A Dinner At The Boathouse

V. is fond of taking me out for the occasional fancy dinner. We're both connoisseurs of sorts when it comes to food because delicious food, and especially beautifully presented food, is a memorable and cherished experience.
So after one particularly long day, he surprised me with a reservation at The Boathouse to enjoy their Shrimp Fest going on. We had the Wok Calamari for appetizer, which is a really delicious Asian twist on the regular calamari with jalapeno peppers, chilies, and rock salt. The calamari comes in big pieces instead of the usual rings, and it's actually quite "filling" in that way.
Then came the main course, which was a Surf n' Turf two person platter. It included steak, mashed potatoes, aparagus, salmon, lobster, king crab legs, and fire-grilled prawns. My favourite was the fire-grilled prawns. They were sooo good! My steak was good too, but there was too much variety to finish anything in entirety. My dad was the lucky recipient of the take-out. I didn't even know that he'd polished it off until he came downstairs to ask me where the marvellous seafood came from and to rave about how good the prawns were, lol.

Dessert was an oldie, but a goodie - Mocha Almond Ice Cream Pie. I've tried a few of The Boathouse's desserts, but this one is still my favourite. It just never fails to hit the spot.

I know they say you shouldn't eat for pleasure or as an activity since it can lead to gaining weight and bad habits like eating for stress, but I really enjoy a good meal like this with so much to look at and taste. It's very fulfilling for me, and very much something I look forward to. I would liken it to a spa experience. You kind of just sit back and get pampered - the environment is good and warm with candlelight, the service is exceptional, the food is delicious and looks mouth-watering, and V. and I just relax, talk, and eat.

What's your favourite dining experience?

Cupcakes and Fuzzy Bumblebees

I was strolling along a sunny Spring sidewalk, when I noticed something fuzzy and cute walking in little circles in the grass. It was a giant, fuzzy bumblebee! Now, I DO mind fuzzy bumblebees buzzing around my head, but this little fellow was very busy walking his circles so I stopped to stare and take a few snapshots to show you.

The local ants were upset with him and crawled onto him, perhaps biting him. He shook his leg a couple times just to try and get them off.
Finally, tired of the angry barrage of red biters, he ran over to a grassy spot, spun around a few times, burrowed down into the greeness, and sat to watch the biters from afar. I don't know much about bumblebees, so I'm not sure what he was up to or why such a cute, fuzzy fellow would be sitting hidden in such a steppable spot. If it wasn't for the fact that he was bright yellow and black and rather large, I would normally have squashed him by accident.

I had to hurry on to work so I left him in his hideout.

My day at work started off pretty good, my co-worker climbed up to reach over our cube wall and lower a plate of cupcakes to me. He was like Santa Claus, but with cupcakes.
Armed with the yummy sugary snack, I was wired and ready to begin a busy day of work - much more busy than that little bumblebee sitting in his nest of grass.

Spring Musings On Life and Work

Spring is here in full bloom and the days are getting milder and sunnier. It's quite nice, and I find it hard not to feel a bit lighter when I walk around outside on my way to work.

The newspapers, however, are full of doom and gloom. There are articles on anxiety management for kids, someone trying to sell their child, and how to make the most of severance pay when you lose your job. A recent call to update a friend on my trip lead to an update from her on how she was laid off from work. It wasn't all bad though, the shock of losing her job made her re-evaluate her life and career, and she planned to make a switch and go back to school to become a nurse. I was really happy for her, despite the job loss. It's so important to have a job that gives your life meaning, and there's always a need for good nurses. I think she'll make a fabulous nurse.

Her situation made me think of my life and whether my life and work was meaningful too.

I have one friend that works as an elementary school teacher and she is always so excited and happy about her job and her students. It was always her dream to be a teacher, and she seems to garner so much joy from having achieved that goal! Another friend of mine would normally hate her job, but she makes good money so she doesn't mind as much. I guess we're all motivated by different things, and when we get that motivation, we don't care as much how much it costs to get it. But when that motivation is gone...? Uh oh.

How about you? How do you feel about your job and your life situation? Are you happy?

My Trip to Las Vegas

I was able to recover *just* in time for my trip to sunny Las Vegas. This was thanks to two days of lazing around in bed, dozing off whenever I needed it. My mother also made some of her magical Chinese herbal brew, which may or may not have helped. Either way, it probably gave me a good dose of healthful vitamins.

We drove down to Bellingham from Vancouver to catch an Allegiant Air plane ride. I was surprised to discover that the Bellingham airport is very tiny - you actually walk out the door, run through the rain, and climb a set of stairs to board the plane! Amazing!

My seat mate commented on how he would be glad to leave the dreary rain behind for the desert sun of Las Vegas. He was a seasoned visitor to Vegas and was itching to get there in a hurry. Him and his father LOVED to gamble, and he said that they planned to spend 12-14 hours a day doing nothing but. From our seat by the plane wing, I was so suprised to see the desert sands. I'm used to seeing trees and grass. This was quite a change.
One of our activities in Vegas included a trip to the top of the half-scale Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel. You can see the whole Vegas strip from there. It costs $10 per person to go to the top, but we found a coupon for buy one get one free. You can find coupons for many attractions in Vegas, so keep an eye out for them in the local papers, tourist booklets, and the half-price ticket outlets.
You can also see the Bellagio fountains really well from the top of the Eiffel Tower, but it doesn't really compare to standing directly in front of them because then you can hear the music better and see the layering from the view it was meant to be seen from.
One of our favourite shows was our first one - Tournament of Kings. It's a dinner-included show with a whole chicken, a giant broccolli floret, potato wedges, and a dinner bun. It also comes with "Dragon's Blood Soup" (last night's loser) - which is actually a tasty herbed tomato cream soup- and unlimited Pepsi. The food was fun to eat since you have to use your hands, and the show was very entertaining. I loved how interactive it was.
Other shows that made my eyes bug out of my head were the Cirque du Soleil Shows KA, and Mystere. They were UNBELIEVABLE. If I ever go back to Vegas, I'm going to do nothing but shows. I'll be broke, but it will be worth every second. It's just unreal how the theatres have been built specifically for each show. You're really part of the action, and the acrobats are right above your head!

Phantom of the Opera is another show that really impressed me.
My favourite hotel was Bellagio. They have a beautiful entry way with glass artwork by Dale Chihuly, and it leads to a giant indoor garden that is really very bright and beautiful.
There is also a butterfly garden in the middle, which I loved staring into to see the giant butterflies.
See the lovely, colourful poppies? I loved those the most. They are so pretty.
At night, Vegas is all neon light. It looks pretty cool and you feel calmer walking along the streets because it's cooler. Because it's still Spring right now, it's not actually that hot in Vegas even during the day. You can wear short sleeves and jeans just fine. At night, you will need a light jacket as it does get chilly, especially when the winds are blowing. It can get pretty windy!!!

One day, we went to the Hoover Dam! It's one of the seven wonders of the industrial world. Did you know that it's made of solid concrete and that it was finished 2 years ahead of time and UNDER budget? How often do we hear that nowadays? In order to cool the concrete in time, they created a web of piping for cold water all throughout the structure. Workers were only paid $4 per day for all their life-threatening work.
Check out the cool bridge being built nearby the Hoover Dam!
With all those fun activities, it was still hard to ignore the "darker" side of Las Vegas. The streets are lined with people in bright coloured T-shirts that say, "Girls Direct To You". They aren't allowed to directly sell the prostitutes to you verbally, so they simply stand with stacks of naked lady cards holding them out to you, and snapping the cards together to make a sound to catch your attention. People that take the cards mostly drop them as they are walking, so the streets are covered with pictures of naked ladies. It is very unsightly, and children that look down point and say, "Ewww!" One odd lady, pointed it out to her child and said, "Look, boobies!" which I found very peculiar. I would say that Vegas is not a good place to bring children.

Our hotel (Excaliber) was also surprisingly dirty. When we arrived to drop off our luggage, we discovered white stains on the upholstered furniture and curtains, and sunflower seeds on the bed. I almost turned around to go home right that moment since it was so disgusting. We called down to front desk and requested a room change. Thankfully, the next room was comparatively clean and stain-free. In order to maintain this cleanliness, we had to tip the cleaning lady $2 per day. In Vegas, tipping for almost everything is expected. It's an unsettling situation since, in Vancouver, we expect that the room will be clean whether we tip or not in advance.

Being someone who doesn't gamble, drink, go clubbing, or smoke, Vegas was not a pleasant place to be. There is smoking, drinking, and gambling going on at all times in the casinos, and you have to go through the casino if you want to go to the different attractions. The casinos are also huge, so there is far more walking involved than anything else. Our feet were aching every night despite wearing proper running shoes with excellent cushioning and support.

After 3.5 days in Vegas, I was ready to go home. I didn't feel bad leaving Vegas, and I don't miss it now that I'm back home. I'm actually delighted by the phrase, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" because I wouldn't want that environment at home. It's a peculiar feeling after a vacation since I missed Disneyland sorely when I got home and could hardly bear to leave it. My co-workers LOVE Vegas, and they talk about it all the time, but I guess Vegas isn't for everybody.

I'm still glad I went, since the shows are spectacular and I liked the Hoover Dam and being able to check Vegas off my list of places I'd like to visit. It was a good eye-opening experience for me.

For the trip home, my Sweetie stopped off at a sweet shop to buy me some gummies. He also got some chocolate, chips, and water. I was happy to munch on these goodies as we said goodbye to Las Vegas.
Ah, home sweet home! Now it's back to work and "real life". Secretly, I'm already thinking about my next vacation. I wonder where I should go and what I will see?

Have a good weekend!

New Baby Platy Fish

Aww, look at the new baby platies! They are so tiny compared to their older siblings. It's actually much harder to take pictures of the older siblings now because they swim really fast. I can normally keep up with the babies to snap a few good pics (out of many, many blurry ones), but I think I'm coming down with a cold or something. I thought it was just the start of hayfever, but the antihistamines aren't really working, and I'm overwhelmingly tired. After only a few minutes of watching the fishies, I was ready to sleep.

I hope this cold goes away ASAP! I'm scheduled for a vacation starting on Sunday! Arrghhh... it wouldn't be a very fun vacation if I spent all of it being sick in bed.

My Army of Easter Treat Bag Chicks

I made some Easter treat bags for my co-workers and I wanted to show you what they look like, since I'm rather fond of them. Look at these happy, fat chicks! Aren't they wonderful? In case you'd like to make some too, here's what you'll need:

Easter Chick treat bags (comes in pack of 20 with twist ties)
Plastic raffia in your choice of cheery colours
Foil-wrapped chocolate eggs
Caramel Hershey Kisses
Hershey Eggies or Cadbury Mini Eggs

Instructions:

1. Put handful of plastic raffia into Easter Chick treat bags.
2. Add 5-6 chocolate treats.
3. Stuff bags full with plastic raffia.
4. Tie with twist tie (mine came with my treat bags)
   

The treat bags came in a pack of 20, but I needed almost 30 of them. I didn't have time to run out and buy more treat bags, so I improvised the remainder with supplies I had available. To make these treat bags you will need:

ACEO card sleeves (polypropylene 2 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches)
Yellow note cube sheets
Fancy edging scissors
Pencil crayons
Black ink pen
Chocolate treats
Plastic raffia

Instructions:

1. Open card sleeve and add 2 foil eggs, 2 hershey kisses, and one cadbury mini egg.
2. Roll up a pinch of plastic raffia, and add to card sleeve.
3. Fold note cube sheet into half and cut along the fold.
4. Fold half sheet again lengthwise.
   
5. Use fancy edging scissor to cut bottom of the paper to make it pretty.
   
6. Line up paper to match the size of the card sleeve, and cut off excess length.
7. Put the folded paper over the card sleeve so that it covers the opening of the card sleeve.
8. Staple the paper onto the card sleeve (one staple in the bottom middle).
9. Write Happy Easter and who the treat bag is from.
10. Decorate with pencil crayons.
    

Enjoy!

We Have New Baby Platy Fish!

Remember this lovely lady? Well, I almost forgot to tell you, but she gave birth to NINE little babies on Tuesday. The newbies are not short and fat like the previous bunch. They are long and skinny! We'll have to something about the skinny part... They seem to be doing well, swimming alongside their older, now-orangy siblings (the previous batch of googly-eyed fish friends). I was relieved that the older babies didn't mind the new bunch at all.

This time around, we didn't put the Mummy fish into the birthing compartment until the day of. She gave birth to the nine babies and my brother claims that she ate two of them, but no one else present seems to agree. She also mysteriously laid two eggs. She's not supposed to lay eggs, so we're not sure why there are two fish eggs in the birthing room. They are clear bubbles with faintly yellow tinted fluid inside and something whitish. Perhaps they are unfertilized eggs or undeveloped babies? I have no idea. It is a mystery to us all.

So there's the happy, Eastery news of the day. I left Eastery treats on my co-workers desks this morning since it's the last day before our long weekend, but I didn't label most of them. The side effect is that they think the treats are from my company, lol. Oops. Maybe they'll find out later.

I hope you have a happy Easter long-weekend.

Build Your Own Moss Terrarium

I've been eyeing the pretty moss terrariums on Etsy and the Web, but they're a bit pricey for me and I'm antsy about shipping glass jars. The end result was a very fun do-it-yourself project, as you're about to see. If you want to make one too, you'll need the following supplies:

1. glass jar with lid
2. small stones or gravel
3. charcoal
4. indoor potting soil
   
5. moss, lichen, and other tiny found objects
   

I wanted a sturdy jar, so I avoided all the delicate ones at Michaels. Instead, I found a hermetico jar at Benix and Co. on sale for $2.69. My favourite jar there was actually a tall biscotti jar, but I thought it would be too big for my desk.
I saw a lot of pretty, rounded stones in the yard, so I collected them to add to my jar.
They were a bit dirty, so I washed them in a wash tub outside. No point bringing the dirt inside the house.
Then I put the rocks in my jar and added aquarium gravel on top. I think I could have skipped the aquarium gravel, but I wanted a barrier to keep the soil higher up.
The gravel is for drainage. All the water will drain to the bottom and you can quickly tell if you accidentally overwatered your terrarium.
Next, add a layer of charcoal. I read that this keeps the water in your terrarium from becoming stale. I found my bag of potting charcoal at Home Depot for about $2.97.
After the charcoal, add indoor potting soil. Don't use garden soil as it has bugs in it. If you don't want your soil to trickle down to your rocks, add a layer of sphagnum moss as a barrier before you add the soil. It will help to hold moisture too. I couldn't find sphagnum moss anywhere, so I skipped it and opted for a potting soil that had sphagnum moss added in already.
My favourite part of this whole process was moss hunting. You'll want to find slow growing mosses so don't choose the large varieties that take over your lawn. Pick the tiniest varieties that grow in mini patches on rocks or trees. I found some pretty, bright green, star-like ones on the cracks of my rock path, some very tiny, dense-growing mosses under a big tree where no grass was growing, and a sort of shaggy moss on the tree bark. I also collected some tiny pine cones, and a bit of greyish white lichen from a tree.
I took my handful of green treasures back and scraped most of the natural soil off, leaving the roots intact. I didn't want to leave any soil on the mosses that might have insects or insect eggs inside of it. I suspect I could have rinsed the dirt off more cleanly in water, but scraping the soil off seemed to do the trick. Then I arranged them inside my jar. I left room around the mosses so that they have space to grow into. Then I trickled water all over my new moss garden, wiped the glass walls clean, closed the lid, and voila! It was ready to enjoy!
Almost immediately, condensation formed on the glass walls in the sealed jar. This will be your indicator of when to water your terrarium. When there is no condensation on the glass anymore, it is time to add water. Also keep an eye on your drainage rocks to make sure you are not drowning your plants.

Your moss terrarium will grow best in non-direct sunlight, like near a window on your desk. Just think of the kind of places mosses normally grow well in.

I am excited to see how my moss terrarium will look when the moss grows in a bit more. It's fun to have many different varieties in one jar! I found the smaller jar with the black lid on my garden shelf and decided to make another moss terrarium. That one has only one variety of the tiny, densely growing moss. I think it will eventually form the bumpy green terrain which I see most commonly in moss terrariums for sale. It is my little experiment on what happens if I only use one moss variety.

I find it very soothing to look at these moss terrariums because the moss looks so bright and lively against the light, and everything is so tiny! I also like the different coloured layers, and I think it would be fun to experiment more with that.

I hope you have fun making your very own moss terrarium.

Have a lovely day!

UPDATE: You cannot seal the lid to the jar for long periods of time. The contents will start to rot. I resorted to leaving the lid on, but not closed shut. That is working out well for me. The moss started to grow into areas not previous covered by moss, and it creeps up the sides of the jar a little too :)

Little Bean Has Got the Upper Hand

Awww, isn't he a cutie? Right after I was finished making him, he dashed off to hide behind Tilly. What was he hiding from? A giant, fat, purple scary dude...






Poor Fat Grub. He never wins. He's buried in the chocolate easter egg pile right now, eating his sorrows away. Tilly and Little Bean are playing hopscotch. Fat Grub sucks at hopscotch.