Busy Busy Busy

Hong Kong. 

The city where Derrald and I first met.

There will always be a place in my heart for Hong Kong and this week, as fate would have it, D is returning to HK to interview for a position at HKUST. It's possible that this interview may lead to a job in the very place we first fell in love. Where we first held sweaty hands, played basketball together, first went to the movies, had our first date at Wendy's on campus (now a McDonald's). Seriously. What are the odds?!

While Derrald is away, I will be driving myself out to Wilmington, NC where I am shooting a commercial for three days. Hooray!!! I booked myself a job!! I auditioned for this commercial a couple weeks ago when Derrald was away interviewing at McGill in Montreal... so it seems his absence has been working out for me ;) 

Montreal. 

Another place that I would cherish the adventure of living. One of D's memories of me from our teenage years involved my zeal for learning French. I would go over to the University every week to take lessons from Yolande (our friend Christophe's Maman). I'm pretty sure those long-ago lessons would serve me well in this city :)

While I am listing these wonderful cities for our potential residence, I should probably include D's trip from this last week, USC!!

Los Angeles.

Whilst it does not have the history or memories that HK has for us, and it would not be the foreign, adventure that Montreal offers, LA is...um, AWESOME!!!! I would love to live in LA. And Derrald loved his time there. Hello Beach. Hello Sunshine! Hello Hollywood. Hello Delicious Sushi. Hello Roadtrips to family who are close enough to drive to. Hello Crazy People who live on Santa Monica beach and sometimes take the Bus (remind me to tell you about the time my Dad tried to convince me I didn't need a car in LA cos I could take the bus...um, not in a thousand years!!) Yes. Hello LA.

It's been a very long, somewhat nerve-wraking wait getting to this "interviewing" stage of the job application process. And I know we have a long way to go! Interviews do not necessarily mean jobs... but if these Universities know what's good for them, they'll be wanting the Stices to move in ASAP and seriously, there is not a bad choice among them.  Many a prayer has been said for us at this time and we thank you all for thinking of us. Keep up the good work (it's totally working!!!) We'll keep you posted of our movements and I really hope we will NEVER have to reveal our contingency plan (ie Derrald joins the National Guard and I work as a waitress FOREVER)

A born professional, scholar in business:

It's been a good week in the Stice household and the activity looks to be continuing as we plow into March. Here's to staying busy, busy, busy!

Love Month

Okay, so this post is a little late... February 14th has come and gone, leaving naught but a trail of candy, in our house at least... I know, I know, I'm a health coach, I should spit in the face of candy... but let's face it, when your husband collects candy for 3 months in his cubicle and then splays it out on the floor, in heart shapes, for you to find when you come home from work, well, let's just say you'd be on the floor rolling in it too.

Anyone who knows me, knows how I feel about chocolate. Particularly the good stuff. ("good stuff" being Lyndt, Giradelli, See's and Costco Valentines Boxes from your mother) So it shouldn't come as a surprise to you that about 10 minutes after the rolling, all the candy was gathered up into a container and placed in some hidden location only Derrald knows, so that I can't find it and inhale it like air.

I hope you are all enjoying the extra love this month and possibly using it as an excuse to eat a little candy, buy some flowers for your lady, indulge in a quiet dinner or try out some couples yoga (my gift to D this year - and it totally rocked!!).

Lemon Crazy

We have gone LEMON CRAZY in our house.

It's mostly thanks to Mum's lemon tree which has been blessing us with it's tart, yellow fruit in overloaded abundance this year. Fresh lemons, as in "right off the tree" are delicious. We took about 5 pounds of them back in our suitcases after Christmas break.

Last week I went to pick up a package from our front office and when the girl went to pick up the box she was met with surprising weight. A heavy box. A box of lemons! Mum had sent us an enormous box of lemons and we are now officially out of control.

Here's a few of our favorite ways to use lemons:

Pickled or Preserved Lemons. It's easy enough to find recipes online and we tried our hand at a few different types. I've a feeling we'll be making a few more jars yet.

Simply adding them to water. So refreshing!

And last but not least, in recipes. I'm sure you all have some delicious suggestions here and I would love to hear them. Last night, we have made a Moroccan Chicken dish (YUM) with olives, onions, and preserved lemons.

Right now I am trying to find recipes that work with my 5&1 plan while I am continuing to lose weight... but eventually I will be interested in any recipe you can recommend.

I wish I had a picture of Derrald eating a lemon like an orange. He did this with one of the lemons the day it arrived. He's so weird. But he's also scurvy free, so hurrah! 

We love lemons.