Goodbye 2011!

Coral Cocktail by Mandy Lynne

The new year is fast approaching and it seems like 2011 just flew by! Personally, it was a great year full of happiness and self-discovery. I'm sure you've had some memorable moments too, but now it's time for new beginnings and fresh starts. So let's ring in 2012 with hope and optimism shall we? :)


Here's my list of the year's "Most Memorable" awards. What's on your list?


Most Memorable Book: The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Most Memorable Author: Paulo Coelho (with the much-awaited release of "Aleph")
Most Memorable Movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (X-Men Origins and Transformers coming in close behind)
Most Memorable Natural Disaster: Japanese earthquake (and all other areas affected)
Most Memorable Man-made Disaster: The riots in London, England
Most Memorable Political Moment: The fall of Libyan leader Gadhafi 
Most Memorable Discovery: HIV/AIDS vaccine by University of Western Ontario
Most Memorable New TV Show: Suits (I'm torn between this and Hart of Dixie)
Most Memorable New Comedy TV Show: Two Broke Girls 
Most Memorable New Fantasy TV Show: Once Upon a Time
Most Memorable Color: You may disagree but Taupe was a really popular colour this year. The colour combinations with it are endless!
Most Memorable Actress: Emma Stone (Crazy Stupid Love, The Help, Friends with Benefits)
Most Memorable Actor: Ryan Gosling (Crazy Stupid Love, Drive, Ides of March)
Most Memorable Hairstyle: Braids (french, waterfall, fishtail...you name it)
Most Memorable Women's Clothing: Anything with lace
Most Memorable Athletic Moment: Dallas Mavericks championship win over Miami Heat
Most Memorable Movie Adaptation of Book: The Help (I'm a die-hard Harry Potter fan and since the last movie came out this year I should have put it here, but I truly believe that in staying true to the book...the Help did so much better!)
Most Memorable Home-made Dinner: (this is such a tough one) Thanksgiving family dinner
Most Memorable Home-made Dessert: Tiramisu (my mom made it from an old Italian recipe)
Most Memorable Drink: Iced Tea (always.)
Most Memorable Snack: Hummus & crackers/pita chips
Most Memorable Summer Memory: Family visit from Australia (and all our adventures!)
Most Memorable Class: Personality with Prof. Marchese
Most Memorable Personal Item of Clothing: Finding a new favourite pair of jeans
Most Memorable Personal Defining Moment: Re-starting this blog 
Most Memorable Personal Accomplishment: Donating 13 inches of my hair to cancer patients
Most Memorable Family Memory: Dad's surgeries
Most Memorable (and Indulgent) Purchase: Coach bag (that I have yet to use) 
Most Memorable Bargain Purchase: Too many to count haha...let's go with $4 boots.
Most Memorable Artist: Adele
Most Memorable Song: Good Life by One Republic
Most Memorable Worldwide Broadcast: The Royal Wedding (I'm guilty of watching all 6 hours of this)
Most Memorable Assembly: The Occupy Protests around the world

Happy New Year!!!

I wish you success and happiness in 2012 and be safe!

Happy Holidays!

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been updating my blog lately, I guess the holidays are getting to me. All this freedom, relaxation and food...

I wanted to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! I hope it was really enjoyable and that you were able to spend it with your loved ones :) 

This time of year is definitely quite special and it's one of my personal favourites. I feel as if gestures of generosity and goodwill come out more often during the holiday season and everyone tends to yearn for that feeling of companionship and unity. It's a time to appreciate the beauty of family and the strength of friendships.

I'm also very glad that it has FINALLY snowed! I've been waiting for snow since November and it breaks my heart that the environment has been devastated enough over the years to cause the weather to change. It has always snowed by this time of year, at least once. Nevertheless, it was a real blessing to wake up today and see it falling :)

My cousins slept over for the past two days and so obviously, no actual "sleeping" was done. Just lots of eating, laughing, talking, shopping, and more eating. Boxing day was INSANE! Honestly, some people are just too crazy for merchandise...enough to shock and appall. I had some unreal experiences at the mall - people losing children because they left them and ran to grab more sweaters, parking lot fights, pushing and shoving, etc etc. 

And after the craziness of Boxing Day yesterday, we were all way too tired to have an extravagant dinner. But, we went all out tonight  with Chicken Parmigiana and Extreme Cocoa Brownies...mmm :)

I hope you also had some good times that'll make for great memories.

I wish you and all your loved ones a safe and blessed holiday season. Make the most of it!

Hunger Games Soundtrack

     I'm a huge, HUGE fan of the Hunger Games series!

Anyone who has read the books knows exactly what I'm talking about - it's pure genius. I literally finished all three books in less than 2 days; reading each book for 5 hours straight and only pausing to study/sleep/eat. So naturally, I'm extremely excited for the movie to come out in March (p.s. there are so many amazing movies coming out next year, I'll post my personal to-watch list soon!) 

     I think Jennifer Lawrence is going to make a great Katniss and Liam Hemsworth is perfect as Gale. Not sold on the actor playing Peeta...but the cast and movie look promising so fingers crossed! I also really want this movie to have believable action scenes, unlike in Twilight where everything seems to move in slow motion for me. Here are some stills from the movie : 

       

And for all you Hunger Games fans out there, 

Taylor Swift and the Civil Wars have created a song in the soundtrack and I'm posting it here. It sounds really good and I already have a million ideas about what scenes they'll be playing it in :) So excited!!

Enjoy!

Oh and if you have no idea what The Hunger Games are...

GO READ IT RIGHT NOW!!! Please :)

Freedom!

My exams are FINALLY over! It honestly feels so late into the holiday season because everyone I know is already finished. But I'm not complaining since now I can finally do a whole lot of nothing without the stress of studying :) 

Post-exam celebratory drink
(hot chocolate, whipped cream, and sprinkles) 

Hopefully this means more blog posts to come, but for now here's a very cute (and highly nerdy) video to put a smile on your face!
Have a safe and happy holiday season!
And to everyone celebrating...
HAPPY HANUKKAH! 
Hope it was a blessed one
xx

Quote of the Day

This poster made me smile. And I figured, since it's that time of year when the weather's depressing, there are final exams, and people are losing their minds from the holiday shopping crowds...everyone could use a little cheering up :)

xx

Quote of the Day

Apple Pie Cookies

     A lot of people look forward to the holidays because of all the yummy baking. Personally, I look forward to family time, presents, and sleepovers more because baking for me is an every-other-week-all-year-long sorta thing. I saw this recipe a while ago and have been dying to try it out because the cookies are so damn cute! And the concept of a bite-size, no-mess, apple pie is pretty cool too. All the ingredients are things you would generally have around the kitchen and so really...I had no excuse (well, except exams but...)
     Anyways, what I forgot was that I'm an expert procrastinator and so I kept putting it off. However, when I woke up today and finally (finally!) saw sunshine and blue skies through my windows, I couldn't delay it any longer. This recipe is super easy to follow and I tried to do so to the exact measurements, but some things needed tweaking. Nevertheless, these mini apple pies were a HUGE hit with my family! My brothers and dad will probably finish them off by tomorrow morning (I just saw my little brother walk past my room with one in his hand). All signs of a good recipe :)
Ingredients

For the dough:

• 2½ cups (313 grams) all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. (25 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. (4 grams) salt
• 2 sticks (8 oz. or 1 cup) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
• ½ cup very cold water

For the filling:

• 2-3 medium apples, whatever variety you prefer for baking
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• 1/3 cup (67 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. (2 grams) ground cinnamon
• Dash of grated nutmeg

For assembly:

• Water
• 1 large egg lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon of water
• Sugar, for sprinkling

To start off, you need to combine the flour, sugar, and salt together in a medium sized bowl with a fork. 

Mixture of flour, sugar, and salt

Butter cut into smaller pieces

Add the butter

 Then, use a pastry-cutter to cut in the butter into the mixture until the largest pieces of butter are no bigger than peas and the mixture is coarse. If you don't have a pastry-cutter, you can use one (or two) forks to cut in the butter. (If you're unsure about this technique, watch this video to learn)

I used a fork to cut in the butter

Next, stir in the water a little at a time until all of the dry mixture has been moistened and the dough can be shaped into a cohesive ball. I used my hands to knead everything together.

Flatten the ball of dough into a disc shape (with your fist) and seal the bowl with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour.

When you're ready to make the cookies, line a baking sheet with parchment paper (wax paper). Peel the apples and cut off the sides. Throw away the core. For each piece of apple, slice it further into thin slices. (I didn't want to waste any, so I chopped some into smaller pieces too). Put all the apple slices in a bowl and toss it with the lemon juice. In another small bowl, whisk together sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg with a fork.


Now, take out half of the dough you put in the fridge earlier and use a rolling pin to flatten it out on top of a lightly floured surface. It should be rolled out pretty thin (about 1/8 -1/4 of an inch). Use a round cookie cutter or the mouth of a glass to cut of the rounds from the dough. Place these rounds on the baking sheet and very lightly brush them with water to help the pies seal.

**I didn't brush the rounds "lightly" and because of it, my filling became more liquidy than necessary. So make sure you don't use too much water.**

Take a few apple slices and coat them in the sugar/cinnamon/nutmeg mixture. Place them on each round.

**Don't overpile the apple slices or your pie won't stick and the filling with leak out**

After you finish, take the remaining half of the dough out and use the rolling pin to flatten it out like before. Cut out rounds using the cookie cutter or glass like earlier and place them on top of each pie. Crimp the edges of the pies with the tines of a fork to help seal it. You can dip the fork in flour if you want, to prevent sticking. Lightly brush the tops of the pies with the egg wash. Use a knife to cut slits onto the tops of each mini-pie and sprinkle a little sugar on top of each.

Bake for around 25-28 minutes, or until light golden brown.

Enjoy!

All pictures have been taken my me and the recipe has been adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying

REGRETS OF THE DYING by Bonnie Ware

     For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.
People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five: 

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.



2. I wish I didn't work so hard. 

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence. 
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle. 

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships. 

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying. 




Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.


Based on this article, the author has released a full-length book, titled The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. It is a memoir of her life, and how it was transformed by the regrets of dying people. You can get more information at Bronnie’s website

Quote of the Day

Dine-spiration

I have a confession. 

I guess it's my guilty pleasure, but I stay up laaaate into the night looking at pictures of food. (Is that really as weird as it sounds?) 
And not just any type of food...delicious food. I just can't help it. 

Food is one of those universal truths - like water - that you just can't live without. But although actually eating the stuff is the best part, food photography is like a feast for your eyes :) 

So, I've decided that every once in a while I'm going to torture y'all with pictures of delicious, mouth-watering goodness. (Why suffer alone, right?) 

Without further ado, here is the first post of "Dine-spiration"! (gosh that's cheesy..)

Enjoy!

Source: prettygirlfood.com

Quote of the Day

If I Should Have a Daughter

     “If I should have a daughter…instead of “Mom”, she’s gonna call me “Point B.” Because that way, she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me. And I’m going to paint the solar system on the back of her hands so that she has to learn the entire universe before she can say “Oh, I know that like the back of my hand.”

     She’s gonna learn that this life will hit you, hard, in the face, wait for you to get back up so it can kick you in the stomach. But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air. There is hurt, here, that cannot be fixed by band-aids or poetry, so the first time she realizes that Wonder-woman isn’t coming, I’ll make sure she knows she doesn’t have to wear the cape all by herself. Because no matter how wide you stretch your fingers, your hands will always be too small to catch all the pain you want to heal. Believe me, I’ve tried.

     And “Baby,” I’ll tell her “don’t keep your nose up in the air like that, I know that trick, you’re just smelling for smoke so you can follow the trail back to a burning house so you can find the boy who lost everything in the fire to see if you can save him. Or else, find the boy who lit the fire in the first place to see if you can change him.”

     But I know that she will anyway, so instead I’ll always keep an extra supply of chocolate and rain boats nearby, ‘cause there is no heartbreak that chocolate can’t fix. Okay, there’s a few heartbreaks chocolate can’t fix. But that’s what the rain boots are for, because rain will wash away everything if you let it.

     I want her to see the world through the underside of a glass bottom boat, to look through a magnifying glass at the galaxies that exist on the pin point of a human mind. Because that’s how my mom taught me. That there’ll be days like this, “There’ll be days like this my momma said” when you open your hands to catch and wind up with only blisters and bruises. When you step out of the phone booth and try to fly and the very people you wanna save are the ones standing on your cape. When your boots will fill with rain and you’ll be up to your knees in disappointment and those are the very days you have all the more reason to say “thank you,” ‘cause there is nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline no matter how many times it’s sent away.

     You will put the “wind” in win some lose some, you will put the “star” in starting over and over, and no matter how many land mines erupt in a minute be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life.

     And yes, on a scale from one to over-trusting I am pretty damn naive but I want her to know that this world is made out of sugar. It can crumble so easily but don’t be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it.

     “Baby,” I’ll tell her “remember your mama is a worrier but your papa is a warrior and you are the girl with small hands and big eyes who never stops asking for more.”

     Remember that good things come in threes and so do bad things and always apologize when you’ve done something wrong but don’t you ever apologize for the way your eyes refuse to stop shining.

     Your voice is small but don’t ever stop singing and when they finally hand you heartbreak, slip hatred and war under your doorstep and hand you hand-outs on street corners of cynicism and defeat, you tell them that they really ought to meet your mother.”

- "B" by Sarah Kay, spoken word poet

Click here to watch Sarah perform her piece.

Quote of the Day