Riding Lessons - Going Home

Tonight, Kyle and I started our riding lessons. It was amazing to be back on a horse again! I have been assigned to Picasso, a rehabilitated race horse who is owned by a 70 year old woman and her husband. She allows Anna, our instructor, to use Picasso for lessons. He is a big, beautiful bay who had a lopsided face and a crooked spine, hence his name. Neither of these affect the way he rides though, he has a beautiful gait. His personality is amazing too. He is very patient and calm and very alert and aware of what is happening around him. I can tell that he is incredibly intelligent. Yes...another horse I am in love with...but I don't think that takes long to happen for me. I have been in love with many horses in my life.

Kyle did so well for his first lesson. He was so patient and really trying...I was so excited and happy to see him enjoying himself and learning about something I love so much.

I heard a quote once that said that a horse was a projection of peoples dreams about themselves and they have the capability of giving us an escape from our mundane existence. I feel so amazing when I am on a horse. When I am just in my daily life, I feel ungainly, uncoordinated and not pretty most of the time. On a horse, I feel comfortable, graceful, beautiful and at peace working with this massive animal. I feel like I can communicate with them without talking and the horse not only perfectly understands me, but we are both working towards a common goal. At a barn and riding is the one place where I feel completely at ease and at home.

A good day and yummy dinner

I have felt pretty accomplished today and I even got a nap in! Today was the Flickinger yard sale. It really went well and I think the residents really enjoyed it! We had about 10 families come and sell things and quite a good turnout of buyers. I also took apart our grill and totally cleaned it, took our bikes in to get them fixed up.

Two of the girls who work in the office came to the yard sale. Then they went to check out the North Tonawanda Farmers Market and were such dears and brought me back a thin mint blizzard (amazing BTW). We decided to all go to the farmers market together next weekend and then go to Canal Fest and check out the flea market. Kyle is out of town next weekend so I can have fun girl time:)

Tonight I made Spicy Garlic Lime chicken and it was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

Ingredients

• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons lime juice

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl, mix together salt, black pepper, cayenne, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, onion powder, thyme and parsley. Sprinkle spice mixture generously on both sides of chicken breasts.
2. Heat butter and olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute chicken until golden brown, about 6 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons garlic powder and lime juice. Cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently to coat evenly with sauce.

I served it over homemade garlic mashed potatoes and it was divine when the sauce soaked into the potatoes. This will definitly have to become part of my r'epertoire of cooking:)

Our Adventures so far

It has been wonderful to live in an actual city with tons of things to do. Buffalo has tons of festivals all summer long plus we are so close to many things like Niagara Falls and Canada!

Our first festival was the Allentown Art Fest. It was amazing to see how many vendors and art was there! It was so fun and a beautiful day. Yes, I had to wear my beret because I am awesome and it's from Paris. Kyle thought I was a dork. I am:-)



We have also already traveled to Toronto for our 1st Anniversary. Toronto is where Kyle took me on our last weekend together before I moved to Kentucky and it's where he proposed to me at the top of the world (CN tour)!. We had a great time, at at the rotating restaurant at the top of the CN tower and just had a great time. It's so wonderful to be so close to a place that is so close to our hearts and that we love so much.

Our Garden and little oasis

On our back Patio we have started a container garden to grow veggies and herbs. We planted broccoli, peppers, lettuce, beans, onions, and cucumbers. Everything has sprouted except the lettuce. Hopefully it will come around eventually.

The big plants are the broccoli and the we have a lovely dahlia that is doing quite well.


This is the view from our back patio. There is actually a highway on the other side of the trees but you would never know it.

The back of our apartment. You can see our new deck box that we just got that I am excited about. It is big enough to store our grill and all of our gardening stuff in it:)

My next thoughts are to get some patio furniture but I am going to wait until the end of this summer to get stuff on sale for next summer.

A Blog restart

As you may have noticed, my last blog disappeared. I don't want to go into details of what happened but let's just say that it was slightly embarrassing.

So... here is to a new start! And in a new city:-) Kyle and I have moved to Buffalo, NY. I am loving it here, loving my new job and we have tons of things to do...finally!!! Our apartment is pretty sweet and I finally get to have a garden and grow veggies. Everything about our move has been great. I also get to paint here which is fabulous! There will be more updates with pictures as we get the apartment put together:)