Insta-day!

Life is definitely more beautiful when you can capture moments via photos...

Here are some of my latest random instagrams, all taken with my Samsung Galaxy S2 phone.

Indoor Plant

BTK, the Momma of our clan

Goldie ready to flee...

Our Dogs & Cats

Goldie

My hubby's  ride

Sheba & Ditto posing for the camera

Hungry Felines

If you have Instagram on your Iphone or Android and feel like "following" me, please do so... I am in there as "caymansunshine"!

And last but not least, today I wanna thank EVERYBODY that left me a comment yesterday about the "BB&BS" video and my relationship with Yanique, I really appreciate the support and your kind words!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

Mentor & Mentee

As most of you my readers know, I am a volunteer mentor for the Big Brothers & Big Sisters of the Cayman Islands.

A couple of months ago they asked me and my mentee Yanique to take part in a video/commercial and talk about our match and what we get out of the program, this way perhaps encouraging people to join this very important program and help out.

Well the video is now ready and here it is... It's about a bit less than 5 minutes long, but worth watching with lots of information about the organization and what a great cause this is.

I believe "BB&BS" is a worldwide program, so if you are thinking of making a difference in somebody's life, how about a child's life?

Perhaps this could be an option for you or anybody else that would like to volunteer for something... think about!

If you don't wanna watch the whole video but want to see me and Yanique, we start coming up at around min 2:21... check it out!

Have a great Tuesday!

In the land of submarines

About 3 weeks ago I mentioned that I was taking Yanique to the Atlantis Submarine tour but things didn't work out. The following 2 weekends after that I didn't get to see her, one she was spending time with her Dad and after that, it was Easter.

Finally we got to go last Saturday, we had a fabulous time and I was quite pleased with the whole experience.

This was not my first time on a Submarine, but my first on the one here in Grand Cayman.

About 15 years ago in Eilat, Israel while on vacation with my parents, we took a Submarine tour of the Red Sea, I don't remember much about that trip but I do remember having a great time because I wasn't a diver back then.

Now, after more than 10 years of being a diver, I wasn't quite sure what to expect of this tour and now I can say with confidence that perhaps it's next best thing [to see the reef] after scuba diving.

Here are some photos of that day.

Boarding pass in hand.... not sure if she wants to smile for the camera!

Here comes the Sub, ready to get it...

Yanique going down... I'm next!

Inside the Submarine

The reef

The infamous Lion fish (2 in the photo)

Tiger Grouper "at the dentist"- getting his teeth cleaned!

Lovely Hawksbill Turtle waved us good bye at the end of the tour

As you can see from some of the pictures, we saw lots of different species and although it was hard taking pictures over 2 layers of plexi glass, I think those came out alright!

It's a tour I would definitely take again and I in fact I'm already thinking about taking my Mom and my Aunt when they come visit this year.

Hope everybody had a great weekend and that this coming week is even better one!

Happy Monday <*))))><

almost a year old!

When you live on an island as small as this one, sometimes it's very hard to find gifts for specific occasions.

And when those gifts need to be sent by mail, then the possibilities are even less because you just can't mail everything- well you pretty much can depending on your budget for both the gift and the shipping!

My Godson Julian is turning 1 at the end of May, so in order to get ahead of the mail time, I need to find him a present and mail it asap.

Been looking for a few days now but it looks like I finally found something that I think is special, useful and that would last him for a few years...

I bought him this... a Bunnykins Set of bowl and matching spoon.

Isn't it cute? I figure that at age 1 you don't really mind exactly what people get you for your birthday, but having something like this set, could last him for a long time and be his own special serving plate for years to come.

Now I just need to find a nice, cute card to go with it [although it's not like he'll read it] and then is off to the post office to send it, hoping he will get it on time!

stop that door...

Meet the newest addition to our clan, this is Cyrano.

He is a brave little mouse that as of this weekend guards the front door of our room.

Isn't he cute?

But why the name Cyrano, you might ask?

Well, he is named after the famous "Cyrano de Bergerac", mainly because when I was crocheting the nose [quite late in the night] working with black yarn is hard when it's not full light, so the end result was a larger than expected nose, LOL!

This was a fun, easy weekend project and now that I told my Mom about him, she wants two for her house...

I think I will make them but mail them to her "empty", so once she gets them, she can stuff each one with rocks or even beans to make it heavy enough to hold the door.

By the way, this is a free crochet pattern via Lion Brand website, but the only requirement to access the pattern is by signing up and be a member of the site... To see the pattern and get all the details click here.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

spring WINNER giveaway

After 4 wonderful days off, I am once again convinced that someone, somehow and somewhere messed up the set up of the week.

I think the week should be; instead of 5 working days and 2 weekend days, at least 4 business days and 3 weekend days. Doesn't that sounds better?

But, don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, but simply stating the fact that my body and mind feel much better after this short hiatus of 4 days!

Now today, it's off to better things (besides work), which is reveling the winner of my latest and biggest attended blog giveaway, yet.

But, before I get to the actual winner, I would like to thank everybody that sign up and those who shared the information with others, thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

And one last thing before I announce the winner, is that over the weekend I decided to add a little extra to the bag, so the winner will get the handmade crochet hand bag plus a matching ladybug key ring!

And now... [insert drum roll here].

Chosen by RANDOM.ORG "True Random Number Generator", the winner is:

#9

Desiree is one my new followers (thanks to the giveaway), so I hope she and everybody else sticks around for the next one...

Thanks again to all those that participated!

Have a great Tuesday : )

UW Wednesday

Diving yesterday was phenomenal and overall the entire day was great, spending time with long time friends is very special.

Here are some of the best shots of yesterday's underwater world.

funny fish (kinda' look like they are mad)

Tarpon Time

Lonely Squirrel Fish

"Chain Moray Eel"- First one I've ever seen!!!

Not 1 but 2 juvenile High Hats... Awesome find!!!!

a closer look at one of the juvenile High Hats- very hard to photograph cause they move a lot!

Today I am working but tomorrow is again a Holiday. Hoping everybody is enjoy their Easter Break (whether they celebrate or not)... God Bless!

Have a great day :)

middle of short week

Today I am off work as we have some friends visiting the islands so we are going to take them into town for a little bit of shopping and then off to do a dive.

photo from last week diving

Then I am back to work tomorrow but not for long as Friday is also a holiday. So on that day instead of working, our company is giving us a Spa Day as part of our 2 yearly "Employee Appreciation" activities, yey!

We are going to the Hibiscus Spa located at the Westin Casuarina Resort. I have chosen the Aqua Renewal Package that contains; a Mud Wrap, a Vichy Shower, 1 Hour Massage and a Facial... aaaaah, total bliss!

Life is good!

On a different note, I am very happy a lot of people has signed up for my giveaway, can't wait to reveal the winner!

Happy Wednesday! 

Crochet Ad

First of all I want to thank everybody that signed up for my Spring Handmade giveaway and for those that qualify for more than one entry, please make sure to leave me a comment for each one so you have more and better chances to win the bag.

So, now go back here and leave me another comment!

Also it's very nice to receive so many complements about my "talent" and crochet skills.. So, today I want to share some very amazing crochet skills applied to advertising.

I am talking about the SUDAFED tv ad that was made by Yan at pica-pau blog, if you have not seen it before, you will see how very amazing it is... check it out.

Also if you want to see some photos of the actual process to make this ad, please visit her blog here.

Unfortunately she writes only in Spanish as she is from Argentina, but you can still get a very good idea of  the actual amount of work put into such a project by just looking at the photos, I find it amazing!

What do you think?

Have a wonderful day :)


In her blog post, she explains how she had to make 5 sets of the whole head with lots of people helping her but she design every single pattern for every organ by herself.... perhaps one day I would be this good!

Spring Handmade Giveaway

Spring is blooming and flowers are out, the weather is beautiful in many places around the world and that's why this is a great time to celebrate life with a lovely giveaway...

So what's in it for you?

Well, the prize is a crochet handbag 100% handmade by "yours truly"!

Wanna get your hands on this baby? 

To entry on my giveaway here are the rules:

Mandatory entries (you can leave one comment for each entry and have more chances to win). Must do at least 2 of these:

• Be a [Such Life in the Tropics] follower.
• Leave a comment telling me what is your favorite Spring Flower.
• Blog about my giveaway on your blog.

Additional Entries:

• Grab my button and put it on your blog.
• Follow me on Pinterest.

Giveaway is open to anybody that meets the required entries, regardless of "geographical location" a.k.a. located anywhere in the world and open until Monday April 9th at 12am EST.

Winner will be announced on Tuesday April 10th!

Good luck and Happy Spring!

weekend ready

Welcome Friday, it's so nice to see you again!

Yesterday an old friend from high school arrived on the island and will be here for a few days, I am hoping I will get to spend some time with her.

Anyway, with the weekend so close I decided to share some pictures of my last weekend.

the sandtruck

Yanique socializing with 2 tourist girls

Royal Palms Beach

lonely lounge chairs... wanna come over?

Isn't Seven Mile Beach awesome?

The ocean color is always amazing and don't think I'll ever get tired of it!

In other news, today I took kitty #7 to get neutered.

Long Tail a.k.a. "LT" is being coming sporadically to feed with our other kitties, but he sometimes gets on a fight with BTK who is the leader cat of our pack... We figure we can help him by getting him fixed and perhaps that would help with the "territorial problems".

Have yourself a wonderful weekend... Stay tuned for Monday as I am starting my very next giveaway!!!

invisible cat tricks!

I other day I found this image via Pinterest and I couldn't help but laughing out loud at both the creativity some people have to come up with this stuff and of course the kitties!

My favorite? The Invisible Window installation... How about your?

I hope you found it as amusing as I did!

Have a wonderful Thursday >''<

dinner last night

Lately I've been very organized when it comes to plan dinners ahead of time as I am trying to make very conscious food choices to loose weight and make my exercise worth it.

Of course sometimes it's easier to go for a delivery pizza, but it's just not healthy, so instead I am putting a lot of effort on making our own pizza (with a store bought dough), soon I even wanna try and make my own healthy dough.

Last night dinner menu was Szechuan Chicken with White Rice, it was yummy but I specially like it because it's such a super easy recipe, so today I decided to share it (the chicken part- not the rice!)

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (I didn't have any so I used White Balsamic Vinegar!)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 3 green onions, sliced diagonally into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

 Directions:

1. Place the chicken and cornstarch into a bag or bowl, and toss to coat. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the chicken pieces and garlic, stirring constantly until lightly browned. Stir in the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and water. Cover, and cook until the chicken pieces are no longer pink inside, 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the green onion, and cayenne pepper, cook uncovered for about 2 more minutes. Serve over white rice.  

the final result

Perhaps the photo doesn't really show how good it really was, but it was yummy and so fast to make...

Happy Wednesday!

Car Wash

On Saturday I was not able to take Yanique on a Submarine ride, so instead we decided to go to the Cayman Islands Humane Society Shelter and walk some of the doggies as they are all day inside those kennel and are in the need of burning a lot of energy.

But before we went to the shelter, I asked Yanique if it was o.k. that I take my car for a quick wash?... So we went to the car wash.

I've been there many times before, but for her it was the first time, so right at the entrance she asked if we could stay inside the car and go through the machine. Of all the many times I have been there, I never knew it was o.k. to "ride" the machine... but this time we did!

Have you ever been through a car wash machine before? Well, if you haven't, then you have come to the right place and if you have, perhaps you will still enjoy our ride!

After the "car wash ride" we went to the shelter, walked 3 beautiful dogs and then head off to the beach.

I am still working in getting us a ride on the Submarine, hopefully for next week!

Have a great Tuesday :)

Mug Swap

There are many things I like about blogging; expressing myself, sharing my ideas and life with the outside world, meeting new people, giveaways and specially swaps.

Even though I've never done a swap via my blog, I have participated in a few in the past.

The latest swap I took part of was also my very first Mug Swap via Syndal's Synfully Delicious blog and hosted by both Syndal's blog & On the Front Porch blog... I loved participating and the end result, my new mug was the best part!

As a swap partner this time I got a very nice girl from Chicago (Shannyn), we both exchanges a few emails to give each other ideas of what we would like.

My cup arrived just last week (a couple of day after the due date to blog about it, so this post is a bit late).

Shannyn got my a beautiful Snoopy cup and the best part of it was that she even personalized it for me, how awesome is that?!?!? I have to say I just love my new mug and will share for a long time...

So, thanks Shannyn for my wonderful cup, I will share it for many years!!!

If you would like to see the mug I sent Shannyn, make sure to visit her blog, just click here!

Have a great day!!!

call me buttercup

Sometimes I just don't have it in my to post. Lately besides lacking real topics and inspiration, work is adding to the equation, spring break tourists are flooding the streets of George Town so we have been super busy every day.

But in a way, busy means sales and time sure flies when you are having fun, right?

On a different note, I am happy to report that I am totally back on my feet after last week's illness.

I am back on my gym routine and I have to say I am still enjoy it, but it's not getting any easier, in fact now I am doing 3 classes a week and I specially happy to be doing a boxing class on Tuesdays. 

The thing about boxing is that it's a great sport and it specially makes me feel like a "power puff girl", LOL!

So from now on, just call me Buttercup! 

It's been 2 weekend since I've seen my little sister Yanique and I feel pretty bad about that. First weekend I had to work and then after being sick and off work I ended up working again on Saturday.

So, tomorrow I am planning to make it up to her and perhaps take her on a submarine ride or go snorkeling again. I also bought her a book so we can start reading together (as she requested me before) to help her improve her reading skills!

Also this weekend I am very excited about the new movie based on the books "The Hunger Games". After reading the books about a year ago, the wait is over and I am going to try to watch the movie on Sunday. Can't wait and I hope it's going to be good!

Have you read the books? If not, I highly recommend them. 

At first when I started reading the books, I found them kind of weird but then I got caught up in the story and just after a few chapter I could not put them down.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and that the weather is fabulous wherever you are!

W[less]ednesday

photo by Sunshine

getting the shot

The following photo is a very good example of "what the eye see is not necessary what the camera captures".

Sometimes people say that I have "good eye" for taking photos and although that's definitely important to get good results, it's not all that is needed.

And although I am not a profession photographer, I do like to take pictures and I get some fairly good results most of the time.

But when it comes to get excellent results all of the time, it is true that you need more than a "good eye", specially if you are using your manual mode and staying away from the "auto" mode on your camera.

When taking photos we need to learn the basic concepts of photography; lighting and exposure, composition and angles, shutter times, etc, etc, etc... All of these, plus, having a good camera will get you results.

A friend of mine that is a professional photographer once told me that it bothers him when people says to him:

"Your photos are so great, you must have a very good camera". 

And to him that is just a very rude and wrong assumption. To him it's like going for dinner to somebody's house and after the meal saying to the cook;

"Your food was excellent, you must have a very good stove!".

So, that's the point I am trying to make, the camera is important but it's only a device that will take the pictures operated by somebody, right?

The other day while browsing on Pinterest I found this very interesting "cheat sheet" that I think is very helpful for those who would like to lay off the auto setting and venturing into the manual mode (like I do!)...

But, if auto mode is still the best territory for us, we at least have to our advantage, that when we don't get the expected results, we now live in the era of the digital imaging.

Nowadays with just the touch of a button we can delete a picture, re take it or perhaps once we take it and it's not quite what we wanted we can also recur to a program to enhance or retouch it, right?

So, no matter if you use auto or manual mode for your photos, always keep in mind that what the eye sees, will never be quite the same as what the camera captures.

Have a great day and happy photos!

back from nowhere...

After 3 days of rest last week, two shots + antibiotics I have to say that I am feeling like myself again.

Today I am ready to start another busy week and I'm already looking forward to go back to the gym tomorrow Tuesday.

This weekend I worked on Saturday, but it was my own decision as I was away form 3 days and we received a lot of product during the week, while I was away we were very busy and expected Saturday to be the same, but it wasn't.

Yesterday we went to the beach for a little while, it was a very hot day but most of the time we spend it snorkeling. I took my underwater camera and got a few pictures, here are the best of the bunch.

camouflaged flounder

coral head

fish'es!

my hubby

And my favorite of the day...

Elk horn Coral

Also as of this week I am back to my old "crochet self". For a few days now I've been working on what's going to be my next blog giveaway and I am excited about that because it's coming along really nice. During the weekend I also crochet a pair of headphone pads for my husband (which you can see right here).

Since it's spring break the island is quite busy and this week should be no exception, which means, I'm striking for some good sales, have a great Monday!!!