Caramel Butterscotch Cookie Bars

Caramel Butterscotch Cookie Bars ~ Basic cookie recipe made over with butterscotch chips and decadent caramel sauce baked in and drizzled on top.We spend so much time thinking about the big things in life. The wedding instead of the marriage. The big game instead of daily practice and conditioning. The career we want instead of college courses we need to first pass. We often get caught up in the big brief moments instead of all the little moments that actually make up the lives we live.

I am no different. I am so focused on making my career a success that I’ve not taken the time to look at all the little achievements I’ve earned along the way that point to my actual success.

This extends into my personal life as well. I’m not focused on a wedding or a big game, I am focused on the career. But instead of ignoring to my studies, I am not really paying attention to my life outside work.

When the opportunity to partner again with NESCAFÉ presented itself, I was eager to get started. The message they are sharing is about ‘breaking the routine, and making moments happen.’ I really started to think about this. What is my routine? It’s mostly work, with some time for Elizabeth and a couple of others. I used to have huge social life and now, well, not so much. I have become so hyper focused on my career that I’ve stopped smelling the roses.

For the last couple of weeks I have been thinking about the little things. I’ve been trying to focus on these little things that actually make my life wonderful, but are out of my routine of work, work, work.

Here are some of those moments:

My daughter’s small hand, pulling a blanket up to my neck, then rubbing my cheek telling me to sleep, that I will feel better after some rest.

Darla handing me a small vase of flowers she had just cut from her garden, ‘because they smell wonderful’ and they were in a green vase, my favorite color.

Before I was even out of the car, Matthew emerged from my house and started unloading the groceries from the trunk of the car.

My neighbor Caydee took pity on me, laughed with me, and genuinely sympathized with me when I learned that her new next door neighbors, my new across the street neighbors, are the ex-wife and children of someone I used to know, and will now have to see again.

Brianna sent me a text meme about coffee because she knows of my deep abiding love for the stuff. The significance of this is that she is 13. She saw it, thought of me, and sent it over.

My grandmother mailed a recipe she tore from a magazine simply because it had my name all over it.These are just a few of the many small things make up some simple yet wonderful moments of my life; things that I would probably feel the warm-fuzzys over for a minute or two and would then move on. Since I am trying to recognize these small moments, they are having a deeper and greater impact on me.

I also realize purposely taking these moments is crucial. I’m fortunate that I can set my own schedule.  That freedom also means I usually just keep going, since there is no real “end” to what I have to do. I decided I needed to take advantage of the freedom and I took a random day off in the middle of the week to hang out with my best gal pal Darla (you thought I was going to say Rachel Green, didn’t you?). She too, has some freedom in her own schedule and we just needed to break our routine.

There was coffee, lunch, wine, baking (I know, not the typical task you’d find me doing on a day off.) and lots and lots of chatting. It was wonderful and quite frankly rejuvenating.Following the prompt by NESCAFÉ to break my routine, I ended up having a joyous day with someone I love. NESCAFÉ conducted their own social experiment if you will. They found random people around town and dared them to break their routine. Those who would or could, were taken on a bus and served NESCAFÉ® Clásico™ by Ricky Martin…where is that bus now and how do I get on it? Click here to see the video. The video is in Spanish, if you don’t speak Spanish, you can mute it, the message comes through even without audio.

I mentioned I baked on my day off. I didn’t want to make anything fancy or complicated. Something that tasted good and was simple enough that the baking-challenged individuals like me can pull off. Caramel Butterscotch Cookie Bars ended up being what we made. Holy delicious! I like my cookies a bit on the done side, a bit crispy, that is my personal preference. I baked mine a bit longer than the directions listed below. As a kid, it was because I like to dip them in milk. Now as an adult, I like to dunk them in my NESCAFÉ® Clásico™ coffee. 

Making time each day to enjoy the little things has become increasingly important to me. What are some of the little things in your life that bring you happiness and how can NESCAFÉ® Clásico™ be apart of it?

Thank you for sharing!