Foodie Pen Pal

Hi all,

Long time no blog...
I know Im terrible. I was on a roll, and then FAIL.

But I became a food pen pal, and to say the least its been an interesting ride.
The first month I signed up (April), I didn't receive a package, so I was turned off a bit.
But this month, WOW was I ever spoiled.
And all I have to say is that it was soooooooooooooooo hard not to dive into some of this right away.

My Foodie Pen Pal was Ayla, and like I said she spoiled me! 

 This is the entire contents of my the package.

 Candied Orange Peel - Ayla included some ideas for this, one of them being chocolate bark. I cannot wait to try it in some, as well as some Banana bread.

 Dark Chocolate covered Pomegranate seeds. (I'm saving these for my 6 year anniversary, because of the advice Ayla gave us in her letter...but I did taste. And I cannot wait for these and a bottle of wine!)

 Plantain Chips - I LOVE THEM!

 Preserved Lemon with rosemary, and chive flower. I cannot wait to try this, I have to wait until June to use it as she has just made it, and it needs to sit. I cannot wait to put this on some chicken. I'm thinking Lemon Chicken with Chow Mein. (my mouth is watering just thinking about it)

 Love Tea. - man o man, its been hard not to rip into this until I took the pictures. But YUMMY!!!!!!!!

 Fig Butter - from Trader Joe's - This is awesome! Ayla went to California, and thought of me! That was the sweetest part! (also the dark chocolate pomegranate seeds are from Trader Joe's too) I'm not too sure what it is that I am going to do with the Fig Butter, but I'm sure Ill figure it out. The boy and I do a lot of cheese and cracker plates on date nights so I might try it with one of those. And well lets face it, if I don't like it, I will just give it to the boys step dad, who LOVES figs.

' Dark Chocolate with caramel and sea salt - 1 word. YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The last part, and the best is the Rhubarb chutney - I cannot wait to dive into this!!! Im thinking on Bree, or maybe with chicken?  

 She even included some recipes and a wooden spoon.
As I said, I was spoiled ROTTEN!!!!

Do you want to be a foodie pen pal?  Please click on the picture below, and find out more!!!

And a special Thank you Ayla, this was a wonderful surprise, and I'm so happy to have met you!!!

Kevin Smith and Joss Whedon - Why I love them an other things...

Welcome to a five part post about Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith, with a couple of honorable mentions in between.

First a little back story.
I am a pop culture junkie, and am addicted to technology and TV. I am not afraid to admit it, please do not get me wrong. I do not spend every waking moment watching TV but it is what I do most of the time when noting else is going on. I love my IPAD, and phone and I also have a Kindle in which I read on. (believe me I do get out of the house)
Anyway I digress, I have 2 favorite directors who dabble in both Movie and TV land. I was thinking about blogging about Joss, because the Boy and I were talking about how he always kills off the best people. (This will get its own post - BELIEVE ME) And later that night I began to think about this summer when I get to see Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes speak in Toronto. A tiny little light bulb went off in my head. These two (Kevin and Joss) are very similar.

Both men are the following or have done the following:

• Directed both TV and Movies - Though Kevin isn't known for his TV directing he still has done it. 
• They both write for TV, Movies and comic books. 
• They both have acted in movies, and TV. - A little note on this. Both Joss and Kevin were on Veronica Mars. (Again Ill get back to that in a bit) 

They just have a ton in common. So over the next few weeks, as I do some research, I am going to show the similarities, and the differences as well as why these two men, as well as another man who has a lot in common with them are my favorite men in Hollywood.

A little confession :)

So, I follow a blog called Back to her Roots, and I am in love with it. As we all know I love to cook, and this blog just seems to speak to me. The creative way she approaches subjects catches my eye on a regular basis.

Anyway, she posted and 11 question tag, and I am going to answer the questions for the hell of it. The 11 random things will have to wait for another day.

My 11 Questions for YOU to Answer

• What’s on your favorite pizza? -
• Pizza Pizza's Pesto Amore - Pesto, spinach, roasted red peppers, goat cheese, red onion, and I add chicken, on a whole wheat thin crust. Absolutely AMAZING!!

• Who is your all-time favorite band or musical artist? Why?
• This is a very hard question to answer. I love almost all music, and do not have a single all time favorite. But if I had to answer it would have to Aerosmith. I also share a huge bond with JP, AP's big brother because of this band, and it has always had a soft spot in my heart because of it. I'm not shamed to say I love "I Don't want to Miss a Thing."

• Do you like your name? If not, what would you rename yourself?
• I love my name, I was named by my Great Grandmother, who I never got to meet. My Mom walked in to the house to tell her parents and her Grandmother that she was pregnant, her Grandmother took one look at my Mom before she even said anything she told her "its going to be a wee little Bonnie Lee lass." Hence my name Bonnielee. 

• What would be your last meal?
• My last meal would be a nice steak, and baked potato. Nothing fancy, just basic. 

• What countries have you visited?
• Canada, U.S.A, and Britain

• What was the last book that you read? Did you like it?
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 
• I loved it, and am waiting to read the next one, I haven't been in a reading mood lately. But at least I got the first one first one finished before the movie comes out next month. 

• What super power would you most like to have? Why?
• I would have Jean Grey's power before she turns in the Phoenix, telepathy, and other small things.

• If failure wasn’t possible, what’s the one thing you would try to do?
• To be a journalist.  

• What is usually your first thought when you wake up?
•  Weekday or weekend? 

• What are your pet peeves?
• PARKING TOO CLOSE to another car
• Small minded people
• People who don't say please and thank you. 
• leaning on me, or touching me other than the boy or the besties.

• Vanilla or chocolate?
• Vanilla - all the way! 

Anyway, I don't have anyone to tag, so if you are reading this, and want to post the questions above in your blog or in the comments please do.

Also my 11 questions are the following:

1) Fave movie of all time?
2) What is your angry music?
3) Do you have any strange car habits?
4) If you and your best friend could do anything together what would it be?
5) If you could travel anywhere in the world where would it be?
6) What is your comfort food?
7) If you could meet someone famous dead or alive who would it be?
8) Fave comic?
9) Favorite makeup product?
10) What do you typically do on a Saturday?
11) Fave wine, name it and its price.

Thoughts

Life is short...
We do not realize the importance of the lives that we touch each day. And who will not be there when we wake up the next day.
Please do not take things for granted, as we do not know what tomorrow holds.

Top 5 Websites

Hi All,
So to keep in the theme of lists this week, I have come to you to bring you my top 5 websites. None of these include any kind of social networking, they are the websites that I frequent the most at the moment. They do change from time to time, but these are the sites that I come back to almost every time. 


1) http://www.cbc.ca/ 

This is mostly for news, I work in a place where events can change the course of the day very quickly, therefore I feel that CBC has the most relevant news for all of Canada. I prefer CTV for local news, but due to work, and other things, I go to CBC more often. (Also the building and museum in Toronto are AMAZING!)

2) http://www.mrsjanuary.com/ 

This website is an amazing resource for coupons in Canada. I have found so many deals and savings just by subscribing to them in my RSS feed. At first I was a little weary about coupons, but I have to say I am a little addicted now. I CANNOT wait for Ottawa to get a Target so I can take advantage of their coupon tab on their website.

3) http://www.curvygirlguide.com/

AMAZING website, amazing stories, and guest posts. Amazing everything. I cannot recommend this website enough to people when they say they are bored on the internet.

4) http://www.comingsoon.net/

A great website for upcoming TV and Movie news. I enjoy this one a lot more than other websites that prefer to report on who is sleeping with who, and which star overdosed this weekend.

5) http://www.beautycrazed.ca/

YAY for Canadian content. This last website is certainly not the least. I have come back to this site many a time, and have loved it for quite a while now. I am a huge fan of  makeup and beauty tips. So this website has it all for me.

So that is it. My top 5 websites.

What are yours?

The 31 favorite things of my 31st year.

31, of my favorite things.

People

1)      The boy (if that wasn’t obvious)

2)      Merlin and Moby (they are like my children, but in cat form)

3)      My friends (if I were to sit here and name my fave people, it would be longer than 31)

4)      Family (the same reason as above)

5)      My “nephews” (I have a few, that are not blood related) 

People I do not know

6)      Lynn Johnson – www.fbofw.com

7)      Kurt Sutter - http://sutterink.blogspot.com/

8)      Katey Sagal - http://www.kateysagal.net/

9)      Joss Whedon - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0923736/

10)   Nathan Fillion - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0277213/

Fictional Characters

11)   Ginny Weasley – Harry Potter

12)   Gemma Teller – Sons of Anarchy

13)   The Gilmore Girls – Im counting all 3 as one.

14)   Dr. Horrible – Dr Horrible Sing A Long Blog  

15)   Malcom Renyolds – Firefly/Serenity

Movies/TV

16)   Sons Of Anarchy

17)   Buffy the Vampire Slayer

18)   It’s My Party

19)   Veronica Mars

20)   Dawn of the Dead

Books

21)   Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

22)   Harry Potter Series by J.K Rowling

23)   Audition by Barbara Walters

24)   The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins *Newest Fave

25)   Anita Blake Series – Laurell K Hamilton

Brands

26)   Urban Decay

27)   Apple

28)   Frommer's

29)   OPI

30)   Toyota Scion

31)   Nikon

Insomina

I have it...
I need sleep...
Going to attempt to sleep again tonight, I failed miserably last night, kept on waking up thinking about the snow that was going to fall, but tonight, its freezing rain. YIPPIE.
I hate driving in that shit.

Canada the abyss of hard to find products.

Revlon lip butters, the naked pallette, and naked 2, are just some of the things I am frustrated about as a consumer. No we are not the US, but we matter too. Why is it so hard to find current makeup products in Canada. I live in the capital of Canada for crying Out loud, the 4th largest city in the country it should not be this hard.

FAIL - New Years Resolution

SOOOOOOOOOO, I failed miserably at blogging as much as I could. Sometimes finding the inspiration is hard. But I think I am going to try a couple of different things, and see how it goes. Beauty reviews, and make up reviews. Gives me an excuse to use my camera. :)

I have a few ideas:

The mascara that doesnt make me have an allergic reaction.
The best eye products
The best beauty gurus

I am not going to bag or dis anything I will only talk about the best.

I.E right now. THE HUNGER GAMES! Amazing books. But I digress.


Be back soon.

B

Montreal this weekend

So, I know I haven't been posting a lot lately. I seem to have started off strong then fizzled out. SO after this weekend I am going to try and post at least once a week. And hopefully after this weekend, Ill have some stories to tell. Going to MTL with PB (of course) AP and NLR, for a last trip before baby comes for AP and NLR.
We are going to see the Indiana Jones exhibit at the Montreal Science Center. I personally CANNOT wait for this exibit. I plan on taking a ton of pictures, with and without people in them. I am going to be bringing both cameras with me to Montreal. I just dont know which one I am going to take to the museum. It depends on if PB wants to carry my big Nikon or not.
Packing my purse for a trip like this can be annoying. I think I am going to make 2 "purses" up to bring. 1 with all the car stuff and big enough to take with me to the museums and such, and a small one for the dinners. We are only going for the one night, but we plan on spending quite a lot of time there.
ECP wont be coming with us this trip :( so she will be looking after the kitty monsters for us. Even if it is just for one night.
Ill write soon, I have quite a few ideas for posts in the future. Some girly, and some regular, so we will have to see where it takes us.

Enjoy the weekend! I know I will!

Pictures 2 (Just some interesting shots Ive made/photoshopped)

Pictures

 My Co workers wedding day

 

 The Buffet

The Wedding Cake.

Happy Anniversary

Just wishing my love PB a happy 5th Anniversary today. It does not even feel like 5 years have gone by.

Wedding today..

A co worker is getting married today at 3, and the reception begins at 11am. Totally strange and backwards, but pictures to to follow. We are not going to the actual wedding part because it is as city hall, and they are very limited on who they can bring. But the reception should be interesting.

The Soundtrack of my life...

So the journal wiriting prompt was What music album would be used for a movie about your life. But I have decided to take it one step further and just give you a few songs that I think would be on it. Not one specific album, because lets face it, who would just pick one band?

This is a mix of old and new.

1) The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack - This song was apparently playing when I was born, or so the story goes by my mom.
2) The Traveling Wilburys - The End of the Line - I cannot think of my grandfather without thinking of us singing this song in the car.
3) Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers - Islands in the Stream - Grandpa L and Nana L, this song was theirs and again I cannot hear it without thinking about them.
4) Chris DeBerg - Lady in Red - My parents song.
5) The Beach Boys - Kokomo - My first road trip, my mom and her best friend and her two kids. Who I am still friends with and are family.
6) Randy Travis - Forever and Ever Amen - See Above
7) Paula Abdul - Opposites Attract - my first bite at the stage in a talent show.
8) Kermit the Frog - Rainbow Connection - this song was my childhood.
9) Amazing Grace - I cannot listen to this song anymore because it was played at my fathers funeral, but I went to sleep with this lullaby every single night as a child.
10) Sarah McLachlan - I will Remember You - sums up all the people I lost over the span of 10 years, due to death, and my own stupidity.
11) Alanis Morissette - Ironic - Sums up my teenage years almost perfectly. (Think the acoustic version - I had said husband LONG before she did)
12) Evanescence - My Immortal - Sums up a lot of my younger teens. Hell Evanescence was almost the only band I listened to. Ask ECP and CW.
13) Sugarland - Stay - it was a lot of years. And this song, I am happy someone could put it to music.
14) Sting - A Brand New Day - again sums it up pretty precisely - I can remember sitting in the car and realizing I had feelings for PB, and in about 16 days we are going to celebrate our 5th anniversary.
15) Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars - this is PB's and my song.
16) Puddle of Mud - She hates me - is ECP's and my song. We actually have many, but this song is always going to make me turn up the sterio and sing along and smile from ear to ear thinking of her.
17) Seether with Amy Lee - Broken - Just one of my all time favourite songs.
18) Mamma Mia - Chiquitita - is for SG - the lyrics tell all.
19) Dr. Horribles Sing a long Blog - is for PB, ECP, CW, and SG
20) Emma Bunton - A World Without You - this song is for JR. - Forever our song, and mainly because this is a compromise to not have the Spice Girls on my life soundtrack. :)
21) ABBA - Dancing Queen - just for good measure.
22) Coyte Shivers - Sugar High - is a great ending to this CD again, just a great song.


And there you have it. What I think my soundtrack is. Or at least the first CD set.

The show I cannot stop watching...

So it says a lot about me that I have turned off the TV tonight to listen to a podcast at home. I usually reserve this task for when I am at work. I am actually hoarding a lot of things to listen to because I will be alone in the office almost all next week due to my boss/co-worker going on vacation.
But tonight I found myself not wanting to wait to listen to Plus One Per Diem Kevin Smith and Jen Schwalbach's (Kevin's wife) podcast. Where they had an hour and a half long interview with Kurt Sutter and Katey Sagal. If you don't know who they are well here is a bit of a lesson.

Kurt Sutter is the writer, director, creator and actor on Sons of Anarchy, and Katey Sagal is his wife, who you might know as Peg Bundy on Married with Children and Lelia on Futurama, but she also has a role on on Sons of Anarchy, as the matriarch Gemma Teller.

I cannot tell you how much I love this show. I own the first two seasons on DVD and cannot stop watching them. It seems to be my fall back TV show when nothing else is on and nothing on Nextflix catches my eye. The drama, the effects, the acting, and especially the character development just make for fantastic TV.

I have recently heard that they are comparing it to a biker/modern Hamlet. Which I can see, and completely understand once I sat back and thought about it. An outlaw biker club, built of criminals, ranging from petty theft to murder, protect their town of Charming. (the irony is not lost on me)

Without giving too much away my three favorite characters are Gemma Teller, who is as bad as it sounds, is the mother I want to be. So fierce and protecting of her child, and family that she is willing to throw herself into the fire in order to protect them.
Jax Teller her son, who is the Hamlet character for all intensive purposes. He is tortured in many ways, but his main goal is to get 'the club' to go in another direction, away from crime.
And last but certainly not least is Opie Winston, I cannot give anything way because his story is so important throughout the entire series that anything I say will be a spoiler. But I LOVE his character.

If you haven't yet seen this show, or know what it is about, please look at the links I have given you and give it a chance. I wasn't too sure when my brother made the suggestion, but, if the DVDs I own don't run out in a couple of years, I will be SHOCKED.

Until next time...

PS. This is one of the blog post ideas. Give a review.

BBQ

No pictures, but had a great time with ECP and ALR. But for some reason feeling a little down tonight. I am not too sure why. I dont have a lot to write about but I do have to say this. I have a list of "questions" or inspirations from http://www.tomslatin.com/ that I fully intend on doing at least 10, which is my personal goal at the moment. I would love to do all of them but at the same time. I really have no followers at the moment so I am mainly doing this for myself.
This is the latest prompt http://www.tomslatin.com/50-more-journal-writing-prompts/ list that he has posted and I love this. It really gets my juices flowing for writing. Or at least my mind. lol.

Anyway.
Until next time.

B is for Book

ECP and I are having fun with a DIY project for our third musketeer and her soon to be bouncing baby boy.


The above picture are just some of the words we have chosen to use for the alphabet book that we have started.


Moby decided to watch us work....

We were only able to make 3 pages by the end of the night because we took so much time cutting the felt, and organizing the letters. Wait...let me rephrase that, ECP got so frustrated that she began to organize the letters, and I looked up pictures to possibly recreate.

This is only HALF the letters. We tried to take out all the pink but we had to use a couple for the E's and O's I think.



My attempt. The weird blob at the bottom...is a toaster... or at least will be.

This was an ECP and I ... we collaborated.


And this is ECP's work. She did a PHENOMENAL job!

Nothing is glued down as of yet, just to be on the safe side. We are going to keep working on it, and see where it goes. Logan arrives in September, but the shower is next month. So we have our goals, and we will see when we can finish it.

We will keep positing the progress, and see where it takes us.

Also on another note: these pictures were taken with my BRAND NEW Nikon S4100 so forgive the glare and the off colour of the pictures. I am still learning how to use it. PB *the boyfriend only bought it for me yesterday.


We want to give credit where credit is due. This is where ECP got the idea. We are just total geeks and want Logan to be too. http://www.absolutelysmall.com/blog/2011/05/09/j-is-for-joss-whedon/

a year later....

So, I know no one reads this blog, but I am going to post anyway. Its been over a year and a half but meah..

So I have a reason for posting I am writing a new story, and I think I'm going to start posting little bit. So if someone is reading this I can get an opinion...

I also have a kindle now, and I want some book ideas. I need something new.

I promise this time I am going to be back. ...

Archie to Marry Veronica?

I don't get it, WHY is this news? On every single news website, and TV news. Its on. I DON'T understand. I get that after 70 years this FICTIONAL character has made a choice. But I mean come on. And its also the fact that Im a Betty fan I think that I don't really like the news.
On another note, I'm re watching 90210 the original series, it makes me laugh how many stars have been in this show, and how they begin at such a young age.
In the past month Ive seen 3 movies:
Wolverine - Ok
Star Trek - Fantastic for what it was
Terminator - I liked it for a movie, not part of the series.
I got a promotion for lack of a better term at work. ... . but I will update on that later.

This is a quick update for now.....I promise for a real one soon.