Happy New Year Everyone!

Just sending out a quick note to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

This year I am spending with my boyfriend & a couple of friends in the evening by going out to a movie! Totally non-traditional, but perfect for me as I wanted to do something quiet this year.

What I wish for New Years is for people to read & comment on my blog. As fun as it is, it takes some time & work so it will feel worthwhile if people read it & give me some feedback as I go along :)

My goal for the New Year is to become a more peaceful & content person.
How do I suppose I will reach my goal?

- Spend maximum amount of time with people who have a positive effect on me, & minimum of time with people who have a negative effect on me.

- Meditate, meditate, meditate!

- Get a diagnosis & begin treatment of my ailment.

- Throw myself into my hobbies.

I think these are surefire ways to helping me feel calmer & healthier in the New Year.

I would love to hear your New Years Eve plans, & also if you have any resolutions!

See you in 2010,

Shella

Feeling girly in purple & pink

Before Christmas I had a few parties to go to in celebration of the upcoming holidays. For one of the parties, I decided to go with a purple & black theme with a little bit of pink accent for my look. I also didn't want to spend a lot of money so when shopping for the event I had two things in mind: 1. If what I buy is not something I will use/wear often, then it must be a reasonable price, & 2. If what I buy is expensive, it must be something I will continue to regularly use/wear after the holidays.

Oh and my pics are not in the order I originally planned to post them - I can't figure out how to move the pics around once they have been uploaded! If anyone can help, please let me know :)

Directly below is a pic of me after my makeup was completed. I promise I'll work on my angles in the future ;)



I loooooved this headband & my new hair colour!



So here is a summary of the items I ended up with:

"Baroque Boudoir" Lip Gloss from MAC ~ $26.00 (yes, very very expensive IMO!)



On the Left: "Pink Venus" Eyeshadow from MAC ~ $17.50
On the Right: "Satellite Dreams" Eyeshadow from MAC~ $17.50



"A True Romantic" Nail Polish from Sephora ~ $12.00



Ring: from Bitter Sweet ~ Reg $15.00 but I got it on sale for $7.50
Earrings: from Bitter Sweet ~ $22.00
Headband: from Spring ~ $9.99 for 3 (one purple, one blue, one black)



Purse: I've had this for many years. So it was free in this round.




Bracelet: from Ardene ~ $11.99



Shoes: from Shoe Warehouse ~ $44.99
I originally bought these for a friend's wedding so I already had them.



Glamorous 40's Inspired Dress from Dynamite ~ $39.90

I hope you enjoyed!

Recipe of the Week ~ Winter Vegetable Croustade Au Gratin

I will try to post the recipe of the week every Tuesday. I will also take pictures of my own dishes (please note that my camera shmucks big time - so the dishes will probably not look too appetizing). However I will also reference the sources that I got the meal ideas from & the pictures on those websites will hopefully give a good idea of how appetizing the dish should look.

I haven't made this dish in awhile but I remember it allows for a lot of experimentation & was pretty easy to make!

First off: I found this recipe & copied the photo from the following website http://www.dairygoodness.ca/recipes/winter-vegetable-croustade-au-gratin?recipeid=1783

Ingredients:

2 tbsp (30 mL) butter

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

4 cups (1 L) your choice of winter vegetables (carrots, turnips, rutabaga, celeriac, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc.), peeled and cut in 1 inch sticks or diced

1 tsp (5 mL) fennel seeds

2 cups (500 mL) Canadian Old Cheddar, shredded

2 tbsp (30 mL) butter, melted

2 slices of whole wheat bread, crumbled or diced

3 tbsp (45 mL) chopped fresh parsley

Salt and freshly ground pepper


Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook onion, garlic, vegetables and fennel seeds for 3 to 5 minutes or until onions and garlic are golden.

Salt and pepper to taste and transfer to an ovenproof dish.

In a bowl, combine cheese, melted butter, breadcrumbs and parsley. Salt and pepper to taste.

Top vegetables evenly with cheese mixture.

Bake 15 minutes or until vegetables are soft and cheese topping is golden and crusty.

Course: Side Dishes
Prep. Time (according to the source): 10 mins
Prep Time (according to me): Approx 30 mins
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Servings: 4 to 6

Source Note: The croustade may be prepared ahead and baked or reheated just before serving.

MY NOTES: This dish was very easy to make. It was however, somewhat bland. Fortunately there is a lot of room to play with the ingredients. I havent tried this version of it yet but Im positive it would be more tasty with a little broccoli, cauliflower & diced chicken or tofu.

First post..Intro

I'm excited :)

Well, first of all I am excited because I have created a new blog that I think will bring out really positive habits in me (such as this thing I used to do years ago called "excercise"), and so on.

Secondly, I'm excited because I know that I will enjoy blogging since I had 3 blogs up to 5 years ago. One was for cooking & new recipes, one was for poetry & one was for crafts. I actually have no idea how to get into those blogs because I forgot the passwords, and I no longer remember the password to the email address associated to those blogs. So I guess those old blogs are lost in the internet 'wind', so to speak. No one ever looked at them anyway, in part because they weren't very interesting but mainly because I was too painfully shy to tell anyone about them. I think these things are usually shared with other humans - you know, so they could, like, read them. haha.

I'm still very shy to share this blog but honestly, sometimes you just need to take a risk & possibly look like a fool. At the very worst, people will discover that I'm a terrible writer & I suck at doing anything makeup or fashion related. At the very least, I will have a forum in which to document one of the most pressing things in my life right now - health issues. Hopefully others who have experienced some of my problems can advise me & steer me in the right direction, since doctors don't seem to give a darn about me. I guess this is a new way to reach out for some guidance.

I also really love to try new recipes & then post the ones that I consider successes. I usually post them on facebook but from now on I will post them here for anyone on the net to see. Of course I will reference the sources of my knowledge each and every time I post anything that isn't copyrighted by yours truly.

Lastly, if I ever go out on a tangent in posting here, I will be sure that it is always with beauty/health in mind. Note that I often go on tangents - which is probably more of a curse than a blessing!

Anyway, please bear with me while I try to recall how to navigate this site & do some redecorating. Its nice that prettying up my blog won't cost a dime (while I wait to save enough to decorate my real house - that's a whole other blog entirely!).

hugs,
shella