ROAD TRIP!!!

Last Saturday, my family and I traveled 18 hours to Tarpon Springs, FL to visit my hubby's grandparents.  I packed some sandwiches, brownies, chips and drinks, which filled my lil Volvo, and we were off! I thought of bringing a DVD player for my lil cupcake, but with all the hustle and bustle I completely forgot! She was so well behaved, that I am actually considering more road trips in the future. The week has flown by and we will be leaving here shortly, but the time we were able to spend with the family was invaluable!  Yesterday, we decided to take our lil cupcake to our old stomping grounds, The World Famous Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks.  It's a strip of stores, restaurants, and bakeries, and of course fabulous Greek culture.   

Located on the Sponge Docks is a great aquarium called the Tarpon Springs Aquarium, where we took cupcake to yesterday.  She had such a wonderful time watching the divers feed the sharks and eels, and pet the live stingrays (stingers removed of course), that she actually cried her eyes out to go back inside after we left.  Of course, her daddy (baba) took her back for a second time around.

Happy Fathers Day!

Today we are celebrating my DH's first official fathers day! We started the day by going to church and then we ventured out into the mall to get our lil cupcakes 10 month pictures done! What an adventure that was! Not because the mall was packed, because actually it was quite dead, but because every 2 months since my daughter was born, I take her to get her pics taken.  She is honestly a pro, posing and smiling for the camera every time! Well today was quite different! I literally almost had to stand on my head to get even a smirk out of her! I was sweating and feeling quite bad for Tiffany, the girl who was making Abby Cadabby stand on her head! We did get a few good shots, but normally I purchase at least 10 sheets, well today just 6! (I know even that is too many but how could you say no to the any pictures you worked so hard to get??)  So now we are lounging around my parents house, where my cupcake went swimming and is now sleeping peacefully! This weeks schedule is pretty hectic, I may even take a sweet little nap to begin preparing for it! Happy Fathers Day to all the great dads out there! Hope it was a good one!

Top Ten Most Fashionable Schools in America

It's that time of year again: time to put away the beach bag and break out the blazers and books. Here is a list of the TOP TEN MOST FASHIONABLE SCHOOLS in America. Thank you so much to sparkleshelf.com for the information listed below:

1. NYU
2. Howard University-Washington D.C.
3. Southern Methodist University
4. University of Pennsylvania
5. Wesleyan University-Connecticut
6. University of Arkansas
7. Purchase University-The State College of NY
8. University of Mississippi
9. Yale University
10. University of California

So if you adventurous child is applying to one of these schools, hold on tight to your checkbooks!

The Anne Boleyn Knitted Doll

As I was surfing the net I came upon this extraordinary doll knitted by hand of Anne Boleyn, 2nd wife of King Henry VIII. I have always been interested in her tragic story, especially after reading the story The Other Boleyn Girl and The Boleyn Inheritance by author Phillippa Gregory. I even ran out and bought the movie the day it came out, and not to my surprise I wasn't at all impressed...the book is always better. Well anyways, this doll is so cute, it even does a really cool trick check it out below.................

Since Sylvia's the knitter in the family I would like this doll added to your list! Her head comes off!!! Does this explain the end of the book and/or movie?????

Amish Country

My sister and her family came to Ohio to visit over the past week. We did some great things, one of those things was visiting Amish Country in Holmes County Ohio. We had a great time! We had the opportunity to visit an Amish home, their barn, a schoolhouse, and even rode in an Amish buggy! It was really neat! We then went and shopped of course, and ate some yummy food at an Amish restaurant. I really give the Amish a lot of credit, their lifestyle is far greater than mine and I have more (materialistic). The best part of the trip was when we ate homemade "fry pies"!! They were out of this world. I will post the recipe in my next posting! I had an apple filled pie. Here are some pics from our adventure.

Fourth of July!

My family's fourth of July was filled with fun, laughter and moments some of us will never forget. The best part of all was that my sister, Sylvia and her family, flew up from Florida to visit us for a week! I was so happy to see her and the kids, but you wait for that time and it seems to fly by before you know it! On the fourth of July we ate some really good food; ribs, chicken, hamburgers, fila (Greek stuffed grape leaves), potatoes and my favorite dessert!! For dessert my cousin Jenny made an Italian Love Cake. It was out of this world!! The recipe will be posted on my next post. It has ricotta in it and ohhh my! You have to try it. Sylvia and I had the same idea about posting it on our blogs so we raced to the cake to see who got it first. Well she actually took the picture first; I couldn't find my camera but.......little does she know I am blogging it before her hahaha. Anyways, this is what we sisters do....Love you Syl!

Week 2 for my AeroGarden

These pictures were taken at 2 weeks for my aerogarden. As you can tell the herbs are coming up strong! Yay! I'll keep you updated!

Celebrating my 4th Anniversary

Last weekend, Phil and I went to Cleveland and spent the weekend enjoying each other. We went on a dinner cruise on a boat called the Nautica Queen for dinner and dancing. We arrived in Cleveland on Saturday afternoon and checked into our hotel called Hyatt Regency Cleveland and the Arcade. It was absolutely beautiful. I love nice hotels! It look like a scene from the Titanic; there was a golden staircase and the suites faced out into the Arcade (not a game room but a two story shopping center). The center of the hotel had golden lampposts, it was gorgeous and the rooms were very clean! I don't know what it is about hotel toiletries but every time I go to a hotel I have to take as many as possible. It's like an obsession. The target this time....the soap in the shower. It had little massage knobs and smelled like lavender citrus. So before I could snatch the one from our shower, Phil used it and the little massage knobs went away! So Phil did something bad...he took two from the hotel maids cart... oops! Anyways so now I have some for myself.

I began getting dressed for our dinner cruise and the weather advisory came on the TV and it was pouring! I was so mad, but after I tried on a little black dress I wore for my sisters engagement party like 6 years ago and it fit well enough to wear all my anger went away and I didn't care if we had to eat in the restaurant down stairs, I was wearing that dress! On the way to the dinner boat our GPS went down because, you guessed it, it was raining! I just prayed God would let us get there on time, and about 10 minutes later we were there. The boat needed updating and we were seated on the bottom level which didn't help me feel less seasick. But once the boat took off our lovely night began. We had a wonderful dinner, great dessert and even had our picture taken by a bunch of camera guys. (It cost us $20.00 to get our pictures but it was worth it!) The DJ played great songs and Phil and I danced to a few of them. We went to the top of the boat and watched the sunset on the water, a couple celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary and we even got to witness a guy propose to his girlfriend. It was a great night.

The next day we went shopping!!! Beachwood mall was our final destination! I bought a great pair of shoes from Bakers, a few makeup products from Sephora (I love this store), and those cool colored bracelets that glitter from Aldo accessories. I am loving life!

My 4 Year Anniversary!

Yes, today is my 4 year anniversary! God has blessed me with a wonderful husband and a wonderful 4 years married! I have been with my husband for 8 years now and it still feels like yesterday when I first laid eyes on him! I was 15 and I knew that I was in love with him. Well I never published the story of my engagement so here it is:

It was July 4th, 2003. We had a picnic planned with my sisters family at the beach. We were enjoying our day when my husband, back then boyfriend, decides he has to run and go get something from the store. I wasn't too keen on him leaving me there but I figure how long can it take 15, 20 minutes. No, more like 3 hours!!! I was so mad at him! When he came back to the beach I swore I wouldn't talk to him. Later that night we went to my parents house and he offered to take me to this golf resort to go watch the firework display. I agreed, and we headed to the ninth hole of a world renowned golf course, where he worked at the time, and he pulled out a duffel bag and blanket and set it up on a hill in the most perfect spot to see the fireworks. As we were watching the fireworks, he pulled out these sparklers that were at least 3 feet high and encircled the blanket with them. At this point I thought, wow, he is really trying to make up for leaving me all day on the 4th. He lit the sparklers they were so bright and colorful and beautiful all around us! I was so entranced by them I didn't noticed that he was on his knee and holding a box that held the most beautiful ring in the world. He said the most heartfelt words, that now are a blur since the moment was a little too much to comprehend and proposed! Here we are 4 years later still living in the moment (at times).

So anyways, enough rambling for tonight... Goodnight!

Keepin It Real!

I have been tagged by Sylvia, my favorite and only sister to participate in this meme. The intention of this meme is to see how fellow bloggers, whose lives seem to be perfect, really are in their real life environments. I thought this was really fun, but remember NO PRIMPING THE PHOTOS! This means you cannot tidy up before pics!

1. The Fridge, All I have to say is "Old Mother Hubbard went to the Fridge and it was BARE!" Okay so I have to go shopping.

2. My Closet; Okay, I moved like 4 months ago and had to downsize about twice as small as before but I think I'm doing an okay job.... maybe

3. My Kitchen Sink; I just cleaned it before I received the tag! YaY! The burgers are for dinner.


4. Toilet; What's left to say........

5. My Favorite Shoes; I love these shoes! Comfortable at first but then they need to come off! They even have real fur like substance on them, I always tell people to pet them! Thank you Steve Madden!

6. My Favorite Room; Need I say more, the only place in the house that you can go to get some peace and quiet and privacy! 7. My Favorite Spot in the House; The chaise lounge! Very comfortable and relaxing, right in front of the TV!

8. My Laundry; Yes I have to do it! Now my husband has proof!



9. Next Room that Needs to be CLEANED; This room is being used as my craft room for my swap, my bags and paper clippings, and everything else is right here! Opps...

10. My Dream Vacation; Italy!!! I want to go!!! It seems so romantic and serene. I hope to hit the lottery so I can go, the only problem is I don't play.

TAG YOUR IT:

Kelly

Jennifer

Michelle

1 Month CHINA BAN! JOIN US!

Compliments of Marfa: http://thescrumptiouslife.blogspot.com/

Are we Americans as dumb as we appear or is it that we just do not think?While the Chinese, knowingly and intentionally, export inferior products and dangerous toys and goods to be sold in American markets, the media wrings its hands and criticizes the Bush Administration for perceived errors. Yet 70% of Americans believe that the trading privileges afforded to the Chineseshould be suspended.Well, duh.....why do you need the government to suspend tradingprivileges????DO IT YOURSELF!!Simply look on the bottom of every product you buy, and if it says 'Made in China' or 'PRC' (and that now includes Hong Kong), simply choose another product or none at all. You will be amazed at how dependent you are on Chinese products, however you will be equally amazed at what you can do without.Who needs plastic eggs to celebrate Easter? If you must have eggs, use real ones and benefit some American farmer.Easter is just an example, the point is... do not wait for the government toact. Just go ahead and assume control on your own.If 200 million Americans refuse to buy just $20 each of Chinese goods, that's a billion dollar trade imbalance resolved in our favor...fast!! Thedownside? Some American businesses will feel a temporary pinch from having foreignstockpiles of inventory.* Downside?? Is there a downside?The solution?Let's give them fair warning and send our own message. We will notimplement this UNTIL June 4, and we will only continue it until July 4. That is only one month of trading losses, but it will hit the Chinese for 1/12thof the total, or 8%, of their American exports. Then they will at least have to ask themselves if the benefits of their arrogance and lawlessness were worth it.Remember, June 4 to July 4. You might try it for always.Send this to everybody you know.Show them we are Americans and NOBODY can take us for granted.If we can't live without cheap Chinese goods for one month out ofour lives,WE DE SERVE WHAT WE GET!Pass it on, America !!!

My Trip to Florida

Okay I know its been a couple days since I last wrote but the last few days were filled with loading, packing, cleaning, driving, unloading and not enough sleeping. My husband and I rented our home in Florida so we needed to make the trip to Florida to bring up our stuff. We'll we've been married 4 years and I loaded up a 26 foot truck! I had to leave 3 boxes behind though so I have to find a way to get them to Ohio too. On top of the $900 to rent the truck we spent $500 in gas!!! The cheapest for diesel fuel was $4.55 a gallon all the way up to $4.75. Anyways thats not the worst part of our trip. Yesterday we unloaded our truck in the storage unit and when my almost new, cherry bedroom set came out of the truck I noticed a scratch...and then more scratches! It is ruined! I cried and threw a lampshade at my husband because he loaded my furniture uncovered and facing out!!! It was our first bedroom set that we paid for with our wedding money and he has the nerve to say "who cares, we'll replace it with whatever you want" ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Men just dont get it!!

Awaiting my new AeroGarden! I am an EBAY freak!

Okay, I must really have a obsessive personality because once I get hooked on something (like blogging) I really get hooked! Secretly, I am completely and utterly in love with bidding, yes bidding, Ebay is my favorite site! Well yesterday I had an exciting trip to Gales Nursery in Cleveland, Ohio, where I spotted the coolest kitchen appliance! It's called the AeroGarden. I had seen this on TV commericals, but to see it in person was just too cool. Here's a picture of it, this picture is from Ebay since I have not recieved mine yet:

Post a comment if you have used this item or are interested in knowing more about it. Once I get this item I will also post my own experiences with it! Yeah!

My Day at the DAN Doctor (Preventative Medicine)

Okay, I am totally on a health kick now! I went to see a DAN doctor and have found how horrible most of the foods are for us (not like I didn't know it but it is always confirming when a MD tells you). So I cut out white flours, carbs, refined sugars, processed food and everything else we sell here in America. I also have banned high fructose corn syrup from my home! (For those of you that watch The View, you know Whoopi disagrees as well!) I am searching out recipes with healthy ingredients such as whole wheat flour, buckwheat flour, wheat germ etc. If anyone comes across any please post! I will also post any great recipes I find as well. I watched a video at the Dr.'s and they mentioned a baking cookbook called Sugar- Free Cookbook Sweet Foods but No Sugar by: Janet Horlsey.



Book Description: In these days of health consciousness most people know that refined sugars are fattening, cause tooth decay, and have almost no nutritional value- the problem is we keep right on liking them anyway. Janet Horsley has a solution to this problem: sweets that are sweet without refined sugar. contains more than 100 recipes for cakes biscuits puddings and desserts-all of them sweetened naturally with fruit juices carob spices honey coconut molasses or malt extract. (Amazon website)

TO BE OR NOT TO BE......

Okay recently I relocated from Florida, where I spent the last 10 years, graduating from high school, college, getting married to a wonderful man and then I returned home to Ohio. I know what your thinking, why in the world would you do that? That seems to be the most popular question of anyone I run into these days. Well I figured family is more important than a nice tan. Anyways, I decided not to continue my career path in teaching; I needed a long deserved break, but I did want a part time job to get me out of the house. Can you believe I applied anywhere and everywhere and I could not find a job!! Finally after 4 long months I finally hooked a job at a beauty store in the mall making $7.50/hour. I think my career path may turn back to teaching! I spent four years in college to end up working in a stock room, giving the change the register tells me, and rubbing customers hands while trying to sell them product that I don't even like. So my question I ask myself today is "to be or not to be?" I would rather not.

My new hobby!

Okay, I totally thought this blog thing was annoying at first, but then I sat for a few hours on my sisters "award winning blog" (she's really good at this stuff) and I began thinking that this may be interesting to do. So now I have a new hobby, blogging! So for all you anti-bloggers out there, come and join the fun. Enjoy!

If you are interested in viewing Adventures of an Orthodox mom check out this link
http://orthodoxmom.blogspot.com/