Awesome message here from Dr. Brene Brown. It was just what I needed to hear. Funny because a friend had recommended her book to me, The Gifts of Imperfection, just recently. I haven't had a chance to get it but definitely plan to. Looking at her website, I'm interested in reading her other books as well.

Check out the site as well, as they're giving away $40 to everyone! I'm thinking of getting a book and a poster.

Off to the studio now to play. :)

Speech 8: Paris

I gave my 8th speech today at TM. It was project 6 from the CC manual, focusing on vocal variety. Yup, I have left this one this late. It's one of the things I struggle with. Vocal variety has been a mainstay of the evaluations I have received ever since I've been a Toastmaster. Well, how did I do tonight, you ask. Hmm.... just okay, I think. I could have donebetter, I know that. It was a half-baked speech, having prepared it only a couple hours before the meeting. I realize that that in itself is an achievement, that I would have the gall to actually speak in front of an audience with a speech as half-baked as what I had, but I still think I could have done better, pushed myself harder. Oh well, there's always the next speech right?

Anyway, tonight I talked about Paris and showed some of my SB pages on Paris. I'll share some of them here as well.

Matoi Sushi Lunch

Because our sushi craving wasn't satisfied the other day, we headed to Matoi yesterday after church. And what do you know, it wasn't open! Again! it was around 11:15am. They open at 11:30am so we hung around. Anyway, I'm glad we sticked around because mm-mm the food was yummy!

I got sashimi teisyoku and agedashi tofu.

And Danni got this beautiful bowl of chirashi. I had a taste of it (couldn't resist!) and it was yum too. :)

Would definitely go back again and try their other sashimi.

And then for dinner last night, I had this:

Isn't that a beautiful thing? My mom made it! It had lettuce, potatoes, shredded carrots, mangoes, strawberries, grapefruit, corn, chicken cubes, and this wonderful heavenly dressing! Thanks Mom!!

Late Entry: Cora's

We went to Cora's for a snack. We wanted to go to Matoi for sushi but at 4pm, they were closed. We headed to Cora's instead to give the sunny resto a whirl. I got this -- banana

hazelnut crepe. Yum. :)

Dan got a crepe as well, called Raspberry 4 Lucie.

Unfortunately for her, it looked better than it tasted. :(

I tried it and it was too sour for my taste.

She also said it had cream cheese inside that she didn't particularly like.

I don't think she enjoyed her dish. :(

Mom and Jaja decided to share this big plate of yes, crepes again, with fresh fruits on top. Yeah, we should have ordered something savoury as well, instead of getting all fruit-y dishes. Oh well, next time we know.

And as for Olivia, after studying the menu for a long time (while playing with her Mr. Big)....

She decided on a cut up bowl of bananas, compliments of the manager. :)

As soon as the bowl was placed in front of her, she grabbed a handful of bananas and placed them in her mouth!

Overall, a nice place to have breakfast or lunch. A bit pricey but I wouldn't mind going back again to try their omelettes or any other savoury dishes.

Ahhh....

I finally got around to sorting the towers of papers and binders not-so-neatly stacked on one wall of my computer room. The papers made their way into binders, the binders made their way to the shelf, the labels made their way onto the binders. Not fancy labels, but they do the job. My desk looks much clearer too! I can actually see the green floral paper underneath all the paper. Ahh... finally, some breathing room!There's still stacks of paper right now on the floor, but they're neatly stacked and sorted, and properly labeled. That will do for now. My only regret is that I didn't take 'before' pictures.

I made baked shrimp bruschetta. Off of the Kraft magazine after a trip to Save-On to return my recyclables. So yes, a pretty efficient day. Also did laundry and washed my favorite pair of suede boots that has seen better days. It looks quite good again. :)

Speaking of boots, I have been stalking shoe sites. Cole Haan, Nine West, Macy's, and Piperlime. Oh my...I wish they shipped to Canada, and that if they did, the shipping fee wouldn't cost another pair of shoes! Oh well, I guess better for my wallet this way...

It is hard to see the day by day of things but trust me God has a reason for everything. Your story matters and one day that story is going to matter to someone else.

Blast from the Post...I mean Past

I got an email from some random person who left a comment on my Friendster blog. Friendster blog! Good heavens, who knows how old that is.....Well, I found out it's less than 6 years old. I started blogging in November 2005. I had a chance to read some of the entries. Fun times...Made me want to start blogging again, or at least writing. No matter where. In here, in my journal, anywhere. But I guess that's what makes it harder to see if I have been writing, as I've been writing in many different places. Currently, I have a residency blog so I post more there, as my life revolves around that (for the most part) now. Anyway, I think I will try to maintain both my residency blog and this.