Life, Death and the Emotional Roller Coaster...

Today I found out that my baby, my family member, my little guardian, has only a matter of 3 months to live.
My dog Charlie is dying from the C word. He was so happy and full of life just 2 months ago and turned into this little ball of fur that is always hiding in the corner.
Last night he started coughing and passing out every half hour. We took him to the vet today to discover that he has a lung Cancer. It grew so big that it took over his entire left lung.


Is there a right way to deal with this emotional pain?


What is the right thing to do when you know someone you love so much and who loves you back unconditionally is going to die just in a few months?


Charlie is a little light in my dark life. I started thinking about all the things I could have done and things I should have done to make him a happier dog and now it feels like i wasted time. Time I will never get back with him.


Now, I am sitting at work....and all I want to do , is to hold him as tight as I can.

This is Charlie when he was a baby. This is how I see him now and this is how I am going to remember him.

I LOVE YOU!!!!

How To Get Out Of A Traffic Ticket!

A police officer pulls a guy over for speeding and has the following exchange:


Officer: May I see your driver's license?
Driver: I don't have one. I had it suspended when I got my 5th DUI.
Officer: May I see the owner's card for this vehicle?
Driver: It's not my car. I stole it.
Officer: The car is stolen?
Driver: That's right. But come to think of it, I think I saw the owner's card in the glove box when I was putting my gun in there.
Officer: There's a gun in the glove box?
Driver: Yes sir. That's where I put it after I shot and killed the woman who owns this car and stuffed her in the trunk.
Officer: There's a BODY in the TRUNK?!?!?
Driver: Yes, sir.


Hearing this, the officer immediately called his captain. The car was quickly surrounded by police, and the captain approached the driver to handle the tense situation:


Captain: Sir, can I see your license?
Driver: Sure. Here it is.


It was valid.


Captain: Who's car is this?
Driver: It's mine, officer. Here's the owner's card.


The driver owned the car.


Captain: Could you slowly open your glove box so I can see if there's a gun in it?
Driver: Yes, sir, but there's no gun in it.


Sure enough, there was nothing in the glove box.


Captain: Would you mind opening your trunk? I was told you said there's a body in it.
Driver: No problem.


Trunk is opened; no body.


Captain: I don't understand it. The officer who stopped you said you told him you didn't have a license, stole the car, had a gun in the glovebox, and that there was a dead body in the trunk.
Driver: Yeah, I'll bet the lying s.o.b. told you I was speeding, too!

Pumpkin fever.....

So the pumpkin season is here, as well as Holloween so I will post some stuff related to that. I personally LOVE this season because Canadian nature is absolutley amazing in the fall. All the trees are different shades of red, yellow and orange. It looks like the trees are on fire :)

I decided to share some pumpkin recipes with you.

Enjoy this season as much as you can, this is the best time of the year....it warms up the soul and its extremely romantic....I really enjoy taking pictures of the trees and the fields.

At least once every fall I go by the lake, take pictures and just meditate to clear my mind.

 
Roast Pumpkin Salad

Ingredients:

■ 1.5 – 2kg butternut pumpkin, cubed 1.5cm x 1.5cm approx
■ olive oil spray
■ sea salt flakes
■ 1/2 cup pine nuts
■ 1/4 cup shredded mint
■ 30 grams fetta




Honey and Balsamic Dressing:  

■ 1/4 cup honey
■ 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
■ 1 tablespoon olive oil

Method:
1.Preheat oven to 200°C.
2.Place pumpkin onto trays lined with baking paper.
3.Spray lightly with olive oil and crush salt flakes over the pumpkin.
4.Cook pumpkin for at least 20 minutes, before turning. Cook for another 20 – 30 minutes, until the pumpkin is starting to brown.
5.While the pumpkin is cooking either dry fry the pine nuts or brown them on a lined tray under the grill, until they are golden. Store in an airtight container if it is a while before you will use them.
6.Remove pumpkin from oven when ready and allow to cool. (As this step can be completed ahead of time, you can place pumpkin in a container in the fridge.)
7.I prefer to shred the mint and crumble the fetta at the last minute. As such I will often cook the pumpkin the night before and just add the fetta, pine nuts and mint an hour or so before we need to eat.
8.The dressing should only be added immediately prior to serving.


Dressing:
1.In a small jar add honey, vinegar and olive oil.
2.Prior to using on the salad, with the lid on the jar shake vigorously to mix.
3.Take off lid and heat in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
4.Shake vigorously again and all ingredients should combine beautifully!


Presenting Salad:
■ Arrange pumpkin neatly on a large plate. Crumble fetta, toss the mint and pine nuts across the pumpkin. Drizzle dressing across the salad and enjoy! 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!!!
 
Love E

Cravings, Gym and The Yummy Desserts (which are actually good for you)!

As I mentioned before, I try to stay away from sweets as much as I can. After spending 2 hours in the gym and only burning about 700 calories, you start to really think if its worth it to eat ANYTHING :) 

Of course we need food to give our bodies energy. Its almost like getting gas for your car. If you put good quality gas the car will be running way better than if you fuel it with low quality gas. Same with our bodies. We need to fuel our bodies with GOOD QUALITY FUEL such as fruits and veggies, lean meats, whole wheat,  fish and so on. In order for our bodies to get enough nutrients and vitamins we must follow a special diet...which is extremely boring!!! I mean, who has the time to plan out and actually follow a plan? 

Everyone knows that salt and sugar are two main reasons why people get diabetes, high blood pressures, kidney and liver problems as well as Obesity.

I can NEVER say no to salt....I do try to avoid using salt wherever I can but its not always possible. 

When it comes to sugar, I can control myself but to a point.

That is why I found these healthy desserts that kill my cravings but do not add pounds of fat to my body.

 

 

I hope you try them out and comment :)

If you have your ideas on healthy desserts, please share.
Live to the fullest and stay healthy!

Love E

Marcus Levin's Unusual Art

What can be done with a hammer and hundred thousands of nails? You could hang thousands of shelves, hang thousands of pictures, create thousands of chests and hundreds of dressers. But Marcus Levin (a British Artist) has something else in mind. He creates masterpieces using ordinary nails and a hammer.

First, Levin used nails to create abstract sculptures. But realized that the sharpness of the nails and the soft features of the human bodies will be incredibly rough to the eye.

One of his pieces from a closer angle:

The prices for his pieces are set according to number of nails used. For example, in this piece with the lips 3,500 nails were used, therefore it costs £3,500 (~$5250).

This piece was created out of 15,100 nails....

In the piece of a mother and a child, Levin used 26,600 nails. This piece was priced at $39,750.

It is crucial to note, that the lighting is very important to the way sculptures are viewed.

I absolutely love his work. Its amazing how people come up with ideas like those. Its fresh and different.

Good Job Marcus Levin!

The Chalk Guy Is Amazing!

Hard to believe that these are drawn on a FLAT sidewalk surface.

Edgar Mueller spent five days, working 12 hours a day, to create the 250 square meter image of the crevasse, which, viewed from the correct angle, appears to be 3D.
He then persuaded passers-by to complete the illusion by pretending the gaping hole was real.

'I wanted to play with positives and negatives to encourage people to think twice
About everything they see,' he said.  'It was a very scary scene, but when people
Saw it they had great fun playing on it and pretending to fall into the earth.
'I like to think that later, when they returned home, they might reflect more on
What a frightening scenario it was and say, "Wow, that was actually pretty scary."

This guy is amazing no matter how you look at it!

Get Out and Enjoy Nature...