Nicole

10 Reasons Why You Need a Moms’ Brunch

May 2, 2019

10 Reasons Why You Need a Moms’ Brunch- fun and practical reasons to get together with your girlfriends to connect & escape your kids. Ha!

Making friends as an adult can be really hard. No longer do you meet other kids at the lunch table and declare them your best friend by the end of the week. Instead, you need to put yourself out there in a crowd and meet someone.

My mom and her best friend met while they were getting their nails done. Both of them were getting their nails done in a bright red, both their (then) husbands disliked it. Clearly, this was something to bond over. They have been friends for over 30 years.

I have the most wonderful best friends that live far away. For one, I see her about 1x a year as we mix things up between us visiting each other in Seattle and Tampa. And another, who I chat with daily, on multiple apps (at the same time), and we have only been together 2x in real life. Friendships come in all different ways so you need to savor them, whenever and wherever you can.

Thankfully I have some absolutely fantastic friends here in Florida.

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Salted Chocolate Matzo Toffee

April 29, 2019

Salted Chocolate Matzo Toffee is a great dessert for Passover. Enjoy the sweet toffee, the chocolate, crunchy nuts, & the pop of flavor from the salt. Yum!

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Passover just ended so now is the time to browse the interwebs to look for things to do with leftover Matzo. At least that is what I do.

Before I discuss this Salted Chocolate Matzo Toffee, I need to mention how my heart breaks that the community around Poway Synagogue. There are no words that will help the families effected fully heal from the shooting, but I hope that they find some peace one day.

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Easy Homemade Coffee Ice Cream

April 14, 2019

Easy Homemade Coffee Ice Cream is a wonderfully simple ice cream made without eggs. The perfect way to use up leftover day old coffee. Enjoy the sweet pick me up!

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What is your favorite ice cream? Mine is Cookies and Cream, but my husband loves Coffee Ice Cream. So this Easy Homemade Coffee Ice Cream is for him. As well as all of you fellow coffee ice cream lovers.

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Chinese Bulletproof String Beans and Minced Pork

April 12, 2019

Chinese Bulletproof String Beans and Minced Pork is going to be your new favorite fake-out take-out. It’s extra spicy & delicious. You’ll want to save room for seconds.

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I swear feeding kids can be just as hard as rocket science. At least I assume that rocket science is hard. Shoot, I saw the pictures of the drives needed to be able to photograph a black hole. Craziness!

But really, feeding my kids can be hit or miss. But this Chinese Bulletproof String Beans and Minced Pork was a hit!

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Having a Fun Day at Hollywood Studios Enjoying Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy

April 9, 2019

We enjoyed a wonderful day at Hollywood Studios starting with a visit to Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy. It was a filled with action and trills. Fun!

Thank you to Disney for inviting me to spend a wonderful day at Hollywood Studios.

It was a happy coincidence to get an invite to get to enjoy Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy at Disney’s Hollywood Studios while my mother in law was visiting. I was so excited to be able to show her all the fun things that Hollywood Studios has to offer. I’m always so happy getting to check out the different sections of the park- so much to see and do.

Plus, it would be so fun for her to get to experience it with Autumn and Hunter. Disney with your grand kids is always so much fun.

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Brownie Bottom Fluffy Cheesecake with a Homemade Strawberry Sauce

March 27, 2019

Brownie Bottom Fluffy Cheesecake with a Homemade Strawberry Sauce is made with a boxed brownie mix, no-bake cheesecake filling, and a quick sauce with fresh strawberries is simple but delightfully delicious!

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Do you have a style? How would you describe your style? I keep thinking of that since I don’t think I have one. Well, nothing that I can specifically pinpoint. I love what I feel comfortable in (duh!) so it can really vary depending on my mood and what I am doing. But the style I love the most is what you would call “preppy”.

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Mascarpone Mashed Potatoes with Crispy Shallots

March 25, 2019

Mascarpone Mashed Potatoes with Crispy Shallots- Enjoy rich creamy, cheesy mashed potatoes with crispy shallots. It’s a wonderful combination of flavors & textures. Those salty crunchy shallots on top are the perfect finishing touch.

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Did you see that Dictionary.com Twitter account tweeted that Gif is pronounced with a soft G?!?!?!

I am excited about this because I am in the ‘JIF’ camp. Not the hard G camp. Nope nope nope!!!! I basically feel vindicated in this tweet. I know that people will disagree with me, but when the creator of Gifs, says it’s with a soft G… then it’s with a soft G, damn it!!!

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Homemade Strawberry Sorbet

March 22, 2019

This mouthwatering Homemade Strawberry Sorbet is the perfect fresh strawberry treat to enjoy this summer. The touch of lemon gives it a pop of flavor to finish it off.

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Apparently, a lot of food blogs were sorta hacked yesterday and were redirecting their site visitors to porn sites. Fun times!

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10 Reasons to go to a Red Sox Spring Training Game

March 7, 2019

10 Reasons to go to a Red Sox Spring Training Game- you’ll have a blast enjoying a Sox game while enjoying some fun in the sun!

Nellie’s Free Range Eggs, the official egg of the Boston Red Sox, graciously invited me to attend a Red Sox spring training game. This post is sponsored by Nellie’s Free Range Eggs, but all opinions are mine.

I lived in Boston from August ’03 to February ’16, so I had so much fun watching Red Sox games, attending them, and celebrating their wins. I had some great views of the World Series Championship parades from my office’s windows. When I moved to Boston I wasn’t much of a baseball fan, but when I left for Tampa, I was a big Red Sox fan. It’s in the water up there. You just can’t resist it.

Although I am in Tampa now, I am not far from seeing them play. The Red Sox play in the Grapefruit league, so they play their ‘home’ spring training games in Ft. Meyers, FL. That’s about 2 hours South of Tampa.

Nellie’s Free Range Eggs, recently became the official egg of the Boston Red Sox, as they can power up the players and the fans with healthy eggs. They recently invited me to attend the Red Sox spring training game against the New York Yankees. It was the perfect game to attend! It was the World Series Champ’s first pre-season game (besides the traditional Red Sox vs Northeastern game) against the Yankees!!! PLUS, they beat the Yankees!

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Fresh Harvest’s Champagne Brunch- Seminole Hard Rock Casino & Hotel: Tampa, FL

March 4, 2019

Fresh Harvest’s Champagne Brunch is the perfect place to enjoy bottomless mimosas while dining on food from around the world. Leave happy & full!

Tampa’s Seminole Hard Rock Casino & Hotel graciously hosted us for Fresh Harvest’s Champagne Brunch.

The first Sunday of the month is dedicated to my Mom’s Brunch with my friends. We hold this spot in our busy calendars so that we can get together to reconnect, gossip, drink some great cocktails, and stuff ourselves silly with some awesome food.

We recently enjoyed brunching at Fresh Harvest. The premier buffet spot in the Seminole Heard Rock Casino and Hotel is the perfect spot for brunch. It has something for everyone so it’s great for a crowd. You can kick off a day at the casino by enjoying brunch at Fresh Harvest. Or you can end your weekend stay at the hotel with a scrumptious brunch. It might just help you nurse that hangover while you celebrate your winnings. Or you can gather an awesome, hungry group of girl friends for a brunch. I think the bottomless champagne might be the perfect thing! Cheers!

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Stuffed Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

February 22, 2019

Stuffed Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies are the soft, and overloaded with peanut butter! They are a great treat for chocolate and PB addicts!

I’ve been staring at this post on an off for 2 hours. I have no idea what to write.

All I know is that I need to hit ‘Publish’ so that I can get these Stuffed Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies to you.

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Our Sloth Encounter at Wild Florida !

February 20, 2019

Everyone needs to pet a sloth at least once in life, and you can do it at Wild Florida. It’s so much fun and so memorable. Add this to your bucket list!

Wild Florida hosted us for a day of fun, getting to meet sloths and take an airboat ride.

My friend Brittany’s husband left for a deployment in the Middle East at the start of February. Any deployment is a big deal and a huge sacrifice for everyone involved. But this is a 14 month long deployment, so it really stinks. A whole year and then some. So, I was thinking that Brittany needed to do something fun to do to take her mind off the fact that she and the kids just said good bye to their Navy Captain.

Clearly, my idea of fun meant that I would need to ‘kidnap’ her for the day, to take her on an adventure.

She loves sloths the way that Kristen Bell loves sloths, so once I discovered Wild Florida and their really cool Sloth Experiences I knew that we needed to go!

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