Happy Harvest Day!

I'm not sure if I was tired last night but I stumbled upon this ecard while looking for something else and it made me laugh. Go to this link.

My friend made this stunning barbie cake for her friend's daughter and I thought it was amazing. It was her birthday and was a big surprise. She had never done anything like this before. Is she talented or what?




S. out

This Guy is a Real Madman

This guy is something else. I saw this surfing some entertainment news and if you like gymnastics or kung fu you will enjoy this video. The music is good too. If only I could do some of these stunts.


I like it when he does a flip and then kicks the ball in the air.


Hopefully you will find it entertaining.

S. out

A Few Things on My Mind

"PIECES OF APRIL"



So after forcing myself to get through "Pieces of April" I finally watched the end of it on Tuesday night. Literally it took me about 15 different times to get through it. I rented it from the library about 3 weeks ago and had rented some other movies and got 30 minutes into it and lost interest. I'm of the type that usually has to sit the whole way through something no matter how bad it is because there may be some redeeming quality and I just gotta see how it ends. So I put the movie on hold again and got it a week ago and just didn't get around to watching it until the day it was due and knew I had to finish it up.

If you want to see the trailer of it CHOOSE A) OR B)

I'm a big fan of Katie Holmes (Yes I loved "Dawson's Creek" but hated the way the series ended). When this movie came out I had heard a lot about it being so good. Well I was bored to tears the whole way through. They spend too much time on the journey to her house and then we get about 2 minutes at the end of what we wanted all along. One scene that caught my eye was when her little sister in the movie sings "Caro Mio Ben" which I actually had to sing for a voice class I took in university (video footage below).



So that has special meaning for me. There were some deep life changing lessons there for sure but it just dragged on an on into oblivion. When I was done I watched the extra scenes and that was the best part because it eplained the director's point of view and it all made more sense. I disagree with him though in that they should have used music in a lot more scenes to liven the script up and keep me awake. Then I watched a bit of the audio commentary which is way more interesting than the movie itself. I always wish I had more time to listen to the full audio commentary when I get videos. You learn so much about the background of how a movie was made.

FOCUS GROUP

Homicide Suspect Holds Off Police in Fair Oaks by Scoba (found at Creative Commons)


News Media Covering Transit Strike by Ryan Conley (found at Creative Commons)


President Bush js_019_bush by Jaiso (found at Creative Commons)


Last night I went to a Focus Group that a friend told me about and you sit in a room with about 9 other people and yourself. We all sat around a big table at a media company and this man lead the workshop and asked us tonnes of questions about the media. In this case it was about newspapers, television news and internet news. We all talked constantly for an hour and a half. The man who led the group directed us and kept coming up with different questions about where we go for local news, international news, what makes us choose one format over another etc. It was fascinating to hear all these points of view. Of course it was very relevant to our location and city as well and at the end of it we all got paid which was nice.

The one thing that bothered me though was someone brought up the fact they like anything about Bush bashing. Now let me do the honour and say this was about Preside nt Bush and that is how he should be addressed when any reference is made to him. I don't care what your political preference is the man deserves respect for leading the country and he was elected by the people. So everyone who hates this man should suck it up and deal with it. If you think he is doing a bad job then run the country yourself or say a prayer for him. He certainly has had a lot of persecution thrown his way and I for one am so sick of hearing about it. No other president has been attacked this much. My mom awhile ago saw a T-shirt with a rude saying about President Bush and it really was offensive. There are people in this world I don't like but I wouldn't dream of bashing them. Everyone deserves our respect. Okay I feel a bit better now and excuse the rant.

Peace out (my version of Ryan Seacrest's send out when he had his own show),

S.

Paper Art

A friend of mine sent this to me and I was blown away by the creativity. I've never seen this many uses for a piece of paper. There are 26 images.

Today I have to make a lot of scrubs, candles etc. so my head will be buried in lovely scents all day. Only 19 days until our first Christmas show and we are feeling crazed.

S.

Organic Produce, how does it fare?

For the last few months I've been buying organic produce at this local market I sell at. I've bought Kale, Chard, Carrots, Lettuce and yummy apple bread. The first time I had the organic kale and chard it was out of this world. Words can't really describe it, the taste is fresh, healthy, and crisp and it's good for you. Plus you feel great supporting the local farmers in your community. This is my fourth year at this market and I had always seen the hoards of people every week buying their greens and wondered what all the fuss was about. So my sister and I ventured out and bought some awhile ago and now we are hooked and can't get enough.

Then this year a guy sells organic Red Fyfe Wheat bread that is made in a wood oven. You get this huge chubby loaf and it lasts a whole week (yes it's that good). I especially like mine with local honey smeared on it and the crunch of the bread when you bite into it and the wheat taste is phenominal.

While I'm sitting here I'm drinking my favourite flavoured coffee. For those of you who know me, it is a popular chain in this part of the country and there is one down the road from me. I buy it by the can and make it at home.

Today was a half day at the market and we even had music which was a nice surprise. We sold out of our Energy Sugar Scrub, Tahitian Body Butter and our Sore Muscle Balm. Plus the sun peeked out here and there during our morning.

I'm off to make some more goodies for our two big Christmas shows and for next week if the weather is nice.

S.

Self Esteem Issues, Do they ever go away?

Lately I've really been into youtube.com and I know it's been around for awhile but I just discovered a few months ago. Everytime I think of a topic there seems to be a video on youtube about it so it's becoming my go to place for information.

So the other day my friend found this cool video from Dove about teens talking about self esteem and it's a issue that never goes away no matter what your age. I sat there watching the tiny screen realizing it was so well done I had to share it. The media has so bombarded us with images of what beauty should be and Dove has done a great job knocking that stereotype.



Then I stumbeled upon another one two days ago also from Dove. This one shows what people do manipulate models for the pages on their magazines. It is one you will want to watch over and over again just to catch subtle changes. Have fun.

S.

"What About Brian" sleuthing....

Photo from whataboutbrian.org
Photo from abc.com
Photo from tvguide.com

Okay last night's episode was so good I could hardly stand it. The plot between Marjorie and Brain has thickened. I knew she couldn't marry Adam because there would be no premise for the show to continue. What will happen next to these two? Will Marjorie and Brain ever get together? If so his friendship with Adam will be ruined forever. Has Marjorie left the country to collect her thoughts over all this?

My big question though is why people stay in a relationship when they know they don't love the person? I think deep down it's a fear and somehow living in denial about your feelings. Or you hope you are wrong about your feelings and by brushing them under the carpet they will somehow go away. Or you really want to love this person even though you don't, maybe you worry no one else will come along.

So about the photos up top. Look at the first one, that girl is not Sarah Lancaster at all it's Polly Shannon. Now look at the second & third picture and you see Sarah Lancaster(okay I've been a fan of hers since "Everwood"). Well it turns out Polly Shannon was replaced after a very early pilot of the show. For more on this READ HERE.

To watch videos of different cast members talking about this season CLICK HERE. I was riveted watching them and learning little tidbits here and there.

Here is a video clip from the last week's episode if you want to see even more. There were so many good ones it was hard to choose.

Enjoy, S. out

Another commercial for you

Lately I've had my head in my business putting up a website for all our products so I haven't been in the blog mode lately. I'm too busy fixing everything for our site.

Here is something amusing though, while I was looking for the British "Talk Talk" commercial I stumbled upon another one that is from Turkey or somewhere but it is done in the same style but a different variety. It's by the company Akbank.

Enjoy

S.

Thought this was interesting...

So yesterday I was surfing around on the internet and stumbled on this story about a man from the Ukraine who made his wife's wedding dress out of cream puffs. It took him 2 months to make. For more on this story check it out here.

On another note I was really tired of my blog template so I switched it around a bit. Stay tuned to see me changing it around in the future. I like a lot of variety.

S.

Jesus met me there

(Photo found at AOL Music)

Do you ever have those moments when you're feeling quite stressed and angry? This morning those emotions swept over me this and I stood there and instead of stressing more I decided to take a few deep breaths and put in my Michelle Tumes CD "Center of my Universe" 2000(I've seen her in concert a few times and love her). Standing there I closed my eyes and listened to the song "Deep Love." Then all of the sudden Jesus' peace swept over me. I felt the chills run through my body and the knowing that he was there and everything was going to be okay. Sometimes I get so caught up in things that I forget He is with me and it was a reminder He is still here and loves me very much. It was one of those aha moments.

S.

Listen Here (you'll need Real Player to hear it)

Lyrics from "Deep Love"

Sky is calling to the steeple
As it echoes out my name
I can hear You in the air I breathe

Spanning the years that have
come and gone
You roll like the ocean underneath
the sun
Weaving my soul to the Holy One
Weaving on and on with...

Love, it searches everything
It searches everyone
Your love, it reaches all that I am
And I am overcome by Your
Deep, deep love
Deep, deep love

Candles are burning
And I pray that You'll be near
me as I kneel
I can see you in the air I breathe.

What a wonderful feast!

Oh my day yesterday turned out swimmingly. The food was absolutely divine. Here are some of the highlights: Out my backdoor in the garden I gathered two types of organic rosemary, thyme and oregano for the garnish of the bird. Mesculen was bought from the oranic farmers along with red carrots and potatoes. Nothing tastes like organic honey from a nearby honey farm. Then I made homemade buttertarts (my special recipe passed down from generations of cooks). I love baking and it is a passion of mine. Since buttertarts are labour intensive I decided to double the batch. The table was decorarted with organic green seedless organic grapes that were picked from our grape vines sweetened after the first frost. Part of the dessert was virgin Pina Colada's after the buttercups of course.

We ended off our day watching "The Chronicles of Narnia" It was amazing, the actors, the music, the cinematography were just brilliant. I got chills during parts of the movie as the similarities to Christianity were so chilling and inspiring.

I feel so blessed with my life.

S.

This is wahhoohooray!

Photo found at Creative Commons "Step Flower" by Scott Robinson

Okay I wake up today feeling extremely tired from being sick all week. One of my campers sent me this e-mail and it is very touching about a parent's wish for their children.

Click here to see the video. What a way to make you feel grateful for all our parents do for us along the way.

Toodles,

S.

Tired of being sick.

Photos found at Creative Commons "Apple Kleenex Dispenser"by Daniel Morrison, "Nothing But Fun At Our House" by Alice&Matt

Well I've been sick since Monday and today I'm just really cranky and not happy at all. Hand me another kleenex sniff sniff. Took one of those cold pills that is supposed to stop your nose from running like a tap but it didn't work. Waaah, I hate being sick and I have the energy of a cat with no legs (stole that line from "Gilmore Girls"). Every little thing seems like too much energy and I get overwhelmed easily and snippy. I'm praying I feel better tomorrow.

S.

I can't get enough of these...

I absolutely love Maltesers. You know those malt balls that have a yummy chocolate coating on the outside. When I'm eating them which I'm doing right now I like to let them melt in my mouth and then let the malt ball slowly dissolve.

My other favourite treat is smarties. Yep, me and a coated candy seem to belong together. With smarties you have a nice crisp candy coating in different colours and then delicious milk chocolate in the middle. Also love to let these melt in my mouth, they are really good with a hot drink as it helps with the melting process.

The other day I saw Maltesers really cheap and went nuts in the store. Then I was grocery shopping yesterday and smarties called out to me. The thing is I have to wean myself off of these two as they are rather addicting. I just finished a bag. This time maybe I can go a few weeks without having more.

S.

Finally I found it!

Hello,

Quite awhile back a friend of mine sent me this cool video and I no longer had it on my computer. So I wrote him back asking if they had it and they didn't. So after much ado and searching and figuring out what this video was called here it is. It left an impression on me.

S.