Fantastic Friday: Rain, rain and more rain!

It rained pretty much all day today! I did some laundry early in the morning and thank God that was dry but I didn't have such luck with my second load! After placing it out to dry I went to get a couple of things at the panaderia and to meet up with a friend and voila! It stared pouring down rain! My clothes was, of course, soaked and since it rained all day since it is still up there wet and I will probably have to take it down early tomorrow morning, bring it here and put it through the rinse cycle once more...oh well!

Other than that, I had a pretty busy day running about here and there, taking my little friend Maria Alejandra to and from ballet to music class! We had fun at the end, despite the rainfall! I got an Italia bracelet to be decked out in World Cup gear and fervor (that's my team) and Maria Alejandra was happy because she is also a fan of Italy! After that we got ice cream sundae's at McDonald's and headed back to the building! Here are some shots we took today:

Maria and I show off our bracelets...

Maria and I at McD's!

Ahhhh...sundaes!

Maria enjoying her sundae...

Life... ♥

Hello friends! It's been a while since I last wrote! Life has been whizzing by and somehow I got caught up in the moments. Today I just want to share a little bit of what I am enjoying these days....

Catching up with old friends on Monday...

Received a letter from a friend in Germany on Wednesday...

Aren't the German postage stamps lovely?

The postcard my friend sent me....

and the little tour/travel cards from Paris she included as a token...

Today I played around with the cam and different shelf shots...

my tea/candy jar...brought this from the US with me...

...and of course, CHOCOLATE! I bought these two today.

I've also been updating some photography on my Perez Liscano Photography facebook page. I added an album called {a rose is a rose} and it has some beautiful shots! Check it out and if you're on facebook and like what you see become a fan as well! I've also added a few things to the Mes Petites Creations facebook fan page as well! Other than all that I've been teaching my little students English and hanging out with my Grandma.

Cheers!

Tuesday Tutorials: Food-torial! Peanut Butter, Banana and Honey Sandwich

I love peanut butter and bananas! So today I wanted to share with you a tutorial about making some really yummy and peanuty snacks. Here is the list of ingredients in pictorial form:

Wheat + Oatmeal Bread

One banana...

The goodness of Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter....

and honey...lots of honey...

This bread is one of the best healthy breads in all of Caracas... I love it!

So, on to the assembly:

Spread some peanut butter goodness on both slices of bread (this is an open faced sandwich).

After spreading all that good peanut butter, slice the banana and place it directly on top of the covered slices of delicious bread...oh, la, la! Finally, drizzle some amazing fresh honey over the bananas, letting it drip onto the peanut butter and voila! The finished product is below in all it's glory!

Bon apetit!

Monday Musings: Baking Enjoyment and New Projects

About a week and a half ago I'd bought some bananas and, as with almost everything else I tend to buy fruit-wise, I didn't eat them all in time and alas they started to get brown and mushy. Well, one of my favorite things to do with mushy bananas is make banana bread and that is what I did. I generally use the Betty Crocker recipe but this time I used a recipe that my grandmother likes which was included in a cookbook compiled by the Trinity Wives Club back in 1958-ish.

The recipe I used was the first one on the page pictured here, Banana Quick Bread. I have to say it was fairly easy to make and turned out quite good! I love the fact that instead of stating that nuts are optional it calls them nutmeats, isn't that cool? I love old cookbooks! While new ones are often beautiful and full of color, it's the older ones that hold interesting pearls of wisdom and anecdotes. This one in particular is full of Bible verses, poems, prayers, helpful hints and the like. I have decided to take on the task of retyping the book and later making it into a new book with pictures and all. I plan on making each recipe and adding photos to them, keeping the original text of each page. It's a labor of love really.

My beautiful retro style Banana Bread and it was good!!!

Home-made goodness...

Well, I will let you now how this project progresses over time! I leave you now with a funny picture I took of myself and a magnet I got in NYC with a food sample! Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day 2010!

Happy Mother's Day to all the lovely ladies who read this blog! I wish you much joy and love. Blessings to all! Hope you had a fantastic weekend! Here is a photo for you to enjoy!

Cheers!

Saturday Special: Socks For Happy People Love

On Tuesday I received a package in the mail all the way from the UK. Inside the lovely reusable envelope were the socks pictured to the left. Those of you who have been reading my blog for quite some time know how much I love Socks For Happy People and their mission. So you can imagine that I am beside myself with these 5 pairs of socks and have had a rather large smile on my face all week since receiving this excellent package and the great note from Tom and Rich which brought tears to my eyes. I was not expecting to receive such a wonderful array of socks but I deeply appreciate what I was sent.

As I told my good friend Megzy, who is also a huge fan of SFHP, I am beside myself with joy at the ability I now have to wear these remarkable socks because, afterall, they are more than socks. They are even more than iconography, they hold meaning and that is something which not all brands can boast off. I love that the company doesn't have just a mission statement, they understand that they are on a mission. Their purpose:

"Socks for Happy People exists to inspire a deeper understanding of genuine happiness throughout the world, and be a shining example of how a business with the well-being of humanity and nature at its core can be inherently sustainable and abundantly profitable."

How could anyone oppose to that? Socks for Happy People truly is more than just another sock company. Their purpose and mission also breaks down to three different types of visions: Social, Environmental and Economic. Besides these wonderful visions there are the wonderful programs of Buy One, Give One Free as well as Penny On which gives you the option of adding pennies on to your purchase benefiting Penny On an organization dedicated to the eradication of world poverty. So, as you can see, Socks For Happy People is about more than just socks but the socks are pretty darn wonderful too!

In short, I hope you too will hop on the happiness band-wagon and get into a pair or two or even more of Socks for Happy People socks because, afterall, they're more than just socks! This is a happiness revolution and I'm all for that!

Love, socks, and happiness!

Nadia Marie

Monday Musings: Until we meet again...

{Dance Class at the Opera by Edgar Degas}

This afternoon my parents embarked on a journey back home and I hope to hear that their travels back to the States went well and were without strange occurrences. I was sad to see them go but have the hope of seeing them again in the not-so-distant future. It was nice to spend some time with them since before arriving here in Caracas on March 29th I hadn't seen them since the beginning of November. I miss them already and the room is emptier without them but I am at peace with being here and know that God has great and wonderful plans for me. So, tomorrow I hope to bring you a great tutorial in honor of keeping the old chin up and continuing on with life and hoping for better things to come!

Cheers!