Sweets for the Sweet

A little

Sunday Sweetness

for you.

"Chocolate is what I love.  I eat it every day."

~ Jennifer Hudson

Jennifer Hudson you are my kind of gal...

(for I eat chocolate every day as well)

Do you have a 'must eat every day' food?

The Beginning

It was a

scrape your vehicle window

wear your mittens to work

kind of morning...

thus it starts...

The Bright Side of Cold Rain

It must be so wonderful

to have flowers blooming

all year long as they do on the

West Coast of Canada and other parts of the world.

We've had frost twice now.

This morning it is 5c (41F) and raining.

On the bright side...

I get to wear my new rain coat to work today!  

:)

Happy Wednesday!

Monday...WTF

24 days off and it is back to

Work Time Fun today...

"bright eyed and bushy tailed" - meaning to be full of energy and eager to do things; lively and alert.

Well...

I just couldn't be more excited...

I'm Taking a Survey

Agree?

or

Disagree?

I Will Keep It Short Today

It's raining this morning...

with a 98% chance of snoozes this afternoon.

"There is no way of talking about cats

that enables one to come off as a sane person."

~ Dan Greenberg

Meanwhile, back at the castle...

The downfall of going on a lovely holiday is that it makes it harder to come back to your mundane humdrum 'this is your reality' life. 

For a week you are living like a Princess; beautiful hotel room, scrumptious food, people cleaning your room, people cooking your food, seeing and doing so many wonderful things, walking hand and hand with your Prince, living the life of leisure...

Meanwhile, back at the castle...there are bills to be paid, housework to do, meals to be made, yard work waiting to be done, responsibilities to take care of and eventually, you have to go back to work so that you can save money to go on another vacation.  Because the fact is, most of us have this kind of life and it's hard to even imagine those that take financial freedom for granted.  Most of us have to seek out more economical ways to live and to find those simple pleasures that make every day special.

Thankfully, I still have one more week of holidays before my reality completely sets in...

Happy Monday!

About the image:  This bronze sculpture was one of many that can be found around the city of Victoria done by Nathan Scott.  This little girl can be found at the Butchart Gardens.  

A Very Sweet Distraction

Oops...

I had meant to show more pictures from Victoria today

but I got very distracted by

Teddy Pinkleton

who was rescued by my friend

Carolynn at A Glowing Ember!

(more photos of Teddy and her other furry babies

Luna and Willow can be seen on her blog)

This little sweetie was found all alone

a couple of weeks ago beside a train track.  :(

Isn't it nice when kitties are young enough

and don't realize yet to run away

from the crazy lady with the camera?

(laying right on the floor to get up-close and personal!!)

It was so nice to meet you Teddy Pinkleton!

I am sure I will see you again soon!  :)

And,

as Wayne and I will be at

the Eagles concert tomorrow

(his anniversary present)

no more torturing you... errr...

showing you vacation photos until next week.  :)

Wishing you a weekend full of sweet distractions!

P.S.  Anyone else having trouble with their posts not updating in blogger?  I cleared my cache but this post is still not showing up.  sigh...



Image Credit 'History of the Eagles': http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2013/01/22/the-history-of-the-eagles-documentaries-to-premiere-on-showtime-in-february-video/

Birds of a Feather...

 Sleeping with the door wide open on our hotel patio each night

we were treated each morning to the sound of

the water and the seagulls.

This one decided he would give us an

up close and personal wake up call one morning.

So many birds and turtles to

see and enjoy!

A cute little otter just waiting

for someone to take him on a boat ride.

So many sweet sea lions

looking for a free meal!

It's sad as I understand it,

some of them get so used to humans feeding them

they won't go out and hunt for themselves.

But gosh ~ how can you look at those adorable little faces

and not want to give them a fish or two!

And getting to meet a long time

blog friend is always a special treat!

Jaime from rhayne lives on the island,

is a professional photographer 

(Rhayne Photography)

and piano teacher

and was so gracious enough to

take me out for a drive and a little site seeing

and helped me find some sea glass!

A free spirited beautiful young woman

who was as easy to talk and laugh with

as I had imagined from years of reading her blog.

Thank you Jaime!

There's a reason why blog friends connect...

Birds of a feather flock together.

something that you say which means people who have

similar characters or similar interests will often choose to spend time together

*

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Happy Tuesday!

It's all about the bathroom and the food...

On the morning of our anniversary

Wayne surprised me with an Anniversary ring.

I wanted one

but I wasn't expecting one.

I cried.  :)

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

Just the two of us.

Spending the day together

getting dressed up for the evening and restaurant 'hopping'

(Milestones, Irish Times Pub, Bard and Banker Pub)

listening to live bands

and ending the evening with a walk along the harbour.

Perfection.

The poem below was written in the menu

of the Irish Times Pub

where we ate our main meal.

It seemed fitting to the occasion.  

The restaurant gave me a copy of the menu.  :)

You know I'm all about the bathrooms when I stay at hotels!

And this one had a huge soaker tub with double sinks

separate glassed in shower and sliding doors to enter it.

With lots of storage, lots of space, sliding window door to the patio

and a view that was more than we could have hoped for.

Is there anyone else out there that takes photos

of their food while they are on holidays???

Oh the food!

Thank goodness we were doing lots of walking

or I would have never fit into that dress!

I always use Urbanspoon

to plan where we are going to eat in a new city/town.

I hate bad dining experiences ruining a holiday.  :(

My top favorites of our 6 days of dining experiences?

Fish battered in potato chips - Bard and Banker - umm yum

Homemade granola  - The Clay Pigeon - best granola I've ever tasted

Watermelon Slushy Margareta - Cactus Club - well let's just say I drank more than one...  

Hippo Tour Bus!

Happy, Henrietta and Harry

We took a ride on Harry Hippo

90 minutes of fun.

About 30 minutes was spent touring the city by land

and about 60 minutes was spent floating around the harbour.

Yup, by land or by water

this was a fun way to see the sites.

Craigdarroch Castle

Such amazing architecture and workmanship

especially when you consider it was built 125 years ago.

But, all those bedrooms and guests 

and only one bathroom???

Unbearable.

But at least it had running water...  :)

and it was one of the first homes with electricity on the island.

Except for one morning (Thursday)

we had perfect weather.

Sunday was hot all day.

A light rain a few mornings

(not like Sask rain where you have wind and rain pelts your face!!)

and then by mid-morning

the sun would come out and it would stay warm until evening.

Thursday morning

in the hotel's Japanese garden

just before we walked out to the

Breakwater where it started to pour!

I couldn't even take photos it was raining so hard

and my glasses were fogged up so I couldn't see.

But in the end, it was a memorable day

(we are still laughing at how soaked we got)

and we ended up spending the afternoon at the IMax theatre

watching a double feature and eating popcorn.

By the time we got out of the IMax

the sun was shining and it was warm.

Happy faces!

Victoria wildlife and meeting a blog friend for tomorrow's post!

Happy Monday!

(Mondays...so much more enjoyable when you are still on holidays...)

I'm In Love

Have you ever gone somewhere

and instantaneously fell in love?

Six nights and Seven days

Victoria, British Columbia

Maybe it was all the

fun BC wildlife?

Maybe it was the view from our

gorgeous hotel room?

Maybe it was all the

things to see and do?

Maybe it was all the

beauty, colors and entertainment?

Maybe it was being there with

my best friend and love

celebrating 25 years of marriage?

Whatever it was,

I know I will be back.

Places visited:

• Craigdarroch Castle
• Butchart Gardens
• Butterfly Garden
• Fisherman's Wharf
• Beacon Hill
• Royal BC Museum
• IMax Theatre (3 shows watched)

Things done:

• 25th Wedding Anniversary Celebrated
• Meeting up with a blog friend
• Finding sea glass
• Riding on a Hippo Bus
• A bit of shopping
• Plenty of delicious food was eaten in many fabulous restaurants 
• Bard and Banker Pub (3 times)
• Irish Times Pub
• The Flying Otter Grill
• The Sticky Wicket Pub
• The Spaghetti Factory (2 times)
• Willie's Bakery (3 times)
• The Clay Pigeon
• Milestones (2 times)
• Cactus Club
• Museum Cafe
• and of course...a daily walk to Tim Horton's   :)
• And only one restaurant that was a 'dud' - Avalon Restaurant
• Many refreshing beverages drank
• Lots of entertainment taken in
• Average of 15 to 20 km (9 to 12 miles) walked each day

I took 1139 photos...

I promise not to show them all to you.  ;)

Now to catch-up on some MAJOR blog reading!

See you soon!