{Neob Lavender Boutique, Niagara on the Lake}

This summer, S and I had the pleasure of visiting the Neob Lavender Farm in Niagara on the Lake. This beautiful establishment is home to several different types of lavender, as well as a boutique, a state-of-the-art glass to glass distillery to make essential oils, and several other plant families. The husband and wife team who own this farm/boutique also distill their own essential oils. They took us on a tour of the facilities, and I learned so much about lavender and the process of making essential oils...It takes a staggering amount of plant matter to make even a drop of essential oil...It's no wonder that genuine essentials are so expensive!

This place has been a favourite of my mother's for years, and she was so excited to share it with me. It was just so beautiful, and the intoxicating, omnipresent scent of lavender reminded me so much of the south of France...It really is a lovely way to spend a sunny afternoon. Don't forget to pick up a lavender plant to add to your garden. I'm vacillating between pink lavender and French lavender...decisions, decisions!

Goodbye 'till next year, Lavender Farm!

Happy Birthday, Beautiful!

Happy birthday to a lady who truly defined grace and elegance for generations of women.

What to do...

S'mores Galore

Today I'm on snack duty at work, and since I have been meaning to make s'more cookies since the Everyday Food recipe was featured in the Toronto Star in December, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

S'mores are, bar-none, the most delicious campfire fare out there. I feel qualified to say this as a former Girl Guide...we ate a LOT of campfire food...I can even make a griddle out of a coffee tin for making pancakes, but I digress...I have also made this Bobby Flay barbecue s'more recipe for a cookout I hosted one summer. They were a MAJOR hit.

Naturally I altered this recipe slightly (especially the process), but it is adapted from this one by Martha.

Ingredients

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 cup whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 large milk chocolate bars divided into 24 squares (or 24 Dove individually wrapped pieces)
12 large marshmallows, halved horizontally


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse oats until finely ground. Put the oats into a large mixing bowl and add flours, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; whisk to combine.



2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla, scraping down side of bowl.



3. With mixer on low, beat in flour mixture just until combined.



4. Drop dough by tablespoons, 1 inch apart, onto a baking sheet. Bake just until lightly golden, 7-9 minutes.



5. Remove from the oven and top each cookie with a chocolate square. Return to the oven for 3-4 minutes. Remove cookies from oven again; heat broiler.



6. Top each cookie with a marshmallow. Broil until marshmallows are lightly browned, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.



These are soooo delicious.



Nom Nom Nom Nom

January Booklist

One of my New Year's resolutions was to read two books a month and review them here...I actually read four this month, so I'll review the best two:



Shanghai Girls by Lisa See is a beautiful story about two young sisters born in Shanghai to a wealthy business man and his wife. They live a privileged, modern life (by Chinese standards) until their fate takes a turn for the worse. The are forced to move to America, where they find themselves living a life they never expected. This is a heart-rending story about the bonds of family, the importance of tradition and the plight of immigrants of visible-minority to America before the civil-rights movement (many of the sentiments, I am sad to say, are still entrenched in the hearts of North Americans today.) I love Lisa See, and have read several of her books, I also love historical fiction...I would highly recommend this book, especially if that genre is of interest to you.



Still Alice by Lisa Genova was an incredibly well written story about a brilliant Harvard professor in her early forties who develops early-onset Alzheimer's. The story is written from Alice's point of view, and it chronicles her journey as she tries to identify with her family and herself as her brain, and the life she once knew, deteriorates. It's a story about redefining self-identity, the strength of familial bonds (again) and it offers keen insight into the mindset of someone suffering from Alzheimer's. Once again, I highly recommend this novel...It will certainly make you hold your friends and family a little bit closer. NB: Read with Kleenex close at hand.

I'll be joining the book club at the Oakwood branch of the Toronto Public Library starting in March. I've already read the February book, so I figured I could wait. I've also booked our hotel in Ottawa for Winterlude this year. I can't wait for a weekend of skating on the Rideau, eating beaver tails, speaking French and spending time with good friends....
I'll also be taking a pottery class and starting up with yoga again as soon as my job at Oxford officially ends in three weeks. Not that I'm counting :)

Dodgeball Champions!

This past weekend was one of the best I've had in a loooong while! S and I play in a charity/birthday dodgeball tournament called "The Budd Cup" put on by a few of our good friends. This year the tournament benefited the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, and it also went to promoting artistic endeavors for at-risk children. We had so much fun, and I really improved my game...our team, The Harlem Globedodgers (aka the American Apparel team...just look at the photos and you'll see what I mean), even went on to win the tournament! I've got a few of the 445 (yes, 445) photos that S took of the day. I have mostly included photos of myself, not because I'm narcissistic, but because I don't want to share photos of people on my blog that haven't given me permission to do so...No one likes getting in trouble with the law.


Ready to play...looking sufficiently deceptively innocent, complete with a Stephanie Tanner-worthy side ponytail.


Catching turned out to be my new-found skill. I even caught two balls at once...but as cool as it looked, it technically meant I was out, because you can only handle one ball at a time...


Throwing was certainly NOT my skill...the ball weighs nothing, and I was trying to throw it like a baseball.


S and I relishing the big win.


Snuggling the cup.


The Harlem Globedodgers...a damn good team!


Things got a little silly at the after party, as they are wont to do.

S and I also won some excellent raffle prizes...tons of CDs and a Flip video recorder...which has already become an integral part of our lives...Needless to say, I see some video blogs in the near future!

Ch-Ch-Changes!

Well friends...I have made a HUGE decision this week, which has been the cause of my hiatus: I quit my full time job...This decision has been well thought out, and in fact I will be likely bringing in the same amount of money or more working at my part-time job...I'll also have the option of having a life, which is a lovely bonus. I'll be teaching more, but the best part is, I feel like I can FINALLY live the life I thought I had to wait six months for....It's all beginning this February, and I can hardly wait!

This picture just about sums up how I feel right now:



Elated!

My Plans for 2010

Just putting them out there...

Personal:

~ Buy a vintage bicycle
~ Read two novels a month and review them on Pint-Size
~ Travel to Europe
~ Follow organizational principles outlined here
~ Create some pretty pieces of jewelry

Professional:

~ Get FSL certification
~ Apply to TDSB
~ Get a French teaching job
~ File my pay-scale paperwork
~ Build my teaching portfolio

Financial:

~ Pay off 75% of all loans
~ Begin to save for a down payment on a house
~ Open an RRSP
~ Create a monthly budget and live on cash
~ Continue to build emergency fund

Physical:

~ Become more consistently active: run 3x a week
~ Eat more mindfully
~ Eat more fruits and vegetables
~ Drink more water
~ Practice more yoga

Today has been a quiet, peaceful, lazy day. Outside it's snowing gently and a pot of beef stew is bubbling away on my stove. Tonight I'll be watching a movie curled up with my honey on the couch.

I have had a lot of time today to reflect on the past year, and how excellent it has been...but even so, I am itching to get started on 2010. I just KNOW it's going to be the best one yet...and the best part about that is knowing that I really do have control over it. I know there are certain things that I don't get to have input on, but what I do control is how I react to the bumps in the road. If I can maintain a positive outlook, keep my faith, and surround myself with the people I love then everything will turn out as it should...

Welcome, 2010!

Happy New Year

The time is drawing nigh to really start to reflect on the past year, and decide what aspects of myself I want to change or improve upon. I, like 99% of people, am TERRIBLE at keeping my New Years resolutions...but that never stops me from trying! This year, my focus is going to be not on what I want to do LESS, but what I want to do MORE...I know it seems like semantics, but research has shown that wording goals positively has a higher rate of success...so here it goes!



This year I resolve to

1. Be active MORE consistently: I am the type of perfectionist who does nothing if she can't do it perfectly....That means if I miss one workout during the week, I call the week a write-off and resolve to do it perfectly starting next week. The only problem with this system is that I inevitably repeat the cycle...every.single.week.

2. Eat MORE vegetables: I must admit that I already do quite well on this front, but there's always room to improve.

3. Speak MORE French



I suppose rather than listing everything I want to do this new year, I could sum it up by simply saying that I want to live a more inspired life this 2010...I want it to include more creating, designing, trying new things, and rediscovering old hobbies (ice skating, anyone?). You know I'll be chronicling my adventures (and misadventures) here...so you'll be well informed of my progress.



Lucky you, right?

No matter where you are this New Year, I hope it's the best one yet!