Pinterest Spring/Summer Inspirations!

Its been forever since I’ve shared some fantastic Pinterest stuff! Mostly because while pinning is super fun and therapeutical, putting together the posts can be tiring.  Just deciding what to do takes so much time that it becomes less therapeutical than it actually is even if I love putting those posts up.  However, maybe this is what Pinterest is going to be: Therapy or Inspirations! Spring is pretty much almost over and hints of Summer is landing in Montreal.  The last few days have been hot and humid and I love it! 🙂

This also means spring cleaning and garden/outdoors stuff needs to be taken care of! I have some rhubarb to harvest and maybe make some nice drinks.  The heat also means that I kick in a much healthier lifestyle.  Lots of things that I seek out Pinterest for! Lets look at some of my faves and ones I hope to pursue if not now, eventually!

The Anatomy of Sangria

Hot summer days calls out to me in the form of Sangria. I don’t drink a lot in general but a great sangria is so hard to resist. This infographic breaks it down in an interesting way and peaks some new ways to use different ingredients next time.  For the record, I’ve recently realized that I’m intolerant or maybe allergic to red wine so any sangria’s now have to be with white or rose wine. I have also done a autumn sangria with brandy and that turned out pretty good.

Popsicles

I’ve tried out a few popsicle recipes before and I’m not really good at it but its something I’m trying to learn to do better. This one looks delicious.  They are called Fruit Salad Ice Pops.  I love fruits and especially fruit salads and wrapped up in a popsicle. Yummy!  I’m already thinking of what fruits to get to make it and wondering where those popsicle molds are.

Infused Water Combinations

Last year I started getting into infused water. I like cold drinks and water is super healthy so I’ve tried something with blueberry and basil before if I remember correctly.  This summer, I want to keep with the healthy stuff and try some other ones.  These ones are pretty neat especially detox and weight/sugar control and metabolism booster. I guess everything but the lower blood pressure one looks like choices I want to try out.

Watermelon Strawberry Sorbet

For those of you who are new here, I’m lactose intolerant or at least it seems to be in an extreme phase again.  Its really built a love and appreciation for Sorbets in my life. I’ve been wanting to try to make sorbet for a while and if these recipes say its easy, I’ll believe it! Its one of my goals this summer to give it a try.  This combination particularly looks great. I love strawberries and watermelons and yet, no one really pairs these two together. I wonder what it’ll taste like.

Liquid Sunshine

I know, its a lot of alcoholic beverages here! In general, there’s a lot of drinks. Thing is, I was going to do a cruise dedicated post after my cruise recap last year and I forgot about it. I flat out forgot. That’s just how I am. A year after, I remembered and was thinking maybe this year, I’ll start a little drinks segment to experiment different recipes.  I don’t mean alcoholic cocktails, even if they are resistible, I don’t usually drink that much but even for like lemonades or infused waters and other healthy stuff. I think its well worth a shot! 🙂

That’s it for this Pinterest Inspirations!
Originally, it had a ton of other stuff for the garden and whatnot, but I just wanted to keep this fun and short! 🙂 

Let me leave you with this lovely quote!

Happy Friday! 🙂

Pinterest Therapy: Christmas Meals Inspirations!

We’re at the last weekend before Christmas everyone! Panic mode is setting in!

Star Wars Weekend, grocery runs to prep for the holidays, Zumba, getting posts drafted and ready, freaking out about how to make a turkey.  This all takes time away from the fact that we’re hosting Christmas this year and the house is a giant mess with storage to put away, kitchens and dining rooms to clean and the endless amount of cat hair (and mostly my hair) to vacuum.  Suddenly all those little chores we span out and do sporadically becomes magnified in importance.  Regardless, these are my problems.  Point is: Stress! On top of that, I just got news that there’s a pretty big hiccup with the piano practice exam preparation which could mean some change in plans for next year. Its never good to procrastinate, yet I never learn…

So yes, a pinterest therapy session is much needed and you know it, its all about Christmas! 🙂 Last time we did a full day meal and what better way than to make an epic food day out of Christmas!

Breakfast

Bacon and Egg Puff Pastry

I’ve always wanted to do something with puff pastry.  I actually even have some in my freezer and I never used it.  This recipe looks relatively easy and that’s the most important point of any breakfast recipe for me.  I used to be a morning person but these days, I go through difficulty in catching those Zzzs.  So, in the morning, when its gloomy and rainy (where is the snow?!?), I just sit in bed and my eyes refuse to open. Forget complicated, I go with omelets or anything that takes really little preparation.

Lunch

Mini Frittata Brunch Bar

Christmas dinner usually is extravagant or Christmas Eve dinner was crazy heavy so the following day, I take it easy.  These ones are super easy.  I remember making one of these with zucchini and eggs and turned out really good. This looks absolutely scrumptious 🙂

Afternoon Refreshments

Christmas Lemonade

I rarely make lemonade in summers but this past one I’ve fallen in love with this.  Christmas one looks cool.  It’ll be a boost of vitamin C to help.

Dinner

Turkey

This is an actual worry.  My dish this year is turkey. The first year I will be attempting the actual turkey.  I’ve done turkey drumsticks and wings and breast but the entire turkey.  This is stressing me out. At least, its comforting to know Betty Crocker always has a simple solution to everything 😉 Wish me luck that it turns out good.

Dinner Drinks

Blackberry Ombre Sparkler

Blackberry Ombre Sparkler looks so classy.  I doubt we’ll be giving this a go since I don’t usually have champagne in the house but thats because we’re into white wine and I always have some ice winer/cider.

Dessert

Snowflake Peppermint Bark

Yule Log (Gluten-free)

Let’s double it up! I’ve made bark before and I remember it being kind of time consuming.  This one looks fabulous.  I always wanted to do it again.  Although, between us, I plan on making some snowflake cupcakes for this year along with the second choice here.  Same with the turkey, I want to do a test run for a swiss roll to just get an idea of how to get that log done. I want to make a beautiful Christmas log for this year.  I just hope that it turns out good.  If you check back, you’ll see if I actually go through with it (which I will) and how it turns out 😉

Talking about that! That’s a full day of meals on a dream Christmas day I’d have with some realistic choices! And time for that swiss roll test run! 🙂

What do you have for Christmas? Any tricks for making turkey or Christmas yule logs? What have you been pinning lately?

Breakfast: French Toast

How about that? I finally got around to make some French Toast after talking about it for… *thinking* a few months, maybe a year.  Point is: being back on track with Zumba classes and working out has put me in a fantastic mood and I’m motivated to get a ton of stuff done, except when it comes to writing.  I guess I’m not into sitting down.  Last Sunday morning, I was all pumped up and happy and whipped together the batter for the French Toast and my husband, who is much better at stovetop cooking that I am, took over and cooked it up! Teamwork is awesome! 😉

French Toast

Recipe via Pinterest: http://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/2015/02/classic-french-toast.html

You will find the ingredients and how to make it there! 🙂

There were some little changes:

• Milk replaced by almond milk
• Flour replaced by Coconut flour
• Batter made 7 slices of bread (POM brand) instead of 8

I have no idea why it took me so long to put together French Toast.  Honestly, it was so simple to do.  The hardest part was thinking of how to replace the flour, mostly because I don’t have all-purpose flour since I haven’t baked since I tried to go gluten-free. The brand I currently have is really disgusting and I can’t imagine using it for this but luckily, I did have coconut flour and man, it was so great.  It wasn’t enough for the taste or the smell to be an issue.

I haven’t eaten French Toast due to dietary issues since I was a little girl and this was so good! My husband says he burnt it but I thought it was great.  He also isn’t a fan of cinnamon spiced sort of bread-like desserts so I think he wasn’t quite as much of a fan as I was.  I didn’t even think the cinnamon was too overbearing.  It added a nice delicately spiced taste to it.  I topped it with some powdered sugar and maple syrup and that was so good. I’m addicted.  I already want to make a second batch and explore the world of French Toast to see what variations there are.

Do you like French Toast?

Pinterest Therapy: Full Day’s Meal Inspirations!

Wow! Its been A LONG TIME since I’ve done a Pinterest Therapy.  Its been kind of a traffic jam over here getting everything out since Fantasia Festival happened and then wedding planning and its been just sleep little, eat moderately and try to stay healthy.  Which is just impossible and sounds ridiculous.  BUT, things are starting to slow down now and for the most part, I’ve caught up.  So far, I’ve gotten ahead by a little with scheduled posts going up instead of scrambling to get the next day’s posts up. Its only taken, what, four years to learn to be more organized here.  Haha! Pathetic, yes.

Anyways, enough of this rambling.  Point is: I’m stressed.  Things are slowing down but I’m still stressed and worried and anxious.  This wedding coming up in like a month is murdering me.  This center of attention thing is scaring me to death! I really don’t like attention and making decisions and I’m doing both of these things right now simultaneously. I was going to do a wedding edition of this Pinterest business but I decided to not do that because that is not therapy.  That’s more stress.  AND, I’d kind of like the details of my wedding to be a little bit of a surprise so I can do some nice posts on it when it comes around.  Sure, I shared some little snippets but the important parts are still secret 🙂 Hell, don’t feel bad.  One of my girls are holding my wedding gown for me so my fiance doesn’t even know what it looks like 😉

Ok, you are here for some Pinterest therapy.  Long weekend is here so let’s get this show on the road! If I had a day of nothing, I’d do this whole day of food just like this! I think I’m excited just thinking about it 😉

1) Breakfast: Classic French Toast

Believe it or not, I’ve never made French Toast.  I’ve always wanted to because I can’t have any outside of my house so its been years since I’ve even tasted it. I always think about pancakes but never french toast.  Weird, eh? Well, that’s on my list! 🙂

2) Lunch: Sloppy Joes

Its kind of funny. I always look at Sloppy Joes but I never make them. I remember having them once when I was really young at summer camp and it was so good.  I can’t exactly remember the taste but I just remember it being the best burger in the world.  Messy food is usually really good so I kind of think it’ll still be delish.  One day though, I will make it soon.

3) Afternoon Refreshments: Sparkling Raspberry Lemonde

I know that summer is tapering off now.  We’re stepping into autumn.  Especially when I’m planning an autumn wedding.  My life is pretty gone from summer. But the heat and the rain that just won’t pour is still around so it makes me thirsty all the time because I dehydrate just that much faster.  I haven’t made lemonade this year (or anything else except infused water once) so you know, its never too late for lemonade and I’ve been having a huge love for raspberry flavored desserts so looks awesome! 🙂

4) Dinner: Coq Au Vin

Chicken is a huge part of our diet.  We just love it at home. I’ve seen this around but I’ve never made Coq au Vin.  I think I’ll give it a go one night.

5) Dinner Drinks: Honeycrisp Sangria

I absolutely love sangria any time of the year.  I might change this to a white sangria since I’ve gained a weird intolerance to red wine. It makes me sweat profusely at night and makes me really bloated which white or rose wine doesn’t do.  I don’t understand why but some have said maybe its a part of the fermentation process that does something that I don’t take well.  Either way, no red wine so I’ll swap it to a white wine which is even more matched up to an autumn sangria which goes well with the apple thing.  I think its good.

6) Dessert: Apple Pie Cupcakes

I’m WAY behind on baking. So so so behind.  I bought a ton of ingredients in hope to bake and I just haven’t found time to do it.  Between getting myself, the house and the planning for the wedding, I barely have time to eat normal so its a challenge to get that.  Baking just hasn’t gone anywhere.  But I did find an easier recipe for the Baking Through Disney project for Snow White so I might give that a go before I attempt to make these 😉 How does that sound?

This is Labor Day weekend so I’m going to wrap up that Snow White and officially kick off the next one.  which I think is Pinocchio. But on the timeline of Baking with Disney.  I might give the next item a solid thought.  So let’s check the last thing on this therapy session 😉

7) More Drinks: Disney Cocktails

If you click the image, it links to the page with a lot of other Disney movies and drinks they put together. I chose Snow White because I’m trying to keep reminding myself that I have one more part to do to move on to the next thing. But this is so cute.  I don’t know how to mix alcohol but I’d give these ones a try like I’d only be able to do Fair Maiden.  Although I might have just drank all the pineapple juice.  Something fun to try for the weekend.

That’s it for this Pinterest Therapy.  maybe I’ll start doing it in this format.  Although these things are all pretty random. After some relaxation here, I’m off to another crazy day of running around and testing the limits of how efficient I can be 😉

Happy Saturday, my lovelies! 🙂 
Have a great weekend and I’ll be back on Monday!

Its one of those weeks! How about a little Pinterest Therapy?

When the whole office has one of those days collectively, you know its only a matter of time before stress just bugs us out. Scratch out days..because its been a shitty few days.  Work has been emotionally and mentally draining.  A whole new test of why I’m still there.

Because I desperately want to write hate mail to the provincial government but that probably won’t turn out too good for me.  Then I got some unreasonable client issues and man, its been just a whirlwind of crazy.  Plus, I realized that I didn’t just mess up the postal code on one order that’s already in shipping but a second one also.  Moving, my friends.  That hardest part is remembering the damn postal code!!

*takes a deep breath*I didn’t get a post up earlier today because of everything happening at once but now I’m in desperate need of some positive change.

My solution: Pinterest Therapy! 🙂

1st happy: Flowers!

Borage

What is seriously nicer than coming home to a vase of flowers or a pot (if you are a really awesome gardener)? I realized that I’m doomed from just the direction my house is facing for flowers so I’ve given up.  From all those plants I bought last spring, my geranium was doing so great until the last week so now I only have 2 plants surviving and another one doing better because I gifted it to my mom.

Either way, this flower is so pretty! Also, I’m excited that I get to start planning out Chinese New Year flower shopping. A good reason to have another lovely vase of flowers.  I have one right now because the boyfriend was mega sweet and gave me some lilies the other day to cheer me up.

2nd happy: soft furry kittens

I love animals in general and mini versions of any animal is absolutely adorable (except for crawly bugs). Just look at this furball.  It looks like a tiny snowball! Hmm…reminds me that I need to head off to give my kitty a kiss and a cuddle first! 🙂

3rd happy: Breakfast food

Breakfast food!

It doesn’t have to be in the AM to love breakfast food.  I love it all the time! I mean, look at that, doesn’t this look so awesome? Breakfast food makes me happy.  Its all happy colors too 🙂 Fruits, avocado, salmon, eggs all look so fantastic! And even if you don’t like this, think about bacon, everything is so much more awesome with crispy bacon.

4th happy: Pretty dresses

Pretty dresses

In a post quite a while, I’ve mentioned that when I’m feeling really bad, I like to get all pretty. You know, put on a cute dress and just channel in the pretty.  It kind of makes me feel better plus, I’ve turned into quite a crazy clothes shopper and I’m extremely poor after the holidays so the only shopping I have is fake version of it on Pinterest 😉

So many reasons to love Pinterest and thats one of the best ones.  Kills time and saves money…haha!

5th happy: Sweets and Baking!

 

C’mon! No words to describe that.  I’m working on that Baking Through Disney project. I can’t imagine all the fun stuff thats going to be so thats where my happy place is.  Baking is just all sorts of awesome.  I haven’t had time to bake this week (or last one) but looking up great ideas are equally great.

6th happy: Hot/Handsome Guys & The 100!

I’m going like crazy obsession phase of The 100 especially since its absolutely awesome with its weekly updated episodes 🙂 And honestly, The 100 isn’t even about the hot guys or whatnot.  Other than Ricky Whittle, not sure I see anyone exceptionally hot but the characters all have something that really gets me to just love them.  But searching up hot (shirtless) guys are a huge thing for me on Pinterest so look at this hot shot of Ricky Whittle.  He’s in The 100 and his character is awesome!

AND FINALLY!

7th happy: Quotes

 

I’m feeling oodles better.  Now if I can just fight off this cold that keeps wanting to get worse. Still, everything feels a little bit better! I’m ready to take on tomorrow.  Its finally Friday! 🙂 I’m still debating what to post tomorrow but I’ll be working on that in a little bit.

What makes you happy when you’re feeling down?

Music also helps and I’ll be putting together an obsessions post extremely soon 🙂

Pinterest Therapy!

Its been a while since I’ve had Pinterest Therapy.

Today has been a horrible day completely out of proportion.  Maybe its because NaNoWriMo has really killed me.  I apparently don’t get inspired till about 11pm at night and even after 2 hours of writing, then its 1am and then sleeping only a little bit and heading to work is kind of crazy.  Along with that, work has been a basketful (more like a shipping container full) of crazy. I’m ready for vacation right now, but already used those up.  Well, with nothing much else to do about it.  I figured a Pinterest Therapy session would be good.  Especially since I’ve been spending a lot of time there of late 🙂

1) Ultimate Cuteness Overload

Nothing starts off a good Pinterest session like some cute animals and this is oodles of it 🙂 I’m already smiling a lot just going “Awwww…” over and over again.

2) Tulips in a Vase

Did I just blow your mind with this? I love pretty flowers.  Spring bulbs are absolutely fantastic.  I’m thinking about spring while autumn is here because it gets me a step closer to warmer weather next year.  Imagine planting bulbs inside? That idea makes me excited 🙂 Plus, I just bought a bunch of ’em and couldn’t find enough space in the garden to plant them all. Next project idea 🙂

3) Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

Its a pity that the link for this doesn’t work anymore.  But still, thats a pretty awesome idea.  I’d use spaghetti squash as actual pasta replacement but vermicelli is actually noodles of sorts so spaghetti squash is a great choice to replace it.  Maybe I’ll try it out one day 🙂 First things first, let me attempt to make a normal pad thai first.

Whats a little pinterest with some food, right?

And you know whats coming up next, do ya?

4) North Pole Cupcakes

You got it! Whats dinner without dessert?  I’m  compiling my Christmas baking stuff.  I seriously miss baking A LOT! I haven’t baked in so long.  I’m starting to question my baking capabilities when I look at a recipe.  But its my absolute peace of mind.  When I bake, everything vanishes.  All my problems just go poof! Life is just so beautiful.

What are your must-have Christmas baked goods?

5) DIY Christmas Ornaments

A new home means a lot of new stuff.  Sure, we got a lot of hand me downs. But my boyfriend and I are massive Christmas people.  We love the holiday and we’re getting into the mood by already purchasing our Christmas tree 2 weeks ago. With a big tree, we got very little hand me down ornaments so I’m on a mission to make all my decorations.  I bought a lot of plain baubles to decorate. I’ve done it as two gifts for family.  Now its time to do it for my own home. Pinterest has lots of cute ideas and I’m pretty excited to start working on it 🙂

6) Quotes: Fairy Tales & Creating our sunshine

Nothing like ending Pinterest with some inspirational quotes.  Fairy tales, love them!

Second quote reminds me of this post.  This is one of my ways of creating my own sunshine 🙂

I’m definitely feeling oodles better now!

What are you pinning? 

Happy Wednesday, my lovelies! 🙂

Late Night September Pinterest Therapy

What happened to August, right? It sped by so fast that I haven’t quite registered what happened, especially after Fantasia Festival ended.  All I know is I’m sitting here and realized how I just got so behind in blogging.  Its good though, because I did take a little break and my mind is now racing with new idea and projects and I’m outlining a bunch of stuff for next year.  I also accepted (again) that blogging actually  motivates me to do a lot of stuff so when I decided at the beginning of 2014 to become more focused and less versatile, that didn’t really work out and I’m slowly building it back to versatility but with some order 😉 Not sure how thats going to work but it will by the time my thoughts stop racing about frantically…

Either way, Pinterest therapy is due for this past week.  Work has been intensely crazy and it came pretty suddenly out of nowhere and I wanted to just wallow under my covers in bed and watch TV (and movies) all day.  Of course, reality is rather different.  The stress even caused some intense nightmares resulting in some sleepless nights. Seeing as Monday and this new week is just about to come around, I decided a late night Pinterest therapy is definitely the right way to go!

Lets go! 🙂

1) Priorities and Choices 

Just saying, I’m starting and ending with a quote that I found on Pinterest.  First one goes with my actual state of mind.  I’m reorganizing my priorities right now and its shifting stuff around so yes, I’m saying no to certain less important things in my life right now.

Totally feeling this quote 🙂

2) DIY Terrariums 

I’ve been completely in love with making a terrarium and I have no idea why.  Maybe because it just looks so cute and would be the most classy decoration EVER! Don’t you think?

Have you ever built a terrarium?

3) Importance of Staying Hydrated

I’m going to go right ahead and admit that drinking water and staying hydrated is so necessary (and I know that) but I fail miserably every single day.  I end up binging 4 glasses of water before bedtime and drinking next to nothing during the day. So yes, I’m starting to rely on eating a lot of fruits during the day to help with that.

Health is mega important so I’m working on being more proactive at keeping it up 😉

4) Avocado Fries

On that healthy note, I love healthy twists on food.  We’ll all heard of zucchini fries (and I’d like to eventually make that) but my undying love for avocado is definitely making this one go up on my to-do list.  It just looks so delicious.

5) Kitten pile!

Half of the reason I ever got onto Pinterest was for all the cuteness overload. I’m a cat or dog person but sleeping kittens and especially a kitten pile-up is just massively adorable! Excuse me while I got search up my cat and cuddle her in my arms a little…

…..okay, I’m back….let’s continue!

6) Cookie Monster Cocktail

On the whole line of cute, who doesn’t think cookie monster is cute? I can’t use healthy because I’m sure the health merit of this is close to zero… so lets just put that aside.  We all get to indulge once in a while, right’?

Well, unless I find some way to substitute some of these ingredients, this really only for your viewing pleasure 😉

7) Arrow & Stephen Amell & Emily Bett Rickards

I’ve been binge watching Arrow so excuse me when I’d like to say that I’m absolutely in love with Stephen Amell and you will know more about that in the post on Monday (its still Sunday in my mind even though its slightly after midnight as I finish typing this up) but Emily Bett Rickards’s Felicity Smoak is just the most hilarious character and she’s just so nerdy awesome! 🙂

8) Peanut Butter Stuffed French Toast

Isn’t that delicious? Seriously, that is food porn, okay?

I’ve been absolutely obsessed with learning how to make french toast and in a way that I can eat it.  Its one of my next baking challenges so I’ve been pinning French Toast of all kinds. This looks like I need to probably go do a 5 hours intense workout to burn and toss that whole proactive healthy living thing I was talking about earlier out the window, but this looks like it’s a party in my mouth and I mean like that bite where everything just melts into this absolutely out of this world awesomeness feeling.

9) Vibes

They do.  I get vibes from the people around me when I interact. Some people just give off a strong vibe of whatever it is.   Your vibe may not be all that accurate for anyone else but its a first impression and its a feeling that your body and mind (or maybe your heart) is telling you.  I’ve learned the hard way, that I probably should admit to those vibes more often 😉

Thats it for tonight! 🙂 I’m all relaxed, charged and ready for the coming week!

What have you been pinning?

*Late Night* Pinterest Therapy & Life’s Randomness :)

Its pretty fitting to have one of these every 3 months mostly because if you haven’t known, I work in the lovely accounting field and well, every 3 months, I have a huge quarter and life gets immensely and overwhelmingly busy.  With Fantasia Film Festival lingering about at the same time, I’ve been pretty exhausted.  4 more movies to go before it ends and I’m learning how wonderful life in movies are. I’m taking a little time off today from reviews although I have 3 more festival movies to cover in the next few days.

I felt like a little Pinterest therapy is where I always go to when my mind is overloading.

Before we move forward, I didn’t get a chance to put some interesting stuff that happened during the last week..

1) SURPRISE PLANTS!

Sunflower? We didn’t plant that 😉

I think some squirrels were trying to hide away some seeds and didn’t manage to find them because somehow this year, we sprouted some sunflowers in the front yard and one of them actually bloomed into this lovely thing that brightened up my day 🙂

2) SURPRISE VISITOR

Young Fearless (maybe naive) Robin on the deck

This robin doesn’t even have all this orange belly grown in yet, so I’m guessing its pretty young.  Plus, my cat was sitting behind the screen door staring at it.  And without zoom, I was right next to it taking pictures and it didn’t even fly away. So yes, fearless or maybe naive, whichever you choose works but it was hilarious to see my cat get all worked up over it.

Did I tell you that our backyard has a robin’s nest and our front yard has a cardinal’s nest? So lots of visitors 😉

3) FIRST VEGETABLE HARVEST!

Cooked yellow zucchini

If you saw last week’s update, my yellow zucchini was growing at intense speed so this week, after some research to make sure if it was ready to harvest, I did harvest two of them.  My boyfriend seasoned it and here’s what we had for (part of our) dinner. It was delicious 🙂

4) HAVING LAZY TIME WITH MY CAT!

Sunday morning with my cat

Its been a while that I haven’t had to jump out of bed on the weekend mornings and go do something but since I had a Fantasia Festival movie that overlapped with piano, I pushed it to the evening, giving me more time to just stay in bed.  It was needed because I had a few sleepless nights and my body needed to recuperate. There really is nothing more heavenly than sitting around in bed relaxing and doing nothing and just watching my cat. She dreams almost as much as I do so its pretty entertaining 😉

Like I said, short updates so lets move right along to some pins that I found on Pinterest which made me all happy.

First pinning goes to gardening…

5) MY DREAM INDOOR GARDEN

Vertical indoor garden

Now, doesn’t that look cool? Imagine the variety of fresh herbs, right?

And my realistic self comes in and says, its a good idea and looks decent but think about bug infestations…why are there cons to everything, right?

6) ONLY A WRITER…

I’m not really a writer but it makes me think…

Awkward of me to put this? Well, I’m not really a writer but it encourages me to think about the potential of it.  I’ve been having this really great idea for a novel but I just couldn’t figure out how to start it.  I have a lot of the middle part drafted in my head.  You know how I do that? I talk to myself in the shower..well, I pretend to be in the story and I start working it out there with different characters.  It sounds weird but I can’t be the only one who does that, right? Some people brainstorm in their heads and some do it out loud…I just happen to be the latter.

By the way, earlier today, I actually managed to get the beginning down on paper for the story I wanted to write for a while 😉 Its not for publishing or anything so just something I want to do for myself.  Still, I’m pretty happy about it!

7) TV & HOT GUYS!

Pretty Little Liars- Caleb (Tyler Blackburn)

Pretty Little Liars – Ezra (Ian Harding)

Pretty Little Liars- Jason (Drew Van Acker)

True Blood-Eric (Alex Skarsgard)

True Blood – Alcide (Joe Manganiello)

I’ve recently been on track with True Blood and Pretty Little Liars. I don’t usually search up pins on hot actors but I happened to land on one and then it lead to the next one and trust me, I’ll keep going not hat I made a board just for it 😉

So, remember this when you watch Pretty Little Liars, these are not actually teenagers 😛 So I can enjoy them for who they are and that doesn’t stop me from thinking they are hot.  Honestly, I don’t think its possible to have that many hot guys and girls in one city but apparently it happens in fictional places like Rosewood.  Its definitely not limited to those up there.  I just totally love the character of Caleb and his short hair and new look for this season is totally hot. Plus, I’m increasingly liking what they are doing with Ezra’s character and although I find it attractive in pictures and not as much in the show, he’s leaving an impression all the same. My favorite has to be Jason though.  He brings a mysterious vibe to the show whenever he shows up and Drew Van Acker is just ridiculously hot and sexy.

True Blood’s new season hasn’t been all that impressive but I’m still missing the one that just passed by and I just keep thinking they ‘ll just kill everyone off and end the damn thing. Who knows, right? Still, Alex Skarsgard’s Eric look is totally delicious and Alcide is just so manly with those muscles.  I tried to keep it tame with the pictures 😉

Yes, yes, superficial. I get to do that once in a while…

8) DESSERT NACHOS

While I was using the words “delicious” to describe the guys, I started thinking about sweets. There is absolutely NO WAY that I’d do a Pinterest Therapy session without some sweets and this one looks scrumptious. I’m literally drooling and thats a comforting thought and a reminder that I need to get back to baking.

I’m definitely going to try to figure out some gluten free option for making this 😉

BEFORE I GO…

Late night session is getting a bit overboard and its past 2am so I should be trying to get some sleep although stress is stopping me from it.

How about a little song from Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart (review that I posted yesterday HERE)? Its really cute! There’s also an English version and I believe reading that its Samantha Barks that does the girl’s voice. You can find that version on Youtube, if not just ask, I have it in my playlist and I’ll send you the link. But here’s the original French version. Sorry, I couldn’t find english subtitles…

And then a little electronic music song that mellows me out all the time.

Good night my lovelies! I’ll get another review up tomorrow 🙂

Pinterest Therapy #2!

Let’s have some fun, ok?

I’ve been in desperate need of some Pinterest Therapy and honestly, it gets me through my day just a little bit more.  If I can try out half of these things this year, I’d be pretty pleased with myself 😉

I kept my little rant at the end of the post to just clear some stuff off my chest so its up to you if you want to read it or not.

Here you go! These little things have kept me sane in the past 2 weeks or so.

1) Spring Sangria 

Tea usually is my relaxant and thats why I usually have two thermos that I take to the office with me.  But when I’m at home, nearing the weekend, having a glass of alcohol usually helps. I love Sangria.  I love the normal red sangria during the summer and the white Autumn Sangria. I recently saw this Spring Sangria.  I know spring is kind of almost gone but this looks pretty awesome.

Whats your favorite cocktail?

2) Live in the Moment

That was this week’s goal.  For the most part, I’ve been able to remind myself to breathe and to focus on the goals every single day leading to the final result. One of my coworkers did get a good laugh when I sat upright and said breathe out loud and then inhaled and exhaled in the middle of the day.  At least its not only relaxing for me but entertaining for others, right? 😉 In short, this is where I remember what my boyfriend tells me: take things in steps and don’t look at the entire mountain. No correlation but I get what he means.

3) DIY Bug Off Candle/Mosquito Control Plants

DIY Bug Off Candle

I never thought I’d say this but gardening has been my little escape.  Stressful as it is that I’m trying to get everything done, its also a pretty fun experience. Right now, I bought some torches and citronella oil for the yard but I’m looking at how to have some more natural mosquito repellents.  Because of the pool, its like I became a buffet when I step out at night. And let me get something straight: I’m nobody’s buffet. So first choice was this: Bug off candles with lots of herbs and whatnot.

4) Stress vs. passion

Technically I can work for something I don’t care about but if I find something that makes me care about it, then I may not love it but I won’t hate it.  Is that still called stress? I don’t know.  Either way, the dream is to one day do what I’m passionate about. Thats the goal, right? But then, who doesn’t have that dream.  I sometimes think I lean towards my realistic side more than my dreamer side.  Its being able to take that leap of faith but reading that makes me want to go home and either watch a movie or play the piano or bake a cake.  Happy thoughts 🙂

5) RAISED GARDENS/CONTAINER GARDENING

Yeah, more about the garden.  Thats what happens when you buy a house (my mom told me that).  I’m really into this container gardening business.  This is just a raised garden and I’m serious when I tell you, I hope my boyfriend reads this and builds this for me.  That looks so awesome! Would be perfect for what I need. And from what I understood, the previous owners left us a bunch of wood in the storage area.  Maybe it could be used for my benefit. Well, if the garden has stuff, its not just mine now, is it?

6) True Friends

It always makes me a loner when I say this but I don’t have a lot of friends but I have true friends and strong friendships.  I know they are there for me and for some them, sometimes they know exactly when to reach out to me and same for me to them.  And that thought makes me grateful and happy every single day.

7) Butterfly Sanctuary

Noted, Disney! I love flowers and butterflies so its a future goal for my garden 🙂 Think about how awesome that would be! You have birds and squirrels visits you? Well, I have butterflies 😉 Just kidding! Its also pretty awesome that this festival exists and one day I want to go check it out.

8) Regrowing plants from scraps

Yesterday, I went to eat with my friends and I realized that the joy that comes with gardening comes a lot in the challenge of seeing your success when something sprouts.  So my next little project is regrowing from food scraps like the tops of pineapples and try my hand at some ginger or garlic and maybe some bok choy.

9) The Beauty of Silence

Yup, Chinese has a saying that one hand can’t clap out loud.  Pretty much if you don’t reciprocate, it won’t escalate to an argument.  But of course, some people will just get frustrated and be even more furious.  I don’t know.  Either way, there are times I just choose to answer with silence just simply because there are no more words to say and I refuse to continue going in circles. I’ve moved on, why haven’t you? Thats all I want to know.

10) What does it take to be strong?

Totally true. Which is why after this craziness, I’m taking off some time to calm my body and think up some wonderful alternative to how I’m treating life itself.  I’ll be walking away from the nonsense hopefully but at this point I’m not even sure if its with my head held high.  I’m just too tired 😉

A Little Extra Rant Before I Go…

You know that feeling that you’ve done all you can to make things better and ease the situation and yet, its never enough. I use kind words and soft phrases and they use rude blunt disrespectful replies. There are no second chances, there are no mistakes. Suddenly, I realized that the prerequisite in taking care of this client is to be perfect.  I can’t even try to be perfect because its not enough.  I’m sorry, I’m done with this.  I’m not perfect and I’ve accepted that.  I’ve tried my best to better my flaws and I’ve done all I could but if the client can’t let go of the little things, then I’m also done with it.

I don’t need someone like that to diminish my self-worth or to disrespect me. I’ve sat here and pondered how to make this work because I don’t want to give up, especially not leave my boss in a bad position.

Finally!

This Pinterest therapy helped me out! And now, off to work I go for some lovely overtime.

Have a great weekend, my lovelies! 🙂

Giving Thanks Even More and Lots of Food!

I know, lame title! You already know about the highlight of last week: Boyce Avenue Concert! If you missed that post from earlier today, you can check it out HERE!

This weekend was Thanksgiving weekend in Canada! YAY! Long weekend means so much more time to do lots of stuff! I did talk about doing some stuff on my Pinterest post on Friday night! Guess what? Apparently, whenever I post about doing something, I end up actually doing it more than when I just write it up on my notebook or post it on my fridge or something.

Friday night was nothing special but consisted mostly of watching Pretty Little Liars! I’m on Season 3 now! Its getting more than relaxing intense but intense intense! Other than Pretty Little Liars, my guilt of sitting around doing nothing kicked in some time around 10pm and I got straight to work and did a ton of chores for the next two hours.  Nothing to really post about there..unless you want to see my wonderful laundry hanging skills 😉

Saturday was pretty cool.  I actually got in a lot of sleep.  One of the 10 things I wanted to do! It doesn’t make up for the past 2 weeks of not sleeping a lot but its getting there.  My boyfriend and I got woke up earlier than usual and we managed to do a shopping run.  I picked up 2 horror movies at Walmart for $5 each: The Descent Original Uncut (my review HERE of it with US ending) and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. I also got a indie horror film called Frozen, which I did manage to watch yesterday night as well.  The review goes up next week 🙂 I’m still processing it a little.

I promised you food, right? Last night, I went all out and decided to make a crazy meal, which my boyfriend had to step in to help out nearing the end since I have this weird frustration that sets in when I cook for a while longer and things start going crazy.  Panic, I guess….he never understands why I’m a completely different person when I bake…I’m sure some of you do, right?

Here it goes!

First up, I made an Autumn Sangria in the afternoon to let it sit and soak up the fruits a bit.

Prep for Autumn Sangria

The recipe that I used is this one HERE! This is how it turned out 🙂

Autumn Sangria!

This was really strong in my Chinese alcohol intolerance level.  For one, the bourbon tastes very strong and its what soaked into the fruits mostly, so the fruits were delicious, especially the apples.  Second, if you expect citrus like the normal sangria, this one hits the spicy level a little more.  Definitely more autumn with more fruits from this season and a cinnamon sticks (preferably), I only had ground cinnamon so I added a hint of that to the mix.

Moving on, for the main meal, we made a little twist of the Avocado Basil Pasta featured HERE!

Avocado Basil Pasta

We cooked a bit of topping since I’m not really good with raw foods.  Also, we added in some leftover italian sausages and made a side of potatoes. As much as it may not look that great, it tasted pretty awesome 🙂

Sunday morning came around and I was in an extremely happy mood to make some pancakes.  I mixed the batter and my boyfriend helped make it. They were these Pumpkin Pancakes right HERE!

Pumpkin Pancakes!

I’ve never made pancakes non-Bisquick style so this was a pretty good trial.  Plus, they tasted SO GOOD! Whats Halloween or Autumn recipes without pumpkins, right?

After that, we headed off for a nature trail in the Eastern Townships for the afternoon.  I have to sort through about 200 pictures from that but the post will be going up soon.  Here’s a picture to give you an idea!

Marais de la Riviere aux Cerises

I already remember to be thankful everyday for the great things in life that I have but its also a weekend for me to reflect how to be better at being thankful and grateful for all that I have. So far, this weekend’s been pretty epic.

One more day to go! Before I leave you, here’s a nice video about What to Eat for Happiness from Popsugar Fitness! Enjoy!

Just in case you ever need this, with Halloween around the corner! Lets train in case we get hit by a zombie apocalyse (and to insert a bit more Halloween in here)!

I’ll definitely try it soon 🙂 Tell me how it went if you try it out!

Stay happy and healthy! Thats what I’m grateful for: just being alive, being blessed with what I have, and especially meeting all of you in the blogosphere! Thank you for all the love: likes, comments, follows and just simply visiting! Its been a great year so far on Tranquil Dreams and there isn’t enough thank yous to express how grateful I am and how much I appreciate all of you! 🙂

Hope you all had a great weekend! Drop by again! I have a lot prepped for next week 🙂