Fall Like

It has been a while since I played around with wool.
The "cold" front that is coming is making me want to pull this project back out and putting me in the mood to make soup. 







I took my second cooking class at Central Market last night.  It was Baking With Cheese, taught by Nick Malgieri.  I already had his cookbook Bake and really enjoyed the class.  He made, and we tasted: Cheese Souffle Toasts, Ricotta and Red Pepper Tart (which I want to make), Cream Cheese Scones, Lemony Ricotta Pie, Apple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing (similar to the apple cake I made by adapting my carrot cake recipe), and Chocolate Cheesecake Mousse Parfaits.  Nick had great stories to tell, and the class was a lot of fun.  I missed taking a class in September but do hope to take one per month.

I am thinking Tortilla soup for dinner tonight.  I also have some recipe testing to do for a party that we are planning.  Achiote Pulled Pork from my Rosa's cookbook, Peanut and Arbol Chile Salsa from Saveur and Tres Leches Cupcakes are on the list.  I'll let you know how they turn out.

Happy Anniversary My Love

Yesterday was mine and Frank's seven year wedding anniversary.  I forgot to ask off work.  Oops!
I'm not used to having to plan so far ahead for a free day. 

Here we are with our family and wedding party.
It was a beautiful night.  We married under a tree in my parents backyard surrounded by our friends and family.  We were so happy, and still are.  I love that man so much, he is the best.


He picked me up from work and we picked out flowers.  Central Market has the most beautiful flowers but for some reason I always talk myself out of buying them.  This was the first time that I have taken flowers home from work.  I'm hoping to change that habit because fresh flowers in the house make me happy.

Soaking Up The Sun

These gorgeous treasuries remind me of the beautiful days we have been having.
I just want to be outside as much as possible.
Yesterday I was chasing Monarchs around the yard and finally caught a couple of them enjoying our Abelia shrub in the front yard.

This morning felt so good.
I sat in the sun on the hammock with my coffee.
Lucy sat on the back steps.
Soaking up the sun always reminds me of Malta.  She loved to lay in the Sun.






The days are getting shorter but we are still enjoying the trail.
Frank wasn't feeling well last night but he went with me anyways.
I jogged with Lucy and felt the stress float away.
These days are few, and I am soaking them in while they are here.






I will post the details of the Etsy Metal Anniversary sale either later today or tomorrow.
We have a full weekend ahead with my work and having our nieces over.
My mom had surgery this morning to remove her Gallbladder and all went well, thank goodness.
I love this time of year.  I hope you are enjoying Fall as much as I am.

Attempting to Model

I mentioned that I scored some great stuff thrift shopping with mom and that I haven't wanted to photograph myself wearing my new duds. Here is part of the problem.  I haven't had batteries for my camera and have been snapping everything with the hipstamatic.  I can't put the phone on a tripod or the hipstamatic on a timer, so here I am attempting to photograph myself in this vintage skirt.  

Didn't work out so well.

I LOVE this skirt.  It is 100% cotton, a sort of mustardy yellow/green with a gorgeous print and it's from India.  It was about $3 I think.

It's too big, and too long.  

It was a circle skirt, which I loved about it.

I had to cut the length out of the top so that the print wouldn't be cut off.

What I didn't take into account was that the waist would now be about 3 x's wider!

I will still be remaking this skirt, but sadly it will no longer be a circle skirt.  It will be a gathered full skirt.  I'll take "real" pictures when I get it done.  I do have batteries for my camera now.

• I am home this morning and close at work tonight. I was there early the past three days and kind of liked it. Day time seems to go by faster there for some reason. I'm noticing that when I'm home I get overwhelmed by all that I am behind on. Household chores, paperwork, jewelry, my sewing pile that is a big mess, yard work, etc. When I'm at work at least I'm not thinking about all that.  Sort of ironic, isn't it?!
• Frank and I were able to go out on the trail and jog (!) with Lucy last night.  It felt great.  For whatever reason I felt like jogging on the trail was easier than concrete or a treadmill.  I felt quite empowered, but desperately need new running shoes.  The weather was perfect, the sunset beautiful and I felt good!
• I turn 36 a month from tomorrow and am not feeling too good about that.  I feel out of shape and am ready to feel better about myself and my health.  We are considering investing in a juicer.  Anybody out there juicing?  Any tips?

Our Weekend

I realize it is already the weekend again, and I'm just now getting around to sharing our wonderful long weekend with you.  I ended up with 4 days off in a row and Frank had three.  So we played, relaxed and enjoyed those three days to the fullest.

Saturday

We did waffles, coffee and PBS cooking shows, my favorite way to start a Satruday.

We did some flea market browsing but didn't find any treasures.

We shopped at a local Mexican market and discovered this treasure, a hidden Panaderia, one of the nicest I've seen around here.

Saturday night was capped off with that Flank Steak and Chimichuri recipe that I linked to in my last post, as well as some Rick Bayless recipes,  Garlicy Shrimp and Aguacate and Cacahuate Salsa.  By the way, the new season of Mexico One Plate at a time is great.  I love Rick Bayless!

Sunday

We picked up our three nieces and took them (and Lucy) to the dog park, Marshall Grain (my favorite feed store) a park and the Trinity Trail.  When we asked if they wanted to go to a park or the trail they all chimed in "park!".  They of course, enjoyed the trail just as much if not more than the park.  They all dug tossing rocks into the creek and were intrigued by the three boys fishing and "noodling" in the slimy water.  I grew up a country girl, playing in the woods behind our house, but these girls are full on city girls.  It felt good to get them out in nature and expose them to things that they may have never done before.  We need to find time to do that more often. 

We had the girls for about four hours and were totally worn out by the end of the day.  We also got to talk to Karlie on the phone, and though she was busy in a play kitchen, she told us "Gaga (Frank) I cooking",  and "Aya (me) I love you".  That melted my heart and made my day.

Monday

By Monday I felt lucky and indulgent to have so many days to do what I wanted.  The weather was perfect for us and we got outside again at the Fort Worth Nature Center.  It took me probably six years of living here to visit this place, and then another two to go again.  It is only twenty minutes away, but with so much to explore you really need a whole afternoon to devote.  It was a bit warm in the sun but we hiked for about an hour and a half and saw a frog, an armadillo and a deer.  

It was just what I needed.

This is a CCC relic, built during the great depression.  My Paw Paw was in the CCC, so I always feel connected to him and to history when I visit a place that the CCC constructed.

I spent Tuesday catching up on emails, jewelry and working on paperwork.  I was ready to go back to work by Wednesday, believe it or not.  And now the week is almost over again.  It sure went by fast.

I mentioned that I grew up a country girl.  I was actually born in Houston and lived there for 9 years.  We moved to the country after that and I have always felt best when I connect with nature.  I've been in Fort Worth for ten years now and love it.  I love being so close to all the things we need and not having to drive twenty minutes to the grocery store.  There are lots of conveniences here for sure.  However, with my parents moving away I have a dream of moving to the country outside San Marcos.  Reading Soule Mama's blog makes me yearn to be a country girl even more.

Only time will tell if I will return to my country girl roots, for now I will day dream about raising animals, keeping bees and preserving food for the winter.