Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Years Eve!

This was last New Years Eve at our old house. We had a Big party and it was soo much fun! I had nooo idea what 2009 would bring...

Here are all the good things 2009 has brought me. ;)

- Despite being laid off, 2009 brought me 10 months of MEE time.
- 10 months of working on our online business and increased sales ;)
- A New found love for Blogging and 74 bloggy Friends!
- A new home in the suburbs!
- 7lbs of weight loss ahahah!
- A new love for hiking and jogging.
- A trip to Connecticut and Punta Cana
- New friends and more time spent with family ;)
- A new job.
- A new view on life and reality, and a Stronger me!
- Another year of Growing Towards A Dream! :)

What did 2009 bring for you!?

I'm ready for 2010 I just know it will be a great year for all of us!


Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Ouch! Jillian Michaels Kicked my butt!

I remember other bloggers writing about this DVD Jillian Michaels 30 day shred, but never made the decision to get it. Last week my good friend over at Confessions of a Diet-aholic started tweeting about her amazing workout with the 30 day shred DVD. So on Monday I went to get it.

Last night I prepared my mat and weights (5lbs, much too heavy, I went out to buy 3lbs today ha!) I am now pretty much turning my whole basement into my workout area ahah.

Well... I started Level 1 yesterday and at the beginning I thought, PIECE OF CAKE! By the end of the dvd I was out of breath and all sweaty and it's only 20mins! It was great!

Today... I can barely walk. My legs and bum are soo sore and my arms and shoulders are sore and stiff.

Great workout! I'm making a new list of 2010 goals and I'm excited!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

10 things I love award

My new friend Kimberly @ Terra Del Sole gave me this award today. :) Yippy! I am to add 10 things I love, and pass this on to 10 bloggers I love, so here goes... in no particular order.

If you read my blog you know what I love the most...

1. ZOE! of course My little furbaby. She loves me back just as much as I love her! She always keeps us entertained with her silliness and is the most affectionate cat I have ever known.

2. Family and friends. I have amazing family and friends. We enjoy each others company and always have a great time when we are together!
(I could post tons of pics, but 1 is fine hahah! (I'm missing many other friends/cousins here too, I love em all)

3. The Ocean:
Ahhh another place I just love more than being home. Who wouldn't want to wake up to the sound of the ocean! Or going for a morning stroll on the white sands beach. (Ha! I have white snowy sidewalks right now burr)


4. Helping others - I love the feeling I get in my tummy when I give to others ;)

5. San Diego - Been to San Diego just once and really really love it there!

6. FOOD - You know this is what my whole blog really is all about haha!



7. Reading - I'm addicted to book stores and Amazon. :)

8. Being home (ahhh home is where my heart is :)

9. BLOGGING
Love Blogging and Love reading all my bloggy friends blogs. I get so excited every time I see your comments and I love sharing my life with you and thankful I get a peek into yours too!

10. Best for last, my husband and my marriage. I love being married, and just Love my husband. I love how well husband and I work as a team. We have our disagreements more often than not but we Love each other lots! We have been together for 12 years and really have grown together and helped each other become who we are today and for the better. We are both growing towards a dream together ;)

10 Blogs I love

I listed some new and old Blogs I love to follow. I follow much more than 10 so I extend this bloggy award to all my bloggy friends too ;)

Below are some blogs I just love and I know you would love them all too!

http://nottheoxygen.blogspot.com

http://musingsofasnail.blogspot.com

http://myarizonaangels.blogspot.com/

http://thatextra20pounds.blogspot.com/

http://miss-em-scissorhands.blogspot.com/

http://maryellen-maresmind.blogspot.com/


http://torijean.blogspot.com/

http://www.lifeaseyeseeit.com

http://lindseynicks.blogspot.com

http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/

Home is where my heart is!

I'm off work this week and home with Zoe! Is it strange that I absolutely LOVE being home? I am the most happiest and most in my element when I'm home. This morning I dropped off husband at work, grabbed a coffee and came home. As I was driving I was also thinking how I hate the city... Now, I'm a Toronto girl born and raised and just moved just north of the city to Vaughan. Everyone thought I would hate it, but I love it. And wish I never had to travel down to the city ha! I read many blogs and many blogger friends live in small towns and I usually get the feeling that I wish I lived in a small town too. HMM small town, staying home... What is happening? Is this me being anti social? Or just loving "me" time, quiet time...Well I won't think too far into it. I will just enjoy my week off and I look forward to 2010!

I just noticed a blogger friend gave me an award today! So exciting! Since I am home I will post my award up later this afternoon.

I'm off to run some errands and meet a friend for lunch... ahhh loving this. ;)

Monday, December 28, 2009

Much to much Coffee


We got a new coffee maker for Christmas and since we had many guests over we have been making lots of coffee. For the past 4 days I have been drinking 2-3 cups of coffee.... My bedtime has not been normal ahh! No earlier than 3am/4am has been my bedtime. Not good!

So hopefully as the busyness calms down so does my coffee intake ;)

The other day when shopping I found a new pedometer... a smaller one! Whoohoo. The one I bought before was too bulky and hated wearing it.

This week will be just as busy as last week so I know my schedule will be all over the place.
So again, I will make a mini goal for the week and start fresh in the new year.

1. 10000 steps on pedometer 2-3 days this week
2. Work out 2 days this week
3. Make healthier choices when eating out
4. NO fries or Burgers!
5. Limit Coffee intake to 1 a day.

Excited for 2010!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Christmas Events!

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope everyone had a fun loving holiday!

Christmas this year was great! Lots of Family, Lots of love and lots of food!
(no weigh in this weekend that is for sure)


I have a large family and it is hard to see everyone during the holidays. We have lots of family on my moms side and lots of family on my dad's side. I also have my in laws as well so that makes 3 sides and only 2 days. Unfortunately I did not get to see my fathers side of the family this year and it makes me sad that since my father passed away 7 years ago we have not spent a Christmas with them at all. Husband and I had a serious talk today and plan to make some changes next year to make sure we get to visit all 3 sides for Christmas. Now that I am getting older and thinking of children in the future I really want to make the occasions all about family like I remember when I was young. This is something we need to straighten out and get right so that we can have new traditions to pass on.

This year we had Christmas Eve at my Aunts house. Our families are growing and my grandparents home is getting tight with all their grandchildren and partners!


These are my lovely grandparents that love to sing Italian songs during dinner.

Christmas Day I was the host ;). We had Christmas lunch with my husbands family at our place and it was a hit! (I will write more in detail during the week)

Zoe was helping me prepare as well ahah!

My mother in law brought the turkey and I made the rest.
-Pork Roast
- potatoes
-garlic zucchini
-asparagus
-corn
-Balsamic Salad
-Fruit
and Apple pie!
It was so nice to spend so much time with our families during the holidays and I am so grateful!

I am also grateful for the many sweet gifts we received, which included many Starbucks gift cards. Not sure if it is too good when husband and I received 6 in total. I won't even mention the amount it adds up to Ha! So much for cutting coffee! (more on this, later in the week)

... Movie Alert: Today I went to see Avatar in 3D, and if you did not see it, you must! It was a great movie! I loved it!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Ready for Christmas!


Most gifts are wrapped...


All food is bought for Christmas Lunch and a new pot to go along with it...


Old memories ....
and new ones....

I'm ready for Christmas 2009! Spending Christmas eve and day with family creating new memories and new traditions.

Wishing all my blogger friends a Very Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Got ya!

Can you see the pic above it's a little dark but that is Zoe hiding under the bed. Her new thing is to hide quietly under the bed when we are getting ready for bed so she doesn't get seen and doesn't get kicked out. She stays quietly until 2/3 am ish and sneaks into our bed for cuddles. It's cute and I love her, but husband gets allergies and if we move the way she does not agree with she will start biting and wake us up. So now every night we need to pull her out from under the bed and lock her out of our room. ahah her hiding place has been found!

Today is sooo cold here in toronto! -11c and feels like -20c BURRRRR!!!!!! Hats, scarfs and gloves are very much needed!

Cilantro pic. This is what it looks like today after just over a week in the fridge, it's a little wilted and does not smell as fresh. It tasted fine on the weekend. I will try it today. Over all it's lasts longer in the water than just in the bag.


2 more days of work then a week vacation ahhhhhh! Love the holidays!
Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Cookies and weight loss???

This morning I did my weigh in and to my surprise... I lost 2 lbs! It's a surprise because I ate many sweets this weekend, from cookies to lattes to apple danishes mmm. But, I did not have any thing really nutritious as food this weekend and did not eat any real meals because the sweets pretty much kept me full ahah! And I lost 2lbs! there are no complaints here aha!

My goals for the week will be very short and simple, heck, it's the holidays which means these next two weeks are not really going to be watched. The new year will bring the bigger and better more serious goals. :)

.... I just pasted my goals and realized that I do not think I will follow them... Cooking at home, not sure, as I need to be running around getting ready for Christmas... Working out in the basement...mmm again I'll be running around.

... ok only goal this week it to be aware of the foods I'm eating and trying not to over eat!

Happy Holidays!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Hurry new year!

This week has been busy! Work had be busy and tired all week and this weekend I tried getting my Christmas shopping done but I have a few more gifts to get and have 3 days left! Ahh another busy week ahead!

This year has been the most stressful year I have ever had! So I don't know about you but I am soooo looking forward to a new year! 2 weeks till 2010 and I can't wait till it finally rolls around! I'm ready for a fresh new beginning, with new goals and a changed me!

Are you as excited as I am for the new year?

Monday, December 14, 2009

How to keep cilantro fresh

I love buying cilantro but every time I store it in the fridge it gets bad pretty fast. So I googled my issue and I found that if you cut the stems and put them in water in the fridge it will stay fresh longer. So my experiment is on! Sunday was day 1 and today they still look great, I will be keeping my eye on them, well that is before they get eaten up haha.

Tonight for dinner I had baked chicken wings with sweet potato fries and spinach salad! Yum!
And for dessert I had a chocolate pudding ;)

Oh and how can I forget to mention I have 70 followers! I'm sooo excited! Welcome new followers, I hope you enjoy my blog ;) I love reading all your blogs too!

My husband just told me that I should aim for 100 followers by the new year... hmmm...not sure how I could get 30 more followers in that little time, I'm so grateful already for all my current followers.... So we will leave that at that for now.

This week I have a busy busy week so not sure how much blogging I will fit in ;( I need to finish up my Christmas shopping and have many Christmas parties to attend to tooo. (what to wear will be making me crazy)

Yesterday my husband put up the stocking

And it was not long before Zoe decided she did not like them hung.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Weekly goals

Lots of fruit for the week! Today when I went grocery shopping I made sure to buy lots of fruit to add to my diet this week.

My weekly goals below ;)

1. NO FAST FOOD!
2. Limit Coffee intake by half (Doing really well with eliminating coffee ;)
3. Salads or Wraps for Lunch with fruit as snacks
4.Healthy home cooking 5 days a week or more!. :)
5. 2-3 days of working out in the basement work out room ;)
6. Eliminate any extra carbs at dinner
7. Drink plenty of water.


Tonight I made Shrimp Coconut curry for dinner, I added Green peppers to the recipe and added more water to make it more soup like. My recipe can be found here.

I ate it alone with no rice to eliminate my dinner carb. ;)

Saturday, December 12, 2009

MMM Apples!

Should I really be eating apple pies... don't answer ha!. Good news is that I did my weigh in today and I did not gain any weight, but nor did I lose... Hmm and I just bought apple pies from a apple farm up North today ha!

We went to finish some Christmas shopping today and we both wanted to buy apple pie. It's a beautiful sunny day and I didn't feel like buying apple pie at the grocery store, so I googled apple farms in Ontario. Just 20 mins north of where we live we found a apple farm still open for the season.


The place is called Pine Farms Orchard http://www.pinefarmsorchard.com/ located in King City. They sell apple pies frozen and fresh, apple cider and so many other goodies. The pie is delicious!




New Holiday Mug! Yesterday I went to Michael's Craft store to buy some "things" for my sisters Christmas present. I can't mention what it is since my sister is a frequent blog reader ahah! ;) I will post it after Christmas, it's really cute. While there I bought this cute mug ;) with a lid! So Zoe doesn't drink from my cup when I turn away!

Dinner at home tonight:
Making Thai Coconut shrimp tonight for dinner and I had an omelet for brunch today. (I think a piece or two of apple pie won't hurt!) :)

Happy weekend everyone :)

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Basement Exercise Room

It's now way too cold for jogging. I know some people don't mind jogging in the cold, but I hate the feeling of freezing then sweating. So that's what I have a basement for! Now we will put use to our basement exercise room!
And of course where I am, Zoe is... hahah!


Today I made sure that no matter how exhausted I was I had to make time for working out. As soon as I got home I prepared dinner, popped it all in the oven for 40mins and went downstairs to work out. When I was done working out dinner was ready! Ahh Chicken, Veggies and a Samosa!

Dinners are late these days, and by the time dinner is done and dishes are cleaned it's 730 and sometimes 8!, I know it may not sound late for some but for the last 4 years I never came home from work passed 5! and dinner and dishes never put me passed 6pm! I just always had more evening time. Miss that! (yes... If you haven't noticed, I kick and scream with change... ;) )

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

First snow fall!

Today we woke up to snow! Our first snow fall of the season! Surprisingly we had no snow all November which usually is not ever the case. When I woke up and saw the snow I wished I had the day off and be home drinking hot chocolate in my pj's in front of the fire place... ahhh how I wish!

My goals have not been good lately. But, I have been having healthy wraps everyday for lunch and it's been working out well so far.
I've been really really tired and exhausted after work everyday so I haven't been working out at all! ;( So I'm not doing a weigh in this week, just to be safe ha!

Can't wait for the weekend!

Monday, December 07, 2009

Pine needles everywhere...


Are they still called pine needles if the tree is a balsam tree? ahah sorry if I am not correct on that. Today after a long 9 hours non-stop at work we decided to finally go buy a Christmas Tree!

So happy that husband didn't really listen to me when I said I didn't want one...Who doesn't want a Christmas tree! ... me...I know! I've been grouchy! Husband didn't care and drove straight to buy one after work ;) Love it when he doesn't listen (Ha!)

We spent the evening listening to Christmas music and putting up the ornaments.

Now the house is complete with all the Christmas Decor!

Now it's time to sweep up the million pine needles all over the house(I think this will be husbands job for not listening to me ha!)... (crossing my fingers that Zoe doesn't decide that this tree is her new huge play toy while we are sleeping.)

Hope you all had a great Monday :)

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Relaxing Weekend

Thank you so much bloggy friends, you always make me feel better with your comments and advice ;)

I got all caught up on the house work, husband helped organize some rooms that were making me crazy too. A clean organized house always helps in relieving stress.

We also went out for a delicious Italian dinner yesterday night, we haven't had Italian in so long. So I ordered a big bowl of pasta! (

This afternoon we did some Christmas shopping and I stopped at Home Sense and I found these cute pieces all 4 for $12.99. I pictured the perfect place for them and they worked out perfectly!

These ones say "Work like you don't need the money" and "Dance like no one is watching"

These ones say " Love like you've never been hurt" and "Sing like no one is listening"

Love them!

Hope you all had a good weekend too! ;)

It's grocery shopping time. My new meal plans and goals will begin tomorrow.