Watermelon drinks for Memorial Day!

I wanted to find a recipe for a cool watermelon drink, and found this (but i subtracted the alcohol reference, since i don't need that added).:

Can't wait to try this weekend...

Watermelon Coolers with NO alcohol

PREP TIME 5 Minute/s

Ingredients

• 4 cups cubed, seedless watermelon, chilled
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice
• 1/4 cup coconut milk

Instructions

1. Blend all ingredients together until smooth.
2. Rim glasses with granulated sugar and serve up watermelon lime coolers!
3. Garnish with a lime wedge or small watermelon slice.
4. Enjoy!

This above is a modified version of a recipe found from Style Me Pretty Living.  

Or you can make it with lemonade and 2 tbsp honey and use these instructions:

• Freeze the watermelon in a ziploc bag until just frozen, about one hour.  Add the frozen watermelon to a blender, along with your lemonade and honey.  Process until blended, and pour into frosted jars or glasses.

Decisions, decisions!

This and more can be found on the links from my Pinterest Board:  SUMMER.  Check it out!

MINI diy MOM 

formerly

SOLO dot MOM!

Happy Holiday Weekend!!

Warning: Playing games with your children will make them Happy

Take some time out this weekend and get the kiddos outside.  I know how much they all love video games and being on the computer. Trust me. I do.

But it is healthier for them to have some time in the sun and to be exercising. Plus time spent with you and potentially other children will make them happier.

“But I’m bored”

This is one famous common phrase said by so many children, yet in today’s world – they have so much more stuff than “we” did when we were their age.  But in many ways with so much “more,” some of our little ones might have lost the incentive or the initiative to use their imaginations!

I remember times when I would act out a part in the backyard from a summer movie I had just seen; or just playing with friends from the neighborhood. 

You don’t know any games to get them started, you say?

Here’s a link to just a few all-time favorites.

So pull out those memory banks, look at this link, put on your “play clothes” and go play with your kiddos outside this weekend!

Technorati Tags: happy children,single moms,parenting,health,active,exercise,playtime,playdates,outdoors

You're a Firework!

Kass, YOU.are.A.FIREWORK, baby girl.

I love this song... we listened
to it on the way home this evening after I took Kass and a "bunch" of her BFF's to the park.  Time is flying by and I can’t believe how much she is growing up before my eyes.  Where is my baby?

Here's one of the pics from the park late today... and here are the lyrics to the Fireworks song by Katy Perry along with more pics from the evening at the park:

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag

Drifting through the wind

Wanting to start again

Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin

Like a house of cards

One blow from caving in

Do you ever feel already buried deep

Six feet under scream

But no one seems to hear a thing

Do you know that there's still a chance for you

Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite the light

And let it shine

Just own the night

Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework

Come on show 'em what you're worth

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"

As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework

Come on let your colors burst

Make 'em go "Oh, oh,oh!"

You're gunna leave 'em fallin' down-own-own

You don't have to feel like a waste of space

You're original, cannot be replaced

If you only knew what the future holds

After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe you're reason why all the doors are closed

So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road...

More pictures from the evening at the park…..

 

Technorati Tags: Katy Perry,Fireworks,parks,Roanoke Valley Parks,tween,friends,nature,swings,photography,photos,pictures

Do You Believe in Magic

I saw the phrase today, “Do you believe in Magic?” and it got me thinking of ‘back in the day.’ I got nothing out of whatever I was reading after that because all I could think about was Shaun Cassidy and this song.

So I found it being sung by him on youtube, and wanted to share it with you.

Interesting thing I noticed just today though, this guy favors my daughter’s current love of her life, Justin Bieber.  Do you see the resemblance? 

Enjoy….

PHOTOS credit:  google search…

Technorati Tags: Justin Bieber,Shaun Cassidy,70's,Music from the seventies,Do You Believe in Magic,youtube.com

Spring is peeking at us in Downtown Roanoke

 

Walked through Elm Park this past weekend, while the temps were in the high sixties and low seventies.  The trees were budding!

Spring:  We anxiously await your arrival.  Not only I, but some trees I know as well.

Technorati Tags: downtown Roanoke,spring,photography,photos,nature,flowers

by Katherine S.

The gift – a sunrise

The grass is brown and the air is chillier than normal for this area in December.  But this gift of a sunrise my daughter, Kass, wanted me to photograph was so beautiful as it lit up the sky in all its splendor of colors.

  Just another memory caught on film (in a matter of speaking).

During the hectic pace of this holiday season, have you stopped to take a moment and enjoy the beauty of the season and the world around you?

Find yourself… keeping it real.

The day I told Mr. M…

Here we are…the day of the hike last weekend. The day I told him… well you already know if you read my twitter feed or see my facebook status.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Technorati Tags: photography,photos,Blue Ridge parkway,hiking,mountains,relationships,dreams

tis the season… for pumpkin carving

 

We had a blast creating these jack o’ lanterns: kiddos and Mr. M. and I.  And,yes we did follow the fun with some roasted pumpkin seeds, since we had tons. Need I say more?

Find yourself… keeping it real.

She loves taking pictures of herself

Here is one of her latest… she takes them for facebook, but I am not sure how many make it on there.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Hey Soul Sister… dot MoM

It’s my new fave song… I know, right? But I like it. Have you heard it? Here are the lyrics:

"Hey, Soul Sister"
Heeey heeeey heeeeey
Your lipstick stains on the front lobe of my left side brains
I knew I wouldn't forget you
And so I went and let you blow my mind
Your sweet moonbeam
The smell of you in every single dream I dream
I knew when we collided you're the one I have decided
Who's one of my kind
Hey soul sister, ain't that mister mister on the radio, stereo
The way you move ain't fair you know
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight
Heeey heeeey heeeey
Just in time, I'm so glad you have a one track mind like me
You gave my life direction
A game show love connection, we can't deny
I'm so obsessed
My heart is bound to beat right out my untrimmed chest
I believe in you, like a virgin, you're Madonna
And I'm always gonna wanna blow your mind
Hey soul sister, ain't that mister mister on the radio, stereo
The way you move ain't fair you know
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight
The way you can cut a rug
Watching you is the only drug I need
So gangster, I'm so thug
You're the only one I'm dreaming of
You see I can be myself now finally
In fact there's nothing I can't be
I want the world to see you'll be with me
Hey soul sister, ain't that mister mister on the radio, stereo
The way you move ain't fair you know
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight
Hey soul sister, I don't wanna miss a single thing you do tonight
Heeey heeeey heeeeey (tonight)
Heeey heeeey heeeeey (tonight)
[Thanks to Matthew Letourneau, Lauren, Kirsten for correcting these lyrics]

It just sticks with you – it’s catchy.  Check out the video from youtube.com below to hear the song if you haven’t heard it before. 

I was telling Mr. M I liked it so much that I might have to change the name of my blog to:

And he said.

No.

So no.

I won’t be changing the name –anytime soon.

Enjoy:

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Technorati Tags: Hey Soul Sister,Train,love,romance,music,pop,favorite

Strawberry Festival – our day in pictures

 

Mr. M looks so happy to be at the festival.

 

 

His youngest enjoying some chocolate dipped strawberries.

Chocolate dipped strawberry

 

Mr. M’s oldest son and my son enjoying the strawberries.

 

What a crowd.  Beautiful day – but warm. (Close to 90 that day)

This guy looked a little too happy to have this corn snake around his neck as he shared some facts about it at the zoo table.

I don’t have any pics of me getting overheated.  It was so crowded and so warm that at one point I had to find a place to sit down because I started feeling light headed.  Oh well.  We didn’t make it to the chili cook-off because of that. (Sorry Jas.)

But it was still a good day, we just ended up going somewhere cooler and getting a late lunch after being at the festival a couple hours.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Photo Credits:  Katherine Shinault

Technorati Tags: corn snake,photography,pictures,strawberries,chocolate,recreation,family time,festival

Little things I’m proud of lately

• I still have the pair of scissors in my desk from my first day on the job 11 years ago.
• Recently (with some great help) pulled up the carpet in my living area and hallway and had the hardwood floors refinished.  I have wanted to do that ever since I moved in 18 years ago.
• My new breakfast table and chairs from IKEA (Thanks Mr. M for putting them together as well as Kassity’s new bed within just days of each other.)
• Read more books already this year than I had read in 24 months 2 years ago. (Yeah think about that one for a moment).
• I am finally learning not to take myself so seriously.
• When we found my old Bible from my teenage years, early twenties during spring cleaning last weekend, Kass wanted to have it.
• My son created an audio clip, posted it on facebook, and said he just knew I would want to post it on my blog. Here’s the link.

 

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Photo Credit:  Katherine Shinault – picture of my hardwoods.

Technorati Tags: hardwood floors,scissors,proud moments,Bible,facebook,audio clips,reading

A new Fav

Above is from my weekend excursions with Mr. M.  And for the moment a new photo favorite (which changes daily with me, of course.)  Aren’t those dogwoods just gorgeous this time of year?

More about our hike and drive on the parkway coming soon.

Stay tuned… and do leave a comment.  I love it when you do.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Photo credit: Katherine Shinault – Kodak Easy Share C743, and no photo editing was done on this photograph.

Technorati Tags: dogwoods,photos,photography,spring,Blue Ridge parkway,comments

Enjoying Paris over Lunch

Someday I am going to Italy.  I have said this more than once. 

Mr. M. is Italian. He was born there and lived there as a child. But that’s not the only reason I would like to go – I just want to travel to Europe, and I thought that would be a lovely place to start.

I plan to learn some Italian (Mr. M. and I have already bought the book to get us started).  But I took French in college, so Paris would also be an awesome place to visit if I end up in Europe in my future travels.

Now what got me thinking about all this traveling?

Was it my spring break vacation coming up in a couple weeks when the kiddos are out of school?

Nope.

Was it trying to plan what I am going to do with my kiddos when we take a week off in the summer?

Nope.

I was just enjoying “Stumble it” over my lunch break and found this awesome panorama view of Paris… via webcam:  http://www.gillesvidal.com/blogpano/paris.htm!

Take 2 minutes and check it out.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

 

Technorati Tags: travel,vacation,panorama,Italy,Paris,French,Italian

Yearning for Spring – Photo Journal

Monday last week I decided with the air so warm (in the high sixties) and me so antsy for spring, I would take the afternoon off.  Kass and I took Happy and Jovi to a neighborhood park and spent a few hours enjoying the spring-like day.

(The following I wrote in my journal while at the park.)

It feels so good to have the sun on my back sitting at a picnic table (scratch that) on a bench (since I had to move to another spot as Kass moved to another area of the park). 

 

Kass is playing with Happy and Jovi while I enjoy the afternoon - enjoy 60+ temps and sunshine.  I needed some outdoor relaxation.  And they need some exercise and change of scenery.

 

A change of scenery is good for all of us.  Even if Jovi did get off her leash and collar when we first arrived.  It was too loose.  Chasing her around like a mad woman – that was me.

The trees stand bare of leaves, naked before the sun yearning for the buds that will bring leaves – the same way we yearn for spring to bring relief from a long winter.

The breeze reminds me it’s not summer yet as I appreciate the sleeves of my sweater.  But the sun feels so wonderful – even the cool breeze can’t make me want to leave.  Not this time.

The blue sky – so clear, so vibrant.  How long has it been since I have sat below such a sky with no agenda, no place to rush to?  Too long.

Find yourself… keeping it real.

Technorati Tags: outdoors,photography,pets,parks,spring-like,blue skies