Back to Austin

I'm back in Austin for work, this time with my mom for Mother's Day weekend. We got in on Thursday, where I introduced her to Amy's ice cream and she got a juicy steak at the Roaring Fork. Today I had my work meeting, but Mom walked around town and enjoyed the hotel's posh lap pool. Tonight we walked to Book People, an awesome local book store, Anthropologie, and Whole Foods. My mom was very pleased with her salmon burger, while I enjoyed crostini with butternut squash puree, arugula, goat cheese, and a tasty vinaigrette. On the way we dropped into Walton's Fancy and Staple, a cute little bakery/flower shop/cafe owned by Sandra Bullock.

On our journey we passed this cute old truck full of flowers and I picked up a marshmallow ice cream cone from Whole Foods...something I might try to make at home in the near future!

I think they would be super cute with sprinkles or Oreos on top and chocolate lining the inside. We got back to the hotel right before a major thunderstorm came through, and tomorrow we're going to hit South Congress and the Farmer's Market at Republic Square Park (yeah!) before heading home. Another great trip!

Play Time!

Some mornings I just want to sleep in, but the puppies have other ideas. I love my sleep, but luckily I love these goobers even more!

Yo, I Heard You Like Cookies

I was thrilled when a friend of a friend referred me some new freelance work, so I quickly baked her up a thank you gift. I was short on time, so baking from scratch wasn't an option, and I went with the next best thing. Which would be a chocolate chip cookie stuffed with an Oreo. Obviously :). Picky Palate came up with this genius concept, and I have to admit they are delicious. At first glance they just look like super enormous cookies:

But then you bite in and there's a yummy surprise in the center!

And the best part, is when you give them to people, you get to say fun stuff like this!

Hee hee hee!

The Fruits of My Labor

Lately our fridge runneth over with CSA goodness, so I spent an afternoon cooking up a ton of food for me, my mom, and my sister. In addition to a delicious beet salad (roasted beets, goat cheese, walnuts, Goddess dressing on romaine), mashed potatoes (local red potatoes and scallions), and strawberries, I made several quiches with our farm fresh eggs. My mom and sister's had local asparagus and sweet onions, mine had onions and broccoli. They were a little, shall we say, "rustic."

But delicious! I blame it on the pan :). And I had enough for breakfast the next day, which was awesome.

Now I can see in the refrigerator again and am ready for this week's veggies!

Rainy Day

Back home this morning, and I wake up to (surprise) more rain and temps in the 60s (I know, I sound like a whiner, but it's usually bathing suit weather by May in Charleston). I made myself a nice bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon, blueberries, honey, and walnuts for breakfast...

...and cuddled up with (one of) my favorite girl(s) to get some freelance projects done.

Trying to make the most of the gloomy weather, and hoping it turns around soon!

Final Competition

So let me tell you about this weekend. Our cheer program has gone to Carowinds every season for the last five years for our last competition. Only this weekend it was really our last competition--I am merging our program with another one right down the road so that our kids can have a better training environment and so that I can step back and focus on some other areas of my life. So I was hoping to wrap this season up with a bow and sunshine and good times. Wrong.

When we got to the park it was only 50 degrees outside (in May! In the South!) and had started drizzling. By the time we got everyone checked in it was pouring and windy. The event was in an outdoor amphitheater, so it was covered, but rain was blowing in sideways and running down the aisles and it was bone cold. And the weather set the schedule way behind so we were there 11 hours. ELEVEN HOURS. It was ridiculous. The kids couldn't go on the rides most of the day because of the weather and everyone's patience was frazzled. Way to end the season (and our program) with a bang!

The good news is that two of our teams (and several individuals) got first place, one team got 3rd out of 8 and the other got 6th out of 8. Here we are huddled under blankets, celebrating with our trophies:

Don't even get me started about my hair. And later that night (night--because we got done at 7:30 p.m.), I met my long-time friend Kendall for Cinqo de Mayo margaritas and burritos. Warm food and a big fish bowl drink really took the edge off :). Spent the night, got brunch at The Yolk Cafe, then drove to IKEA, where I did a speed round before driving back to Charleston. Another weekend on the road done!

Wakey, Wakey Time for Bakey!

I'm a vegetarian, but my husband made these and they were easy and (he says) tasty. Just make sure you spray the muffin tins REALLY good, then drop in your (turkey) bacon, egg, and some salt and pepper. Bake until bacon is crisp and egg is cooked.