This past weekend I went to my ten year high school reunion. Some days I wonder how it’s already been ten years and where did all the time go? Other days I think about everything that has taken place in my life for the past ten years and am honestly shocked it has only been that amount of time. As you all know I grew up must faster than the average person. Becoming a mother at a young teen age, raising children as a single mom and taking care of a child with special needs really aged me fast.
My ten year high school reunion was broken up into three events. Thanks to my good friends at GM Texas I was given the chance to ride in style driving a Metallic Orange Camaro with racing strips. Getting dressed up for the various events and driving this car just made me feel young and sexy. It also felt much more powerful than my small SUV that I normally drive. Which although I loved the feeling, I had to be careful to watch my speed. The new leather smell was intoxicating and the Camaro handled turns without feeling like the car is going to flip over like in my SUV. It was a very smooth ride for a sports car which surprised me. GM had to practically pry the keys out of my hand when they came to pick it up and I do believe I had some tears as they drove off down the road.
Friday Night: Fort Worth Club and Hyena’s
Friday night was the first event which was held at the Fort Worth Club in Downtown. It was nice to see some people that I hadn’t seen in over ten years. The location was kind of warm inside and they did not have valet parking which was surprising to me so it took us a little while to drive around and figure out which street the parking garage was off of. The reunion was held on the 12th floor and once security realized we were wondering around lost they announced to us over the intercom which was nice. We all took photos and enjoyed conversations reconnecting with our old peers.
After the reunion was over at the Fort Worth Club we all decided to walk over to Hyena’s which is a comedy club in Downtown Fort Worth. Although the show had already begun there is an area that is strictly a night club with pool tables, a bar and seating. One of the guys that went to school with us manages the place so he invited us all out with free cover and low cost drinks. Which was nice. We had a great time at the after party. Several more people showed up that weren’t able to make it to the Fort Worth Club. I played a couple of games of pool and lost but it was entertaining.
Saturday: Family Park Day and Rebellion Party at Aardvark Saturday morning the second event was kicked off at a park near our old high school. It was considered the family day so everyone could bring out their families to mingle. The main attraction was suppose to be Hot Air Balloon Lifts which Hot Air Balloon Rides are on my Life List so T and I had to attend for that. We were so excited but unfortunately a Hot Air Balloon Festival had come into town and the company wasn’t able to make it to our event. It was only a free offer if they were available so we couldn’t complain, too much.
Noah was with his grandparents for the weekend and Gabby wasn’t able to be talked into going with us to the park. So it was just T and I. When we first arrived she looked at me and said ‘mom I’m one of the only big kids here‘. I just looked at her and said ‘yes, T, your mom was a little too young to be having childrenwhen you were born.’ Just a nice reminder of being a teenage mom. I’m so glad I’m able to discuss openly with her about life. The weather was brutal hot. We watched the little kids jump in a bounce house and talked to old friends for hours. When we left the park a few of us took our kids to a local ice cream shop which was very nice and again, chatted for a couple of hours.
Saturday night was the Rebellion Party at Aardvark. The group of us that rode together had never been here before. It is a local bar that allows bands to play live music. We got to hear three different rock bands play. I played some more pool and almost won this time, if it wasn’t for me scratching on the 8 ball. But hey, I’m learning! There were people who came Saturday night that we didn’t see on Friday. Each event brought out a different crowd which was nice to see more new faces. I enjoyed hanging out with people I grew up with, some that are still great friends and some that I hadn’t seen in years.
After we left Aardvark we went to IHOP at 2 AM. Of course we were all sober which made it even more fun. Have you ever been at IHOP after a night club and/or bar closes? All the drunks were there. You know the kind… The ones who were spilling their secrets from the night to one another believing they were quiet when in reality they were announcing everything very loudly. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard. Plus eating pancakes at 3 AM was a nice treat I hadn’t done in a while.
The whole weekend was great and I’m very glad I attended all the events. It was nice getting back in touch with everyone. I’m still in awe that it’s been ten years since graduation. There were more photos from the night you can view in my Flickr Set.
T’s 13th birthday is not far away now. Her party is next Tuesday so we are finishing up last minute details. All the invitations went out this past week, thanks to Paperspring for helping me get a rush on them. Between all the traveling this month and taking on some more client work, planning a party has been hectic.
We were very pleased with her invitations. T helped me browse the Paperspring website for a design she liked. Surprisingly she chose a design that was originally created for a New Years Celebration invitation. Since all their cards are customizable we were able to switch out the wording and turn it into a birthday invite. Black and pink are two of her favorite colors and the beautiful chandeliers at the top just add a very nice touch.
After selecting the design on Paperspring I was able to customize every suggested wording in the template. You could change it completely around or just update your personal info, whichever was best. Of course I switched out the New Years Celebration message to say Tapanga’s 13th Birthday. After the card was finished I was given the option to view and confirm. During the confirmation process I even had to type in my initials to say ‘yes I do believe everything is correct & the way I want’ before ordering. Unfortunately I wasn’t paying close enough attention and made an error.
Can you see it? I didn’t even notice at first until looking a second time at the invitations. I wasn’t very happy with myself. I left the word ‘A’ in the top message. You are Cordially Invited to A Tapanga’s 13th Birthday. I know it’s totally my fault and my human error but other than that we love them. The black and white colors are very elegant for a birthday party and the pink adds some fun. Shopping on Paperspring.com was super easy. The delivery was right on time and I just love the quality of their products, especially considering I ordered the 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper.
One step closer to the party… I’m not ready for my daughter to turn 13 in just four short days. Am I?
Paperspring has given me the opportunity to offer one lucky reader a $50 gift certificate for their website. What a great way to get your own invites for the next party you plan or personalized note cards for every day use!
How to Enter:
Visit Paperspring.com and tell me what you would purchase with your $50 GC if you won
Suggest a quote for T’s 365 Days of Life and leave comment here confirming
Tweet this giveaway and leave permalink within comment
*Giveaway is open to all U.S. Residents 18+ Entries will be accepted until Saturday, July 31st midnight CST. Any and all comments after that time will not be counted towards giveaway entries. Reader must leave a method of contact within comment and must respond within 24 hours of contact, otherwise a new winner will be chosen. Random.org will be used to select a random winner from comments on this post.
Full Disclosure: Paperspring provided my daughter and I with a gift code in order to test out their site and review their invitations. All opinions shared in this post on the experience shopping on Paperspring.com as well as thoughts on their products are 100% mine.
I haven’t blogged much lately and it’s been a month since I wrote an update on my Happiness Project. However just because I’ve been busy doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about it and working towards it. June 23rd I traveled to the Riviera Maya to stay for five nights at an all inclusive resort with a good friend of mine. Staying at one of the most relaxing places I’ve ever been was a step in the right direction for my Happiness Project. I needed it.
I learned to shut off the outside world. I had no mobile service for five nights, gasp. I didn’t check emails for the first two days and the remainder of the time I only briefly looked online. I did no work and I even took an afternoon nap. Part of my Happiness Project is to get my priorities in order, find ways to relieve stress and re-evaluate myself to find what it truly is I want out of life. All in general to make myself happier.
Now I’m not going through a mid-life crisis, because let’s face it I’m not old enough. I’m not depressed, actually I’m generally pretty happy. I just feel like sometimes I’m going in a million different directions, I have a lot of stress in my life and several years ago my life changed that put me on a different path than what I had planned which ultimately changed all my goals. It’s taken me several years to accept, embrace, enjoy and realize I’ve changed along the way. This was the main reason I started my Happiness Project.
I’ve always considered myself a Multi-Tasker. Sometimes I wonder if this title is better described as having Adult ADD. I’m one of those people who always has a million things going on at once and double that amount in my thoughts. It was hard to shut this off while relaxing in the Riviera Maya. Matter of fact I took some time out to get a full body massage from the resort spa and realized my mind started drifting to all the things I needed to do instead of focusing on the relaxation from the massage. Immediately I remembered what I read by Elizabeth Irvine about staying in the present moment. That’s when I tried my best to clear my mind and started focusing on the pressure of the massage and how great it felt. Although this didn’t come naturally to me, I know how important it is as a mother to take that step back and clear my mind. It was exactly what I needed.
I did the same thing when laying on the beach. There was a Tropical Storm that blew in two days before we headed home. It didn’t honestly affect our trip very much. We did experience some rain but we were able to enjoy our vacation still. To be honest the storm caused the waves to be larger than I had ever witnessed which was pretty fascinating to me while a little scary at the same time. However, laying on the beach with my toes in the sand watching these giant waves crash down was peaceful. I loved every minute of it and wish I had more time to enjoy that scenery.
Happiness Project Lesson Learned: How to take time for myself, stay in the present moment, relax and rest. Traveling was just a bonus that made me even happier.
Confession: I have an obsession with flip flops. Dressy flip flops, casual flip flops and even flip flop house shoes. The above photo showing my flip flop tan line is not the result from an amazing tan I received while in the Riviera Maya. I believe my feet are permanently this color and have looked this way for over a year now.
T turns 13 on July 24th and we are planning a party for her birthday. To me turning 13 is a big deal, it’s when you become a teenager. It’s almost as big as the Sweet 16 and of course becoming a legal adult at age 21.
For her party Sweet Tomatoes is catering the food. We are so excited about this. Last week we had the chance to go enjoy lunch there and try out various foods to help in our decision process for the party planning. I believe we are going to go one more time before confirming our order. I created a short video of our trip to Sweet Tomatoes that I would love for you to see.
In celebration of T turning 13 not only will I be blogging all about our celebrations I am also hosting a giveaway for one lucky reader the chance to host their own party catered by Sweet Tomatoes. The winner will receive $250 worth of food from their local Sweet Tomatoes restaurant. Unfortunately Sweet Tomatoes is not yet located in all 50 states but they do have a full list of all their restaurants for you to find the closest to your home. Right now there are Sweet Tomatoes locations in the following states: TX, WA, OR, CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, KS, MO, IL, NC, GA & FL.
How to Enter:
Write a blog post on your own blog sharing your favorite birthday memory. Did you have a great 13th birthday party? Has your child already turned 13 and you did something special for them?Do you have the best birthday party planning tip for a teen party that you want to share? Write a blog post telling us all about the it and share with your readers what giveaway you are entering by providing a link back to this blog post as well as to Sweet Tomatoes. Leave a comment with the permalink to your entry post so we can read your story.
Additional Entries:
Tweet this giveaway, leave permalink in comment
Share this giveaway with your Facebook friends, leave permalink in comment
Subscribe to MommaDJane RSS feed, leave email address in comment
Include a video in your blog post about giveaway, leave Vimeo/YouTube link in comment
*Giveaway is open to all U.S. Residents 18+ Entries will be accepted until Saturday, July 31st midnight CST. Any and all comments after that time will not be counted towards giveaway entries. Reader must leave a method of contact within comment and must respond within 24 hours of contact, otherwise a new winner will be chosen. Random.org will be used to select a random winner from comments on this post.
*Full Disclosure: Sweet Tomatoes provided lunch for T and I to taste their food and help with the decision process of selecting catering for her party. Sweet Tomatoes is providing the catering for T’s birthday party as a courtesy for me hosting this giveaway. All opinions shared are 100% those of the blog owner, this is not a sponsored post.
For Noah’s birthday he got the Toy Story 3 Lego set with Buzz Lightyear, Woody and an Alien. My grandma also gave him the Jessie and Bulls-Eye set. It was all so cute and he loved it but it wasn’t enough. He wanted more Duplo Legos to go with his sets. I was given the opportunity to pick out an item to review from the Constructive Playthings website for being part of their Ambassador program. I chose the Construction Truck Set: dump truck and tractor.
Noah and I have had so much fun playing with them. He scoops up the other Legos and dumps them in piles. He lets his other Duplo compatible Legos such as Woody and Jessie drive the trucks. We have played out several scenarios using the trucks and they roll and work great. They are also very durable considering Noah is all boy and enjoys crashing them.
The dump truck comes apart in two pieces. We took the back off and built up our own cargo with other Legos. He loved using the tractor to scoop up the Alien from Toy Story 3.
I’m giving away one $50 gift card to Constructive Playthings to one lucky reader.
How to Enter: (one entry per comment)
Visit Constructive Playthings and tell me what you would spend your $50 gift card on if you won
Additional Entries: Each entry requires a separate comment on this blog post to be counted
Blog about this giveaway including link to this blog post
Don’t forget you can always save 15% on all your orders at Constructive Playthings by clicking the button below or in my sidebar. I am so excited to be part of their Ambassador program and have these great offers to provide for my readers. Constructive Playthings has a nice variety of educational toys and developmental toys. I can’t wait to hear about the ones you like best in comments below.
*Giveaway is open to all U.S. & Canada Residents 18+ Entries will be accepted until Friday, July 16th midnight CST. Any and all comments after that time will not be counted towards giveaway entries. Reader must leave a method of contact within comment and must respond within 24 hours of contact, otherwise a new winner will be chosen. Random.org will be used to select a random winner from comments on this post.
My family loves Sea World. Actually we visit about two times a year and Noah would go weekly if he was given the chance. We were invited to a blogger event by Visit San Antonio a couple of weekends ago and I thought it would make a good post to share some tips with you when visiting Sea World that I have learned.
Let’s call this the Dos and Don’ts of Sea World.
DO plan to stay all day, especially during the summer. There are quite a few shows to see as well as rides for both little kids and big kids. You also might want to visit the water park at no additional cost that is inside Sea World so taking a couple of hours for a break during the hot day to cool down is a great idea. Bring swimsuits!
DO NOT sit in the Splash Zone unless you want to get wet and smell like fish. I know the row of benches marked Splash Zone goes up fairly high, I believe 16 rows if I remember correctly. Trust me, this isn’t for show effect to make you think the splash is larger than what it is, it truly can splash that high. Remember the shows include sea mammals which of course smell like sea mammals.
DO sit in the Splash Zone during the last show of the day if you would like to get splashed for fun, especially during the Shamu show. My oldest loves to get wet and when we are leaving the park she doesn’t mind smelling like fish for the short drive to the hotel. Don’t feel bad allowing your children to sit up front while you sit a little higher, as long as they are old enough to stay put, you can keep an eye on them from your seat and they usually get a lot more excited about Shamu soaking them than you do.
DO wear water proof mascara, sunscreen and drink lots of water. You will sweat during the summer heat in Texas.
When your child no longer wants his/her piece of cotton candy in the middle of a show, DO NOT place it in your lap thinking it can gently rest there until end of show to dispose of, it WILL melt on your capris and cause a very sticky mess.
DO purchase the Quick Queue passes for older kids and adults that want to ride all the rides in the park. During the summer months Sea World is very busy and these passes work wonders to skip lines.
DO NOT purchase Quick Queue passes for younger children. They do not work on kiddie rides, except for the Shamu Express kid coaster.
DO purchase the all day meal passes for adults at $29.95 and children at $13.95 if you plan to stay all day and eat/drink all meals for the day at park. The wrist bands allow you to get meals, sides, desserts and drinks all day. I highly recommend even going through the line to get a free bottle of water outside of your regular meals times. Take full advantage of the all access pass and you’ll save money in the long run.
DO NOT purchase a separate dessert if you have the all day meal pass arm band. The arm band includes one meal and one side or dessert with drink, each time through line. However you can purchase your meal, side and drink. Then eat, enjoy and go through line again for dessert. It’s honestly no hassle and if you pay for all access pass it’s silly to pay for additional food. My kids loved getting the fruit during the day for snacks in between meals and this is also included in the restaurants, you do not have to always get a meal.
DO purchase a tray of fish to feed the dolphins. It’s worth the extra cost for the experience. Feeding the dolphins is a lot of fun and it’s my son’s favorite activity. If you do it like the trainer shows then you are even given a chance to pet them. We were able to capture some great photos during the feedings as well and the dolphins are eager for the attention and food. It’s wonderful! Check the feeding times as soon as you arrive at the park, usually they are every hour starting at 1:00 PM but this does vary. The line can get long so I advise you arrive early to scheduled feeding time.
DO HAVE FUN!
Full Disclosure: My family and I were invited to visit San Antonio and Sea World for a social media event. We were provided with complimentary tickets to Sea World as well as Quick Queue passes and all access meal passes in order to appreciate the full experience of the park. All opinions in this blog post are 100% mine and this is not a sponsored post.
I can’t believe my baby boy is already 4 years old. Since I share joint custody of Noah with his father, I had his birthday party last week since this weekend was his dad’s weekend. Nice for Noah since he gets two parties.
Noah is a huge Toy Story fan and just loves his Buzz Lightyear. His whole party was Toy Story 3 themed and I believe just about everyone bought him Toy Story presents. I think I could open my own little Toy Story store with all the movie themed items we have now. My mom was nice enough to take tons of photos during his party and I put most of them on Flickr to share. My whole family came so all of Noah’s cousins were there. They did slip and slide, pinata, cake and presents. It was a lot of fun.
I still can’t get over the fact my kids are growing up. At least for now Noah still let’s me rock him, cuddle up to watch movies and hold hands. I’m cherishing those moments while they last before I start hearing ‘mom, you’re embarrassing me!’.
I love you, Noah and happy birthday Momma’s little man!
MommaDJane is a single, work from home mother of three. After being thrown from the corporate world to care for her daughter with disabilities she began to write. Thus started MommaDJane's Blog.
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Friday night was the first event which was held at the Fort Worth Club in Downtown. It was nice to see some people that I hadn’t seen in over ten years. The location was kind of warm inside and they did not have valet parking which was surprising to me so it took us a little while to drive around and figure out which street the parking garage was off of. The reunion was held on the 12th floor and once security realized we were wondering around lost they announced to us over the intercom which was nice. We all took photos and enjoyed conversations reconnecting with our old peers.
After the reunion was over at the Fort Worth Club we all decided to walk over to Hyena’s which is a comedy club in Downtown Fort Worth. Although the show had already begun there is an area that is strictly a night club with pool tables, a bar and seating. One of the guys that went to school with us manages the place so he invited us all out with free cover and low cost drinks. Which was nice. We had a great time at the after party. Several more people showed up that weren’t able to make it to the Fort Worth Club. I played a couple of games of pool and lost but it was entertaining.
Saturday morning the second event was kicked off at a park near our old high school. It was considered the family day so everyone could bring out their families to mingle. The main attraction was suppose to be Hot Air Balloon Lifts which Hot Air Balloon Rides are on my Life List so T and I had to attend for that. We were so excited but unfortunately a Hot Air Balloon Festival had come into town and the company wasn’t able to make it to our event. It was only a free offer if they were available so we couldn’t complain, too much.
Saturday night was the Rebellion Party at Aardvark. The group of us that rode together had never been here before. It is a local bar that allows bands to play live music. We got to hear three different rock bands play. I played some more pool and almost won this time, if it wasn’t for me scratching on the 8 ball. But hey, I’m learning! There were people who came Saturday night that we didn’t see on Friday. Each event brought out a different crowd which was nice to see more new faces. I enjoyed hanging out with people I grew up with, some that are still great friends and some that I hadn’t seen in years.
Have you ever been at IHOP after a night club and/or bar closes? All the drunks were there. You know the kind… The ones who were spilling their secrets from the night to one another believing they were quiet when in reality they were announcing everything very loudly. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard. Plus eating pancakes at 3 AM was a nice treat I hadn’t done in a while.
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