Easter, an Anniversary & other ramblings.

It's been 9 years since F.B. & I defined our long distance relationship, back on April 1st, 2004! (See our Relationship Timeline). The picture above is the card he got me. :-)

We had a quiet Easter dinner here at home. I made homemade pound cake, (using this recipe). It turned out gorgeous!

Our Easter Dinner. Roast Beef, Onions & Mushrooms, Roasted Seasoned Potatoes, Creamed Corn & Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider. We still have leftovers.

I also made lemon butter cream icing to go with our pound cake. 

Peeps & the Little Chick are from my co-worker. 

Also, I'm now obsessed with these iced & frozen cappuccinos from Wawa. They have a specialty drink bar now and you can customize your coffee drink. Soooo good.

I took advantage of the 20% off coupon L'Occitane sent me in the mail.  I got Almond soap, Verbena soap & Rose soap. Love them.

I've been having green smoothies in the morning for breakfast now. I do 1 whole banana, 2 tablespoons of plain yogurt, Half cup of almond milk, Big handful of fresh spinach, tablespoon of PB2 powder, & some protein powder. Might do some strawberry or blueberry, fruit smoothies this week too.

New favorite wine (Besides Sutter Home Sweet Red). I never had Pink Moscato before! It's really fruity and tangy. LOVE!

Typical commuting to work week. I ride these trains 2 times a day, 5 times a week. 45min to 1 hour commute...
Pictures are from my Instagram: @tunaynamahal82

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Maya Cosmetics- Nail Polish

After seeing these pretties on another nail blog I had to get them! :-)

 

Sanctuary is a gorgeous aqua color with blue shimmer in it. It's a bit on the thick side, I only needed two coats.

Sanctuary, with Wyoming Skies over it. No flash: the color is more accurate without the flash. The sparkles lay flat with no issues. I topped it with one coat of Seche Vite fast dry topcoat.

If you haven't already. Check out my blog about my Complete Nail Polish Collection!  

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5 Years of Blogging!

5 years ago today.... (yes on St. Patrick's Day)... I started blogging...


I've recorded and documented so many things here on my blog. It's my space to just be me. To blog about whatever is going on in my life. It's been a space to blog about our long distance relationship, our marriage, our immigration process. My Pets, my nail polish obsession, sharing recipes, trips I've taken in the Philippines, Philadelphia trips, etc...

I've also made a lot of friends blogging. Like Shannon, and Patty, Karen, Jacki, Stephanie, Georgia, Shawna, (and other friends). New blogging friends like Kelly & Faith. I get to keep up with family & friends by reading their blogs, like my SIL, My cousin Katie, my childhood friend Leah. Thank you for letting me read about your lives too.

As everyone has probably heard, this week Google announced, Google Reader will be shutting down in July of this year. I use Google Reader to follow so many blogs I read, because it's a simple format and easy to use on my cell phone, tablet or computer.

There's a petition that has currently reached over 122,000+ signatures and counting on Change.org. 


It's been covered hundreds of times in media around the world. Google will be watching closely over the next few days to see if the story dies out or if it keeps growing -- and that's up to you. Sign the petition and please share it on Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully Google will see we don't want Google Reader to go anywhere!

But... if they still retire Google Reader, you can still follow my blog through BlogLovin. And you can import all your blog feeds from Google Reader to BlogLovin by clicking here.

Follow on Bloglovin

P.S. I've started using The Old Reader. I think I like it better than Bloglovin because it's a very simple reader, like Google Reader. You can import all the blogs you follow too. :-)

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Crockpot Vegetable Lasagna.

I've made vegetable lasagna in the oven before many times. I just started making it in the crock pot last year. My recipe is loosely based on this awesome recipe.

Ingredients:
  • Oven Ready Lasagna Noodles *(make sure the box says 'Oven Ready' noodles, these are noodles that are already slightly pre-cooked so you don't have to boil them).
  • 1 jar of Tomato Sauce (I use Prego)
  • Ricotta Cheese
  • Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
  • Spinach (Fresh or Frozen)
  • 2 medium onions or 1 large onion
  • 2 Yellow Squash
  • 2 Zucchini
  • Mushrooms (Fresh or Canned) 
Spices:
Note: You can use whatever veggies you like. Sometimes I add Eggplant, you can add carrots, etc. (My husband isn't fond of carrots).

Directions:

I season my Ricotta cheese with the above spices. (I don't really measure, it's just to taste). Then I put a little tomato sauce in the bottom of the crock pot. Break your lasagna noodles to fit your crock pot, (it won't be perfect). Then some ricotta cheese, a little sauce and a layer of all your chopped vegetables in whatever order you choose. Then more sauce, ricotta cheese, sprinkle a little mozzarella cheese, then noodles again. Repeat until you reach the top. Noodles, sauce & the rest of the mozzarella cheese should cover the very top. Cook for 6-7 hours on low. Enjoy!

Note: This will be more like a lasagna casserole, that you can serve in a bowl. The noodles won't come out in perfect slices, but it still tastes amazing!

P.S. Someone buy me this Damask Crockpot, lol!


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Sweet Pea's Head Tilt... (Updated)

Friday afternoon my husband noticed Sweet Pea was off balance. When I got home from work, she was tilting to the left. When you would pick her up she would panic and start rolling over in my hands. Her balance was way off and she would even roll over on the bed. This really came on suddenly, as Thursday she seemed fine. Sweet Pea is a few months past 1 year.

We've got her in a little cage at the moment, which we call the "hospital cage" so she can't fall and hurt herself. Praying it's just an inner ear infection or some other infection and not a pituitary tumor... (which cannot be cured...) she's on antibiotics right now and praying we see an improvement by this coming Friday.

She can still hold food in her paws and is still eating & drinking. Today she was much calmer. She's still tilting to the left and when she walks tends to circle to the left. She really wanted to explore today but the tilting was getting in the way. Poor girl...
 In her hospital cage.

 Her head tilt is more prominent here.

Video of Sweet Pea's Head Tilt. :-(

Updated: 3/16/13:

Sweet Pea has been on antibiotics & resting in a hospital cage for a week. Friday night she got to join her sisters back in the big cage. (Buttercup my territorial girl, gave her a hard time, after being gone a week). Her head tilt is extremley slight now. She's no longer dizzy or lethargic.She will still be on antibiotics for another week. She's really improved so much, compared to last weekend, when she could barely walk and kept walking in circles.

Here's an updated video from last night:


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Milani Texture Polish!

These are so much fun! I love them even more than the Zoya Pixie Dust texture polish because these are more pigmented. I got Aqua Splash, Purple Streak, Spoiled in Fuchsia & Yellow Mark. I ordered them from the Milani Website. Though I do believe they will be in a few select stores soon. They also have red & gray, but I didn't like those colors as much.

These have a rougher texture than the Zoya Pixie Dust. You only need about 2 coats each though. And they dry rather fast. They also remove easy with polish remover. I didn't need to do my foil trick with these.

 


This was my 2nd and last BirchBox. I only got February & March boxes. It's fun... but it's a bit pricy, $10 a month. I'm glad my last box had some fun nail stuff in it. :-)


If you haven't already. Check out my blog about my Complete Nail Polish Collection

Oh & go check out my cousin's nail art blog! Kate Kreatez! 

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The Fur Kids!

It's been a little while since I posted pictures of the fur kids. Everyone is doing okay. Aspen turned 3 years old this month. He's my little frail old man. His back legs don't work well anymore but he still gets around pretty well.

Teddy bear turned 1 year last month, and he started with a preputial abscess.... blah. I hate abscesses. He's been on antibiotics and a scab is just starting, so it will have to be cleaned & drained soon. He takes his meds in Strawberry Ensure because he screams when I try to give him the meds in an oral syringe, lol. 

Belle, one of my dumbo girls, is getting a mammary tumor. It's in a bad spot too, right near her shoulder, so it's kind of under her neck. :-(

Some recent pictures of everyone, from my camera & Instagram:

Buttercup, Violet & Sweet Pea. Making a heart shape in their heart hammock! ♥

Cherry, Belle & Pumpkin. Everyone got new hammocks recently from
Dakota's Sweet Dreams on Etsy.

 Pumpkin & Cherry

 Pumpkin licking off a plate that had a cinnamon bun on it.

 Buttercup & I cuddling the other morning, while I was home sick with a yucky head cold. (Still getting over it).

Templeton looking uncomfortable & offended while my husband gives him a quick wet wipe bath, his expression is so funny!

My Teddy Bear!

 Remy, Templeton & Emile hanging out.

Emile! He is just a little drama king. You'll usually find him pinned on his back while one of the other rats groom him, and he makes pitiful sounding cries, lol. He's very affectionate & playful. Emile LOVES using his wheel, I have yet to get video of him doing it though!

Don't let this photo fool you. Remy is a total troublemaker. He is always antagonizing the other boys in the cage & then they end up chasing each other, boxing or fighting.

Aspen, my frail little old man now.

 Templeton, out cold during a nap on my bed.

Pumpkin, my chubby monkey.

Buttercup, doing her signature "peeking", I love her little paw.

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Adventures in Nail Stamping...

I've wanted to try nail stamping for awhile. :-) After reading this blogging post on Nailed It, I decided to order the stamping plates from Winstonia Store. You get 20 plates for $15, though you have to also order a stamper/scraper separately for about $3.95.

Stamping is... um... tedious at first... LOL. You need a lot of polish remover and a lot of cotton balls when you're practicing. I'm still not so good at the full nail designs yet, I need to practice more. I'm better at the smaller individual designs. It does work best when you're at the table. There's a great Stamping Tutorial on Swatch And Learn that really helped me.

This was my very first test attempt. I did some paw prints. The base was Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Lava and 1 coat of Zoya Faye over it.


I've been using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri colors in black & white to stamp with, because it's thick and gooey which is perfect. I just need some more colors now... maybe a brown, gold & silver.

This is me removing the film off the nail image plate. Guess which step was not on the back of the box with the directions? Yeah... removing the film from the plate. I totally tried stamping, thinking the blue film was SUPPOSED to be there... um... duh... lol!

This was today after I was done and the image plates are back in the little box. Messy work space.

Messing around practicing. My crooked gameboy stamp... and I seem to only be able to do full designs well on my pointer finger at the moment...

First attempt with the butterfly & star designs.

With Flash:
This was my actual full manicure when it was finished. I stamped on both hands, yay! I did stars and butterflies. The base is Layla Hologram Ultra Violet, with 1 coat of Zoya Daul on top. Black Stamp ink is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Black. I still need some practice stamping, but the results are really pretty when you get the hang of it. :-)

Without Flash:
I also got a new camera. A Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W690 16.1 MP. My last one had an unfortunate disaster with some nail polish remover... and my husband. Ironically, it wasn't me that spilled it, lol.

Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I purchased the Winstonia Stamping Plates with my own money. 

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