Manageable Monday- Hair and Nail Change

The latest nail polish I chose was a little too dark for the summer.  My daughter was right.  Although she loves the combination, it was more for the fall.  This past weekend I decided to change it.  It was time anyway since a couple of them are already chipped.  Not only am I switching nail colors, this week I booked an appointment with my hairstylist, Kevin.  It has been over a year since I've been there.  As you know I have been doing my roots and one time Jeff tried putting the Ombre look and it still looks great.  My dilemma is that my bangs are long and I can't stand it anymore.  I need my bangs again and the rest of my hair needs a good cut.  The last two times, Jeff was brave enough to just give it a quick trim just to get the dry ends.  I figured I have saved enough money from doing my roots and hair trim.  As for the style, it depends on what I feel like when I get to my appointment.  Kevin is pretty good with styling my hair the way I like and following a photo of the cut I would prefer.  I just hope that I picked the right style that is a bit shorter than what I have with more layers and maybe even have some high lights again.  I am also contemplating on getting a bit lighter color compared to the dark brown that I have right now.  Something where the grey won't be as noticeable when they start growing.  Jeff is really not ready to have a woman with grey hair.  Not just him, I know I am old but I don't want to look too too old.  

Skillful Saturday - I need a putting green

Since we can have nice green grass in our backyard, I was suggesting to Jeff that maybe he could just build me a three hole practice putting green.  Looking at the area past our deck there should be enough space for a 3 or even 5 hole course.  Of course it will be artificial turf. But even if he does all the work, the materials would still be a bit expensive.  So I started searching for something that I could just place in the deck which is a flat area or when it's raining, I could just lay it flat on top of the tiles in our front entry way.  First site I check of course is Amazon aka Jeff's store.  Sure enough there's a couple of styles and inexpensive that would probably be enough.  I thought this would be more practical because if Jeff did build one in the backyard, I would be really sad to leave it if we ever move since I cannot take it.  Here's what I am considering instead. Total cost for the two will only be $62.  Yeah!

Woeful Wednesday - When do I stop counting?

Today my son would have been 34.  I am not sure when I have to stop counting his age since he passed away when he was only 26.  It's very hard not to think of what he would be like now, what he would like as a birthday gift or where he would like to celebrate today.  If he was still with us, I am sure he would like to get one of the latest tech gadgets.  He would probably celebrate it with his buddies (Andrew, Anjay, Brian, James, Kamil, Mike M, Michael, Ryan, and Scott) and maybe even the girls (Rose, Catherine, Erin, Natalie, Stephanie and Kapana). It has been at least five or six years since I have since his friends.  I hope I did not forget anyone.  I wonder if they would be still hanging out with him.  Some of his friends are now married and one already has a child.  Some are still single or maybe in a relationship.  I also wonder when I hear some new band with their latest hit, if it would be something he would listen to.  This time, there'll be no poem.  I decided to just have this post and share a couple of my favorite photos of Gino.  Happy birthday son.  We miss you here.

How can you not miss this boy?

His friends made this collage of photos of Gino and gave it to me.  He was a fun loving kinda guy.

I know Gino liked Coldplay, so after listening and reading the lyrics, I felt that this is the one.

Flawless Friday - Very easy cookies

While checking what's new on Pinterest, I saw some yummy cookies.  I have to admit that I don't bake cookies often so I thought of just checking the recipe.  What a surprise!  Only 3 ingredients and it is so easy and so buttery.  Anyway, the other night I decided to try it out.

First I checked to see if I have a box of yellow cake mix (#1).  Then I checked the fridge for butter (#2) and back to the pantry to check for chocolate chips (#3).  Perfect I have everything.  I started reading the instructions and pretty soon I was done and the cookies are in the oven.  By the way, Jeff loves cookies and prefer them to have some nuts, so I winged it and added one cup of chopped walnuts (#4 - optional).  Here's a photo of the finished product.  Jeff says next time make them a bit smaller.  I told my daughter about it and she was going to try it as well.  If you love cookies and have not time, this is the perfect one.

Thankful Thursday - He is so easy going

He is not only nice and easy going, he is so unselfish.  Why do I say that about my hubby? Because this past weekend was his birthday and instead of doing something he truly loves to do, he books a stay and play weekend in the Napa area.  The word play means golf and the word stay means a hotel and casino.  Golf and casino are not his favorite but he knows that I love them. It was a very nice quiet get away.  Just Jeff and I enjoying every minutes of our time away from work, volunteer, house chores and the city.  We were away for three days two nights and it was just the right amount of R&R.  The hotel had a very nice restaurant, nothing very fancy but the meals were great.  The golf course was called Hidden Valley Lake and it had a great deal that is why he chose it.  There was another agenda that Jeff wanted to check out the area to see if it was a place I would consider residing. Although it was a nice community, the drive to get in and out of that area is not one I would particularly choose. Why? because the road goes up the very windy road with at least 30 or so turns that were hugging the hills and over looking a very steep drop.  No thank you, I told him.  We did not win any big amount but we did not lose our shirt either.  On our way home, I could not believe that he would stop and do a 9 hole golf so we can let the traffic eases a bit.  This type of short get away is a nice break and inexpensive.  I look forward to our next one sometime in September.

My dinner on Jeff's birthday night.

Jeff's birthday dinner.

Most of the grapes on the different wineries are like these.

Very interesting shiny bunny.

Winning Wednesday - It's about the cause

A week later and this post just sat where I left off.  I got busy with a golf tournament and then Jeff's weekend get away.  Now I am trying to remember what was this post all about.

This is what happens when I put things aside.  Wait a minute, now I remember, this was about the recent golf tournament that I attended together with three other golfer buddies who are actually Jeff's co-worker/great friends.  Last year we had so much fun at this tournament so I decided to have another go at it.  This was the CNOA tournament and proceeds are for a great cause.  Some of the proceeds go to the surviving family of officers who lost their lives on duty.  There were at least two hundred golfers and it was a shot gun start.  It was a great deal because it includes a lot of things and there were so many prizes people could win after buying the tickets.  In the end two of my buddies did win a prize. Although we did not win the best team, my buddy Chris won the longest drive.  I think we finished good with a score of -6 under par.  Maybe next year we can do better but truly it was not all about winning.  It was enjoying the day golfing with buddies and donating some funds for a great cause.

Before dinner

After registration

That's a real AR 15?

Timely Tuesday - Five years already

Last week was my five year anniversary residing in San Jose, CA.  It doesn't seem that long ago, but time sure fly very very fast when you are busy or having a great time.  We really did not plan on anything, in fact I actually forgot about it until we were seating at a restaurant that we have never tried.  It was tucked away in some not so popular shopping plaza that has only a couple of business open.  The rest of the place were closed or for lease.

I did a quick search for reviews online and when I saw the first comment, I decided this was a good place.  It wasn't very busy which is how we like it to be.  The menu was not very big and they had four items on the special for the day.  The first thing we noticed was their prices were a bit more than what we like but since we are already there, we just hope for the best.  I decided to get one of the special which was the Furikake Seabass while Jeff decided to try their appetizer Quail but double the portion.  The service was excellent and my dinner was amazing.  The sea bass was cooked to perfection with a nice flavor.  Jeff was not really pleased with what he ordered but it was different and it was edible.  Would we go back there,

probably not because we can play for the same price but actually get more and a little more entrees to chose from.  We didn't mind the whole experience because it was my five year anniversary of moving in with Jeff.  As you know, Jeff is such an easy going person and that day was all about me.   Check out the photos of our dinner at Elements on Almaden.

Seabass with brown rice and quinoa plus steamed veggies

Two quail split in half served with mini garden salad

 

Music Monday - Trying to keep up

Is it a real sign that you are getting old when you don't know what is the latest hits of this week, month or year?  Maybe because some of the songs are not so memorable anymore since most of them are just repeating the same words or lines over and over.  Of course, country hits are different.  They seem to still come up with great songs that have a story.  So if you were to ask me what my favorite summer song of this year is, I have no clue.  The station that I listen to when I am in my car plays the songs of the 70's and 80's.  Once in a while I would switch to my 95.3 KRTY for country's latest.  Let me see if I can even pick some songs for this year that I actually could remember. I search for the top 100 songs of 2015 and so far I only know or heard of 5.

• See you again by Charlie Puth
• Shake it off by Taylor Swift
• Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars
• Honey I'm good by Andy Grammer
• Save it for a rainy day by Kenny Chesney

The difference with all these songs is that in a year or two, I would not remember any of them.  Maybe some can remember them, but in five years, no one will remember.  If you were to compare to some of the songs that we grew up to, even the now generation likes them and are listening to these greatest all time favorites.  Lately a lot of these bands are starting to tour again and it's too bad that the tickets are so expensive because it would be such a treat to see them perform their hits live.  

 

Sincerely Saturday - August celebrants

There are so many birthday celebrants for the month of August that I am making today's post special for all my family and friends.  It's definitely the month that has the most names in our calendar.  Some of them are sharing the same date which is amazing.  It makes you wonder if there's a truth about six degrees of separation.  So I'm sending my birthday wishes to the following and hoping that their day will be filled with happiness.   

• August 6 - Mike 
• August 8 - Russ
• August 16 - Jeff, Gil and Anjay
• August 18 - Lisa
• August 25 - Tom
• August 26 - Carlos, Marie, Allister and Gino (My son's 34th birthday if)
• August 28 - Gord
• August 29 - Brock
• August 30 - Joe

There are 13 candles for everyone except for Gino.

I wonder if Gino would like the Minions too.

Fearful Friday - Inherited or Not

A few days ago my daughter mentioned that while on a routine biking around the city, she was confronted with crossing a bridge where one of the wooden plank was missing.  When I read this, I mean just reading it, my feet and my hands became sweaty/clamy.  I felt the fear.  My daughter did not like that experience.  I told her immediately that she got that fear from me.  At my age I still have so many fears that for some reason I cannot just conquer.  I thought I was getting better with some of them but I don't think I can really get rid of them.

While researching about these fears if they are inherited or not, I found some interesting info that I would like to share.  Apparently there are three types of fears: 

• Situational ( fear of closed space, flying, the dark)
• Animal ( rat, dog, snakes )
• Blood/Injury ( fear of dentist, dentist, injections and blood)

Now I will try to break down the list of my fears into these above categories and share what I have tried in the past to conquer some of them.

• Situational ( height, water, bridges, dark country roads)
• Animal ( rat, snakes, mouse, spiders and other insects)
• Blood/injury (gory scenes, weird looking alien/characters)

As I continue to read more articles, I found the following phobias that are applicable to my fears.

• Acrophobia - fear of heights
• Aquaphobia - abnormal and persistent fear of water
• Chiroptophobia - fear of bats
• Entomophobia - fear of insects
• Gephyrophobia - fear of bridges
• Herpetophobia - fear of reptiles
• Musophobia - fear of mice and/or rats
• Nyctophobia - fear of darkness

Through the years I have done some things that I can say I've faced my fears but will never do it again.  Most of my friends know most of these fears and they have helped me try to get over it. Some success but a lot are failures.

• 1993 - a very dear friend gave me a gift of Champagne Hot Air Balloon Ride
• 1998 - Drove over bridge from Ontario to USA and back. Sweating all the way
• 2002 - chair lift at the Great Wall of Mutianyu, China
• 2006 - parasailing with Jeff in Punta Cana, DR - no one saw us but I have proof
• 2007 - rode the Banff Gondola with Jeff 
• 2009 - killed a mouse using two very sticky paper from the dollar store
• 2010 - drove late at night on a country road w/o looking at my rearview mirror
• 2014 - bought an electronic bug zapper - non messy way to get rid of bugs at home

 

This was the part where they let you down easy just to get wet and pull you back up.

Believe it or not, that is me in the front and Jeff is behind with his open arms.

Do you have a lot of fears or are you one of those fearless type?  Did you inherit a fear or phobia of some sort?  Did you have some experience that resulted in your fear?  I did.   
 

Wilted Wednesday - Plants are so thirsty

This was the temperature last Wednesday.

And there is still no rain in the forecast.  It's too bad that all that rain they are getting in the east couldn't be blown towards the west.  As you know more brush fires are starting almost every week.  Last summer we had one brush fires on the hills behind our house.  If you use a telescope you could see all the fire fighters working very hard to keep it contained.  They did such a good job in a short period of time.  It's a double whammy when it comes to the conditions of the hills and the shortage of water.  The extended forecast is sunny between 75 and 85 degrees F.  The topic got side track as I started my title with wilted and plants being thirsty, unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the plants that are dried up.  I guess you can imagine what they look.  Here's what our front yard look.

The brownish leaves on the left is part of the plum tree.  Notice a couple of white flowers trying to look alive.

 

Terrific Tuesday - It's fun picking

There is so much joy in seeing all the vegetable grow but more exciting is when they are ready to be picked.  This past couple of weeks, I have been picking tomatoes almost every other day.  Although I will have to wait for the squash to be ready, it's just great to see that they are actually getting a chance to grow and not get eaten by critters.  I have been trying to take photos of different harvest so I could show them off.  Of course I have to give credit to Jeff as he is the gardener who works hard ensuring that they are watered, weeded and picked when ready.

Grape Tomatoes - looks like red grapes but taste like tomatoes

Can you find the green bell pepper?

Can you guess how many cherry tomatoes are in this container?

 

Scrumptious Sunday - Just so yummy

Every now and again I will remember to take photos of the different foods that we try when we go out for dinner or lunch.  Most of the time I forget to take one because either I am so hungry or just too busy chatting with friend.  What I am sharing today as just an assortment of photos taken within the last two weeks of meals we've tried or just my home made meals.

I hope you don't get too hungry when you see these photos but I do hope you enjoy checking them out.

Turkey and Provolone panini with mac & cheese from Panera

Pineapple and coconut ice cream with waffle cookies - Jeff serves this as dessert after dinner.

Camarones in chipotle creamy sauce from Casa Teresa restaurant (our favorite Mexican place)

Not too appetizing in photo but it was so flavorful ( pulled pork enchilada - I made for lunch)