Thanks=Giving

I'm so excited for the holiday season, it's my favorite part of the year. Even if my husband is not able to spend thanksgiving with us because of his deployment, I'm still thankful for every blessing God allows in our lives.'Tis the season to be jolly fa la la la la la la la la

It's a time of sharing with family and friends and eating delicious yummy foods but never the least a great opportunity to give. Giving doesn't mean you have to go buy something for someone, as long as it comes from the heart. It may be pretty much anything, from a homemade cooked meal to a cup of coffee or tea with some fresh baked cookies. It's time to share some of those talents if you know what I mean!

I would like to give something to you all, and this is why I'm doing my very first GIVEAWAY! If you know me or have been following my slowly progressing blog then you know the passion I have for photography. Here is where you get to give as well. The idea is for you to nominate an extraordinary family/person you know. If your family gets selected and wins, you will give away the gift of great memories to cherish for years to come. If you know of a family or person that has experience a rough time and was able to overcome it this is your chance to nominate them. If they managed to stay positive while making time to help others selflessly please nominate them.

What they'll get?

1 hour Photo Session for up to 6 people (in the same family) with 10 digital pictures on a CD. 
Just in time for the Holidays =)

Our family pic from last year. Nothing wrong with wearing your comfy pajamas =)

Christmas card credits: 2012 font Pea Ellie Bellie  from kevin & amanda

Retro taupe solid paper from Florabella Collection

Merry Chrismas snow overlay and candy cane overlay from mom and camera

How to enter: **This Giveaway is now closed**

1- You can't nominate yourself. You may nominate more than one family/person.

2- Your nominee has to live in the Yokosuka area. **Note: Atsugi, and Negishi areas can participate. I'm just asking that the winners are able to travel to Yokosuka for the pictures**

3- Email me to seelifeandlight@gmail.com telling me why this family deserves to win.

4- All entries must be entered by Friday, November 22, 2013 (11:59pm Tokyo Standard Time)

**3 Winners will be announced on my See: Life and Light Facebook page on Sunday, November 24**

It is not mandatory that you subscribe to my blog or that you like my Facebook page but if you like what you see I won't mind if you show me some love ;)

Now go ahead and spread the word. I'm looking forward to reading your stories.

Until next time. With love,

Tamara

Daydreaming!

Hello!

This is going to be a quick post. Sometimes I just get the picture of a certain character in my head and all of the sudden I have to come up with my own creation. For no reason I just pictured myself with a 1920's look.
I thought I shared just in case you need some last minute ideas for Halloween. Don't go crazy spending money on a costume. Just go check your closet for some clothes, accessories, and use your makeup and imagination for some cool unique ideas.

This is what we're going for. Excuse the bad lighting.

Let's begin:

I have brows. Step 1: Erase brows. Click here for a step by step.

 Draw your brows back in.

 Use black eyeshadow, black eyeliner, false lashes, and a dark lipstick.

 Culr your hair and pin it up in a bob shape.

 My amazing talented neighbor made these super cute hair accessories for this lady with super crazy ideas.

If you have time go ahead and do your nails =)

Stay safe and have a Happy creative day.

Until next time. With love,

Tamara

Almond bread

Hey there,

I know, I know. I've been gone for a very long time. There has been some personal family matters that have kept me busy. Not only that but the tendonitis on my right hand has been stopping me from lifting weights and doing other exercise movements. It has also kept me away from the keyboard and mouse.

Just how do you fight depression? Do you think food plays a part on how you feel emotionally? I believe so. Exercise and clean eating keeps me fueled with good energy and keeps me mentally stable. "Endorphins make you happy, happy people just don't shoot their husbands." ~ Elle Woods~ sounds familiar? From the movie Legally Blonde with Reese Whitherspoon. I know, I'm a dork and a sucker for chic flicks.

I have been less active, bored, depressed, and I want to eat junk food, etc. You know how that goes. I have been fighting to not give in to junk food, so I began by cleaning out my pantries from the food I eat when I feel depressed. My demons are: sweet or salty breads, and chips. Damn you carbs! No, I won't stop eating foods I like. I just need to replace the bad ingredients for the good ones.

I finally made peace with the fact that I can't exercise the way that I was used to. Most importantly I decided not to fuel my body with the wrong foods. One bad choice always leads to a worst one, so my venture to a happy tummy, and happy me continues.

I googled almond bread recipes and tada! Jorge appeared into my life. LOL A video popped up so I checked him out. I was thrilled because I had all the ingredients and it was as easy as 1,2,3.

Here's a picture of the bread when I took it out of the oven.

 I poured the mixture onto a 9x13 baking dish because I wanted a flat type of bread.

Yeah, instead of the traditional Naan for my Chicken Curry I had Almond bread instead ;)

Here are the Ingredients:

3 1/2 cup of almond flour
3 eggs
1/4 cup of melted butter
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup of Greek yogurt (FAGE Total)
1/4 tsp of salt

I will let Jorge explain the instructions:

Happy tummy = Happy heart. What's your secret?

Until next time. With love,

Tamara

Chocolate Blueberry Paleo Muffins

I don't always crave sweets but when I do they better be healthy and delicious!
I found a recipe for chocolate raspberry muffins that called for fresh raspberries. I bought a little case of them and paid $6. I was going to use them for the recipe and found the case inside the refrigerator empty.  My kids ate them all. Oh, well, good thing I always keep frozen blueberries. 

Onto the recipe:

Ingredients

Preheat oven at 350 

Let's begin with the dry ingredients first

 3 cups of almond flour

 2 teaspoons of baking soda

1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder 

 Mix dry ingredients

 Onto wet ingredients

4 whole eggs 

2 egg whites

 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

 4 tablespoons of honey

 1 tablespoon of coconut oil

 Mix wet ingredients

 Mix wet and dry ingredients

 Add 2 cups of blueberries

 I didn't use liners but I think it would have been easier to remove the muffins from the pan

 Into the oven they go. Wait 25 mins. or check with toothpick until toothpick comes out clean

 Voilá 12 delicious, healthy and perfect muffins

Special thanks to my daughter for taking all of the pics except for the last one <3

I know I am all over the place with my posts. I promise to try and separate posts by category. Is a work in progress so bare with me.

Until next time.

With <3

Tamara

Let's have a cup of Tea

Following my previous post. What to do with leftover pineapple skin and core?

I think you can guess what we are making from the title of my post. Yes, tea. Even though is summer, there's something about drinking a cup of tea early morning or late in the evening. It's soothing and relaxing. You can also serve it cold which is refreshing and hydrating. You will enjoy either way =)

The following recipe is courtesy of my mother. Yes, as I was about to throw the pineapple skin in the trash she came rushing and screaming "NOOO! We can use it". (Imagine this in slow motion, it's way funnier.) My mama loves to enjoy a cup of tea any time of the day.

What you'll need:

Pineapple skin and core and if you have leftover pineapple you can add it too.

1 Cup of dried Jamaica flower 

2 1/2 Liters of water

1 Orange or Lemon

*Optional Brown sugar, honey or agave to sweeten.

You could read about dried Jamaica flower tea properties here and I hope you know the benefits of eating and/or drinking pineapples, oranges and lemons.

Let's continue...

 Add all ingredients except for sugar. 

 bring to a boil.

Enjoy hot or cold.

What other combination of ingredients do you use to make tea?

Until next time.

With <3

Tamara

Drink your fruit and veggies!

I am not an expert nor have I done research other than what friends and relatives have shared with me. Eating healthy and making it part of my lifestyle is what I'm all about. It seems like everyone I know is either juicing, or thinking about it, asking questions regarding it, or really just interested in the subject. Don't worry this isn't a post about the endless list of why you need to start juicing and it's benefits. I have a good friend that could explain the benefits of juicing and such better than I can. She's been thinking about starting her own blog about nutrition, she would be good at it too. Research and clarification is something she thrives on, you know those weird long names and ingredients I can't seem to pronounce correctly. She's good at many things and I really wish she decides to start sharing her knowledge with us real soon. Hint, hint, Miss. R.

I wanted to begin my juicing experience by taking "small steps"  Making small changes to your daily habits is all it takes right? My friend suggested to try smoothies, (green smoothies)! She gave me a simple yet surprisingly delicious recipe. Are you just as skeptical as I am? Just give it a try and I promise you won't look at veggies and fruit the same way ever again.

Let's begin. What you'll need.

1 Cup of water

1 Banana

1 handful of spinach

1 Green or yellow apple

So far so good?…

 Get your blender and add water and spinach.

 blend away…

 cut apples into small pieces and add to blender.

again blend.

cut bananas and add to blender…again, blend and now Enjoy! You don't need to add sugar and you won't taste the spinach.

Are you still with me? If you like the previous recipe, you will for sure love the next one.

Spinach and pineapple.

Cut your pineapple and save the core and skin. Trust me you'll want to save it. I have a post on what to do with it next =)

Add 1 cup of water, 1 handful of spinach and 1 cup of pineapple.

 Let's add blueberries YUM!

 1 cup of blueberries will do.

 blend…

 Enjoy!

Are you juicing? Making smoothies? Have any recipes you want to share? I want to hear all about it.

Until next time.

With <3

Tamara

A meaningful Father's Day gift...

I have to apologize for being MIA for so long. We have just been spending as much quality time as we can as a family. My husband works a lot and sometimes we just don't see him for months at a time so we don't hesitate to take time off from everything to be with him.

Let me tell you, I haven't stop taking pictures. I have so many I don't even know where to start. I thought it would be a good idea to show you a little mini photo session I had with my family. I wanted to give a meaningful gift to my husband for Father's Day. I asked, and asked, and asked, until finally after some bribing everyone agreed to get their pictures taken. I wanted to just get a couple of pictures of him and the kids. Oh, and I am still learning on-camera flash photography.

I could write 10,000 words on why my husband is such an incredible father but I rather just show you ;)

 The man of the hour. He really doesn't like to be put on the spotlight but he made an exception for me this time =)

They are a handful but I wouldn't trade them for all the money in the world. Well, actually nobody has offered me any yet but I'm pretty sure I would say no… or would I?

 They love each other 

and then…

 and then…

 You are not seeing double…

 He is the playful and fun parent!

 This is a trend going on here in Japan called Kamehameha from the cartoons Dragon Ball Z. My oldest really wanted to try doing a picture like this one. Not bad eh?!

 I never knew what the phrase "play by ear" meant until my husband explained to me that he learned to play the guitar on his own, just by listening to the sound the notes made and by reading books. Amazing, I know. He is teaching our daughter and I think she has the same talent he does.

From all the 200 pics I only liked this one on B/W

Humidity is awful here. I wasn't going to be on the pics but my husband said, just put the self timer on. Well, 10 secs. later and a lot of running from the camera to try and pose did not go so well. I could be the next model for Garnier Fructis or John Frieda for frizzy hair products.

My son took this pic. Is not what it looks like…it is actually what it looks like.

My everything <3

Happy Father's Day to my dear husband and to all the fathers out there. Happy Father's Day to my wonderful mother who had to play both roles as well and to all the mothers out there doing the same. 

Until next time.

With <3

Tamara