Module suggestions:

• Use a separate text box for each section of the wedding dress. Highlight with lots of images. Since most online shops have affiliate programs you’ll have lots of images to choose from.
• Have a wedding poll.
• Use the Amazon Spotlight for a wedding planning book.
• List up to ten wedding dress designers in a text list plexo titled Favorite Designers with the option for visitors to add their own.
• Provide a guestbook for people to tell you their wedding date.

While I was at the grocer I picked up a bottle of tartar sauce, just in case, but never used it. I have eaten HighLiner products in the past so I am not knew to this brand. Normally I cook HighLiner fish according to oven directions but when I checked the directions on this box I found info for pan cooking without oil and decided to give it a try.

It only took 8 minutes on each side and the fillets were perfect (images are taken on my iPod because it is more convenient in kitchen). Frozen fillets in pan with no oil:

They did not fall apart while cooking, albeit perhaps a bit greasy. You can see the moisture beads in the pan.

The lime chilli is quite mild but flavorful. Jeff who is not a fish eater ate a half portion without complaint. The cats of course could not get enough.

I enjoyed this product and I will probably buy it again if it goes on sale. There were a number of other flavors in the Pan-Sear brand that I would like to try.

Influencer Disclosure: I was given a free product or sample because I am a Klout influencer. I am under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.

“Indisputably the world’s number one woman writer.” ~ Time Magazine, 1947

Rebecca West was the pen name for Cicely Isabel Fairfield (1892 – 1983), a British writer who was known more for her writing talent than for any particular book.

West was no prisoner to one genre of writing, expressing herself in fiction, essays, letters, travel journals, and other non-fiction.

She has been heavily quoted for decades.

10 Favorite Quotes

Rebecca West’s Early Publications and Non-fiction

Do you have a favorite Rebecca West quote?

We drove around for awhile until we decided that near the deer pasture would be a good spot (my mother was not much of a swimmer). We hiked in for about ten minutes and found a spot beside a mossy stone between two trees. It was a bright overcast day and the mood was reasonably light, I made a joke about my mother being stuck between a rock and a hard place — you had to be to appreciate it.

On route out of the park we stopped by the waterside near the back of someone’s cabin and saw two beautiful white swans eating. Most of the time their heads were in the water so I was able to get quite close. Beautiful. I took the Canon Rebel with me and took a few pictures (if you click on thumbnail you will get larger image).

I started the night out with a Zombie which is a mixture of three rums, orange juice, lemon, grenadine and a another item I cannot remember. Pretty though:

The waitress was nice enough to take a family photo:

Half way through our lovely dinner the cook sent out a tray of skewered shrimp because “we looked like good people”. They were damn good shrimp:

On with the light show:

These first two photos give you an idea of how big the display is as I could not fit it all in one shot. We went in on the left, left a donation in the coin box, then entered to walk through. I only took a few pictures of my favorite things. You can click on the image for a slightly larger view.

I think these were new, they were out on a dock by the river:

This is one of my favorite items. They have them every year and I would totally buy one if they were available. There are also large bunnies about half the size made from the same lights.

Choo-choo!

Main trail through light display.

Last view of my favorite reindeer.

We made a quick stop at the war memorial for soldiers that died in Afghanistan then headed home for some wine, comedy, and ringing in the New Year.

Happy New Year!

“If the whole human race lay in one grave,
the epitaph on its headstone might well be:
‘It seemed a good idea at the time’.”

~ Rebecca West

I love to sleep. The only time I had a problem sleeping was when I was doing nightshifts in Geralton. I would sleep dead for three to four hours, then wake up and not be able to fall back to sleep. To get a full eight hours before my next shift was impossible. I had to resort to taking Gravol which would conk me out for at least 6 hours. I hated working the nightshift which is funny considering what a night owl I have turned out to be. These days I have no problem sleeping when I am supposed to.

I went to a sleep clinic about four years ago when I first started having seizures (when they did not know what they were). It was an interesting experience and if you ever get the chance to go, go. They stick about twenty electrodes to your head, chest, calves and stick you in a small room to sleep the night. At the time they determined I had sleep apnea which means I stop breathing for a couple seconds before my internal alert kicks in and wakes me up. Apparently this does not make for a restful sleep. They hooked me up with a CPAP, a little machine with a mask, that forces air into your passageway to keep it open while you sleep. Me and my CPAP have a love hate relationship… but that is another story.

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Take the 100 Word 100 Days Challenge

I am and will forever be a night owl but even night owls have regular sleeping habits and the last year I have been alternating between my norm and extended hours up to 5, 6, even 7 a.m. ( I will be working on a project and get it in my mind I do not want to stop until I reach a certain point). The extended hours are recking havoc on my sleep patterns and I find myself waking up sometimes hourly before I decide to get up all together and get on with my day feeling like shit.

The last few weeks I have developed my own combat pattern where instead of counting sheep I count breaths.

Beginning with 1, I take in a deep breath fairly slowly and on 2 I let it out slowly. I continue alternating my breaths with each number to the count of 50, forcing myself to focus on my breath and the counting, limiting my multitasking brain to two things. My mind might wander for a second to something else but I quickly corral it back to the breathing and counting.

The trick is to keep the breathing slow enough that I am taking in more air than usual but quick enough that it is comfortable and obviously not too quick that I hyperventilate myself into a sleep.

This provides my brain with more oxygen than it is used to getting. By the time I am done I am either rejuvenated enough to get up early and start the day or relaxed enough to fall asleep for a few more hours. Today I started the day earlier than planned.

How are your sleep habits?

This is kind of old news but I reviewed Leonard Nimoy’s photo book The Full Body Project (Warning: nudity) a few years back. If you have not seen it yet it is worth checking out. It definitely gave me a new perspective on the man as a creative artist.

For many who grew up in my generation, Nimoy will forever be immortalized as the first officer with the pointed ears on the original Star Trek television series and movies. The series was first aired from 1966 to 1969 so I experienced it in reruns although I did not know it at the time.

Over the years I let my love for the series extend to its reinvention through: The Next Generation (1987–1994), Deep Space Nine (1993–1999), and Voyager (1995–2001) — I never got into Enterprise (2001–2005) but my love for the original cast always hung on with all the movie lines I stood in, first with a babysitter and then with my Jeff and his friends. For me these six movies are the original Star Trek:

• The Motion Picture (1979)
• The Wrath of Khan (1982)
• The Search for Spock (1984)
• The Voyage Home (1986)
• The Final Frontier (1989)
• The Undiscovered Country (1991)

And while I was still enamoured with the Next Generations’ take on space something was always missing.

• Generations (1994)
• First Contact (1996)
• Insurrection (1998)
• Nemesis (2002)

I have watched the new generation of Star Trek but waited for it to come to rental as I probably will for the latest version. Do not get me wrong. The movies are enjoyable and the actors are well chosen. I am just not a stand in a long line movie goer anymore. Although I would not be opposed to seeing the original movies in the theatre again.

All the characters/actors of the original Star Trek are vital to the story but for me Nimoy was and is tops. And with DeForest Kelley (Bones) and James Doohan (Scotty), gone to the undiscovered country my heart aches a little that soon the rest of the crew (all born in the early to mid 1930s) will join them sooner than I would like. But they will all be immortalized in reruns and our DVD collections.

In the total span of Nimoy’s career he as worked on many projects not involving a Star Trek theme — other televisions shows, other movies, directing, writing, singing, photographer, teaching but…

Nimoy, you are, and always shall be, my Spock.

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Take the 100 Word 100 Days Challenge

Within a week I was downloading her My Blood Approves series (four books) from Kobo and seriously delving into the world of e-book reading via Jeff’s Blackberry Playbook. I was addicted and reading every night in bed, sometimes for hours; something I have not done in a long time. At the time when I purchased the books they ranged in price from .99 cents to $2.99.

I really enjoyed the My Blood Approves series which is what I would call a quick enjoyable read. There were a few typos within the books but really not much more than some of the traditional publications I have read. The story follows a young girl who meets a young boy who also happens to be a vampire and follows their journey of love and discovery as she joins his family of vampires. There was the usual vampire lore that we are used too but also a few new points of interest. Every one seems to want to compare young adult vampire books to Twilight and while there may be vague similarities there is no real comparison. I was sorry it was over.

When I finished with the vampires I moved on to the zombies with her Hollowland series which disappointingly was only two books. This series also has a young girls as the heroine and in this case she really is because hidden within her blood is a resistance to the zombie virus. Even though I am a zombie movie addict, this was actually the first zombie book I have ever read and while there were some scary aspects to it I had no problem lying in bed in the dark and reading it. So if you have not ventured into zombie lit yet this would be a good start.

I have taken a break from Amanda Hocking’s books at this point, only because I have so many on my desk I need to read and I really hate to dwell on one author for too long. But I am looking forward to getting into her Trylle trilogy, a paranormal romance that has been republished by St Martin’s Griffin and I think will be made into a movie someday soon.

Check out Amanda Hocking’s books.