Tonight after work we were off to the hair salon. I had been looking forward to this for a good long while. Because cats and kittens tonight was the night I was going red again. No new style as I’m really TRYING to let it grow out a little bit. But first we totally thought we’d have time to pop off to the mall to pick up my ring that took far too long to come in…thanks Pandora!
Pretty new bling!
Then of course we hit traffic! Because why wouldn’t we? I mean we only had 35 minutes to get to where we needed to be…lucky for us we were only 10 minutes late and the last clients of the night. Plus I had thought enough to call ahead and mention we were running a little late. Let me tell ya folks this goes a long way!
I got to go first, because really how long does it take to cut a dudes hair? Not long at all. This was me for 25 minutes.
Did I mention they were 25 very itchy minutes. But thanks to a good comb I lived.
Then it was the Hubbins turn to trim his hairs. They were getting a little long and even annoying to me and it wasn’t even my hair! He started getting his hair cut five minutes after my color was on and by the time he was done I still had time to get the old eyebrows taken care of. Looking like my brother is not a good look for me. I love him, but no. The result of my newly colored do?
Trust me there’s red in there.
What we learned from this is that we can go a shade lighter on the red. To make the red really pop. But seeing as this was a new color to my hair and a new line of color at the salon we didn’t want to push our luck. I love it.
See RED!
Now of course the trick will be can I style it the way she did tonight? Probably not. It usually takes me a few days to get used to the slight change in style and the added body that coloring my hair gives me. Next month highlights!
I will tell you this if I still had my own business I probably would have been a little more free and easy with a funky red color. But I work in an office and I’m sure a naturally occurring shade is looked at in a more favorable light.
Many thanks as always to my fantastic stylist Michelle! You knocked this one out of the park!
We knew it was supposed to rain here. But you’d think huge buckets of water were being dumped from the sky the way it sounds outside. So thankfully I’m all cozied up here in the house about to dive into one of the four books I’ve got going. Which I think I’m going to have to cut down to one. Oddly enough it feels like too much pressure and the only books that should make you feel like that is college required reading. So I’m cutting it down to one. Which one? I don’t know…MYSTERY!!
In other news an Amazon.com delivery turned up at my door…damn you PRIME and your fast shipping ways! I ordered a Ghost and Spirits Tarot Deck and a Moleskine “reporter style” notebook. It was not as large as I had hoped it would be…sigh.
But you might be thinking… “Wait a tick, go back to the tarot card bit, please” …fine. See last week I donated money to a Kickstarter project – The Amanda Palmer Tarot (by the way this project funded in 14hrs! And you can still get a deck) because I enjoy Amanda Palmer’s music and I also miss placed lost my first and only deck. Where? Somewhere between college and moving home. But it still may turn up. So why buy a new deck when I’m getting the AFP one? Simple that one won’t arrive until Feb. 2014! I wanted to get back into doing readings in the meantime.
Shiny!
This is a really pretty deck and I still recalled how to do a reading, just not what all the cards meant. So this will be fun! Don’t worry I’m not going to bust out a crystal ball, tapestries, and the like. Because I don’t have them. Think of the fun I could have with the kids at Halloween! Could be fun.
So I’m going to choose a book and banish the others back to the TBR pile AGAIN. Then a bit of tea and said book. I call that a pretty purrfect night. Enjoy the evening wherever you are.
The Hubbins and I got off to a little bit of a late start this morning. We were hoping to be out the door by 9/9:30, which turned into more like 10am. But we managed and got to a local diner and enjoyed our eats. A glass of oj and breakfast sammich for him and coffee and a swiss cheese/bacon omelette with a side of bacon for me. I try not to drink coffee, but it seems lipton tea has gluten in it…at least the ice tea does…so I wasn’t taking any chances. Plus bagged tea is a no no for me.
After breakfast we braved the market. Hey we were out, why not right? Turns out it was busy but it wasn’t so busy that we were sorry we went. Typically we are 9pm market goers. But the early shopping proved pretty beneficial as I got right to cooking as soon as everything was put away. What did I make you ask? Two very tasty gluten free treats.
GF Glazed Cinnamon Bites
Cinnamon Bites
1 Box Betty Crocker gluten free yellow cake mix.
4 Large Eggs
3/4 tbsp Canola Oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbsp Sour Cream
Icing
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 tsps Cinnamon
Bake at 350F for suggested time on the cake mix box (18-23 minutes)
The result?
Oh myyy….so good!
I may have had four already! But there are still 14 waiting to be nommed upon. I’m thinking perfect bite in the morning with a cup of tea…IF I can actually get up when my alarm goes off.
Once these were glazed and cooling on the rack I started on dessert and realized too late that I had screwed this one up royally. Good news it still tasted good.
Gluten Free Dirt Dessert
3 packages of vanilla pudding
6 cups of Milk
1 package of gluten free Oreos (I use Glutino) – throw them in the food processor until they are pretty fine
So where did I go wrong? I COOKED the pudding! Turns out you really just needed to whisk the uncooked cook and serve pudding with the milk and set it aside for 5 minutes. Clearly I should look up directions before I start things. Eh good news is it still tastes awesome and I know what to do the next time I make this little treat. I also need to find better gluten free Fake Oreos…these did not keep it together well after a brief run in the food processor.
This was what was left over…and it was good. So WIN!
I figured out something was wrong when the color of the pudding was more traditional vanilla, the dirt pudding color should be more white. Whoopsie! Now I know and knowing is half the battle! Not bad for my first attempts at these two treats. I can tell you it won’t be the last time I make them. They were super easy to make, clean-up, and of course EAT!
Enjoy kids and let me know if you try these or any of my other gluten free eats!
Many of you know this, but I’m sure many of you don’t. I don’t eat gluten anymore.
In 2011 ago my Dad was diagnosed with Celiac’s Disease. Which has to do with your body not being able to process gluten properly. I’ve had the blood test for it (negative every other time I’ve had it done), but I’m holding out on the true test, the endoscopy for obvious reasons.
It has only been in the last year that I’ve really tried to be completely gluten free. Sometimes I cheat, it happens. Plus products with gluten: beer, bread, battered things that taste awesome! But I’ve been really good this year. Upside, no more tummy trouble or migraines (they are coming back a little, but I think its a weather thing). Downside no real bread, beer, or battered things that taste awesome.
Sure I’ve found good substitutes. But they come at a high cost at the market. But my biggest trouble has been trying to find places to eat out at in the area. I’ve found a few good places and now and again I’ll be posting about them. Just look for the category tag: Capital Region Gluten Free for those posts. If you know of any local spots I should check out let me know!
As usual…here’s a cat picture for your Saturday night.
Sleeping in the sunlight while momma works.
With any luck I can convince the Hubbins to check out a place tomorrow morning for breakfast!
Stylin’ Tea Blends asked me via Twitter if I’d be willing to try out this blend for a cause and review it. I agreed. I hadn’t had a tea to review in a while and I was feeling out of practice. Plus free tea is always good. It just arrived in the mail yesterday….AND the mailman was good enough to not leave it on the porch as it was raining. Thanks buddy! I had to review the tea from Royal Tea of Kenya first because it arrived first. But I couldn’t wait to try this tea too. Come to find out its a tisane comprised of: green and red Rooibos, lemon myrtle, lemon verbena, lemongrass, and vanilla.
I was still excited as I do love caffeine free teas too. Usually before bedtime or when I’m feeling under the weather. Plus this is one of their Teas for a Cause. The particular cause in question is the International Justice Mission. IJM “is a human rights agency that brings rescue to victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.” (from the IJM website) Feel free to read more by clicking the above link.
Now I’ve never tried any of their teas. So this was a brand new to me company. I see from their website they acquired this particular tisane from a Canadian company – Aromatica Fine Teas and Soaps – check them out too. I gathered up all my needed tea making tools and got to work.
The tea of course, my Takeya Iced Tea Maker, and two mugs, one with ice and one without.
So I cracked open the bag and was hit right in the sniffer with a strong smell of lemon. Normally this would put me off. Only because it would be a reminder of house cleaning that needed to be done. But there was also the softer hint of Rooibos coming out to play too. Which was nice as too much lemon generally makes me not want to try a tea or tisane. I took 6 tbsps of the tisane and added them to the filter thingy as I waited for the water to boil. Once it did I poured it over the tisane and set the timer for 5 minutes. Once ready I poured half a cup into one mug and the other half over ice in another mug. The rest went to chill out in the fridge.
Waiting for the tisane.With tisane – hot and iced.
Hot – this is a very soothing cup to have perhaps before bedtime or better yet when you find yourself under the weather. The lemony scent did wonders on my sinuses, which are currently NOT enjoying warm weather allergies. After a few sips I added a little vanilla sugar in an attempt to bring the vanilla flavor out to play a little more. It worked! This addition added a touch of sweetness and even made the tisane a little smoother.
Iced – I found there was less of the lemon flavor/scent and more Rooibos. Making it a very cool and refreshing drink for a hot Summer day. But iced it’s not a tea for me. My Hubbins on the other hand loved it and polished off what I didn’t finish. Which is good as I don’t like teas or tisanes to go to waste. He said it was refreshing and he liked the mix of flavors. So in a way this tisane wins with both of us.
I think my preference for it as a hot tea is that I’m longing for those cool Fall days and nights when my tea and tisane drinking goes into overdrive. I still have one more to try from this company and I hope to give it a go tonight if the night gets cool enough. No, no I won’t tell you what it is…you’ll just have to wait!
I ended up with this particular tea sample after a Twitter conversation that began with talk of a baby. A Royal baby to be exact, His Royal Highness Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge. He was the talk of twitter for the better part of MY birthday week. But he’s adorable so I’ll let that slide. Anyway Joy of Royal Tea of Kenya offered me a sample of Royal Taji Safari. Stupid me said… “I think I’d tried that”, I hadn’t…it was a brand new tea to commemorate the birth of the third in line to the throne. I had been thinking of Royal Golden Safari which I have had a few times. Taji means “crown” in Swahili.
Either way Joy was happy to send me a generous sample of this new tea. Naturally I was so excited to try it I made it at work the day after I got it. Which meant I didn’t have more than a t-sac filter bag and water from the hot water spout of the water cooler. Not the best way to brew any tea unless it comes in a bag. I still found the tea to be yummy, but I wanted to give it a proper brewing at home. I was finally able to do that this afternoon.
Yum!
The dry leaf smells VERY malty and a little like hops too. It really reminds me of when the Hubbins begins the process of brewing his beer. A process I love because I can no longer enjoy real beer due to the whole gluten issue. But I love to help with the beer making process. So it is always quite the treat when I a get a tea that reminds me so much of the smell of beer. I even asked the Hubbins to smell the dry tea and tell me what he thought. His response was “BEER!”. Excellent.
I set the kettle to the 200 degree setting and waited for it to be ready to pour over the tea. It certainly took long enough…I am not a patient person when it comes to my tea. But I’m learning. Once the water was ready I poured it over the tea and waited about three minutes. I was guessing as their wasn’t a steeping time suggested for this tea. Which is fine as I’ve had other tea from this company and three minutes is usually the magic number.
After steeping. I should have turned on the flash!
My tea was finally ready to sip and enjoy! The malt and hoppy notes were still very present as I took a sniff of this tea. So much so that the Hubbins thinks this could make an excellent tea beer. I was not game enough to try it. I’ll get him to one of these day. Even the taste had those hints of malt and hops I had hoped it would. There is even a slight hint of honey on the finish. This is a strong tea that packs quite the bite! Which will make it a great breakfast/day starting tea.
Check out the color of the tea!
The color of the liquid was awesome. A lovely burnt orange color. I like that, plus I’m not getting any bitter taste to it as it cools. Instead I’m getting more honey! I’m just glad I finally had time this afternoon to sit and sip this one. While I did our cats snoozed and I chatted with the Hubbins as he worked on his latest paracord project. A perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon if you ask me.
So if you happen to be interested in this tea there are a few ways you can get your hands on it. If you are a retailer…you can call Royal Tea of Kenya. If you aren’t a retailer don’t worry I know a few places where you can get your hands on this tea and some of their other tea offerings. I see that Stylin’ Tea Blends (East coast) has this tea in stock. They also carry several other Royal Tea of Kenya blends. You can also pick up teas from Royal Teas of Kenya from Phoenix Tea on the West coast or Butiki Teas here on the East coast. There are probably other online retailers out there, but these are the two I know carry Royal Tea of Kenya teas. Check them out.
My thanks to Joy for sending me a sample of this new tea from her company. Oddly enough I had picked up Grandpa’s Anytime tea and Royal Golden Safari not long after our chat. Happy sipping folks.
This is also known as people watching for professionals. I treated myself to a long overdue mani/pedi today at my favorite salon in one of the Capital Regions malls. I go there because they’re professional, really great at what they do, and they’re fast. But I usually get the gel manicure. Which doesn’t require drying my nails under the dryers in front of the window out to the mall.
Most nail places in the mall have this set-up. I used to feel very vulnerable when in “the hot seat” as it were for three drying cycles…anything less is doing to leave you with screwed up nails (little pro tips for you). Today I opted for the regular mani as getting my nails done every two weeks has lost the fun factor it used to hold. So there I was stuck on the inside looking out, watching life pass me by. A bit like a fish in a bowl.
I see you…. (Photo from gigharbor365.wordpress.com)
I saw a lot in the 15 minutes I spent under the dryer. I watched for the first five minutes and saw the tweens wandering with there friends in outfits I would have never dreamed of leaving the house in. I saw the old couple holding hands, which reminded me of my own grandparents, gone now. There was the family clearly involved with one another even if they were at the mall. No cell phones out – just conversation as they passed.
Then there was the mother-daughter pair I a first glance thought was sweet because they were holding one another’s pinky fingers as they started past me. But then they both gave me the same “I’m better than you” look. I felt sad for both of them. The daughter more because she looked like a young woman that didn’t want to become her mother, but there she was wearing the same identical smug look on her face.
Side note, I’m becoming more like my mother every day. We use the same hand gestures when talking about things. Sometimes we even say the exact same thing at the same time. But this doesn’t make me sad at all. I should hope I turn out like my mother, after all I look just like my father, so something of me should be her right? Plus we’re always smiling no matter what when we’re in one another’s company. I guess not everyone can have that kind of relationship with a parent.
Once the second cycle began I started smiling at people as they passed by my bowl just to see the reaction. The first was from a little girl no more than three. She grinned from ear to ear at me and waved. I felt my smile grow wider. I tried it again as a pack of teenagers passed by, they laughed and pointed at me. Whatever, I thought…I tried. The next woman I smiled at looked as though she was damn near ready to deliver her baby right there in the mall. She also looked stressed and tired. But when she caught my eye and smile she brightened up a little and picked up her step as much as she could for being so far along.
There were others and I had a mix of good and bad reactions. The third time around I tried to look sad/in my own world to see if anyone would give ME a smile. A few did, mostly elderly folks or parents with their kids. It was an interesting experiment. In fact I wish I’d thought of it in my research class back in college. It would have been perfect. Instead I picked watching how many guys actually ventured into Victoria’s Secret and how many hung out outside the store. Yeah the other one would have been a better plan.
I’m sure you’d see the same thing were you to sit anywhere in a mall or an anchor store like Barnes and Noble…someplace that brings in a mix of people. This begs the questionL Would you rather be the fish in the bowl looking out or the fish out in the sea of all the other fishes. Simpler terms? Would you rather be the watcher or the one being watched?
Me? I like a little bit of both. But people watching will always be my number one mall activity.
We’ve no plans for the rest of the weekend…I don’t count laundry as plans. I do have some tea and book reviews to tend to. Looks like this will be the perfect weekend to get down to that…keep an eye out for them. But for now I’m going to kick back with a gluten free beer and eats and enjoy this rainy Friday night.
Our middle cat Allie was feeling left out. So here she is up close and personal.
Yes she has one white whisker. When it falls out as they do another white one grows in its place. Freaky right?
I ordered a few more books from Amazon…Prime is awesome. I dig the free shipping for one and the other thing is we can finally watch last season of Doctor Who. Netflix is so SLOW in getting the second half of the season up. But we’ve watched two so far. Asylum of the Daleks was pretty good and very clever. But so far Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is the winner. I won’t spoil anything, but it is pretty awesome.
Ok, right the books I ordered…Orange is the New Black for me. No, I didn’t read two chapters already…it was my evil twin. I swear! For the Hubbins I ordered Sandman Vol. 1, just because I wanted to surprise him with it. Plus I also wanted to read it. I mean hello people. The last book I ordered is a Ukelele Song Book. I have this lovely instrument…but didn’t have any music to play on it. I should play it…because we all recall when THIS happened!
He took a good bit of time to do this.
So yeah as much as I could just look at Islington all day…I should really learn to play something on him. I’m looking forward to picking out a few tunes in the coming weeks. Maybe I’ll even take/post a video…maybe.
Tomorrow is a day off for me to run around to doctors offices. Not really a “fun” day off. But some of these appointments are a long time coming so shame on me for that. So hopefully I don;t have any issues come out of these here appointments. Because well that would indeed SUCK!
I’m also going to try to get a tea review up here sometime tomorrow…so stay tuned for that too. Speaking of tea my flavored tea blend arrived yesterday! This was a custom order with Butiki Teas. This is a blend of Organic Decaf Korakundah, vanilla, cream, elderberry, blue corn flower, and safflower in the custom tea named 35? There’s a Tea for That!
It is so good!
I also was following Anne Wheaton chatting on Twitter about cakes and such and I tossed a tweet out there about how I add a little melted chili chocolate to my cupcakes and yeah she responded…
I found that to me mighty sweet of her to respond to me.
So that’s been my first few days of the week. Hope yours are going well! Be good to one another!
In all honesty I have not seen these people in the almost two years we have lived here. But today their garage door is open and they’re out tending to their lawn. Best part is I see no fangs or sparkle!
In other news there’s a new doctor. To which my response is 10 is still my Doctor.
We’re also headed out for eats this evening with our newlywed Whovians – which should be interesting seeing as my Hubbins does not want to know who the new Doctor. Killjoy. I live for spoilers. Then again I don’t usually need them I figured out who River really was before we really found out. I also figured out who all the Cylons were in the reboot of Battlestar Galactica before they were revealed too. What can I say I’m magical.
Anyway…here’s a cat picture for you on this fine Sunday.
Maybe not every room, but at least four rooms in my house have books I’m reading in them. That’s right FOUR different books! I’m talented what can I say?
The first is a book is usually found on the kitchen table cozied up with whatever the Hubbins is currently reading. I’m reading this one to review it for the author. So far I like it. More on it once I’ve finished…
This one sometimes comes to work with me. Not that I have time to read it there, but you never know.
The second book is in the living room. I’m not sure how each book found the current place in which they are kept and read, but they did. I do read them…usually all in the same day at different points in the day.
I enjoy the series, but this one is dragging for me.
The third and fourth books are upstairs reads. Number 3 is in my office, probably because it was in my hand when I got home from the bookstore and headed right to my office when we got home. This one is a very fun read and I hear there happens to be a sequel out there…I’m sure I’ll get to it next year or later.
This one reminds me of me when I was 17 and odd one out…actually not much has changed and yet much has.
The last book is in the bedroom. Probably because I’m trying to stay away from technology an hour to a half hour before bed. I read somewhere that it helps you fall asleep and stay asleep if you don’t have your face in front of a screen (computer, TV, or phone). So I stick my face in front of this book instead.
So far so good…even if I’m not a Terry Pratchett fan. Why yes, that is a Pound Puppy…don’t judge.
I usually try not to have more than two books going at a time. Typically I only have one book going at a time especially if it happens to be a really heavy read that needs my full attention…like a George R. R. Martin book. But in the Summer I look to the more fun and easy reads that I can pick-up and set down as I please.
How many books do you typically have going at a time? What are you reading now?
Gal In The Grey Hat 