New Discoveries

One of the fun things about being new home owners is discoveries you make during the first few months. Some are fun, some not so much. My mom helped me plant some pansies recently, and while working in the yard identified a 'random' bush (actually 3 random bushes). The bushes in question are indeed pomegranate plants. It's been really fun to watch them grow, and since I have never seen a pomegranate bush I thought I'd document the stages of growth. I checked at the store this weekend and pomegranates are selling for about $3.75 a piece - a bit over priced for a fruit that most people use for decoration. :)

Side note, I actually like to eat the seeds so I'm excited about this!

4:00 a.m.

This morning we woke up at 4:00 a.m. to head to Waco for a horse show and compete in 2 reining classes. The show started at 7:00 a.m. and we arrived at 7:15...and planned to compete in the first events...eek!

Lessons learned:
1. Waco is further than 1 hour and 30 minutes with a horse trailer, and stops to pick up Johnny the Horse Trainer
2. Must check to ensure all persons have required paper work before leaving designated pick up locations
3. When you are late, running may not necessarily speed things up, but it will leave you sweaty and cause people to stare

Luckily, we were able to enter both of our events and Johnny was 1st and 3rd (after literally no warm up). I didn't have such a great ride (2 big mistakes) but still finished with two 4th's. We'll count it is a success because I identified a few things to work on between now and the next competition in November.

Here's a picture of the team from a show in July! Hopefully, this afternoon will include a nap. Thanks to Derek for driving to Waco and back within a 6 hour window this morning.

Happy Labor Day!

Why do we celebrate Labor Day? This was the question posed to the children's ministry at the beginning of church yesterday. One brave boy dared to answer that "Labor day allows people in the Army to take a break." He was close, and in all fairness, Memorial Day and Labor Day were a little confusing to me when I was six.

The children's minister went on to teach about the day of rest, and how God intended us to use the Sabbath as a day of rest, just as he rested on the seventh day of Creation. I try to remember that lesson, but unfortunately find myself cramming as many errands into the mix as possible on our 'day of rest'.

So, back to Labor Day. According to the all knowing Wikipedia, "The first Labor Day in the United States was observed on September 5, 1882 in New York City, by the Central Labor Union of New York, the nation's first integrated major trade union. It became a federal holiday in 1894..."

Interestingly, I work in a shop that is predominately unionized. Almost half the workforce at my company are members of one of three unions to support aircraft production. Many complained that we were not working Labor Day because they would not be paid triple time to work a Federal Holiday. One employee threatened to intentionally slow production on critical parts to ensure our shop had to work the holiday. For those of us that wanted the day off (mainly salaried employees), I'm grateful we received this day to spend with family and friends, away from the work place. As you can tell from my wee rant, work has been full of challenges in recent months, and while I'm grateful to have a good job and benefits, I frequently ponder what other things I could do and contributions I could make with my time....

In summary, Happy Labor Day! May you enjoy the holiday in whatever way brings you joy!

Never Say Never

The last month has been full of moving bliss. Friendly word of advice: moving in August in Texas is not preferred! Thankfully, we moved out of a second story condo into a one story home. :)

Aside from the move, I completed finals for summer school and took a trip to San Antonio for a girls weekend with a dear friend of mine from Chicago. Another friendly word of advice: San Antonio in August is hotter than Fort Worth in August... Weather aside we had a great time together. More on that trip to come.

During the chaos of the last few weeks, I managed to locate kittens in need of a good home and adopted 3 last weekend. Since we are new 'horse barn' owners we decided the barn wouldn't be complete without a barn cat..... or 3.

I've always proudly proclaimed to be a "dog person", but now my house hold consists of 3 seven week old kittens, 1 happy go lucky bunny, and 1 well cared for horse. No dogs in this picture for a while. I've truly enjoyed the first week and a half with the kittens, and love to watch each of their personalities develop.

Meet Willie: Mr. Outgoing and Purrs like a Motor Car (he also is Mr. Adventurous)


Willie again. :)



Meet Minnie: The only girl in the pack. I fondly named her after Minnie Mouse. If you pet another kitten she squeaks like a mouse to get your attention. And she's tiny - maybe hard to tell in the picture though!


And lastly, meet Froggy. He sat like a Frog for the first few days, doesn't like to be caught, and has a low grumble/croak if you mess with him while he eats. Froggy is fond of Derek though, so I don't hold his skeptical nature against him. ;)

Inception = Confusion

Instead of spending this weekend moving into our new home, Derek and I had a 'date day'. Unfortunately, the Sellers did not make all necessary repairs to the pool as required, so we did not close yesterday...(I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Monday)...

We spent the day visiting our parents and went out for a movie/lunch date. We agreed to see Inception since we were both a little curious to understand what all the hype is about. I've deduced the main cause of 'hype' is because most people must be as confused as I was when we left the theater. It's frustrating to sit through a 2 hour movie and not have confidence you understand the plot! I'm interested to know if anyone has seen the movie yet?

After our date at the new Movie Tavern on West 7th, we treated ourselves to an Italian Gelato. The Montgomery Plaza area sure has boomed in a short period of time!

More about Fruit

Derek and I recently discovered that the property we are about to buy has a large Crab Apple tree. Thank you to his Grandmother for pointing this out to us! We drove by the tree 10+ times without even noticing the hundreds of dwarf size green apples hanging from the limbs.

Derek picked a special apple for me while we visited the house after work today.



Anyone know any good uses for crab apples? Cider or preserve recipes, perhaps? Otherwise, I think they may be pretty decorations inside a vase...

Parker County Peach Festival

The past two weeks have afforded me a much needed respite from grad school (although I'm sure it's not evident in the lack of blog posts)! My mom and I had planned an adventure weekend that was somewhat thwarted by the rain, however, we decided to visit the Parker County Peach Festival early Saturday morning. Neither of us where "wowed" by the festival, but truly enjoy our peach ice cream (that we ate at 10:00 in the morning)...

We were both excited to visit the produce stands, but after walking around for 30 minutes looking for the produce portion of the festival we realized the only items for sale were overpriced baskets of not-so-great peaches. We were a little disappointed.

On our way out of the festival, I saw a booth called Cowboy Tooth Pick Clips and decided we must make a final stop. (After 2 years of marriage to an avid toothpick fan, I've learned to carry toothpicks in my purse, car, etc.)

I spoke to the owner and was pleasantly surprised with his business idea and product. With each purchase, you are provided a cute written story about the business, which resulted in a cowboy sitting on his toothpick that had fallen in the seat from the car visor (a common problem in our household). I purchased the 'John Wayne' and 'Buck in the Bulls Eye' versions. Derek was thrilled when I greeted him with his $5 present.

All in all, it was a fun, but humid day spent in good company with my mom.

June's a Month to Remember

June has been an extremely busy, yet exciting month. My current course at SMU requires a lot of time to read and complete case studies (which keeps me from writing), but June is also the month of our World Championship horse shows. This is plural because Scout is double registered with the Pinto Horse Association of America and the American Paint Horse Association.

On June 17, we drove to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the Pinto World Show. I'm pleased and excited to report that we came back to Texas as the Amateur Jr. Reining World Champions. Ever since I was a kid, I've dreamed of winning a world show belt buckle. I owe a huge thanks to trainer and coach Johnny Morton. To add to the success, Johnny finished 3rd in the Pro Reining (out of a very large class) and third in the Pro Working Cow Horse.

We are preparing to compete in Fort Worth at the World Championship Paint Horse Show on Wednesday and Thursday this week, and then take a long break!

In the midst of the hectic schedules, we bought a house last week. We are really excited about our upcoming move (about 15 minutes west of our current location in Fort Worth). Most exciting of all, when we are ready we'll have the land and facilities to keep Scout at home!

Procrastination...

My second class at SMU is a Manufacturing Innovation Management course. It sounds interesting on paper, but in reality it is not. Mainly because both required texts are practically written in the King's English. A class mate described it well when he mentioned he thought Yoda served as a ghost writer...seriously.

In lieu of completing my 'suggested' reading assignments this term, I opted to read two books 'for fun' that I couldn't put down. I finished Pillars of the Earth in late April. I heard a lot of hype about the book (originally published over 20 years ago...but Oprah has her way with selling things..) Needless to say, Pillars was great and the characters truly come to life as you sink further into the story. This is particularly true of the villain, William Hamleigh. I still think about his ruthless ways when my mind wanders.



Several friends recommended The Help recently, and it just so happened to be the next book selected for my book club (which I skipped the last 2 times). So, what better time to start reading than now...?? I just finished last night, and loved the story. If you have read both books, am I venturing too far to say Hilly is the modern day female version of a William Hamleigh?

Fort Worth Oddities

This weekend was my last free weekend before summer school starts. On Friday night, we ventured downtown and enjoyed a meal at Taverna (so/so in my opinion) but had an excellent dessert at Simply Fondue (all the chocolaty goodness you can imagine...)

While walking around downtown we encountered a man with 3 pets:
1. A Dog
2. A Cat (riding the dog)
3. A Rat (riding the cat)

I've never seen anything like it before, and was thoroughly impressed.
1. How did he train the dog not to chase the cat?
2. How did he train the cat not to eat the rat?
3. How did he train the rat not to run?

Somewhat ironic, eh?

Food for thought for the day. :)

Memory Lane: Central CA

I truly love photography and secretly wish I could be a nature photographer - ie. that it was a paid gig and I could travel the world photographing remote villages in distant countries...but alas, the airplane factory will have to do for now...

I like to photograph buildings and scenic views more than anything else. Several weeks ago my mom and I decided to visit the Southlake Arts Festival and were pleasantly surprised with the awesome artists in attendance. I've lived in Fort Worth for 10 years and have never been to Southlake, but definitely plan to attend this event again next year. I found 2 photographers that had such amazing work I found it hard to leave their booth.

At least once a week, I'll drive by something or see something that I wish I could just blink my eyes and capture forever. Today, it was the father and mother doves building a nest in a hanging basket on our balcony. The male dove handed the female a small twig and the light hit them just right that it would have been an incredible photograph. Unfortunately, I never seem to have my camera with me at the right time!

Some of my previous posts referenced a coffee table book I recently created. Here are some pictures I included from one of my past trips to California. These pictures are from the Carmel missions and Highway 101 on the central CA coast.

Lastly, happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful Mom's out there. My husband and I are blessed with two of the best!

Good time in 2009

April came and went so quickly! During the month, I received a pleasant surprise in the form of 8 shiny new trophy belt buckles from 2009 equestrian accomplishments. I'm really proud of my horse and of our team work considering we don't have a full time trainer anymore.

Scout finished the 2009 year as #1 in the country in 2 events and highly ranked in 6 events for the state of Texas.

Due to graduate school and potentially moving this summer (in pursuit of a house) I've significantly decreased our show schedule. We will compete at the 2 summer world shows: Pinto Horse Association World Championships in Tulsa and the American Paint Horse World Championship in Fort Worth . I'm excited because Scout will compete in the pro division for Reining and Working Cow Horse for the 1st time with a great young trainer named Johnny Morton and I'll ride in the Amateur division.

Apple Pie Adventure

Have you ever indulged in a homemade apple pie (made from scratch)? We have a family friend that makes the best apple pie, and I usually request one for family functions. For my birthday a few weeks ago, she graciously gave me a Pampered Chef peeler/corer/slicer, 8 granny smith apples, and a coupon for a free pie lesson.

I decided to utilize my coupon and turn it into an Apple Pie Party. We all gathered in my mom's kitchen and made 7 apple pies on a Saturday afternoon. Let's just say that the apple peel alone filled up a trash can!

The final product was delicious - and the vanilla Blue Bell made it even better!

Spring in my step

Spring is my favorite time of year for several reasons.
Reason #1: Winter is over - hallelujah - I dislike cold weather.
Reason #2: I love plants and flowers.
Reason #3: Horse show season begins.

To celebrate the beginning of spring (albeit a little late), Derek and I went to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens yesterday. Unfortunately, record crowds hindered us from even finding a parking spot, so we settled to drive to TCU and see the tulips. We probably missed the peak by about 1 week, but the flowers on campus were still lovely.

Happy Easter to everyone, and happy Spring.

Lovely London

Derek has been fortunate to travel to the UK four times over the past few years for work. In February 2009, I met him in England after he completed his first week of business in Cheltenham. We met in Swindon, and I eagerly rode the train to London each day that he worked. The train arrived in Paddington Station which was extra exciting for me......When my brother first met me as a baby, he gave me a Paddington Bear (that played music). I believe this gift started two collections; stuffed animals as a child, and music boxes to this day. Paddington was displayed prominently in my room, but I was never allowed to play with him. Therefore, he still looks brand new all these years later (thanks mom...) Paddington Station has a large Paddington Bear kiosk, and I spent lots of pounds there because Paddington is such a happy memory for me. Yes, all my family received Paddington Bear themed products for souvenirs.

I crammed as much sight seeing into my trip as possible. On an off day, Derek drove me to see Stone Henge for a sunset which was lovely. I will always remember London as our first vacation as a married couple.










We visited a park, and this little boy chased pigeons for over half an hour with so much enthusiasm. His expression is priceless. I enjoyed his carefree spirit and determination.

Truly French Photos

Lately, I've attempted to organize my digital photography since I never seem to print any photos. Several years ago, I discovered Blurb.com and became a fan of their photo books. Here's a few of my French favorites that I put in my most recent "Scenic" book.