A fabulous day off- Part 1

Recently I took a Friday off and went on an Amazing Adventure with my little sister and her little baby. We set out to go and enjoy a nice walk by the lake and soak in the sun, wind and surf. My sister is like me, she loves the wind and the waves. So that's why I brought her to one of favourite park by the water. Lakeside Park.

So here we are, Julie bought us some nice hot beverages at our local Tim's and we set out on our tour of the park. Here she is with sleepy Stephanie.

Here's a little photo of me- I had to buy new capris and t-shirts because of my success in my weight loss journey. These capris are 4 sizes smaller than last summer... and my pride about this success.... 4 thousand times bigger than the Earth!

Julie and the fountain... and believe me... we wanted to jump in, it was hot and humid, like up to 35 in May.

I think I've told you, they have a splash pad at this park and in the cement, they have layed out the whole solar system. Well, I had to take this photo... just for my little brother!

Julie loving the view and the big Canada Geese on the water.

Stephanie, well, she was just hanging out, not too much into the scenery... yet. She just loves being outside and walking around, she just slept the whole time.

This was such a random strawberry, just sticking out there on the ground by itself in the middle of all the wood chips. Pretty cool pic.

It was time to change and feed Stephanie, so we sat on a park bench and were all one with nature.

She was so comfy, she didn't want to wake up.

Look at those little lips.

... and look at those eyelashes too.

P.S. This is what you do with your old dirty diapers, you place them in your empty Tim Horton's cup in the cup holder. Fabulous!



Nice Nails- Grape Sparkle

Need a quick way to add sparkle to your life?  Just add it to your nail tips girls!

I used my favourite purple- Rockstar Purple (?) and brushed a little clear sparkle polish on the tips. Very quick and very glamourous!

Might as well make your own croutons....

Funny twist on that old Kim Mitchel song, might as well go for soda!
Sing song time aside, what I wanted to share with you here is the fact that for the first time in my life, I made my own croutons.
Let me tell you folks, I put all my years of watching the Food Network to good use!

We were out of croutons- I now buy the 'organic' croutons, which are better for you. But when you are out and your family cries for 'crunchy' stuff in their salad, you have to think outside the box (the crouton box that is!). So I decided to make my own. I used a couple day old whole wheat baguette. I cut them into cubes and put it in a big bowl. I tossed the cubes with olive oil- about 2 tbsp, pink Himalayan sea salt, pepper, oregano and garlic powder. Coated every little piece and placed them on a cookie sheet. Baked it at 425F for about 8 minutes and tossed them, and put them back in for another 5 minutes. Just keep an eye on them and make sure they don't burn.

Brent BBQ'd some chicken breasts and I made a nice salad with berries and cucumber and put a light balsamic dressing and tossed my croutons in. It was a light and lovely meal.



Amazing Adventure - Port Credit

This is one of my favourite photos ever!!! I took it at our last adventure at the Port Credit Harbour. That's why it's my first photo on this blog entry!

I just love these. These brightly coloured bicycles are all over Mississauga, and they always have these lovely flowers in the baskets. Kinda makes you smile eh?

But anyways.... this is where we spent a beautiful day. The Credit Village Marina in Port Credit Harbour.  It was so gorgeous and sunny and bright blue was everywhere!

What was so special about this adventure was the LOVE! Can you see it?

There was so much love because Brent joined us... It was a 'Whole Family' Adventure!

How sweet, Father/Daughter strolling by the lakeside!

There's that cute bike again... I love how they are placed so randomly everywhere!

Looking out into the pretty lake.

I loved this sign- don't worry, I wasn't tempted...

But I think these two were!

And this cute dog with his life jacket- he was tempted for sure. He's even got his life jacket on!

Father/Daughter catching rays.

Brent walking like a Maniac. Trying to get his legs and hips back in shape. Training for Disney World.

Lovers in Love! With this great sun shining on our faces, I want to live here everyday.

My brother recommended this place when he was last in the 'hood'. So we needed to have a little lunch and we lined up and got our burritos.

I had a small chicken burrito. You know... sorry Charles... it was 'ok'- it was a bit too greasy- I prefer Mucho Burrito - it's fresher and lighter and not as greasy.  But you know, it was an experience.

We took our burritos and had a 'picnic' in the park... like the little 'solid' flags?

Melanie had fun being the 'big kid' in the little play park.

Love the wind, love the sun, love my daughter and my husband and this picture shows it... don't you think?



Roasting Red Peppers- BBQ's Best!

We eat with our eyes, so there is nothing better than preparing delicious, colourful veggies and fruits for dinner. Well, now that it's BBQ'ing season, Brent broke out the BBQ roasting pan and cut up some red and yellow peppers.

We just added a bit of Kraft Light Sundried Tomato dressing and tossed them in a bowl to coat and then placed them in the pan.

They come out so delicious, the little burnt edges are so good- it caramalizes the sugars in the pepper, so they taste even sweeter.

We served it with another BBQ favourite- steak and basmati rice.

We then cut up some fresh watermelon and had a healthy, colourful, nutritious feast.

Amazing Adventures in Harbour Hoping in Bronte

Melanie and I enjoyed a beautiful day in Bronte harbour, from the left bank, to the right bank even to the Beach!

When we parked, I realized I really had to pee.... so there was no place just to go in and pee, so we went into Lick's and Melanie convinced me we could buy something 'healthy' and then use their bathroom. Well, she was right- sort-of, 'this healthy alternative' Sorbet was available. The cone and raspberry sorbet was about 120 calories- but it's all sugar! It was a nice treat on a very hot pre-summer day.

We sat down on our blanket and read some magazines and drank our water.

Of course, we had lots of sunscreen on, it was our first moment in the sun this year!

We took our sandals off and let our little feet (ok Melanie has size 10-11 feet- so big), touch the grass.

Walked in the harbour, checking out the boat.

Looking even closer at the boat... 'mom, there's an underneath with beds!'

Pretty harbour to the right.

Bright, blinding sun up above.

The boat left, so Melanie sat down and let her feet dangle.

She wanted to touch water, so we went across the bridge and landed on Bronte Beach. Melanie is so brave touching the water with her feet.

Can you see her, she's on the rocks being an 'adventurer'.

Looking for fish... 

She's so grown up now, she asked to go walking to the end of the peer by herself... sure I said, more 'Mommy reading her magazine time'. Can you see her with the purple shorts?

... continuing until she can touch the lighthouse.

This is how far away the peer was from where I was sitting, I just really zoomed in close to capture Melanie. She really enjoyed her Amazing Adventure walking the Bronte Harbour!



Healthy Eating means getting Healthy Dishes!

After weeks of rushing around and working late and being all consumed with putting on the best conference and course ever.... it was finally time to take care of my family... so this is what I did on my first Saturday 'off'. I took care of my family by baking and chopping fresh fruits and vegetables.

I made Summer Berry muffins (recipe from yesterday), homemade healthy granola, a giant fresh fruit salad and a fresh garden salad. I believe my family was rather grateful. It just goes to show you how much we have all changed in that we want to have healthy foods and snacks and in the past 8 months, we have all come to rely on these healthy baking weekends and plenty of fresh foods available and cut up by 'Mom'.

 

But wait, did you see my bowl. This is a picture of an empty bowl. I found this cool 'Healthy' Salad Bowl at Walmart of all places. If you are gonna eat lots of salads, you should make it fun, right?

Here's the side view, it's green on the outside and 'salady' on the inside. My mom is right though, you can't see your salad in there- and it's hard to wash because you can't see what's in the bowl. But hey.... I live on the edge!