all I have to say...

Can't really start today's post without saying first

Dunno no why but this week felt like it had more than 24 hours a day and more than 5 working days.

But now I am so ready for the weekend I feel like jumping up and down, specially because Monday is yet another holiday on the island, this time we are celebrating the 60 years of the Queen Elizabeth's reign. (So congrats to the Queen!)

Lately I've been sort of "addicted" to the Instagram app on my phone so here are the latest photos I've taken...

Cayman Sky

blueberries and toast for breakfast

Our cat LT

Cruise day on George Town, Grand Cayman

Sheba's new haircut

Yellow sidewalk

Shopping area in town

Pretty Garden Weeds

Pool at Inner Space Event

And that's it for today, like I said before, looking forward to a 3 days weekend, hope to hook up with Yanique among other things!

On Sunday we are expecting a new gardener to come over and take care of our "pretty garden weeds" and super tall grass because I almost need a machete right now just to get to my car, LOL!

Wishing everybody a wonderful weekend!!!

CR: Get Living

Although the following video makes me very homesick, I decided to share it with y'all because it very well show how Costa Rica is like.

To me, the best part of the video (besides the pig on 2:29) is that a little of the country as well as the culture is shown through the eyes of a tourist that just went for a visit and decided to shared his experience.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and perhaps some day visit... Oh and in case you need a tourist guide, just let me know!!!

Have a wonderful Thursday : )

over the hump...

Talk about frustration with the new blogger interface. I had a whole post ready to go with pictures to light up the text and it was impossible to post it.

Why? Because the caption on each photo would appear half way down the photo and it was impossible to read and correct, so I just gave up....

Weather is still kind of iffy here but at least it's not torrential rain 24 hours a day like it was last week, did I mentioned we got about 19 inches in 3 days? Yeap, people where literary kayaking in some of the roads in town because of the flooding... and this was just rain, not even a tropical storm, yikes!

My husband's been participating on Inner Space which is sort of a Rebreather "conference" all week, he is diving every day and then in the evening there are all sort of presentations and lectures about different systems and new products related to the industry. This is his 9th year that he participates.

Last weekend I had to work so I was unable to meet with Yanique, I am making a big effort to make sure we are not missing our date day this weekend.

On our last review meeting for the program we decided that we are going to start a calendar of monthly events so we can start focusing more on school related activities as well as perhaps encouraging her to try some arts and crafts.

The reason why we decided to come up with a schedule is because this past 6 months have been great and we've done all sorts of fun activities, but there is so much we can do on the island and with the rainy season coming up (well, it's sort of already here) we need more indoor activities as well.

Not much else to share today, in the evening I am stopping by Inner Space as they are having a "fashion show" of this line of wet suits called Four Element and are really nice and good quality, I have a vest from that brand that my husband got me a few years ago and I love it and wear every time we go diving...

Happy Hump Day!

Changes...

Lately I've been contemplating a few changes in my life, from painting the kitchen cabinets white, to becoming vegetarian. Of course once I discussed it with my husband I did not get the reaction I expected, or perhaps I did but I was just in denial.

His worst reaction was towards me becoming vegetarian, can u believe it?

Mainly he thinks that if I change my eating habits he has to change his as well, as if...

I say: Not at all!!! If I decided to stop eating meat, that doesn't necessary mean that I would not cook it for him... So, oh well, I guess I am going to have to give it a little more thought or perhaps do it gradually so he doesn't really notices it ( right, like I have a chance on that, being that he reads my blog and all...)

Now, becoming vegetarian won't be that difficult for me, the part of loving veggies I already have and perhaps the main deal would be surviving dinners without chicken which is the easiest thing to cook (most days!).

On the other change, the kitchen cabinets, I really want paint them white, but I know it's a very big job and my husband says that once we paint the wood, there's no way back... I have just always loved white kitchens, they look awesome, like these ones...

Another reason why I wanna paint our cabinets is because our kitchen is very small so I think white cabinets will make it look brighter and bigger... or not!

What do you think? Should I attempt to do it or not?!?!? I could use opinions on this.

On another note, yesterday my lovely godson Julian turned 1, wish I could have been there to see how big he is... I do not have a photo of the birthday boy on his day but here's the most updated one I have... Isn't he adorable and such a big boy?

Hoping everybody had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and a great week ahead!!!

long term friends

The other day I read the following;


"Every morning when I wake up, I dedicate myself to helping others find peace of mind. Then, when I meet people, I think of them as long term friends; I don't regard others as strangers."

~Dalai Lama~

WOW! Such a powerful thought, to think of every stranger as a long term friend- surely that changes my attitude when approaching my customers every day. This makes me wanna be an even better person in each and every interaction through the day.

Now, practice makes perfect... So all I have to do is, keep it in mind and try to master the art of kindness towards everybody, all day, every day.

I am not saying it would be simple, in fact sometimes the simplest of tasks and actions that require the most use of our soul/heart and less use of our ego, are the hardest one to master, right?

But then when we think about the reward those actions can bring into our life, is when we realize that a life without the purpose of giving kindness and helping others, has no real meaning at all.

So, this weekend I encourage you to think about what the Dalai Lama says, when dealing with strangers treat them as long term friends and perhaps that might even encourage them to do the same or if not give yourself the change to gain some peace of mind. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

what's for dinner?

For those readers that as of today still haven't noticed my new menu options on the top of my blog (under my banner), all I have to say is "shame on you"!

And for those that have and perhaps even clicked on one of the "categories", I am hoping that your experience was amazing!!!

So, now in order to make good use of my this new blog feature I've decided to share with you yet another wonderful recipe that I made a few days ago. Also because, don't you hate it when your day is been very busy, you are about to leave work, or just go back home from running errands, only to realize that you have no idea what to fix for dinner?!?!? Suck, doesn't it?

Well, if I was still single and living by myself perhaps this would be a whole different story, but this is not the case anymore...

So the other day I stumble upon a delicious and super easy Garlic Chicken recipe, I tried it and gave it 2 thumbs up, which is why today I am sharing it with y'all- you're welcome!

Easy Garlic Chicken 

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons olive oil

Directions:

1. 1
   Preheat oven to 500°F and lightly grease a casserole dish.
2. 2
   In small sauté pan, sauté garlic with the oil until tender.
3. 3
   Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar.
4. 4
   Place chicken breasts in a prepared baking dish (lined up with aluminium foil for easier cleaning purposes) and cover with the garlic and brown sugar mixture.
5. 5
   Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. 6
   Bake uncovered for 15-30 minutes

So, if any day you want a simple yet delicious dinner, give it a try, you won't be disappointed... same as if you "navigate" on my new blog feature menu bar thingy... promise!

Now, go home, get some chicken out of the freezer and cook it later or tomorrow, your family will love you for it!!!

Happy Thursday!

where's the sun?!?

Anybody knows where the Sun is been hiding lately?!? I look out the window and this is the 4th day I don't see the Sun around...

Yesterday was still very cloudy and raining pretty hard at times, makes me forget that I live in the Caribbean.

On days like these I can't help but wonder and think about the poor lil' animals outdoors, how they need to find some shelter to stay dry and perhaps warm.

For those that have never been to Grand Cayman, here, we have many many wild chickens all over the place, they're pretty much everywhere, running free and even walking down the streets [no joke], like in this photo taken in town by my sister in law.

photo source G.G.

To us residents, it's a pretty usual sight to have them all over, but tourists some times get crazy taking their photos... just as I was back in Maryland and specially Virginia where instead of chickens they have Canadian Geese.

And duckies!!!

But it's not so much about the chickens that I worry when the weather is this bad or when the hurricane season is coming up, there are lots of iguanas, birds and of course feral dogs and cats that could be in danger when the weather is bad....

So, lately I have been thinking of ordering a cage for our 6 cats, I've looked around and I think this one is the best one I've found so far at amazon.com

I specially like it because of the levels and that it fold down to this...

I'm not sure we will be able to get all 6 cats in there when a storm is coming, but we can at least try, it would be a small space for all 6 but we also have a small kennel and perhaps we could also get a spare small kennel as a back up.

So four in this cage and two in kennels could sound like a plan.

Perhaps we will get the cage and we might never use it or perhaps this is what we need to ensure they will be safe... When it comes to safety for our animals, we really need to be prepared.

Hoping to see the Sun very soon, if you see "him" around, please tell him he's missed!

Happy Wednesday : )

Just Add Rain

My three day long weekend was nice, but it was mostly spent indoors as the weather was pretty crappy (and still is)...

Saturday was overcast for most part of the day but at least it wasn't raining. In the evening we went to have dinner with some friends and then afterwards stopped by to celebrate our friend Simon's birthday and to thank him for taking care of our animals and house while we were away!

Our friend Simon gettin' some LOVE for his b-day (photo by L. De Viers- facebook)

Sunday I went to the 6 month review for the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program, it was a short meeting but I am glad I went because we talked about some important issues and we came up with a plan of how to approach those.

So, when it rains and there's point in going outside, what do you do?!?!?

Well, I spent the day watching tv and working on some crochet projects as I am trying to come up with ideas for my next giveaway which will be coming real soon... (stay tuned!}

I worked on this little Koi Fish Money pouch which I gave to my friend Jody on Saturday when we had dinner with her and her husband, she loved it!

What do you think? You like or not? Is it giveaway material or not?

Out the following bag I found on Pinterest, I got inspired to crochet a little pouch with a new pattern I recently purchased..... (inspiration is on the colors only!).

Unfortunately I took the picture of the finished product at night, so can't really see the colors very well...

Yesterday morning at around 5:30am it started raining with very strong wind gusts and it pretty much hasn't stop raining since, I went out of the house only once to walk the dogs and managed to get a little video so you can have an idea of what our "lovely day" looked like but unfortunately I was unable to upload it.

Hope everybody's has a great Tuesday and our is not too wet!

rambling

Perhaps because it's Friday I feel like writing but without an specific subject in mind.

Although last week I was on vacation, have you ever noticed that after a few days away sometimes you  come back a bit dispersed, perhaps hoping that you were still somewhere else other than back? Well in my case this didn't happen, in fact this past few days back I have accomplish more than expected, for example.

I managed to set up to have somebody change the oil on not one, but our two cars.

Picked up a lovely packaged in the mail from Cat Chat blog, where I won a giveaway, yep pretty awesome I would say, so again Thanks Caren and Cody! If like cats and from time to time wanna win something for the dear feline in your life, I suggest you visit them by clicking the name above or here.

[go one, do it, I know u want it]

Also thanks to Caren (who suggested me to do it), as of this week you can sign up to get my "ramblings" deliver directly to your email- your welcome!

And writing talking about cats, that reminds of this little video I took [also this week] of our kitty Al... she is a lovely girl that it's getting more and more affectionate towards me everyday!

Now, if you think this is it for my week, it is not!

I've been to the gym 3 times this week, did some grocery shopping, bought a new plant (and planted it) for a big pot next to our front door, as the previous "tenant" of that specific pot passed away... [note to self: take some photos of new plant and share].

Yesterday I made some Banaberry Whole Wheat Waffles and they were simply delicious...

A couple of nights ago I tried a new recipe for Garlic Chicken and it was fantastic, but we also had steamed broccoli with it and my dog Sheba HAD to have the rest of the broccoli...

isn't she peculiar? LOL

And now for the weekend, I am trying to schedule going out with Yanique (my men-tee little sister) but according to her Mom she's been having some health issues with the flu and a chest infection so I won't really know if we are going to be able to see each other yet.

Monday is a holiday here on the islands, so that means it's going to be a long weekend for me, woo-hoo!

Happy Weekend!!!

Photo Art

One of the best things about art is the fact that it's so subjective, meaning it is entirely linked to the individuality of both the creator as well as the beholder.

What seems amazing to me, might not really impress you. What I might find beautiful, you might find just plain and boring. 

But I believe that because each one of our minds is different, this gives room to all sort of amazing discoveries and creations for everybody's taste and desires.

Yesterday I mentioned that one of the new exhibits at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History is the 2011 Winners Nature's Best Photography.

Well, perhaps to some photography might not be consider art, but trust me, walking into this exhibit and seen the amazing photos displayed would change your mind.

Here are a few of the many beautiful and unique ones they had...

I hope you enjoyed the "exhibit" as much as I did... although it's so much better in person!

Day at the Museum

While in Washington, DC I could not leave without visiting the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

Being that I am a HUGE animal and nature lover, I have to admit that I love Museums dedicated to all things nature and science.

I still remember when I was a kid, our school used to take us to La Salle Natural Museum in Costa Rica every year.

At the museum there was a display with a big Manta Ray that I was quite scared off.  The Manta was sort of suspended up in the air "gliding" right at you... I used to imagine it would come alive and brake the glass...

Actual Manta still at Museo La Sella (photo found on the internet)

Now when I think about it was silly of me to be so afraid, years later I became a diver and have had the pleasure of diving with those gentle giants...

Anyway, back to the wonders of the Smithsonian... Here are some of the photos of our visit.

The host at the entrance

My favorite room, the dinosaurs

In case you didn't know... (click on photo to zoom)

Run!!!! The T-Rex is alive!

Conch Shells display

The BIGGEST conch shell I've even seen...

weird sea creature skeleton

Turtle skeleton

another weird sea creature

Northern Right Whale

X Ray of a Seahorse

I could have taken many more photos but it's hard sometimes with so many people around and even the way the displays are set up...

I did managed to take some other photos of the new exhibition they have of the 2011 best nature photography, I will share some of those later.

Hope you enjoyed my cyber visit to a little bit of this amazing place!

Have a wonderful Wednesday : )