http://www.dragonwater.com/product_detail.tf/325_hibiscus_tea.html
This was the tea Anthony's mother kept making...it's called Rosa de Jamaica in spanish otherwise known as Hibiscus Tea. She would add some cinnamon and maybe another thing or two. It was absolutely soothing and wonderful. It's known for lowering blood pressure. I brought home a huge bag of it. When I made it at home, I may have steeped it too long because it was a deep red and tasted way too tart. But I will play around with the amounts and steep time to get it better. It makes for a nice bedtime tea when done right.
Apr 28, 2008
Abu, The Capuchin Monkey
We recently returned from a 10 day trip to Nicaragua. It wasn't my first time, although I haven't been there in a few years. On the road from the airport to Esteli, there are usually people selling birds, iguanas and other creatures but on this particular day as we were driving, we happened to spot a man selling a small capuchin monkey. Some impulsive moments later and we were en route with this little guy in tow. We thought of many names...some very humorous, but ended up with "Abu" like the monkey in Aladdin. How original!
At first we did not have a cage for him, so to my displeasure, he stayed in our room for the first few nights. Then Anthony, his brothers and Lebeau built a fine monkey cage fully equipped with branches, a hanging toy and a little house/box where he can sleep at night.
He grew on me rather quickly. He made this little barking noise whenever the dogs would come near, sounded like "arf". I found it adorable. He's very sweet and loves to be held. When we got back we made it a point to go to an exotic pet shop that sold monkeys. We asked if they had a Capuchin monkey. The lady who owned the shop said "You don't want a Capuchin! They may look cute in movies but they are a lot of work and can rip your nose off!" Uh-oh we said. Abu is really sweet and you can tell he was raised constantly held by humans. I'm going to do a bit more research about them but I have a feeling Abu will be alright. He stayed behind in Nicaragua with Anthony's family. Every now and then we will call to check up on him and hopefully we'll see him again soon. :)
At the supermarket...Lebeau got lots of stares, lol.
Apr 7, 2008
Trip
I'm going on a last minute trip to Nicaragua this Wednesday. I haven't been there in over 4 years...our friends who moved to Costa Rica last year are going to send their kids on a bus to meet us. Now I'm looking forward to my trip even more because this was at first a "strictly family" trip, now at least I'll have someone English to speak to...
These trips to S. America are pretty adventurous...visiting his grandmother is a trek up the mountains. At least now with Lebeau and Beaudine for company, I won't be the silent observer. I'll be sure to post some pics when I get back. The funny thing is when we leave, their mother is coming to visit FL and stay at our house.
These trips to S. America are pretty adventurous...visiting his grandmother is a trek up the mountains. At least now with Lebeau and Beaudine for company, I won't be the silent observer. I'll be sure to post some pics when I get back. The funny thing is when we leave, their mother is coming to visit FL and stay at our house.
Apr 5, 2008
Mar 22, 2008
I've Been Dreaming About Love's True Kiss....
I couldn't help myself - I bought Enchanted today. LOVE this movie.
...Come my little friends as we all sing a happy little working song!
(Sad to say, I have some songs in my ipod).
Feb 28, 2008
Feb 15, 2008
Strange Kitty
This cat is one of the most unique looking cats I've seen in a while. She's kinda wild too. When I held out my hand for her to sniff, she sniffed a few times, then bit. I jumped 10 feet in the air...everyone was laughing.
Jan 11, 2008
Cooking Mama 2
I have a Nintendo DS game where you cook and make stuff in...and it's pretty pathetic 'cause when I play it at night it makes me hungry. Doesn't help since I'm trying to lose a few. I'm not on an "official diet" because I love food too much, I'm just trying to avoid eating Crispy Honey Chipotle Chicken Crispers at 10pm at Chilli's if I can avoid it. I'm also trying to curb my bad habit of eating cereal at night too. SIGH!
To offset my nighttime 4th meals, I joined the gym down the street. I like it a lot. The machines are new and uniform - all the same brand and color. (No mis-matched older machines like they had at the BQE...although I can't speak for the BQE in '08). The last time I was there this PT totally took over my workout and worked me out pretty good. That one was a freebie. I'd hate to find out how much they cost. It's addicting because you want to get into shape quickly and they push you harder then you would push yourself. But no, I can't afford it right now...
To offset my nighttime 4th meals, I joined the gym down the street. I like it a lot. The machines are new and uniform - all the same brand and color. (No mis-matched older machines like they had at the BQE...although I can't speak for the BQE in '08). The last time I was there this PT totally took over my workout and worked me out pretty good. That one was a freebie. I'd hate to find out how much they cost. It's addicting because you want to get into shape quickly and they push you harder then you would push yourself. But no, I can't afford it right now...
Dec 12, 2007
Sprain
I sprained my finger! For the first time in my life, I sprained something. I've never broke or sprained anything in my life. In all my years of playing sports, you'd thing something like that would've happened already. Anyway, it all happened tossing a football around. I always played basketball, or volleyball or tennis, so I should have known with football, that I would kill my clean accident record. Anyway, the sun was in my eyes and the ball was coming toward me. Gaining momentum, instead of me catching it, it smashed into my left middle finger. It was painful, but the rest of the day didn't really bother me until the next morning when it was really really swollen. I got it checked out, nothing broken. You could imagine how comical I look wearing a splint on my middle finger. I only take it off to type (I have it off right now). It's a lot better and should improve by next week.
Dec 7, 2007
Dec 5, 2007
Graham Colton, The Last Goodnight & Colbie Caillat
It's been a little while since I've been at a concert, so I found one that fit my budget: FREE. It was outdoors in City Place. Opening acts were pretty good. Graham Colton started off, and he was a 1 man band. His songs were all about love and love lost. They were really enjoyable. (However, when I downloaded his mp3's I was slightly disappointed as I grew fond of the acoustic rawness that I experienced live). He's someone worth looking into.
I was right next to a speaker, so the sound is kind of bad...
The Last Goodnight was pretty good too. They sort of are like Maroon 5 with an edge. I enjoyed hearing their main single "Pictures of You" among other songs.
Lastly, Colbie Caillat came on. You could SO tell this was their biggest concert yet. She looked nervous, like she was really concentrating on singing. Got the "deer in headlights" thing going on, but later she warmed up a bit. Her songs are actually really good, at first I thought they were boring but they grew on me. Bubbly is NOT my favorite. Her voice was impecable, her outfit was cute...but I just wish she smiled more and enjoyed herself a bit more. That sort of thing is contageous. I love really engaging preformers. She's new, so I'll give her a break. But her music is quality, she's going to get big if she isn't already.
Best part about this free concert besides the price, is that a friend gave me a helpful tip about bringing lawn chairs. I did, and I didn't have people breathing down my neck. However, this one girl tried to climb on my chair and I shot her the dirtiest look and asked what the heck she thought she was doing. Something about the amount of people in concerts that always makes me wanna fight. I don't know what it is. People are always crossing the line somehow...
Nov 23, 2007
Picture Posts
I finally got fed up waiting for the Blogger problem to clear up so I uploaded the pics again. The following posts are fixed:
Nov 14, 2007
Scam Alert
Sometimes all we have is our little tiny voice. But maybe that voice can be aided by the help of a microphone...well then it could get a whole lot louder.
I'm trying to sell my car, and recently was contacted by www.buygreatautos.com. They are a financing company who for a small fee of $299 will list your car on their website targeted at people with bad credit. And they would refund the ENTIRE amount if your car doesn't sell within 90 days.
Now he said he already had buyers in my area that would be interested in looking at my car. The man, Brian, sounded nice but pushy. So pushy in fact, he wanted me to pull over and give him a credit card number while I was driving. I used driving as an excuse and called me back when I arrived home. I made some excuse about having to check my credit card before I charge it and then went online and googled them.
Turns out, it's ONE BIG FILTHY SCAM. So next time he calls me, he's going to have to hear how disgusting I think he is, or the pansy will just hang up as I am speaking. I can't stand people who try to scam you for money. They are low life, no good people...I could go on...but I wont. I'll save it for Brian when he calls me tomorrow. Ha ha ha.
I'm trying to sell my car, and recently was contacted by www.buygreatautos.com. They are a financing company who for a small fee of $299 will list your car on their website targeted at people with bad credit. And they would refund the ENTIRE amount if your car doesn't sell within 90 days.
Now he said he already had buyers in my area that would be interested in looking at my car. The man, Brian, sounded nice but pushy. So pushy in fact, he wanted me to pull over and give him a credit card number while I was driving. I used driving as an excuse and called me back when I arrived home. I made some excuse about having to check my credit card before I charge it and then went online and googled them.
Turns out, it's ONE BIG FILTHY SCAM. So next time he calls me, he's going to have to hear how disgusting I think he is, or the pansy will just hang up as I am speaking. I can't stand people who try to scam you for money. They are low life, no good people...I could go on...but I wont. I'll save it for Brian when he calls me tomorrow. Ha ha ha.
Nov 9, 2007
I Wasn't Suppossed To Shop...
A "Super Drug" on Kensington High Street caught my eye so I went in. The way all the products were arranged and neatly packaged I knew it meant trouble. Under the advisement of Lady Catherine, I was en route to visiting B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful and knew I would probably spend money there, so I quickly exited...and wisely so.
I visited the location of Carnaby Street. Carnaby/Oxford/Regent Streets are all good streets to shop - if you're looking for a one stop shop kind of deal. Perfect if you don't have a lot of time. They have some tourist shops, but have the necessary basics such as Next, H & M, Super Drug, a Victoria's Secret equivalent "La Senza" and even high end shops. I bought a classic logo mug from the Whittard location there.
After taking another brief and childish stop at David & Goliath, I headed for the B Never cosmetic shop. And Gata was right - I definitely could not come all this way and not visit this place! I spent quite a bit of time there lingering, admiring the packaging and mostly figuring out what to buy because I wanted everything! The funky-girly packaging is all handmade in India (Fair Trade) and everything is natural and vegan which I love especially since my whole skin care line is natural. The carved wooden pots of glitter and jeweled eye shadow casings decorated as cakes made me feel like I was 16 and going through my glitter indulging time period and also like a child in my Barbie faze, but the cosmetic feature matures and adds the element of "woman" to the entire experience. Bottom line whatever mixed feelings you get, you could probably narrow it down to a completely womanly-girly thing, the sort of things any woman can indulge in.
I ended up playing with colors and had a multicolored left hand by the end of it all. I bought liquid cream eye shadows that you can use as a liner or smear and blend as a shadow. Mixing a light golden base with a purple or green was simple exquisite. And don't think you can just see a color without trying it. A color could look really bold, but when put on, it's iridescent tones soften it up. At the same time, to achieve really bold color (which I have to admit, scares me a bit) can be done by laying - first a cream shadow, sweeping the lids with a complementary shade of pressed powder and finishing with glitter. The look is really dramatic and looks Friday-night ready. On the flip side, the eye shadow can also be used lightly for a daytime look. My profession requires me to be in and out of corporate environments so I will be keeping it light. The quality and luminosity is just crazy-good!
In the end, I bought some as gifts, but ended up with 5 pressed eyeshadow powders, 2 cream ones, a glitter pot in Iris and purple hair mascara (one or two streaks framing the face is brilliant). Gata why did you introduce me to this place?!? They also had lotions and cleansers, bath products as well as fragrances but thankfully I'm all good in that department. Good news is, they are connected with Lush and will be expanding to North America starting in Canada. Their goal is to have one BNever store next to every Lush. I cannot wait, first of all to have access to one nearby, and second of all to be paying dollars instead of pounds!
Do You Know The Muffin Man?
It's been 7 years since I've been to London, and I don't think my last trip even included a trip to the Muffin Man. Last I remembered of this place, there was scafolding cluttering the area. Fond memories flooded me as I walked inside. I was starving and didn't eat breakfast so I had ordered scrambled eggs and a sausage. It was pretty good. Nearby there were various informal business meetings that I had the pleasure or displeasure of overhearing - yes I'm still not quite sure how I felt about that. Since I had nobody with me, everyone else's conversations were magnified. I was slightly disappointed at the almost burnt scones but the devon cream made up for it. I could eat tub-fulls of devon cream as gross as that may sound. After lingering around for over an hour and realizing that you don't get a bill, (you have to "pay at the till") I left full and satisfied knowing that I had at least had proper tea and scones. (I already had the full "English Breakfast" minus the blood pudding). As for tea in the morning, I bought black tea from Morrisons (the local supermarket) and amusingly it is exactly in every shape and form the typical cup of tea someone would offer to you at their house. Dark, slightly foamy with that distinct taste. I will make sure to bring it home so I can every now and then have a taste of England!
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