Mom's Visit

Most of you know that my mom had a tumor removed earlier this summer and had several surgeries. She has been recovering well, and this weekend she decided to brave a trip to Nashville (David and I have crazy schedules this fall, so she decided to come to us). Since she hasn't eaten since before her first surgery on June 17, she has had plenty of time to think about food and so she decided to prepare us gourmet meals ALL WEEKEND! It was great. Here was our menu. And since I never remember to take pictures, you will have to settle for the yummy BH&G's pics.

Saturday Night:
Roasted Beet and Clementine Salad with homemade Spicy Orange Vinaigrette


Sweet Potato and Hominy Stew made with barbecued chicken



Creamy Pumpkin and Rice Pudding topped with Apples, Cranberries, and Walnuts



And for Sunday she made us fresh, healthy Sirloin Burgers with a kick

We had a great time. Thanks Mom!

Be looking for upcoming posts of my favorite Nashville deals and places and my fav Fall cooking ingredients... Also, if you are lucky, I will actually post pictures of me and David :)

Our New Venture

Hello all. We have had some changes in our lives recently. David has decided not to go back to Vanderbilt to finish his PhD right now and he will be teaching at some local universities this fall. But.....he also has decided to put a recent hobby of his to good use.

That means.......
We have an ETSY page!

It's http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7900394

So far he has just posted a couple of purses to see what the interest is. We decided to only use unusable clothing (like torn jeans that can't be given to Goodwill) and scrap fabric. So........if anybody has any good items that fit that description, please send them to us (we will pay you for the shipping if you want :).

Here are some pics of David in action (I love that my husband is secure in his manhood:)


Here are some pics of the latest purses:

No longer in the west

To the five of you who still check this blog with the hopes that there will be something new, this blog is for you!

You may be wondering why the blog still says "Tales from the West" when we are clearly back in the South. I just didn't have the heart to change it... I feel like we are not southerners anymore, and maybe one day we will have more tales from another western place.... or Florida :) So, I decided to write some things that we miss from Fort Collins.

While I don't miss seeing this in MARCH, or even MAY!

I desperately miss seeing this everyday...

Granted, this picture is taken from the I-25, not our house, but it's still quite frequent a view. And the snow doesn't always stick around... there are plenty of 75 degree days sprinkled in the spring months...lovely, sunny, DRY 75 degree days....ahhhh how I miss the dryness.

Another thing I miss about Fort Collins is the smallness. Average car trip in Fo Co: about 5 minutes, average car trip in Nashville: 20! So much more time in the car. These picture were taking of Down town Ft Collins, and it only took us about 4 minutes to get there by car... sometimes we walked...People- I live 1.2 miles away from my school here in Nashville, and sometimes is takes TWENTY MINUTES to get there, ugh! (I'm really not that bitter about it, just sometimes frustrating :) As you can see, downtown Ft. Collins is definitely a place you can just hang out... downtown Nashville is not quite the same scene.



And finally, this one is for you, mom....I know you will miss this place (there were gardens open in the Summer and Fall of all sorts of flowers- it was really beautiful- the pic doesn't do it justice)

We also miss our friends:





Carly, I have no idea why I don't have a picture of Grayson other than when he was about 3 months old! And Kimberly and Bruce-- Why don't we have pics of you guys???

Despite what you may think, I really do like living in Nashville. It has taken some adjustments, but we are grateful for being close to family and old friends. Also, there is a plethora of new restaurants to try, and I LOVE finding new foodey places!

Ok, ok........ I'll try to get better

So, a WHOLE LOT has happened sice the last little teaser post. But I am just going to blog about this one thing-- for now. More to come with pics of our new house (well, apartment really) and details on our new and very different life.

Orlando

This last weekend we went to Orlando to see my sister at UCA Nationals. We thought Daisy might enjoy it, so we took her as her birthday present (little did we know her little wheels were already turning toward cheerleading instead of her curret basketball career). So needless to say, I think she enjoyed her time with us at the competition. Melanie (who if you are reading this post- it's basically a copy of yours, so if you need to save time- it's not going to be that exciting:)got to go too, and we had a good time.
Here are some pics............
A whole lotta cheerleaders

JCS got 6th in the nation!!



The event was at Wide World of Sports at Disney and it was cool to see- we had never been there before

Who knew that my sister would someday be equal to Mikey Mouse or Cinderella in a four year olds eyes!

Daisy had a great memory of the cheerleading stunts and wanted to recreate one when she got home. She gave David and Daniel instructions :)

Nashville, Here We Come!

Yes, we are moving back. More to come...........