What's New With Me

Happy Friday my lovelies!

This is my very first "What's New with You?" post linking up with Kristen and Gretchen. A little late to the party but better late than never. I post pretty often about my life's happenings and adventures so there's not much that goes unspoken here but perhaps I have a few new things to share today...

Das Boot

And not the fun kind that you drink German beer out of. More like the boot of doom. My right foot has been swelling up and in pain for a couple weeks now so I finally got it checked out yesterday. The results were that I have Tendonitis so this big bulky boot needs to be a part of my apparel for the next 2 weeks.

Fun Times

Since we've become Universal annual pass-holders, it's given us an opportunity to have fun on the weekends when no plans or obligations are attached. We have plans in the upcoming weekends to go back to the Mardi Gras Parade and catch some of the concerts at night.

Books

I have diagnosed myself with ADHD when it comes to sitting down and reading a book but Audible has opened up the perfect channel for me to "read" and I've been going through books like crazy. I finished reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck last week and I'm now onto a new adventure with Fifty Shades of Grey. Clearly there's no method to my book reading madness.

The Bestie

I'm counting down the days until the bestie will be here to visit me and go baby shopping - for her! We're hoping to find out the gender this week so I can start spoiling the little peanut rotten.

 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Universal Studios' Mardi Gras

Happy Fat Tuesday everyone! 

I actually have some Mardi Gras fun to share today since Orlando's Universal Studios has had their annual Mardi Gras festival going on since the beginning of February. I've been able to visit twice so far and I have plans to go a few more times with friends to catch some of the concerts post-parade.

In the Spring, Universal Studios brings the food and festivities of Bourbon Street to their theme park. The French Quarter Courtyard is where you go to grab some "N'awlin's style food and spirits". 

There are several booths selling beads, masks & other Mardi Gras party favors but I would skip that and catch all the beads they sling at the crowd during the parade.

 

When the sun starts to set, the parade begins with street performers, stilt walkers, colorful dancers and festive floats with people tossing out countless amount of beads into the crowd.

I apologize in advance for the blurry pictures. You can blame that on fast movement of the performers + trying to catch beads and enjoy the parade all at the same time.

 

You can view a short clip of the floats going by throwing out beads:

What a FUN night!
Between K and I, we probably caught about 20 beads and both agreed as we were walking to the car that the parade was WAY more fun than we expected.

After the parade, (mainly on the weekends) you can head over to the Music Stage to catch some big-name musicians live in concert. This one we haven't done yet but that will be changing in the upcoming weeks.

Weekend Happenings

 
We made it back to Universal Studios this weekend to catch the Mardi Gras parade which is going on for the next few weeks.

I spent most of Saturday morning doing online courses to become Google AdWords certified for my job.

After hours of "work", it was time to have some fun for the weekend. We started off at Islands of Adventure to go on a few rides and then went over to the French Quarter patio at Universal Studios.

Universal really does a great job at recreating Mardi Gras with the street parade and countless strands of beads being thrown into the crowd. Check back tomorrow (Fat Tuesday) for more details and pictures of the parade.

On Sunday morning I spent another 4 hours doing some AdWords courses and passed the final Assessment. The last step to becoming certified is doing a 2 hour test so I'm saving that for next weekend.

The rest of Sunday was spent:
 ~ Having homemade Eggs Benedict topped with salmon for brunch
~ An hour long massage in the afternoon for my back pain
~ Scoring my favorite girl scout cookies
~ Painting my nails with Essie's "Watermelon" for the toes and 'Lady Like" for the fingers.


Joining Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Favorite Products & Purchases

After a super busy work week, I could definitely use a little downtime so my brain and body can relax.

The flowers in the photo above are from Valentine's day. I've said it before, I'm not a huge sucker for flowers but if you really want to give me flowers, carnations are my absolute favorite. They last long and are inexpensive. It's been almost two weeks and they look just as vibrant as in the photo.

On to some fashion, beauty, and home decor favorites...

The President's Day sales last weekend had me browsing and shopping around for good deals. I wasn't really in the market for new clothes but I picked up a few pieces for work and play at Kohl's.

one  /  two  /  three  / four

I was on the hunt for a cute yet smallish backpack for traveling and finally chose this one. Earlier this week I shared all the fun adult backpacks that Target has on the shelves (or online) so it was a tough decision choosing the right one.

I compare Formula 10.0.6 skincare products to the NYX brand in terms of great value for price. I've been using the skin toner for a couple years now and it's my absolute favorite...with a $6 price tag.

 The mattifying moisturizer works wonders with oil-control in the Florida heat/humidity (the only thing is it doesn't contain SPF.)

The newest product to me is the 3-in-1 Wash + Scrub + Mask which exfoliates and fights blackheads. I tried this mask for first time over the weekend and my face felt silky soft and so clean afterwards.

Happy Friday and I hope you have the best weekend!

Fun Adult Backpacks

I recently decided I needed a small backpack not only for traveling but also for the theme parks so I can fit a sweater, snacks, a water bottle and so on in there. Target came to the rescue! When I saw all the cute styles they had on the shelves I didn't know where to begin. It was tough choosing just one but I summed it down to three favorites based on the durability of the material and of course cuteness.

My favorite three are in the top row below but I wanted to share all the other backpack styles I was tossing up between. I eventually decided on "the one" and purchased it for 25% off during the President's Day sales over the week.

one  /  two  /  three

four  /  five  /  six

seven  /  eight  /  nine


Which one is your favorite?

30 Minute Dinners | Tuna Casserole

Growing up my mom always used to make tuna casserole and when I stumbled on this similar but much easier recipe, I knew I had to give it a whirl.

Ingredients:

12 oz. egg noodles

13 oz. bag of frozen sweet peas

12 oz. can of tuna in water (drained)

1 small yellow onion, chopped

10 slices of Muenster Cheese

10 oz. can of Cream of Mushroom Soup

3/4 cup chicken broth

Ground black pepper to taste

Cooking Spray or butter for the casserole dish

 Toppings:

1/4 cup shredded cheese

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

What To Do:

Boil the egg noodles for 7-8 minutes and drain

Return noodles to the pot and add the sweet peas so they can defrost and chopped onions to get softened.

Put the pot back on the stove on low and add the cheese slices, drained tuna, cream of mushroom soup, chicken broth and black pepper to taste. Stir until the cheese is melted and everything is well blended together.

Set the oven to preheat fro 350 degrees.

Grease the baking dish with cooking spray or butter and then add the contents from the pot. 

Top with shredded cheese and bread crumbs,

Bake for 15 minutes.

Let the casserole cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!