Porkin' Out!

I'm a major carnivore. I'm not proud of it, but it's a fact. I just loooove me some meat!

I tried going vegetarian after my friend enlightened me to the horrors of slaughterhouses. Just the word slaughterhouse invokes guilt in me.

After a couple days of eating soy-based foods, I got really sick. I had no energy and I felt like I was dying. It was the weirdest feeling, so I said flip-it, I'm a carnivore.

I'll blame my cravings, my NEED for meat, on my type-O blood. Ever read that book Eat Right for Your Type? Well, type-O is supposedly the oldest in the evolution of humans. Basically, cave men were type-O.

The newest type is AB, and they function well on a vegetarian diet. My friend who sent me the terrifying animal-killing videos is an AB. See where I'm going with this? ;-)

When I was growing up, I ate beef almost every day. Mmmm rib eyes are my absolute favorite! (I kinda loathe myself for loving it so much.)

Now that I'm head chef in my household ;-) I am cooking lots of interesting dishes, and lately, I've been really into pork tenderloin.

Pork is great with mustard. I never thought I'd like it on anything, but mustard in cooking is so different than on a hot dog or burger.

I'm also not a huge fan of rosemary, so I am hyper-conscious of not using too much, and my hubby thinks I'm a master spicer now...is that a word? It is now!

Here's one of my latest pork faves...my mostly vegetarian friend tried it (she's a funny bunny like that)...and she absolutely LOVED it...

This recipe is from All Recipes but I always change it because I'm cool like that. hahaha

Apple Rosemary Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients



Pork Tenderloin (Any size, really)

1-2 tbsp mustard (depending on size)

1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

6-8 minced garlic cloves (depending on size)

about 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary

salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 325F.

Place pork tenderloin in pan, sprinkle salt and pepper on it, and cook in over for an hour to lock in juices.

Mix mustard, apple sauce, garlic, and rosemary together in a bowl.

Thoroughly spread sauce mixture over pork.

Put back into oven until meat thermometer reads proper temp.

(I cook a 3-4lb tenderloin for about 40 minutes to an hour with the sauce on it.)

If you like pork, this is sure to become a favorite! SOOOooooo yummy! Makes my mouth water just typing the recipe out. :-)

Enjoy....

And because I have yet to take photos of my dishes before the fam (or I) devour them instantly, here's another one of the latest Newcomb carnivore (or maybe not, who knows?) ;-) Thanks for taking this, Grandma Leila!

These dimples make me melt!

xo

jbnewcomb<3

Learning to Shoot Manually

I dreaded learning it. I've always photographed in auto mode, and I knew if I wanted to learn photography, I had to go manual, baby! Guess what? It's not that difficult (adjusting the settings, that is). Phew! Of course I have a lot to learn about photography in general, but at least I'm not whining about my pictures being crappy. I like them anyway. :-) That's saying a lot, for me. GO ME! :-))

I've been shooting in manual mode for only a few days now (only shot in manual focus toward the end, though). It's actually a lot of fun! It's hard to believe anyone with a nice camera wouldn't shoot this way because you get such great photos in manual. I love the control. I love to play. I actually LOVE learning how to shoot manually. Who would've thought? Not I!

Here's a few of my first photos in manual mode...of course they're of my favorite models, Aurora and Elena...

Aurora and her favorite buddy, Juliet. <3

Juliet doesn't mind...she's a glutton for attention ;-)

I just L<3VE Aurora's Eyes in this one!!

My Sweet Girl :-)



Elena's eyes look just like Aurora's did at this age...so precious...



Look at that mouth! (Background's not so cute lol)

My smiley baby :-))

xo

jbnewcomb<3

My Humble Poetry, I

My Babies

Innocent, Curious Eyes

A Lovely, Sleepy Smile

Tiny, Strong Hands

Endless Possibilities

And Limitless Love

These are My Precious Gifts

The Luck I’ve Been Given

Twice.

xo

jbnewcomb<3

Thanks, Old Hollwood

There are not many movies for adults that children can enjoy too. Luckily, many movies from Old Hollywood are perfectly fine for me to watch with my five year old. Musicals are especially fun. She loves music and singing and dancing.

Compare adult themes in old movies to adult themes in modern movies, and it's like night and day. Kissing is so syrupy sweet in old movies and sex is rarely even mentioned. Of course not all movies from Hollywood's Golden Age are appropriate, but modern movies are pretty much completely inapropriate.

I love my DVR. I watch 75% of TV on my DVR for a half dozen reasons. And TCM is one of my favorite channels to record.

Recently, I recorded a bunch of Esther Williams films. If you don't know the name, she's the actress who played in all of those swimming and mermaid-type movies. What a beauty!

Because she prefers musicals, I was surprised that my daughter was hooked from the time I selected play for the first film. She let out a titter of excitment when I told her I'd recorded several Esther Williams films. "I really like this movie. I want to watch it everyday," she said with excitement for the 1945 movie Thrill of Romance with Van Johnson.

From the moment Esther Williams dove off of a high-dive board, Aurora was captivated. She'd obviously never seen that before, and technicolor movies are just so saturated with vibrant color.

Thanks, Old Hollywood, for producing films my daughter and I can enjoy together. :-)






My Tiny Dancer, Aurora :-)

xo

jbnewcomb<3

Get over it ALREADY!

I love photographs. There are thousands of pictures of my babies and they're only five years old and two months old. It's mind-boggling to think about how many billions, no trillions, no gazillions (lol) of photographs there probably are out in the world, all because of the digital revolution.

My first digital camera opened up a whole new world for me. I LOVED seeing the pictures I took in real-time without them being polaroids (another camera I was gaga for). I took thousands of pictures....a huge majority being of myself :P I was a teenager refining my look, and my digital camera was my mentor. Its biggest lesson: my ridiculously thin eyebrows didn't suit my face.

My husband still makes fun of me to this day when he finds on my camera phone pictures I took of myself after taking some of our children. But the truth is, if I didn't take pictures of myself, there wouldn't be very many of me at all because I am usually behind the camera. If I'm not behind the camera, then my children are still the main focus because they're so darn CUTE, so there really aren't many pictures of me besides the ones I take.

The first photograph I was truly proud of was that of a pelican on the jetty in Venice, FL. The composition was breathtaking. A large brown pelican peacefully sitting on these gigantic rocks, the beautiful Gulf of Mexico in the background. Ok, so the Gulf isn't the most beautiful body of water, but I'm a fan. And I still have that photo.

Until now, I've refused to tell people I was interested in photography as a career. Despite what people think when they meet me, I am pretty shy. I fake it well because I am friendly and like to make people laugh, but I protect my vulnerable side like a momma bird sits on her eggs.

Before I voice my passions, I like them to be mature so I can be confident enough. But confident enough for what? Even if all of the sudden I wanted to be a cheerleading instructor, my close friends and family wouldn't kill my dream with negativity despite me never being a cheerleader. But I still can't bare to let anyone know what I want or what I am capable of until I feel proud of it.

I loved art classes in high school, yet I couldn't STAND...I mean COULD NOT STAND drawing or painting or sculpting anything in a room full of my peers. There was no rational reason. It's not like people were staring at me (though I was paranoid they were).

I would barely get a thing done in class, so when I brought my finished works to class, people must have thought I was getting my big brother to do them or something. People were always impressed, and I won awards for every piece I produced.

I'm so mad at myself for not being more of a risk taker. I never get shot down, so why do I wait and wait and wait? Why do I torture myself?

It's time to be a risk taker and shout out to the world what I want.

I want to be a professional photographer! Most of all, A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER!

There. I said it. I'm soooo tempted to delete this, so before I do. PUBLISH.

I took this of myself....duh :-P

xo
jbnewcomb<3