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Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Year Resolutions!

I got this great New Years Resolution

from Janna at Just Flourishing,

I thought it was a fantastic way to make resolutions without making the ones that I always fail to execute!!  

Are you good at keeping your resolutions?  

One thing I will learn: Well I’m going back to school, so hopefully LOTS!!  

One place I will go: No big travel plans here this year! 

One habit I will break: Being lazy in the morning, must do a workout 5/7 days of the week, even if it’s just 20 min.

One habit I will cultivate: Good study habits!! smile_regular I wish! 

One work habit I will change: Procrastination… I know it’s going to happen the second I start school!

One thing I’ll eat more often: Green monsters and veggies.

One thing I’ll eat less: Red Meat and sweets!

One thing I’ll drink more: Water and GM of course.

One thing I’ll drink less: I don’t drink much booze, or anything overly bad, so I’ll say nothing!

One person I’ll treat more respectfully: Myself, sometimes I just don’t treat myself the way I should! 

One thing I’ll spend less money on: Starbucks – let’s be honest, I enjoy it, but I can make most stuff at home myself.

One thing I’ll spend less time doing: Reading blogs I am not really interested in!  I spend about 3 hours per day in the blog world, there are quite a few I love, and some that don’t overly interest me, yet I read them!!

And a thing I’ll spend more time doing: Spending good quality time with Dave and Lance!  We have decided to eat dinner at the dinning room table (we never do this unless we have guests!!)    

 

My last one should be easy!

I want to get out of the “overweight” category on my Wii!!

Sounds silly, but I hate that I am there!

What are your resolutions this year?

Well I am off to prep for our friends that are coming over tonight, we’re just doing a sushi and board games night!

Hope your New Years is full of lots of great things,

Jessica heart
 
I will leave you with some of my favourite  pictures of 2009
 
I would write what they are about but my blog writer won’t let me!   So use your imagination! smile_teeth
 
 

Hope you have a safe and happy new years!

 

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Vacation Eats!

That last post was a long one, so I decided to do a separate post on the eats!

We had HORRIBLE luck with food during this trip.

It started off at McDonalds -(first mistake)
I decided to grab something healthish, as there were no other options.
So what I ordered - grilled chicken burger on a whole wheat bun (no sauce), side salad with balsamic dressing and orange juice.

What I got - a thick juicy burger, side salad covered in cheese (after I had told them about the dairy allergy)  So I took it back, and listened to them curse me
Second try I recieved- Crispy chicken on a white bun, with a salad containing about 2 pieces of lettuce and a 1/2 a tomatoe slice. 
 
At this point, I felt like giving up (also it was really busy) 
So I ate the crispy chicken and tossed the salad.   Double thumbs down -
I will probably write them to tell them what terrible service is was.   
-Note to self - McDonalds is not a good choice, even if you try to eat healthy!

When we got to our hotel - We went over to the Beacon's Landing Pub 

Right on the water - would be amazing in the summer! 

This place was our saving grace on our trip!
Not only was it beautifully decorated for Christmas, but the atmosphere was
warm, romantic and inviting!!

I didn't take any pictures, as the restaurant was super dark!

The waitresses were SUPER helpful with my dairy allergy and it made it much easier!
(also they offer a vegetarian, vegan and celiac menu - Yay Beacon Landing Pub)

I ordered a grilled fish taco - which was amazing!!

We ended up going back the next night for dinner as we had had such bad luck everywhere else.
The second night Dave fell in love, he had one of the specials and died and went to heaven - he said it was so good!! 

I had the
Beef and Pork Lettuce Wraps
Fresh ground beef and pork sautéed with hoisin and cilantro and served on
top of crispy rice noodles. Comes with lettuce for wrapping.
 
Here was a picture of the left overs

It was yummy!!    Light and fresh (I wasn't overly hungry)

All in all - this restarant gets a 10/10 in our books.
The prices seemed a bit high for pub food
  but once you tasted how delish the food was, it didn't even matter!
It was 100% worth it!

Besides the Beacon Landing put... I was really happy I had lots of this...

We ate one not so good thing after the other.
I had to send a few of my meals back, as they came with cheese or something mixed in.
One of my meals - Dave had completely finished before mine even got there... Ugg..

Oh well - on another happy note we stopped at BOOSTER JUICE on the way home!

We shared the Solar something or other haha - it was tangy (cranberries) and yum!
They were super easy going about the no dairy thing!!

On the way home we stopped at a local produce stand and bought all the fixings for nachos!

I made mango salsa (YUM)

and guacomole

and served it with some chips!


I was pretty hungry so sorry for the not so pretty presentation! :)
It was a great ending to a really nice trip!!

Hope you enjoyed!
Jessica

Sidney, BC Bound!

Hey guys!!
Hope the last few days were fabulous for you!!

We had a great little R &R get away!  
We started off by spending the afternoon in Victoria! 
If you have never been Victoria is fabulous!   The best part, we ran into friends (from home) as soon as we got out of the car!! hehe

Here we are at the enterance to China town - couldn't get the picture light as hard as I tried!

Then we took a little walk down the "haunted alley way!  eek"

Nothing scary happened *thank goodness*
                                             (random fact about Jessica - VERY VERY scared of the thought of ghosts! )

We ventured into Lululemon and Mec - both had about an hour's wait for change rooms and then again for paying.  I wasn't in the mood at all, so we just got out of there and drove to our (beautiful) hotel.

It was sooo beautuiful, eco friendly and just all in all fantastic.
Here are a few shots of our room

We were in the Sea View room and it was gorgeous
 

Don't mind D in the background.  He was exhausted!


 
The view from our room! 
  
Even the products they used in the room were fantastic.
They were from Purely Saltspring - and again AMAZING!
We used the body wash, shampoo, conditioner, soap and the cream.
My skin was gleaming and smelled fantastic!
We are putting our order in this week!!

We spent a bunch of time walking around,Sidney has sooo many used book stores and some great little eco friendly stores!
We grabbed a coffee
I had a decaf, soy peppermint latte
hehe... working on my photographer skills! 


 
We also found this great little shop "Planet Love"
they had so many cool products, and you could taste everything before buying!
This was our score

Maca Powder (what do you use this in?)
Coconut Palm Sugar
Cacoa Nibs
Ninja Mix (brazil nuts, cacao nibs, gogi berries, golden berries, pecans)
and Red Quinoa!
Yummy!!

We also spent some time walking around the waterfront!  So pretty



 
 
 
We also found a cool shop full of gemstones and toys!


The view from our hotel from the waterfront! 
 

I also found some new friends

Ted and Martha!  haha

Dave wanted an action shot too!!
Look at his cute little feet!


Overall the hotel was fabulous! 
This was our comment card

 

I didn't get anywhere near food - but this post is getting soooo long!
So watch for the food post coming up next!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!!
Jessica


Tuesday, December 29, 2009

I'm bacccccccccck!

Hey guys!

Just wanted to say HI!!  I'm back and took a whole bunch of pictures to share with you... Tomorrow morning :)

Hope you guys are all well!!

Jessica

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Christmas Day 2010

Hope you got a chance to read the Christmas Eve Recap!!

I forgot to add on there that before everyone got here  
I WENT FOR A RUN!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, you heard it right!!   I was really impressed it was almost
2km and I ran most of it!! (besides the hill)  I haven't run in months!!
If you ever want to know the distance of a run
(no matter where you are) check out this site  MAP MY RUN

Ok on to Christmas morning.

Santa showed up!  We must have been good this year!

If you follow me on twitter, you'll know that Dave's big gift (a banjo guitar) didn't get here for Christmas
(even though it was ordered in October - apparently they forgot to order it - tisk tisk)
So I channelled my inner artist and made him this

I gave it to him with a ukulele!!  Which he enjoyed!

We opened our stockings! (I love stockings)

Sleepy heads

They were made especially for us in Newfoundland
Dave's mom sent them!! (un-stuffed)

I got totally spoiled by Dave...
And I must have been very very good this year!

LOOK WHAT I GOT!!!!

**SCREAMS**
I am soooooooo happy! I love it!  I named it LULU!!  (hehe)

The rest of the score

Most of that was just stocking stuffers!! :) 
I got spoiled (and this was just the beginning)
 
I loved this beautiful lotus flower candle holder - he got it at a multicultural trade fair we went too! 

Dave got something he's always wanted

Haha.. it's somewhat of an inside joke, but let's just say sock monkeys scare him!
This is from my childhood and my mom and I decided to regift it to him.
It made many strange appearances during the last two days.
(like in the Christmas tree, hanging in the pantry, up on this light fixture)

He also got tons of tools, and so many other goodies!
The left over of the chaos


Then we made some yummy breaky! (my new camera wasn't charged yet, so I used my old one)

Dave's families tradition is to saute up left over veggies to make "hash"
so into the mix went cooked carrots, turnip and potatoe

I cooked it until it browned... and we also had a mini turkey sandwhich


So super yum!! 

Next up we headed over to Mom and Dad's for more food and more gifts!

~~ ENTER NEW CAMERA~~
bare with me, I'm just learning!!

Mom and Dad's tree!

More yummy food
 
I took some close ups, but must have had my finger over the flash!! hehe

Then the gifts began (again)  I got a Wiiiiiiii  with all the fixings!!
So spoiled - but very grateful.
 

Dad was really excited about his "AIR in a bag" - silly man
 
this is what was really in the box

He loves big mugs!!

Then I went crazy taking portraits of everyone (well the ones that let me)

Pretty mama
(and their motorhome that they are disapearing in in September.
Lots of adventures in their futures! )
 
Dad
 
G-ma
and Dave and I
 
And an awesome picture of my parents!
 
It was a great morning - one of the best Christmas mornings yet!

I didn't take pictures of all of our gifts, as we got spoiled rotten
but some other highlights -
LULULEMON gift cards - for me -yes!!!!!
Lift tickets for snowboarding for Dave, he was happy
Wii Fit - me - woot
Personal Trainer game for the Wii...  Yes
Supermario brothers for the Wii for Dave
(notice a theme)

I think I may loose Dave to this game - he loved it!

Anyways, I am gone for a few days
We got a great deal on a hotel room for a few days in Victoria, so we are going away for a 
little romantic get away (and shopping at lululemon!!!!!!!!!!!)

Hope you guys had a beautiful Christmas
Lots of love, 
Jessica