Good Evening,

I have been writing a post on Spring and my feelings about May. For those of you who know me well, you know that every year at this time there is a sadness somewhere deep inside me that comes alive. In the last few years however I try to celebrate Spring and reflect on how my life has changed and how grateful I am for it. It is a bit of a personal post but I am planning to post when I have it finished.

Until then I will share these gems.

I came home one day and found this on my camera:

Michael’s lunch ! I guess he wanted to help me! He admitted to standing on a chair to get an aerial view.

Sushi Friday, we got a business card from Stu for his band , The Trouble Shooters

This view never gets old.

Oh we love the Kita

Michael’s

New favourite treat,Bananacado roll. Banana, avocado and sweet potato tempura

Thai Spring Rolls

Saturday I went on a coffee date with my cafe hopping friend and she had this:

I had this, Michael thought it was cute I was so hungry I ate a bite without getting a photo for the blog..it was morning glory and I couldn’t help myself

Saturday night we had a celebratory night and figured our chopsticks aren’t just for Sushi, we can use them for THAI!

ThaiI Ivory Cuisine in Bedford

Jasmine Tea

Salad rolls, not as good as the Kita but they were good

 Cashew Chicken

 Pad Thai

Hope you are all having a great May so far!!!

Patricia

Hello Gang!

I am slowly getting my mojo back.Life’s been busy here, just like everyone elses, and really hasn’t lent itself to blogging if that makes any sense.I am so glad I have this space though and that I don’t feel any guilt about staying away when I feel like it.

I continue to feel like my camera is an extension of my arm and continue to learn and enjoy life behind the lens.

At the end of March, Michael and I took a much needed break and headed to Mexico. This was our first trip south with my T2i, so I spent quite a bit of time taking photos. Here are a few of my favourites:

Snackie poos for the trip

Awwwwwwww…view from our balcony

Mexico night sky

Went to the Japanese restaurant.

Our Bathroom treats! This stuff was actually nice and no I didn’t try the shower cap.

view from the balcony

Afternoon latte

Mexican restaurant, chips

Mexican decor

Spice, Japanese restaurant

Outside Spice

 Another A La Carte

Pure Bliss

Off to the beach

 Our hotel was so beautiful

I look at this photo and all I see is a combo of my sister and my grandmother, kinda weird and comforting all at the same time!

What do you think of my cheapo dress ???

Have a great night

Patricia

Good evening everyone!

I swear I am still here on the planet, I have been enjoying life rather than writing about it. Just thought I would share a few photos from the past few weeks.

M and I went to the Mayan Riviera, Mexico. We spent a week looking at this :

I decided to follow the masses and  read the Hunger Games trilogy

My dear friend Daphne saw her dream come true with the launch of her first BOOK!! I got a copy of Maxed Out and had it signed!

Easter arrived. I found this little guy in my treatment room at work. One of my patients left it for me.

We have continued with our Sushi Friday tradition.

Spring

We went to my sister-in-laws for Easter Brunch, my brother-in-law let me use his flash, I fell in love and know I want need one.

The Hamachi Group opened up Hamachi Mura in Bedford. So nice in there BUT we are Kita people. I mean it was nice, but you can’t beat the Kita staff and sushi chefs.They feel like family.

The usual

Michael had a birthday, I made this disaster cake but atleast it was blessed. I wasn’t exactly a kitchen ninja with this one people. I was so angry at this cake!

Then my brother-in-law then let me borrow a macro filter, I had a lot of fun with that but is he trying to make me go broke ??? I like these type of shots, this was just a branch in the back yard.

Michael and I drove around the loop around where I used to live. We stopped in Herring Cove so I could show him where I went to school. We pulled up and I swore the 12-year-old in me came out. It is kind of a weird experience to go back in time , isn’t it ??

We stopped into my old home and I took this photo of my mom’s flowers. Doesn’t seem like much but it has been 14 years since she has tended to her flowers so I thought anything was a miracle. These were in her front flower bed.

I bought M this thin cutting/serving plate for his birthday and he loved it! Just one of my market finds.

I hope all of you have been well and will continue to read as I share these simple parts of my life. Thanks for reading. I have missed my space here.

Patricia

Hi everyone,

Thanks to everyone still checking in with AMKT.

I as on a bit of a break and went on VACATION! My intention was to blog before I left but that just didn’t happen.

I did however have a very restful vacation and took lots of photos of the very beautiful Mexico.

Hope everyone enjoyed those record high temperatures we had in Halifax last week and are managing to cope with the dip in temperature. On a happy note, Easter is coming up !

I’ll be back this weekend with a real post!

Patricia

Happy Friday everyone,

Most of you know by now that I have used this blog to write, document my life after 40 as well as an expression of intent, beauty and awareness I am experiencing in this life through my photographs. What I am discovering is people are craving more, not more blog posts but more insight, motivation and inspiration. People are desiring to live a more authentic life, full of manifesting your dreams and desires. What also seems to be clear is there will also be haters, people who will push you down  because they are uncomfortable with your success and happiness or jealous of your abilities to reclaim your life.

My friends, it is easier to let the haters win BUT you are not honouring yourself in doing so. Accept there are haters and move forward. I even questioned bringing them into this blog post but I felt it was important to address the value that you all possess regardless of others insecurities.

I received so many comments on my Valentines Day LOVE post and is actually one of my most read posts. With that in mind I decided to create a series of Self Care offerings in video in the form of an e-course.The videos will be thoughts, reflections  and suggestions for Self Care and Nuturing your Soul. The videos will be short and the content will consist of strategies for setting intensions, cultivating gratitude and ways to unplug.(seems odd considering this is a blog on the internet but I am refering to BALANCE)

I am not entirely sure how it will look but I have it roughed out. If you would be interested in receiving these please send me an email or leave a comment. I won’t be posting these videos on the blog, if you would like to receive just ask. It is completely FREE!!!

I hope you are having a great Friday ….I have a special personal post tomorrow for St. Patrick’s Day.FUN FACT: If I’d have been a boy….my name was going to be Patrick …my mom was Irish.

Happy Friday

Patricia

Hello Lovelies!!

I hope you all had a great week. It has been very spring like around here with temperatures up to 15 degrees. I think that is nice for March Break.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the market and it was jammed packed. I managed to pick up these sweet apples and really just enjoyed some people watching and browsing.

And look at this!!!!! I bought this belt buckle from Pip Robins at the Seaport Market. Not only are these buckles unique, they also have the ability to really capture the personality and style of the wearer. Gillian  is a real delight and it was obvious she loves what she does and puts herself into her work.I have my eye on the vintage camera buckle.

Well I am now into week 7 of my BFL challenge. I can honestly say I feel successful and the workouts have lead me to feel strong and confident. My food intake tends to be my weakest link which isn’t a big surprise. What leads to my success is meal planning and blogging updates.

I am searching around for a St. Patrick’s Day treat, nothing huge just a celebratory sweet to honour my Irish heritage.

Have a great night

Patricia

Good Morning!!

This weekend I made these Balls of Energy a la Wendy and Matt over at I See Fit People.  I expected these to be good, but they are delicious!!

I can’t take any credit though, I followed the recipe to a T. It called for whey protein and I had chocolate flavour on hand so I used that and I found it went nice with the cocoa that was also in the recipe.The only problem is to make sure you don’t eat all of them at once. They do however make a great snack pre or post workout.

So head on over to I see Fit People and MAKE THESE.

http://iseefitpeople-everywhere.blogspot.com/2012/01/balls-of-energy.html

NOM NOM NOM!!!

Have a great day!

Patricia

PS:I did find the dates really thick for the food processor with all the other ingredients, so once I had it somewhat smooth I took it out and used my Kitchen Aid mix master. Also it is supposed to make 48 balls the size of golf balls, I missed that part and made mine bigger. Using the size of the balls in the photos above, it made 1/2, 24 balls. OOps !! So keep that in mind when reading the serving size for nutritional content.

Good Evening

It was just another Friday night around these parts, sushi, shopping, laughing and hanging out watching a movie.The extrodinary in the ordinary, feeling grateful for the simple things.

First Sushi Friday of March included more natural light. This is so much better for photography and makes having a window seat worthwhile.

Isn’t this one beautiful ?

The beautiful tree outside The Kita, I took this from outside this time so I didn’t have the window glare.

5 weeks into my BFL program, it is going well. I am not seeing a lot of progress as I am not using anything as a measurement tool except clothing. Clothing is fitting better which is not bad for 5 weeks and I am feeling very positive and healthy. My weekly treat, boy do I ever look forward to these M and M’s.

I almost didn’t get this, I was enjoying this so much that I forgot to photograph it until it was almost gone!

The new 2nd cup in Bayers Lake has the thin oatcakes with PB in the middle and dipped in chocolate, like a sandwich. Nice change as the one in Halifax Shopping Centre just has the regular large oatcakes. It is the small things in life isn’t it ??

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Patricia

Good evening everyone,

I had fun with the last post, but while putting this post together, I realized how much has happened in February.

6. Lori and I ran one of our Massage Therapy Continuing Education course and we cater the event ourselves. I made a couple of loaves and some breakfast bars.

Pumpkin Walnut loaf

 Popovers, mearly flour and eggs, filled with cheese.

 Banana loaf

Michael was feeling a bit left out so I made another banana loaf for him with chocolate chips.

7. Trip planning- we booked a trip for the early spring..we are going SOUTH ..so I found these things to get me in the mood…..coconut candles

and Caribbean hand soap

8. A mini trip to Wolfville to buy some shoes! I love comfort on my feet. I took my friend Pam with me and we stopped at Jo’s emporium for lunch. We had coffee.

She had some kind of Slovaki meal with salad

 And I had the apple, bacon and chicken salad, and I am pretty impressed I didn’t eat that evil white bread.

 We went to EOS fine foods

I am disappointed I didn’t buy this bee mug. I love a sweet new mug but I am trying to resist buying more mugs…how many do you need ???? But aren’t they sweet???

9. Trip to sissy’s – took some photos of her flowers and about 1 milllion 200 of my niece.

10. Meal planning- lots of different recipes, this has been taking me 1.67777777 million hours, a bit of time

I am still have coffee..favourite newish mug

11. Downton Abbey- my mother-in-law gave me several of these knives. They were her mothers and are EXACTLY like my grandmothers, that my sister claimed. I love them and it is kinda neat to think about who used these and the space in time in history when they were used. Downton Abbey is a show set in England in 1914-20 , it is funny, historical, serious  and the acting is superb.

12. Card day- M plays stratomatic baseball, the cards for the next season have arrived and it is a BIG DEAL around here. Time spent on the UPS website and jokes about staring out the window waiting for the truck! There are cards spread all over the dining room table, there is a baseball draft happening in less that 2 months. A team manager needs to prepare you know!

13. Bookclub- I hosted this month

14. Preparing for March- February 29th I had coffee in the morning in my Vancouver mug thinking of my lovely friends on the west coast ….happy thoughts as we all travel into March.

Happy March readers, can you believe I have been blogging for close to a year?

I must search for a cupcake recipe or something to make for my bloggy anniversary.

Have a great night everyone

Patricia

Good Evening everyone,

Can you believe it is the end of February ? We were even given an extra day. I thought it would be fun to share my month in pictures over a couple of blog posts. What a great way to recap my month and roll into March.

Some of the events and special moments of February:

1. Superbowl Sunday- if you told me 20 years ago I would be celebrating this event and actually watching and cheering I would have laughed. Seriously, I am in love with football. A bunch of us gathered and we managed to do a number on the food.Shocker I know.

2. Sushi Friday- not exactly special for February but we managed to have at least one special guest. Our friend Tanya joined us and she was mighty happy to have a beer. She is a busy momma of 2 little ones and joy was written all over her face when we picked her up. We pretend its our company that makes her smile, but it is really the beer!

Look at these lovely creations. I had two sets made by Michelle for Tanya and her husband for Christmas. A little different from ours but just as beautiful. Tanya’s first use!

She  had a hard time making up her mind but I actually took this photo knowing that she was going to order Pad Thai. She pretended  said she didn’t know what she wanted, but really we all knew!

Pad Thai, didn’t disappoint, I was in love with the plate.

M’s

Mine

3. Valentines Day-I am not overly blown away by this special love day and really enjoyed writing my Love Post about Self Love, but we did go out for a sushi love feast at Sushi Nami. Here is the evidence:

4. Back to another sushi Friday- I swear the 2nd half of my Feb. recap will consist of more than sushi. I do love love love my chopsticks, they are really a conversation piece when we set these on the table.

5. Fitness success!! I have done extremely well (toots own horn). I love this program, you work really hard 6 days a week and on the 7th day you get to rest and eat what you want. This is my treat of choice, I really don’t “blow it all to hell” on the 7th day but I do eat what I want. I have fallen in love with M and M’s again. This reminds me of my late teens ands early 20s when I would buy them at the movies.

Michael loves the Orange and Blue combo. Denver Broncos represent.

Have a great night everyone!

Patricia