Away They Go!

Kali and Jesus took two of my refurbished vintage train cases to the South Florida Tattoo Expo this weekend. I've never sold one before so I'm a little bit nervous, , hope they find a new home!



We went to visit them last night, walked around the Expo admiring all of the amazing tattoo artwork and other crafts. I am in awe of the talent out there!

Kali was busy working at her booth..



while Lily and friends enjoyed the entertainment..



and I did a little bit of shopping! Are these gorgeous or what?!



We've had a busy weekend so far, looking forward to a quiet Sunday of movies, pool time, and maybe a little bit of craftiness.

Have a fabulous day!


Rapunzel~

Sun-Day!

Hello, there! How's everyone's weekend so far? Beren and I have had a wonderful couple of days, good balance of work and play.

As I mentioned, Friday night we went to a local biker bar to celebrate their 36th Anniversary. We had a few drinks, did some people-watching, and enjoyed listening to the band.








Yesterday we met some friends at a restaurant/bar so that Beren could get his weekly dose of pool-playing; the man isn't happy if he's away from the table for too long! Last night we hung out at home, relaxing in the hot tub...ahhh....

Today we worked off some calories in the garden, I made sure to be right there supervising My Man while he was trimming the trees as he can get quite carried away with those power tools!



I've been doing quite a bit of cooking this weekend, both for myself and others. A workmate is going through a tough time, her 5 month old baby had open-heart surgery this week, so the women in the office did what women do when there's trouble. We cooked for her!

I made her some lasagna...



and cupcakes...



added a bagged salad kit and a loaf of bread, and delivered it to her door last evening. She was so appreciative, sent me a message on Facebook saying it was so good, they had it again for lunch today. For a girl who hates leftovers, this is high praise indeed!

Because there was no way I was gonna dip my fork into that delicious-but-fat-filled dish, I put together a lighter version for myself and my family today.

This is an old Weight Watcher recipe that I made years ago but hadn't saved, so happy that Gina posted it on her awesome website!

I had some baby portobella mushrooms on hand so I tossed them into the food processor and added them to the cheese/spinach mixture for more "meaty" taste and substance. I can't wait to dig into this tonight!



Spinach Lasagna Rolls
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 9 • Serving Size: 1 roll • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 6 ww pts
Calories: 224.9 • Fat: 5.1 g • Fiber: 3.4 g • Protein: 13.0 g • Carbs: 31.5

9 lasagna noodles, cooked
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
15 oz fat free ricotta cheese (I like Polly-o)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
salt and fresh pepper
32 oz tomato sauce
9 tbsp (about 3 oz) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Ladle about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.

Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over noodle. Roll carefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.

Ladle sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with 1 tbsp mozzarella cheese. Put foil over baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts. Makes 9 rolls.

To serve, ladle a little sauce on the plate and top with lasagna roll.

Well, now that dinner's prepared and ready to pop into the oven later, I'm going to don my bathing suit and head out to the pool. It's a hot, sunny day here in the Sunshine State!

Have a Beauty-Full Day,

Rapunzel~

Happiness Is...

I haven't been posting much lately, just really busy with work and going back & forth to the Ormond Beach house. Here's a few pics from the past couple of weeks and what I've been up to.

It actually got cold enough In Ormond to cause the trees to shed their leaves, something we never see in South Florida!



Martini Hour at Hyde Park, love the $4.00 Cosmos!



We met this group of Swiss tourists, had a blast hanging out with them at the Ocean Deck!



They told Beren that his last name is very common in Switzerland which was interesting because his grandfather did indeed trace his lineage all the way back to that country. I think I can see the resemblance here!



Kali & Kevin are up visiting this weekend, so nice to show them around town for the first time! We took them to Miltop Tavern where Kevin enjoyed a drink called Swamp Water. Ewww, I hope it tasted better than it looked!



In honor of Valentines Day, Beren bought me these lovely flowers; don't they look just perfect on the dining room table?



Kali & Kevin spent the afternoon baking cookies while I made cupcakes





Here we are heading out to the local country bar, Beren wants to take line dance lessons so he can keep up with the other cowboys, lol, but I'm not sure I'm quite up for that!



Back at home, Jackson hops up on my altar every morning, I think he's visiting Salem



I started a new kitchen experiment you can read more about it here on my other blog.



Hope you all are having a wonderful long weekend, Happy Valentine's Day!

Is it Monday Already?

I am dog tired today, dear readers, trying to figure out how to get the caffeine into my system more quickly than my mug of java provides. *yawn* You see, Beren and I had an unusually busy Saturday night and I daresay that I am still recovering! Even a lazy poolside Sunday wasn't enough to revive me, more extreme efforts must be required.

In case you're curious about what caused this overwhelming exhaustion, I'll share with you. Saturday night we decided to walk on the wild side a bit, got tickets to Art Undressed in Miami. Oooh, what an experience! The art, both still and performance, was deliciously enticing, interesting and thought provoking. There were several pieces I would have loved to own but that wasn't in my budget this year, perhaps next time. I did, however, shell out $20.00 to have a serpent painting on my chest, would you like to see the picture? It's a bit grainy as I had only my camera phone to work with, but a professional photographer took a few shots and promised to share them with me so hopefully he'll follow through on that.





Isn't she beautiful? Even though it only lasted until the next morning's shower it was so much fun and drew quite a bit of attention at the next event...

After we perused the gallery and got our fill of art, we headed over to a hip & happening club which occasionally hosts a Burlesque show. I've been wanting to attend for some time but we rarely hang out in this part of town; tonight, however was the perfect occasion!

The show was titillating and totally entertaining and the crowd provided even more eye candy; Miami does indeed have more than it's share of Beautiful People! Beren and I had a fabulous time and I'm quite sure that I burned off several glasses of chardonnay on the dance floor!

By 1:00 am we were totally spent, caught a cab and headed to our hotel room. Yes, hotel room! We had decided to make a mini-vacation out of this, sparing ourselves the hour-long ride home and allowing us to have a few cocktails safely and responsibly. So off to our gorgeous 27th floor room with a stunning view of the Miami skyline.





We awoke the next morning, had breakfast and headed back to Suburbia, having thoroughly enjoyed our foray into hip & happening Miami nightlife! We'll definitely do it again sometime, but first, a nap might be in order.....zzzzzzz......

Happiness Is...the Weekend in Review

As promised, here are a few details about my little weekend road trip. Beren and I headed to Ft. Lauderdale early Friday morning, had a meeting at 9 am which, thankfully, had a positive outcome. By 11 we were sipping Bloody Marys on the beach!



Brynna gave me this unexpected little gift Thursday night, along with pink Play-Doh and a lavender foot soak. *smile* My daughter knows me all too well! I've decided to name him Prince and he will henceforth be my "Traveling Bear" just like the garden gnome in Amélie. I imagine this little guy will lead quite an adventurous life so stay tuned! *wink*

Friday night we enjoyed what was quite possibly the last Mermaid Show at the Yankee Clipper Wreck Bar. We can only hope that once the hotel is renovated they return because it would be such a shame to lose this local icon!



After the show we enjoyed a late dinner with friends at a waterfront restaurant, why do hamburgers taste soooooo good late at night? Here we are posing with "The Blues Brothers."



Saturday we caught the shuttle to the beach, had a delicious spinach & feta omelet at a really cool Greek restaurant. Nice view, huh?



When the weather turned rainy we ducked into the Oasis and had a couple of drinks while waiting for the storm to pass.





We'd parked our car at Kali's house who lives just moments away so while waiting for her to pick us up we hung out by the pool and in the gorgeous hotel lobby.



Even though it was a wonderful getaway and we had lots of fun, I was so happy to return home to my own bed, kids & kitties!

Getaway

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Beren and I are headed out of town this morning for a little road trip. We're not going far, just about half an hour northeast of the Castle. We're meeting some friends for a "swimmingly good time," but I'm not going to tell you about that just yet, you'll have to wait for the pictures tomorrow! *wink*

See you tomorrow!

Happiness Is...a Fabulous Holiday Weekend

Beren and I enjoyed a typical mid-January weekend in South Florida, taking advantage of the cool temperatures we rarely experience here. After coffee and conversation on the patio at home, we headed to the beach for a pizza & beer lunch..



proceeded to walk down the beach checking out all the vendors, picked up a birthday gift for a dear friend whose big day is approaching..then to a new-to-us beachfront organic market I'd been wanting to check out. Spending time with these gorgeous fruits & veggies inspired me to get back into the kitchen, and also to return to my mostly-vegetarian diet, but more about that later..



Has anyone eaten this vegetable before? It was so cool-looking, I had to have it!



Look at the size of those carrots!



I gathered up all the greens I could possibly hold..



and my adorable packmule toted the box home for me...



We then stopped at our favorite Sunday afternoon haunt, hung out with our biker friends while listening to live music and watching the "show." It's never a dull time with this crowd!


(Yes, that is a cockatoo!)

Thanks to MLK Day, the weekend's not over; we are now headed south to Homestead to visit a popular berry farm...stay tuned for more!