7th Annual BBQ Party - June 21st 2008

Fantastic weather + Terrific friends + Fabulous food = Great Party!! What else could one wish for??

Cuba April 2008

Sorry it took so long to post my pictures: I didn't care well enough for my digital camera and some sand got into it. I had to take most of the pictures with my cell phone and I needed to get them into my computer.....

You Win Some, You Lose Some!

I wish I would have written a post last week to celebrate reaching a total loss of 10 pounds. Then again, if I’d done that, I would have to hide the fact that this week, I gained 7….. There’s something funky happening: this week, I am 7 pound up from where I was just 1 week ago, which was 3 down from the week before! I started to see a dietician 2 weeks ago and she is tracking my weight weekly. Although I celebrated my birthday (over 2 days!!) and then traveled most of the week, therefore enjoying great restaurants & cocktail parties, I didn’t expect such gain. However, in the last 2 weeks, I lost 1 inch around my waist and hips. How do you explain that???? I think I’ll just disregard this week’s weight and I’ll wait for next week to get alarmed. I haven’t gone back to the last belt hole yet, so there’s hope for me! After eating out for many days, I was glad to be home and be juicing again for breakfast! These carrots, apple and a chunk of beet never tasted so good! And today, I made a very tasty soup for lunch: onions, carrots, navy beans, sweet potatoes, orzo pasta and Banger sausage in chicken broth and used Ancho chile pepper powder and some Mexican Oregano I got in California last month. Very tasty!! Oh and I also bought some Dalmatian Sage; does anyone knows what to do whith that? I never use sage other than in stuffing so suggestions would be welcomed!

Doors of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

SoPoBoMo

Still on the water theme: lifeguard hut, Cherry Beach, Clarke Beach Park, Toronto.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Look at the wonderful (and delicious!!) gift I received at work from Joan and Patsy! It's made by Edible Arrangements and it's full of fruits skewers! So thoughtful and the girls know that I'm watching what I eat so they ask for just a few strawberries dipped in chocolate, and not milk chocolate but dark because they know that's what I prefer!! I'm very lucky! The picture doesn't show how big and full it was because by the time I took it, half of the fruits were already in my belly!! It was really stunning and I know I make many jealous when I walked throught the plant with my special delivery!! Thanks again girls and I hope we'll be lucky with our lottery ticket tonight!

I also received calls galore, cards, e-wishes and care packages full of happy wishes. Thank you all for thinking of me!

SoPoBoMo

I might be going for a "water" theme....

SoPoBoMo is Starting Today!

The Solo Photo Book Month project is starting today! The goal is to take 35 photos during 31 days and to “publish” it in a virtual book. It’s open to anyone and thanks to Jamie for the suggestion; I thought I’d give it a shot. I barely finished my online course from the FIT than I was signing up for this project 5 minutes later!! Couldn’t I just take it easy??? My photos are not that great but isn’t it the intention that count? My problem will be to try to stick to one subject; I tend to scatter my thoughts….This my first photo for the project.

Morning Beauty!

Just wanted to share my early morning view with the moon still up there.

Earth Hour - March 29, 8 to 9pm

I did my share. Did you do your? At precisely 8pm last night, I didn't only dim the lights, I shut off all the breakers! I continued doing work on the computer, but battery-powered and enjoyed the candlelit atmosphere. I didn't even turn the TV on after 9pm.

Did I make a difference? Sure! In my small world. But maybe not in the bigger scheme of things. It was not just about dimming the lights but rather to be more conscious of our wasteful ways. I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Happy Easter!

I Feel Lucky!

Today, I’ve been dumped by my Irish beau, ended up being nothing more than the flavor of the month. That sucks. It’s not the lucky part but can’t dwell too much on the sucky parts of life. On my way from work, I saw a Roadtrek 190 on a used car lot! That’s the small RV I’ve talked about before ~ just what I need to hit the road! This must be a sign of better things to come, so I bought a lottery ticket for tonight’s draw! You never know!

Denver, CO

Wow! Today must be a lucky day for me! First I got an exit aisle seat on the flight from Sacramento to Denver without asking. So much leg room! AND I got a US Air Force pilot beside me! Easy on the eyes to boot! Could not have asked for better!!! We chatted all the way about California, Illinois (his home base), Canada and motorcycles! He showed me videos taken with a lipstick camera mounted on his bike. Fascinating! He showed me how to do sudoku games; is that the right name? I've never done that before so I learned something today! And he was curious about all the items I dog eared the pages in the Sky Mall catalogue. Got to go, we're boarding now! Denver airport is great: again free Wifi access!!!

Sacramento, Sunny California!

I'm in Sacramento right now with 2 hours to kill at the airport before my flight to Denver, then on to Toronto. There was no traffic this morning so I got here earlier than expected. It's a very small airport (and Sacramento is the state capitol?!!), very 60's looking, BUT there is free public WiFi access!!! At every other airports I've been too, you always have to buy a time package. So this is really impressive!

Magnificent Mango Salad!

I got this recipe from the Chatelaine magazine a few years ago, but couldn’t find it again on their web site to share with you. I used the same dressing, fish sauce/lime juice/sugar/chili pepper flakes but I’ll have to find a new kind of fish sauce; the one I have in the fridge has 52% of your daily sodium requirement in 1 tablespoon!!!! Much too much!!!
Anyway, the end result was delicious: a huge mix of mangoes, shrimps, sweet onions, bean sprout on a bed of arugula greens, sprinkled with chopped cilantro and crushed still-warm roasted cashews. I often change the recipe, depending on what I have in the fridge! Avocado is also very good in that mix, so is fresh grapefruit chunks. I still have a mango left so I’ll do a repeat this week with chicken. So good, I wish I could share with you virtually! !