Newspaper Nails

So the coolest app/website in the world was introduced to me the other day.
By a lovely girl named Aria.
I think it has changed my life.
And made me very UNPRODUCTIVE.
Or maybe not,
considering I did one of the COOLEST THINGS I'VE EVER DONE BECAUSE OF IT.
It's called Pintrest.
Check it out if you dare.

This is what came of it.
Rockstar Nails.

1. Paint your nails a pastel base coat, allow to dry
2. grab some rubbing alcohol and pour it in the lid
3. cut up 10 strips of newspaper
4. dunk your nail in the rubbing alcohol and press the newspaper on it for 30 seconds and peel off
5. apply top coat

Boom baby, you got some sweet nails.


Have fun!

"Hotter than a goats butt in a pepper patch."

Have you ever read that Redneck Joke Book?
It's freaking hysterical.
Maybe it's delirium from the heat... But I think it's just THAT funny.
It has been about 172 degrees for the past 4 weeks.
I mean you can't do anything without sweating buckets of water.
I wake up with a headache and wonder why... ummm yeah it's because it's hotter than a goats butt in a pepper patch.
(Yeah, that's a redneck joke.)

Poor Gemma hates it.
And she doesn't drink water.
She must just have raging headaches.

The only thing you want to do is take a cold shower and you CAN'T because the pipes in Houston are filled with boiling water.
The only thing I want to eat is something cool and refreshing so I made GAZPACHO for the first time. It was just that, COOL AND REFRESHING.
From the gazpacho base I also made some homemade ceviche. It SO SO SO yummy.

So I think it's a pretty great rule:
When unsure, go to ALTON BROWN

I can't think of a time that this rule didn't prove to be successful. The man is great for clean classic recipes. From there I like to add my own twist and the recipe always turns out on point.
I used him for the Soft Pretzel recipe.. SO BOSS.
I used him for croissant instructions. FLAKY HEAVINGLY GOD LIKE PASTRY.
I used him for DOUGHNUTS. I was happier than a cop.

Gazpacho

Alton Brown

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
• Tomato juice
• 1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 lime, juiced
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted, ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

Directions

Fill a 6-quart pot halfway full of water, set over high heat and bring to a boil.

Make an X with a paring knife on the bottom of the tomatoes. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water for 15 seconds, remove and transfer to an ice bath and allow to cool until able to handle, approximately 1 minute. Remove and pat dry. Peel, core and seed the tomatoes. When seeding the tomatoes, place the seeds and pulp into a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl in order to catch the juice. Press as much of the juice through as possible and then add enough bottled tomato juice to bring the total to 1 cup.

Place the tomatoes and juice into a large mixing bowl. Add the cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, jalapeno, garlic clove, olive oil, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire, cumin, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Transfer 1 1/2 cups of the mixture to a blender and puree for 15 to 20 seconds on high speed. Return the pureed mixture to the bowl and stir to combine. Cover and chill for 2 hours and up to overnight. Serve with chiffonade of basil.

The only other thing you can do in this heat is go to a museum.
There is a Helmut Newton exhibit at the MFAH which I went to visit last weekend.
What an incredibly talented man with a beautiful vision.

I'm not going to lie. I went in pretty much knowing nothing about the man. I definitely didn't expect to see every other picture completely nude, but in the end after seeing all his work and knowing his story I found it very empowering to women. His vision was to empower women and the woman's body as well as take photos that are very complex and tell a story throughout the whole picture. There were a couple photographs that I starred at for 10 minutes a piece trying to find all the little details that were telling a story. One of my favorite collections he did was where he would take a fashion photo then replicate the exact same photo with the woman completely nude.



The whole exhibit was filled with stunning black and white photos and beautiful portraits. It may be too much nudity for some people but I found it quite beautiful.

Sloppy Hoes: and the scatterbrained blog

I'M ALIVE AND WELL!

(KIND OF LIKE THIS GUY):
And completely re energized for another season, my SIXTH season to be exact!!

I have so many things to say about the past 6 months of my life and I don't even know how to begin to share them. I feel like so many things have happened. I've changed and evolved more over the past 6 months than I have in the past 5 years. And whether is was something "good" or "bad" that happened, it happened and it's life. I have come to REALLY realize over the past couple months how excited I am to be alive and to be doing what I do. I mean, we always say that... "I'm so lucky to be doing what I love"... but do we really know?? Do we really know HOW lucky we are? I'm know I'm just BEGINNING to realize how lucky I am. I have so many passions in my life that keep me going and inspired EVERY SINGLE DAY. I AM lucky. Especially with the world as it is now. Sometimes, I feel like I may be the luckiest girl alive. You know, this world I'm in, the ballet world, it swallows people whole. Sometimes it is hard to see outside of it into the "real" world. We spend most of our lives cooped up in our "own" world, only talking to our "own" people, without an escape out. If I've learned anything over the past couple months it is to branch out. Branch out and talk to people I would normally never talk to. Make relationships I wouldn't normally make. Learn as MUCH as I can from as MANY people as I can. It makes me appreciate what I do that much more, and it allows me to share my story with people that often times are unable to comprehend what it is I even do for a living. "What school do you go to?" or "Soooooo, you teach?" No, I'm a professional ballet dancer. I work 40 hours a week. I perform ballets. I learn. I move. I create. I inspire. I do what every little girl wished she could do when she grew up. I tell them the work I put in, the hours I put in, the emotions I put in, the physicality I put in. They slowly start to comprehend. AND I feel happy knowing one more person outside in the "real" world may have a little insight into "our" world. What I want for myself in the end, is to love EVERY SINGLE MINUTE that I've put in. I want to be able to look back on it when I'm older and as a sane beautiful old woman and say "I really had a wonderful career as a ballet dancer. I don't regret, and I am not bitter about one part of it." I want to make it my goal to never lose my passion for the dance. Never let anyone take it away from me, no matter the battles I face. And to promise myself the second that I become un-passionate about my life and what I'm doing with it, it is time for a change. But I think the most important thing of all for me, is knowing. Knowing what I love. Knowing what I do. Knowing my goals. Knowing it all for me and no one else.

And there is a piece of my mind lately... Take it or leave it ;)

On Another note:

This year I will be turning TWENTY-THREE on the TWENTY-THIRD of August. You know what that means?? GOLDEN BIRTHDAY. I have always been obsessed with golden birthdays. I don't know why... Gosh, 23 sounds so mature..... Too bad I'm the farthest thing from being any kind of mature. Especially after you read the rest of this blog.....! HA!

AND ANOTHER NOTE:

We have just put our second week back under our belt after a lovely 4 week layoff this summer. The first two weeks back are rough and tough and full of pain.. I'm mean like serious pain. Like hit by a mac truck pain. Like beaten with a bat pain. Like..... Likeeeeee... Likeeeeeeee thrown out of a plane and landed on jigged jagged rocks and woke up the next day and tried to walk pain. Like you've been chased by a pack of wild banchees and couldn't stop running for 3 days or else they would eat you then you finally found a safe place to sleep, and you woke up the next day and had to do it ALL OVER AGAIN...

OR IMAGINE THIS..

Going from:

LOUNGING around for 4 weeks, feet free from pointe shoes, body free from leotards, mind free from drama, eating GLUTENOUS amounts of your all time favorite foods, desserts after every meal, doing WHATEVER you want, sewing a vest here, baking a cake there, getting your hair did, painting your nails, getting a massage, doing a little fishing, starring at the mountains, playing a little golf with the daddy, and just sitting, drinking and being merry....

To:

Being in a leotard for 7.5 hours a day, starring at yourself in a room full of floor to ceiling mirrors at the body you just spoiled to death, feet trapped in pink coffins, being in a constant state of a hot sweaty mess.....

YEAH.
And you know what?
Honestly,
I couldn't be happier to be back.
Now does that make me mental????!!!!!
Probably, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
I. LOVE. MY. LIFE.
:)

As for this 110 degree weather compared to my prefect Idaho 80 degree weather... I'm not so sure. But somethings gotta give, no??

AND ANOTHER NOTE:
Finally now onto the Sloppy Hoes.
Sometimes I think auto text might be the most genius invention ever. And it is not for the reason you think. It's not for all the times it changes "teh" to "the" for me or so kindly throws that apostrophe in the "don't" for me... it's for changes like this:

"SLOPPY HORS"

I was telling my mom I was making sloppy joes for dinner and it so kindly made it sloppy hors. I couldn't have found it more hysterical, so I decided to make a meal out of it... no pun intended.
actually ALL PUN INTENDED.

I made some SLOPPY HOES.
Take your childhood favorite Sloppy Joe and make it healthy. And, in turn, you have the SLOPPY HOE.
Just like your good friend Joe, only healthier.

Start off by switching your cow for a turkey.

Then throw in some of your favorite roughage.

And you got a hoe.

Here is my recipe.
It kind of rocks my HOE world.




SLOPPY HOE:

1/2 package lean ground turkey
1/2 package dark meat ground turkey
1/2 large yellow onion
2 roma tomatoes
1 jalapeno
1 shredded carrot
1.5 cups cremini mushrooms
1 tablespoon whole seed mustard
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup ketchup

Start off by browning your meat in a large skillet. Add diced onions, jalapenos, and mushrooms and cook about 8- 10 mins. The turkey meat will let off a lot of liquid.. but don't fret, It will be okay. After your meat is brown and you've broken it up add the chopped romas and carrot cook another couple mins. Then add the rest of your ingredients and bring to a boil and let simmer for another 20 or so mins. until it has thickened up into your SLOPPY HOE! Serve on whatever bun or bread you want!


On a random note:
Go buy a cherry pitter.
It is my most prized possession.
If you love cherry season, it will be yours too.

Now for some VACA photos:

The Palouse

"The cabin"

Double rainbow all the way over my back yard.

It was my dad's 50th birthday.. I made him a Guinness chocolate cake with homemade farmers market fresh milk, heavy cream and eggs. It was to die for.

The Cabin

The Cabin