Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

OMG. I don’t know why I lagged so much this week for the Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge. I definitely liked the theme for the week… but somehow life got in the way and now here I am on a Tuesday… finally getting to this. I looked at this challenge from two perspectives this week. The first is just the literal and I selected this old photo I took while in Copenhagen back in 2006. Goodness, with a cheezy old 3-megapixel camera too. haha. Definitely doesn’t do the true image justice, but you get the gist of it. I was at Tivoli at the time, and looked over to see this stunning view as the sun was setting. I don’t have a good memory of things (unfortunately), but I remember how beautiful it was that day.

From another perspective, I selected the photo below and its simply just a photo of me on a day when I had been reflecting on some stuff in my life last year. I remember that day clearly because I spent some time alone just sitting by the harbor and I snapped this selfie just to document my morning that day.

Toddler Eating: Healthier than Hamburger-Helper

Seriously… this is as simple as mac n’ cheese. And the kids LOVE it.

Ingredients:

• Veggie Pasta – I usually use about a 5th of the box and it yields 6 small servings for my kids.
• Pasta Sauce – I’ve been using Ragu Chunky Garden – but looking for an organic sauce that I like still.
• Organic Ground Beef – Trader Joes – I usually use about a 5th of the package for this recipe
• Cheddar Cheese

How much to cook depends on your needs in terms of servings. I usually start with boiling the pasta and based on how much of it I have once cooked, then I’ll add in the ground beef and sauce until it thoroughly covers all the pasta. I add in cheddar cheese at the end – either small cubes or shredded and stir until it melts into it. This is a personal preference because I think it take the edge off the “tomato-y” taste of pasta. mhmmmmm. Easy peasy!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

Inside. Ohhhh…. this can mean so many things. Be portrayed in so many ways. But since I’m a hopeless romantic… I decided on this photo for The Daily Post photo challenge this week. It was a photo from an engagement session shot at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. We were inside one of the little houses with the beautiful screen windows. It was the perfect silhouette to have them inside of the window pane…. and at this very moment… capture a piece of the love that resides inside of them.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Perspective

Ok… This theme of “perspective” for The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge for some reason is the hardest one for me thus far! I don’t usually wait until nearly Thursday to post for the challenge… but I’ve been stumped all week on deciding on a photo I might have already taken… and even in trying to think of some creative way to take a new photo. UGH.

In the end…. I settled on the photo above… which from that perspective could probably be thought of as various different things. Span out of the photo and you see that they are part of a larger display of Eastern Asian medicine technique. Whenever one of us starts to feel like we are coming down with a cold – we cup. Read more about the benefits of “cupping”.  We use a modern method with a pump. But old skool methods use fire. Watch a video demo of that here:

Pretty hardcore. I’ve never tried it with fire…. pump is good enough for me!

 

Introducing Kids to the Theater

I’ve always enjoyed going to see shows/musicals – particularly ones of Disney movies that I enjoyed as a youth. Lion King, Beauty & The Beast… all wonderful productions.

As my kids are learning about these wonderful stories – not just Disney, but other classic tales as well (mostly through books as they haven’t watched many full-length movies yet), I’ve found that there are wonderful ways for them to experience them outside of a book and away from the “screen”.

She was excited to pose for a photo with one of the actresses after the show!

The San Diego Junior Theatre puts on wonderful productions catered to various age groups. Last fall, I planned a mommy & me triple theater date and we had a great time watching “The Little Mermaid”.  As an adult, I certainly enjoyed the show just as much as the kids. The junior actors did such an amazing job and I was so impressed throughout the performances. I missed “The Cat in the Hat” show, but I see “Shrek” is on calendar in a few months, so I may have to plan another “date night” with my daughter!

For my little guy, Balboa Park also offers Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater shows! A 10am show would be the perfect activity right before lunch.

On a side note – At California Adventures, they have the Aladdin show which was amazing! My daughter got a little frightened in some parts and said it was kind of “loud”. But we sat in the back and enjoyed it nonetheless. Definitely check that out if you are spending the day at the amusement park.

Shopping is my cardio

Was driving in the car with K this morning. We pass by a group of moms jogging with their strollers.
K: “What are they doing?”
Me: “Oh they are exercising”
K: “How come we don’t exercise?”
I thought about the various truths that I could tell him….about how shopping is cardio, and how mommy doesn’t like to sweat…. but I kept it simple…
Me: “Because mommy has been blessed with good genes.”

For anyone who knows me well…. they know that I hate to exercise. I have been blessed with good genes… but also find other ways to burn calories. I mean, come on… my son is a whooping 35 lbs. That is a work out in its own. Also…. shopping really IS cardio! Walking up and down aisles, arm movements through hangers of garments, pushing shopping carts or lifting shopping baskets. Hey… it all counts. Different strokes for different folks. You’ll never catch me in a mommy-stroller-group at the butt crack of dawn. But I’ll be first in line at Target the day after any holiday. 🙂

For all you shoppers out there… you are burning calories! Check out the numbers from this article as it states:

“A more competitive “super-shopper” may walk up to 5 mall-miles in a three-hour
shopping spree. Along with lots of fidgeting, reaching for merchandise, and
waving at friends, calorie burning can top 500 calories for our 100 pound person
and up to 1,000 calories or more for the more substantial 200- to 300-pound
shoppers. This level of shopping should not be attempted without proper
training, or you may find yourself “hitting the mall.”

Oh la la… 5 ways to burn calories without exercise?? Works for me.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned

Abandoned. Oh man, I’ve been sitting on this theme from The Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge all weekend trying to think about what I had in the archives that would be suitable. I did have photos of random buildings from my travels to Europe, etc…. but I opted for something funny this week. One of the most random things I had ever seen abandoned was when I was at our local Aquarium. At an AQUARIUM!!! Low and behold… I’m walking and look down to find:

ABANDONED PANTIES!?!?

Interesting. Very interesting. It was really early in the day still, so it made me wonder how long these panties had been tossed there on the ground? From early in the morning? Or perhaps something steamy from the night before? Whatever it was, I hope there was good reason for them being left behind.

On the topic of abandoned undergarments, I then thought back to this tree that I had seen before when I was snowboarding. I used to always see one at Big Bear when I was on one of the lifts – where people would toss bras and undies as they passed by. The photo below was actually a photo of something similar at Mountain High. I’m assuming the people already had these items in their pocket to throw down from the ski lift? Because undressing in the cold from all the gear would be quite challenging!

Schedule Series: 7 Months