My new pal Audrey

Raptor Center

I went to this place called the Raptor Center. It's a conservatory for birds of prey who are injured. I didn't love it because its not really my thing, but I did I enjoy the presentation. I thought this volunteer looked a bit like a bird herself.































The Raptor Center is part of a bigger nature preserve called, Latta Plantation. Where they have lots of trails and horseback riding and kayaking. Pretty cool find.

Breakfast

I love to eat breakfast here and either watch the sun rise or look out on the green space (depending on what day & what time it is).

This beautiful furniture came from Kim's store...I got more for my balcony.

Hello!

My blog is resurrected.

I'm pretty excited, I just bought myself a camera. It's very basic, but I've assured myself that if I use it regularly I will treat myself to a nice camera someday. Here is a start...

This is me...how I spend a great deal of my time (in the car):
















I take this bag everywhere. (Thank you, Sarah!)



















I am thoroughly enjoying this book right now.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

Hi all,

Just felt like saying, hi.

A quick update on my last post...
The wall is now red. Very red.
I am now shampoo-free and still deciding how I feel about it.
It is a bit too cold to walk to the lake right now (we drove instead, walked around for a minute in the brrrr cold, and then ran back to the car).
We found a Chipotle in Charlotte and drove to it. Mmmm, Chipotle.
Mark is here in town and for a full week right now. Yay!

In other news, we have watched a lot of movies this week:
"Becoming Jane"
"Tropical Thunder"
"Get Smart"
"Forbidden Kingdom"
"Quantum of Solace"
and tonight, "Hellboy II"

Hope you all are having a great Thanksgiving weekend!

I've been tagged

by my good friend Dahlia.

So 7 things about me that you might not know:

1) My bedroom wall is gray, on its way to being red.

2) I have my first bumper sticker ever on my Prius. (Mark stuck it on and I can't decide how I feel about it -- it seems so loud.) It's an Obama sticker, you might have guessed. And yes, we did stick it on before he won. It is my contribution to NC going blue.

3) I put 30,000 miles on my car in 10 months. (Thank goodness for 48 mpg!)

4) I'm considering going shampoo-free.

5) I can walk to a lake from my apartment, but I have to trespass to get a good view or drive to a public spot.

6) Chipotle is quite possibly one of my favorite foods to eat out. Mmm, Chipotle! Starbucks is my other favorite "out" place. Mark and I walk to Chipotle and or Starbucks with great frequency when we are in Baltimore.

7) I miss Mark.

I am just about obsessed with this song.

I find it to be so peaceful and calming and it makes me smile...

"I'm yours" by Jason Mraz

enjoy.

Tortilla Happy!

For several months now I have been dreaming of making my own tortillas. I don't know why...I just wanted to be in charge of the ingredients in my food (no preservatives, you know?) and tortillas seemed like they'd be easier than bread.

Last week one of our stores relaunched with a huge Hispanic section and it turns out we were selling tortilla presses! I bought one for less than $20. A friend of mine guided me in my choice of corn flour, gave me a few tips, and...voila! It is SO easy. I had fresh corn tortillas in minutes -- with no preservatives! This one looks just like mine...



















2 cups corn flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups water (just as much as you need to be able to turn the flour into dough)

Use your hands to squeeze the water through the flour until it turns into a dough in your hands. Make small balls of dough.
Put plastic wrap on both sides of press. Press ball of dough into very thin pancake.
Peel off of plastic wrap.
Cook on Med-High heat in a non stick pan.

I found that if I let the tortilla cook on its first side until it was smoking just slightly (a couple of little burnt spots are yummy), then cooked it on its second side until it started to balloon slightly (puff up) that they were just right.