Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Fashion Flair 2012 - Helping Women and Children


Love these ladies and love that attending this annual Salvation Army event that helps women find jobs, save money and become self-sufficient and rule the world.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

sunday adventures :: Eat Your Miso Soup - It's Yummy!


I love that at a few years old, the baby girl enjoys a hot bowl of Miso Soup as much as I do. The tofu, the seaweed...all of it.

While waiting for soup, she decided to start writing random words out of her little white Bible that has her name on it. She got it when she was dedicated before her first birthday. She's growing up so fast and I love watching her every step of the way.


After a little soup and writing, we made the journey to visit Baby Dyls. And of course, someone was just a little happy to see his big brother, J!

 Me and precious baby Dyls. So sweet and so proud of his momma!

And the adventure continued at Jan's Keg and Cigar Bar where baby girl learned how to feed the fish.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Baby Girl and I Go to the Swamp

Lemonade at the Swamp to help keep us hydrated on what seemed
like the hottest day of the year. Let's Go Gators!

Nothing like THE SWAMP!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Go MIAMI Dolphins! Our day at the Dolphins vs. Raiders game

Hanging on Ft. Lauderdale Beach at the same hotel
that the Oakland Raiders stayed in as they prepped
for their game against the Miami Dolphins.
 It is exactly what you think. The baby girl is wearing an old Dolphins jersey and we are at a game. Dream come true!

The day was extremely hot...At one point the little one turned to me and said, "I thought these pants weren't going to be hot. That's what you said mommy. No long pants!" Soon after, we took off the long pants and proceeded to replace them with shorts which is what she wanted to wear earlier that day.

The two of them worked together to get a pom pom from one of the former cheerleaders who was there to join in on a big reunion.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Marlins game in Miami - Thanks Gaby and team!

Our view for the evening. Marlins win!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Falling in Love with Family Dinner

The other day my fabulous cousin and I were trying to figure out what she could give her sister-in-law for her birthday. (That's one of the reasons my cousin is so fabulous because she is ever so thoughtful and committed to finding the perfect gift for those she loves.) She was perusing the shelves of the bookstore in the cookbook section (reason #2 she's fab) and found Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach.

Fabulous cousin and I in OBX at the local grocery store
we pretty much lived in during our OBX vacation. 
So I must confess...I own a lot of cookbooks. (I'm obsessed with books in general so it's no surprise.) What's interesting about cookbooks is that in no way do I like/love or remotely enjoy cooking food, especially if there's a complicated recipe with more than five ingredients. I just like the idea of it all, looking through books with amazing pictures and  ultimately, eating the food that maybe someone else in my family (Mr. Wonderful) will make me. There are quite a few pages that have been bent back or one of those tiny post it notes are stuck on just in case someone (hint, hint) gets ambitious.

But one night...Something changed.

I decided to take a recipe out of the DALS playbook and make it happen. My recipe of choice - Jenny's Oven "Fried" Chicken. I carefully wrote my grocery list and shopped carefully for the ingredients. The biggest challenge was finding the cornflake crumbs so I did what I do and improvised accordingly with regular cornflakes. How hard could it be to make cornflake crumbs? Smush some flakes and voila! Crumbs. Right?


The recipe required eight items and I really only had to buy three of them. (Marry me, Jenny. Seriously.) The mixing the ingredients wasn't too bad and the cornflake crumbs were probably not as crummy as they were supposed to be but as a result, some delicious, flavorful and good lookin' and (fingers crossed) finger lickin' chicken was coming out of my oven...because of me and my new BFF Jenny.



Two thumbs up from the family and a possible rivalry to Mrs. Publix fried chicken. Always good to find a healthier option to something that I know my family loves to eat every once in awhile. Overall, I thank my lucky stars and you should too that DALS is out there to save any family dinner from becoming bland or boring. 

Sunday, September 09, 2012

Disney On Ice - Take 2 (hold your wallets)

This was our second time taking the baby girl to Disney On Ice. The first time was all Toy Story characters at the old arena and this time was a whole new venue and it was focused on princesses. Dream come true! (as usual from Disney)

So, we arrive for the show and discover that we're sitting on the same row with one of her classmates. Out of the entire place, we're four seats from a friend from school. What are the odds? What's not that odd but so true is the way that they merchandise the sparkles out of  the event. Immediately, princess outfits and popcorn in princess bowls and circling light things are for sale. None of this is priced reasonably. All of it is very expensive, but because you're already there, you want to get your kid something, anything, to win top honors as Parent of the Year.

Last time around, we came out of the experience unscathed. The baby girl was younger, not as adamant.  Not this time, the wallet came out and we bought a princess light wand (in action in the above blurry photo).

Now how many times do you think our little one has played with this toy consistently since she's been home? Try never.

I write this to only give fair warning to all of you parents out there who may head to a Disney On Ice show with no idea that it's an absolute merch fest. Not a bad thing overall but definitely something to prepare for with a set amount if you plan to purchase something and the appropriate responses for why a princess popcorn bucket is not gonna happen.

Here are a few pics of what our baby girl said she had to have (in addition to the toy we bought her).





Important note: We absolutely loved the Disney On Ice Show. 

It's amazing what they can do while ice skating...the sets, the lights, the performers...All fantastic! I highly recommend going especially if you have children under the age of 10. Depending on the theme, some kids do wear costumes which is always fun.

Monday, September 03, 2012