Just a Day Just an Ordinary Day

First off, I just want to say, thank you new and long time readers of The Chic Life. You guys keep me going with this little blog. Thank you for your comments and support!

So, just when you think you’re going to have a day like any other, you find yourself taking 200 photos (yes, in that same one day)! Craziness!

First off, the avocado oatmeal from yesterday has been quite the buzz! Seems like a love it or hate it kind of thing. I think avocado as a sweet flavor is unusual to most, but if you like avocado, why not try it? (Btw, I will be making avocado ice cream once things warm up for any one who’s interested).

Lunch Prep

I made myself a bit late this morning by making egg salad. I should have made it last night, but…well, I didn’t. I was too busy spilling martinis all over myself! jk

Nevertheless, I whipped up the egg salad pretty quickly and slapped it on some good bread in a tupperware – ready to take to work.

Seedy AB+J Power Toast

Of course, I couldn’t leave for work without breakfast! Nice, hot coffee and…

Power toast!

Today I had a Seedy AB+J Power Toast.

A slice of honey whole wheat Great Harvest toast served as my base.

On top:

• Barney Butter
• Earthfare organic pomegranate jelly
• sunflower seeds
• hemp seeds
• sesame seeds

Nice and crunchy!

Have you tried my Power Toast yet? If yes, let me know how you like it!

Work Eats

Hot black tea with cream and sugar.

I was so excited to try my egg salad sandwich today!

It was AWESOME! I need to perfect the recipe, but I’ll be posting it soon.

Some honey sesame Kashi crackers on the side.

I had a rough morning so sweet hubby brought me a treat – a doughnut from our fave local bakery.

Tulsi tea – work your magic! Make me well! Still feeling a bit under the weather…mostly like I have a cold now at least, which is an improvement over last week.

Photography Class (AEB)

After work I went to photography class.

We did a photoshoot uptown. Here are some of my fave photos of the night:

Isn’t the reflection neat?

Taaaallllllllllll!

We practiced AEB – Auto Exposure Bracketing (what is AEB? When your camera takes the same photo 3 times with 3 different exposures). Look it up in your manual. It’s great to know about it and how to use it.

Here are some examples…

All 3 taken on AV (aperture priority) and ISO 400 and AEB at +-1:

f3.5, 1/20 shutter

f3.5, 1/80 shutter

f3.5, 1/5 shutter

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Here’s another example, still on AV, ISO 400 and AEB at +-1:

f3.5, 1/6 shutter

f3.5, 1/25 shutter

f3.5, 0.6 shutter

* * * * *

Aaand another example, still on AV, ISO 400 and AEB at +-1:

f3.5, 0.3 shutter

f3.5, 1/13 shutter

f3.5, 1.3 shutter

I love how the water looks like it’s glowing in the last photo.

NOTE: Basically I set the aperture at f3.5 and the AEB adjusted my shutter speed as needed.

Let me just add that the whole time we were taking photos, we were FREEZING! Boy was I glad I brought gloves, though they were not quite enough. I was wishing I had some thermal underwear for real!

Luckily, we were all freezing and our class took a pit stop at Starbucks before heading back to wrap up class. I got a tall soy hot chocolate sans whipped cream.

Once we got back, we hooked up our cameras to the TV in the class room to share our photos. I shared mine from tonight, some from our Valentine’s Dinner and some from Chinese New Years.

Then, it was time to head home.

Dinner

Since class ends kind of late, I made a quick dinner using stuff from our freezer, which thankfully only took about 25 minutes.

TJ’s breaded halibut, TJ’s sweet potato fries (baked), and steamed organic broccoli with a drizzle of real butter.

Of course after I took most of my food photos I remembered I had some fresh parsley to sprinkle over the fries. At least I remembered before eating them!

Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. Shannon of The Daily Balance has nice explanation of lent, so I’ll just direct you there (click) if you want to learn more about Lent. Oh and for anyone who missed out on Eat in Month, Shannon is doing something similar for Lent, so maybe you can join in? If you’re willing to wait longer, I think I’m going to repeat it next January!

Anywho…I’ve been trying to figure out what to give up for Lent. I’ve given up lot of tough things before: chocolate, dessert, sweets, and even caffeine!

While giving up sweets again seems like a good idea, I thought I’d try a little something new.

So…

…any guesses what hubby and I are giving up for Lent?

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We’re giving up…

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MEAT!

That’s right…we’re giving up meat. I’ve never tried giving up meat for any period of time, so I’m curious as to how this is going to work out. I’m a little worried for my meat and potatoes hubby but he’s a tough cookie, so I know he can do it!

Here are our guidelines (with some slight exceptions):

• eggs are ok
• seafood is ok
• no chicken
• no pork
• no beef
• no ostrich
• basically, no meat-meat

Basically, we’re going pescatarian for a month-ish. I’m pretty pumped!

If you celebrate it, what are you giving up for Lent?

Heart Yourself Campaign

I’m still accepting heart photos for the Heart Yourself Campaign. I’d love for you to send one in! Email me at thechiclife at gmail dot com.

Click here to view some inspirational self-love heart photos.

Tagged as: Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, Photography, tea