I got a feeling

I can't even begin to describe the marvelous feeling I woke with today...

but I am going to try...

It's a feeling of joy and excitement, of knowing that today is FRIDAY, yippeee!

Oh what a wonderful feeling!!!

Christmas celebrations officially start tomorrow. We are attending our very first Holiday Party at our friends Jo & Chris's house. Last time I talked to Jo she said that this year they are having an "Italian" theme so that if I wanted to bring something, just think around those lines...

So, I am bringing some Antipasto Kebabs, hopefully those would be good.

Here's the recipe I'm trying.[ Please keep in mind that if you decide to make these, there are endless possibilities of what to put on them, like cherry tomatoes, small pickels, grapes, etc....]

I will use for my version:

1  9 oz package of Three Cheese Tortellini,(like Buitoni )cooked to package directions
1 can Medium or Large pitted Black Olives
1 5.75 oz jar Green Olives
2 12 oz containers of marinated mozzarella balls(usually found near the speciality cheeses)
30 slices of Salami, cut in half
60 pieces of pepperoni
1 cup Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing ( my favorite is the Paul Newmans)
Skewers (as many as you'll like to make)

Place the cooked tortellini in a bowl or large gallon freeze bag. Pour the salad dressing over the top and marinade in the fridge for a few hours. Drain the pasta. Place one of each item onto the skewer using the pointy side.

Looks good in the pictures, we shall see if it tastes the same.

So, for me it's going to be a busy weekend. Tomorrow Sat. morning I will get those kebabs ready, then I'm off to pick up Yanique at 2pm to take her to the movies at 3 and we are going to watch "Happy Feet 2", I hope it's a nice movie.

Then at 7pm is off to the Christmas Party!

On Sunday I just plan to go to Church in the morning and then perhaps go visit my SIL in their new place.

And last but not least, I am hoping to get rid of my soreness from the Wed. class... so in between all I have plan, I need a much deserved rest.

'Till we meet again, have yourself a wonderful weekend!

Holiday spirit

What are the best feelings to describe the Holiday Season?

Love? Joy? Happiness? Hope? Charity?

I guess any as longs as it's a good feeling, right?

Well then, what's with Christmas music that [once again this year] DOES NOT put me in a holiday spirit?

It's been years that I've tried to figure this out, but can't come up with a reason.

But here's the thing, it's not the lyrics I mind so much, but maybe that some of the songs seem very depressing at times and in some cases even "whinny", so after a while of the same stuff, it gets on my nerves BIG TIME!

Perhaps I should write Santa a letter and ask him for some taste in this kind of music?

Maybe I should just buy some ear plugs and wear them every day or perhaps I need to increase my dosage of the other kind of Christmas "spirits", LOL!

So, how is your Christmas spirit these days? Are you feeling the Christmas music or like me just starting to get on your nerves? Any advice for me???

Have a great Thursday!

describe exhausted? me

Today at 6am I tried a new class at a new gym Rogue Gym (well, at least new for me!) and I have to say it was nothing by though and intense, but I loved it.


The name of the class is called KettleExpress and it's a very cool and unique concept, anything but a routine; from calisthenics to kettlebells, barbells and medicine balls, athletic training, agility and coordination drills, metabolic conditioning, yoga based dynamic flexibility drills, basic gymnastic skills and even Olympic lifting. 


But that's not all.


It also uses boot camp exercise and interactive team bulding drills, with hi impact movements.


Are you tired yet? I know I still am, even 3 hours after the class!!!

Here's a picture of part of the Gym... Oh also they have a boxing ring as they teach Boxing, Muay Thai fighting and other stuff (but I ain't signing for any of that!).

So, even as I type this I am still exhausted but somewhere deep inside I am also proud that I did so good today on my first class!!!


According to the instructor, you can burn an average of 900 calories each class!!! I am all up for that, let's see how it goes next week.


Happy Hump Day!

Pirates Caves

As mentioned on yesterday's post, on Saturday my new little sister and me visited the Pirates Caves, where they have a little petting zoo, we had a great time and I specially loved the goats!

Here are some of the highlights of that day.

love birds

little goat- I want it!

little goats- I want them!

adult mountain goat

And finally the beautiful peacock, who gave us an amazing display of beauty!

By the way, did I mentioned I loved the goats and that I want one? So if you have a spare goat you would like to send me for Christmas, please feel free to air freight it asap, thanks!

Happy Tuesday : )

Yanique

For the past 34 years of my life I've always been the "little sister" but as of Saturday, the rolls have changed and now I am happy to say that I am a "Big Sister" of a wonderful 10 year old girl, Yanique.

On Saturday we had our first "outing" as sisters.

Of course she is not "my blood" sister, but for a year, thanks to the mentor program of "Big Brothers & Big Sisters of the Cayman Islands", we get to spend a few hours together every week, and build up a relationship that we both, but specially her can benefit from.

So, on Sat. we visited The Pirates Caves, where they have [of course] caves as well as a small petting zoo.

It was a great place to start getting to know each other and to be around animals, which we both love.

Yanique is a very nice, intelligent and friendly girl, she is also very well mannered and fun. Her love for animals showed me that she is also a very caring and sensitive person.

I am very blessed and honored to be her "Big Sister" at least for a year, I know we both can learn a lot about each other and hopefully this relationship will bring lots of joy to our already blessed life.

Will share more pictures of the petting zoo tomorrow!

Hope everybody had a nice weekend, just as I did.

Now, enjoy the week!!!

Friday Laugh

If you haven't had a laugh in a while. If perhaps the stress of the holiday season is already getting you...

Or if maybe you just don't feel very sexy lately, all you have to do is watch the following video and dance it off.

Because I am sure no matter how you look, how stressed you are, or if life is not very funny lately, I am sure that the "sexy" guys from LMFAO will make it better with their silly song!

Now, I promise this is not a Christmas song or anything holiday related [God know, it's only been two days that we have been playing Holiday music at work and I am already sick of it!], but it is sure going to make you at least giggle...



Funny stuff, right? I imagine everybody that participated in the making of this video must have had a blast... because how can you not laugh at those sexy dancing routines?!?!?!

Now, enjoy your weekend, whether is sunny, rainy, snowy or sexy and you know it!

Happy 1st weekend of December!!!!

Dec. 1st

Today I crochet my very first snowflake and this will be closest I am going  to get to snow during the holidays.

Yesterdays expo was busy, but just as I suspected, what women really want is just more money to spend, because nobody bought anything.

It was a fun time but tiring, been home all morning but now I have to leave and work for the afternoon.

Here is a pic of our booth.

Happy December 1st!!!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 Mobile

What Women Want

Be aware: this is not a post that is going to finally reveal this mystery of the female human species or anything of the sort.

Instead, tomorrow our store is participating on yet another expo for the year, but this one is mainly target to perhaps the most important group of the retail market, Women.

Mother's, daughters, girlfriends, wife, friends, we as females are mostly in control of the gift buying during the holidays, so this expo should help many to get an idea of what is out there for the taking!

It is also a great event for after work kind of a thing, to go and hang out with girlfriends and perhaps even a "girls night" event!!!

I have a big group of friends that I always go out with (on girl's nights) that are coming to check out the event and support our booth as well, it should be fun.

On a different note, on Monday night I finally went to the match meeting for the Big Brothers & Big Sister's program and I am happy to say that I got a new little sister, her name is Yanique and she is 10 years old.

I have already schedule our first day out and we are going to a place call the Pirates Cave, to check out the caves as well as a little petting zoo they have, should be so much fun. Will take pictures and share later!!!

Other than that, weather is very crappy here, rained most of the day yesterday and we had 6 to 8ft waves right in front of work, yikes!

Hope everybody is having a nice week, I can't believe December is almost here... so Happy Wednesday!!!

random photo post

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my new phone and specially the camera?

Oh but I do and to make my point, here are some random pictures that I've taken in the past few days.

Goldie in "cartoon mode"

cruise ship in port at sunset

little beach treasures

beach panorama

cheap candle holders (made out of empty glass jars)

rainbow and pot, but no gold :(

Happy Tuesday :)

i am a free diver

Well hello there, how was your weekend?

Mine was wet and cold as I spent more hours out in the ocean or on the pool.

Both Saturday and 1/2 day yesterday I participated on the SSI free diving course level 1. Now, I am happy to announced the I passed course and from now I am ready to take on free diving, but now it's all about practice, practice, practice to get better at it, both holding my breath as well as equalizing for when diving down.

not me in the photo, but pretty close (source)

When I started the course on Sat. morning I was only able to hold my breath for 58 seconds, but then end of Sat. after some learned techniques as well as some relaxations breathing exercises I managed a record of 2 minutes 10 seconds, not bad!

So, yes, my weekend was not a very relaxing one and in fact I feel pretty tired to start the week, but happy to cross off another goal out of my bucket list (with by the way I don't really have a set one)... and proud of myself.

How was your weekend? Hoping it was a great one!

Happy Week :)

follow the leader

Nowadays that my husband is working from 9am to 6pm I usually get home before him and the cats are all outside, by the door waiting to be fed.

But the thing is that the dogs are also upstairs waiting to be walked.

So, I usually go upstairs first, leave my handbag, change into my flip flops and proceed to walk the dogs first, and then on my way back go and feed the kitties.

Well, lately I've been walking the dogs on a [sort of] empty lot next to our house, part of it's empty but there's also a small house in mid construction phase.

But to my surprise, the past couple of days during our walk, we seem to have acquired an entourage!!!!

The very first day it happened, it was only Shadow (the black cat) and Al (the white one).

But yesterday all the other 4 joined in and walked with us, all of them keeping their distance

It was so fun to see them following us...

The dogs are not acting aggressive about them anymore and although I like to think that they are getting used to seeing them and perhaps the cat smell on us is making a difference. Still I don't fully trust them so I keep them on a short leash and they never leave my sight.

Isn't it cool how the cats are walking with us? I love it and it makes me so happy to see them around, so yesterday on thanksgiving I added yet another reason to love walking my pets!

Happy Weekend :)

practice makes [thanks] perfect!

Although I do like the concept of Thanksgiving as a holiday, I think this only makes sense as a celebration, if we practice gratitude every day of our lives.

So how can we thankful for everything, everyday? Easy, just be!

You know the saying, "practice makes perfect", right?

If there's many people that are way less fortunate that we are and they still make the best out of life, and perhaps are even thankful for it, so can we!

In fact, "We have no right to ask when a sorrow comes, why did this happened to me?... Unless we ask the same question for every joy that comes our way", right?

But if we still having trouble been thankful for what we have and the life we are living, maybe we should think about this more often...

So now, let's all celebrate Thanksgiving every day in our hearts and in our daily life, counting our blessings and subtracting our sorrows.

Happy Thanksgiving to your and your family, may you always have many days and many reasons to be thankful for!

finding my inner artist

“The world is but a canvas to our imaginations.”

Henry David Thoreau

On Monday night during my short visit to Cayman Brac I saw my dear friend Aidan, he is 7 years old and I know him from 5 months old, around this time...

He has grown so much since then, now 7, he is a very imaginative boy that loves animals, the ocean and it's a fantastic swimmer as well.

much recent photo of Aidan

But he is also in that phase when he is shy at the first encounter, even though he knows me, he always plays is it "hard to get" at the beginning, until a few minutes later he grows out of that and he is himself again.

Well, Monday was not an exception, as soon as he saw me, he covered his face with his sweatshirt, of course, I still grabbed him and hugged him.

So his Mom (and my friend) Liesel said to him: aren't you going to ask her what you want?

Minutes later, he found his "not really lost" courage and we had this conversation :

Aidan- "My Mom says you are a pretty good artist, would you paint me something for Christmas?"

Me- Well, if I can, sure! What would you like?

Aidan- I want you to paint me a American Bald Eagle, flying on top of some pine trees, with flowers, grass and a house, mountains.... [and he kept on going with a whole bunch of things, that I can't even remember].

Me- Oh my, not sure if I am that good of an artist, but I could try!!!!

Now, I'm in trouble, because I really don't want to disappoint him by not doing it for him, but also I am afraid to disappoint him by not doing a good job with the painting...

Anyway, I am going to try my best and do it anyway, hopefully he will love it and with this I will be able to find my inner artist once again!

Will share my progress and the final work of art when I have it!

Happy Wednesday :)

Brac & back!

Just got back from Cayman Brac this morning it was a [way too] short of a trip.

Got there yesterday at 3pm, got ready for the documentary presentation at 6:30pm.

After we were all set up for the show, we managed to squeeze in a little island tour as my boss and his wife never been to this island before.

Here are some picture of my favorite part of the island "the lighthouse at the bluff".

path to the 180ft bluff drop

the edge

I am so glad I found that my camera phone has a panorama mode on it, cause I got this awesome shot, click to enlarge and the full panoramic view experience...

the bluff view

And for today's sunrise [well, "sort of "sunrise at 6:30am!], view from my room.

Like I said short too short but sweeeet! Wish I was still there.

Happy Tuesday!!!

Pretty Pots Project

With Christmas just around the corner, sometimes we think that finding that personalized and unique gift for somebody, is either too difficult or simply just out of the question.

But what if you could take the "blah" out of something and turn it into a cute little present for you or anybody special? Here's a fun little project that might just be what you were looking for.

All you need is:

Terracotta Pot (medium, small or large)
Fabric (about 1/4 yrd for a size showing below)
Fabric Mod Podge or Cold Silicon Glue
Brush & Scissors

So, with those materials you could go from this

To this....

With the fabric Mod Podge and the brush, glue the fabric to the pot, making sure you leave enough on the top and bottom edges. Also make sure that you spread the glue well enough with the brush just so there's not big amounts of it that might go through the fabric.

If you decide to use a fabric like the one shown above (with white background) you might need to do two layers so no terracotta color can be seeing through the fabric.

Now, all you need is to find the right fabric.

If using cotton and you want to put a plant in it, make sure to buy an indoor plant so the fabric doesn't get wet in the rain. But, you find a nice outdoor fabric then you can use for an outdoor plant.

But, if you are given them away as a gift, the possibilities are endless.

Instead of a plant, buy some seed packets (or pods) and put those in there, or perhaps if the person is really into gardening, buy them a pair of garden gloves and a garden tool [this is the part to get creative].

Aren't they pretty? I love them and I'm giving one to my brother and sister in law for their new apartment, I hope they are going to love it too!!!

On another note, today in the afternoon I am going away for the night to Cayman Brac, as we are showing the Grouper Moon documentary. I am very excited to go a see some of my friends and although I will only be there for a few hours I will take it over nothing!!!!

Happy Weekend!

Feline Friday

Yesterday I had some stomach problems so I stayed home.

The afternoon was beautiful and since it's been a while that I've used my Nikon camera, I decided to go down to the back yard to see if I could find some kitties to take pictures of...

Well, not only they were all there, but also they were very cooperative with me and my camera, let me show you...

they were all there, and I managed to capture 4 out of 6 in this shot 
(from left: Goldie, Shadow, Al, Lee)

Al, playing hide and seek

Goldie, being Goldie!

"Little One" likes to pose for the camera

"BTK" trying to pass as "incognito"

I love taking pictures and with such great models, it's even better!

Have a happy weekend!!! >''<