I crave fresh tortillas

During our trip to Puerto Vallarta, we took the opportunity to explore the countryside of the Sierra Madres. And it was truly stunning.

Much of the area outside of the city is dedicated to farming, and most of the farming is organic. It was so refreshing to see people buying imperfect fruit and vegetables. The standards of the appearance of produce in the United States is ridiculous.

We also stopped to have fresh churros and tortillas, and even stopped by a cactus farm and had homemade tortillas, beans, pico, guacamole, and cactus salsa.

It was perfect. On our way back to the city we stopped in a small surfing village called Sayulita where we found all the Ex-Pats hanging out and having a good time. It was really nice to get away from the overtly touristy parts of Puerto Vallarta, that is not to say that the places we visited did not thrive on tourism as well, they just seemed to handle it more casually.

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Badlands National Park

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Snaps from Spring of 2010

Oh Yeah...

I redesigned...

Now I can post really big pictures, like this one...

Not the best picture, but it sure was yummy.

And finished my website. (ish).

And my mother moved out of her home of 23 years. The home in which I spent the whole of my life until recently.

Finally, I am training for the Chicago Half Marathon in September...I hope it goes well.

Weekend guest

Aaron and I hosted out first guest at our new apartment last weekend: my sister.



Aaron and I bought this really fantastic plum couch off craigslist for fairly cheap.

This really wonderful, practically brand new, huge, cushy, kind of heavy, (really expensive but we got for next to nothing) couch would not fit into our elevator (and attemps to "walk it up" resulted in a bruised nerve in my thumb). So instead, we took the big comfortable cushions and made a bed on the floor of our living room and watched District 9 (and by we, I mean me because the other two were either asleep or computing).

Despite not having a couch, table, chairs or other necessary furniture and an air mattress that would not hold air, the weekend was pretty nice.

Let me make your likeness

Aaron and I made pancakes using a squirt bottle. We made countless shapes including, likenesses of each other, hearts, triangles, donuts, squares, the state of New York, peace signs, smiley faces, the state of Texas, Misha, and not one circular pancake.

Later that night we made a fire in the backyard. Everything smells so good in the spring.

Blues, Bourbon Street, and 72 hours of Power Point

Homeward Bound...not just a movie from my childhood

The first week of my very welcome Thanksgiving vacation was spent with my family in Chicago. The drive from Rochester to Chicago is typically 10 hours long. This trip was no different with one exception. Aaron and I have decided to start "collecting" flattened pennies. (Collecting as in if we have the money and we see a crank, then we get it). Ohio has some classic penny cranks. I will elaborate on this in a future post. 

Aaron talked of how much he wanted chicken, specifically Popeye's chicken only moments before embarking on this trip, low and behold, we found one on the way. 


We then met my family at Steak and Shake where we were bombarded by hoards of tweens demanding fries and water. Put this on the list of things that make me feel old at 22.

The highlights of the trip were definitely the dinner my mother cooked (typical tacos), the dinner Aaron and I cooked (typical pizza), and a wonderful trip to Forest Park to visit Willie. And I bought a few great records that will inspire me to finally buy a new needle for my record player.

B-Tyne T-Giving

Yesterday was the third and final Ballantyne Thanksgiving. I have been looking forward to it since the beginning of the school year. It definitely lived up to my expectations despite my sweet potatoes not getting enough oven time (turkey juices, smoke, fire, ect...). On the whole, it was wildly successful with tons of food, music, hookah, and friends.

Two turkeys and no leftovers...

I had the pleasure of peeling, boiling, and mashing (with the help of Al) 10 pounds of potatoes. They were gone within 30 minutes. If photography does not work out, I can always make mashed potatoes.