May is right around the corner. That means summer is creeping upon us. The sunshine, hot weather, pool parties, BBQ, and lots of outdoor fun. Maybe have some extra fun decorating this year with a pair of pink flamingos.

People will love the cheerfulness these retro pink flamingos bring to any party. Use the pink flamingos anywhere outside. Put the retro flamingos in your garden to add a little fun to the flowers. You can use them as simple fun decorations for a party on your lawn or your patio. Have some real silly fun with these pink flamingos, and put several of them all over the backyard or around the pool.

Get silly this summer – have some fun with the outdoors! Let these retro pink flamingos help brighten up your outdoor party this year!

When you were growing up, did you have a dream to be a princess? (Sorry guys, it’s a post for girls today). When I was growing up, the most eligible bachelor (and the cutest) was Prince William. He was so dreamy…and I know, secretly, we all hoped he would pick ourselves to be his wife. Of course it would take a lot for us to become his wife, considering we don’t live in the same country. However, for Kate Middleton, she is officially living out our dream, and will become the wife of Prince William.

The engagement was a bitter-sweet moment, at least for my friends and me: sad for us, but so happy for Prince William and Kate. At least from our perspective, she is gorgeous and she seems to be so nice – what better girl could we hope for our prince to marry? On top of getting the man of our dreams, Kate Middleton has received the ring given to Princess Diana from Prince Charles nearly 30 years ago as her engagement ring. What an incredible honor! The ring that Kate is currently wearing is a beautiful sapphire surrounded by 14 diamonds. Who wouldn’t want this ring? Aside from the fact that it once belonged to the beloved Princess Diana, it is nothing less than an absolutely amazing ring and piece of jewelry (all girls love to sparkle).

So, one day we will all find our “prince” since Prince William is officially “off the market”. But, as it turns out, we can in fact own a pretty replica of the Royal Heirloom Ring once worn by Princess Diana, now by Kate Middleton. You can actually own a piece of history in this replica engagement ring, how great is that? The Royal Heirloom Ring has a radiant simulated “Ceylon” sapphire surrounded by 14 oval cubic zirconium diamonds. Each ring is layered in sterling silver. Each of the Royal Heirloom Rings comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and is kept in a velveteen jeweler’s box.

Now, while our dream prince has found his princess, we can share in the celebration and wear a similar royal engagement ring. Congratulations for Prince William and Kate Middleton on their royal engagement and wedding tomorrow! And congratulations to you for owning the Royal Heirloom Ring (even if you’re not engaged).

I love ice cream. There are several foods I can call my favorite, and ice cream is absolutely, without any doubt one of them. I am also convinced my love for ice cream is enhanced by genetics…my mom loves ice cream, and her mom loves ice cream. All three of us have an ice cream problem, and we cannot get enough. Without physically making sure we stop ourselves, we could certainly polish off a half a gallon without thinking twice.

With that being said…I almost never keep ice cream in my freezer. I would pick up the ice cream before I would make my dinner. Then I have a good chance of not eating dinner because I am full from ice cream. I’m sure you can see that I should not have ice cream in my house. Occasionally I will buy a pint of ice cream, and force myself to not eat the whole thing (that’s hard). I recently came across the Portion Control Ice Cream Scoop which portions out half a serving of ice cream for you. This is a great idea! I wonder how many times I would go back and scoop out “just one more half portion” with that scoop. It’s best for me to stick to going out for an ice cream treat when I am really craving it. I do have one of those newly-popular frozen yogurt places right up the street from my apartment. And that is pretty cool because you serve yourself yogurt and put toppings on. The problem is, it really tastes like yogurt (not ice cream) and I am not big on the toppings except for rainbow jimmies (or for those of you who are anti “jimmie” – sprinkles), and if I am up for it, mini Reese’s Pieces (or as I call them “Reese’s Peeeecies”). So the yogurt thing is sometimes good enough, but not as satisfying as ice cream itself.

About 2 weeks ago my friend and I went to the grocery store together. He bought two pints of ice cream. In my house, those pints would have been long gone! Would you believe that he still has one whole pint left in his freezer? I am fairly certain he finished the one pint in one sitting (even though he didn’t admit it out loud), but he hasn’t even touched the other one. I couldn’t believe it. I told him he has some awesome will power. I’m not sure I could ever let that happen unless, for some unknowing reason, I actually forgot the ice cream was there. I wish I could do that. It would be nice to be able to keep some ice cream in my freezer just for the times when I could really use a scoop.

What’s your weakness? Are you able to keep you food weakness in your house without eating it all up way too quickly?

We all have marks, scars, blemishes, and bruises on our skin. It’s inevitable. We have scars from things like chicken pox, surgery, and unhealed scrapes. We have marks just from living, and growing. Blemishes and acnes never seem to go away even though we think they should after we are in our late 20’s and older. As women, we try just about everything to get rid of these things, or cover them up. A new product to try to cover these skin marks up is the Joan Rivers Right to Bare Legs™ cover-up.

The Joan Rivers Right to Bare Legs™ cover-up is an all-body concealer. Use the Joan Rivers Right to Bare Legs™ cover-up on legs, arms, and face to cover up unwanted visible marks. You can cover up blemishes, tattoos, bruises, and varicose veins with Joan Rivers Right to Bare Legs™ cover-up. And feel free to really use Joan Rivers Right to Bare Legs™ cover-up anywhere since it will not smear, smudge or rub off onto clothes or furniture.

We have these marks, and we have to live with them. Fortunately, Joan Rivers Right to Bare Legs™ cover-up is available now to help conceal the marks and scars on our bodies, and we can feel more confident in our own skin.

As the warmer weather continues to approach, I have decided to make a list. As many of you may know from previous posts, I recently moved to a new city just about a year ago. When I first moved here my first plan of action, aside from working hard at my new job, was to make lots of friends, but also to make sure I got to see my friends from college.

With my goal of basically making sure I was settling into my new environment well, I didn’t really get a chance to experience the city in its fullest. I was much more concerned about just doing what everyone else wanted to do, and saying “yes” to just about any activity I was invited to participate. The downside of that was I was meeting up with people who have lived here for long enough that it felt like “home” to them so making the most of the city we live in isn’t their top priority. This year, it is my top priority, and I have made a list of outdoor activities so I do not waste any time inside when I could be playing outside.

I have recently created a real, working list of outdoor things to do. It’s not just in my head, it’s on my computer. When I think of something that could be fun, I add it to the list. With the list, I am guaranteed to never be bored! Just pick something off the list, grab a friend, or two, or go alone and execute that activity. There will be no crossing things off the list, as this is not a “bucket list” of any sort. It is simply to make sure I am never bored. So far my list includes (but is not exclusive to) things such as paddle-boating, taking a segway tour, playing a sport on the mall, taking the tour up the Washington Monument, visiting the National Zoo, and picnics/barbecues. There is more on this list, and if you are interested in what I have, let me know and I’ll give you all of the details. If you have any suggestions, I am always up to adding to the list of things I didn’t think of myself.

I am most excited for two things on my list. I admit that I am a sucker for the National Zoo. I live just about 1 mile (maybe a little less) to the National Zoo. It is free to enter, I can walk there, and it is always pretty. I plan to go there a lot. I promised my cousins a girls day out which I would take them to the zoo and out to lunch. I will definitely be going to the zoo with friends, and I am guaranteed to go there alone if I am bored – it’s an easy place to go to waste some time. I am also pumped to have barbecues and picnics. I love (I mean LOVE) cooking and eating outside. There is something great about having lots of friends get together to cook, eat, drink, and play outside. Which is exactly what I intend to do. Since the plan is to have a real picnic on the mall and play sports, we should probably think about investing in something like the Giant Food Umbrella to keep our food bug-free while we are away playing games.

So far this is my plan. Do you have a plan of action for when the warm weather really comes? Do you like having a list of things to do outside?

How much do you recycle? For how long have you been recycling? Do you even recycle? Do not worry; I am not here to judge if you do or if you do not recycle. Sometimes it’s not as easy to recycle as we would all like it to be. There are different tools, products, bins, baskets, and programs out there to help us get into the habit, but we first need to get into the habit. I recently read a blog post, How to Recycle: My 30 Day Recycling Challenge. If recycling is something you want to start doing more pro-actively, I highly recommend reading that article.

In the blog post above, Brooke discusses how she made some simple changes and recycling became just as easy as tossing what should be recycled in the trash can. If you’re anything like me, it’s not quite as easy. I live in a small space and my trash room has two slots: one for trash and one for recycle. Why is this hard? Well, I live in a studio, so it is not really space-friendly to have two cans in my kitchen considering my kitchen can barely hold one. The recycle container in my trash room is mostly for boxes and paper, not really for bottles (glass or plastic) or cans. So, I do what I can and I recycle the boxes and paper. If you are more fortunate than me and are able to recycle just about everything and don’t because you feel like it’s too hard, let me see if I can make it easier for you if you would like to have your own recycle challenge.

Like I mentioned before, Brooke challenged herself and proved to herself that it really was simple. She set out several bags by her trash can to throw the recycling into. Each time the bags filled up, she took them out to be recycled – simple. If you do not like the idea of having brown paper bags sitting out in your kitchen there are more stylish cans you can use. If you don’t like the idea of having more than one can in your kitchen, check out the Three Compartment Step On Can. No matter what you decide, once you have the containers or bags set up to use, you will most likely use them and find it’s just as easy to throw that milk container in the recycle can as it is to throw it in the trash can.

Will you take the recycle challenge? If you already recycle, please let us know what you do, and we can share ideas with each other.

Friends, I have good news to share with you today. If you are a follower of this blog you know I have recently had some bad luck. If you are a new-comer to this blog, check out that old post to catch up. Last night I decided to stay at home, cook myself a nice dinner and rest. With that nice dinner I made the executive decision to attempt one of my past failures again…and I succeeded!

The goal: make mashed cauliflower to go with my salmon. Last time I tried this, my cauliflower was less mashed and more like small pieces. It still tasted good (because I love cauliflower) but not what I ultimately wanted. So, a few days after my cauliflower mash failure I decided I needed a blender to complete this task. I researched blenders, and naturally I wanted the Healthmaster Food Emulsifier, but since I am a girl in need of instant gratification, I went to the store on my lunch break and grabbed the first blender I could find. While I owned the blender I never took it out of the box; I did, however, research other ways I could use it and Julie at Peanut Butter Fingers inspired me to use my blender to make smoothies – but that’s for another day – back to cauliflower. Last night I got home from work, and went straight to my kitchen to work on my cauliflower mash. My best friend told me exactly how she makes it (using a blender) and it worked! Steamed cauliflower to soften it, a little skim milk, butter, salt, and garlic, in the blender and…cauliflower mash right before my eyes!

When I took out the blender that had been sitting in my kitchen still in the box with the receipt, I carefully removed the blender and parts from the box (thanks, dad, for teaching me to always be careful just in case it’s broken) and it worked perfectly. I cannot wait to use my blender for other recipes. I think my whole world of cooking and eating is going to change. Next week, be on the lookout for my first smoothie post! I think having a blender is going to change my life.

Do you have a favorite kitchen tool? Have you recently tried to make something that didn’t work out in the past?

How often do you pack a snack for your child and you find more snack in your car or on your floor than you do actually in your child’s stomach? There is a solution to this problem…the new Spill Proof Gyro Bowl.

The Spill Proof Gyro Bowl makes sure that there is no mess while snacking. The bowl on the Spill Proof Gyro Bowl always rotates 360° which ensures the open side of the bowl always faces up. So, no matter what direction your child holds the Spill Proof Gyro Bowl, the snack stays inside.

And what’s better than a mess-free snack? A bowl that is dishwasher safe. Not only do you not have to worry about cleaning up a mess, you also do not have to hand wash the Spill Proof Gyro Bowl every time it gets used.

What is your least favorite errand? I mean, really think about this…I know we all have our least favorite chores (I have several; I hate making my bed, emptying the dishwasher, and scrubbing the bath tub), but what is your least favorite errand. I am pretty sure, in the past, I have alluded to mine. Confession: My absolutely hate grocery shopping.

I do not like going to the grocery store at all. I feel like it is a losing situation. If I go to the grocery store on my time on the weekend around 11am, it seems that’s when everyone else wants to go too. But, I do not want to wake up super early in the morning just to get to the store before the rest of the weekend crowd. But, if you go any later, then all the good fresh produce is gone because, as they say, “The early bird catches the worm.” So, I typically will deal with the crowd. But after you get through the people in the aisles to get everything needed, then you have to wait in line, and I feel like I never pick the right line. I am destined to be in the check-out line with the item without the price, or the only line without a bagger. Sometimes I can beat the whole system and go either before work early in the morning (not fun to wake up even earlier on the weekday, but it is definitely the best time to go), or I go later in the evening during the week (after the pre-dinner shopping rush). No matter what I do, grocery shopping is still my least favorite errand.

My solution…I have a grocery shopping partner. We pick up our reusable grocery shopping bags and we go to his grocery store instead of the one close to my apartment. His store has a much better selection of food, and the produce always looks much fresher than my store. Also, they have pre-cut veggies and fruit that is a life-saver for people like me who live alone and are always in a rush. I know it may cost more money to buy it pre-cut, but if you’re busy and need to get dinner made in a flash, pre-cut veggies are worth the extra cost. We go up and down every aisle relatively quickly, and pick up everything we need. Then, as we wait in line we have each other to talk to, and the time practically flies by.

What’s your feeling on grocery shopping? Do you prefer to go alone or with someone? What is your least favorite errand?

How often do you get the opportunity to attend a gigantic, formal, black-tie fundraising event? Probably not all the time. This weekend, I had the chance to go to a huge event in Washington, DC called Taste of the South. The Taste of the South raises money for different charities. The event is one big fancy party with lots of food, take-aways, dancing, silent auctions, and fun. I was lucky enough to go with 3 of my girl friends, and we had so much fun.

There are three days in the weekend, and our black-tie affair had to be on the one day that it was pouring rain all day and not sunny. So we got all dressed up in beautiful dresses and jewelry, we did our hair and make-up, and then we put on our socks and rainboots. We packed bags full of nice shoes with heels, flat shoes to wear for when our feet hurt later at night, and our purses. We also had our raincoats and umbrellas…living in the city is great…except on rainy nights like this. So, once we got there, we changed our shoes, grabbed a drink and started the fun!

The whole room was set up kind of like a tradeshow floor with each state of the south having their own booth. At each booth you could eat food native to that state (for example, Florida served oranges among other things, and Louisiana served crawfish along the other foods on their menu), and they also had give-aways. Some of my favorite freebies were hot sauce from North Carolina, Koozies from different schools of the states, and a new recycle bag from Georgia. We collected our goodies, ate drank, and danced the whole night away.

By the time the whole night was over, and it was time to walk the several blocks back to the metro to get home, all I wanted was a shopping cart to hold all of my stuff so I didn’t have to carry it. The good news is we danced the rain away! We did not have to make the trek through the city with all of our bags and extra bags, umbrellas, and coats in the rain.

I hope I get the opportunity to attend this event again. It was a great time for a great cause.