Fat Ass Friday, again.

Hey y'all.

Are you getting sick of me saying y'all yet?

Guess what? I went on a road trip this week! To attend my graduation, so I'm now officially a Master of Education, fat lot of good it's doing getting me a job. So yay for me!

Here's a picture of me in my gown, hood and trencher.

I'll write more about my graduation road trip when I get around to it. Anyway, on with the show...

Starting weight: 78 kg
Weight a fortnight ago: 73 kg
Current weight: 72 kg
Weight loss this fortnight: 1 kg

I missed last week's festivities due to package excitement and a Texan Feast.

I still feel like I don't have confidence in the weight loss that I've achieved so far. I feel like I'll step on the scales and suddenly discover that I'm right back where I started. My clothes and the tape measure are telling me that I'm getting slimmer, but I just don't feel like it's really sticking yet. Any of you guys feel the same?

I really wish I had a set of digital scales. I'm doing WW Online, so I weigh at home, and my scales are the old-fashioned dial sort. I can step on them three times and get three different weights. I step on and off about ten times and adjust the little knob to make sure the needle is pointing EXACTLY at zero before I finally record my weight. It's annoying. So if there are any digital scale manufacturers out there reading this, please send me a set and I promise I'll mention your brand and promote it to death!

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone. I love all your comments.

Now click on the button below so you can visit Brandy. While you're there, I recommend watching the video of her Zumba-ing!

拍卖。 Secrets for Sale theme song and ending song

拍卖。Secrets for Sale theme song

眉 頭 又瞬間 鎖 有冷箭 快閃躲
猜 用意 再計算 後果 選擇攻 還是守
關 懷 不 能 當控制 的 藉 口 小改變 我 配 合 大改造 別鬧了

愛情像石頭 會摩擦起火 熱的爭吵 冰冷的互動
暖和的相擁 唇槍舌劍 的快樂 來回纏鬥~~~

路 人 一 眼 就罵我 不 快 走
別人看 妳 一 眼 妳馬上 笑 了
不 聽 妳 的 就怪我 太 自 我
當妳不 聽 我 的 又理由 很多

愛情像石頭 會摩擦起火 熱的爭吵 冰冷的互動
暖和的相擁 來回纏鬥 妳蒙面 展開搜索
(若無其事 微笑逼問口供)
派耳目 一路跟蹤
誰動作 像蝴蝶 誰講話 太像蜜蜂)

Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba

愛情的戰火 引爆的溫柔 來回纏鬥 很頭痛 卻不放手
愛情像石頭 會摩擦起火 熱的爭吵 冰冷的互動
暖和的相擁 來回纏鬥

愛情像石頭 會摩擦起火 熱的爭吵 冰冷的互動
暖和的相擁 來回纏鬥 妳蒙面 展開搜索
(若無其事 微笑逼問口供)
派耳目 一路跟蹤 (
誰動作 像蝴蝶 誰講話 太像蜜蜂)





拍卖。Secrets for Sale Ending song

從妳的眼角 慢慢地明瞭
我能做的很少
原來妳藏著傷 但不想和我聊

妳選的電影 像某種預告
不坦白的主角
最後流著眼淚 堅持獨自走掉

散場的擁抱 我還在燃燒
但妳心裡的浪潮 拒絕讓我看到
妳煎熬 不肯定什麼是最想要
愛才又像樂園又像監牢

散場的擁抱 混亂的心跳
多寧願只是爭吵 還能道歉和好
我知道 妳留著和他所有合照
明明面前是答案 卻撕掉 不要

呵護地祈禱 溫柔地討好
愛能讓人渺小
苦笑冒充微笑 浪漫得不肯逃

散場的擁抱 我還在燃燒
但妳心裡的浪潮 拒絕讓我看到
妳煎熬 不肯定什麼是最想要
愛才又像樂園又像監牢

散場的擁抱 混亂的心跳
多寧願只是爭吵 還能道歉和好
我知道 我們和你們不能比較
但我的愛多強悍 出乎妳預料

散場的擁抱 我還在燃燒
但妳心裡的浪潮 拒絕讓我看到
妳煎熬 不肯定什麼是最想要
愛才又像樂園又像監牢

散場的擁抱 混亂的心跳
多寧願只是爭吵 還能道歉和好
我知道 太美的回憶像副手銬
越是掙脫越纏繞 我比妳明瞭

Quote of the Day

http://papertissue.tumblr.com/post/222773556

Have a stress free day!

Xoxo,

Jaclyn

My Maid, Our Army. Letisha goes to war!

Credits: The Temasek Review

Did a random search on facebook....haha.


Likes.


She just needs the M16 rifle to go with the whole outfit. =)

Texan Feast - Recipes and Photos - Part 2

Did you miss Part 1? Check it out here.

Ok, so now everyone's up to speed; a fabulous Texan dinner with the following menu:-

Appetizer

Crackers with Cream Cheese and Jalapeno Jelly

Main

Texas Chili...

So let's continue shall we?

I was worried that the kids would find the Texas Chili too spicy, so I cooked a "pretend chili" for them using mince simmered in Napoletana sauce. I served it with Fettucine. With kids, you can never go wrong with what was basically spaghetti bolognese.

To go with our Chili, I knew we needed something breadlike. The last time I cooked southern food I attempted Biscuits, and they didn't turn out too good, so this time I thought I'd take a crack at Corn Bread.

Luckily Dillypoo sent me this little gem:

Prize-winning recipes!

I chose "Jalapeno Corn Bread" which won Best of Show/Breads at the 1980 State Fair of Texas! I'm sure you can't get any more authentic than that!

Here are the ingredients:

1 cup cornmeal

(For Australians, that is Polenta. It's a little coarser than what Americans call cornmeal, but it's all we can get.)

2/3 cup buttermilk

(Everything Southern I've cooked so far requires buttermilk!)

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp soda

1/3 cup melted shortening

(For Aussies - I used Copha which is vegetable shortening, and also happens to be an ingredient in that children's party favourite - Chocolate Crackles. That's a story for another time.)

4 oz green chilies, finely chopped

(I was a bit scared, so I just used one de-seeded chili.)

1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese

1 cup cream-style corn

And now here's how you make the Corn Bread.

Mix all the ingredients, except for the cheese, in a bowl.

Pour half the batter in greased 9-inch pan. Spread cheese over batter.



Pour remaining batter on top of cheese.

Bake 30-40 minutes in 375 degree oven.

(190 celcius for the Aussies.)

Here it is straight out of the oven. You can see that I look pretty pleased with myself!

So here's our table with the Chili, Corn Bread and Green Salad.

Yum!!!

Now I'm sure you're wondering, what about dessert? Dillypoo also sent my some Praline Pecans. I decided to keep it simple and serve vanilla icecream over which we could sprinkle some of the pecans that I chopped up. I also served some pecans in a little bowl for us to nibble on with our coffee.

Yum!!!

I am so pleased and happy with how the meal turned out! Love and hugs to my sweet friend Dillypoo. And there was still MORE stuff in the box she sent me, but I will have to tell you about that another day!



Texan Feast - Recipes and Photos - Part 1

I was so excited to receive my box of goodies from Dillypoo (see here) that I decided to cook a "Texan Feast" straight away!

As an appetizer, I decided to follow Dillypoo's advice and serve the Jalapeno Jelly she sent me spooned over cream cheese with crackers.

Everyone thought it was just delicious! The Jalapeno Jelly was sweeter than we expected, and not as hot. It disappeared pretty quickly!

I put out some mild salsa and corn chips for the kids in case the Jalapeno Jelly was too hot for them.

For the main course of my Texan Feast, I decided to use the D.L Jardine's Texas Chili Works that Dillypoo sent me.

(Sorry about the picture, for some reason Blogger has decided that it needs to be sideways.)

I had it in my head that Chili needs to be cooked for a long time so that the meat is really tender and the flavour has time to develop, so I started nice and early.

First I browned the mince. I used 1 kg of beef mince.

Next, the recipe called for 2 cups of water and an "8 oz can of tomato sauce". Here in Australia we don't have canned tomato sauce. What we call tomato sauce is what we put on top of sausages or meat pies and is, I think, similar to American "tomato ketchup". Never fear, Google to the rescue, I am reliably informed that this can of tomato puree will do.

I used 1 cup, and simmered the mince, tomato and water for a while in a big pot.



Next I added the Chili Spices. They smelled delicious. I could definitely detect paprika, chilli and cumin and maybe some cayenne pepper.

The Chili was simmering away when my sister and her family arrived. Immediately my sister commented on the delicious smell!

Next I mixed the Masa with some water and added it to the Chili. I'm told that this thickens the chili and gives it that certain something for a unique and authentic taste!

Then I added the Hot Pepper. I added half the packet, let it simmer for a while, then tasted it to see how hot it was. It tasted about right to me, so I saved the rest of the pepper for another day.

Now I've realised that this post is becoming "bigger than Texas", so I've decided to stop here. You'll have to find out about the rest of the meal in my next post - coming soon!

In the meantime, if you'd like to write about the food that you love, or share a recipe, then why don't you head to my latest challenge here and link up!

8th Anniversary Party Video

Here is a look at our 8th Anniversary and "Product Revival" Show, hosted at the Baltic Room in Seattle.


SEVEN Product Revival Pedestal Show from Brett Renville on Vimeo.

Have a fabulous day!

Xoxo,

Jaclyn

Earth Hour 2011 @ Marina

Earth Hour 2011, were you there too? Was at Marina area. But had some food before that... Ding Tai Feng xiao long bao was great!


Abit disappointed with the Earth Hour leh.


End up didn't join the walk. Just walked around taking pictures.


Earth Hour 2011, 26th March 2011. Hope everyone continue their efforts to protect Earth, not just this hour...


But if Armageddon were to hit us in 2012... so that means, we don't have much time to save the Earth lo!


Didn't join the Earth Hour walk. But made Millenia Walk TCC as my final check point... the coffee was the thing to spur me on to walk alittle bit further from Marina.

有 "Food & Drink " 能使 Kevin 走路。。。 (adapted from 有钱能使鬼推磨)

Haha! Okay...sleep now. I wanna sleep earlier to save that sagging and dry skin!

New Do!!!!

I am extremely aware at how popular long wavy hair is. It's gorgeous and amazing and wonderfully feminine. I have worn this look for the last 3 years. It's one that doesn't seem to want to go away, with reasons that I am sure that I could fill a post with :). However, yesterday, I reached my breaking point! It had to go and right then. Thanks to one of my best friends and co-workers, Shelli Martin, I now am "ROCKING" the most adorable short hair! I haven't had hair this short since I was 22 and let's just say that was a while ago! ;)

I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of what my hair has looked like just since I started this blog last August...The results are pretty fun. It's interesting how I think that my own hair doesn't change very much...But, I guess I am wrong. It changes way more than I ever thought it did. That is one of the wonderful things about hair...Two actually. The first being that hair does grow. {Otherwise I would be out of business along with the rest of the hair world} Secondly, our hair is one of our accessories. Just like you don't usually wear the earrings, necklace, handbag, shoes, etc...everyday, you can change up your hair to reflect who you are at that moment.

Have fun looking at these pics and I hope that they might just be inspiring "enough", to create some sort of hair change for you! {Even if it is a small one!}

Blonde longer hair from when I started the blog.

Enter, blonde extensions, which I loved! So fun!

 A fun little side braid that I would sport with the extensions.

The, OMG, "I don't have any hair now that my extensions are out and I need to make a change ", look.

The result after doing my color in my bathroom. {I still don't recommend this!}

Me and Noah after a Nordstrom show.

Me presenting my model at our 8th anniversary party.

One of the haircuts that inspired my new look...

Shelli in the process of making it look fab!!!

And, now, MY NEW DO!!!!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my hair!!! Thank you Shelli! You are the best and you are amazingly talented...Especially seeing as how I "pressured" you into cutting my hair! Love you!

Have a wonderful day everyone!!!!

Xoxo,

Jaclyn

Breaking News! Texan Feast Here!

Guess what? A package from Dillypoo arrived today!

She is such a naughty girl - she spent far too much on postage sending me a huge box full of stuff.

Everything inside was wrapped in red, white and blue wrapping paper...

Dillypoo and I sent each other presents as part of my Beautiful Bloggers Australian Adventure House swap. If you want to participate and possibly receive an Aussie prize package from me then you should check out the latest challenge here.

The latest challenge is to write about the food that is locally popular where you live.

Dillypoo knows that I love to try new recipes from different countries, so in my box of goodies there were plenty of recipes and ingredients to make some traditional Texan fare.

Tomorrow night my sister and her family are coming for dinner so I'm going to try out this menu:

Crackers with cream cheese and Jalapeno Jelly

Texas Chili and Cornbread

Icecream with Praline Pecans

What do you think? Photos and full disclosure of the contents of my box coming soon...

Eye Lash Extensions

One of my most favorite beauty pleasures is getting eye lash extensions. I've known about them for a while now. Many clients have come in with them...fluttering and batting their fabulous lashes...and I have finally gotten on the band wagon! My gal, Erica Evenson, has been applying extra luxurious lashes to my eyes now for about 2 months. I'm pretty sure that I won't be going back to my natural lashes for a long while. They are unbelievably addictive. {Especially when I barely had any to begin with.}. Just for the fact that I don't have to apply mascara, everyday, to my non-existent lashes, alone, are worth every penny and minute that I spend with Erica.

Below is a series of pictures the "filling" process. I wish I had done the pictures the very first time I went in, so you could see the drastic difference, but that didn't happen. However, it is still a very tedious process that my friend Candice Cusack shot for me. {Candice is a magnificent photographer and has worked on a few blog posts with me. Thank you Candice for you professional expertise. You can find more of her amazing work on her website at www.urbanglimpses.com }

Before Shot

{If you look closely, you can see that I am missing a few and that they need some TLC.}

Removal of the glue which holds the lashes in place.

Yes, if you must know, your bottom lashes have to be taped down. This does NOT hurt and is NOT uncomfortable at all. I literally sleep...

The lashes that are used are mink hairs.

{The minks are not harmed or killed. They are brushed and then the shed

hairs are used for this purpose.}

Once the right eye is done, then it is onto the left.

Same precautions are taken for the left eye.

You can see in this photo, just how small the lashes are, that are being applied.

This the end result...Thicker, darker and longer lashes. Bellissimo!

Erica Evenson's quaint spa is located in the Sorrento Hotel on Madison and 9th Ave. 

Call and make your appointment at {206}-920-8254.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Xoxo,

Jaclyn