I AM THANKFUL

SEASIDE

MORNING SELFIE TRENDING

My friend Ailsa in England nominated me to do a morning selfie and donate to cancer research via text. BBC wrote,

20 March 20:30 GMT: Cancer Research UK says it has had more than 800,000 text donations since Wednesday - raising more than £1 million ($1.6 million). Two other UK based charities - Breast Cancer Care and Breast Cancer Campaign - told BBC Trending they have also seen a significant increase in donations over the past 24 hours.

Help beat cancer sooner

One day everyone will beat cancer, the more research we do, the sooner that day will come.

This is wonderful. The United Kingdom makes it pretty easy to donate. You can send a text right from your phone making it very easy to make a difference. I has seen these selfies all week on Facebook but without the mention of a donation. I am happy to have joined the trend for a worthy cause. Please kick your weekend off with a donation. Happy Friday!  Xo

A LITTLE BIT OF SPRING

International Day of Happiness or Vernal Equinox The sun's rays directly cross over the Earth's equator from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere, slowly bringing heat towards the north. Slowly, I agree with that. Our son mentioned to us yesterday that it was 17 degrees in England, he was wearing shorts! Here is a little bit of spring from Ottawa. 

SILENCE

I wish I could remember this more.

Silence is sometimes the best answer. -DALAI LAMA

5 MINUTES

LUCK

I hope everyone had a day full of luck yesterday.

 I thought Steve had the day off yesterday when I woke up he was gone, that was unlucky. After that, the day went pretty smooth for me so that, was lucky. I asked Euan what he wanted for dinner tonight and he said "pancakes" with a huge grin. What a great kid!

FEAST OF ST. PATRICK

Wherever you are in the world I hope you are enjoying the magic of St. Patrick today. 

These pictures were taken on St. Patrick's Day in Dublin a few years ago. I've been to Dublin a few times to celebrate but this was definitely one of my favourite visits.  

I had a pint with my husband and a couple friends at the Cheshire Cat on Sunday and we toasted the feast day. Maybe Steve will surprise us with some green pancakes this evening.... I would be curious to see what the kids would think of that.

WOW FIT

I have signed myself up to do WoWfit. I ran into some friends at playgroup last week and they suggested I join the class with them. I've always been scared of the sound of a boot camp. I had a no-way attitude; it was too intense for my usual fitness regime, which to be honest, hasn't been much over the last few years.... a little running, a little skiing, a little skating and some biking.

Well, it is everything that I expected and more, but I'm loving it. I am feeling healthier, stronger and more confident after three classes. In past fitness classes, I have chickened out after one class, embarrassed to return due to a lack of coordination. This time I'm not embarrassed, although I still have the lack of coordination. I am there for myself and my family and I don't care what anyone else thinks about how goofy I look doing a side shuttle run or that my burpees have no bounce- YET! I came home twice last week to a healthy meal cooked by my proud husband who listened to me whine about how much I hurt, but also beam about how much I have accomplished. I'm getting fit-WOW FIT!

Our trainer Jackie is spiritual, empowering & encouraging. I've just signed myself up for two more months. Bring on the pain!

SECOND CHILD

This isn't true for me but still a good chuckle and totally worth sharing-Today's Parent

 

9 MONTHS

Miss is 9 months. She is all giggles and light!

ENGLAND BUCKET LIST

There was a lot of talk of England when I got together with the UK girls to do some pottery this weekend. For me England has an atmosphere that can only be summed up in one word -fun. My bucket list of England to dos are endless. Cotswold hot air balloon ride, London market crawl with my bestie, furniture, sewing & cooking classes, cake making, cake tasting, dinner clubs & Bath flower arranging classes to name a few. But our biggest discussion this weekend, was the travel we all accomplished while posted to the United Kingdom and how much more we would love to do.

I spent so much time chatting with the girls I didn't get my project finished. We went to the Mud Oven. The staff was helpful and friendly. They told us that once you pay for your pottery you can come back as many times as you need to finish it. It was a great time and  I find it very therapeutic!

How gorgeous is this taster cake from ChoccyWoccyDooDah chocolaterie on Carnaby Street. Yummy!

Blue Door Bakery image.

WOOHOO

Health - Contentment - Confidence

SHROVE

One of my favourite days of the year. I'll be honest, we eat a lot of pancakes throughout the year. It was one of Euan's first words. He still eats a simple pancake with no syrup yet; Steve just said yesterday, "when the kids start having syrup we are switching to the cheap stuff." I love real butter and maple syrup on my pancakes. What will you guys be having on your pancakes today?

I was looking for an American pancake recipe with buttermilk in it and found this one in My Father's Daughter by Gwyneth Paltrow.

1 1/2 of all purposed flour
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 3/4 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
3 organic eggs
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly and 1/2 teaspoon per batch for grill
1 1/2 cups of buttermilk
1/2 cup whole milk
maple syrup

Combine flour,sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Whisk eggs, butter and buttermilk into another bowl.
Whisk wet ingredients and dry ingredients together until combined.
Cover batter and let rest overnight in the refrigerator.
Heat griddle, add milk until it reaches desired consistency.
Cook until surface of pancake is covered with bubbles 2-3 minutes.
Drizzle warm maple syrup over pancakes.

( Steve can you please whip this up tonight after you've finished studying) *wink*  I'll make them for dinner tomorrow night so they will be ready when you come home from lab. xx Happy Shrove Tuesday!

LITTLE HELPER

Saturday afternoon after we came back from skating the boys whipped up a batch of easy Nigella cupcakes in our Cuisinart to take to the Davey's house for dessert.  Euan is a great little helper and loves being in the kitchen whenever something is being made. Steve has definitely passed on his culinary skills to our kids. I brought over the icing and sprinkles so the kids to decorate the cupcakes themselves after dinner. I felt a little bad for Dawn having sprinkles spread across her floor until their dog Freida came over and licked them all up with his big tongue. Slurp! It made me laugh and wish I had a dog to gobble up all the mess my kids through on the floor.

Here are the ingredients.

125 grams self-raising flour

125 grams caster sugar

125 grams soft unsalted butter

2 large eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

You can find the rest of the method HERE

POSITIVE

NO SPRING HERE

MARCH

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month. I was hoping we would wake up today and it would magically be spring. Is it not the first of March today? Instead we have huge flakes of snow coming down.We are going to embrace this last bit of winter, ( fingers crossed ) and going skating today.

Happy March! xoxo