Last week I was invited to an evening reception at T-Hee Greetings with numerous other DFW bloggers where they served refreshments and hosted some fun chatter!  I had a great time hanging out with women that are not only local bloggers but those I consider friends.  It was a nice couple of hours away from the house.

First I must say that T-Hee Greetings is a super cute store filled with so many amazing things.  I truly had fun just browsing all their products and making a long wish list.  We were challenged to find 5 of our favorite items and I had many stand out.  One particular that I forgot to take a photo of was the adorable baby bibs that were handmade and super soft.  They had the zebra print with custom lettering on the front.  Oh my gosh it made me want to have a little girl just so I could buy them.  What? My youngest is 5… I have baby fever, what can I say…

I love Halloween and T-Hee Greetings had a ton of Halloween decorations.  Everything from scary to fun and festive.  Perfect decorations for Halloween parties for kids and those adult party options as well.  Lots of fun themed items to assist with your party planning: party invites, paper goods, table decor, party favors, etc.  Anything you could possibly need, they have it.

Speaking of Halloween I love these.  I actually purchased the one with the spiders on the right.  I just had to have it for our front bathroom.  They are hilarious clings for the toilet lid.  So when the lid is closed it actually looks like it’s open and there are spiders crawling out of it.  The 3D effect is so realistic I knew the kids would love it.  We enjoy decorating for Halloween and this is very easy to remove, just peel and stick.

I’m like a total kid when it comes to being fascinated with stuff.  I absolutely loved these notepads.  They were magnetic!  How cool is that, right? You could open the outside flap to see the notepad on the inside and then it would snap back shut.  They are so trendy and the perfect size to fit right inside your purse.  These would make great stocking stuffers for teen girls.

I sure wish we had this when I was in high school.  This was one of those times when I say things like… ‘they make everything’.  Wallpaper to hang on the inside of a locker, a super soft rug that is the exact size of the bottom of a standard locker and even a chandelier to hang from the top.  It sticks on the ceiling of the locker and it turns on with a little light switch.  Then of course you can’t forget the organizers that hang on the side and the mirror to make sure you look good between classes.  Each item was sold separately so you could purchase them as gifts or get the whole locker remodel.  It all came in multiple patterns and colors as well to please any teen girl.

I have a habit of walking into a store and seeing a hundred items that I would purchase for my kids or other people as gifts.  I love shopping for others and will usually have ideas of what I’m buying for Christmas months in advance.  However when I saw all the personalized office supplies I was drooling.  I love them!  My office is done in green and white and these would be perfect.  I want them all for myself and I want every item with my initials.  What would I use it all for? Well, I’m not sure but it looks awesome and I think I need it.

T-Hee Greetings
6465 E Mockingbird Lane, Suite 314
Dallas, TX 75214
LIKE T-Hee Greetings on Facebook

If you are in the DFW area I highly recommend you visit their store.  It’s fab!

Thanks to Texas Holly for the invite and for letting me use her amazing photography skills in my post.

In June I was invited to the California Strawberries Dallas Blogger Reception where I not only got to learn all about how strawberries are grown, picked and delivered to us here in Texas but I also was given the chance to taste all things strawberry.  It was wonderful!

The evening started off with our drink of choice and I went with the Strawberry Basil Balsamic Mojito.  Which was completely delicious.

Strawberry Basil Balsamic Mojito

Ingredients
18 cups stemmed and sliced California strawberries
1 ½ cups brown sugar
12 limes, quartered, pith removed
96 medium-sized fresh basil leaves
60 ounces 10 Cane Rum
Ice
Soda water
Balsamic vinegar (the best you can afford)
24 strawberries or basil sprigs, for garnish

Directions
For each serving, to order, in a strong pint glass, muddle 3/4 cup strawberries, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 lime quarters and 4 basil leaves until juicy. Add 2 1/2 ounces rum. Fill glass with ice and a splash of soda. Stir; add another splash of soda. Top with a dash of vinegar. Garnish with a strawberry or a sprig of basil.
24 servings

All the food was yummy.  It was a pleasant surprise to see all the dishes you can make with strawberries.  I never would have thought of some of the ways they used strawberries such as in salsa…  Pretty amazing actually.  My favorite main course was the Grilled Mahi-Mahi Tacos with Strawberry Salsa.  It was my first time to try a fish taco and I was blown away at how much I liked them.  I can not wait to prepare them at home, I know the kids will even enjoy them.

Grilled Mahi-Mahi Tacos with Strawberry Salsa

Ingredients
Strawberry Salsa:
1 cup diced fresh California strawberries
1/2 cup diced mango
1/4 cup diced papaya
1/4 cups diced pineapple
2 tablespoons diced red onion
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 1/2 teaspoons rice vinegar
Salt and black pepper
Cayenne pepper

Avocado Sour Cream:
1/4 cup diced avocado
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice

Chipotle Sour Cream:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 chipotle in adobo
Salt and white pepper
Granulated garlic

1 pound mahi-mahi, cut into 2-ounce pieces
Salt and black pepper
Ground cumin, ground coriander and ancho chile powder
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas, heated
8 (6-inch) flour tortillas, heated
2 cups shredded napa cabbage

Directions
To make Strawberry Salsa, gently mix together all ingredients; season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. To make Avocado Sour Cream, blend all ingredients in food processor or with stick blender. To make Chipotle Sour Cream, blend sour cream and chipotle in food processor or with stick blender; season with salt, pepper and granulated garlic. Season mahi-mahi with salt, pepper, cumin, coriander and ancho chile powder. On gas or charcoal grill, cook fish until it offers no resistance to the point of a small, sharp knife. Place 1 corn tortilla on top of each flour tortilla. Top each corn tortilla with 1/4 cup cabbage, 1 piece mahi-mahi and 1/4 cup Strawberry Salsa. Serve Avocado Sour Cream and Chipotle Sour Cream on the side.
Makes 4 servings.

The dessert was to die for as well.  Not your ordinary strawberry shortcake.  Strawberry Shortcake Sliders…

The event was a success and the strawberry recipes were a hit among all the other mom bloggers.  It was great getting together and seeing everyone again and being able to sample some new foods. The California Strawberry Tour is going to continue to other major cities and you can follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #CAStrawberryTour.

The California Strawberry Commission also gave us a nice recipe book to take home and try out with our families.  The bonus is, they gave me an extra copy to giveaway to one lucky reader here.

How to Enter:

Leave a comment telling me which strawberry recipe is your favorite or which recipe you would most like to try.

Additional Entries: {one entry per comment}

• Tweet the below tweet and leave permalink in comment

Enter the #giveaway hosted by @MommaDJane to #win a California Strawberry Recipe Book http://ow.ly/5ykgQ #castrawberrytour

• Follow @MommaDJane on Twitter
• Follow @CAStrawberries on Twitter
• Like MommaDJane Blog on Facebook
• Like CA Strawberries on Facebook
• Subscribe to MommaDJane RSS Feed

*Giveaway is open to all U.S. Residents 18+ Entries will be accepted until Wednesday, July 13th at 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: The California Strawberry Commission provided two recipes books at no cost, one for me to keep and one to giveaway.  All opinions in this post are 100% mine.

Extra special thanks to Texas Holly for helping host this event, to the California Strawberry Commission for the amazing content and yummy food and to David Grotto for his wealth of knowledge on nutrition.

Congratulations April, you won the copy of the California Strawberries Recipe Book!

In celebration of Cars 2 hitting theaters June 24th State Farm partnered up with Disney Pixar to bring the Agents on a Mission Cars 2 tour to multiple big cities. Lightening McQueen, Mater and Finn come out to meet the kids and pose for photo opps. A fun Cars 2 theme bounce house obstacle course is setup for the kids to have some extra fun.

State Farm is giving away 18,000 prizes to represent the 18,000 agents they have. The State Farm and Disney partnership to promote the launch of Cars 2 is a great combination. Both companies support families and State Farm believes in driving safety. What better way to reach that audience than through the promotion of the most popular cars related family movie?

The kids had so much fun.  The temperature was a little hot out but luckily they were handing out free cups of ice water to everyone.  The kids came home with a fun Cars 2 character magnet and keychain and we were able to download our free photos from State Farm online.

Even though Gabby and Noah have seen Mater and Lightening McQueen before at Disney World, they were extremely excited to see them again and absolutely giddy about meeting Finn for the first time.  They haven’t stopped talking about the new movie that comes out next week for months.

You can enter the sweepstakes even if you didn’t make it out to your local city event.  Just visit the Cars 2 sweepstakes entry form online.  The event was free to the public and no purchase is required to enter the sweepstakes.

Disney Family has several really fun Cars theme crafts as well as some yummy recipes for treats your kids will love. I can’t wait to try some of these out for Noah’s birthday party in a couple of weeks. Above are a few of the crafts I know will give us some indoor fun this summer when it’s too hot to play outside. Not only do they look fun to make but also very easy with free printable templates.  You can click on each image separately to see the directions on how to make that craft or recipe. There are 20 Cars 2 crafts in all on Disney Family.

You can view all our photos from the Cars 2 event in DFW on my Disney Pixar Cars 2 Flickr set.

Full Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post.  All opinions are my own.  I shared our Disney Pixar Cars experience because my family loves all things Disney, especially this movie.

Last Friday I was invited by The Motherhood to try out Wendy’s new Pick 2 menu.  I took my two good friends Amanda and Amber along for lunch and met up with 10 other DFW Bloggers.  It was great to see everyone again and chat while eating lunch.

Wendy’s new Pick 2 menu consists of four Salads, Baked Potato, Chili, Chicken Go Wrap, Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, Frosty, Small Soda and Bottled Water.  You can pick two items for only $4.99.  I tried the Spicy Chicken Caesar Salad with a Dr. Pepper {shown above}.  It was delicious.  The chicken had just the right amount of spice and the Caesar dressing was very tasty and not too tangy like some Caesar dressing can be.

I can’t wait to go back and try their Baja Salad with a Frosty.  It just looks delish!  Plus $4.99 for a tasty lunch with a healthy twist is a great deal if you ask me.

Full Disclosure: Thanks to The Motherhood and Wendy’s I was provided free lunch along with lunch for my friends at the Richardson, Texas Wendy’s location.  I was also compensated for my time to attend the event and share my experience, all opinions are 100% mine.

Image via Wikipedia

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.

In May I was invited by Quaker Chewy to attend the Afterschool Rocks concert featuring Miranda Cosgrove from iCarly.  This was Miranda Cosgrove’s very first concert and my girls and I were thrilled to experience it.  On our way to the concert we jammed in the car listening to T’s iPod of Miranda Cosgrove songs since we were already fans.  During the concert we were surrounded by 200 screaming kids and watched Miranda perform 6 songs.

Being a teen mom myself I am very impressed with the Afterschool Alliance initiative.  A few facts to chew on:

• On school days, the hours between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. are the peak hours for juvenile crime and experimentation with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and sex.
• Teens who do not participate in afterschool programs are nearly three times more likely to skip classes than teens who do participate.  They are also three times more likely to use marijuana or other drugs, and they are more likely to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and engage in sexual activity.
• Parents with children in afterschool programs are less stressed, have fewer unscheduled absences and are more productive at work.
• In communities today, 15.1 million children take care of themselves after the school day ends.
• Just 8.4 million children are in afterschool programs—but the parents of another 18.5 million children would sign up if a program were available.

Can you believe those facts?! I mean they all make sense but when they are written out like that it makes you think, doesn’t it?  I fall into those statistics.  I was a mother at the age of 15.  Yes, I had sex before I was married and had a child before I was even considered an adult.  I can say in our area there aren’t as many afterschool programs as I’d like to see.  Most of them are extremely costly and I for one know how important they truly are.

Quaker Chewy has joined together with the Afterschool Alliance to ensure that all children have access to affordable, quality afterschool programs.  Afterschool programs keep kids safe, inspire them to learn and help working families. The Afterschool Alliance works with the Administration, the U.S. Congress, governors, mayors, and advocates across the country. Its network spans more than 26,000 afterschool programs.

During our meet and greet with Miranda Cosgrove we were given the chance to sit at a table with her and ask a few questions. She was so sweet and answered our questions well. I must say I was impressed. Gabby and T were both completely star struck. Gabby wanted me to tell her she liked her boots because she was too nervous to say it herself. Then all of a sudden she worked up the nerve and blurted out ‘I LIKE YOUR BOOTS‘ really quick and loud right in the middle of me asking Miranda a question. We all just giggled. I knew T wanted to tell her how much she enjoys iCarly and how she loves her clothing style so at one point I looked at T and said ‘did you have something you’d like to say to Miranda?‘ and all T could do was stutter ‘I really liked your concert‘. She was so nervous that it was difficult to just get that one sentence out. She went from being red from embarrassment to pale white like she’d seen a ghost. I’ve honestly never seen my daughters speechless and yet I found it amusing. The whole drive home T was still trying to grasp the reality of it all. I thought she was going to faint she was so worked up.

My questions to Miranda Cosgrove:

How do you feel about working with a large brand like Quaker Chewy to promote the afterschool initiative?

I feel blessed to have the opportunity to support the Afterschool Rocks program.  When growing up I was very involved in after school programs such as music and sports.  Since I was lucky enough to have these opportunities growing up I didn’t know what it was like to not have them.  Now that I realize not everyone gets those chances I understand how important it is. ~Miranda

What do you think when you see little kids wearing your picture on their shirts or sporting various iCarly logo merchandise?  So in other words, how does it feel to have so many fans?

It’s still just all so amazing.  Each time feels just like the very first time.  I enjoy when my fans come up to me and tell me their favorite iCarly episode.  I really love it when someone comes up to me and says how much they like my style because I spend hours looking through catalogs with my stylists picking out clothes. ~Miranda

Miranda also complemented T’s blue highlights and Gabby’s pink tutu.  She was very well spoken, polite and down to earth.  She was patient with Gabby giving her several hugs and took her time posing for photos with us.  I love seeing famous people put their time and talent towards something good.

View all photos from our event on my Flickr set.

Full Disclosure: Quaker Chewy allowed us to be guests to Miranda Cosgrove’s concert in order to learn more about their Afterschool Rocks initiative.  Miranda Cosgrove’s quotes in response to our questions were not recorded or written down during time of interview and were written in this post based on my memory.  The words may not be exact as she said them but the concept is the same.

I was so proud when I saw this video. I already told everyone about my great Mother’s Day thanks to Chevy. This video was just released and I’m so proud to share. The kids at the Texas Rangers Event were given a chance to do an interview on video for their Mothers. Watch below to what T had to say about me. Yes, I did get teary eyed when watching. I think my cousin, Brooke, said it well when she commented on Facebook “it’s selfless, nothing mentioned about what you did for her, it’s about her sister and what you do for them as a mom“!

This Mother’s Day I was given several memories that I’ll cherish forever, thanks to Chevy Texas.  The weekend didn’t start off that well with Gabby going into the hospital yet again and honestly I didn’t plan to do anything for Mother’s Day once I realized she was going to be in the hospital still.  Chevy Texas had invited my family and I out for a tailgate party at the Texas Rangers Ballpark to celebrate Mother’s Day Rangers style.  Tapanga and Noah were really looking forward to the whole event so I decided to force myself out for just a few hours to enjoy some mommy time with them and I’m glad I did.

The tailgate party started with the children being able to pick out a flower for me.  There was lots of entertainment from Noah driving a remote control Camaro, having our photo taken in front of the new Camaros, playing bean bag toss, T being interviewed on video sharing her favorite things about mom and hot dogs, cracker jacks and chips being served.  Some kids were even playing Wii from the back of an Equinox and creating cards for their Mothers at a table setup.  I was able to see some of the other bloggers there and even meet my friend Amy‘s kids.

My great friend, Alan went with us and I think I speak for all of us when I say we had a wonderful time.  Once it was time to see the Rangers play, the Chevy Texas crew gave us rides from the tailgate party parking lot over to the stadium in several of the Chevy vehicles.  We rode in the Tahoe, one of my favorites!

Thanks to Chevy we were able to get in to watch the game and were also given vouchers that we could spend in the ballpark.  Noah got a foam finger of course and T got a Rangers shirt.  This was Noah’s very first Texas Rangers baseball game to attend.  He loved it!  He always enjoys playing baseball at home so watching the pros play live was exciting for him.  He was also enjoying cracking all the peanuts and making me eat them.  Unfortunately we couldn’t stay for the whole game since we wanted to get back to the hospital.  But the one hour we saw was memories made for a lifetime.

Thank you, Chevy Texas for a wonderful Mother’s Day gift.  Involving the whole family at the event was a hit and spending time seeing all the cars while having fun was great!

To see all of our photos from Mother’s Day view my Flickr set.

Full Disclosure: We received complementary tickets to the Texas Rangers Baseball game and Arlington Ballpark vouchers for attending the Chevy Texas tailgate party.  This event was sponsored by Texas Chevy, however all opinions in this blog post are 100% mine.

{Dwan, Liz, Erica and Donna}

Photo taken at Mom 2 Summit which was an amazing conference.  We laughed and considered ourselves the Chevy Bliss ladies because as you know Liz, Erica and myself drove the Chevy Equinox to Blissdom in February that was provided by GM of Texas thanks to Donna.  Donna wasn’t able to attend the Blissdom conference but we did all meet up together at Mom 2 Summit.  I just love these ladies!

So much for a wordless post, huh?  Oh well, I occasionally break the rules.

I was contacted this week and asked if I wanted to volunteer at the Mom 2.0 Summit conference next week.  The conference is held in Houston and since I am in Texas as well it’s not too far of a drive.  I have wanted to attend this conference so bad but didn’t think I could swing it this year.  This great opportunity opened the door for that and I can’t wait.  Lizzy is going with me so I’ll get to share the drive with her which is exciting.  We had so much fun last week on our drive to Blissdom.  We are also slumber partying with Rachel in our hotel room for two nights.

I will be working the registration desk so if you are going to be there then don’t forget to stop by and say hello!  I can’t wait to meet all the wonderful attendees and hear the amazing speakers.