Ali's New Haircut

Before:

After:

I just bought some clippers and decided to try to give Ali a Haircut.

She was so good the whole time. She even turned her head so I could clip the

inside of her ears better. No wonder every groomer she's ever

been to says she's a good girl.

I think I did a pretty good job for my first time. Of course there

are a few mistakes but practice makes perfect right?

Maybe she doesn't like her new haircut very much.

I swear I'll do better next time. :)

You can't buy love...

but you can buy brains...

here's proof!

I dragged Josh's sleepy butt to the farmers market early saturday morning. I got all kinds of fabulous things like goat-feta cheese, tomatoes & flat leaf parsley. But best of all Josh bought me a brain... finally I can give mine a break and just use this one.

Thanks Josh! :)

My Cute Niece

Oh Avery...

My niece is so cute, she called me the other day and left a voice message

that went something like this:

Avery-"Hi Tinishhhhaaaa."

--long pause--

Avery-"Grandma is she there?"

Grandma-"No it's her voicemail."

Avery-"Tinisha we miss you, and we're going to send you a flash light.

Love you, bye."

I talked to my mom later and she said she didn't know where the flash light bit came from, but there was a flash light sitting on the counter.

She cracks me up, it was the highlight of my day!

The tart inspired a dinner...

As much as I would have liked to just have the tart for dinner and dessert I knew I should probably make dinner to accompany the tart. That's how I work,

dessert is the most important part of my meal.

For Christmas Nancy got me this pasta maker (with motor) and a pasta making lesson.

This was the first time I made fresh pasta for Josh...

The dough recipe is really easy:

3 eggs

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

Mix in food processor until ball forms (you may need to add a little water). Once ball forms spin in food processor about 20 times. Remove dough onto floured surface and let rest 10 minutes (or not). Divide into quarters and roll dough through the machine...

1st run

2nd run

Once you have achieved the desired thickness

(I'm still trying to find out what thickness is best)

cut the dough using the machines handy cutting attachment.

Allow the dough to dry. Nancy uses a foldable clothes hanger,

I don't have one so I just use the back of my chair.

Drying

More drying

Ali loves it when I make pasta, she gets to eat any pasta that falls on the floor.

She even tried to slurp the pasta off the chair backs a few times when I wasn't looking.

Sneaky dog!

Fresh pasta only takes minutes to cook in boiling salted water.

I topped the pasta with some Marinara, pesto, parmesan cheese,

and fresh herbs from Josh's garden.

Bon appetit!

Josh waiting patiently.

All in all the meal was a success and yes the tart was the best part.

I love the farmer's market!

I was inspired by the barefoot contessa, Ina Garten, and the

Austin Sunset Valley Farmers Market to make this fabulous tart.

Here's the recipe from her cookbook, barefoot contessa at home.

Saturday morning I went to the sunset valley farmer's market.

They had locally grown peaches, plums and blueberries and remembered this

recipe that Ina taught me and couldn't resist making this fabulous tart!

First step: preparation

I blanched and peeled the peaches, threw in blueberries and segmented the plums.

Second step: filling

I tossed sugar, flour, freshly squeezed orange juice, lemon & orange zest with the fruit.

Third step: Crust

I made this easy crust by throwing all of the ingredients in my food processor.

After chilling, I rolled the crust into an 11 inch rough circle and

topped it with the fruit mixture.

Fourth Step: crumbly topping

This was by far my favorite part of the tart. Just flour, sugar, salt and

butter into the food processor and voila! crumbly tart topping.

Fifth Step: Bake

Bake at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Sixth Step: Cool

This is very important if you want a yummy gooey rather than runny middle.

The finished product! I wish Ina could have been there to see it. :)

My Austin Place

Let me take you on a little virtual tour of my new place...

Inside

This is the living room view from my front door.

All of my favorite books are on prominent display

Dining Room

w/ beautiful Orchid that Josh got for me

as a house warming gift.

Red Couch and Ali.

Ali is not allowed on the couch.

I woke up in the middle of the night and found Ali sleeping

on this couch. Sneaky dog! Good thing I have a pet hair eraser.

Kitchen...

My new plants.

I really like succulents.

Thanks Mom & Josh

Sedum

Echevaria

Blue Aloe

Outside

The view of the Lake and downtown Austin the the background.

My courtyard

The squirrel hunter

The pool

The boat dock.

I use the green canoe at the top of the boat dock.

It is really cool to see the bats under congress bridge

from the water on this green machine.

One of my favorite things about my new place is the Lime Tree.

Ali likes the lime tree too.

The beginning... Road Trip

Josh was a lifesaver and flew out to SLC to help me pack and drive my car and trailer to Austin where I will be attending grad school in the fall. This is my blog about the whole experience.

Master Packer.

We left SLC on Wednesday and drove to Springville to stay with my parents. We spent the entire night rocking out. 

On Thursday morning we left Springville and drove for 14 hours to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The day was uneventful except we got map quested, I like to call it a detour. It was slow going in the mountains pulling a trailer but we made it happen.

She was a cat in another life.

The next day we decided to go to Sofia’s a restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives for breakfast. It was a very spicy Mexican breakfast. Did I mention the burritos were really big?

Please disregard my nasty hair :o

I really wanted to go to Roswell and see some Aliens. So we made a stop there. Here are some of the aliens we saw there...

Another reason I don't go to Walmart...Aliens!

We went to the UFO museum and research center, it was interesting and low budget. But they did let Ali inside the museum with us and even gave her an Alien. 

That night we drove to Ozona Texas and stayed the night in a very nice Best Western I was really surprised actually. On the way to Ozona my license plate blew off. So when I woke up to take Ali out the next morning, the town Sheriff was checking out my vehicle. Busted! I imagined Josh bailing me out of jail for license plate fraud. But, the Sheriff let me go with just some words of advice to get a new license plate. Thanks Sheriff.   

Notice the dog nose.

We had breakfast just outside of Ozona in a town called Sonora. I realized I was in Texas that day when I saw one of the restaurant patrons wearing full spurs! Sorry I didn’t get a picture. 

Hill Country Just outside Austin

We arrived in Austin that day around 3pm, since then I have been unpacking, organizing, cleaning and getting situated. Now everything is starting to come together. The weather has been warm and a little muggy. I am really liking my apartment it’s beautiful here. 

Our first Dinner in my new apartment