It's Superbowl Time!!!

I know I am going to get heat from someone about this, but I will be cheering for the Patriots on Sunday. Hey, I'm from there so I have the right!  One of my best memories from when I was little was watching the Bears-Patriots Superbowl back in the 80's. I helped my mom make bear shaped cookies and we put jerseys on all of them. That was a tough game for us being that she was born and raised there. I was born there, but raised in Chicago, where we were living. Geez, what a tough position! Who was I supposed to cheer for?  I just cheered for both and stuffed my face with cookies! What are every one's plans for the big day? Who will you be cheering for?!

It's Party Time!

Happy Halloween!!!!! Hope everyone is having a spooky day!! We have had a busy day getting ready for the party! We made oreo cupcakes for the event. I didn't get a chance to take pics because we were running around all day buying supplies for tonight, and  looking at houses. Side note, we think we found one! Yea! I will keep everyone updated on that.  Anywho, the party was a blast, and here are some pics of the event!  I went as Little Red Riding Hood.
                                               "Mayhem"

 My hubby as Marty McFly from Back to the Future.

                                      "Jack Sparrow"

                                  "Robin Hood"

                                  "Swedish Chef"

                               "Pinocchio and Medusa"

It's Spring Break! Where do you want to be?!

What does Spring Break mean for you? Well, if your a kid, it means hours upon hours of running around outside,  playing video games, and my personal favorite, sleeping in!  How about the teenagers? For them, it's extra shopping time, extra phone time, and extra time trying to see what (put the current hot guys name here) is up to.Then you have the college kids, and this is where it gets fun folks! Spring break means nice weather, beaches, and a little bit of drinkin'! All the fun times that you can imagine, and probably some things that you wish didn't. What did you do for your spring break growing up. I never did anything. It's okay, wipe your sad tear. I was always working. Don't get me wrong, I went out and had a blast with my friends whenever possible. Did I ever have serious "going out of town" spring break fun...no. I remember turning 18, and thinking, yes, spring break, let's do this. I had so many places in my mind. Florida was one of them. I grew up watching MTV spring break. They were always in Florida. (I know at least 80% of you are reading this and shaking their head smiling. You know why? I'll tell you why, because that was when MTV was "da bomb" as the kids say. They don't actually say that, but that was what came to mind. That's when they actually had music on that channel, and Dr. Dre and Ed Lover used to host the MTV raps at the beach house. Right now, that 80% is singing the Dre song and doing the dance. Don't be ashamed, I'll have it in my head all day now. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about...

Dr. Dre and Ed Lover
Lets get back to the point here kids. By the time I was ready to have crazy spring break fun in Florida, the worst thing happened! Sigh...we moved to Florida. What! I know! You would think it sounds fun, but no. That is like being able to eat at the place you love every single day. After awhile, you don't love it anymore, because it's not special anymore..ya know?  So, I moved my vacation spots elsewhere. Today's question of the Spring Day challenge with Meghan and Amber is this. "Where are you/would you be headed for spring break this year (real or ideal)?" Here are my top picks right now.
Fiji

 Greece

 Paris

 Ireland

 Italy

 Bora Bora

 Hawaii

These are my new loves! Now, since I am not a gazillionaire, or have my own private jet, I will not be seeing any of these places this year. I will probably be here...

You think I would get sick of this place living here, but I don't. I love Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios!

 My other places will have to wait...one day my friends, one day. What about you? Where will you be heading off to?
Enjoy!

Butterfly World

A few of the girls at work are always talking about how we need to go out and do more things together. This is hard to do being that we all have funny schedules. Today we actually all had off, so we decided to head off to Butterfly World. I had gone there when I first moved down to Florida, but that was years ago. One of the girls I work with has never seen it, so we thought it would be fun to go. She brought her little girl along for the fun. They have beautiful flowers, an aviary, and insect room, and of course butterflies! Here are a few pics of our day.

 The front entrance is covered in beautiful trees. There were pink, purple, orange, and shiny white flowered trees.

 First butterfly!

 There were a bunch of fountains throughout the enclosure. There were butterflies flying in and out. It was so pretty.

 This one was taking a little break!

 There was big waterfall in the middle of the sanctuary.

Nikki and Devon on top of the waterfall.

 Some of the flowers along the lake.

 Sarah wanted to feed the Lorikeets, so we went in there to show Devon the birds.

 Sarah and the birds!

One of the 4 MaCaws.

 Devon checking out the birds that were more her size!

 Tweet tweet! There were Gouldian Finches, Honeycreepers, and Euphonias there.

The next stop was the Museum/Insectarium. Each window had a different species of bugs and butterflies.

 A "Walking Stick" bug.

 Beautiful Blue butterflies.

More to follow!
Enjoy!

 

Sweet Whimsy!

We discovered a cute little pastry shop in Long Grove during our visit this time. It's called Sweet Whimsy. It was the cutest little shop I have ever seen!

The decor was super cute. There was little sitting area of to the side where you can watch everyone bake the goodies.

 It reminded me of a cute little coffee shop, but without all the fuss.  It had a very comfy feel to it, which I loved.

 I love the fact that you can watch them bake.

 Here were some of the goodies that they offered.

 Craig and my mom make their selections!

 Here are some of the yummy items that came home with us! My goodie bag held this little strawberry cake with vanilla buttercream, and white chocolate chips on top. When we went outside, the wind blew my little cupcake over and smashed it. The girl at the counter (the owner's sister, was the nicest girl ever, she gave me another one to blog about!)

 Craig took home a little S'more bar. He loves S'mores, as you all know...

 This was a Magic bar. It had coconut, chocolate chips and nuts in it.

 My mom picked up a Bacon and Cheddar Scone.

 She also grabbed some Chocolate chip and sugar cookies.

 I picked up a 1/2 dozen of these little friends called Mema'a Vanilla Bean cookies.

If you get a chance to go, check them out. They offer classes if you are interested in learning how to make some goodies on your own. Upon more digging on their website, I found out that they do a lot for the community, and 15% of their proceeds go to "Eating for a Cause" and "Making a difference" which is dedicated to finding a cure for Cystic Fibrosis.  That is "Sweet!"
Enjoy!