Geese!

I saw these two beautiful geese as I was walking into a building for a P.D. session. The sad thing is that in Toronto most people don't notice or care to notice their surroundings and people just walked by these beautiful creatures.

Aren't they gorgeous. I know I belong in a smaller city or even a rural area when I see things like this.

Tile Coasters - Adirondack Ink

So here are the coasters I mentioned. I haven't put the felt on the bottoms yet. I was inspired by this website. As usual I did not look at the instructions while I was doing it so no crazy swirls but I still like them!

Super cheap tiles from Home Depot. It was less than $5 for 12.

The inks are a little more expensive but if you have the Micheals app on your phone you can find their coupons. Often time they have 40%-50% off any one item. You are allowed  to go another day that week and reuse it so I just make sure to stop whenever I drive by Micheals while they have those coupons going. When I need something, of course!

I love it already! I didn't put enough of the blending solution on the first two so I used the solution to wipe off the ink.

I think my friends and family are going to love their new coasters.

My latest pics

I've been planing on showing everyone my latest tile coaster creations but I haven't had time to work on them. I guess it's because I've been spending the majority of my time consumed by The Hunger Games series. I picked up the first book Wednesday on my 11 kilometer walk to my friend's house to pick it up. I took a few pictures of that too!

I pass this tree stump everyday, it's not far from my place, and I can't help but smile when I see it. I think of what used to be around it before what it might have seen before it was coming out of the side of a laundromat.

I passed this beautiful flower shop on Avenue Road. I feel like at one point in my life I will have to be a florist or at least have an enormous garden. I wish this photo was scratch and sniff.

This was imprinted in the sidewalk and I love my dairy!

I took this picture Friday night before going to see Legally Blonde the musical. By this time I had already finished the first Hunger Games book. Yes, I measure my life in books from time to time.

I had this craving for carbs today and I had bought Healthy Bread in Five minutes a Day a few months ago after having made the white bread recipe from the internet. The mason jar is filler with vital wheat gluten, an ingredient that was not required in the other recipes and I found in the organic section at Loblaws.

I guess I just craved food in general today. This morning I saw a picture of this salad in the April 2012 edition of Real Simple magazine and had to make it. I didn't really follow their directions. I basically looked at the picture and went from there. I realize now when I look at the magazine again I din't put everything it but who cares, it tasted great! I couldn't find the recipe on their website, sorry.

P.S. I am now finished reading book 2, Catching Fire.

Iced Tea

I refuse to drink iced tea from any can. I'm sure there are some good ones out there but I don't like all the extra sugar. I love my tea and everyone I that knows me will tell you that I am borderline obsessed with tea.  So, when I was in Saint-Hyacinthe visiting a friend's family and stepped into L'Heure du thé, this quaint tea shop downtown I was in heaven. The woman working there offered us some iced tea and I was unsure if I'd like it. I ended up having the opposite reaction and loved it! The lovely woman also gave us a little piece of paper with how to make iced tea which I immediately taped into my recipe book that I started collecting recipes in during high school.

I have been making iced tea ever since. I have tried a variety of teas from different places for this recipe but I prefer the tea I bought at L'Heure du thé. So I thought I'd use it to share the secret with you.

You'll need your tea of choice. I'm using thé vert à la vanille (vanilla green tea) from Le palais des thé. Tea filters and a one liter carafe or other one liter jug.  

The recipe calls for two teaspoons of tea but I normally just eye ball it.

Get you tea in the filter and hang it over the side of your carafe.

Add room temperature water.

Let tea steep. 

30 minutes for green teas.

60 minutes for black teas.

It will look something like this when it's done. 

You can add a teaspoon of maple syrup to sweeten it if you'd like. I like it just as is but I'm sure you could also use honey, sugar, stevia to sweeten it to your liking.

Chill and enjoy!

There are loads of different ways you could make iced tea. If you don't have filters you could always let the tea be loose and filter afterwards or even use tea bags. 

I hope you have a wonderful day and let me know how your ice tea adventure goes. 

March Break!

One huge upside to my job...March Break! Returning home to be with family and friends is such a blessing. I took some photos that I thought I'd share. These first ones are my tea time on the balcony with my mom.

A picture of the storm from my mom's balcony.

I went for a walk in my mom's neighbourhood (soon to be mine) and snapped a few shots. This is an empty lot that was looking pretty soggy. I wish I had my rain boots boots, it would have been some messy fun! 

Fishies live here.

I think this is to help people see the pole at night but to me it was interesting.

Spring came early!

Lovely orchids at Colasantis in Ruthven, Ontario. I want these so bad but I don't trust myself with them just yet.

A pic of my mom at this store called Barn Sale in Kingsville.

By the lake in Kingsville. It was magical.

Well, march break is over so I should be getting to bed. I can look forward to the birds chirping and the sun rising in the morning.