Just Add Water

Baked Pork Tenderloin

From The Bob Green Best Life Diet Cookbook: Baked Pork Tenderloin 4 cloves garlic 1 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp chili powder 2 tbsp dark br sugar 1tsp ground cumin 1 tsp dried oregano 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder 1/4 tsp salt 1 lb pork (tenderloin or other boneless cut) 1. Combine all ingredients except pork in a food processor and process until it becomes a paste, about 2 min. 2. Rub the pork with the mixture and allow to marinate at room temperature for 1 hr or in fridge for up to 24 hrs. 3. Preheat oven to 375 deg. F. 4. Place in baking pan and bake for 20 - 25 min (140 deg). Note: we grilled chops, rather than baking pork loin. The rub was incredible.

Friday, August 21, 2009

I've really been trying to figure out what I am doing and what I want out of photography, these past few weeks. Of course, I feel this sense of urgency all the time, like everything is passing me by (while I'm sitting at home taking care of my children). Every time I read about someone who has gotten their photography business off the ground, I get a pang inside, like "when is that going to happen for me?" Of course, we have basically just moved into our new house (new to us, anyway), and I am, after all, the mother of 22 month old twins (I'll ride that train for as long as I can). But I had a really good talk with my husband and a friend that helped me to identify some near-term goals that will keep me moving in the direction (of professional photography) and will keep me feeling like I am accomplishing something. Anything. 

A Room of Her Own

Something that I really struggle with as a creative mama is finding space (both physical and psychic) for my creative endeavors. I think that my husband would say much the same thing... this is something that struggle with daily. How do I make time for photography? When am I going to sew those clothes for Lena? I am consistently amazed by those mothers who are able to write books and sail the seven seas with children in tow. 

I ran across this article in Apartment Therapy, and found it very inspirational. I love the color in her room... it makes me want to go right upstairs and set up my sewing studio!

 Creative Space: Studio 2.0, from Soule Mama

April 27, 2009

1. I feel like I am never going to get all of my pictures from April posted. It is taking forever! 

2. I love my children, and enjoy taking pictures of them, but I enjoy taking pictures of other things, too. Just haven't had much opportunity lately, seems like. Or creative will.

April 26, 2009

My days have been filled with my chickens, so that what I'm getting pictures of right now. I really liked this little "conversation" happening by the fence.

April 22, 2009

This was the best of the bunch for this day. Not even sure what we did, except that I know we went outside, and I put my headband on the boy. I think that I was trying to play around with different lighting directions. So, there you go.

April 21, 2009

Taken the first night of a new class that I'm taking through AMOA, called "Using Available Light." Although I really like the instructor, I'm finding that this class is the least useful to me of the three that I've taken, probably because I've been focused on this topic myself for some time now. However, there is always something to be gotten out of a class, and so I'm looking for that something. I did force myself to learn to use my AE lock, so there's something.

April 18, 2009

Tim and I went out for dinner at The Woodland on S. Congress, and lucky for us, there was a classic car show going on which was really fun to see. I love classic cars; the lines on them are often so beautiful. Many of these were in amazing shape. As we were leaving we saw one guy who had the hood up on his beauty and it was sparkling clean... you could have eaten off of it! Glory days, indeed.

A new year, a new me (not really, but seriously, though)

What a difference a year makes. The babies are bigger. My husband has a different job. We live in a different state! And, in photography, I've found something that I truly love to do.

So what are my resolutions for this year? I have been going over this quite a bit. I know that I want to loose weight, but making a resolution like "lose 25 lbs" seems somehow destined to failure. I want to be more content and at peace, and yet just saying that's what I should do won't help me to accomplish that.

So, here's what I came up with for my resolutions.

1. Be kind to myself.
2. Eat five servings of vegetables and fruits a day.
3. Exercise 15 minutes a day.

These seem doable, and also seem guaranteed to make my life better. <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/friuduric/">Friuduric</a> wrote that she didn't stick to her resolutions because she didn't tell anyone what they were, and therefore she wasn't accountable for them. That made sense to me; I can't even remember what my resolutions were from last year. So, here they are, I'm putting them out there. Hold me accountable, people!

November 22, 2008

I had all these big plans for seeing and doing different things when my in-laws came to visit. I thought that we could go to UT and walk around, go to the capital, go to San Antonio, and so on.

It turns out that the only sightseeing that we did was to come to the capital. It seemed to take all of our energy and focus just to do our normal day; playing with and caring for the babies (what the grandparents really came for), and unpacking a box or two.

My husband read that the star that you see there in the center of the dome is actually eight feet wide, yet so far away that it looks tiny.

There is great pride in Texas that the state capital building here is supposedly taller than the US Capital building in DC.