Anti-Sunfest… Carnival

Getting ready to go out for the afternoon after a nap.  I felt pretty good about myself because I got my teeth whittened with that Rambrandt stuff.  (Even though it didn’t do much, I felt like it did, so it was a confidence boost in itself.)  I will later regrett wearing this outfit. See Marc in the background checking himself out in the mirror? I’m not the only one in the household that’s narcissistic.

We went to Sunshine carnival.  Thought for sure it’d be packed being a Saturday afternoon and since Sunfest was insanely busy, this should be too… But it was pretty much empty. 

Christopher b-lined to the rubber duck stand, he went right in and picked three..  well guess I have to pay for it.  This fishing game made me reminisce about those little toys I had when I was a kid, so I let him play that too.  And he got 3 stupid little ugly fish plushs that he’s forgotten about by dinner time.

Aww what a handsome little guy…  He loves riding in cars.. all things mechanical anyways.  He’s going to grow up to be an engineer.  I asked the shrimpy little attendant if I can pose with the pink little car… he awkwardly said yes, kind of like I was crazy.  I then pussy-ed out because there were little kids and their parents around me.  And my skirt was a tad too short for a family setting.

Noticed how his steering wheel is turned the right way? What a smarty! We realized that this wasn’t a coincidence, he did it on every ride.  Just a smarty he is.  the kid behind him didn’t do it right… there’s no bright future for him.

I’m too tall for all the rides. 😦 so not fair!

I love these motorcycles!!! Wanted to pose on these too.. but Marc had an arguemment with the carny about how Leafs rules and Red Wings Sucks.. blah blah blah… They are both losers to me. (the teams and the two of them)

We didn’t stay much longer cuz I’ve spent $40 bucks in like 30 minutes and the wind kept picking up my skirt and I had to skirm and pull it down and hide behind Marc. Why I don’t think ahead and not wear bright pink undies when wearing a light skirt is beyond me.

I wasn’t very impressed with the rides, games, carny attitude. Would’ve much rather Western Fair. I was so surprsied at how dead it was. I guess hosting it the same weekend at Sunfest was a bad idea. If it was like RIGHT beside sunfest it’d be crazy busy. but it’s so darn far away, there’s no concurrant traffic. Come on. Simple business sense people!

Tooth Fairy

Tried out the Rembrant 2 hr teeth whitener. It was on sale at Shoppers for $29.99. Might as well give it a try.

step 1: Heat mouth guard-like things in water and shape it to the top and bottom of your teeth.

Step 2: Put Whitening gel on the top and bottom of the guard and put into place.

Step 3: Leave the Mouth guard in place for 20 minutes, take it out and rinse mouth and mouthguard. Wait 10 minutes. Repeat 3 more times=2 hrs in total.

By this time, both Christopher and Marc were napping so I was to entertain myself for 2 hrs….
I watered my plants… see how sad they look? Makes me sad.

Poor Basil and lavender plant. I’ve just never been good with plants.

Outfit I started the day with… first I didn’t wear the leggings, but Marc said it was way too short… this is slightly cuter anyways~

Glow in the dark unicorn my SB friend AJ gave me.. 🙂 Got to mail her something back… but what…??

… ooo ya.. and after the 2 hrs of whitening, my teeth were so sore. It stayed that way for about 24 hrs. I could eat and stuff, but it hurts quite a bit. The result was not quite as I wanted. I might try again next weekend and keep doing it once a week until I get the desired effect.

Kickass Dinner

The first meal I learned to make was Speghetti and meat sauce when I was in my teens. Over the years, I have perfected the art, adding more spices and marinating and changing temps etc. etc.
There are many variations depending what materials I have to work with.
This is what I made on Friday night:

I started with sauteeing the onions. I normally julianne the onions because I love onions, but since Marc likes them diced and barely noticeable. Add some garlic, salt and pepper to make the onions super yummy and tasty.

Once the onions are nice and soft add in ground beef. I used a lb of extra lean meat.

I didn’t have time to marinate the beef, but it is very important to flavor the meat, even just 1/2 hr of marinating would suffice. Instead, I just added some oregano, fresh chopped basil (from my plant), chili flakes, thyme and S&P.

I always add a touch of wine when marinating, but since I didn’t, I’ll add it while I’m browning the meat. To ensure that the meat really absorbs the flavors, I turned it to medium heat to cook it slowly. The ideal is to cook it at low, but I’m impatient and hungry.

I used 2005 Monte Cheval Vranac this time. I got it as a house warming gift awhile ago. Later found it it costs less than $10 a bottle. Cheap bastards. But it’s pretty hearty, with indistinct sour berry fruit, leather and earth. I read it has a touch of Cabernet Savignon in it too. Not good to drink, so I use it for marinate. BTW, my gneral rule for marinating with wine is simple. (because I am a simple person) White meat=white wine. Red meat=redwine. It makes so much sense…

I hope you started boiling the water for your pasta when you started the onions… the timing is almost perfect to have everything finish at the same time. As an ex-cook, timing is crucial to ensure your entire meal is done at the same time so hot dishes doesn’t sit and cools for no reason. I added some frozen mixed veggies to add some color to the dish. I also cooked broccoli on the side because I want to make sure I don’t eat too much carbs.

Make sure your drain the meat of the oil first. Nothing is more disgusting than an oily pasta sauce. It is recommended that you even rinse the meat with hot water. I prefer not to, just to savor the taste. I like using canned tomato sauce, it makes my life 5 billion times easier. I used Unico this time because it’s the brand that Marc always buys. Not my favorite. BRAVO is the best tomato sauce ever, it only has 1 simple kind, not like some that has like: tomato basil, parmesan, vodka.. blah blah blah. Bravo is just a simple tomato sauce base that lets YOU make it to what you want it to be. They’re normally at the very bottom of the shelf at grocery stores because it’s cheap like 99 cents a can.

Add more spice.. I added more fresh Basil this time, we were craving tomato basil… plus our basil plant is dying. This is when you add spices to your sauce. Don’t taste the sauce for flavor right now, it won’t taste like anything, you have to let you cook on low for a good 10 minutes before the flavors start emerging.

Wanted more wine in the sauce too.

Drain pasta, pour desired amount of sauce ontop, garnish and.. VOILA!!!
(I know.. bad presentation with the drippy sauce… whateve.)

Enjoy 🙂

The Passionate Eye: Sex Slaves

The Passionate eye featured a documentary yesterday on Sex Slaves. This documentary focused mainly on girls taken from impoviahed Eastern Europe, like Moldova. These girls are often lured in by promise of jobs and money to work in hotels, restaurants by travelling to foreign countries such as Turkey, Yugloslavia, Albania, England and even Canada. However, once arrived, they are sold off to pimps as sex slaves, raped and beaten for nothing in exchange. These girls are sold by traffickers that sell them for as little as $1000 by people they trusted.

Though a lot of girls do travel abroad to find jobs and are successful, many are not. The most horrific matter is that the police are often bought off by these pimps so there isn’t even use going to authorities. Moreover, even given concrete evidence, the jurisdiction protects the offenders and gives the sex slaves no rights because they are technically illegally in the country.

Canada isn’t innocent either! The canadian government legalized a stripper visa that let’s girls legally come to Canada to be worked as sex slaves. Like in Europe, these girls thought they were in the country to make money at hotels or restaurants, end up signing contracts as strippers because they don’t know the language. And in turn was used as sex slaves.

I trully think that there are several angles the war on human trafficking must be fought from. Internationally, the demand for such services must be eliminated and therefore without demand, there shall not be any supply. Secondly, the main reason that these girls are risking their lives is because of the poverty. After being returned as a sex slave, one girl was forced to go back to Turkey to prosptitute for herself to make money for the family.

The Government MUST take action in protecting the rights of these women as victims of human rights violations and be protected from returning to the world of prostitution.  Violators must be punished and stricter regulations must be made against trafficing of all kinds.

It baffles me that we are living in such luxury with such great prosperity and moaning that we have to give up our million dollar homes when across the ocean, people are being forced into prostitution. And where a legal system is so corrupt that asking the police for help will only harm the situation. Don’t think I am a huge commie or anything, but why can’t we just spread out the wealth where everyone can live comfortably. O right, humans are greedy…

I have to research further on different international activist groups that are fighting against human trafficking. So definitely going to have links coming up. As well as a link to the documentary.

Read about the documentary

Frontline PBS website for more information

Anti-slavery International

Marc and I are deeply disturbed by the events of this documentary.  We both watched it from the beginning to the end and definitely want to do something about it.  We want to contribute to the cause.  We don’t believe that donating money will create long term change.  However, we haven’t found any real ACTION that we can get involved with.

Sunfest

The best thing about my apartment has got to be the stone’s throw distance from Victoria, where all the best festivals are held.  From July 9th-12th, it’s Sunfest!  After a nutritious dinner at Swiss Chalet, we took a walk to the park to check out the festivities. 

I think this year’s sunfest is a lot busier than ever! A lot more vendors.  considering it was a Thursday night.  It was BUSY!!!!  Crowds and crowds of people everywhere.  Note to all the parents out there, a toddler with a bike is not a good idea to go through the festival with.

The agonizingly tempting aromas of all the different food vendors is not for anyone on a diet.  So I highly suggest you take a detour away from the main diagonal walk path from the north west to the south east corner of park.

I find the side paths are where all the gems are.  There, I found tons of little vendors with great hand made crafts and original pieces that haven’t been seen before.  I haven’t had a chance to explore every booth because of Toddler and my impatient soul.

Inspried lines, by Leah Marlene Wilb definitely caught my eye! Featuring original black and white ink art.  The detail involved in the pointilism and the intricate line work is enough to make me swoon. 

Another Gem I found is Nharo! Paul WellHauser  Featuring fair trade art from Africa.  This amazing littly Rhino is made from ironwood, heavy as hell.  It is normally $380.  But this poor little fellow has a chipped ear and is on sale for $180.  Get it before it’s gone!  Marc and I were so tempted to take him home.  If we see it on Sunday we’re definitely going to grab it. 

I found a list of all the exhibitors as well.

We’re going to go again on Sunday night when we don’t have the little toddler to really enjoy the festival.  Here’s a list of performers for the festival as well. 

I urge everyone to come and check it out.  It’s quite a hoot.  But don’t stop there, there are some other amazing shops and restaurants on Richmond Row as well.

 

AND.. YES… I KNOW.. MY SPELLING IS ATROCIOUS

Mystery Dresses

This dress has history, I found it in my Mother’s closet several months back.  She said it belonged to me and I lend it to her, but she didn’t like it.  I can remember that I gave it to my mother because I didn’t like it either.  But I cannot remember where I got it from.  It’s not my style at all.  Mostly because the cut is too bold for my body, which in turn, made me look very plus size.  Anyhow, I took it back, along with it, a D&G Belt that my mom said matched the dress perfectly. 

There’s also a long sleeve version by Tommy Hilfiger that my mother returned to me, but again, I don’t recall which store I got it from… Random.  I wore this to work because I wanted to wear something slightly more comfortable and it looks kind of cute paired with my pink blouse.

Virtually Window Shopping…

I feel like a whale, I’m not big on shopping because I don’t want to try anything on.  But this hasn’t stop me from doing some online window shopping. No more Emo Lainy

Lately, I’ve been having issues with tops.  It’s very rare that I get inspired to purchase a top.  When I say “top” I mean fashion tops.  I see a lot of T-shirts and a lot of Blouses.  But they don’t inspire me at all!   Not that I’m a crazy hip fashionista or anything.  I’m pretty minimalist and definitely monochromatic.  I’ve found some good stuff online 🙂

Please try to follow along….

Let’s start with Mod Cloth:

I ♥ ♥ ♥ this one..

Told you I was monochromatic

Ya.. definitely 100% ♥♥♥

There’s tons more I love from ModCloth… too much to post.. click on the image to get to the page btw 🙂

Yum…

Super Yummy Spicy Fish-shaped Crackers!!!only 155 cals.  mmmmm….

Probably not good for me… but… mmmmmmm

Best of all, it’s only 1.99 for 3 boxes!! going to get some more after work 🙂

Useless Thursdays: Passive-Aggreesive Notes

I’ve been known to be quite the passive-agressive person. Basically, I’m a bitch and somewhat fake and sarcastic.  I’ve been writing passive-aggressive notes for years.  Mainly directed to a) bfs during war-times b)people parking in my parking spots c)roommates.  How excited I was to find an entire site dedicated to the art of Passive-Aggressive Notes.

Feel free to browse around the site for hrs of useless laughter.  It’s made me Laugh Out Loud creepily in my office several times. Or! Buy the book and take the laughter with you everywhere you go. 

No, Go Ahead, Enjoy… It’s my gift to you.

Self-pity induced motivation

I’m in full swing for my body-reshaping! I am not calling it diet because that’s a negative term! As a marketer, you learn to take these negative terms out of your vocabulary.  I am not on a diet, I am not trying to slim up.  I am BODY-RE-SHAPING!

 Work out’s been going quite good so far.  We went to a fitness assessment on Tuesday.  All I can say is, I need a lot of work.   I want to get fit, but not enough to pay 69.99 every week, but I do want it.  I’ve been going to the gym pretty consistently.  I start with a 20 minute cardio work out on the eliptical: 5 min warm up, 3 minutes of fast, 2 minutes of slow etc. etc. and followed by a 5 minute cool down.  Just so my heart doesn’t explode, I then do my weight/resistance/muscle training.  Whatever you call it.  I work with moderate weights (30-70 lbs depending on the muscle) about 3 reps of 5.  Probably not enough.  I also do some situps, some body bend down thingy during this time too.  I follow it with another 20 minute on the treadmill, 5 min warm up, 3 minute fast, 2 minutes slow etc etc. and a cool down.

Yesterday I was motivated and even swam 5 laps in the pool too.  Today, I woke up feeling a tad like something shot everyone of my muscles but I’m still full of energy.  Good thing ♥ ♥ I wanted to go back today, but Marc advised me to take it easy and do pilates and a walk instead.  Deal. 

I found this website that is basically a free trainer.  Hence the name stupid. It can get you a personalized fitness plan complete with what machines you should do on what days as well as  nutrition plan.  Check it out 🙂

Any fitness people around? Am i doing anything wrong? What should I modify?  Keep in mind, I am trying to lose weight and tone my body.

Thanks and Much ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥