I left my heart in San Diego!

I was in San Diego, CA for work last week. It was by far my favorite work trip so far! It started cold and dreary but ended up to be a great trip. My only regret was that I didn’t extend my stay and drive up the coast. I was ‘this close’ (said with my index finger and thumb just millimeters apart) to calling the travel agent and changing my flight but since I have another work trip this coming week I felt I should come home and at least do some laundry before I left again =)

I arrived on Saturday and immediately got to work. Well, maybe not immediately – I did stop off at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Hamiltons Tavern, for a bite to eat first. It’s a local sports bar but they are known for their grilled cheese. ‘Surprising’ is the only word I can use although it doesn’t give it credit at all. I ordered ‘The Rip Taylor’ which had slow roasted pulled chicken, pesto, red onion, tomato and provolone (I omitted the onion and tomato). It was delicious! I have to say I was doubtful of the restaurant choice by my colleague, Steve, as we were driving there but like always, he did a phenomenal job choosing. I would definitely recommend this place!

In addition to Hamiltons Tavern, I also dined at these restaurants while I was in San Diego:

Roys -
I went to Roys with a group of ladies and we had such a great time. It was a nice relaxing dinner before the craziness of the week started. The waiter was a riot as he had much input on what we should eat and drink, but he did good because I took his recommendations and was not disappointed. Although we did have some laughs at how he described some of the menu items! We had the Calamari and Crunchy Golden Lobster Potstickers as appetizers. All good choices. Then I had the swordfish for the entree – another delicious choice! But dessert was the highlight – we ordered one item on the list but then our waiter brought ‘his treat to us’ and it was heavenly. The chocolate mousse was to die for! Even now, I have no words to describe how fantastic it was! Just trust me!!

San Diego Wine and Culinary Center -
On Sunday we had a group dinner for the executive conference that was going on at this show. Since I was helping out with that conference I also attended the dinner and the food was good but the place itself was spectacular! It is only for private parties so we had the place to ourselves. The décor was simply gorgeous. I wish I had taken more photos.

Asti Ristorante -
As a ‘Thank you’ dinner to the entire team, we all went to dinner at this Italian restaurant. The food was good, the wine was good, and it was nice to spend time with people outside of the convention center. I had the Gamberoni e Capesante (and yes, I had to point to the menu as I have NO CLUE how to pronounce that!!). English translation: grilled jumbo shrimp and large scallops =) Yummy!

Rama Thai -
I had declared one night my ‘room service night’ which I always do on work trips but decided to go out once I was asked by a friend to go to Rama Thai. It sounded good and I knew the company would be even better. I am lucky to work with such fun and wonderful people! Well, the wait was annoying – more annoying for the others who were there as I showed up later than everyone else – but once we were seated, dinner was great. We ordered almost every appetizer on the menu and we were not disappointed. Sounds funny but the sauces for the appetizers were the hit of dinner! We all loved them. The atmosphere in the restaurant was fun and intimate. It was a smaller place than I would have thought but nice and cozy. I had the Pad See-ew with shrimp. The flat rice noodles were delicious — thank you for the recommendation, Charles =)

Well, this blog post has turned into an all food post so I need to switch gears as there were many more highlights of my San Diego trip!

One of the most exciting things about this work trip was the fact that I met several famous people! Yeah! It’s never a bad day when you are put on ‘famous person duty’ which I was for the first 3 days I was there. How fun is that?!

First, I was in charge of Michael Reagan. Yes, like son to President Ronald Reagan! Although I didn’t know much about him before meeting him, I can sum him up in one word now – Charismatic! He loves life and is an absolute pleasure to be around. From the moment I met him in the lobby of the hotel, he had a smile on his face that never went away. I spend the next few hours getting him ready for his presentation and it never felt like a chore. He made me laugh and was great company. And I must have made an impression on him because he mentioned me several times during his presentation. Yeah – I felt pretty cool – Thanks Mike =)

My next famous person duty was to Jerry Zucker. He is a Hollywood director/producer that has directed movies such as Ghost, Airplane and the Naked Gun movies. As you would expect, he was a quirky, casual, director/producer-type. He was very interesting but unfortunately I didn’t spend as much time with him as I did with Michael. He had a ‘middle-man’ that took care of him mostly. His presentation was great and it was fun to hear about how he broke into the film business and the many stories he has.

The next was by far my favorite and it’s an experience I will never forget. I was the lucky lady to take care of Jim Abbott. Now, I must admit, I am not a huge baseball fan so I was not aware of his story but it didn’t take long for me to realize what a fantastic story he had.

I went down to the lobby and then quickly took him upstairs as he had to start signing books ASAP! We had 120 books for him to sign before he spoke to the group. So while he signed the books, I was able to chat with him about life and the process of writing the book. It was perfect. I now work with books everyday – marketing them, cover concepts, etc. – so it was nice to speak to someone on the other side of the table. I picked his brain about working with the Random House team, and he picked mine about what my favorite types of authors are, least favorite, etc. He was incredibly easy-going and humble. As a matter of fact, my favorite moment was when I told him he was giving me serious ammunition for friends and family as everyone would be jealous I was meeting him, and guess what he did….he smiled and blushed! Right there as we are overlooking the San Diego bay and he is signing 120 books about his life – he blushed because of something I said. What a guy!

Needless to say, his presentation was phenomenal and everyone loved him! He spoke and everyone listened. No one was checking email, getting up to use the restroom, nothing. Even the wait staff who were serving lunch stopped and just listened. He was captivating and really made you feel like you were there. He talked about his no-hitter game for the NY Yankees and as he was describing it, I was actually anxious to hear the outcome (like I didn’t already know). But even more, he had people in tears. Grown men in tears. And not because he was trying to tell a sad story. It wasn’t sad at all – it was inspiring. The line to meet him after his presentation grew quickly and he didn’t turn anyone away. He spoke to everyone, took pictures and smiled the whole time. Once the last person took a picture, he turned to me and asked ‘what’s next?’. He was willing to do more even after all that. I told him he was done and after walking to get his things together, he turned, gave me a hug, wished me luck in life and told me I should stay an extra day in California. I should have listened! I am reading his book now and I can’t get enough – be sure to check it out if you haven’t already:

Imperfect: An Improbably Life by Jim Abbott and Tim Brown

As if my famous week could not get any better, guess what else I found in San Diego? The bar that Top Gun was filmed in!!!!! Kansas City Barbeque You know, the piano scene (“take me to bed or lose me forever”), the singing scene (“you’ve lost that loving feeling”) – that one! As soon as I heard about this, it was my mission to go there. So as the days passed and I hadn’t gone, I was starting to get disappointed. But on the last night in San Diego I had the most fun! I went to the bar, got the VIP tour with a group pic behind the bar, and even played some trivia! Random, but it was fun =) I was terrible at the trivia by the way! The bartender told us the Top Gun bar story (in exactly 2 minutes so clearly he has it down!) and I was in awe. I have always loved the movie so it was really fun for me. And I have to commend the guys who were with me – they were all willing to sing. I didn’t hold them to it but I wanted to – REALLY bad!!

From there we left and had a great time a local bar in the Gaslamp district. And again I must say, I work with some really great people! I had more fun that night than I have in a while. Dancing, signing and have a blast!

Then it was time to come home. It was a fantastic show and California treated me right. I hope to go back to San Diego again so I can do some more exploring but for now I sing…I left my heart in San Diego (yeah, yeah, I know it’s really San Francisco, but you get the point!).

A quick recap since I’ve been MIA…

Well it’s safe to say I have been a horrible blogger lately since my last post was in September. AHH! I wish I could say that I have been so busy every minute of every day but the truth is this…I have been extremely busy but when I have had down time I chose not to take the time to blog. However I have truly missed it and so I am ready to get back on the blogging wagon!!

Since I feel like there is much to catch up on I’m going to give you the quick and dirty on the last 4 months of my life. Get ready!

Aug 25 – Attended Paige’s bachelorette partay!! We went to Oklahoma City and had a blast. Not even a thunderstorm could get us down. We attempted to use newspapers as umbrellas. FYI – this does not work in real life. The movies are lying to us all!

September – took a few work trips to College Station, TX. While I was there I made a point to visit the Texas A&M campus to see the bonfire memorial. Words cannot express how touching this was for me. I have started a blog post on this experience that I hope to finish soon. But for now here is one shot from my visit.

Notable restaurant — The Republic! Good food and great wine. I have visited this restaurant each time I have been in College Station. I have had the Pan Roasted Maine Diver Scallops and the Texas Shrimp & Grits – both were amazing!

Oct 6 – Paige and Nick’s Wedding!!!! It was a fantastic (and unseasonably cold) day! Paige looked beautiful, Nick was handsome and it was so much fun. And kudos to Ashley Farthing on making it all happen. She did a phenomenal job. If you are ever in need of an event planner – Ashley is your lady!! Check out Farthing Events and you won’t be disappointed!!

Oct 7 – went to San Antonio, TX on a work trip. After a week of work I was able to do some sightseeing in the city. Of course I saw the Alamo but I have to say, it was pretty underwhelming. I guess you just expect landmarks to be HUGE and this one just isn’t. Nonetheless it was still awesome to see.

 

Notable restaurant – Acenar – a Mexican restaurant on the riverwalk. The salsa and guacamole were incredibly fresh and of course the margaritas are magnificent. The also had a live mariachi band which is always fun!

Oct 26 – Date Night!! It was Alex’s turn to plan and boy did he do good! He surprised me with tickets to the ballet. We saw Dracula at the Tulsa Ballet and it was incredible! I had heard that it was great and it surpassed all my expectations. Dinner and the Ballet = Successful date night!!

Oct 27 – My first 5K!! Yes it’s true. I decided to run a 5k – the Tulsa Run. I trained using the couch to 5k workout plan and man is that the way to go!! I would recommend it to anyone. I’m no sprinter so my time wasn’t amazing but the feeling I had when I crossed the finish line was priceless. I wish I could put it into words. Alex and I ran it together and it was great!!

Nov 17 – I ran another 5k! I’m a maniac what can I say. Haha! Not really — I just have this friend, Lindsay, who ran the Tulsa Run with me (well WAY ahead of me but we ate pancakes together afterwards so it counts) and she asked me if I was running the Route 66 5k too so what was I supposed to do? So I have now ran 2 5k’s in 3 weeks. Like I said – maniac! Here is a shot of my friends and I before the Route 66 run.

Dec 2 – Date night!!! My turn to plan and I had tickets for us to go to the Christmas Train. It is a pretty cool thing that happens here in Oklahoma. There is a small town outside of Tulsa that literally has a full-sized REAL train and an entire old-timey town built. It’s hard to explain but a fun experience.

Dec 7-8 – Rachel and Gabe’s Wedding!!!! I love them both so much and it was amazing to share that special day with them. I flew into Florida Thursday night so I could spend some girl time with Rachel on Friday. It was wonderful to have the grad school girls together again. I miss Rachel and Katelyn all the time!

Dec 9 – 14 – I was lucky to have a work trip to Orlando at the same time as Rachel and Gabe’s wedding so during this week I worked one of our companies trade shows.

Dec 15 – 17 – Christmas with the family!!! Alex flew into Florida after his finals and we were able to spend some great time with my family. My mom did a phenomenal job with Christmas as usual. The house was beautiful and she even had a harpist come in this year. He was good! Then we had good food, took family pictures and then SANTA CAME TO OUR HOUSE! The kids flipped. It was great! My mom is too good! **Remember, several years ago she decided that memories are better than gifts so every year she does something amazing!!

Dec 24 – Went to our friend Alex’s dads house for Christmas Eve dinner. This is our second year in attendance and they are just incredible to us! They have a great family tradition called ‘Christmas Pie’ that we will definitely carry with us forever! Her family has really taken us in and we are incredibly grateful to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Dec 25 – we sat on our butts all day!!! Unfortunately I cannot report that I experienced my first white Christmas but either way my plan was the same. To never leave the house. And we did just that!!! And we loved every minute!

Dec 26 – attended a farewell dinner for two of the most incredible people I have ever met! I met Shayla when I started working at DENTSPLY and we immediately became friends. Her husband Jason is also in school (law school for him) so Shayla and I had a lot in common. They have been a constant loving presence in our lives and they moved to Colorado on the 27th. It is wonderful for them as Jason found a great internship to finish out law school but I will miss them dearly. Alex and I hope to visit them soon so we can experience skiing on the west coast

Dec 31/Jan 1 – spent New Year’s Eve with some amazing friends! We ate at Dalesandro’s and of course I had the swordfish!! It is FANTASTIC! Then went to our friend’s house for drinks and a good time. I am reminded every day of how lucky we are to have found such great friends in Tulsa and this night was no different.

Okay, now you are all caught up! I feel better now. I can officially start 2013 with a clean slate for blogging. I have never been one to make New Years resolutions but I’m going to give it a go this year. I plan to blog more this year. I started it earlier this year and did good for a while but have severely slacked off lately. So I don’t want to say I will do once a week each week in 2013 but I will say that I plan to blog more this year. I enjoy it so much so I don’t know why I don’t do it more often.

Thank you for hanging in their with me on my blogging experience…and simply for reading this lengthy blog! I love that I can use this to share my life experiences with friends and family as well as those of you who I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting. I hope you and your families have had a wonderful holiday and are ready for a fabulous 2013!! I know I am

Friday Night Lights – Date Night!

With school, work, and life in general, Alex and I have found that date night is hard to come by. It’s easy to say that we spend time together as we do but I have come to realize that most of the time that we see each other is when he comes home from class, and me from work, and we will sit on the couch and watch some TV. That is great except that while we are sitting there, Alex is often on his computer doing schoolwork and I am also guilty of perusing Pinterest on my phone. So I decided that enough is enough and we need to set aside some time to just be with each other. So my mind went to work…

Well wouldn’t you know that I found something on Pinterest! I have to credit the Dating Divas on this one though. And if you haven’t heard of them, you NEED to abandon my blog immediately (well, open a new window!) and read their blog. It’s a group of married ladies that find creative date ideas and share them with the world. I have fallen in love with these ladies and cannot thank them enough for sharing their ideas, and funny wit, with me. So hurry over to their blog and you will quickly find yourself following their blog as I have done. Thank you Dating Divas!

Okay, back to the point…so I found an idea on their blog and thought, “how can I make this a date night for Alex and I?” I thought about it for a little while and then it came to me! We have recently found (and fallen in love with) the show Friday Night Lights (we stream it on Netflix since the show is over). Thank you SHAYLA for the show recommendation! We were hooked immediately and quickly went through the many episodes until we hit the last season. We have found ourselves rationing out the episodes of the last season and I thought it would be a perfect fit for the idea I found on the Dating Divas blog.

Then it was time to get creative! I started drafting some ideas and then it was time to execute. Here is what I came up with…

First I found the kiddie pool since that was the anchor of the date night. Without this piece, I couldn’t pull the date night off. I found the kiddie pool at Target and it was just my luck that it was on sale since it is the end of summer. SCORE!

Then I thought about the other details that would make this date night perfect:

Food: I wanted food that you typically think of surrounding football games so I went with turkey dogs (since we don’t eat hot dogs), nachos, chips, peanuts, and popcorn. So it wasn’t necessarily the most healthy date but everything is okay in moderation, right?

Décor: Of course I needed lights so I utilized white Christmas lights, the kiddie pool filled with LOTS of pillows and blankets, and a few other tid bits around the room.

Fun Touches: What’s a fun date night without matching t-shirts? So I took the famous quote from the show and used iron on tranfers from Michaels to make it come together. They turned out wonderfully and was a hit with Alex!

In addition to setting all of this up, I also decided to kick it up a notch with subtle hints to Alex throughout the day. Here is how his day progressed:

Earlier in the week: I told him I wanted to have a date night on Friday and that I thought it would be fun if he was away from the house for a while so that I could take a shower and get ready and then he could “pick me up” for the date. He loved the idea and that allowed me some time that I could decorate everything.

Morning of date: I text him “Happy Date Night! I hope your day is wonderful as our FRIDAY NIGHT will be the highLIGHT of the week!”
*I wanted to make the Friday Night Light reference stand out. It was funny because his text back was “Is the word Light a ‘bachelor-type’ hint?” Haha – Alex watches The Bachelor/Bachelorette…guess the cats out of the bag now! I love reality TV!

Afternoon: I text him “I hope it’s CLEAR that I love you with my whole HEART and that you can never LOSE me.”
*This was a play on the famous quote “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose”. He had no clue!

When he showed up to the house: I had an envelope on the door that said “Open before entering”.

*Please excuse me in my bathrobe in the reflection. Guess I need to pay more attention to what I am taking a picture of!

Inside the envelope was another envelope:

And then inside the envelope were 2 tickets to “the game”. Cute, right?!

*I wish I could tell you I used a template for these tickets but I didn’t. I found a few templates but they were near impossible to use so I just created it in photoshop, exported to PDF and printed away.

So after he opened all of these envelopes, he entered the house and saw this set up:

He was surprised and I was thrilled!

**Note: I did NOT think the kiddie pool would be this big but it worked perfectly and next summer I am pretty sure we will set this sucker up so we can have relief from the 112+ degree heat we suffer from in Oklahoma! Haha – I can just see it now!

So we quickly changed into our matching t-shirts, started munching on some food, and watching our favorite show while snuggling in our blanket and pillow filled kiddie pool (with Zoe too of course!). It was a wonderfully different date night and I couldn’t have asked for more. Neither one of us touched our computer or phones all night and just enjoyed each other. It was perfect.

In addition we decided that we will have a date night once a month where nothing else interferes. AND we will trade off on who plans it. So it’s Alex’s turn next. Good luck on topping this one, Alex!!!!!! Haha!

Using Groupon/Living Social to help your wedding/party budget!

I am at the time in my life where lots of my friends are getting married. Not to mention I planned my own wedding recently and through these experiences I have picked up many tips on planning a wedding/large party. I have mentioned my love and appreciation for using Pinterest to help plan a wedding, but I have yet another suggestion…Groupon/Living Social!

If you have never heard of Groupon/Living Social, well frankly, you are missing out and for this I am sorry. You must immediately go to the website and sign up! All you do is register for the city you live in (you can register for several places) and then BAM! you receive deals for that area, as well as online deals nationwide.

However, I must warn you – these websites are completely addicting! There are so many great deals that you find yourself wanting to buy everything that is on Groupon/Living Social that day. Anything from restaurant and travel deals to jewelry and mattress deals. Trust me – you will find yourself feeling as though you NEED a ‘Wavy Cat Scratch’n’Play’ simply because it is $12 when it’s normally $40. (and I don’t even have a cat!) You will somehow convince yourself that you can give it as a gift or something…Sorry, I digress. BUT if you can get a handle on limiting yourself to buying only things you actually need or will use, this is a great site and can certainly help in planning a party.

So back to the actual party planning use of Groupon/Living Social! No matter what your budget is, I think everyone can appreciate saving money so I have compiled a list below of things that either my friends or I have used Groupon/Living Social for when planning our weddings. I have no doubt that there are MANY more that others have used but this is just to give you the idea.

Groupon/Living Social Deals Purchased:

• Apron (used as maid of honor gift, $12 for $25 on Living Social)
• Thank you notes and labels from vistaprint ($17 for $70 on Groupon)
• Photobooth ($300 for $800 on Groupon)
• Fake Bake self-tanning lotion ($20 for $50 on Groupon)
• Save the dates, envelopes and custom stamp from vistaprint ($17 for $70 on Groupon)
• Wedding Shoes from Heels.com ($50 for $100 on Living Social)
• Shutterfly Photo Book ($15 for $35 on Groupon)

A special note on the Shutterfly deal – we put photobooks together as gifts after the wedding and this Groupon came in really handy. Because I used the Groupon, waited for free shipping and an additional deal on the site, we saved some serious cash! The total for what we were ordering was $221.70 but because of all the deals, the end payment we made was $96.75!!! What?! Kudos to me I would say!

Now, all this being said, the biggest tip I can give you is to be patient. If you have a year + to plan your wedding, start stalking Groupon/Living Social NOW! Keep an eye out for the good deals and also pay attention to the ‘expire’ dates. Most don’t have an expire date but the travel deals do. Groupon/Living Social is a wonderful place to get a deal on a trip but there are restrictions on when you can travel so watch out for that.

Have fun saving money! Just don’t blame me if you start buying lots of stuff I know Alex cringes every time I say “guess what’s on Groupon today” as he knows that we will soon be receiving a package in the mail after I say those words – haha!

Good food and a great time in Louisville, KY

After a year of planning, late nights and early mornings at the office, I finally saw the fruits of my labor come together. My last event as the “conference manager” was HydroVision International 2012. As you can tell from the name this is a conference/trade show focused on Hydro Power. Now don’t ask me a thing about hydro power as I have no clue. But if you ask me about how many speakers we had, number of attendees, etc. I can rattle those numbers off like crazy =) As a matter of fact, we had over 400 speakers, 70 conference sessions, and almost 3,000 attendees from over 40 countries! Talk about a large conference!

This event was held in Louisville, KY in late July. Although we stay busy all day and most nights, we do get to have a little fun (and eat at great restaurants!) while on the road. One of the restaurants I actually ate at twice while we were there was Proof on Main. This place had some of the best scallops I have ever tasted! They were giant sea scallops and they were cooked to perfection. They also had magnificent wine!! I am usually pretty good about taking pictures of the bottles of wine when I love them but I guess I was too enthralled with the company so it slipped my mind. But just trust me that it was good! In addition to the great food, it is also part of an artsy-fartsy hotel. It is extremely unique (and fun!). If you have some time to kill while in Louisville, I would definitely take the time to walk around the museum and hotel: C21. There are actually a few of these hotels (Louisville, KY; Cincinnati, OH; and Bentonville, AR) and you can bet that if I am in these areas I will definitely check out the others for its unique and quirky art. So fun!!

And the whole time we were in Louisville, we kept hearing about “The Hot Brown” sandwich. Obviously this did not sound so wonderful to me at first but once I heard what the sandwich consisted of, I thought it actually did sound good. So on our last night in Louisville we headed to The Brown hotel to get that sandwich! And let me tell you, it was DELICIOUS! In addition to the wonderful food, we also met some great people while we were there. Since the restaurant was full, we sat in the bar area on these big comfy couches. We were joined by others doing the same and ended having the most fun with them. One guy was from Tampa, FL so he instantly became my friend!! Then there was a couple from L.A. and they were so cute! The husband sat down in the “conversation chair” that was adjacent to us and we just couldn’t resist having a conversation with him! Take a look at this picture of my friend Sue Ellen conversating with him =)

Almost immediately after she began talking to him, his wife came out of the restroom and walked towards them. I have no idea the exact thoughts that went through her mind but I can only imagine! Luckily she was so sweet so when Sue Ellen looked to her and said “is this your husband? Come and sit down on this side, we just couldn’t resist this chair.” She was so sweet and smiled and joined right in on the conversation. They ended up sitting with us when they ordered their drinks and we didn’t stop talking for hours. They had the cutest story and this is one of my favorite things about my job – the people I get to meet out and about. I had a great time meeting them and actually came up with a great marketing idea because of my interaction with them. So thank you couple from California – I owe you one!

Here are a few shots from The Brown Hotel! Such a beautiful place! If you visit Louisville, KY you must make time to visit (and eat!).

My friend Emily and I had some great nights in Louisville while we were there. I am very lucky to work with such wonderful people! Here are some shots of us out on the town…

Fourth Street Live!

The funkiest limo EVER! It is the limo for the C21 hotel – hence the reason for the art deco. If you look close you can see that it was complete covered in marbles!

Just us and Mr. Jack Daniel!

And of course, you can’t go to Louisville and not see The Colonel or have a Mint Julep! It was delicious by the way =)

So I would say that I went out like a bang on my last event as conference manager. I am happy to announce that I have officially made the move to Marketing Manager (finally!) for the Books department at PennWell. I am beyond thrilled to be back in the communications field and able to utilize my educational background. So I will still travel to the PennWell events but just in a different capacity. So let the journey begin!

And the Best Aunt Award goes to…

I travel for work often and it just so happened that I had to go to Florida for work recently so of course I made it worth my while and stayed a few extra days to spend time with my family. My mom, sister, nieces and nephew met me in Orlando to visit where else but Disney! Another highlight of my trip was that two of my friends were able to meet! My BFF, Abbey, who lives in Orlando met me for a little shopping and friend time AND my friend Paige who lives in Tulsa (and works with me) decided that she would stay in Florida with me so they were able to meet. It was a great moment for me! Two friends who I love so much but since we don’t live in the same state, I didn’t really think they would ever meet and here they were. So we bonded over shopping and drinks!

Okay – back to those cute nieces of mine!! My mom and sister had been telling them for weeks that they were going to see me so they were REALLY excited! When they arrived I could barely get them out of the car fast enough for hugs. Words can’t describe how that warmed my heart. I miss them every single day and it’s pretty nice to know they miss me too.

After lots of hugs and excitement it was time for them to go to bed. So there they were in their PJ’s, drinking a little water before bedtime and they looked so cute I HAD to get a picture of them. So I tell them to smile and this is what I get…

They cheers’d with the coffee cups! Ha! I literally couldn’t stop laughing so of course it made them do it about a hundred more times. So. Freaking. Cute!

We spent lots of time at the hotel pool, which included a slide and many other kid friendly activities. They had a blast! But the highlight of the trip was taking them to the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique. I have wanted to take them for a while but I wanted them to be old enough to enjoy it so this was a perfect time. If you have never heard of this magical place, you NEED to check out the website. It is the cutest thing. It’s a salon boutique where the girls get their hair, makeup and nails done while they are dressed like a princess. The process is adorable and to watch them smile throughout it was priceless! Check out how cute they were…..

Before the boutique experience…

Alanna picked out her tiara (Ariel) for her Princess experience!

Jada picked out her tiara (Belle) for her Princess experience!

Jada getting her hair done!

Alanna picking out her hair style (with Nana’s help of course!)

And of course we ate at the Rainforest Cafe!

Of course I can’t leave out the cutie-patutie nephew of mine. Look at this little man!

He didn’t get the princess treatment but I certainly smothered him with love too. On top of being cute, he is also the happiest baby I have EVER met! Seriously, he didn’t cry at all. He was always so happy and full of smiles. My sister is a lucky mom =)

While I had a blast with them and seeing my mom was a treat as always, I have to say that I was thrilled to be heading back home. Even with 3 adults walking around Disney with 2 kids – it was more than exhausting! Then when we added an infant to the mix, I just don’t know how my sister does it! Kudos to all parents as you are a better person than I. I love them to death but it is always nice to hand them back over to my sister at the end of the day. And kudos to Paige who hung in there with all 3 kiddos! She dealt with all the energy AND one serious meltdown. Paige will be a great mom one day but for now, we were both excited to get back on the plane and have some wine!

But in the end, I am always happy to receive the Best Aunt Award =)

Holy Cake Balls!

We have all seen the phenomenon of Cake Balls/Cake Pops, whatever they are named, they are GOOD! They are taking dessert tables by storm and since there are recipes everywhere for these delicious little bites of heaven I thought I would give a try. So after reading through many recipes, watching several YouTube videos demonstrating ‘how to’, I thought I was ready and that our Memorial Day celebration/OKC Thunder watch party was a perfect place to debut them.

I will go ahead and skip to the end and say that they were a hit at the party and if I have to say so myself, they really did taste good. But as for how they looked…not so pretty. Thankfully my fellow partiers did not care about how they looked and everyone was very complimentary of them, which made it worth it in the end.

However, through taking the time to make these, I have compiled a few tips and tricks if you so choose to take on this dessert. Also, I have modified the list of ingredients as I found that there was an essential ingredient missing on every recipe I found – PATIENCE! Not once was it listed but I am here to tell you that it is needed!

Tips:

• Don’t overheat candy melts (it gets thicker as it heats up!)
• The colder the cake is, the better (1 hour+)
• Smaller cake balls work better – they don’t fall apart as easy
• Use egg carton to transport
• JUST BUY THESE – its not worth the trouble and they will look much better when a professional makes them! Seriously

Ingredients:

• Devils food cake (all ingredients to make cake)
• Frosting
• Candy Melts (you can get these at Michaels)
• Lollipop Sticks (you can get these at Michaels)
• Sprinkles or any other toppings
• Lots of patience and time!

Step 1: Bake cake according to instructions. I used a 9×13 pan and chocolate devils food cake.
Step 2: Once cake is done, break into pieces and put all into large bowl.
Step 3: Add some frosting (I used cream cheese frosting). Add 2 spoonfuls in the cake mixture, then mix up. I had to add another spoonful in to get all of the cake covered. The frosting simply acts as a bonding agent so you won’t need very much, just enough to make the cake ‘sticky’.
Step 4: Divide cake into cake balls. Don’t make them too big. About the size of a ping pong ball. The smaller ones do not fall apart as easily.
Step 5: Once you have made cake balls from the entire cake, put them in the freezer. I used an empty egg carton to do this and it worked perfectly! Let stand in freezer for over an hour.

Step 6: Take candy melts and melt in microwave according to package. Don’t ‘cook’ for too long as the more it heats up, the thicker the melt is – this is unlike melting chocolate. I used a measuring cup to heat them up and to keep it warm and put the measuring cup inside a bowl containing hot water.

Step 7: Cover cake balls in candy melt. This is where the patience comes in. This seems easy but proved much more difficult for me. As the candy melt was hot and the cake ball was cold, it was easy for the cake to break off.
Step 8: Cover in topping.  Using small bowls for toppings works very well.

Step 9: Insert lollipop stick.

Step 10: Put back in freezer. Instead of putting them back in the egg carton, I laid them in the freezer on wax paper. I found that when the candy melt is still sticky, that would stick to the egg carton so using wax paper was better. The longer you can leave them in the freezer, the better (even overnight).

Step 11: Enjoy!

Sorry I didn’t take a picture of the finished product. We were rushing to leave and I guess I just forgot about it. But what I did to transport them was I put them back in the egg carton and this allowed for easy transport as well as showcasing them once we arrived at the party.

As you can see, these yummy cake balls take lots of time to prepare. But I can promise that they don’t take long to disappear, as they do taste good!

Here are a few pictures of what they SHOULD turn out like. I have a newfound respect for the people who have made these now – haha!