Hey guys!  It's been awhile!

This month has been a month full of celebration!

Yes spring is finally here!  YAY!  and with it came Mother's Day, my youngest munchkin's 7th birthday and my own birthday celebration!

I love this month!  

Despite few days of rain, leaves on the trees, flowers and grass has started to come out and warmth has finally kicked in after many winter months of brutal weather.

And honestly, I don't mind the rain so much as others may do.

I find we need it to melt away the remains of what winter left us, and rinse away all the remaining icky dirt.

Interesting how much dirt and actual garbage comes out of melted snow and ice...

So yeah, rain is a nature's way of showering itself out of hibernation.

So for this year's Mother's Day, I have organized a very intimate picnic with both of our mothers.

I had prepared all the delicious knick-knacks to bring along with a nice chilled Rose wine and were planning on heading out to Oka park where we can enjoy the warm sunny weather by the water.

My lil' one gave me the greatest gift any mother can have on the day of the picnic...an early dawn wakeup call with a bucket of vomit.  Hmm lovely!
No biggie!

So we decided to do the picnic at home on our patio where we still enjoyed our time together as a family.

Any mother would take a child's well being over anything and simply make everything work out well...if not better! :)

Both of our mothers, including myself, were showered with love on this fine Mother's Day :)

Soon after that came another prep for another celebration...my munchkin's 7th birthday party!

Running around for decorations, loot bag goodies, snacks, treats, candies, cupcake ingredients, and let's not forget, GIFTS!  Making sure to send out invitation cards and forgetting to put the home address (oops), receive RSVP calls, wrapping gifts when kids are sleeping, decorating the house when kids are sleeping...

I must have gone through my "to-do" lists a hundred times over!

All this while seeing clients, doing weddings, preparing invoices, sending out quotes, cleaning my kit, testing makeup, the whole shabang.

In midst of all this, my oldest and my hubby asks me,

"So what do YOU want to do for your birthday?"

What? huh? My birthday?  Oh yeah, my birthday! Uh..Um...don't have time to think about that yet!

My priorities were to have a great Mother's Day and a great birthday bash for my lil one so my mind was not there yet, not one moment of my time alone!

And really, that was okey with me!

Once my birthday comes along, I feel rewarded.

I feel that once I have shown gratitude, love and appreciation on Mother's Day to my mother and my mother-in-law for their hard work, time and all the knowledge that they've thought us...

...and once I have demonstrated all that I've learned to my lil one's celebration of her birth, milestones and growing up on her birthday...

...that once my birthday comes along, I feel great, rewarded, and so satisfied that I feel like that is the best gift for myself as a person growing up.

Once my birthday comes along, I can welcome the event with open arms, feel truly relaxed, content and grateful.

It's weird to say.

It has definitely been a learning curve this past few months of "May" throughout the years.

Definitely looking forward to many more months of "May" in my future.

May 21st "521"

Let's see what my birthday says!

As you approach new opportunities and relationships, it's vital that you stay optimistic and use only positive words in your thoughts, speech, and writing

---"Angel Numbers 101" by Doreen Virtue

Wow!

That's quite interesting!  All these years, since I was little, my favorite motto I stood by has been the famous line from a lil rabbit known as Thumper from Bambi.

He said,

"If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all".

I do believe in not wasting precious energy, breath and time in saying things that hurt another being as well as yourself.  

I shall continue to so as my Angel book guides me so.

Oh look!

I opened up Chrome and found that Google has got me some cupcakes on my birthday!

Yay:)

Throwback Thursday: How I tripped and fell on Neil Patrick Harris

Oh Neil...
How beautiful, how witty, how talented and how humorous are you...
You have shown strength, confidence and self respect these past few years since your coming out and, as a big fan, I cannot be more proud than I am today.

Oh Neil...
I'd like to say that I'm sorry to have fallen, and literally, right between your legs on the set of Joan of Arc...
...but heck, yah right, pfffffft, I am not sorry one bit.

Embarrassed?  Absolutely!
Can't believe I made such a fool out of myself...








Damn me!
But then damn me and my muddy clunky winter boots and cobble stoned cathedral ground for allowing me to....I mean....making me trip and fall into your arms.
And you!  You were so kind! So sweet as to catch me ever so gently and say, "you okey?"
A gentleman, indeed.
And how appropriately dressed were you?
You in your mighty king Charles the VII costume so regal and magnificent...
studying your lines in a dusty small room inside a grand cathedral,
sitting by a window, and light of day coming in softly.

Hesitated to approach, but as your makeup artist I had no choice but to enter into your zone.
"May I do your touch up, Neil? ", I asked
You nodded as you were repeating your lines.

And then...right there..., in a blink of an eye, found myelf inside your arms.

"What the?..."

...were definitely my first words that crossed my mind the moment I tripped on a cobblestone.
What seemed so quick and sudden to others , was actually nothing but a terrible slow motioned b-rated film starring me.
Seeing my entire body, muddy, heavy and gross from working outside most of these dreadful shoot,  fall so inelegantly in direction of you...
Immediately felt hot right in my face, and hotter as I fell further into your arms
OmgOmgOmg










"I'm so sorry!", "Oh my god", "I'm so sorry!", repeatedly overwhelming him with my apologies.
And as you kept your cool, you simply considered my well being over anything.
As other crew members and actors watched over what had happened,obviously laughed out loud and mockingly congratulated me for doing what I did to get his attention...
What? No! I fell! I swear! I tripped!
"Yah, okey there" giggle giggle giggle
Noooooo!
But yah, I was smiling too so that didn't help, I guess.




So I had the honour of doing his makeup and wig application for the television miniseries of Joan of Arc shot in 1999 in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
3 months and a half of gruesome, most brutal, freezing and muddy, shooting outside 95% of the time.  Knee deep into the mud and snow and blowing wind, icy ground and runny nose... it was the most amazing experience ever, heck yah!

I got to meet amazing actors and one being Neil Patrick Harris.
He was only there for just few days.
He was Neil....from Doogie Howser and that was all anyone knew of him at the time.
He hadn't come out, nor had he had any successful film and television like Smurfs and How I Met Your Mother under his belt...and yet, I remember feeling so excited to meet him and to work with him.
Seeing him now with his amazing success, not only from all the film and television work, but his success as a human being appreciating life as a proud gay person, married to his love with two beautiful children, he exudes confidence, positivity, self respect and love of life.  He sings, he dances, he is witty, smart, clever and so funny....mind you, I can go on and on!
I love him as a person. He is so inspirational. He is glowing!

So yah, my whole event of me literally falling on him...
Can't deny it, it puts a smile on my face, ear to ear. And I can proudly say that, all awkwardness and embarrassment put aside, it is one of my greatest memories of all time.

xo



...Okey, so...
Seriously, look at him
This was taken in 1999...
Is it just me who thinks this, 
but he hasn't changed one bit!?!?!?!

Mother's Touch: Healthy affordable snacks for my kids! - Costco Haul

Being a mother to my children, ....

(rephrase)

Being a little crazy mother to my children, ...

(rephrase)

Being a "little-is-an-understatement-more-like-over-the-top-lunatic" mother to my children and who do not wish for my kids to consume bad sugar ... ahem...okey okey, ...just not everyday, at least!! :)

...I am often challenged with which snacks to buy for my kids' school lunches and after school classes.

Yes, I do all the veggie and fruit snacks, home baked goods and all...but I also want to provide varieties for my kids' taste buds (and to also give me some break away from the kitchen).

So many nasty ingredients that I have a hard time even pronouncing are inside many snacks out there.

Ones that are organic and sounds wonderful to eat are so much more expensive...would have to spend more on snacks alone in a week than groceries!

GMO this, artificial that, palm oil this, high fructose corn syrup that...

YOWZA!

EEK! 

CRINGE!

GROSS!

bwagazabgarrdawnakagrrabaxiaaaaa!!! 
(yup, that pretty much sums up how I feel about all those nasty ingredients...)

There are just so many terrible ingredients that is simply not meant for human consumption and sadly, I may not be able to avoid it all together...So then what?  Might as well feed the kids paper towels...

(but then again...makes me wonder, is it from a GMO derived paper or cotton?...were the plants sprayed in pesticides?...eek)

Woe woe woe....k, let's calm down.

So, what is a mother to do?

I do stop and look at each box and see what the ingredients are and if I see any ingredients that I just cannot pronounce....I gently place it right back on the shelf where I grabbed it from.

I may not be able to avoid it all completely...however, I am able to, within budget, make a wiser choice and avoid some, if not, as many ingredients as I can that I am just not happy with.

Main things that I look out for...

●　 No artificial colours
●　 No artificial flavours
●　 No GMO
●　 No unnatural preservatives
●　 No white sugar
●　 No unnaturally added sugar
●　 No white flour

For today, I'd like to do a lil' Costco Haul!

Here are a few of my favourite healthier snacks, and kids approved!

★　Florida's Natural Fruit Snacks $8.69 CDN　★

OMG, these are delish!

Chewy, fruity, mouth-watering flavours!

Packaged well!  50 pouches in one box and each is just enough for kids!

Affordable, yes!

                                                 

★　Garden Veggie Straws $4.99 CDN　★

Yummers!!

Crunchy!  Tasty!  Don't feel guilty!

You can see the bag is open...

(couldn't resist in the car...on my way back home...tihihi)

 Affordable, yes!

★　 Édamamé $9.99CDN　★

What's a japaneeser without these? C'mon!

It does take a little time in the kitchcn (as I boil them and not microwave them), 

but once it's made, it's a healthy snack to have abound all day long!

Affordable, yes!

These are just few amongst many I have in my cabinet.  I will do other hauls from other stores as well! So stay tuned :)

What I do appreciate now, is the awareness of where our food comes from, wether if it's vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, ingredients for snacks, etc; that has opened our eyes to keep watch on what we consume and thankfully it has also made a difference in companies who provide food for us.  Many companies has come out making a difference in their existing recipes; how they treat their animals; and producing and manufacturing food for us to eat.  So more and more, I do see a difference and I find it much easier to find good food for my family compared to just a few years ago.

I ♥LOVE♥ to eat.  

And I ♥LOVE♥ my body.  

I ♥LOVE ♥my family and I ♥LOVE♥ what me and my husband has created:  our children.

What we make as decisions on what we feed our children for their growth is our responsibility and our duty as parents.  It may be fun to eat bad stuff now, but when looking at it in the long run, makes you think twice as to "enjoy now" or to "enjoy future" :)

However, I do like to stress out that as we make proper and wiser decisions on what we consume, we do not do it exclusively and do not completely avoid everything that is bad from our diet.

I don't go THAT crazy when my children are offered a Twizzler or a handful of Skittles once in awhile.

What is important, for me, is that I provide healthier choices as much as I possibly can to build their body strong and healthy and by teaching them the fun of eating healthy so that even if, once in awhile, they indulge in sugary treats, their strong body can handle it :) 

And why would I take away the fun and the excitement out of a Trick or Treatin', or an Easter Egg Hunt traditions!  Instead, I teach them the moderations so they can truly enjoy the treats and look forward to the next event rather than devour them and feel sick otherwise :)

If you guys have your suggestions on amazing, delicious, affordable and healthy snacks, please share and let us all know!

xo