Summer Entertaining Recipes
0 Comments Published by Alexandria on Saturday, March 31, 2007 at 4:02 p.m..
So my Food Network boyfriend(!) Dave Lieberman's show today was about making the best of summer's fresh ingredients to save money when you entertain. He used the season's freshest produce such as berries and corn to make a full meal worthy of entertaining.
Mako Shark with Grilled Pineapple Salsa
Yield: 4 servings
Salsa
1 medium ripe pineapple, trimmed, cored, quartered lengthwise and cut again lengthwise
Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
2 limes, juiced and lime halves reserved
1 small red onion, minced
1/2 bunch fresh mint, leaves finely chopped (about 1/2 cup leaves)
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, leaves finely chopped (about 1/2 cup leaves)
Couple pinches kosher salt
Superfine sugar, optional
Heat a grill pan or griddle over medium-high heat. Lightly rub the pineapple pieces with oil. Grill on all sides, about 2 minutes per side or until lightly caramelized with nice char marks. Remove from grill and set aside to cool slightly.
4 (8-ounce) center-cut mako shark fillets
Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
20 grinds black pepper
Yield: 6 servings
Rosemary Syrup
6 small sprigs fresh rosemary, plus more for garnish
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
In a medium saucepan, combine the rosemary sprigs, sugar, and water, and bring to a simmer. Let cook for about 10 minutes until slightly thickened and well-infused.
Remove from heat and strain. Discard rosemary sprigs. Let cool before using.
Mako Shark with Grilled Pineapple Salsa
Yield: 4 servings
Salsa
1 medium ripe pineapple, trimmed, cored, quartered lengthwise and cut again lengthwise
Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
2 limes, juiced and lime halves reserved
1 small red onion, minced
1/2 bunch fresh mint, leaves finely chopped (about 1/2 cup leaves)
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, leaves finely chopped (about 1/2 cup leaves)
Couple pinches kosher salt
Superfine sugar, optional
Heat a grill pan or griddle over medium-high heat. Lightly rub the pineapple pieces with oil. Grill on all sides, about 2 minutes per side or until lightly caramelized with nice char marks. Remove from grill and set aside to cool slightly.
Cut grilled pineapple into 1/2-inch dice and add to a medium bowl. Add all remaining salsa ingredients, including the lime halves. These will lend the additional lime oils in the rinds to the mixture, making a more aromatic salsa. Set aside until ready to use.
Fish4 (8-ounce) center-cut mako shark fillets
Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
20 grinds black pepper
While grill is still hot, rub each shark steak with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Place steaks on grill across the grill ribs and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the steaks. Gently turn fish so it does not fall apart. Once the flesh has become opaque and firm to the touch, it is cooked through. Remove to a platter and spoon salsa over fish. Serve immediately.
Potato, Tomato, Corn and Basil Salad
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
1 pound baby red potatoes, scrubbed
5 medium ears of corn (about 3 pounds)
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1 small red onion, peeled and sliced thinly (about 1/2 to 3/4 cup)
1 large bunch fresh basil, rinsed, dried, and leaves picked
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 large lemons, juiced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
About 15 grinds freshly ground pepper
Place the potatoes in a large pot of salted water and bring to boil. Cook until just fork tender, about 15 minutes. Fish out the potatoes with a spider or slotted spoon and place them in a bowl of ice cold water to stop them from cooking.
Rosemary Peach LemonadeYield: 6 to 8 servings
1 pound baby red potatoes, scrubbed
5 medium ears of corn (about 3 pounds)
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1 small red onion, peeled and sliced thinly (about 1/2 to 3/4 cup)
1 large bunch fresh basil, rinsed, dried, and leaves picked
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 large lemons, juiced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
About 15 grinds freshly ground pepper
Place the potatoes in a large pot of salted water and bring to boil. Cook until just fork tender, about 15 minutes. Fish out the potatoes with a spider or slotted spoon and place them in a bowl of ice cold water to stop them from cooking.
Shuck the corn and break each ear in half. Cook in the same boiling water for 5 to 7 minutes until tender but not soft. Remove the cooled potatoes to a dish-cloth to drain. Immerse corn in the same ice bath until cool. Cut each potato into quarters and place in a large bowl.
Remove corn from water and also let drain. Use a chef's knife to cut the kernels off each ear. Add kernels to bowl. Add grape tomatoes, onion, and whole basil leaves. Add olive oil and lemon juice and toss gently to combine. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
Yield: 6 servings
Rosemary Syrup
6 small sprigs fresh rosemary, plus more for garnish
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups good-quality peach nectar
3 ripe peaches, pitted and sliced into thin half-moons (about 18 slices each)
1 ice cube tray frozen lemon juice (12 cubes equals 1 cup of juice)
1 to 1 1/2 cups water
In a medium saucepan, combine the rosemary sprigs, sugar, and water, and bring to a simmer. Let cook for about 10 minutes until slightly thickened and well-infused.
Remove from heat and strain. Discard rosemary sprigs. Let cool before using.
In a large pitcher, combine cooled syrup, peach nectar, peach slices, and lemon juice ice cubes. Add enough water (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups) to top off, leaving room for additional ice cubes to serve.
Add more ice right before serving. Serve a fresh rosemary sprig in each glass.
Blueberry Clafouti
Yield: 8 servings
1 1/2 pints blueberries, washed and drained
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch fine salt
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Place blueberries in the bottom of a small rectangular glass pan (about 8 by 10 inches).
In a medium bowl, crack eggs and whisk lightly. Add sugar and continue whisking until mixture thickens and is pale yellow. Add milk and vanilla; whisk to combine. Add flour and whisk to combine. Add a pinch of fine salt and whisk to incorporate. Pour mixture over berries.
Bake on the center rack of the oven until the clafouti has puffed and the center bounces back when lightly pressed, about 45 minutes, rotating once.
Remove from oven and let cool slightly before cutting. Slice into 8 equal pieces and gently remove from pan with a spatula or cake server. Dust with powdered sugar and serve immediately.
So, I've been reading my Home Girl book about buying a house on my own. As expected, a lot of it is devoted to finances, which has inspired me to get my own finances organized as I prepare to get pre-approved for a mortgage. (Yikes!) I figured that it wouldn't help me if I showed up at the bank or to meet the mortgage broker with my assorted papers falling out of a file folder in a chaotic mess.
So, with my trusty label maker (an organized girl's best friend!), I went to work on a file folder rack that I bought.
In less than half an hour my finances were in order, labelled into various files related to work contracts and pay stubs, bank statements, RRSPs and other investment statements, taxes and all documents related to my car and insurance.
Tell me which bank wouldn't loan a girl like me money for her own home?!
So, with my trusty label maker (an organized girl's best friend!), I went to work on a file folder rack that I bought.
In less than half an hour my finances were in order, labelled into various files related to work contracts and pay stubs, bank statements, RRSPs and other investment statements, taxes and all documents related to my car and insurance.
Tell me which bank wouldn't loan a girl like me money for her own home?!
Labels: Life
While tidying up around my house last weekend, I realized that I had been slagging off on the maintenance of my scrapbook these past few months. I had more than 20 magazines from November piled up on the floor of my office/scrapbooking room.
To add further add to the backlog, in the past two days I have either received new issues to my subscriptions or I have bought additional magazines.
So this Sunday, as it's supposed to be a rainy April 1, I have scheduled some much needed scrapbooking time. I will rent some movies and plop myself in front of my TV and rip up the magazines, for a future scrapbooking session of gluing them in.
To add further add to the backlog, in the past two days I have either received new issues to my subscriptions or I have bought additional magazines.
So this Sunday, as it's supposed to be a rainy April 1, I have scheduled some much needed scrapbooking time. I will rent some movies and plop myself in front of my TV and rip up the magazines, for a future scrapbooking session of gluing them in.
Labels: Magazines, Scrapbooking
Prince Christian Heads to School
0 Comments Published by Alexandria on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 7:13 p.m..
Little Danish Prince Christian arrived for his first day of nursery school (really like a glamourized version of daycare) at Queen Louise's Child Care Centre in Fredensborg. His dad Crown Prince Frederik carried him part of the way while he walked part of the way on his own. Mommy Crown Princess Mary followed with Christian's purple backpack in hand.
Christian looks like such a little man in his pants and pea coat, walking on his own! He looks much more grown up (as much as one can be a "grown up" at 18 months of course) than he did last month in Switzerland in his snowsuit and hat. He looks like a little boy now!
Christian looks like such a little man in his pants and pea coat, walking on his own! He looks much more grown up (as much as one can be a "grown up" at 18 months of course) than he did last month in Switzerland in his snowsuit and hat. He looks like a little boy now!
To start this story, I need to go back about two weeks. When I was talking to my group of immediate friends, two of whom had recently joined Facebook, where they had become acquainted with a host of former classmates from elementary school, middle school, highschool and their respective universities (all six of us went to different universities). They were both chatting away about all the interesting stuff they had learned about our mutual common classmates, marvelling especially about all the people who had gone away, had amazing adventures then come back to our hometown. The two of them kept insisting that the other two in the group (me being one of them) also join so that we, too could catch up with these classmates. I kept resisting, saying that between The Royal Realm, this blog and my usual website readings, I had enough of the internet on my plate.
And then last week, while talking to some co-workers, Facebook came up in the conversation. Apparently all of them had joined, too -- even the most unexpected member of the team had a Facebook account. Despite the comment, "C'mon Alex, all the cool kids are on it," I resisted.
But fate has a way of working its magic ... When I went back to my desk, what should I find in my inbox, but an invitation from a university classmate to join Facebook! So I did because at that point people from three different groups in my life had brought it up in the span of a week.
And so last Wednesday the Facebook addiction came to me. The people that cropped up seemingly out of thin air and wanted to be my friend. The people whom I found while exploring other people's pages and wanted to be their friends. I couldn't believe how many people still live in our city, all within a 15-25 km radius of me, yet I never see any of them around while out and about.
It was exciting and fun to catch up with many of them. Even this guy who had a big crush on me in highschool but I was too busy chasing a tall, dark haired guy with a motorcycle to notice him. The guy who had the crush on me is now dating someone serious but we've had some good chats on my "wall."
The one thing that surprises me each and everytime I discover someone new that I went to school with is how many of them are married and have kids now. Some of them even have two kids! And the girls from highschool whom, had I been asked back then if they would be married now, I would've said "Heck, no!" are married. And as far as I can tell happily so. Some of these classmates are even married to each other.
Reading people's stories, their lives are much more exciting than mine! They are going out through the work week (okay, this makes me sound very, very lame!) and having drinks and partying. They have travelled extensively around the world -- with pictures of themselves in front of the Eiffel Tower, the Mayan ruins, Big Ben, the jungles of Kenya, South Korea and Japan, and a million other places with dreams of more places to go to. Meanwhile, I've been stuck here in Mississauga, taking the GO train back and forth to the Big Smoke ... It makes me wonder if life is passing me by and if I shouldn't be doing more with my life. If I should put my plans to buy a house on hold and take that money and go travelling instead. If I should get out there on a Tuesday evening and have a pint and hit the dance floor instead of crawling into my pyjamas and reaching for the remote control ... I want to have stories and pictures to share on my Facebook page, too. I want stories to remember when I am 80 and rocking myself to sleep in a chair staring out at the stars ...
And then last week, while talking to some co-workers, Facebook came up in the conversation. Apparently all of them had joined, too -- even the most unexpected member of the team had a Facebook account. Despite the comment, "C'mon Alex, all the cool kids are on it," I resisted.
But fate has a way of working its magic ... When I went back to my desk, what should I find in my inbox, but an invitation from a university classmate to join Facebook! So I did because at that point people from three different groups in my life had brought it up in the span of a week.
And so last Wednesday the Facebook addiction came to me. The people that cropped up seemingly out of thin air and wanted to be my friend. The people whom I found while exploring other people's pages and wanted to be their friends. I couldn't believe how many people still live in our city, all within a 15-25 km radius of me, yet I never see any of them around while out and about.
It was exciting and fun to catch up with many of them. Even this guy who had a big crush on me in highschool but I was too busy chasing a tall, dark haired guy with a motorcycle to notice him. The guy who had the crush on me is now dating someone serious but we've had some good chats on my "wall."
The one thing that surprises me each and everytime I discover someone new that I went to school with is how many of them are married and have kids now. Some of them even have two kids! And the girls from highschool whom, had I been asked back then if they would be married now, I would've said "Heck, no!" are married. And as far as I can tell happily so. Some of these classmates are even married to each other.
Reading people's stories, their lives are much more exciting than mine! They are going out through the work week (okay, this makes me sound very, very lame!) and having drinks and partying. They have travelled extensively around the world -- with pictures of themselves in front of the Eiffel Tower, the Mayan ruins, Big Ben, the jungles of Kenya, South Korea and Japan, and a million other places with dreams of more places to go to. Meanwhile, I've been stuck here in Mississauga, taking the GO train back and forth to the Big Smoke ... It makes me wonder if life is passing me by and if I shouldn't be doing more with my life. If I should put my plans to buy a house on hold and take that money and go travelling instead. If I should get out there on a Tuesday evening and have a pint and hit the dance floor instead of crawling into my pyjamas and reaching for the remote control ... I want to have stories and pictures to share on my Facebook page, too. I want stories to remember when I am 80 and rocking myself to sleep in a chair staring out at the stars ...
Labels: Life
Do not undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others.
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Do not set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is important for you.
Do not take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life. For without them, life is meaningless.
Do not let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past nor for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.
Do not give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
It is a fragile thread that binds us to each other. Do not be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn to be brave.
Do not shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give love; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it to tightly. In addition, the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Do not dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be without hope, to be without hope is to be without purpose.
Do not run through life so fast that you forget not only where you have been but also where you are going. Life is not a race but a journey to be savored each step of the way.
So smile and let the sun shine through, for there's someone, somewhere, watching over you.
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Do not set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is important for you.
Do not take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life. For without them, life is meaningless.
Do not let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past nor for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.
Do not give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
It is a fragile thread that binds us to each other. Do not be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn to be brave.
Do not shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give love; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it to tightly. In addition, the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Do not dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be without hope, to be without hope is to be without purpose.
Do not run through life so fast that you forget not only where you have been but also where you are going. Life is not a race but a journey to be savored each step of the way.
So smile and let the sun shine through, for there's someone, somewhere, watching over you.
Labels: Quotes
After a while you learn the difference between holding a hand, and chaining a soul.
You learn that love doesn't mean leaning, and company doesn't mean security, that kisses aren't contracts, and you begin to accept your defeats with your head held high and your eyes wide open with the grace of a woman not the grief of a child.
You learn to build your roads on today because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain, and futures have a way of falling down mid flight. After a while you learn even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So plant your own garden, and decorate your own soul instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers and you learn that you really can endure, that you really are strong, and you really do have worth.
Over and over you learn and learn, though you may not want to let go, with every goodbye you learn.
You learn that love doesn't mean leaning, and company doesn't mean security, that kisses aren't contracts, and you begin to accept your defeats with your head held high and your eyes wide open with the grace of a woman not the grief of a child.
You learn to build your roads on today because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain, and futures have a way of falling down mid flight. After a while you learn even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So plant your own garden, and decorate your own soul instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers and you learn that you really can endure, that you really are strong, and you really do have worth.
Over and over you learn and learn, though you may not want to let go, with every goodbye you learn.
Labels: Quotes
Yesterday was The Royal Realm's First Awards Gala, where we honoured three of our members (Teresa, Mia and Karin) for their many contributions to the forum. (The gala also marked TRR's six month anniversary.)
It has been weeks in the planning where we planned everything from the seating arrangements, the locale, guest list, the menu and the awards.
Everyone even spent weeks planning what they would wear, from the gowns to the shoes to the jewellery and of course, the tiara. (What would a royal gala be without a tiara?!)
So this was my outfit, which everyone included in their signatures:
But the most fun part of the evening turned out to be the funny photo captions everyone came up with, and eventually people started feeding off each other's comments. Here are a few of mine:
All in all a good time was had by everyone who participated.
It has been weeks in the planning where we planned everything from the seating arrangements, the locale, guest list, the menu and the awards.
Everyone even spent weeks planning what they would wear, from the gowns to the shoes to the jewellery and of course, the tiara. (What would a royal gala be without a tiara?!)
So this was my outfit, which everyone included in their signatures:
But the most fun part of the evening turned out to be the funny photo captions everyone came up with, and eventually people started feeding off each other's comments. Here are a few of mine:
All in all a good time was had by everyone who participated.
Labels: Royalty
Yesterday I went on a bit of a shopping spree. I don't quite know what inspired it all as I have been good with controlling the shopping -- what with saving for a down payment and worrying about mortgage payments and all. But yesterday I set out for the mall to exchange a T-shirt for one of my cousins as the one shirt I got her for her upcoming birthday was rather see through. And of course, as inevitable, you set out to the mall to go to one store and on the way to that store you end up in another store and buy something else altogether!
So I set out for two tasks at the mall: To exchange Stephanie's T-shirt and to take my black boots to the shoe repair place and have them fix my heel. Simple enough, right?
So within the first 10 minutes at the mall I got my boots fixed. Sticking to the plan so far, good for me ...
Next 10 minutes at the mall, with some hassle at the store, I am able to exchange Stephanie's top. A+ for Alex so far ...
Then this is where I get way warded ...
I had been eyeing a jean jacket in a store for a while. They were running a 'Buy one, get the second at half off' sale for a few weeks. I had been to the mall by work at lunchtime and had tried the jacket on and it looked nice on me. But I had had trouble finding a second item to get at half off. So because I had done so well with my morning tasks, I decided that I could just get the jean jacket and not a second item since there wasn't much else that I liked in the store anyway. That way I would actually be saving myself money, right? So off I go to the store, which of course, is on the opposite end of the mall. As I'm walking to the store with the jean jacket, I passed by this store that is really meant for teenage girls with skinny ninny bodies. But they had these cute oversized tank tops with cute patterns that caught my eye. Up close the shirts were cute but not quite me. On my way out the store this rack of jackets caught my eye, especially this cute little cream and beige tweed number. And then I saw the sign: $19.50. How could I go wrong with a jacket for $19.50? It couldn't hurt to try at least, right? So I found one in my size -- unfortunately I had to go up to a medium which was a bit of a blow to the self-esteem since I'm used to fitting into a small or extra small, but considering that the store was for girls who regularly wear a size minus 2, I felt okay. The jacket looked ever so cute and preppy on me, and I have a pair of beige pants that would go so well with it, so it's not as if I would need to buy pants, too right ...
Then at the store with the jean jacket I found a lacy camisole that would go perfect underneath it, and even though it wasn't on sale and nearly as expensive as the jacket at $18, I bought it, too.
Then, at the grocery store -- which is actually a super store which carries clothes, furniture, books, housewares, electronics, has a pharmacy, a photoshop, a wine shop, a dry cleaner and an opticians in it -- I found some fresh apple green vases. It was so spring and it matched with my colour scheme and it was on sale that I just couldn't pass them up.
So, three hours later and $150 later, my purchases:
And on Wednesday, I found a perfect little T-shirt for Hayden:
His dad is a helicopter pilot/mechanic and it's shockingly hard, nearly impossible to find things with helicopters on them. I know because I tried really hard for his baby shower and for his welcome to the world gift.
So I set out for two tasks at the mall: To exchange Stephanie's T-shirt and to take my black boots to the shoe repair place and have them fix my heel. Simple enough, right?
So within the first 10 minutes at the mall I got my boots fixed. Sticking to the plan so far, good for me ...
Next 10 minutes at the mall, with some hassle at the store, I am able to exchange Stephanie's top. A+ for Alex so far ...
Then this is where I get way warded ...
I had been eyeing a jean jacket in a store for a while. They were running a 'Buy one, get the second at half off' sale for a few weeks. I had been to the mall by work at lunchtime and had tried the jacket on and it looked nice on me. But I had had trouble finding a second item to get at half off. So because I had done so well with my morning tasks, I decided that I could just get the jean jacket and not a second item since there wasn't much else that I liked in the store anyway. That way I would actually be saving myself money, right? So off I go to the store, which of course, is on the opposite end of the mall. As I'm walking to the store with the jean jacket, I passed by this store that is really meant for teenage girls with skinny ninny bodies. But they had these cute oversized tank tops with cute patterns that caught my eye. Up close the shirts were cute but not quite me. On my way out the store this rack of jackets caught my eye, especially this cute little cream and beige tweed number. And then I saw the sign: $19.50. How could I go wrong with a jacket for $19.50? It couldn't hurt to try at least, right? So I found one in my size -- unfortunately I had to go up to a medium which was a bit of a blow to the self-esteem since I'm used to fitting into a small or extra small, but considering that the store was for girls who regularly wear a size minus 2, I felt okay. The jacket looked ever so cute and preppy on me, and I have a pair of beige pants that would go so well with it, so it's not as if I would need to buy pants, too right ...
Then at the store with the jean jacket I found a lacy camisole that would go perfect underneath it, and even though it wasn't on sale and nearly as expensive as the jacket at $18, I bought it, too.
Then, at the grocery store -- which is actually a super store which carries clothes, furniture, books, housewares, electronics, has a pharmacy, a photoshop, a wine shop, a dry cleaner and an opticians in it -- I found some fresh apple green vases. It was so spring and it matched with my colour scheme and it was on sale that I just couldn't pass them up.
So, three hours later and $150 later, my purchases:
And on Wednesday, I found a perfect little T-shirt for Hayden:
His dad is a helicopter pilot/mechanic and it's shockingly hard, nearly impossible to find things with helicopters on them. I know because I tried really hard for his baby shower and for his welcome to the world gift.
Labels: Life
Luxembourg Visit to Belgium
Published by Alexandria on Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at 9:39 p.m..
This week, from March 20 to March 22, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa paid an official visit to Belgium. It was also a bit of a family visit: King Albert is Grand Duke Henri's uncle. (The Grand Duke's mom, the late Grand Duchess Josephine was King Albert's sister.)
Their first day was a bit of a windy one, but Maria Teresa looked so elegant in her cream knee-length jacket with the beading around the mid-section. For the evening banquet she donned a pretty purple number, but unfortunately she thought that it would be fashionable to match her dress to her lipstick. Thumbs down to that one. Queen Paola, who looked rather humerous earlier in the day in her tangerine-coloured balloon skirt, looked much better in her sequined and glittery black ensemble. Crown Princess Mathilde looked smashing in her fuschia pink gown -- very pretty alongside Maria Teresa's purple number.
The Grand Ducal couple were so cute throughout this trip: Holding hands and whispering to each other. Twenty-six years of marriage, five kids and a grandson later, they are still ever so in love. So sweet to see!
Plus the Grand Duchess looked very elegant and stylish during this trip.
I have acquired a new respect for this couple.
Their first day was a bit of a windy one, but Maria Teresa looked so elegant in her cream knee-length jacket with the beading around the mid-section. For the evening banquet she donned a pretty purple number, but unfortunately she thought that it would be fashionable to match her dress to her lipstick. Thumbs down to that one. Queen Paola, who looked rather humerous earlier in the day in her tangerine-coloured balloon skirt, looked much better in her sequined and glittery black ensemble. Crown Princess Mathilde looked smashing in her fuschia pink gown -- very pretty alongside Maria Teresa's purple number.
The Grand Ducal couple were so cute throughout this trip: Holding hands and whispering to each other. Twenty-six years of marriage, five kids and a grandson later, they are still ever so in love. So sweet to see!
Plus the Grand Duchess looked very elegant and stylish during this trip.
I have acquired a new respect for this couple.
Labels: Belgian, Luxembourg, Royalty
So spring is coming and I'm ready for it to come! After a slow start to winter which brought bitterly cold days and never enough layers of clothes, I am ready to shed the heavy winter jackets, scarves, hats and mittens of winter for lighter clothes and bright colours.
This Sunday morning, while it is bright and sunny outside, there is newly fallen snow on the ground. So to help usher in spring, I have changed my banners. In place of the green and pink flowers, pink birds and flowers.
Chirp, chirp, tweet, tweet, welcome spring!
This Sunday morning, while it is bright and sunny outside, there is newly fallen snow on the ground. So to help usher in spring, I have changed my banners. In place of the green and pink flowers, pink birds and flowers.
Chirp, chirp, tweet, tweet, welcome spring!
I've always been a believer of fate. That somehow there are signs in the world that will guide you as you make decisions in your life or help lead you to people you need to meet or get to know. Or that events bring people together, people who will change your life in some way or introduce you to people who will.
Fate can linger in anything and everything. The smallest and most mundane of things, like a billboard advertising a lunch special just as your stomach growls, or directly in people who tell you about jobs in the field you want to pursue.
On Tuesday, fate came in an e-mail. I shop occasionally from Chapters Indigo (the Canadian equivalent of Amazon), and occasionally I receive e-mails with special or recommendations. In Tuesday's e-mail there was a recommendation for a book called Home Girl: The Single Woman's Guide to Buying Real Estate in Canada by Brenda Bouw. It's as if Chapters knew that I had started house hunting up again and that I was actively pursuing it and that this book could help me navigate the waters or buying a home.
The book description:
Statistics show that Canadian women now outnumber men in buying a house or condo. Women see the value in owning property. They are no longer waiting for, or expecting, a “Mr. Right” to come along before taking one of the key financial steps of their lives. Such is the case with the author of Home Girls: The Single Woman’s Guide to Buying Real Estate in Canada
If this doesn't scream "Alex at this present moment in time" then I don't know what does!
I came home yesterday and found my Amazon order in my mail. Guess what I'll be reading (and probably highlighting and making notes from) over the next few days?!
Fate can linger in anything and everything. The smallest and most mundane of things, like a billboard advertising a lunch special just as your stomach growls, or directly in people who tell you about jobs in the field you want to pursue.
On Tuesday, fate came in an e-mail. I shop occasionally from Chapters Indigo (the Canadian equivalent of Amazon), and occasionally I receive e-mails with special or recommendations. In Tuesday's e-mail there was a recommendation for a book called Home Girl: The Single Woman's Guide to Buying Real Estate in Canada by Brenda Bouw. It's as if Chapters knew that I had started house hunting up again and that I was actively pursuing it and that this book could help me navigate the waters or buying a home.
The book description:
Statistics show that Canadian women now outnumber men in buying a house or condo. Women see the value in owning property. They are no longer waiting for, or expecting, a “Mr. Right” to come along before taking one of the key financial steps of their lives. Such is the case with the author of Home Girls: The Single Woman’s Guide to Buying Real Estate in Canada
Brenda Bouw’s own experiences in buying and selling real estate, and those of other single women she interviewed for the book—as well as insights from real estate professionals—are built into this informative and entertaining guide. If you are looking at buying a first property, you’ll find out about the pitfalls you need to avoid and the necessary steps you must take to make that purchase a success story. If you already own real estate, you might be interested in renovating your house, buying an investment property or even becoming a landlord. Here are some of the key concepts:
- How to tell if you’re ready to own your own home
- What to look for in a house
- The role of a real estate agent
- The offer, the deal, the closing and the aftermath
- The dozens of little expenses that you might not be aware of before it’s time to pay for them
- What renovations to tackle yourself, and when it’s time to call a pro
- How to become a landlord—and if you really want to be one
If this doesn't scream "Alex at this present moment in time" then I don't know what does!
I came home yesterday and found my Amazon order in my mail. Guess what I'll be reading (and probably highlighting and making notes from) over the next few days?!
Lululemon Manifesto
Drink FRESH water and as much water as you can. Water flushes unwanted toxins and keeps your brain sharp.
Drink FRESH water and as much water as you can. Water flushes unwanted toxins and keeps your brain sharp.
Coke, Pepsi and all other pops will be known as the cigarettes of the future. Colas are NOT a substitute for water. Colas are just another cheap drug made to look great by advertising.
Listen, listen, listen, and then ask strategic questions.
SWEAT once a day to regenerate your skin.
Compliments from the heart elevate another person’s spirit and will often result in an encouraging word from someone else … a domino effect.
Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself.
Life is full of setbacks. Success is determined by how you handle setbacks.
Write down your short and long tem GOALS four times a year. 2 personal, 2 business and one health goal. A university found only 3 percent of the students had written goals. 20 years later, the same 3 percent were wealthier than the other 97% combined.
You ALWAYS have choice and the conscious brain can only hold one thought at a time. Choose a positive thought.
Communication is COMPLICATED. Each person is raised in a different family with a different definition of each word.
Love.
Jealousy works the opposite way you want it to.
Nature wants us to be mediocre because we have a greater chance to survive and reproduce. Mediocre is as close to the bottom as it is to the top. Be creative. Do one thing a day that scares you.
Take various vitamins. You never know what small mineral can eliminate the bottleneck to everlasting health.
Dance, sing, floss and travel.
Do not use cleaning chemicals on your kitchen counters. Try vinegar and lemon. Someone will inevitably make a sandwich on your counter.
Just like you did not know what an orgasm was before you had one, nature does not let you know how great children are until you have them. Children are the orgasm of life.
Friends are more important than money. Don’t trust that an old age pension will be sufficient.
Live near the ocean and inhale the pure salt air that flowers over the water. Vancouver will do nicely. Stress is related to 99% of all illness.
One hour of aerobic exercise will release endorphins to regenerate cells and offset stress.
A daily hit of athletic induced endorphins will give you the power to make better decisions and help you be at peace with yourself.
Wake up and realize you are surrounded by amazing friends.
Do it now. The world is changing AT SUCH A RAPID rate that waiting to implement changes will leave you two steps behind. DO IT NOW, DO IT NOW!
Source: Taken from the Lululemon Athletica website.
This past Sunday was daylight savings time here. This year it came a few weeks earlier to turn the clocks ahead one hour.
I didn't quite notice the one hour loss as my back hurt on Saturday night and I took some medication that makes me drowsy so I was in bed pretty early and slept through till the morning, but this morning at work it finally hit me. I was so tired that while walking through the PATH (the underground walkway that has shopping and restaurants and keeps you warm and dry during cold or rainy days) I didn't even have the energy to peruse the magazine stores or the clothing shops, which I usually enjoy. Which meant that I got to my office earlier than usual. The first thing I did was to crack open a can of Coke Zero at 8:38 in the morning.
Most days a tall cup of coffee and my morning dose of royal news is good enough to get me going, but some days I'm so tired that I need both caffeine and sugar. Today was one of those days.
The one upside of daylight saving time has been that it's still light out by the time I get home and have had dinner. Monday and Tuesday especially when the weather was very mild and it was sunny outside, I felt renewed and energized. Today it's still very mild (14 degrees celcius!) but it's grey and rainy outside. By Friday we'll be back to seasonal temperatures with a chance of snow flurries.
With the hint of spring these past two days I'm excited for the warmer weather to come. I sent out my first Easter gift to a friend overseas and I had so much fun looking at the pretty pastel-coloured chocolates and the sunny Easter cards with bunnies and chicks on them. I even tried on some spring clothes afterwards. I can't wait to shed my sweaters and my heavy wool and cashmere winter jackets, my scarves and my hats and mittens. I have beautiful brightly coloured scarves to wear for spring and looking through my wardrobe the other day, I have fun tops for summer that I can't wait to wear again.
Come on spring!
I didn't quite notice the one hour loss as my back hurt on Saturday night and I took some medication that makes me drowsy so I was in bed pretty early and slept through till the morning, but this morning at work it finally hit me. I was so tired that while walking through the PATH (the underground walkway that has shopping and restaurants and keeps you warm and dry during cold or rainy days) I didn't even have the energy to peruse the magazine stores or the clothing shops, which I usually enjoy. Which meant that I got to my office earlier than usual. The first thing I did was to crack open a can of Coke Zero at 8:38 in the morning.
Most days a tall cup of coffee and my morning dose of royal news is good enough to get me going, but some days I'm so tired that I need both caffeine and sugar. Today was one of those days.
The one upside of daylight saving time has been that it's still light out by the time I get home and have had dinner. Monday and Tuesday especially when the weather was very mild and it was sunny outside, I felt renewed and energized. Today it's still very mild (14 degrees celcius!) but it's grey and rainy outside. By Friday we'll be back to seasonal temperatures with a chance of snow flurries.
With the hint of spring these past two days I'm excited for the warmer weather to come. I sent out my first Easter gift to a friend overseas and I had so much fun looking at the pretty pastel-coloured chocolates and the sunny Easter cards with bunnies and chicks on them. I even tried on some spring clothes afterwards. I can't wait to shed my sweaters and my heavy wool and cashmere winter jackets, my scarves and my hats and mittens. I have beautiful brightly coloured scarves to wear for spring and looking through my wardrobe the other day, I have fun tops for summer that I can't wait to wear again.
Come on spring!
7:17 - Gilmore Girls Only
0 Comments Published by Alexandria on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 6:10 p.m..
So I am know that I am very late with this update and commentary from last Tuesday’s episode, entitled “Gilmore Girls Only.”
Show summary: Lorelai, Rory and Emily go on a road trip for Mia’s wedding. Emily intends to go with them but to head to the spa while Lorelai and Rory are at the wedding, but upon hearing that Emily is with them, Mia invites Emily to the wedding, too, which is at her home.
During the roadtrip, Emily becomes increasingly annoyed at hearing about the good times Lorelai and Rory had with Mia. At the wedding Emily is rude to the guests and Mia can sense Emily’s animosity to her.
Logan, having returned from his Vegas trip with Finn and Colin, is avoiding the office. Mitchum shows up at Logan’s apartment where he demands that Logan meet up with the legal department to sort out the business with the failed internet venture. Frustrated with Logan’s child-like behaviour, Rory decides to go to Mia’s wedding with her mom. At the wedding, Logan shows up but Rory refuses to talk with him. At the end, she goes outside to see him, where he has been waiting the entire time. He tells her that he’s quit his family business.
With Lane about to give birth any day, Zach becomes increasingly nervous about fatherhood and turns to Luke for advice, but Luke doesn’t want to be a father-figure to Zach. Ultimately Luke tells Zach that he’ll figure out fatherhood just as Luke did not so long ago.
Lane and Zach invite Luke over for dinner where they ask him to be the godfather to their twin sons.
At the end of the show Rory gets a phone call from Zach that Lane has had her sons.
Emily admits a fondness for Will Smith.
My commentary: When were Lane, Zach and Luke so close that they would ask him to be the godfather to their first born sons? Wouldn’t Gil or Brian have made a more logical choice? At least Gil since he’s a dad—and a dad for a lot longer than Luke.
Emily was obviously uncomfortable with all the mentions of Mia, yet why did she go on the roadtrip then? She knew that the point of the roadtrip was to go to Mia’s wedding, so naturally Lorelai and Rory would talk about her or at least have some comments referring to Mia. And then later, when Mia invites Emily to the wedding, Rory accepts on her grandmother’s behalf. Wasn’t Rory the very one who told her mom to “dial back the Mia talk” to be more sensitive to her grandmother? And here she is being rather presumptuous by accepting an invite to Mia’s wedding on her grandmother’s behalf. Firstly, she knew that her grandmother had those spa treatments planned and secondly, she knew that her grandmother wasn’t thrilled with all the Mia talk so why would she want to be in the same room as Mia, celebrating the happiest day of her life?
Despite Emily’s rude behaviour at the wedding (eg. checking her watch, asking a guest for a glass of water), Mia’s doesn’t let any of it bother her and instead sees through to the reasons for Emily’s behaviour (her insecurities about being a mom and having missed out on being a part of so much of Lorelai and Rory’s life). Instead, Mia says to Emily that moms don’t want to think that their kids don’t need them anymore. Even if Lorelai was an embarassment to her mom because she was 16 and pregnant, Emily still wanted to be part of her daughter’s life.
Emily, for all of her steeliness and disapproval, is at heart very proud of what her daughter and granddaughter have achieved. She lists to Mia all of Rory’s accomplishments at Chilton and at Yale, as if to say that while Mia may be able to list Lorelai’s accomplishments during those years where she was a parental figure to Lorelai, in the interim years, Emily can list all of Rory’s accomplishments back to Mia, which Mia was not a part of.
At the end of the episode, Lorelai acknowledges to Emily that it must have been hard for Emily to have “lost” her all those years, but that she wasn’t really lost. I think that this was a big moment for mother and daughter, but as Emily and Lorelai’s strained relationship has shown over the years, one step forward inevitably means two steps back soon enough.
Logan deciding to quit his family business and walking out on Mitchum in a way is a parallel to Lorelai walking out on her family at 16. Like Logan, Lorelai was expected to carry on the Gilmore name in all of its lustre. Yet she became pregnant, didn’t go to an ivy league school and then abruptly left the Gilmore home with an infant Rory. In much the same manner that no one walks out on Mitchum, no one walks out on Emily either.
Some funny moments:
When Richard enters his office in a track suit while Lorelai is helping Emily sort out some tax stuff, she asks him: “Are you having lunch with Tony Soprano?”
When Emily uses the childlock on Lorelai for rolling the windows up and down and up and down again.
When Mia finds out that Emily is with them, Lorelai says: “We picked her up on the side of the road hitchhiking her way to a rock concert.”
Good old Luke was evident as can be when he said to Zach: “I don’t like to talk this early in the morning” when Zach showed up before his shift to help Luke set up the diner. Then Zach kept yammering on about music and Luke let out a big sigh.
“No salt but some Splenda” — okay, I can’t remember who said this at Mia’s house, but it was funny!
“The sooner we’re married, the sooner we eat cake.” —Howard to Mia
“My mother doesn’t play well with others.” —Lorelai to Mia about her mom’s rude behaviour during the wedding
My sole BB gripe about this episode: At the beginning of the episode, when Rory is trying on interview clothes and Lorelai brings up the trip, Rory asks her mother why she planned the trip in the first place. Lorelai says that she originally planned the trip as a getaway for her and Christopher (here is where Lorelai trails off) but since the marriage is over she doesn’t want to go alone so she wants Rory to go with her. Here comes the venting part: I just don’t get why they needed to bring Christopher up at all. It seems clear to me that the writers are throwing in these references so that it’s clear to the viewers that out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind in regards to the Christopher and Lorelai marriage. But to me it seems like throwing salt in the wounds and won’t make the inevitable Java Junkie reunion less of a jolt (which will take place April 17 apparently). Lorelai seems pretty free and clear of Christopher and the actual signing of the divorce papers is only a formality now, so why this reference to him or last week’s reference to him by Miss Patty?
Show summary: Lorelai, Rory and Emily go on a road trip for Mia’s wedding. Emily intends to go with them but to head to the spa while Lorelai and Rory are at the wedding, but upon hearing that Emily is with them, Mia invites Emily to the wedding, too, which is at her home.
During the roadtrip, Emily becomes increasingly annoyed at hearing about the good times Lorelai and Rory had with Mia. At the wedding Emily is rude to the guests and Mia can sense Emily’s animosity to her.
Logan, having returned from his Vegas trip with Finn and Colin, is avoiding the office. Mitchum shows up at Logan’s apartment where he demands that Logan meet up with the legal department to sort out the business with the failed internet venture. Frustrated with Logan’s child-like behaviour, Rory decides to go to Mia’s wedding with her mom. At the wedding, Logan shows up but Rory refuses to talk with him. At the end, she goes outside to see him, where he has been waiting the entire time. He tells her that he’s quit his family business.
With Lane about to give birth any day, Zach becomes increasingly nervous about fatherhood and turns to Luke for advice, but Luke doesn’t want to be a father-figure to Zach. Ultimately Luke tells Zach that he’ll figure out fatherhood just as Luke did not so long ago.
Lane and Zach invite Luke over for dinner where they ask him to be the godfather to their twin sons.
At the end of the show Rory gets a phone call from Zach that Lane has had her sons.
Emily admits a fondness for Will Smith.
My commentary: When were Lane, Zach and Luke so close that they would ask him to be the godfather to their first born sons? Wouldn’t Gil or Brian have made a more logical choice? At least Gil since he’s a dad—and a dad for a lot longer than Luke.
Emily was obviously uncomfortable with all the mentions of Mia, yet why did she go on the roadtrip then? She knew that the point of the roadtrip was to go to Mia’s wedding, so naturally Lorelai and Rory would talk about her or at least have some comments referring to Mia. And then later, when Mia invites Emily to the wedding, Rory accepts on her grandmother’s behalf. Wasn’t Rory the very one who told her mom to “dial back the Mia talk” to be more sensitive to her grandmother? And here she is being rather presumptuous by accepting an invite to Mia’s wedding on her grandmother’s behalf. Firstly, she knew that her grandmother had those spa treatments planned and secondly, she knew that her grandmother wasn’t thrilled with all the Mia talk so why would she want to be in the same room as Mia, celebrating the happiest day of her life?
Despite Emily’s rude behaviour at the wedding (eg. checking her watch, asking a guest for a glass of water), Mia’s doesn’t let any of it bother her and instead sees through to the reasons for Emily’s behaviour (her insecurities about being a mom and having missed out on being a part of so much of Lorelai and Rory’s life). Instead, Mia says to Emily that moms don’t want to think that their kids don’t need them anymore. Even if Lorelai was an embarassment to her mom because she was 16 and pregnant, Emily still wanted to be part of her daughter’s life.
Emily, for all of her steeliness and disapproval, is at heart very proud of what her daughter and granddaughter have achieved. She lists to Mia all of Rory’s accomplishments at Chilton and at Yale, as if to say that while Mia may be able to list Lorelai’s accomplishments during those years where she was a parental figure to Lorelai, in the interim years, Emily can list all of Rory’s accomplishments back to Mia, which Mia was not a part of.
At the end of the episode, Lorelai acknowledges to Emily that it must have been hard for Emily to have “lost” her all those years, but that she wasn’t really lost. I think that this was a big moment for mother and daughter, but as Emily and Lorelai’s strained relationship has shown over the years, one step forward inevitably means two steps back soon enough.
Logan deciding to quit his family business and walking out on Mitchum in a way is a parallel to Lorelai walking out on her family at 16. Like Logan, Lorelai was expected to carry on the Gilmore name in all of its lustre. Yet she became pregnant, didn’t go to an ivy league school and then abruptly left the Gilmore home with an infant Rory. In much the same manner that no one walks out on Mitchum, no one walks out on Emily either.
Some funny moments:
When Richard enters his office in a track suit while Lorelai is helping Emily sort out some tax stuff, she asks him: “Are you having lunch with Tony Soprano?”
When Emily uses the childlock on Lorelai for rolling the windows up and down and up and down again.
When Mia finds out that Emily is with them, Lorelai says: “We picked her up on the side of the road hitchhiking her way to a rock concert.”
Good old Luke was evident as can be when he said to Zach: “I don’t like to talk this early in the morning” when Zach showed up before his shift to help Luke set up the diner. Then Zach kept yammering on about music and Luke let out a big sigh.
“No salt but some Splenda” — okay, I can’t remember who said this at Mia’s house, but it was funny!
“The sooner we’re married, the sooner we eat cake.” —Howard to Mia
“My mother doesn’t play well with others.” —Lorelai to Mia about her mom’s rude behaviour during the wedding
My sole BB gripe about this episode: At the beginning of the episode, when Rory is trying on interview clothes and Lorelai brings up the trip, Rory asks her mother why she planned the trip in the first place. Lorelai says that she originally planned the trip as a getaway for her and Christopher (here is where Lorelai trails off) but since the marriage is over she doesn’t want to go alone so she wants Rory to go with her. Here comes the venting part: I just don’t get why they needed to bring Christopher up at all. It seems clear to me that the writers are throwing in these references so that it’s clear to the viewers that out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind in regards to the Christopher and Lorelai marriage. But to me it seems like throwing salt in the wounds and won’t make the inevitable Java Junkie reunion less of a jolt (which will take place April 17 apparently). Lorelai seems pretty free and clear of Christopher and the actual signing of the divorce papers is only a formality now, so why this reference to him or last week’s reference to him by Miss Patty?
Labels: Gilmore Girls
Today is the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks in Madrid, which took the lives of 191 people and wounded more than 1,800 people who were on a morning train going about their lives on March 11, 2004, when a series of bombs went off at Atocha rail station in central Madrid.
King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia, Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia attended a memorial service where a towering 10-storey glass cylinder etched with grief-stricken condolences and messages were left at the time for the victims. (In 2005, on the first anniversary of the attack, a Forest of Remembrance was unveiled, which bears a grove of olive and cypress trees in a park in Madrid.)
King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia, Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia attended a memorial service where a towering 10-storey glass cylinder etched with grief-stricken condolences and messages were left at the time for the victims. (In 2005, on the first anniversary of the attack, a Forest of Remembrance was unveiled, which bears a grove of olive and cypress trees in a park in Madrid.)
Today, after two months off, I have started my house hunting again. I was doing a lot of reading and scouring in local papers and on the internet late last fall and went to a couple of developers in late November/early December, but then Christmas rolled around and I was busy shopping on the weekends. Then in January and February the weather was too cold and the roads too icy for me to be driving around. But today was a beautiful, spring-like day so I started my house hunting again.
I went back to a development I was looking at last December, a new development 15 minutes away from where I currently live now, called Milton Trails. It's nestled at the base of the Niagara Escarpment and is at the edge of the city, which is predominantly farms, nurseries and orchards. No doubt the area will grow in the coming years and become more of a busy city, but for now it's relatively untouched -- except of course for the 1,000+ homes being built in the area! But the city plans for the area includes lots of green spaces, even a couple of ponds. They are still in Phase 1 of the development there, which is about 750 homes from three builders: Fieldgate, Green Park and Arista.
When I was there in December I had my eye on two homes in particular, both of which were sold out, so I am waiting for Phase 2 to start. That way I'll have a better chance of buying a smaller home rather than the bigger lots and homes that are remaining. But as I found out today Phase 2 won't open until about July or so.
My favourite, which my mom and dad both also like, is the Cornwall by Fieldgate Homes. It's a 1,683 square foot home, which is a bit larger than I wanted to buy since it's just me and it has a living room and a family room, which is again more room than I would need -- or have the money to furnish -- but it is one of those homes that feels just right.
I went back to a development I was looking at last December, a new development 15 minutes away from where I currently live now, called Milton Trails. It's nestled at the base of the Niagara Escarpment and is at the edge of the city, which is predominantly farms, nurseries and orchards. No doubt the area will grow in the coming years and become more of a busy city, but for now it's relatively untouched -- except of course for the 1,000+ homes being built in the area! But the city plans for the area includes lots of green spaces, even a couple of ponds. They are still in Phase 1 of the development there, which is about 750 homes from three builders: Fieldgate, Green Park and Arista.
When I was there in December I had my eye on two homes in particular, both of which were sold out, so I am waiting for Phase 2 to start. That way I'll have a better chance of buying a smaller home rather than the bigger lots and homes that are remaining. But as I found out today Phase 2 won't open until about July or so.
My favourite, which my mom and dad both also like, is the Cornwall by Fieldgate Homes. It's a 1,683 square foot home, which is a bit larger than I wanted to buy since it's just me and it has a living room and a family room, which is again more room than I would need -- or have the money to furnish -- but it is one of those homes that feels just right.
Labels: Homes
Yesterday, I took my goddaughter Kimberly into Toronto to see Annie. It was the first musical I ever saw and I remember watching the video (starring Carol Burnett as Mrs. Hannigan) over and over again until I'm sure that the tape wore out. She's 11, so she is older than when I first fell in love with Annie, her dog Sandy and Daddy Warbucks, but she had a good time.
We took the train into the city, which we almost missed but got there with just seconds to spare.
When we were downtown in November (to see the Radiocity Rockettes, who were making their Canadian debut), we went to Shopsy's, a famed local delicatessen. The restaurant faces the Hummingbird Centre, where we were able to catch the animal trainers walking the camels before the show. That was pretty exciting for Kimberly -- and for me! When do you ever see three camels walking along Front Street?!
Anyways, so yesterday we decided to go to Richtree Market, which is a little "market" with various stations (stir fry, pasta, soup and salad, sandwich, omelet, seafood, waffle, ice cream, drink, dessert, etc.) where you can custom order your meal. For example, at the stir fry station you can pick out what vegetables and meats you want in your stir fry, whether you want it with noodles or rice, what sauce you want and they cook it all in front of you.
When you are first seated, everyone is given their own Richtree Market card, which is the size of a credit card and whatever you order is added onto your card and swiped. When you check out, you pay the amount on your card. Firstly, Kimberly just felt so grown up with her own swipe card. She made sure that our cards weren't mixed up and when I went to get us our drinks, to be certain that her drink was swiped on her card and that mine was swiped on mine.
While we were on the train I had told Kimberly a little bit about Richtree. (Well, first I gave her a couple of dining options and she chose Richtree.) So when we got there she knew what to expect and had decided already that she wanted to visit the waffle and crepe station. As she was watching them make the waffles and crepes, she decided that that's what she would get: a crepe with strawberries and chocolate sauce, a side of whipped cream and vanilla ice cream, all topped with powdered sugar. (I told her that when she told her mom what she had for lunch, that maybe the part about the powdered sugar sprinkled on top of the whipped cream and ice cream could be downplayed. Perhaps she could tell her mom that there were lots of strawberries with some ice cream and whipped cream ...)
For me, the choice of lunch was harder. I wandered around for a bit and finally settled on something totally uninspired: pasta with vegetables and roasted chicken with a pesto sauce.
For drinks, we got little bottles of coke, which Kimberly just loved because it was so different from what she usually got, the cans or canettes.
The show itself was really fun. There were lots of little girls there all dressed up in beautiful dresses and gauzy skirts (that must be the new trend this year). There was even a little girl in a big pink tutu and a pink crown. In front of us (we had second row orchestra seats), there were two little boys in white shirts with vests and matching ties! The actors were really good in it, especially the little girl who played Molly, who was a teeny little thing (she was probably the youngest girl of all the orphans) but boy did she have a voice! And the actress who played Grace was just perfect, and the actress who played Mrs. Hannigan was hilarious.
Before the show started Kimberly and I went to the orchestra pit and watched the musicians practicing. She plays the guitar and likes music a lot so it was really cool for her to see the orchestra pit and all the various instruments like the cello and the trombone.
On the train ride home Kimberly was tired and fell asleep, but as we were driving home she said that she had a good day, which is all that I needed to hear!
We took the train into the city, which we almost missed but got there with just seconds to spare.
When we were downtown in November (to see the Radiocity Rockettes, who were making their Canadian debut), we went to Shopsy's, a famed local delicatessen. The restaurant faces the Hummingbird Centre, where we were able to catch the animal trainers walking the camels before the show. That was pretty exciting for Kimberly -- and for me! When do you ever see three camels walking along Front Street?!
Anyways, so yesterday we decided to go to Richtree Market, which is a little "market" with various stations (stir fry, pasta, soup and salad, sandwich, omelet, seafood, waffle, ice cream, drink, dessert, etc.) where you can custom order your meal. For example, at the stir fry station you can pick out what vegetables and meats you want in your stir fry, whether you want it with noodles or rice, what sauce you want and they cook it all in front of you.
When you are first seated, everyone is given their own Richtree Market card, which is the size of a credit card and whatever you order is added onto your card and swiped. When you check out, you pay the amount on your card. Firstly, Kimberly just felt so grown up with her own swipe card. She made sure that our cards weren't mixed up and when I went to get us our drinks, to be certain that her drink was swiped on her card and that mine was swiped on mine.
While we were on the train I had told Kimberly a little bit about Richtree. (Well, first I gave her a couple of dining options and she chose Richtree.) So when we got there she knew what to expect and had decided already that she wanted to visit the waffle and crepe station. As she was watching them make the waffles and crepes, she decided that that's what she would get: a crepe with strawberries and chocolate sauce, a side of whipped cream and vanilla ice cream, all topped with powdered sugar. (I told her that when she told her mom what she had for lunch, that maybe the part about the powdered sugar sprinkled on top of the whipped cream and ice cream could be downplayed. Perhaps she could tell her mom that there were lots of strawberries with some ice cream and whipped cream ...)
For me, the choice of lunch was harder. I wandered around for a bit and finally settled on something totally uninspired: pasta with vegetables and roasted chicken with a pesto sauce.
For drinks, we got little bottles of coke, which Kimberly just loved because it was so different from what she usually got, the cans or canettes.
The show itself was really fun. There were lots of little girls there all dressed up in beautiful dresses and gauzy skirts (that must be the new trend this year). There was even a little girl in a big pink tutu and a pink crown. In front of us (we had second row orchestra seats), there were two little boys in white shirts with vests and matching ties! The actors were really good in it, especially the little girl who played Molly, who was a teeny little thing (she was probably the youngest girl of all the orphans) but boy did she have a voice! And the actress who played Grace was just perfect, and the actress who played Mrs. Hannigan was hilarious.
Before the show started Kimberly and I went to the orchestra pit and watched the musicians practicing. She plays the guitar and likes music a lot so it was really cool for her to see the orchestra pit and all the various instruments like the cello and the trombone.
On the train ride home Kimberly was tired and fell asleep, but as we were driving home she said that she had a good day, which is all that I needed to hear!
Labels: Kimberly
Ever since I started this blog and started reading the blogs of others here on Blogger, I am in such amazement and awe of the creativity of others in this world. The artistic skills and visions people have through their work, whether it be painting, sewing, designing, etc. are very inspiring and make me want to get in touch with my creative side, too.
Last week (yes, I am slow about blogging), I discovered a new artist through a random link I visited.
She (I haven't figured out her name yet) has a little shop and blog called (Inside a Black Apple), is a painter and when I saw her works on Etsy -- also a great site for discovering artisans -- I was immediately taken with the distinctive characteristics of her subjects. There is simultaneously a very innocent and childlike quality to her work as well as a dark quality bubbling beneath the layers.
Here are some of my favourites:
In order: Black Bunny Spell, Little Umbrella Girl, Tea Time, Up High in the Trees, The Little Knitter, Sugar Girl, Scarf for Two
And finally, this great series of works, called My Favorite Spot.
Last week (yes, I am slow about blogging), I discovered a new artist through a random link I visited.
She (I haven't figured out her name yet) has a little shop and blog called (Inside a Black Apple), is a painter and when I saw her works on Etsy -- also a great site for discovering artisans -- I was immediately taken with the distinctive characteristics of her subjects. There is simultaneously a very innocent and childlike quality to her work as well as a dark quality bubbling beneath the layers.
Here are some of my favourites:
In order: Black Bunny Spell, Little Umbrella Girl, Tea Time, Up High in the Trees, The Little Knitter, Sugar Girl, Scarf for Two
And finally, this great series of works, called My Favorite Spot.
New (Sort of) Portraits of the Spanish King and Queen
0 Comments Published by Alexandria on at 8:57 a.m..
New, well, what I thought were new portraits of King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain, but in fact are not. They are at least new to me.
The Queen looks so elegant in this purple gala gown. It's one of her best and one of my favourites, and I'm glad that she chose it for her official portrait. The King also looks very handsome in his uniform, so regal and dignified. And together they are a very handsome couple. Thumbs up all around for this set of pictures!
And now here is where I do a bit of griping. For these "business/professional" portraits of the King and Queen, we get the King in a very nice blue suit and bright blue tie. He looks handsome again and very much a professional. Then we get the Queen in a blue/grey/green smock of some sort that is something in between daytime wear and evening wear, but is a bit confused about its identity and doesn't know which one it is. The jewellery she's accented it with hasn't helped the identity issues. The Queen has so many nice suits, why did she choose this creation, which also, I might add, does nothing to reveal her figure, which is quite lovely for a 60+ year old woman who is a grandmother. Note that the colour of the Queen's outfit is a near perfect match for the curtains! Then in their joint picture, why can't the King muster up a smile and get his hands out of his pockets? Hands in your pockets is something I would expect from one of his grandsons, not from him!
The Queen looks so elegant in this purple gala gown. It's one of her best and one of my favourites, and I'm glad that she chose it for her official portrait. The King also looks very handsome in his uniform, so regal and dignified. And together they are a very handsome couple. Thumbs up all around for this set of pictures!
And now here is where I do a bit of griping. For these "business/professional" portraits of the King and Queen, we get the King in a very nice blue suit and bright blue tie. He looks handsome again and very much a professional. Then we get the Queen in a blue/grey/green smock of some sort that is something in between daytime wear and evening wear, but is a bit confused about its identity and doesn't know which one it is. The jewellery she's accented it with hasn't helped the identity issues. The Queen has so many nice suits, why did she choose this creation, which also, I might add, does nothing to reveal her figure, which is quite lovely for a 60+ year old woman who is a grandmother. Note that the colour of the Queen's outfit is a near perfect match for the curtains! Then in their joint picture, why can't the King muster up a smile and get his hands out of his pockets? Hands in your pockets is something I would expect from one of his grandsons, not from him!
The women of the Dutch royal family were out in full force on Wednesday, March 8, in support of International Women's Day.
Queen Beatrix was in Leeuwarden at the Natuurmuseum Fryslan, celebrating the 4th anniversary of the International Polar Year 2007/2008.
Daughter-in-law Crown Princess Maxima was at the Palace Church in The Hague at the opening of the Thousand and One Force project, which encourages women from ethnic minorities to engage in volunteer work.
And daughter-in-law number two, Princess Mabel was also in The Hague, at the Hague Academy near the Peace Palace where she attended a conference on World Female Day.
(Daughter-in-law number three, Princess Laurentien wasn't around on International Women's Day, but we did see her earlier in the week, on Monday in Utrecht, where she attended the opening of the Read and Write! (Lees en Schrijf!) program, which was founded by the ETV.nl foundation, an initiative to help adults who have problems with reading and writing.
Queen Beatrix was in Leeuwarden at the Natuurmuseum Fryslan, celebrating the 4th anniversary of the International Polar Year 2007/2008.
Daughter-in-law Crown Princess Maxima was at the Palace Church in The Hague at the opening of the Thousand and One Force project, which encourages women from ethnic minorities to engage in volunteer work.
And daughter-in-law number two, Princess Mabel was also in The Hague, at the Hague Academy near the Peace Palace where she attended a conference on World Female Day.
(Daughter-in-law number three, Princess Laurentien wasn't around on International Women's Day, but we did see her earlier in the week, on Monday in Utrecht, where she attended the opening of the Read and Write! (Lees en Schrijf!) program, which was founded by the ETV.nl foundation, an initiative to help adults who have problems with reading and writing.
So this is the story of my lost lunch.
This afternoon, around 12:30 p.m. I went to one of our mini kitchens to get my lunch. It was actually my lunch from Monday but as I wasn't feeling well on Monday, I didn't eat it. But today I was feeling better and looking forward to even two-day old vegetable lasagna. When I got to the fridge, I couldn't find my lasagna. I turned the fridge inside out looking for my little blue tupperware container. I pulled out bags and bottles, I even opened up plastic grocery bags and peeked inside to see if perhaps my tupperware container had been mistakenly put in one of the bags. No tupperware with lasagna in it. So I proceeded to go to the big kitchen upstairs, thinking that perhaps someone mistakenly carried it up there. I searched both of the big fridges. No lasagna. I then went back downstairs and to the other side of the office to look at the other mini fridge. No lasagna.
I went over to a couple of co-workers to tell them about my missing lunch. I wasn't really upset or angry. I was just so shocked by someone's gumption to eat someone else's lunch. In my two years at that office that had never happened to me before. My three co-workers got riled up on my behalf though. One of them suggested that I walk around the office to see who was eating lasagna for lunch and say "J'accuse" when I caught them red handed. When I refused to, the other two volunteered to do it for me. Then came the silly suggestions: Take a picture of lasagna (from the internet) and turn it into a "WANTED" poster or have our receptionist send out a mass e-mail asking for my lunch back. Then my friends (bless them for humouring me about all of this!) created a "profile" of the lunchtime bandit: It must be a forgetful guy who didn't pack his lunch because someone else did, like a girlfriend or a wife, so he didn't know what he brought and just picked up a tupperware container that looked like his. And even though it was vegetable lasagna, it must have been a carnivore because unless you really inspected the food you wouldn't know that it didn't have meat in it and a vegetarian wouldn't take such a chance. (Apparently my friends are like me and have very wild imaginations!)
I jokingly said that my family wasn't having a good time of late: My parents lost their car and I lost a lunch. He asked me if I had insurance on my lunch to protect future theft.
So another co-worker braved the freezing cold with me (it was our coldest day of the season yet at minus 35 degrees) to go outside to get me a lunch. We walked down the street (about two blocks from our office) for a sandwich and a coffee.
Flash forward to around 2:30 p.m. I went back to the same mini kitchen to wash my coffee mug. There was another editor in there heating up a late lunch. We started talking about how much packaging is part of take out food around the office and whether take out lunches which came in styrofoam was better or if plastic was better. Then on a whim, I opened up the fridge door. I didn't really think about it. I wasn't really expecting to find anything in particular. But what was there on the bottom shelf? A blue tupperware container with vegetable lasagna in it!
I swear that it was not there when I first went looking for it. Someone must have taken it, realized that it wasn't theirs and brought it back to the fridge but by then I had already gotten a new lunch.
I burst out into laughter when I saw my lunch. The other editor must have thought I was nuts because I offered no explanation as to why I was laughing.
My co-workers fell out of their chairs laughing at me when I told them. At least I have a funny office story now. One of many to add to my repertoire!
This afternoon, around 12:30 p.m. I went to one of our mini kitchens to get my lunch. It was actually my lunch from Monday but as I wasn't feeling well on Monday, I didn't eat it. But today I was feeling better and looking forward to even two-day old vegetable lasagna. When I got to the fridge, I couldn't find my lasagna. I turned the fridge inside out looking for my little blue tupperware container. I pulled out bags and bottles, I even opened up plastic grocery bags and peeked inside to see if perhaps my tupperware container had been mistakenly put in one of the bags. No tupperware with lasagna in it. So I proceeded to go to the big kitchen upstairs, thinking that perhaps someone mistakenly carried it up there. I searched both of the big fridges. No lasagna. I then went back downstairs and to the other side of the office to look at the other mini fridge. No lasagna.
I went over to a couple of co-workers to tell them about my missing lunch. I wasn't really upset or angry. I was just so shocked by someone's gumption to eat someone else's lunch. In my two years at that office that had never happened to me before. My three co-workers got riled up on my behalf though. One of them suggested that I walk around the office to see who was eating lasagna for lunch and say "J'accuse" when I caught them red handed. When I refused to, the other two volunteered to do it for me. Then came the silly suggestions: Take a picture of lasagna (from the internet) and turn it into a "WANTED" poster or have our receptionist send out a mass e-mail asking for my lunch back. Then my friends (bless them for humouring me about all of this!) created a "profile" of the lunchtime bandit: It must be a forgetful guy who didn't pack his lunch because someone else did, like a girlfriend or a wife, so he didn't know what he brought and just picked up a tupperware container that looked like his. And even though it was vegetable lasagna, it must have been a carnivore because unless you really inspected the food you wouldn't know that it didn't have meat in it and a vegetarian wouldn't take such a chance. (Apparently my friends are like me and have very wild imaginations!)
I jokingly said that my family wasn't having a good time of late: My parents lost their car and I lost a lunch. He asked me if I had insurance on my lunch to protect future theft.
So another co-worker braved the freezing cold with me (it was our coldest day of the season yet at minus 35 degrees) to go outside to get me a lunch. We walked down the street (about two blocks from our office) for a sandwich and a coffee.
Flash forward to around 2:30 p.m. I went back to the same mini kitchen to wash my coffee mug. There was another editor in there heating up a late lunch. We started talking about how much packaging is part of take out food around the office and whether take out lunches which came in styrofoam was better or if plastic was better. Then on a whim, I opened up the fridge door. I didn't really think about it. I wasn't really expecting to find anything in particular. But what was there on the bottom shelf? A blue tupperware container with vegetable lasagna in it!
I swear that it was not there when I first went looking for it. Someone must have taken it, realized that it wasn't theirs and brought it back to the fridge but by then I had already gotten a new lunch.
I burst out into laughter when I saw my lunch. The other editor must have thought I was nuts because I offered no explanation as to why I was laughing.
My co-workers fell out of their chairs laughing at me when I told them. At least I have a funny office story now. One of many to add to my repertoire!
Labels: Life
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am mad for magazines. I don't care so much for the beauty and fashion magazines, but the glossy interior decorating magazines are my weakness, followed closely by cooking magazines. What I spend each month on such magazines could probably feed several families in third world countries each month.
Currently on my bedside table, March and some April issues:
I subscribe to about five or six magazines at present, and each month, I buy nearly as many at the newsstand. I am so obsessed with magazines I even know that on Tuesday mornings the newsstands will have the newest issues out, but even better, I know which newsstands in Toronto along my route to work have those very magazines out on Monday! (Yes, I admit that it's a sickness.)
I love reading about the latest trends in home decor and even more, I love seeing how other people decorate their homes and personalize their living spaces.
I read a mixture of Canadian and American magazines, and among my favourites are:
Canadian House & House
Style at Home
Martha Stewart Living
Blueprint (a Martha Stewart publication)
Domino (the interior decorating version of Lucky)
ELLE Decor
Wish
House Beautiful
Everyday With Rachael Ray
I also pick up the occasional House & Garden, though I find the homes profiled in this one are sometimes a bit stuffier than my own style.
Better Homes and Gardens also has a wonderful website. The actual rooms are a bit too countryish for my taste, but they have great small-scale ideas, such as centrepiece ideas or how to organize your laundry room or dress up your nightstand. They also have many great ideas for various holidays and occasions, whether it be Christmas and Easter or summer picnics.
Seasonally, In Style and O (Oprah Winfrey's magazine) have special issues focused on interior decorating, In Style at Home and O at Home respectively. In Style's monthly issues are also fun because they have spreads on celebrity homes, which, even if they are rather extravagant and sometimes even gaudy, are fun to look at.
I also really love British design magazines because their sense of style is quite distinct from North American style, and their notion of formal rooms is so much more formal than the typical North American definition of this. Some good British glossies that I love to flip through, and buy only occasionally because it's so expensive here ($8 to $12 compared to $5 to $7 for a North American publication) include:
Living etc.
House Beautiful (the British version)
A friend from work recently bought his first place -- which he moved into on Wednesday, actually -- and in the months before the move, he was quite active in scouring the internet for good design websites, all of which he passed onto me, of course! Among my favourite recommendations from him are the following:
Desire to Inspire ( a blog which complies pages from various design magazines and the web pages of various decorators and designers)
COLOURlovers also has great colour palates, many of which are not colour combinations one would normally come up with. (Behr, the paint company, also has an element on their website that allows you to choose a paint colour for a room and you can instantly see how it might look in a room similiar to yours, while also recommending complimentary colours, which you can adjust and alter as you prefer. Just go to the Colour Smart option on the homepage.)
Decorate With Furnish (a site that lets you plug in the structure of a room in your home and configure various furniture placements without lifting anything heavier than your mouse)
I am also a textile lover, and especially love retro-inspired prints. Lately, I've noticed that I've been filling up my scrapbook with stationary, pillows and other things adorned with bird imagery. print & pattern is a great blog that is full of whimsical designs and prints.
Currently on my bedside table, March and some April issues:
I subscribe to about five or six magazines at present, and each month, I buy nearly as many at the newsstand. I am so obsessed with magazines I even know that on Tuesday mornings the newsstands will have the newest issues out, but even better, I know which newsstands in Toronto along my route to work have those very magazines out on Monday! (Yes, I admit that it's a sickness.)
I love reading about the latest trends in home decor and even more, I love seeing how other people decorate their homes and personalize their living spaces.
I read a mixture of Canadian and American magazines, and among my favourites are:
Canadian House & House
Style at Home
Martha Stewart Living
Blueprint (a Martha Stewart publication)
Domino (the interior decorating version of Lucky)
ELLE Decor
Wish
House Beautiful
Everyday With Rachael Ray
I also pick up the occasional House & Garden, though I find the homes profiled in this one are sometimes a bit stuffier than my own style.
Better Homes and Gardens also has a wonderful website. The actual rooms are a bit too countryish for my taste, but they have great small-scale ideas, such as centrepiece ideas or how to organize your laundry room or dress up your nightstand. They also have many great ideas for various holidays and occasions, whether it be Christmas and Easter or summer picnics.
Seasonally, In Style and O (Oprah Winfrey's magazine) have special issues focused on interior decorating, In Style at Home and O at Home respectively. In Style's monthly issues are also fun because they have spreads on celebrity homes, which, even if they are rather extravagant and sometimes even gaudy, are fun to look at.
I also really love British design magazines because their sense of style is quite distinct from North American style, and their notion of formal rooms is so much more formal than the typical North American definition of this. Some good British glossies that I love to flip through, and buy only occasionally because it's so expensive here ($8 to $12 compared to $5 to $7 for a North American publication) include:
Living etc.
House Beautiful (the British version)
A friend from work recently bought his first place -- which he moved into on Wednesday, actually -- and in the months before the move, he was quite active in scouring the internet for good design websites, all of which he passed onto me, of course! Among my favourite recommendations from him are the following:
Desire to Inspire ( a blog which complies pages from various design magazines and the web pages of various decorators and designers)
COLOURlovers also has great colour palates, many of which are not colour combinations one would normally come up with. (Behr, the paint company, also has an element on their website that allows you to choose a paint colour for a room and you can instantly see how it might look in a room similiar to yours, while also recommending complimentary colours, which you can adjust and alter as you prefer. Just go to the Colour Smart option on the homepage.)
Decorate With Furnish (a site that lets you plug in the structure of a room in your home and configure various furniture placements without lifting anything heavier than your mouse)
I am also a textile lover, and especially love retro-inspired prints. Lately, I've noticed that I've been filling up my scrapbook with stationary, pillows and other things adorned with bird imagery. print & pattern is a great blog that is full of whimsical designs and prints.
Labels: Home decor, Magazines
Princess Alexandra Weds Martin Jørgensen
1 Comments Published by Alexandria on Saturday, March 3, 2007 at 3:12 p.m..
Today, at 4 p.m., Princess Alexandra of Denmark married Martin Jørgensen, a cameraman who turned 29 yesterday. They were married this afternoon at Øster Egende Kirke in Fakse, Denmark. Upon the marriage, Princess Alexandra lost her princess title and is now referred to as the Countess of Frederiksborg.
For the wedding, the bride donned an ivory-coloured dress with a beaded pattern from the waist up and with a slight train. (The dress is remarkably similiar in cut and style from the beige-coloured dress she wore to one of Crown Prince Frederik's pre-wedding festivities to Mary Donaldson. (See below for the comparison.)
Princess Alexandra walked down the aisle escorted by her two sons, Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix, who wore light brown-coloured jackets and ivory ties. The groom donned white tie.
Although it is not certain, there are stories that Alexandra's earrings and necklace were from her former husband, Prince Joachim, either as a wedding gift when they were married or as a gift some time during their marriage. (What an old choice for jewellery to your second wedding!)
Personally I didn't care for Alexandra's look, from the beehive hair do with the flowers or ribbon woven into it to the white eyeshadow to the colour of the dress. I know that the recent royal brides were not virgins at their wedding, but ivory at your second wedding when you are 43 year's old with two sons, is a bit much.
She and Martin did look very happy however, and I guess that is what matters most.
For the wedding, the bride donned an ivory-coloured dress with a beaded pattern from the waist up and with a slight train. (The dress is remarkably similiar in cut and style from the beige-coloured dress she wore to one of Crown Prince Frederik's pre-wedding festivities to Mary Donaldson. (See below for the comparison.)
Princess Alexandra walked down the aisle escorted by her two sons, Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix, who wore light brown-coloured jackets and ivory ties. The groom donned white tie.
Although it is not certain, there are stories that Alexandra's earrings and necklace were from her former husband, Prince Joachim, either as a wedding gift when they were married or as a gift some time during their marriage. (What an old choice for jewellery to your second wedding!)
Personally I didn't care for Alexandra's look, from the beehive hair do with the flowers or ribbon woven into it to the white eyeshadow to the colour of the dress. I know that the recent royal brides were not virgins at their wedding, but ivory at your second wedding when you are 43 year's old with two sons, is a bit much.
She and Martin did look very happy however, and I guess that is what matters most.
