Juno Songwriter's Circle!

Yesterday Holly and I went to Toronto for the Juno Songwriter's Circle. We actually went to see Johnny Reid (he was hosting) but all of the performers ended up being fantastic! If any of you readers out there were in Toronto yesterday you know what a crazy snowstorm we ended up in!

As you can see, it was QUITE snowy! We couldn't even see where we were going or what streets we passed because we couldn't look up...BRRRRR!!! We met some friends for dinner beforehand and we looked like we had been caught in an avalanche or something after our 30 minute walk to the restaurant...LOL!

The show was great...Johnny was amazing, as usual...and equally exciting was the fact that first we saw his wife eating dinner at the same place we were, AND THEN she, along with one of my favourite bands The Stellas, were sitting in our row at the show...only 2 seats and an aisle away from us!! And when we left, we were standing soooo close to one of the Stellas that Holly got to rub  up against him! Haha! They seem super-nice, and if I wasn't such a wimp I would have totally talked to them during the intermission! It's a good thing I didn't though because I thought one of their names was Mary-Lou but it's actually Marylynne haha....now THAT would have been embarassing!!

Here's a video from last night of Johnny singing my favourite song of his. I tried to load the one I took but Blogger won't let me....so I've added a link to a video of it that another audience member took. It's special to me because he wrote it for his grandmother after she died because they always talked on the phone every Sunday....and my Grandma and I used to talk every Sunday morning as well before she died, and now I talk to my Grandpa on Sundays. So this song....I just absolutely love it, and sometimes it even makes me cry..... pleeeeaaassseeeeeee click the link and listen- you'll be impressed :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYy6dDoaHZQ

We also got to see some cool performers like Dan Hill, who sang "Sometimes When We Touch," and the legendary Randy Bachman, Royal Wood, Luke Doucet, Sylvia Tyson, and Lynn Miles. Here are some pics!

Herb of The Week: Nutmeg

Keeping with my weekly theme, I cooked with nutmeg tonight. This is a spice that is usually associated with baking...pumpkin pie is always the first thing that comes to my mind. I learned from Rachael Ray that it's really delicious when used in dark leafy green recipes.

Tonight I used nutmeg in a kale recipe....

I've always used ground nutmeg, but Erin gave me a clove (?) today so I grated it, and it tastes amazing! Check out the inside of the nutmeg....cool!

Spicy Kale

Heat 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil in a pan. Add 1 cup of chopped red onion, and cook until tender.

Add a cup of veggie stock, and wilt in a couple big handfuls of chopped kale. Add a couple pinches of crushed red pepper flakes, and a few grates of nutmeg. Cook until kale is all wilted, and top with a squeeze of lemon juice!

Crazy January Challenge Update

So I've been working mainly on two pieces this month....and I've been working away trying to meet a goal on each one before I showed pics but it's not happening! I'm about 3 days past my goal date so I figured I might as well just show them anyways.

I've been spending the most time on Catch the Wind by Butternut Road....

My goal for this one was to have the ruffles completely finished by the end of last weekend. I got close...but didn't quite make it. I do have a bit of a timeline planned out for this one...it features 3 people, so I'd like ot have it finished by October 1st....I figure 3 months per person should be enough. This is my biggest piece in the challenge (I think?) and it's also my favourite!

The other one I'm working on is a smaller one...I like to have a small one on the go so I can put it in my bag and take it places with me. This month's is Peace Tree Ornament by M Designs....

Annnnnd my goal for this one was to have the left side all caught up with the right side by the end of the weekend. Obviously that didn't happen either :-P

Not much else going on today....fighting with one of my roommates who is the biggest slob and most inconsiderate DICK I've ever lived with...super fun! What she doesn't know is that I know how to be a dick too....and she'll find that out at tomorrow at 4am when I'm up making breakfast before work...which I always do excessively quietly. Not anymore......

Achilles St. Patrick's Day Race!

Phew, it sure feels good to be back!! My brother's had my computer for a few days fixing it and I've been totally LOST! It was tragic, I'm telling you!!!!! I'm so very behind on all of my blog reading, Facebook stalking, e-mailing, and YouTube watching! But on the plus side, I did stitch a lot! I'll post a pic tomorrow when it's light enough to take a decent picture :-)

For now, I have some pics from the Achilles St. Patrick's Day Race that Erin and I ran in yesterday. It was super-fun and very GREEN!

Our racekits had these shirts and the BEST mittens I've ever seen in my life in them...and Irish Spring soap too! Interesting...but cool!

There were 65 people from our run club that took a bus to Toronto for the race...we had to leave at 7am...which was REALLY like...6...you know, because of the time change and all haha! The race started and ended at the Steam Whistle Brewery which was cool, we got "Irish Stew" and free beer after! The proceeds from this race went to Achilles Canada, a non-profit organization that supports disabled people in running.

It was a hard race for me because I've been off for a week and a half because of my teeth...and it did hurt them a lot to run on Sunday, but I'm glad I did anyways. My time was 30:31, my second best 5k time ever. Of the 65 people on our bus, Erin came in first and I came in fourth...so we were excited!

Although all in all, I think the best part was that a few people made treats to eat on the trip home....4 different kinds of squares, cupcakes, chocolate bars, trail mix and oranges came past me a few times and they were delicious!

Herb Of The Week: Dill

.....because I'm kinda weird.

I really like to cook, and anyone who knows me knows that I'm obsessed with Rachael Ray...I love love love watching her cook. I live alone (well...I do have roommates but none of us really talk to eachother much LOL) so I usually cook just for me. Cooking for one person is one of the hardest things ever! There's always too many left-overs and I get bored so easily that I don't want the same thing two nights in a row. And it's easy to not bother cooking at all because it's way more fun to cook for someone than just for yourself. But I try to cook good meals most of the time...which leads me to my topic: herbs.

Rachael and other cooks I watch and read about are always using so many different herbs and they always seem to know which ones go with which foods, how much to put in, whether to use fresh or dried, etc., etc., etc. But I'm totally clueless. I know how to GROW herbs...I'm a pro at that. But when it comes to actually cooking with them, I have no idea!

So I decided to try out a different recipe with a different herb in it every week. This week I chose dill because a) it's my favourite, and b) Erin #2 gave me a recipe for a hot dill potato salad that I wanted to try.

Here's a pic of my dill-icious supper from tonight. Ha. Ha.



Salmon with lemon and dill, and hot dill potato salad- see recipe below!

 Erin #2's Hot Dill Potato Salad For One

Chop 1 potato and boil until the chunks break apart. Drain, and return to the hot pot.

Add a splash of red wine vinegar, and a splash of extra virgin olive oil.

Season with 1 tbsp of dill, salt and pepper.

This is the easiest recipe ever, and it's soooo good!! Try it out, you'll be impressed :-)

I've been back at work for two days and unfortunately, my recovery isn't going very well! One of the holes is infected...the hole of the tooth that gave me the most trouble...go figure! And it's either spread and caused a throat infection..or....I'm getting a really bad cold. Either way it feels like I'm being stung by hundreds of bees every time I swallow. It's highly unpleasant.

I'm not overly impressed to be back. I was at my parents house for so long that I got really comfortable and wanted to stay forever! I miss them a lot sometimes. And my apartment flooded this morning. We've gotten a lot of rain in the past few days and a lot of snow melted...and drained right into my bedroom! Which is SUPER!! Haha! So...the cleanup's been fun!

Anyways...no stitching to show today, but I've made some good progress on Catch the Wind, one of my larger Challenge pieces. I'll put some pics of that up tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting!!

Second Crazy January Challenge Finish!

German Shepherd- Anchor Kit
Finished March 7, 2011

I just finished this one this morning...yahoo!! I decided to add the names of the German Shepherds I've had throughout my life and give it to my parents. Unfortunately, he doesn't look like any of our dogs...they were/are all predominately black with tan markings rather than tan with black markings. But he's still pretty cute!

My wisdom teeth recovery is going slowly. I think the biggest issue I've had is that I can't eat and the painkillers they gave me are strong and are meant to be taken with food...and every time I take them I feel sick. But if I don't take them the pain is pretty much unbearable. I tried to only take 1 every 4 hours rather than 2 yesterday and ended up caving around 7 and taking 2...it was hurting way too much. And that resulted in me waking up a couple hours later feeling like I was having a heart attack. I swear, it was the scariest few hours of my life. Most of the night involved me falling asleep for an hour or two then waking up not being able to breathe or slow my heart down. My Mom kept feeding me to try to soak up the drugs and I guess it eventually worked or they wore off and I stayed asleep...and more importantly, didn't die LOL. Today I'm taking regular Advil instead and dealing with the pain...I'm not repeating last night!!

Well....I'm off to lay down...and maybe stitch a little :-)

I LIVED!!!!!

Yep, you read right! I survived my biggest fear in life...getting an IV! I've been putting off getting my wisdom teeth out for over 5 years because I was too scared of the needles involved. But once they started pushing on my other teeth and shifting then I didn't have much of a choice anymore. So...I got them out yesterday! And lived!

It was actually quite funny of an experience. I was crying before I even went into the room and the dentist was hilarious trying to calm me down...and not to mention, he was pretty hot! So once I got sitting in the chair and the IV lady came I started to hyperventilate and my blood pressure was so high that they were getting concerned, so in a "funny" attempt to calm me down, the dentist said "Alright, ready? We usually put the IV in your neck for this procedure"....and then I burst out crying LOL! The poor dentist hugged me and said over and over that he was just joking...which I knew, but at that moment, it didn't matter! He even called my Mom around 9 last night to see if I was okay hahaha!

And then....apparently while I was sedated I told the nurse that when she went to get my Mom to make sure she tells her that she has to buy me Rachael Ray pots and pans...everyone's getting a big kick out of that one.

I also ended up with a big red cut above my eyebrow...I didn't have it when I went in, and the dentist and nurse have no idea how it got there LOL! I probably burst some sort of vein in my head from the extreme stress and hyperventilating.

The swelling isn't toooo bad... and my sweet Cooper is taking excellent care of me.....Although I'm feeling a lot worse today now that all of the freezings gone.

On a brighter note, I now have 4 full days with nothing to do but cross stitch, read, and watch TV! Yay!

Erin (#1) was visiting me for a few days this week and she's just about finished her first ever cross stitch! She doesn't have a blog, so I took a pic to post here because I feel that all stitching should be shared LOL! And it looks GREAT, especially for her first ever! Here it is....

Thanks for visiting today!! I'm off to finally catch up on all of your blogs now :-)

TUSAL

Here's my March TUSAL post!