This past weekend, my husband and I decided to do some yard work. We had to mow the lawn, trim the trees, clean the leaves, fix up the gazebo, and clean out the garage. Luckily I had my neet garden tool set so I was well prepared. We actually ended up completely MOVING the gazebo to a different part of the back yard, which took a lot of strength and effort, especially on my end. We not only moved the gazebo (framing and base) but also the flooring we had underneath it to make the base more stable and level. And we managed to do all of this, just the two of us, in a matter of 3 hours.

 For me the most exciting part of all of this was while cleaning out the garage. I found the TWO printed umbrellas that I had been looking for. The past few weeks has been quiet rainy and stormy and I had been unable to find my umbrellas. I guess either my husband or I must have thrown it in the garage a while back and forgotten about it. I immediately took one of the umbrellas and threw it in my car so I have it handy when it starts storming. I guess next time I am looking for something, I need to look in the garage, since almost everything we cannot find turns up in there!

Last night my husband and I welcomed a new addition to our driveway. A beautiful black 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee. With its soft interior leather, colorful navigation system, and bright sunroof, bringing her home brought tears to our eyes. We had been waiting quite a while for her and we are now super thrilled!

My husband had been searching around long and hard to find the perfect one for a while now. When he came home on Sunday all excited, telling me about what he found, I also got super excited and immediately wanted to go see her. When I saw her, it was love at first site. After talking to the dealer and making all of the arrangements, we were told to come back the next day to finalize the paperwork and pick her up. As you can imagine, I was counting down the minutes to go pick her up yesterday. When we got there, it was exactly 6 pm. By the time everything was said and done, it was a gruesome three and a half hours later. We were both very excited but also very tired. We figured we would give the car a rest for the night. Now, it comes time to spoil her with brand new custom auto accessories. Of course, we don't want our Kia Optima to get jealous, so we will have to purchase double of everything - one for each. I can't wait for the weekend so we can enjoy our new addition!

This past Saturday, my mom invited her friends (about 25 ladies) over for a pool party. She had told me about it three weeks ago to make sure I did not make any other plans for that day, so I could go over and help her out. She had been preparing for this party for the past week, making all of the seating arrangements outside, cleaning the pool, making a ridiculous amount of food, and decorating the yard. She had mostly everything taken care of by the time I went there Saturday morning, but I did not realize being a hostess for these ladies would be the most strenuous task of them all. Not only was it crowded, but it was quite hot and humid outside. After the first two hours, I started to really become exhausted and overwhelmed by the heat. I passed around the promotional battery fans so no one would get overheated. Luckily, I had made plenty of homemade fruit water which I served everyone so they could stay cool and refreshed. I had made a few different varieties for everyone to enjoy- lemon orange cucumber mint, watermelon apricot mint, and very berry (raspberry, strawberry and blackberry) mint. I just mixed plenty of water and ice with these fun fruity combinations and let it settle in the fridge for a couple of hours. Right when the summer sun was at its peak and everyone was getting hot, I took out these refreshing drinks which everyone enjoyed tremendously and helped them to cool down.

I have to admit this 3-day weekend we just had was much needed. I was able to do plenty of shopping, relaxing and enjoying time with friends and family. Overall it was a great Memorial Day weekend, minus the non-stop rain all day Saturday. Luckily I was able to find my printed umbrella that I had been looking for - it definitely came in handy during the rainstorm! Even though it was chiller than I would have liked it to be, I can finally say "Goodbye Winter and Welcome Summer."

The weather has finally warmed up here in the Northeast. This week we hit the 80 degree mark! Being that the Memorial Day weekend is coming up, it is perfect timing. Even though there are scattered thunderstorms here and there, it will not prevent me from utilizing my outdoor giveaways. With the 3-day weekend coming up, we have plenty of BBQs, get-togethers and outings planned. I have been looking forward to this for the past 6 months and I will have plenty of opportunities to use the sunscreen, frisbees, and BBQ sets I got samples of.  I cannot wait to be able to go out and enjoy the warm weather and have some good times outdoors with my family and friends. I hope everyone has a Safe and Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Last weekend - I grew another age older, another year wiser (so I hope) and another size bigger! I had a fabulous birthday weekend. On Friday, at work, my co-workers brought in a ton of amazing treats and celebrated my birthday. After work, some of my girlfriends took me out to one of my favorite sushi bars - Koban. They surprised me with a cake and a nice Michael Kors cross body bag. It had been a while since I had seen some of my girlfriends, so it was nice to get together and celebrate.

On Saturday, I decided I was going to take the day and treat myself. I did a whole day manicure, pedicure, facials, and relaxation. I felt absolutely rejuvenated. That evening, my wonderful husband took my out to dinner and gave me my birthday gift. He had bought me the Rayban Sunglasses I had been wanting, so I was absolutely thrilled about that. Later on, we met up with some friends for drinks. Yet again, they surprised me with another cake and more gifts! My amazing friends know me so well. They bought me workout apparel - just what I have been looking for and needing. So as of Sunday, I decided the celebrating was over and that it was time for me to get my act together. I put on my brand new workout clothes and promotional pedometer and went for a 10 mile walk in Belmont Park, through the trails and back home. It felt absolutely wonderful, though I do admit, I was a bit sore the next morning. I guess that is the repercussion for eating all that birthday cake!

My latest interest has been this whole juicing / blending craze! What am I talking about, you might ask? During my weekly visits to the local health food / organic food store, I noticed the long lines they have of customers waiting to get a variety of different juices and smoothies, made with all natural and organic ingredients.  Out of curiosity, one day I decided I would try something and got online. I took a look at their long list, everything ranging from wheatgrass to beet juice to tropical fruit smoothies. There was just so much to choose from. I realized, that just one juice / smoothie was not going to cut my curiosity. So, for a whole week, everyday, I went back during my lunch break and tried something new.

After that week though, I also realized how expensive it is! With the amount of money I had spent on smoothies during the one week, I could have bought 2-3 weeks' worth of fruits and vegetables and made my own HOMEMADE smoothies. First I contemplated getting a juicer, but then after reading an interesting article about the benefits of blending versus juicing, I decided to just stick with my Hamilton Blender. Then I took the money that I would have spent in one week on smoothies, and stocked up on a variety of fruits, veggies, spices, and nuts. Not only do I save money this way, but I also have more control over what I put in my shakes. For instance, I like to add different seeds and spices, such as maca, flax seeds, chia seeds, cinnamon, ginger, organic almond butter, etc. It has been over a week now that I have started, and I absolutely love it!

Now, I am excited to go home every day and to experiment with a new combination and new flavors. Not only do I feel less hungry and "cleaner" internally, I also feel extra energetic. I come into work every day boasting about my new creation. Of course, telling my co-workers this day after day, finally they mentioned how I need to bring some in for everyone. So now, my next task is to purchase some fitness shakers to store my smoothies and bring them in to my curious co-workers!

This past weekend, was quite adventurous. I dropped by a friend's house while on my way to NJ for a few minutes on Saturday afternoon. While on my way out, my husband and I noticed a little boy on a bike across the street crying and yelling "help me!" Immediately, we went over to him to see what was wrong. Crying hysterically, he explained that he was following his dad on his bike but had lost him and did not know which way to go.

After looking around for a while, we realized there was no one on a bike anywhere nearby. My husband even drove around in his car in the surrounding streets to see if he could find anything - but no luck! I stayed with the little boy, Nikki, the whole time in hopes that someone would come looking for him, but there was no one. I tried talking to the little boy in between his hysterical crying. I tried calming him down to see if he knew any phone numbers that we could call, but being that he was only 7, he did not have any numbers memorized. He did know his home address however. Immediately, I did a reverse lookup of the address online and verified the name the little boy gave me and confirmed it was his house. My husband plugged in the address into his GPS and decided to drive by the house to see if he would run into anyone. After he got there, he called me to tell me there was a bike in the front yard, but no one home and no cars in the driveway. Just as he was about to hang up the phone, a woman approached him to see what he was doing around the house. It was Nikki's mom! After explaining the situation, she immediately jumped in her car with a friend and followed my husband to where we were.

Obviously the mom was very scared and crying hysterically, hugging her son tightly when they were reunited. She repeatedly thanked us and gave us tight hugs as well. Apparently her son had been lost for a few hours and the police were out looking for him, along with the entire family and neighbors. Luckily we were there to see the little boy cry for help and were able to reunite him with his family. After seeing how emotional the mom and son both were, it brought tears to my eyes to see a happy ending and I am glad I was able to help.

Being involved in such a situation, it got me to think about how important it is for children to have some sort of ID tags on them at all times in case they get lost or need an emergency contact. Even though children are taught their home addresses and phone numbers as early as possible at school, not all children are able to memorize so many numbers. After all, it is not just a home number we have to think about anymore. Nowadays, almost all members of the family have their own individual cell phone, along with the home phones and work phones. Just so much to memorize! That is why when I saw this ID tag for children online, I thought it was brilliant and essential for all parents to get for their children. 

Even though it does not seem like it yet, spring is finally here! The weather is SLOWLY starting to warm up. You can hear the birds singing, see the kids playing in the street, the neighbors gardening, and people walking their pets in the streets, and best of all, you can see a smile on everyone's face. Finally, we are getting the dose of vitamin D that has been long overdue.

Before you know it, April will be long over, and we will be counting down to the summer. Once Memorial Day hits, it will officially be time to get all of our BBQ and beach gear ready for the next 3-4 months. I am extremely excited and can't wait to enjoy the nice warm weather. I am not the only one looking forward to the summer. This year, more than usual, especially after a very harsh winter season, many people are planning in advance for their summer events by ordering their patriotic promotional products early on. I don't blame them - after everything from Sandy to Nemo, we got hit very hard here in the northeast. Now it is time for everyone to look forward to some nice weather to boost their spirits.

After a long, cold and wet winter, my car tends to usually get very gross, both inside and out.

This past weekend, with the weather so lovely, I decided it was time to treat my car to a nice cleaning. I went into my garage and went through all of my custom auto accessories, found my car wash kit and decided to spend the afternoon on Saturday cleaning my car.

After about three hours and plenty of soap, water and vacuuming, my car was finally spotless (after six months)! As a final touch, I hung up my air freshener and my car was as good as new!