sort of like the green aliens' reaction in "Toy Story" only much higher. They just sound so classy and sophisticated.

Using an "easy" recipe I found on Pinterest, I attempted these mini individual chocolate soufflés for me and the hubby.

Despite my lack of kitchen counter space, I managed to follow all the steps and watch with wonder as the egg whites became all fluffy. (And let me add, phrases such as "do not overbeat" and "fold gently into the mixture" fill me with terror because I have a tendency to over do things when it comes to cooking.)

Using my beautiful bright pink Kitchen Aid mixer (thanks, Steve and Dad!) and the mini ramekins that we got for our wedding, the soufflés turned out light and fluffy - they tasted like a warm chocolate marshmallow cake.

Note: my hubby's soufflés DID collapse as it sat for a while before he got home from work, but I managed to get some pictures of the soufflés immediately before and after they were in the oven.

I'd say they were a success for my first soufflés. Cross that off the bucket list!