AN Exiting Visit

Hello everyone, I know many of you are having trouble getting to my blog, that's why I have not been posting lately, I am working on another blog but I feel terrible to leave this blog behind.

Of course I miss blogging terribly! So much for working and blogging, my job is extremely hectic at this time, and time off is non-existent.

I just wanted to share some news of my tiny country, come Friday we are hosting the 5th Summit of the Americas and Barack Obama is coming to our shores!!

I'm very exited about this news and I wanted to share.


I promise to be a better blogger in the near future, I cant just stop blogging, it's part of me.


I miss you all!

Carnival is Here!!!

Ladies and Gents, is CARNIVAL FRIDAY!!! As I speak there is the biggest competition for the Carnival Season currently underway, the International Soca Monarch Competition!!

Tomorrow (Saturday) the kiddies come out to play! It is time for them to don their costumes, hit the streets and have a fantastic time!!

This little cutie is all ready for tomorrow, I captured her earlier tonight at a mall.


Sunday it is another big competition, the Calypso Competition and the King and Queen of Carnival Costume Competition, this is an individual competition and the costumes here are really big and elaborate.

Theeeeennnn, it's Carnival Monday morning......................Jouvert!!!! The adults come out really early like about 3am, and ther revelry starts in the streeet!

From about 10am on Carnival Monday, I come out to play, the Parade of bands, I am playing with Brian Mac Farlane in AFRICA!!!! That is his presentation this year and I cannot wait to hit the streets!!!

I collected my costume earlier today and I will be trying it on tomorrow, I'll update this blog with pics of me in my costume tomorrow, I am totally pooped but I had to post tonight because I am getting withdrawal symtoms from not posting!!

How is everybody!!! I miss you all! I visit as often as I can, I hope I dont leave anyone out!

If you are up at this hour you may be able to catch some of the Soca Monarch competition, it is streaming live here. This is of course at 1214hrs Trini time, I think we are an hour ahead of North America.

I moved to another area of my building, from here I can see when cruise ships come in, and our inter island ferry as well as it comes in from Tobago.

This is a cruise ship that came in today, full of happy tourists, happy to be here for carnival!!



Hubby and I had Dinner at Ruby Tuesday tonight, he loooves their burgers, I was not very hungry I just had the Southern Rolls, they were delicious!!

Another view from my new area of my building

UPDATE!!

So as I mentioned my costume is actually authentic African wear, so there is no glam or glitter, but I like it and I am looking foward to being on the road this year having a great time, oh, because I am not wearing any make up, I edited out my face ha!

Views from my office window

My office is, in a word AWESOME!! it's on the waterfront and the views are fantastic! I wanted to share some with you all today.

I feel so blessed to be employed again, in this economy, yes, we are hit by the worldwide recession too. Did I mention I am getting paid the highest salary I have ever worked for, during the interview I was asked my salary expectations, to an interviewee that is the question that always throw me for a loop! I somehow never expect it, yet it always comes, well this time I asked for what I thought I deserved, I gave two figures that were $3000.00 apart, and I got paid right smack in the middle! I feel quite pleased with myself!

It's back to school for me tomorrow! I am already more than halfway through my 3 year degree program! And believe me it has opened doors for me already! Of course I put it on my resume, and it has helped with closing the deal for me.

Any way, on to the views!

These pics were taken looking out the massive picture windows in my office, and what's even nicer is the lunch room has the best views, and all the tables are placed in a vantage point to enjoy it while having your lunch. None of these pics are from the lunch room however, they are all from my work space.

the ocean view, that round thingy is a beautiful fountain that is still being worked on, I'll be sure to post pics when it is complete.

mountain view, not too clear, sorry, but you get the idea

another view of the ocean and the little boats, this is in the our capital city

a view of the walk and the boats in the ocean

another view of a neighboring building and the ocean again

a street side view! You should see this same street at 4pm! bumper to bumper traffic!

more construction




The ladies bathroom and some diva shots! Dint tell Shelia, I'll try to take better ones next week! lol!!!

Silly me did not take the flash off!

See you guys soon!

Sorry I've been so busy

I'm terribly sorry I was not around today to read posts, but, I GOT A JOB!!!!!! What a wonderful way to start the new year! I 'm happy but sad that I may not be around that much in blogland as I would like to be, but I promise not to fall too far behind, at the moment I am pooped because I started the day with yet another interview, got the offer, and made groceries to buy breakfast items that are quicker than what I have been making for the last year, because now it's back to the hustle and bustle!


So after putting the kids to bed tonight I will be back to read up and catch up, I can do this! I can be a working blogger! Many of you ladies work and keep excellent blogs, I intend to do the same.

See you soon and wish me luck on my first day tomorrow!

Blonds

A blond went back to work after staying at home for 25 years, (although she really does not quite look her age) this is the outcome of her first day on the job.

All you blondes out there, Tootsie, Lisa/Frenchfry and others I mean no offense, but who does not love a blond joke!

Young love

On boxing day last my handsome nephew got married, the header pic is my sister and me at the wedding, I'm so proud of him making this huge step in his young life!

Here he is with his beatiful bride, they met at church and fell in love! They are both studying in the US.

Ah! Young love!!!!!

I wish everyone a great week!

Photo Tag Game!

I've been tagged by first by Chris then by Donna to participate in the photo tag game that is sweeping Blogland! Well as you can see my fourth photo in my fourth file is of our loved Buffy, let me explain, a few months ago I was playing around with a website where you could upload a photo of a mummy and daddy and child and it would determine which parent the child resembled more, I did it with my family but................................. well I decided to take it a step further and use photos of Buffy, Schmecky and Shelia as the child, it was hilarious!!

You can click here to see how that turned out, because I did create a blog post of it. I know you are curious to know who Shelia resembled!

Since Buffy removed her blog I did not say anything of it, but I am using this forum just to say Buffie, I love you and miss you and hope that you return to blogging soon, because apart from Justine, Blogland is missing it's other resident nut. I also miss your videos! You know you are our resident vlogger!

I Need the Tootsie Touch

There are two areas of my yard that I am downright embarrassed about, they are, in a word, ugly, and they have been ugly for far too long. This year I vow to d0 something about it. The worst part is that they are both situated to the front of my home. I love and admire beautiful yards so much but I feel they are not within my reach.

That kind of thinking has to stop today, I am going to get the yard I can be proud of, why not? But of course I would not mind the support of my blogging buddies, you guys are so supportive of everything I do, any ideas will be appreciated. Of course you may not know much about tropical gardening but let me tell you what I envision for the spaces.

For the above space I basically want some green grass, lots and lots of flowers and a bench, there is a lot of shade here, this is where I had my vegetable garden last year, however hubby and I decided that we would do all gardening in the backyard this year and beautify the front yard spaces.

here is another view of the same space,


I want to Tootsify the above space and turn it into this:

Another space of shame is this space pictured below:

Here are two more shots of it, I am laying my embarrassing yard bare, for all to see, so that the only thing can happen is an improvement!

I want this area to become this....................,

I want to use it for a recreation area for the kids, I would love to include a swing set and a splash pool at the far end.

Sigh.................................................., I wish I had Tootsie' talent!

I have to buy some top soil and fill in the spaces, I'm going to buy some grass seeds, it's a cheaper than buying the grass squares itself, and lots and lots of plants, or maybe some seeds too, those that can go directly into the ground. It will be hard work but of course worth it. Wish me luck guys!

My neighbor sent me these, on Saturday, they are called pommerac, they are really sweet and were gone in minutes!

Out of embarassment comes good, and awards

I wanted to tell you about Tobago, I wanted to go there for a weekend, better yet, a week, I wanted to take some fab pics, the kind of pics that would make you want to jump on a plane and fly to Tobago, (with a stopover in Trinidad with a bag of goodies for me, hey, I'm spoilt now, blame Kathy/mama).

You do know that we are a twin island state right? yes we are two islands, one country, so we are Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad is all about the hustle and bustle and Tobago is all calm and serene with amazing beaches, it's two hours away from Trinidad by ferry or 15 mins away by air.

I am speaking about Tobago because many celebrities visit Tobago, recently Queen Latifah spent Christmas on the island, and despite the fact that she had an amazing time, her jewelry was stolen, she lost US 10 000 dollars in jewelry, I personally was very embarrassed by the incident, and it made international headlines and of course was spoken of widely at home.

But Queen Latifah showed her class when she appeared on Jay Leno's show recently, she did not have one negative remark to make about our twin island state. I have to say she impressed me.

Take a look:

I promise to take you guys to Tobago very soon, definitely this year, I did not go there all of last year and Tobago is definitely calling my name.

On to awards, so far for 2009, I have received two awards, this one

from Lynette of Lynette's LAM Blog, is my very first award of 2009, Thank you so much Lynette for thinking of me! I must admit I was not very good at receiving awards towards the end of 2008, between studies and job hunting I just could not receive awards as graciously as I should, for everyone that bestowed awards on me, last year and I did not receive them as I should I apologise and I promise to be better this year.

I also received this award from Donna at Adventures With Tassie, Thanks Donna this award is really cute! The purpose of this award is to give it to someone who is showing gratitude or a good attitude ("if life hands you lemons, make lemonade") within their life or blog.
The rules:
1) put the logo on your blog

2) nominate at least 10 blogs that show great attitude and/or gratitude.

3) have your 10 pass it along to 10 more!

thank you ladies for these awards! If anyone in blogland would like to own any of these awards, please take one or both with my love!

Oh Kathy!! It's here! Wooo hoo!!

Do you guys remember my prize I won for being mama/Kathy's 1000th visitor? If not then click here because it was sooooo exiting! Sweet Kathy trudged through the snow, in the middle of her Christmas shopping, her son coming for a visit and just life in general and posted this delightful package for me! Let me tell you I have never received a package from the US before! Our custom is, there is always a relative in the US that is coming for a visit and packages arrive via that person.

Well the postman came this morning and instead of putting the letters in the mailbox he rang his bell! well my heart skipped some beats! I grabbed my camera (like a good blogger) and ran out, Isaiah and Gabby in tow, only to be given a form to sign and told to collect my package at the post office! Well I was a bit crushed, I decided to take a pic of the postman anyway, turned on my camera, the batteries were dead! Heeesh! This was not turning out like I had planned!

Undaunted I quickly dressed and headed out to the super market, picked up fresh batteries and went over to the post office, the woman at the counter was super surly, I decided against taking a pic of her I decided all pics would be taken when I got my package home.

This is what the box looked like when I collected it, unlike packages delivered in the US mine had to endure a search by our customs, dang it! There was a lot of tissue paper, that I was sure Kathy took the time to wrap each item so nicely! But I could feel the love as I took each item out of the box and showed it to my family!

So here they are in all their glory!

This is a Japanese doll, it's really exquisite!

This beautiful book, this will reside on my bedside table for a while, I need to get lost in this!

Another fab book, filled with beautiful pictures of English style!

My Guinness collection! A lovely bag and two Guinness cards

This is the coolest coin collection,

the individual pic did not show it well at all, most of these coins stopped being minted in 1967, one year before I was born and 5 years after our Independence, before 1962 this was our currency! In old calypsoes (our local music) I would hear them mention the half penny, this was pronounced ha'pny, the penny, which is really two single cents (correct me Kathy if I'm wrong!), the shilling should be twenty-five cents! and the others I never heard of! I love this coin collection so! It's a fantastic piece of history! And it is beautifully framed!

Another beauty is my Kimono! Yes I said Kimono! it is so beautiful, to touch and see! And I got my willing model!

Last but certainly not least, a Christmas card with a lovely note from Kathy

Let's see what I did not mention before, there are chopsticks, 1 Guinness Luggage Tag, and one Hawaian Tea Towel, lots and lots of goodies, gifts I'll cherish forever!

This is the wrapping that had me feeling it was Christmas morning all over again!

Thank you again Kathy!! You were just too sweet to do this, you have no idea how special you made me feel!

Sorrel, it's not Christmas without it

Do you know sorrel? Have you ever heard of it? Sorrel has been a part of Christmas in Trinidad since, forever! It is a delicious drink made from a fruit grown on trees, the tree is a relative of the hibiscus and while in bloom the flower looks very much like the hibiscus. It is boiled with a little fresh ginger, cinnamon sticks and a few cloves and makes a delicious drink! It takes a lot of sugar so, like everything at Christmas time it is quite fattening!

No Christmas morning is the same without home made bread, ham and a drink of sorrel, if you don't have sorrel at Christmas, go ahead and call it Easter!

Quite by accident, maybe a neighbor threw a seed into my yard, a tree started to grow, I was so elated!

This is the flower that falls off and the petal is what we make the drink with. Dosent it look somewhat like hibiscus?


This is the lone sorrel tree in my yard, it is pretty laden.

Here is a close-up of the fully grown sorrel, I stood in the midday sun and picked them all!

The result of my labor, a nice sized bowl of sorrel! Sorrel usually sells for approx 1 us dollar per pound, however on Christmas eve which is when I bought i paid twice that amount, I got approx 2 1/2 lbs off my tree.

Picking sorrel is hard work, they dont come off the tree that easily, I had to use a scissors! Did I mention it was the mid day sun?

I found this video of someone picking sorrel, pretty much the way we do it in Trinidad, Jamaica seems to lay claim to sorrel being in the Caribbean, but I dont know about that! A few sites call it 'Jamaican sorrel' ha! It's a Trini thing I tell you!

Ooops I did it again

Sowwy, I accidently posted and incomplete post, so rather than have you guys come over for no reason, feel free to visit my previous post and give me some loooove!