5 lbs lighter!!!

It's Monday again and although I am 5 lbs lighter (already!) from my diet, this week I am super loaded with work and activities.

Tomorrow night we have one of the two annual events at the gallery where I work, Thursday I am going to the Under Water Film Festival where my boss is the feature film presenter.

Friday we have yet another gallery event with a private group of 80 couples, hoping for BIG $ale$!!!!!

Saturday is the beginning day of the 35th Pirates Week Festival and the the day of the Landing Parade, this would be the second year we put on a float, so besides getting everything ready for those two event, I am also decorating the float...

Anyway, I am not sure I will be having much time to post anything else for the week, specially since our internet at the house went down from Sat. night and still not fixed, hoping somebody from the phone company comes by today and fix it...

In other news, on Friday I took Sheba to the beach after the Vet's appointment, she had a great time!!!

Yesterday Sunday we went to my brother's house for a BBQ and I gave my SIL her new hat and I think she loved it!!!

yummy skewers and my lil' chicken breast on the side!

new hat!

funky moth

Hope everybody has a nice week!!!

Officially Friday

It's officially Friday, which means in just about a few hours the weekend will be finally here.

Also it's official, I am on a diet and a serious one that is, because it's a doctor monitored one an all... First time I ever do something like it.

I am hoping to reach my goal to lose 20 lbs but today is only day one (after 3 whole days of "loading up" phase), so please keep me in your prayers that I find strength to make it to what I need.

So far, so good... I am totally already feeling the good vibes you are sending, thanks u guys rock!

Well, hope everybody has a wonderful weekend!!!

Trick or Throwback!

November is finally here and what I better to start it than on a Thursday which means only two things;
the week is half full and here's another edition of...

As you know Halloween was last night and although I didn't do anything this year last year was a crazy night, one full of zombie that came back from the death... like Bettlejuice

Add caption

and Osama Bin laden...

1. The first picture is my friend Tarah dressed up as Bettlejuice, she made her whole outfit out of Duct Tape and her own makeup, she is an awesome and very creative artist!

2. Tarah a.k.a. Bettlejuice was also the hostess of the Halloween party that year.

3. My brother a.k.a Osama Binladen is with me on the second photo.

4. I decided to do my make up last minute and it's my own version of the Day of the Death.

5. We had a awesome time last year, but this year we didn't attend any parties, so Throwback is the way to go!!!

Hope everybody had a nice and safe Halloween... 

If you feel like sharing your Throwback, just grab the button at the top and share on your blog.

Happy Thursday!

no tricks, all treats!!!

Just as I am a sucker for "talking animals" films, I am also a sucker for animals in costumes and although I don't get around to dress my own mainly because my husband won't allow me I don't have any costumes for them I still enjoy some pooches in "drag", LOL!!!

Now, when it comes to costumes, I've always think that buying a Halloween costume is just not as fun as when you come up with an idea and make it yourself, the same goes for animal costumes, although there are some good "store bought" ones, the home made ones are definitely the best.

So, Halloween is tonight and if at this point you decide to dress up your pooch, here are some fabulous ideas...

Of course, if you manage to get them into any of these "little numbers" you need to make sure there is at least one treat in it for them, right?!?!?

the Chia Pet

Bride to Be

Banana Dog

is that you Pepe Le Pew?

Spider Dog

probably the best costume ever!!!

But the average holiday is not complete without a "someecards", here's a great one to celebrate Halloween...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Award and more...

"I'll like to thank the Academy..." or in this case, Esther at "Esther Norine Designs" for the lovely Liebster Blog Award I got on Sunday and since I didn't read the email until yesterday here I am blogging about it today...

According to Esther's post, I am supposed to post 11 fact about me and also answer some questions, in my case I am only going to answer the questions she posted and then pass along to some other amazing bloggers.

1: Why do you like blogging?

I like to blog to share my world and thoughts with other people out there that might have some things in common with me or perhaps not.

2: Where is your dream vacation?

I love to travel and see new and exciting places, my dream vacation is the one I get to go on!!!

3: Do you have any pets? What are their names?

I have 2 dogs Ditto and Sheba and 7 cats (BTK, Little One, Goldie, Shadow, Lee, Albee and LT)

4: What is your guilty pleasure?

Dulce de Leche in any form or shape

5: Do you choose to pick up the remote or pick up a book first?

Book first

6: What is your favorite holiday?

Christmas

7: Do you like Starbucks? What do you get there?

I take my coffee black and no sugar so I can care less if I get it at Starbucks on any other good coffee place.

8: Do you prefer purses over shoes or vice versa or equal?

Purses 100%

9: Are a cook or a baker?

Both, but I don't do much baking because of all the calories that come included with it.

10: What is your go-to accessory?

I love scarfs, but since I live in the Caribbean I don't get to wear them much

11: Do you prefer country living or the city?

Country living for me, traffic in big cities does not make me happy

And now I am supposed to pass the award to other bloggers, so here are my choices:

@ the bench

Happy Days

Miss McKay Joyce

Please go visit any of these ladies, all their blogs are very nice to read.

In other news...It's getting closer, almost here... and although I don't really "celebrate", meaning I don't put up any decorations, go trick or treat-ing or dress up (unless invited to a party).... Halloween is almost here!

But now a days I only need to go as far as Pinterest to see all the amazing ideas I am not putting into practice and all the fun activities I am not doing to celebrate and make this day a unique an special one.

So here are some of the things I would actually do if I was to really get into Halloween...

1. With toilet paper cardboard rolls (or aluminium foil), tea lights (battery operated) and some black paint.

2. This will be the ghost cookies I will totally bake but I won't.

3. Last year we decorated our own pumpkin, this year we didn't :(

4. Fabulous idea to keep your refreshments (in case you are throwing an actual Halloween party).

5. Mason jars + paint is the way to go.

6. Awesome front door decoration.

7. If I had an old white sheet I would be all over this idea for my dogs!

8. Fun ghosts!

9. Great way to decorate your pumpkins and your fireplace.

Well, hoping everybody is safe with all the storms around, weather is here today, wish you were here...

Happy Tuesday!

Life's a beach and then it's Monday...

Hello everybody, I hope the weekend was good and that wherever you are weather is nice and enjoyable as there are so many people being affected by Hurricane Sandy as well as some major snow storms around the US, hoping everybody is keeping safe and sound.

Weather is so much better here now and hoping that will be the case for other places too.

Sunday at the beach

My weekend was very enjoyable, on Friday night we closed the week by having dinner at the Heritage Kitchen Fish Fry stand, I had the coconut fish and it was delicious (as always)!

On Saturday I worked on my paper mache project and I got pretty advanced, hoping that for next weekend I will be able to paint it and finally share some photos here.

At night we were part of a fundraiser called "Paws for Wine" which the fund go towards C.A.R.E. (Cayman Animals Rescue Enthusiasts). C.A.R.E. consist of all volunteers that help people that need financial need to spay and neuter their pets, in our case they were the ones that help us spay and neuter our 7 cats.

They do such a wonderful job helping animals that we had to be part of this very important cause.

my friend Jenn and me at Paws for Wine

On Sunday we went to the beach and did some snorkeling.... Weather was fabulous and here are some pictures I took while snorkeling.

grunt cave

poisonous scorpion fish, can u see it????

flaming tong snail on fan coral

tons of blue tangs all over

Also while snorkeling a found a pretty cool shell...

I have a few more photos but I will share more tomorrow or in the next few days.

Happy Week everybody!

Windy Friday

WOW! Talk about howling wind last night, even though Hurricane Sandy is far away from us now, the wind picked up last night like crazy.

We went to bed early (around 9ish) and then about an hour later (thank God after I asked my husband to close the sunbrella in the back porch), the wind knock down the whole table, sunbrella and everything that was on the table (including a sun jar I made!)... The noise woke us up and we had to go in the back to clean (specially the broken glass) and pick up everything...

Can't even imagine what the people from Bahama went through last night with Sandy around. I have some friends that live in Bermuda and they are also on hurricane watch, so are some people on the East Coast of Florida... please everybody take care and keep inside.

Today specially I have everybody in my prayers; the ones that are already affected by Sandy, those that are still on Sandy's path or even close because you will get some bad weather for sure.

Seas are really rough today and I am thinking this might just last the whole weekend...

I also read on the news yesterday that there's a massive snow storm coming this weekend, hoping everybody will be safe this weekend.

Have a great one!

Throwback Time

Is it Thursday yet? Yes it is... and guess what comes right after it, Friday!!! [insert celebratory dance here].

Being that today is Thursday, here's another edition of...

Now for today's photo I decided to go back in time and since Halloween is fast approaching I decided to continue on that same "theme".

1. This photo was taken the year I moved to Cayman Brac, 2005.

2. I am wearing a Nurse costume.

3. My friend Sara is dresses as a sort of devil girl!

4. I bought both costumes in Grand Cayman and brought them back (among others) for us to wear.

5. My friend Sara left the island shortly after that to live in Little Cayman and from there she moved to back to her hometown, Milwaukee, Minnesota.

Now, if you feel like joining in the fun and share a photo for your past, please link you blog.



Have a wonderful day!!!

Yarn Along Wednesday

Wednesday is finally here, which means the weekend if half full or half empty, right? Let's say half full just to be an optimist, right?

Today and for the first time (ever) I am linking with Yarn Along and showing one of the few crochet project I have going on right now...

Like I mentioned the other day, I am working on a hat for my SIL as she and my brother are moving back to Canada at the end of November, I am going to miss them A LOT!

Anyway, her favorite color is green so I decided to use "Tea Leaf" green and Lavender to give it a little extra... Here's what I have done so far.

The hat should look like this at the end...

And if you would like to get your hands on this free pattern visit the ravelry page here. If you can't access it because you are not a ravelry member, just let me know and I can send you the pattern via email.

On the weather front, I have to say that today is remarkably sunny out there, the storm should be just about the hit Jamaica today so we are expecting on and off shower during the afternoon/night... but other than that looks like we are not going to be too affected, thank you all for your nice words yesterday!

Happy Hump Day

Sandy stay away!

Having a Tropical Storm (in this case Sandy) in the neighborhood is not very much fun. Skies are very gray this morning with howling wind and on & off rain.

But according to the weather forecast the storm is heading north so it will hit Jamaica straight on and although according to the NOAA National Hurricane Centers graphic (below) we are not even in the cone, but even with the storm so far away from us (more than 200 miles to Jamaica), we should expect 3 to 6 inches of rain.

In the graphic above, our tiny island is located just below the "2 AM" and the Cayman Islands Sister Islands (Cayman Brac and Little Cayman) are just below the "Thur".

So anyway, as I am writing this, it's raining hard out, I am getting ready to go into work and thinking this might be a very boring day because I doubt it this weather makes people wanna go shopping, here's hoping I am wrong!

Have a wonderful day!!!!

Weekend Projects

Oh what a great feeling is to start the weekend knowing that some projects are done and others are pretty much right on schedule.

During the weekend I got some stuff done and did not procrastinate so now I can say I have one more project under my belt and ready to giveaway in November when I see my cousin at the Madonna Concert trip.

The finalized project is the monkey for my godson Julian.

This Monkey project is probably the hardest I've ever done, but not because it is too big, but because the pattern I used is from an advance level of crochet and the stitched were not explained in detail so in some cases I had to do math myself and in my case, that is just a recipe for disaster!

But I did manage and the end result looks good, now, if only I can get a hidden camera inside the monkey so I can see Julian's face when he gets it, that would make it even more worth it!!!

But other than the Monkey I worked in other projects.

I got my hair done, cut it a bit and got some color to cover those crazy gray hairs I am starting to get thanks to my Dad genes!

Also, I have started a hat for my SIL (sister in law) and also I am working on the paper mache figure head for the Pirates Week Boat float we are putting in the Parade (from work!)... I have some photos of that but until I am 100% sure I will be able to finish it I won't be sharing any...

On Saturday we went to the Cayman Islands Veteran's Association Fundraiser Ball as my husband served on the Navy for 6 years. It was a black tie affair (which we are not very used to) so we had to dress up a bit.

In my husband's case all he had to do was pull out of the closet his Navy uniform from 1985 and wear it, which by the way fit him just fine (insert jealous -sigh- here!)... from 27 years ago!!!!

And that is all I have to report from my two day weekend.

Looks like we might be getting some weather in the next couple of days, there seems to be a disturbance that has the potential to become a Tropical Storm, here's hoping it won't!

Have a great week!!! 

HAPPY Friday ☺

Back when I lived in Cayman Brac (circa 2005) I didn't have many options for daytime tv, so the days I worked from 7am to 3pm I used to come home and have a late lunch while watching The Ellen Show.

But them I moved to Grand Cayman and my work schedule changed and also the fact that we don't have cable TV so I never watched it again.

Well, a few days ago I decided to go to YouTube to find something to amuse myself with, and since I haven't watched the show for so long, I though "Oh I'll just watch one or two clips of Ellen"...

... 2 hours later I was still here!

She is totally awesome, fun and clever. But mostly what I really love is the way she laughs... it's so contagious and unique, she really does enjoy life.... Now, more than 5 years later,  I still love all the pranks she pulls on her guests.

So today and to kick off the Weekend, I decided to share this funny video, and since Halloween and coming up, what a better way to celebrate it than watching people getting scared, right?

Wasn't that Hi-la-ri-ous??? Hope it got at least a giggle outta ya'

And now...

Also, enjoy your weekend!!!

Throwback Thursday

Hello All! Hope your week is going well so far, we are getting closer to the weekend and that makes me smile!

So, are you ready to "travel" back to a place and time in my past capture by a photo? Hope so...

1. This photo was taken back in 2003 in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

2. The photographer is my friend Peter Solti from Canada.

3. That day the photo was taken we visited "Playa" (as the locals call it) for the day and Peter just took photos all over, we had a great time.

4. It was cold Superior beer and feta salad kind of day!

5. This was taken at my favorite restaurant in Playa called Babes, which is a sushi and noodle bar, when I came back to visit 2 years ago with my husband, we made sure to stop by again, it was still good!

And now if you are ready to share a piece of your past, make sure to link back to me and add your own blog. Otherwise just leave me a comment, I heart comments!!!

Have a great Thursday!!!

don't care to care...

Happy Hump Day everybody...

As most of my readers are Americans (including my husband) I think it's important and necessary to tell you guys how I feel and it's my position on the upcoming elections, the candidates, the debates and all things politics...

But, I do have to make clear that my attitude is not directly related to the elections in the USA, but politics worldwide. More and more the so called "leaders" of the world disappoint me and make me think that they harm their countries and people more than they actually help.

So, there I said it.

If there's such a thing as being a atheist towards politicians and presidents, that's me! Although I still have faith that maybe one day somebody will rise and make a difference... Here's to hope in the future and always!

On a different note, tomorrow is Throwback Thursdays, if you feel like joining the fun, go search for that old photo album and share and picture of your past with 5 facts about the photo, then come and link up with me so others can visit your Throwback Thursday!

Happy Hump Day!

10 on Tuesday

Hello there!

All done with Monday, so here's another edition of 10 on Tuesday, and linking back to linny's vault.

[1]

Today I am starting with a very important and close to home "issue"... Our little islands are in great need to protect their nature as the Government's been sitting on their ass (literally) for a few years now and
the (very much needed) National Conservation Law is still not approved. It sucks.

[2]
Please refer to the side bar ==========>
 to sign our Petition to Protect and keep Stingrays in their Natural Habitat...
Thanks! Every single signature helps :)

[3]
If you want to read a bit more about this issue with the Stingrays, please visit
cayCompass.com :: Return and protect stingrays

[4]
This past weekend I watched the movie "Seeking a friend for the End of the World" and I have to say I quite liked it, makes you think about many things that do not matter and appreciate those that do...
(Steve Carell is always good!)

[5]
Something in the lines of this, is what the movie (I just mention above) makes you appreciate!

[6]
This past weekend I decided to take on a Paper Mache project for the Pirates Week Parade coming up, hopefully it won't be too bad and I will be able to pull it off. I am scared!!!

It's going to be something around the lines of this...

I am so nervous, the good thing is that nobody knows I am doing it, so if it doesn't work out, I just won't use it!

[7]
This is funny... but Way to Go Felix!!!

[8]
Dear Island Traffic:
On a regular day it take me 25 minutes to drive into work, today the roads collapsed because of a major car accident (including 2 people killed), so instead of my usual time it took me 1 hour and 40 minutes to reach work... This is what happens where there are only 2 main road on the whole island, and Government is even considering closing part of one, crazy!!!!

[9]
I have so many crochet project in mind that I feel I am getting too much on my plate, but can't help it, I love to crochet, now I just new to grow a new set of hands and I'll be all set!

[10]
In exactly 1 month and 1 day I will be leaving for the MDNA- Madonna Concert in MIA, can't wait!!!

Happy Tuesday to all!!!

Pink is the new healthy!

Hello All, I hope everybody had a wonderful weekend. Mine was very nice and pink all over!!!

Yes, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month a.k.a Pink Month and in some cases Boobies Month... 

And in my case it has a very special meaning since my Mom is a survivor from this terrible and awful disease.

So, in order to give some support I joined one of our local dive shops in their effort to get some donations for the Cancer Society of the Cayman Islands and specially the Breast Cancer research and projects.

It was a diving activity that required participants to wear something pink, because of my back issues I did not participate on the diving part, but I did give them a donation and came over for the prize giving and some raffles!

my friend Emma giving a speech

some of the prices and donation box

yummy cupcakes

Joe and Helen ready to enjoy some pink "juice" and cupcakes!

It's so great to see more and more people and business joining the campaign of awareness about this very real and critical disease that affects some many women and even man... 

I tell you, if you think "this won't ever happen to me", you are wrong, it could happen and it's very important to detect it early to fight it and win, just like my Mom did.

So, get tested and do not take for granted all the education and support that it's out there. 

In the case of the Cayman Islands Cancer Society, they give away free mammograms during the month of October if in case it's not cover by your insurance and you need to get tested. I am not sure if this is the case of the city where you live, but perhaps some research on the matter is necessary. 

But besides Mammograms, it's very important to check yourself and if you ever feel that there's something you don't feel or think it's right, talk to somebody and see a doctor.... 

And remember;

Have a wonderful day!!!