Creative cooker

I've been starting to get really creative with my cooking. I'm making a lot of things from scratch that I would normally never think I could make! I feel so good about it too, despite the fact that I probably eat more then my share at each meal :( I always have yummy left-overs to take in my lunches, which has been saving my bank account too :) Honestly, I owe it all to KraftCanada.com. Some of the recipes on this site are so simple, yet I would have never thought to put some of the things together!

I actually want to get my hands on a good vegetarian recipe book and try some of it's recipes. Normally, vegetarian dishes have much more flavor and variety to the flavor due to the different spices and herbs used to compliment the veggies. I just recently got a copy of a veggie recipe for "Gypsy Soup", and I had to go out and buy cumin and tumeric spices... I mean... who uses those spices on a regular basis???

I think the cooking bug has crawled up and bit me! ;)

PS. Fun song alert: Clumsy - Fergie

On another note, Collin and I were watching the Discovery channel yesterday and there was a segment on "Sleep Walking Murders"... and that there have been about 12 cases to date where people have used the "I was sleep walking" defence to plead their innocence. 5 of these cases were acquitted! Unreal!
I actually had a hard time falling asleep last night... wonder why!?!
Collin tells me he doesn't sleep walk.... Thank Gawd!
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Fall Freeze

It's that time of year again. We had out first snow fall of the season yesterday (ugh, I wasn't too impressed!) and today we definitely woke up to a much chillier temperature in the house! I will have to reset the thermostat because when Collin gets too cold he tries to snuggle up to me to steal my heat and then I can't get any sleep!

Today is our annual work "Fall Freeze". (It's Fall and the ground is freezing up, this marks the start of a new drilling season! Let the real work begin!) So tonight we get to join our collegues at a local bar (The Garage) for a few drinks, some eats, a little pool-playing and a whole lot of socializing and letting our hair down! (Sometimes people get carried away at these events, and often the next Monday you hear about people getting fired! I don't like to get excessively drunk in front of co-workers... especially the high-ups in the company!
-Eventhough, my boss is known to get quite inebriated and then starts talking about inappropriate things to his staff!!!)

Anyways, it should be fun...
Poo. I just noticed that my cel phone is dead! :( I really need to remember to rechare that thing every night!!!
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Co-worker Cleanse

Me and 3 collegues (at least for now, there might be more joining us) have decided that we are going to do a cleanse together (lasing 12 days, starting November 19th to November 30th.) I'm nervous! I've done a cleanse before but I didn't follow the diet at all! This time, with other people doing it too, we'll be constantly monitoring each other and we will KNOW when someone isn't following the diet! It is good to have the support though, I don't think I'd do it alone!

We are even planning to cook large quantities of items we are allowed to eat at home and then do a swap (kinda like a big pot luck) at work. Cause usually these cleanses make you eat things that aren't in your normal diet and the cooking part becomes very demanding.

It might even be safe to call this a team building event, of sorts...
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My body wants a BOOTCAMP!

I am in such need to shake up my fitness routine. I have stopped doing as much weight training than I was before (Now, I usually get 1 weight class in per week!) My body is crying out for change... something to kick my butt. I NEED A BOOTCAMP!

I was thinking of self motivating myself to set up a routine that I can do in the park across the street. I would be able to perform it a few evenings a week (as well as on my weekends!) But I really don't know what my body needs right now to kick it up a notch!?! I should make an appointment with a personal trainer/nutritionist for a few sessions this month. I'm sure with their help, we could set up a plan that I will stick with and see some real results! (That would make me so happy!) And since I work at the gym, it shouldn't be hard to find a good trainer to talk to! ( I do have one in mind... Dr. Wendy Carvalho-Ashby )
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Power Tools!

I finally got out today and bought myself a Dremel Stylus Cordless rotary tool (for drilling fine holes in my resin pendants).

I just LOVE power tools... and this thing is great! I just hold the piece I want to drill a hole into in my hand and place the drill bit where I want the hole... The drill has variable speeds (1-10) so I can get the perfect amount of torque for my exact project, depending on the thoughness of what I'm drilling through. [With the resin, level 4 is all I need :) ]

Have a look at a few of my drills so far!

^Vertical Hole


^ Horizontal Hole


^ All pendants drilled so far.

(I can't wait to put the clear pendant with the jump rings in it, on a necklace! I drilled the hole off center, so I think it will hang on an angle! So cool!)
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Miniature Beaded Canary

Instructions I used to create this, can be found here:







How darn cute is this?
I made it to give to my mom; she loves birds, and she breads canarys. I am sure she'll want me to make her a few more of these!
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Resin, new Batch

Have a look at my newest resin pendants
(they are not finished yet, they still need something to hang them with)



I'm LOVING the pigments I bought, but still not really sure how to best utilize the resin once it's ben colored with them. I'll keep working at it. (Honestly, I'm having a lot of fun working at it though! :)
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Never drop something in a revolving door

Never Drop something in a Revolving Door... because as you bend over to pick it up, the door kicks you in the ass, which launches you forward and allows your forhead head to be thrust into the door in front of you... HARD! LOL
... true story. It happened to me once. ...like, yesterday!


Luckily no one was around to witness it... well, no one to my knowledge. I am sure someone got a chuckle out of my embarassment!
Good times. ;)
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Hot New Project = ME :)

I was just surfing my regular websites tonight, when I happened to see this... My own piece of jewelry on the Trinkets and Jewelry 'Hot New Projects' ticker on Craftster!
Woo Hoo ME!

What an honor! I was pretty excited to see my piece up there (as you can tell!)... Go check it out for yourself... If it's still there! ;)
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Can-Fit-Pro

I have a fitness conference to attend tomorrow... I'm pretty excited about it too! It's an all day event (8:00am to 7:00 pm) so I'll be pretty exhausted when I get home! However, most of my sessions are yoga/pilates based, so hopefully I can handle it! ;)
The conference is organized by Can-Fit-Pro, which is an organization for Canadian Fitness Professionals. I went to it last year also, and it was just ok... could have been better. I have much higher hopes for this year's event since the event has been moved from the YWCA to the Mount Royal College. (which has much newer recreation facilities)

I better get my things packed so I don't forget anything!!! HR monitor, water bottle, towel, cycling shoes, spare change of clothes... yeah, the list goes on!
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Dr. Mom

I have been experiencing a sporatic numb feeling in my left arm for some time now. I have been seeing my chiropractor since the pain started (thinking I had a pinched nerve somewhere) and I really do not feel that any of his adjustments (thus far) have improved the issue at all!
So after a week, I spoke to my mom about my problem. She suggested I take apple cider vinegar pills... and by golly they actually did seem to ease the symptoms... when I remember to take them! (See, the best doctors really are Mothers! :)

The feeling is back today... I wonder what is wrong with me? Do you think I should I go see a medical doctor regarding this?
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Dinosaur Provincial Park

Yesterday we had a team building event. We spent the day on a field trip at Dinosaur Provincial Park (which is ~2 hours east of Calgary). It turned out too be a really great day... despite my little tumble :( I will post pictures as soon as there are some avaliable... I forgot my camera, so I was taking pictures using a friend's 3.0 mega pixel Fuji... (She really needs to upgrade!!! lol)
I think I actually got a bit of a sunburn on my face cause it feels very dry today! :(
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love the short weeks!

Today is a Tuesday, I love starting the work week on a Tuesday... so much closer to Friday already! :)
Collin and I are having steak tonight for dinner, I think he likes to cook steak all year round... As long as I don't have to stand out there in these cool temps! He's more then welcome to do it because it means less cooking for me :) Yay! But I'm not sure I feel like steak tonight... (yes, I too have "meat moods". lol)

I have been feeling icky lately... too much beading, not enough exercise! Today I had a great spin class though... seems to make up for my slack/relaxing weekend :) Right? lol

UPDATE:
I had the steak tonight, and turns out I WAS in a steak mood! ;) Mmmm tastey!

PS... the second batch of resin pendants was botched :( I had to pry the sticky bastards out of their molds with sisscors. Poo.
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Sticky resin :(

My first set of resin pendants came out of the molds with relative ease. (The resin was very firm and easily poped out of the molds)... My second set, not so simple. I tried to pop these pendants out of the molds (after the same amount of time to cure as I let the others sit for) and they were still sticky :( (Firm but tacky to the touch.) Collin was able to (with effort) pop a few of them out and they are noticibly less firm then the first set I made. I will let the rest of them cure for another 12 hours or so.

But I am HOOKEd on this, so I HAD to find something else to use as a new mold. You'll laugh at what I found to use: plastic lids, packaging from sequins, plastic packaging from a bike tool, the plastic packaging for AA batteries, the plastic casing that a piece from my computer came in. Ingenious or what? Once the resin sets these pieces should come out clean, so I won't be wrecking anything! (Maybe I should just look into investing in the mold release so I can use firmer molds, like ice cube trays, without so much effort required to pop the resin out once it's set.)
PS... I also found out to get a pearlescence resin all I need to do is add eye shadow... and Lord knows I have more then enough eye shadow to last me a few lifetimes. LOL
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Beads or Resin?

Despite my new passion for resin jewelry, I still managed to make my way to Michaels today and spend $60.00 on half-price beads!!! (...which means they would have cost $120.00 at regular price!) I'm such a jewelry freak!!!!

I can't wait to use my 40% off coupon for something resin related though :)
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RESIN Jewelry

Here is my first attempt at a resin pendant! (I managed to add a loop to the top, but I still need to smooth off the sides. ...Can't wait to attach it to a necklace!)

I think it turned out pretty awesome, considering this is only my first ever experience with resin and embedding!

I've gotten a lot of ideas and advice from this forum called Craftster. Thanks to my newest Blog-friend MDG for pointing it out to me... I'm now a Craftster addict! lol

Soo much fun for a long weekend! I hope you all are going to get to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast this weekend! (PS... don't over-eat like I did yesterday... *bloat!* lol)
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Resin Jewellery

I was surfing flickr for cool beading ideas and I found this woman's work: Guru Creations by Wendy Lee. Fantastic stuff! She has inspired me to try my own hand at making resin jewellery... but where to start??? Aha! I found a kit you can buy off the internet also... I might do some more research before I jump into a kit... but it looks like something that would get me started, for sure!
.... I want to be able to make my own gorgeous CUSTOM personalized pendants!
(This one in the photo was one of my favorites by Wendy!!!!)

I feel like a new woman, too!

Check out the pictures of my new do! It's short, and I just love it!

(me doing my best Victoria Beckham impression!)

I am having a bit of a hard time doing it, because it's been over a year since I had short hair like this, but I know it'll all come back soon enough!

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