my life motto

living a dream...

Being a photographer means the world to me...

 

 

So blessed!

Super Food Salad

Superfood Salad

(Iowa Girl Eats)

 

 

My favorite thing right now! 

1/2 cup dry quinoa
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
1 orange, peeled and segments chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup pomegranate arils (about 1 pomegranate worth) - I use blueberries when unavailable
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper

For the Lemon Vinaigrette:
2 lemons, juiced (need 1/4 cup juice)
2 garlic cloves, microplaned or finely minced
dash of sweetener (agave nectar, stevia or white sugar)
salt & pepper
6 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Cook quinoa according to package directions. Set aside to cool.

2. For the Lemon Vinaigrette: combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid, and shake to combine. Or, add lemon juice, garlic, sweetener, salt and pepper into a small bowl and whisk in oil.

3. Combine cooled quinoa with red onion, orange segments, avocado, beans, pomegranate arils, corn, cilantro, salt and pepper. Pour Lemon Vinaigrette over the salad and stir to combine. Serve cold or at room temperature.

my home... my heart...

Watermelon Mint Julep Popiscles

Watermelon Mint Julep

(A Cozy Kitchen)

6 cups cubed, seedless watermelon (about 1 four-pound watermelon)

1 tsp Sucanat
2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup bourbon
Pinch of sea salt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

1. In a blender, ad the watermelon, sugar, lime juice, bourbon, and salt. Blend on high until the mixture has an even liquid consistency.

2. Pour the liquid into molds and place in the freezer. After 30 minutes, or when the pops are half-frozen and slushy, stir a pinch of the mint into each mold to suspend it evenly throughout each pop. Insert the popsicle wooden sticks now when the mixture is firm enough for them to stand upright. Freeze until solid, about 24 hours. Due to the alcohol content, these pops take longer to freeze.

I replaced white sugar with pure sugar cane (Sucanat)...

Very good but no booze next time!

happy three years...

Chanheng, you're getting big...
Time flies!

my life...

lucky, lucky girl.

Chilly November night...

Boyfriend making tacos in the kitchen, while I'm comfy and starting a new book....

Soo lucky to have a good one, even if Vancouver takes him back right away...

Gluten-Free Cinnamon Buns

Grandma's Cinnamon Rolls

(Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook)

1/2 cup water (100 to 110 degrees F)
1 teaspoon whole cane sugar
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
1 cup almond milk, warmed
1/4 cup agave nectar
2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
1 cup cooked & whipped sweet potatoes (about 2 medium baking potatoes)
2 1/2 cups brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon sea salt

Filling:
virgin coconut oil
whole cane sugar
cinnamon

1. Place the warm water, yeast, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir to dissolve the yeast. Let stand about 5 or until foamy and bubbly.

2. In a small pot gently warm the almond milk, agave nectar, and coconut oil. Be very careful not to get too hot; 100 degrees F is a good temperature. If it gets too hot it will the yeast and your rolls wont rise.

3. Add mixture to the yeast and water and whisk well. Then add the whipped potatoes. Beat wet ingredients together using an electric mixer.

4. In separate bowl, mix together the brown rice flour, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, and sea salt. Add dry ingredients to the wet and continue to beat with the electric mixer until completely combined, about 2 minutes.

5. Form dough into a ball and roll out onto a floured surface (using brown rice flour). Roll dough into a large rectangle.

6. Spread coconut oil over the entire surface with your hands (about a 1/4 cup). Then sprinkle whole cane sugar over the top of the oil (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup). And lately, sprinkle 2 to 4 tablespoons cinnamon over the sugar.

7. Now you are ready to roll. Be sure to have pans out and greased with coconut oil. Set aside. Now take the long end of the dough and begin to roll. Keep it tight and when you get to the end pinch the dough together all long the length of the roll.

8. Use a serrated knife to cut dough into rolls. make a cut every 1 1/2 to 2 inches. Place rolls in the pan. Cover with wax paper and let rise in a warm spot for about 45 minutes.

9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. After rolls have risen, place pan, uncovered, in the oven for approximately 30 to 35 minutes.

Honestly, I was surprised about how these turned out. It's not something that you would crave but it's a satisfying alternative to a normal cinnamon bun. Now if only, there were a frosting... 

I will post one once I find something that fits my requirements. 

Enjoy!

always believe

 

it's time to take a chance.

dream big.



Slow Down

and just breathe...

happy father's day

love... forever & always...

New beginnings...

Three days ago, I got offered the position I had my sights on… the one I had deemed the next big step!
*happy dance*

As I sit here, organizing my work life to hand over to someone else… it all feels bittersweet.

I’ve been at this store since the VERY beginning… there were no desks or phones on my first day five years ago. In fact, they were finishing the dry wall while I stood in a meeting with the General Manager...

And as sad as it sounds, I feel like I’m giving my baby away but I guess that’s what happens when you out-grow a situation or a place.

There have been amazing growing experiences and days where I’ve wanted to storm out…
building a company from the ground up has been a roller coaster but I’m soo proud to have been apart of it.

In these last days, I’m coming to appreciate everything a little more. The staff who has become a second family, the chaos of cross-department communication and even the sales team’s annoying habits…

I couldn’t be more grateful for the memories, whose who lead me to bigger things and everything I had the opportunity to learn!

The next chapter is about to begin....

it's being built...

www.captureddesign.ca

its coming... finally.

Learning to say No to my ambition…

About a year and a half ago, I vowed to never have a mediocre life.

It meant taking every opportunity shown to me.
It meant learning and school.
It meant networking.
It meant engaging anything and everything
It’s gotten me far.

I’m so use to driving forward, that I feel guilty when I don’t.
I was given the opportunity to start my Social Media Program sooner than expected.
It came with a price: I would behind from the start and I needed to be in class tonight.

Apart of me jumped up and said ‘Let’s go’…
The other part sat here: ‘your energy levels are already low with the detox and you promised to take care of yourself better’

As much as I don’t like the decision I made, it was the right one.
Instead rushing across the city, harassing a teacher about what Ive missed and fighting the urge to get a latte to make it through the 3 hour class. Im going home to make a good dinner, have a bath and watch a movie.

I have to remind self that things, such as school, can wait.
Health has to be the bigger priority.

a little celebration...

Despite being pulled across the city for a five minute talk, there was nothing new to report...

so thankful.

just tell me...

I don't think you ever get use to the phone call and words...

'The doctor needs to see you about test results. When can you come in?'

Three years ago, they found it...

A little lump in my left breast.

I go for follow-up testing twice a year, making sure there is no growth.

This could be just another explanation appointment and there's nothing new to report.

But it always scares me... 

Both my mom and aunt had cancer last year, and soo grateful of their successful battles.

Where does that leave me in the grande scheme of things? Where in the genetic pool am I sitting?

Am I destined to get cancer at some point in my life?

I wish they could tell you over the phone, so you didn't have the time to ponder the outcome...

Just throw it in my face and be done with it.

Wednesday cant come soon enough...

 

Every. Single. Day.

even when you're a sick little monkey.

always and forever...

Sitting on the board looking back at the beach, the current lightly rocking the every day worries away, patiently waiting for that next wave... 

nothing but time... 

i miss my favorite place in the world ♥

Bucket List #3

goodbye to another year

For awhile, it seemed that 2011 would be remembered as the year that K gave up. the boy who I wanted forever with, appropriately dubbed my 'kyponite'. Someone I had been in love with for 6 years and the reason our relationship seemed to succeed despite his oilfield job. The loss left me breathless. Despite an happy exterior, devastation was something I battled daily with. It didnt sit right. I dont give up, so why was he? I couldn't understand, nor did I want to.

But the value that came with the year...
the realization that he was never going to love me, the way I needed him to love me.
and I deserved better than settling for what he was willing to give.

the spring and summer were busy. friends, adventures and work.
getting mom drunk in the hotel bar in Montana, crashing rafts on the Bow River with the roommate and watching the last ever shuttle launch in person from a beach in Florida.

I surfed.
I explored.
I took photos.
I took courses.
I created new dreams.

It was what I had needed. I needed to know that I was going to be ok.
That as much as I was hurting, life would go on and it would inspire me.

Work, increasingly, threw more duties/responsibilities/projects at me. I learnt a lot. I gave a lot of myself to the company. And it paid off. The end result was the second employee of the year in four years and the freedom/ability to grow into direction i wanted to pursue. All the hard work of 2011 has provided a very different path for 2012, and I couldnt be happier.

Travis had always been a major part of my life. He was the one I could turn to with anything and everything. I dont think there is anyone on the planet that knows me better than him. He was the one who had told me to hold my head up high, after K had left.

I went to Vancouver in September. In that weekend, I realized something. I had always had a great guy in front of me, that understood me... And even in knowing me soo well, loved me for me. He was the guy who would send flowers when I wasnt feeling well just because he knew they would make me smile. He treated me like the rest should have.

And he wasnt even dating me... Travis did everything in his power to change that.

It was a hard year but Im grateful for 2011.
Where did it leave me...

New Career Path.
A Great Boyfriend.
A Healthy Family.
Stellar Friends.
Opportunities.

<3

geek life.

 It's all about getting you to our website...

and keep you there...

Any information source is useful, even if it's the 'Dummies' series.

Ha.

Bucket List #2

Floating Lanterns in Thailand.

Always find the photographs of these events soo beautiful and inspiring...

i heart vancouver.

Ringing in the New Year in Vancouver was the perfect way to start 2012...

and learn something new.