Baby Girl's Growin' Up

On our way to the mall. She's got her baby, baby bottle,

baby blanket and sunglasses.

Happy Birthday Genius!

Happy Birthday to my Genius friend!

Janiceeta and I play some darts.

Mr. Wonderful barely won against me during our own game of Cricket.

Me ok with not winning so I can sit and look up to something.

The dart champion of the evening.

Thanks Fiddlers! We had a fantastic time.

Chevy Cupcake Crawl with Friends

My first ever Cupcake Crawl. Thank you Chevy!

It all started with some delicious cupcakes.

And a crew of cupcake eaters

We ate cupcakes at Sweet! and Dessert Lady

We ate cupcakes baked and frosted
by Judy at Penguin's Paradise and Dessert Bar

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer

I just finished playing three games of soccer.

Seriously?

Yes, seriously. I'm in complete and utter pain. Why did I do it? Whyyyy?

I believe I have a few reasons...1 - I'm a glutton for punishment (we all are secretly especially when we know better), 2 - In my mind, I still run, jump, react, kick and block like a sixteen year old. 3- I have no control over doing certain things I love and I love soccer.

It's still a mystery that we got scheduled for three games in a row since we were originally scheduled for only two and then a rain out occurred and the whole schedule changed. So, I blame the rain for the burning muscles that are in the lower part of my legs and the bottom of my feet...Forget it. They are shot.

So, we walked out there thinking we may play one, maybe two games. Never did we actually think we would continue on to game three. Game one was pretty easy. We won 4 zip. The second was a bit harder but we were able to finish up at 2-1. Then, the third game, we were tied 1-1 and went to overtime and then to a shoot out. Robb missed the first ball in. Mike, Ashelee, Joelle and one other guy made it in. The other team didn't miss any so we lost by 1 lousy PK.

Even with the loss after literally THREE hours of soccer play, we had a great time together, laughed a lot and didn't get to enjoy the coolers we had on stand by. (thankful they were there since I got nailed right in the eye)

So, it really is "not whether you win or lose but how you play the game."

Great work VooDoo! Proud to be your captain.

Another Delicious Salad

Thanks to Hue in Downtown Orlando, I was able to enjoy this fabulous salad for lunch last Friday.

It was so delish that it makes you forget you're eating a salad.

Ocean Time with the J's

beautiful shore of pvb after the rain

ahhh...we are here.

pretty picture of tori and teala

cousins and siblings

baby girl with her cousins

Erin's Jewelry Brunch with Cousin Lanie

Erin's creations

Erin and her friend Sara

Can you say yummy?

My dear cousin Lanie enjoying her quiche and french toast.

My purchases. The two on the outside are mine.

The one in the middle is Lanie's.

Cousins!!!

Her Twilight creation

More jewels...

Hello New Delicious Friend!

If you haven't been to California Pizza Kitchen lately, you should go, and make sure you try the arugala salad with asparagus, sundried tomatoes and shaved parmesan cheese. I'm not sure why but this combination is so flippin' good but it is. So good it made my stomach smile.

Summma Ice Cream

Apparently that's ONLY two scoops

She's a dinosaur sundae kind of girl

Birthday cake for this special occasion (occasion: eating ice cream)

All the kids enjoying their ice cream.

The fab four all ice cream'd up

Strengthen Your Body.

VooDoo Posse (my soccer team) - August 2010

Front (left to right) - Joelle K., Jim H., Kathleen G.

Back (left to right) Me, Robb L., Chris L., Rob M., Bryce W., Rich C., Mike B.

Thanks to Gaby who took this photo for us on Mike B.'s new iPhone. We tied our first game 0-0 and then won our second 4-0. After both games, we celebrated since Ashelee D. wasn't there. No. Not really. We missed her and somehow won without her.

I started playing with this team about five years ago...Some of the players have changed but the weekly workout and stress relief has remained the same. Plus, we really love to have some fun which is what I love the most.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (and they did this weekend)

We spent the weekend with BCS...The three girls had so much fun hanging out at Olive Garden, swimming in the pool, watching Toy Story 2 and 3, going to church, trying to swimming again but postponing due to thunder, eating some Chinese food and then going swimming where practice how to go under your water (thank you, b!) and getting ready for bedtime again.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

merry little fancy things (explore!)
Originally uploaded by kara o'keefe

This is my one thousandth post! It only took me nearly FIVE years to get here. I celebrate first with a picture that caught my eye on Flickr for a thousand reasons. Then, I plan to order "The Book of Awesome" and link to 1000 Awesome Things and review the Top 1000 posts that goes until #456 but whatever..I know how long it takes to get to a 1,000 posts on a blog.

Most importantly, I am grateful for a place to come back to over and over to share, to learn and to just be. Thank you for reading. To the next 1,000!

Take More Pictures of People Than Of Places

GNO with Soccer Mom and Rock Star Mom. It's true -- "Busy people have more fun."

These two are some of the busiest people I know. In addition, they both love their chocolate. What a better way to pull it all together by hanging out during a hair appointment and then heading out for a night at the dessert capitol of Winter Park Village. It really turned out to be a great time and a sweet way to break up the work week with some friends.

Take in LIFE cheerfully.

baby love living her cheer.

Dare to reach out to someone you haven't met

So, a random thing happened a couple of Fridays ago. Mr. Wonderful and I were enjoying date night at Bonefish Grill and during the 30 minute wait, we met a really nice couple who also has a little girl and recently (like us) discovered how nice it is to get out and have some time alone together. We exchanged cards and decided to try a play date...just the girls while her Mr. Wonderful went golfing and mine was working on his project. Because we just met each other, I decided it would be fun to meet somewhere new together...like a splash park or a playground. So we went to Trailblazer Park in Lake Mary. There was a $2 admission fee for the splash area. It was incredibly hot, but thankfully the park was ready for fun and splashing. Unfortunately, the baby girl wasn't incredibly interested in getting wet so our new friends headed over to the picnic area for some snacks and my little one headed straight to the swings. By the way, both my new friend's daughter and baby girl were wearing the same swim shirt with long sleeves and a colorful butterfly on the front. I also got to meet a friend of hers who is a photographer in town. She had a little boy who was ready to go the moment we got there. So, we did some playing in the park and decided to call it a day once the heat got to both of us. I really appreciated how she said, "you meet new people and you never know if it's going to work out so I'm glad this did." It was just really nice and I want baby girl to appreciate her friends...the old and the new ones you meet unexpectedly along the way.

Playing Is One of the Healthiest Things You Can Do

It's State Park Appreciation month or something that allows people to get into the state parks for free. We headed to Wekiwa Springs for a day on the river but it was already full so we ended up at Wekiva Island. Fabulous place to be on a beautiful day. The Super Shah's joined us for a canoe trip down the river so we rented our green island vessels and started our journey down the great Wekiwa River. This was baby girls' third time down the river so she had her routine figured out including looking for "chomp chomps" and feeding the "fishies" once we got close to the state park. We tied our boats together and got out for a quick swim which was very refreshing. Along the way, I spotted quite a few alligators, a couple of turtles, several birds and lots of fish. On the way back, it was getting late and the river was getting quieter. Thankfully there were parts where our boat and the Shah's boat were the only ones out there. There's something really special about being on the water when it's so quiet. Baby girl and Baby Shah were having so much fun and seemed to quickly follow each other whether it was turning away from me every time I wanted to take a picture or walking together holding hands. I just knew they'd be friends. After we finished canoeing, we sat and enjoyed the Island by rehydrating and listening to music. Baby Shah found a pool table and Baby girl found a big dog named "Kitty." We decided to grab a snack and instead of a small paper bowl of fries, I got three hamburgers and two orders of fries. I think there were boiled peanuts too. What a day! An adventure, as usual and all within walking distance of where we live.

meeting @iwearyourshirt

had an opportunity at the 2010 media roundtable to meet mr. i wear your shirt. if you aren't familiar with what jason and evan are doing with something as simple as wearing a t-shirt for a day and promoting the crap out of it via social media, check out their site. sometimes "crazy" ideas can take off and turn into something beyond your wildest dreams. (too bad i'm not much of a t-shirt wearer.)

Remembering Karen Plunkett

Thank you for sharing your passion of public relations and the importance of mentoring with me. I'll never forget our lunch and conversation about how important it is to create support for our up and coming pr professionals. You will be missed. My thoughts and prayers to the Plunkett family and all who knew her.

r e s p o n s i b i l i t y

"stop worrying about what others are responsible for. only be responsible for what you can control. if people choose to be mean even after you were nice, that's their choice. not everyone can handle taking responsibility for their actions. be responsible." (listening online to pastor hunter at northlandchurch.net)

when i was a lot younger, i thought everyone was responsible who was older. now that i'm much older, i realize this is more of an exception to find people who actually choose to be responsible for their actions. it's just easier for people to blame someone else, i guess.

soooo...what do we do? hate them all. NO. not really. instead, mentally prepare for the irresponsible...see the following tactic:

Prepare yourself mentally – The final way of dealing with irresponsible people is to simply expect them to be that way. This isn’t to say that you should run around thinking the worst of people. However, there are some people who are going to do what they are going to do, no matter how many problems it causes for other people. If they are going to do their thing regardless of your efforts to the contrary, then the best thing that you can do is to just be ready for it on a mental level. Even chaos, anarchy, and negativity aren’t as bad if we are ready for them. Often, just being ready for something will limit the negative effect that it has on us.

quiet mornings

every so often, i will be the first one up in the morning. it feels like i've been given a special secret gift of uninterrupted time. it's so rare as most of you moms get. so far, i've turned a non-kid movie on, fired up the laptop and will read a chapter of Liz Gilbert's "Committed."

thank you. thank you. thank you.