Happy New Year 2020

Welcome to the year 2020. I am very excited to finally be part of the beginning of a new decades. A lot of experiences I have gained over the year and a lot more I am expecting for the year to come. As my age is adding another digit, I am feeling more humble, blessed and positive. About 2 years ago, there was a change at work and it was not a good change. The change was sending me a negative vibes, it was able to bring out the negative in me for a brief period, luckily I always my other half who always giving me inspiration and keep reminding me to let it go. Just like in the song in Frozen the movie…I slowly learned how to let go.

Two things I did to let the negative energy to go far away from my life…the first one is to channel my mind to Korean pop songs. It worked like a charmed. My favorite k=pop group is the led apple with their lead singer, Hanbyul. He has an awesome voice, great guitarist and their music was just soothing to my ears. I keep listening to their songs over and over. Thank you so much for the Wi-Fi and YouTube. I can listen to the music from my iPhone.

The second thing I did besides listening to k=pop music is to learn how to do makeup. Yes, I spent several hundreds of dollars just to try out different palettes, foundations, and skincare. The last thing that I add into my face routine are the brushes and beauty blender. Boy, it was fun. The beauty blender can be quite pricy but thank you to the Christmas sales. I am now own 2 beauty blenders and about 20 makeup brushes. I started with the mascara and eye shadows. Trying to perfect it with the right colors and the right products. After the eyes area, now I am into finding the right foundations to cover all the imperfections on my face. It was fun.

I am hoping the year 2020 will continue to give me more health, wealth and happiness. As long as the internet is easy to get and more people sharing their life stories on YouTube, and more products with glitters and sequins, I think I will be ok.

Happy New Year everyone!

Baby it is cold outside...

I am away for a holiday and it is freezing cold here. Mr. Big kept telling me to bring a thick jacket as the weather will be in the 50 F. I do not believe him but he was right. The wind is chilling since we are near the ocean. But I love cold weather anyway. The more snow I get the better I feel.

 Here is the view at the pier. It is beautiful and calming serenity and just a bliss.

I would not trade this feeling with anything else.

Happy Holidays!

I know that I have not update my news in this site for such a long time. Things are busy around the house, work and holidays. I had a new unit added in the house to heat and to cool each rooms. Things had to be moved from location to another to allow the contractor to do their work. After the installation, I had to clean all the dust and move back the furniture.

I still didn't get the time today to light up the house for Christmas. I have bought the star lights but has yet to set it up in the front yard. I will probably do it tomorrow. Everyone was anxious to see the lights.

Today, I was using my muscle to unscrew the nuts from the flat tire of the treller. I had to take a break each time I turn the screw. It was too tight that I had to crank it up with my foot. I probably will buy a new tire instead of trying to fill the tire with air. The tire is about 20 years old.

Finally, I found the red dress that I can fit in and look nice for me to celebrate Christmas this year. I cannot wait to wear it. I will be seeing all of my family on Christmas. I request everyone to wear red outfit. We will take a big family picture.

Sometimes, I feel like I could be generous for the holidays, however, I have lots of obligations. It is really hard to make a decision. There are consequences after the fact. Whatever action I took today may haunted me in future.

Happy holiday!

The end of 2014

The year of 2014 is approaching to the end. I am very pleased and blessed with all the good and happy memories throughout this year. A lot of tasks I have accomplished despite the changes in the administration. Love life was soaring even though my dearest honey had to undergo a massive surgery. Being a worker and a care giver was not an easy tasks. I thought I did them well. The growing season was really awesome. For the very first time after too many years, the Brussel sprouts grew for me. The same happened to the purple cabbage and the Roselle plants. I am very happy and had shared the wealth with my good friends.

Visiting mom’s house was the most enjoying time I had this year. Three weeks there celebrating the Ramadan Eid and my sister’s birthday seems too short but I was happy to see the family. My nieces and nephews are all growing into a beautiful young ladies and young man. They are doing well at school and I am so proud of all of them.

I am hopeful and looking forward to another great year in 2015. I am wishing Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my readers. I will see you all next year.

Merry Christmas

I spent the Christmas Day at my in law's house. We had a nice, warm breakfast of chipped beef. Then we had a delicious dinner of turkey, sweet potatoes, potato salad, greens, mac and cheese, cakes and many other food. I received 3 presents from Mr. Big this year, a pair of smart touch glove, a beautiful gold with diamonds crescent pendant and a handheld vacuum cleaner. I really love the gifts. My MIL gave me a box of Elizabeth Arden perfume. She is very sweet to give me gift. This year, we gave her a new phone. We received a lot of Red Lobster gift cards. That means we will be eating at that restaurant a lot. 

I would like to wish all of my readers who celebrate Christmas, a joyful holiday with family and friends. Merry Christmas! 

Wishing for a Christmas Cake

“Aren’t we going to a retirement party afterwards?” Mr. Big asked this morning as I came out from the car. “Yes, we are. Why? ”, I replied.
 “You dress up like that?” He asked. 
“Yes, why not”, I replied.
“Why are you wearing jeans? He asked.
 “But my top is nice.” I said.
 “Yes, but wearing jeans? You better change.” He said.

 Mr Big is very particular about my look, especially if I have to attend a function. I don’t mind him commenting on my outfit. I own lots of nice dresses anyway. I thought I could be casual this evening for a retirement party. My coworker, whose retirement we are celebrating tonight has been working in the office for 42 years. It is amazing to see someone very dedicated to her job for that long. She advised me to just go with the flow, be good, and truthful. I am going to miss her. She is my muse. I could share my problem and she will ease my mind with her wisdom. The menu for tonight’s party is crab cake. Emm…I cannot wait to dine with good people.

 The neighbor gardeners have tilled their soil in preparation for the winter and next year growing. My garden is still covered with lots of weeds. Maybe this Sunday I could go and till my plot. I wish I could do it tomorrow but I will be at the Travel Show program. I have no clue of the details for this program. I am guessing that they want to sell some vacation package or they want to buy my campground membership. Either way, it would be nice to do something different for a change.

 The other day, I was reading on one of the gardener’s blog, “Claire’s allotment”, and she is talking about preparing a Christmas cake. Emmm…that sounds yummy. She is using a good quality brandy. She said she will feed the cake with 1 tablespoon of brandy each week up until Christmas. I haven’t discussed with Mr. Big on this. It will be my biggest challenge in my cooking experience if I do. One, I am not good at selecting brandy, vodka, rum or anything of those sort for a delicate cake like this. Second, I don’t think Mr. Big will like the fruit cake idea. He always makes a disgusting remark when mentioning the “fruit cake”. I went on google and found one Christmas cake recipe using lemon cake. That recipe sounds like a better cake to try. 

The peach season is done and now comes the apples in the market. I love those delicious sweet or tart apples varieties. I can make pies, fritters, cake or just eat it as it is. I can add some chopped nuts to the apple salad too, wow! Delicious… As I have mentioned in the past, I have never been to pick your own orchard and fruit farm. Honey’s idea of an apple picking is to drop me off at the plantation and pick me up after the working hours are over. He said I can join those in the buggy picking apples for some dollars. I think honey is just cheap…syyy…don’t get me started on that. So, I get my fresh apples from the farmer’s market. Luckily the farmer’s market is just 5 minute drive. They sell all varieties of apples. Speaking of apples, now I am hungry for some apple crumbs.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

The year is ending soon and I couldn’t believe how fast time flies. The economy stays bad and I have to sacrifice a lot to make ends meet. We had to change our loved car to a hybrid one to save some bucks in taxes. The New Year is not going to be any better as no promising in economy is made by the government. I continue doing what I love the most and try to set aside from the back of my mind of the small return I am receiving for my effort.

I had a great time having my lovely niece over at my house early this month. She spent almost a month with me after her final exam. It felt great to cook our favorite food together. I am sure she was enjoying herself learning some new skills at my house. There’s a lot to see and a lot to learn. That 3 weeks ++ was not enough for her to absorb “Only in America” facts of life. Since I already have experience dealing with teenager, I thought I did pretty well. So often, Mr. Big had to remind me to step down a notch. There are lots of things that I couldn’t see with my naked eye. Mr. Big was sharp at reading ones mind.

I was busy this Christmas, baking and cooking. I bake a cake for the office Christmas party. It was easier to whip the batter than to try something fussy. I did bake some sand tarts and it took all of my sweet time instead of watching the YouTube. But the cookies will soon be enjoyed by the family and the exhaustion will be paid off.

We’ve tried the food from a new restaurant at the mall today. Unfortunately, the food was not that great. I find them too salty and not fresh. Before dinner, we walked around in the mall. There are so many people doing the last minute Christmas shopping. Mr. Big was trying to persuade me into taking my picture with Santa at the mall. That is not going to happen. I am too old for the Santa’s lap.

I have not finished with my Christmas shopping. Tomorrow is the last day I can go out to shop. My problem is that, I do not know what I am looking for. Mr. Big already bought his own Christmas gift as usual. And he is not giving any clue about my gift. I guess I will be ok with it. Like I said earlier, I really don’t know what I need. Everything I have asked this year, I have already got it. There’s nothing else left, really.

I would like to wish all of my readers a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year. Be safe on the road. Enjoy your precious moment with your family.

Christmas Gifts

I woke up on Christmas day and went straight to the kitchen to cook breakfast for the two of us. Honey asked if I see the presents Santa brought for us. I told him that there will be no present for him this year. During the Christmas sale, I was not allowed to go out shopping by myself. Plus, I know honey love to shop present for himself.

Santa gave each of us a new phone this year. Mupy tricked me when he packed an old blackberry in the box. I said I don't want any used BB. He told me to look under the table, maybe Santa has dropped the present, he said. I found another present underneath the table. It was my new iphone. Yes, it is about time for me to upgrade my pearl bb to iphone. I spent the whole night transfering all of my data from the blackberry to the iphone. Thanks to Jrr. for suggesting google account to transfer the calendar smoothly when outlook 2003 didn't work on me. I used outlook for the contacts and notes and the data transfered correctly. Unfortunately, I cannot transfer the password keeper to iphone. I have to manually enter the information into the new phone. Honey stays loyal to blackberry. He received a new BB torch.

I am looking forward to a positive and successful new year. My new year resolutions for year 2012 are no different than what I have planned and achieved for 2011. I need to keep my physical health checked. I have just started seeing a few strands of gray hairs and some balding spot on my head. But I cannot think about it too much. I am just going to enjoy my life as I should.

Happy new year to all my readers!