France. A voyage to France, Europe.

Welcome to France. A country that seduces travellers with its unfalteringly familiar culture woven around café terraces, village-square markets and lace-curtained bistros with their plat du jour (dish of the day) chalked on the board.

Cultural Savoir-FaireFrance is all about world-class art and architecture, Roman temples and Renaissance châteaux, iconic landmarks known the world over, and rising stars few yet know. Stroll the lily-clad gardens Monet painted and savour un café at the Parisian café where Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir met to philosophise. See glorious pasts blaze forth and imagine the life of a French king at bourgeois Versailles. View tomorrow’s art starts in squats secreted in abandoned 19th-century Haussmann mansions in Paris, or at new headline-grabbing museums up north. Drink cocktails in a shabby-chic Nantes warehouse. Listen to Marseille rap and Parisian jazz. Sense the subtle infusion of language, music and mythology in Brittany, brought by 5th-century Celtic invaders. Yes, French culture offers never-ending possibilities to fill any stay in France.

Gastronomic Art de VivreOr perhaps it is the French feast of fine food and wine that woos so many travellers. (This is, after all, the country that entices more than any other: more than 80 million visitors a year, ranking it the world’s top tourist destination. But know that gastronomic France goes far deeper than Parisian bistro dining, long lunches outside, shopping for fruit and veg at the market and wolfing down croissants hot from the boulangerie (bakery) for breakfast. Learn how to make petits fours with the kids in Paris or flip crêpes in Brittany; taste wine with one of the world’s top sommeliers in Bordeaux; visit an Atlantic Coast oyster farm; drink Champagne in ancient cellars in Reims; tour a Provençal melon farm; harvest olives, peaches and cherries in the hot south… and understand that food is as much an art de vivre (art of living) for the French as an essential to survive.

Lyrical Landscape Then there is the terroir (land) and the startlingly varied journey it weaves from northern France’s cliff s and sand dunes to the bright-blue sea of the French Riviera and Corsica’s green oak forests. Outdoor action is what this lyrical landscape calls for, be it fast-paced and pulse-racing, slow and relaxed, solo or en famille. Walk barefoot across wave-rippled sand to Mont St-Michel; ride the cable car to mind-blowing glacial panoramas above mountaineering mecca Chamonix; cartwheel down Europe’s highest sand dune; surf in Biarritz; ski the Alps; hike from one extinct volcano to another in the Massif Central; float between locks or pedal the towpath along the Canal du Midi. The action is endless and the next adventure just begging to be had.

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Ready to go?

These tours & activities make it easy:

• Experience France in 12 days
• Discover the Loire valley by bike & barge
• Learn to cook your own Parisian banquet
• Hike through the beautiful Pyrenees

Goals for good health

Things have been really quiet on the blog front lately as I have not been up to much as far as decor is related.

The one thing I have been trying to sort out if a wall color for my bedroom and a color for the living room. 

After a lot well 2 years of thinking, I have decided on the color for the bedroom, Edgecomb gray is it...the perfect neutral. Now I need to get to it....I have lost my mojo....well I am busy actually.

 I was going between Revere Pewter at full strength and 1/2 strength and Edgecomb gray but Edgecomb is perfect for this room. I wanted a little color but not a color color just a soft shade.

 One coat of Edgecomb sealed the deal for me.
I will paint this room , soon...but I have taken on what I call Project Health right now.

I am on a mission to get myself in really good shape. Since New Years I have been working really hard on my diet and fitness, like a job. 1-2 hours a day of working out 6 days a week and eating really clean and it was slow going there for a while but I have as of today lost 18 lbs, as well I know I have gained muscle since I have been using weights quite significantly.
I have 13-15lbs to go to my goal. I just want to be a healthy weight not too skinny.I need to make my health a priority and I have after all what's more important than health and family, nothing.
My whole family is working on eating well and we are all working out regularly in our crude home gym. It has really helped me weather this rough winter in Ontario.
It's almost been a year since we headed off to Aruba for our first family beach vacation. I love that we are finally taking trips with our kids and making memories like these.

 I have logged so many hours and miles on this trusted elliptical, this was a good day , 700 cals burned.... not too many runs like that, I had to document that.

As well as my health being a motivator we are going on a trip south in a few short days.....and we couldn't be more excited. 

 No recipes I just wanted to share some pics of my healthy eating...you know I look forward to healthy eating so much now.

 cilantro dressing

 lots of healthy raw chopped salads.

 Trips south require new shoes right? these are amazing from Target but they are going back because my poor ankles can't handle them, they are so high, I have never had ankle pain from trying on shoes so I know they won't work for a real wear. Cute but they have got to go.....kinda sad.

Back to my healthy choices....smokes salmon on rye crackers

there is so much to do in preparation for a trip getting the whole family organized making sure everything is thought of , not to mention , spray tans and waxing and grey hair touch ups and mani pedi's of course. 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what I have been up to.....

Warm Up events for Shikihime Garden started by Appirits

Appirits, the Japanese developer and publisher of their simulation & card game Shikihime Garden has recently released the game’s English version and several warm up events to encourage new players on from March 10th to 25th 2014.



Shikihime Garden is an original hybrid browser-based game of gardening and deck-building embedded with RPG elements where players must foster lovely Shikihime (female characters with magic abilities), take care of beautiful gardens and collect a variety of cards through numerous battles. The game combines turn-based card combat and simulation gameplay with exploration and quests. Joining the game now, all players can register for accounts in Shikihime Garden for free and enjoy some fun events as below.

Event 1: First Log-in, First Gifts
Content: All players who register and log in Shikihime Garden for the first time during the above mentioned time will enjoy Newbie kits, including the following items: [300 Power, Brush of Life x1, Orihime Card x1]

Moreover, for those players who registered for game accounts before the release date, they will event receive Starter kits as in the publisher’s earlier announcement.

Event 2: First Charge, First Rewards
Content: Any player who tries Shikihime Garden, loves it and decides to support it by making their very first charging to Power pockets will be given [1 Silver Summon Ticket]. Details of summon types can be found on the game’s website http://skgen.aprts-games.com/about/summon.



There is no minimum limit imposed on the amount of purchased Power to be qualified for the event.

Event 3: Race to the Top
Content: During first weeks, any players who can prevail others to reach highest positions of ranking tables will get valuable rewards as below.

• Top 10 of Battle ranking: Brush of Training - Mid x1, Brush of Strength - Mid x1, Brush of Defense - Mid x1, Bronze Summon Ticket x10
• 
Top 10 of Unit ranking: Fire Element x1, Gold Element x1, Earth Element x1, Water Element x1, Bronze Summon Ticket x10

The result will be taken at the weekly maintenance time 13:00-16:00 on Tuesday [date] and rewards will be distributed automatically during the maintenance.

Event 4: Higher levels, Better rewards
Content: Besides level up units, players also have to raise Player Level in order to unlock some unique in-game content or features. And to give a little motivation, during the event period, by getting Player Level higher, players will be rewarded as below.

• Reach Player Level 2: Silver Summon Ticket x1
• Reach Player Level 4: Gold Summon Ticket x1

Along with its release, Shikihime Garden, the unique mix of card & simulation game from Japan seems to show its ambition of drawing a lot of players by a great load of events. Now players can join the game for free at http://skgen.aprts-games.com.

Key features:

• Lovely Shikihime staying, playing, eating and… sleeping in the garden for real
• Abundant of beautiful items to decorate the garden
• A variety of collectible charming Shikihime and hideous monster cards built with well balance for building decks
• Unique combination modes to craft more powerful and rare cards
• Extremely difficult boss battles for encouraging team cooperation
• Multi-level quests suited for all players to get valuable loots and reach new battlefields
• No booster packs! Obtain powerful cards through time, patience, and luck!
• Free-to-play, no downloaded needed!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shikihime.garden.en
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs4fNXJckNQ