Gilmore Girls? Well not yet, but hopefully!

Tonight my daughter and I had what I hope to be the first of many cool moments.  My daughter and I were both sick this week which really put a damper on my ambitions about getting more active on my blog.  Tonight we were all planning on going to the Sam Houston Race Park to have some fun and watch the races.  Well since my daughter was really ill last night, I really needed to keep her in tonight. 

My hubby went ahead and took the boys and Sammie and I stayed home.  We shared some breadsticks for dinner...i know...but we really have had some upset stomachs, and sat down to watch a movie.  I stumbled on the movie Only You.  Ever see it?  Well it is a chick flick to the max and I loved every minute of it.  Nothing better than Marissa Tomei, Bonnie Hunt and Robert Downey Jr.   Samantha actually seemed to enjoy it as well.

We really had a nice quiet evening watching chick flicks and just lounging on the couch.  It just reminded me of my all time favorite tv show Gilmore Girls.  I want to have a relationship like Lorelai and Rory, with Sammie.  Well besides the absentee dad and well teenage pregnancy.  I love movies, and really hope that as she gets older she will love them too and we will be able to pop popcorn and watch them together.   She is sleeping now, but it was just such a great moment that I hope repeats itself randomly through out the remainder of our lives.

New year, new me!...well hopefully!

It has been some time since I had posted because I was trying to use my free time to organize my house.  I am failing at it miserably, but it is one of my resolutions so I am going to keep at it!  So they say the first way to keep a resolution is to write them down.  So rather than just put them on a post it, I figured that I would post it on my blog.  I really have two big ones this year.

I have been gaining off and on for the past ten years, but after I had a baby well it was a whole new ballgame!

The other is to organize this house.  Organization has never been my strong suit but I am trying. 


Also in the spirit of the attempted "New Me" I will be trying to do some giveaways that fall under those categories.  My first one will be from Healthy Choice!  Which I love!!!!

I will be going to the grocery store to pick up some of their delicious new meals for my lunch.  Hopefully by planning a lunch and having it handy, well I will be able to stay on track!
 
If you happen to have any organization tips, please post them!  LOL  I can use all of the help that I can get.

Happy Boxing Day Everyone!

Wow!  What a week.  As much as I love the holidays, I am always so relieved when it is all over.  Today was full of shopping fun.  (Not that I didn't do much before Christmas, but the after holiday shopping is always fun too.)  I really had a fun day spending some shopping time with my dd and dh.  We then went for a nice lunch too and then headed home to watch some football.  All in all a really enjoyable day.  What did you all do? Any great deals out there? Well now that the holidays are almost over and the new year is coming soon, I am going to dedicate more time to my blog and to keeping it updated with fun things.  I am getting ready for some great reviews, giveaways and posts.  January will be a turn around for all of my resolutions.  I look forward to you all keeping me accountable.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and a totally indulgent New Year.  I thank you for following my blog and look forward to bringing more fun and goodies to you all. 

Steak the easy way

So I was trying to decide what I wanted for dinner and then I realized that I had some steak in the fridge.  There is so much discussion about a "good steak".  Well I am definitely not an expert at steaks, but it is defiantly one of my passions.  I have a really hard time spending 23 - 40 dollars on a steak when here in texas, I got three decent sized new york strips for under 7.00 total.  Truely a Texan benefit.  They were much more expensive in Florida. 

If you watch alot of Food network, they say you sear the steak on high heat on a iron griddle pan and then finish it in the oven.  So what do you do if you don't have a iron griddle?  Well I have found a quick and easy way for steak.  I go to the store and get a bottle of teriyaki marinade, poke some holes in my steak and let it sit overnight in the sauce.  I then stick it under the broiler in my oven and cook it until it is done.  Comes out sweet and juicy.  So if you aren't a grill master, try this one out.  Now, when I find a great deal on an cast iron griddle pan, I will try the finish in the oven way and let you know.  Does anyone have any secret steak tips?

Childrens Book Review : Adopted Ed

Sometimes a good book really reminds us good lessons that we should be teaching our children.  I was blessed with a review of Adopted Ed by Darren Maddern.  As I type this review tonight, I almost have tears in my eyes.  This story is about a baby named Eddie whom is raised by adoptive parents.  He lives a happy and secure childhood and when he becomes a young boy, his parents explain that he was adopted.  
 
Given that he doesn't know any better, he is perfectly fine being adopted until he goes to school.  A bully teases him about being adopted and calls him names.  At this point as I am reading this story, tears start roll down my cheek.  My heart was totally going out to little Eddie and  he ends up going home crying.  His adoptive mother lets him know that he was a blessing from God and that he was chosen for their family.  Later as he gets older, he inquires about his birth parents. 

It really teaches a great lesson to our children and a reminder to us all.  I would recommend this book to everyone who has young children.  It teaches a good lesson of tolerance and love.  If you would like to order this book, you can find it on Amazon.com by clicking the link.


I was not compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the book itself to review.  All opinions expressed in this review are solely mine. 

An opportunity to pay it forward

Tonight I was blessed with an opportunity that I think alot of people wouldn't necessarily jump on.  One of the young ladies in a chatroom that I pop in an out of was interested in starting a blog.  As most of you know, I only started a few months ago, and I still have alot more (technically) to do to make my blog similar to some of the more popular ones out there.  Well she wanted to know how to get going and I really did my best to share what I have learned over the past few months.  By the end of tonight she has a fully functional blog!  YAY!  I feel very fortunate that I was given an opportunity to help someone else out.  Just good kharma all around!  So if you have a moment, show a little love to a new blogger just getting her start!

http://southerngirlreviews.blogspot.com/

I hope you have a great evening and keep an eye here, I will be having some giveaways coming up soon!

Traditions?

As many of you know I am part of a blended family.  I married my husband who already had two sons and now we also have our daughter as well.  Being from a family that really wasn't big on traditions, I wanted to establish some for my family.  I have found to of my favorite holiday outings in Galveston, TX of all places.  They have a festival of lights and actually set up an ice skating rink as well.  Last year we all went skating....well using the word skating really loosely.  Then after we are done skating,  we looked at all of the holiday lights.  They have this festival at Moody Gardens during the month of December.  We also go back there for Easter as well where the hotel has a beautiful brunch and then you can go to their Easter Egg hunt.  Lots of holiday fun at Moody Gardens.  Do you all have any fun traditions?  I am always looking for something to make our lives a little "richer" and maybe create some fun memories for my kids.  (I think we are actually going to Moody Gardens this weekend.) If we do, I will update this post with pictures.