Where dreams become memories

I recently had the privilege of going to New York City with one of my best friends. And I have to say, it was one of the greatest trips ever! My only complaint is that it was far too short!

Here is my cell phone photo diary of my 4 days in concrete heaven!






Our suite was gold and had chandeliers! (yes, more than one)







The magical Plaza on our first night!





The Palm Court.








High tea on a Sunday afternoon!






Our bill, and the amazing mystery man who paid for our lunch. Whoever you are sir. You made our trip!









Time Square. My North American happy place :)







Central park south.









New York public library.







Rockerfellar Centre. The entire time we were here, the 30 Rock theme song played in my head! And I loved it!!!









The subway. Oh how I wish I lived in a city with a subway... *sigh*







One of my favorite parts of our hotel room. The bath tub. I actually fit in it!!! The romantic bubble bath we had was also a highlight ;)









One of the many stores I went to that I couldn't afford to be in! Luckily my friend is a baller and we left with a blue bag! All love for Tiffany's :)

This trip was so fun that we have vowed to go back and enjoy more of what New York has to offer!

Until we meet again NYC, xoxo

Cupcake breakfast

French toast cupcakes with maple buttercream icing.

Who says dessert can't be breakfast?

They were pretty easy to make. They were very easy to eat! Since I had never baked these before I was a little nervous. I happen to have all the ingredients at home and I was ready to experiment!

As the intoxicating smell of French toast filled my house, I knew this was a win! I tested them on my boyfriend and his friends; they liked them so I figured they were safe to bring to the office for a colleagues birthday.

The cupcake itself is not very sweet, but the icing is extremely sweet! So it's a great balance.

I wanted to share the recipe here to encourage others to try it! Good luck and Bon apétit!!

French Toast Cupcakes
INGREDIENTS
Servings: 12
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted then cooled.
2 eggs
1 tsp. maple extract
1/2 cup milk
DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with baking liners.
Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a mixing bowl.
In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, and eggs until combined. Then add maple extract.
Alternate between whisking in flour mixture and milk into your liquid mixture. Make three additions of flour and two of milk. Beat until smooth.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown and tops spring back when lightly touched.
Cool cupcakes for 10 minutes, remove from pan and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Maple Buttercream Icing
INGREDIENTS
Servings: 12
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
2 3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbs. brown sugar
2 Tbs. maple syrup
DIRECTIONS
Place softened butter in a large bowl. Beat with electric mixer for 30-40 seconds until soft and whipped.
Scrape sides of bowl. Sift powdered sugar into bowl. Beat with mixer 30-40 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl and add the brown sugar and maple syrup.
Beat for 2-3 minutes or until mixture is fluffy, scraping sides of bowl as needed.

*note that the recipe is only a guideline!





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New job, old job, and things in between.

2010 has been quite the year for me...

I went on a few trips, changed jobs, still getting used to owning a home, ran my first 5K, got my first mac, gave back the mac, got a newer macbook pro, became a new media "guru" (somehow - not sure when or how that happened), fighting an addiction to twitter, and I have had the pleasure of finding some great Karaoke buddies along the way!

The job change was something I had to come to terms with since I really loved working for the Sport Matters Group. But I knew that after a year, my contract would end and I would be on the job hunt once again. Luckily I had a great boss who really helped me in finding my current position with SIRC. They are a great company and the transition was very easy considering I just moved down the hall!

My life isn't looking like it will be calming down anytime soon, but I'm ok with that. I saw (on twitter) that @DeepakChopra wrote "You are here for a reason. Enjoy the journey!" and I intend to do just that!

And I hope that anyone reading this does the same!

Liz's Tracy Jordan's words to live by:
Live every week like it's Shark week and dress everyday like you're going to get murdered in those clothes!

Koh Phi Phi, how I miss thee..

Better late than never...

I have realzied that in a previous post, I had mentioned wanting to talk about Koh Phi Phi aka the Phi Phi Islands in Thailand... well I thought I would find some pictures to remind me of what I wanted to share with you.

So my day started with waking up nice in early after a late night in Phuket. We caught the ferry which would take us to Paradise...





Upon our arrival we could smell we were no longer in Bangkok, since we could breath without filling our lungs with pollution. And the smell of ocean and BBQ were in the air. Why is it that meat or any food for that matter when placed on a stick, is ALWAYS better?!? Well needless to say Mama's chicken was good! The Picture below is of me and Mama! She owns and runs a bar on the Beach of Lohdalum Bay. She was so sweet, always making sure I was fed, had drinks and I even watched her store while she went to get Papa to make me food! The boy in the picture is Channarrong!




We stayed in a guest house called Jung's Guest house, it was cute, at first. Our room reminded me of the swiss family Robinson house, as we had ladder going from one bed to the others! We had no hot water and there were a few other things I could complain about, but it was overall a great experience, so I will leave out the negatives!

Looking at this picture, you can sort of see the guest house all the way at the end of the boardwalk.


The picture below is one of my favorites, since I spent most of my days in Koh Phi Phi lying on the beach until the sun went down and the bar staff would come out and ask you to move so they could set up for the nights festivities!





The night festivities always included music, but my favorite was the fire art, aka Poi. The picture below if of a guy with the fire stick.. he was hardcore! The other games they would play were Fire skipping, which I did very proudly! And fire limbo, which I did not do... But as a reward for participating you would get a shot of Thai Whiskey or Zambuka... eitherway, you can't really feel your face after a few shots!







While fire dancing, skipping and limbo are all fun, there is A LOT more to Koh Phi Phi than that!


Here are some pictures to prove just that:




Monkey Beach




Viking Cave


Sea Kayaking around Koh Phi Phi Leh


Jump off the boat, swim to that ladder, and be careful, the waves will slam you into the rocks! :)



But after jumping off the boat, you arrive to Maya Bay, my favorite place on earth.


Me and my little brother




Dinner on the boat at Sunset heading back to Koh Phi Phi Don




I'm glad I can share this adventure with you, and I hope you enjoy the pictures! Some day I will return to the land of smiles, as I miss it more and more everyday!



Sawatdee Ka!

Cuba 2010

Went to Cuba, Varadero, to be more specific May 2-9. It was a great relaxing trip with many drinks and even more sun!!

This will hopefully be my last vacation at an all inclusive resort for a while, I much prefer the roam on your own and see where the city/sights/flights/trains or buses take me type of vacations. So I'll be starting to plan my next one soon!

But first, a little survival guide to the Iberostar Laguna Azul!!


A collaborated guide to surviving the Iberostar Laguna Azul:

1. The resort was very busy (May 2-9, 2010) -- be sure to get in line and prepare to wait! It's a brand new place, just be patient and have a Mojito!
2. Drinks - stay away from a zombie or mafia if you don't hold your liquor well. Otherwise, enjoy :)
3. Book your à-la-carte restaurants asap! We had: the Cuban restaurant, wasn't a fan. The Italian was good, try not to fill up on the bread if you're eating late. Finally we had the gourmet/romantico, and it was amazing! We heard the Japanese and steak house were great as well! If I were to choose again, I would have gone with The steak house, Italian & International/gourmet/romantico. But if you like seafood sub either the steak house or Italian for Japanese!!
4. The shows are typical, but entertaining.
5. The main pool is great but if you want a more relaxed experience hang out at either pool on the right or left of the resort. You're welcome :)
6. If you wake up early enjoy the buffet for breakfast but otherwise go to the restaurant near the beach (24 snack bar) and have that breakfast, it was great! (If you like bacon, you'll thank me!)
7. Bring bug spray, we went during mosquito season, they ate me and a lot of other people alive!
8. Eat lunch near the quiet pools! Way better than the buffet, fresher and more selection. But you can order pizza and pasta as well!
9. The double decker bus into Varadero was fun, but if you are expecting an experience of culture, this isn't for you. If you want to go to shops and buy souvenirs you're good to go!
10. Always go for the Tukola, trust me!

Some pictures to share:

Main pool at night!


The "sign"


Having a blast on the Cat about to go snorkeling!

My 5K journey.

Ok, so I'm sure everyone I know is laughing at the thought of me doing this 5 K.. well to be honest training hasn't been going well, going on Vacation and work have taken priority.

But I am determined and I will be doing this 5 K even if it kills me! But it will be done and I will try and post something before and after the race!!

Thanks to anyone who supports or pushes me to do these crazy things!

xoxo

Lemon

My 5K journey. Day 1

Alright, so I used to run a lot. Yes when I was a young girl in high school, I played Basketball and I ran. Not that I enjoyed it.. I'll never forget our coach making us do suicides, run up three flights of stairs and back down 20 times. And when I think about how physically active I am now, I wonder how I was able to do all of that then, and why not now?

This is the beginning of my 5K journey. I have signed up for my very first race, and I hope to at least survive it! My other goal is to finish within 40-45minutes, and sign up for another race and beat my time. My fitness is highly based on goals that I must achieve. I look back at basketball, and wonder what my motivations were? Well it was easy, I wanted to play. Play to win, and play to be with my friends. So that is my motivation for this race. To play to win, well winning is really my personal goal (of finishing the race) and well to be with my friends. I have convinced a few friends to do it with me, and of course, the two who are always up for a challenge, my brother and dad.

So I'm looking forward to this journey, I'm worried that my enthusiasm will decline as the cold days go by in snowy Ottawa, but I hope to keep going and achieve my goal. (The documenting my progress will help, I hope).

Hoping to love running sooner than later!

Lemon