Blue's Clues party

It's party time once again because my niece, Miss V, turned 3! She is an awesome little girl and she specifically asked for a Blue's Clues party. Now if you know, Blue's Clues isn't even on the air anymore, but thanks to the joys of old videos, she's currently hooked on it.

Now what do you do when there are no party supplies in your party theme? Well make them of course! Her momma, Kris and I DIY-ed this party like no one's business.

Kris scoured thrift sites and eBay for anything Blue's Clues, and she found lots of stuff. She got Blue's Clues toys, stuffed animals, a Memory game, and books. She even managed to get a thinking chair! This made the perfect chair for the birthday girl!

We printed TONS of Blue's Clues (aka paw prints) and used them as decorations all over the place. We put them all over the walls and even on the sidewalk coming up to the house. You could tell that Blue was here.

We also used the paws to decorate plain paper bags that were our goodie bags for the kids. They were filled with candy, bubbles and even a handy dandy notebook and crayons for each kid.

It's also really handy that Eddie, Miss V's dad, is a great artist. He drew the invite (which is above) and also a welcome poster for the front door. We had to let people know it was party time...

He also drew a pin the clue on Blue game (which we totally forgot about playing...). Isn't Blue so cute?

And I had to make cupcakes. The ever demanding Miss V told me she needed blue cupcakes for the boys and magenta cupcakes for the girls. Who was I to deny her? I baked up vanilla and milk chocolate cupcakes in blue and magenta wrappers and frosted them with blue and magenta buttercream.

Kris got a bounce house for extra fun and the party was set.

Miss V and her brother, X, had a great time at the party, and so did everyone else. Can't you tell by those crazy faces?!

Needless to say just cause your theme is obscure doesn't mean you can't have a great birthday party. With a little imagination and some quick DIYs, you can make any party as awesome as you can make it.

My trip to New Orleans

Last week I went to New Orleans with my best friend Kris. I had gotten a great deal on a hotel on Living Social, and we decided to make a girls weekend of it.

We drove from Orlando to New Orleans. It was about 9 hours, we started out in the early morning, but thanks to the time change from Eastern to Central, we arrived in the afternoon. We checked in to the hotel and went to explore the French Quarter. We even got to hear some local musicians jamming in the street as we walked around. We got our bearings pretty quick, and then came back to the hotel to freshen up for the night.

Now, I really go on vacation to eat, and eat good we did. One of Kris's coworkers lived in New Orleans for a while, so she gave us her recommendations for all of the good places to eat and drink in the French Quarter.
 
Our first night in New Orleans, we headed to Pat O'Brien's to try one of the original hurricanes.

We each only had one, but it was more than enough! Those sure packed a punch.

On our way back to the hotel, we saw a pizza place and stopped in for a slice. It was so yummy, but that could have been the lack of pizza or the hurricane talking.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped in this little voodoo shop. They had some cool things, but asked for no pictures inside. I followed the rules! We walked back to the hotel and called it a night after a very long day. Luckily though, even with being in the car for 9 hours, we managed to get our 10,000 steps in for the day (thanks FitBit!).

The next morning, after sleeping in (well sleeping in for us!), we headed out to get breakfast. We went to The Camelia Grill. This little diner was in the corner of an old building.

We walked into this little pink gem and were greeted so warmly. The place is just a big double u-shaped counter. The waiters were amazing and even recommended a Cajun restaurant owned by a New Orleans native in Orlando for us.

We ordered omelettes and they were HUGE! The omelettes and hash browns hit the spot.

Kris also got a side of grits, which I tried. They were so creamy and delicious.

After a filling breakfast, we walked down to Jackson Square. I loved this part of the French Quarter. We checked out the cathedral, St. Louis Cathedral, one of the oldest churches in the U.S.

As I went to buy Mom a card of the parton Virgin of New Orleans, the lady at the counter in the gift shop told us the story of Our Lady of Prompt Succor.

She mentioned to us that there was a historic convent a little down the street, so we headed that way looking for it and checking out all of the gorgeous French Quarter homes. They really do have that European feel to them.

We then made our way to Cafe Du Monde for beignets! We couldn't pass this place up. All you can order is drinks and beignets, so just be ready to get just that.

We had one order and some cold drinks. It was really, really hot.

Kris's dad told us we had to go to the grave of the voodoo queen, Marie Leveau. So we headed to St. Louis Cementary #1.

The cementary was so awesome. It was so old that you couldn't even read some of the grave markers. The place was really breathtaking, especially knowing it had been there since the 1700s.

We finally found the grave of Marie Leveau, but alas, it was under refurbishment. We did take some pics though. After we left I had to look up what the three Xs meant, and it is to make a wish to the voodoo queen. We didn't bring an offering for her, so we couldn't have made a wish anyways.

After checking out the market and walking around the streets in Jackson Square, we headed back to the hotel for lunch. We ate at one of the restaurants in the hotel Desire Oyster House. We had traditional cajun food, gumbo, red beans and rice and jambalaya. It was all so good. We split this plate and it was plenty for both of us.

Since we were on vacation, we also split bread pudding with whiskey sauce. It was sooo good!

We chilled at the hotel pool for a bit, then got ready for the night.

We headed around the corner to the Royal House Oyster Bar. (I had no idea oysters were such a New Orleans thing until I got there. And I'm not an oyster fan.) This restaurant totally reminded me of some of the places in Paris. It had a little downstairs are with some seating, and a bigger dining room on the second floor. We started off with a strawberry gin cocktail.

I ordered fried fresh gulf shrimp, which came with some delicious hush puppies.

Kris couldn't get enough jambalaya, and ordered that. The food was delicious.

After dinner, we went down Bourbon Street to have some more drinks. Since it was a Monday night, it was a little empty, but we stumbled into a bar with a good band. They were playing some Jackson 5 that brought us in. We listened to them jam for a while. They were playing some good music, old 70s funk and really had the crowd going.

A friend of ours insisted that we needed to get hand grenades, so we did. These drinks were neon green, and I have no idea what was in them, but they were so strong. We got our grenades and walked around with them.

Cause while in New Orleans, we had to walk in the streets with our drinks.

We were gonna head into the jazz club in our hotel, but felt weird walking in with our huge neon drinks. We listened to the jazz in the lobby and finally when we were done, it seemed so was the band. We called it a night (being the lightweights we are the grenades had taken affect).

The next morning we lazily walked to the downstairs coffee bar to have some cafe au laits made with local New Orleans chicory coffee.

We knew we wanted to get a po' boy and a muffaletta before we headed home, so we wanted to save room for lunch. We headed back to Jackson Square and checked out all of the shops we didn't see the day before.

It was much hotter that day (the day before was overcast, so the sun didn't have such an effect), so we grabbed a muffaletta for Kris at the Central Grocery and then went off to find my shrimp po' boy. We sat in the hotel courtyard and enjoyed our last bit of New Orleans food before we left.

Then it was in the car for a long ride back to Orlando, and the next day I drove back from Orlando to Miami.

The food was amazing and the people were great, but did all I think I could in New Orleans. Bourbon Street was kinda seedy, and the streets and things were really unkempt. It was a great place to spend a few days eating delicious food, and now I can say I've been to Louisiana!

Did you go anywhere this summer?

Weekend fun

This weekend I went up to Orlando, but not for a race, just for some fun. I hadn't been to Animal Kingdom with my annual pass yet, so it was time to get wild at Disney.

 

Friday night, Kris and I headed to Hollywood Studios for a girls night. We fast passed before we left the house (gotta love the new FastPass+) and rode the Star Tours, the Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror and Rock n' Roller Coaster. We then headed to the Tune-In lounge for some adult beverages and a snack before heading back home for the night. It was only 3 hours, but we did so much.

On Saturday, we grabbed the kids (including Miss Alice), Eddie and Kris's Dad and headed to the Animal Kingdom. It was so hot out there, but it was fun. The kids loved seeing the animals and my buddy Xander even rode Everest with me. It was my first time riding, but he got me through it. We kinda got wet on the Kali River Rapids, but Kris really got the brunt of the wave. She was soaked!

I had such a great time over the weekend, it was just the little escape I needed.

Have you been to Disney's Animal Kingdom?

Quick baby blanket

There seems to be a baby boom around me, and that means making baby gifts for me. There are so many things that are so cute to make for little ones. I made a blanket like this one for my niece when she was a baby, and she still loves it now that she's 2. This little blanket is also perfect for the stroller or car seat, plus the minky fabric is so soft against the baby's skin.

This quick baby blanket is easy and comes together in no time. You need only a few simple supplies:

• 3/4 yard of fabric
• 3/4 yard contrasting minky fabric (you can also use flannel or anything soft)
• double fold bias binding (one package or enough to cover the edge of your blanket)
• thread
• sewing machine

My blanket is a rough measurement, but it's about 27 inches by 24 inches. Cut one of the fabrics to the measurement then lay that fabric on top of the second fabric and cut them to the same size. Pin around both fabrics to make this easier.

Take both fabrics, and while they were still pinned together, serge around the edges. If you don't have a serger, you can just zig-zag around the edges. Now, remove all of the pins.

Next, take the bias binding and wrap it around the edge of the blanket.  Sew the binding around the serged edge. (If you have trouble making the corners square and neat, just round the corners and the bias binding will curve around it.)

And voila! That's all there is to it. You have a great easy blanket that is a perfect baby gift.

With some basic sewing knowledge, this project shouldn't take more than about an hour. And the result is so cute, who wouldn't want one.

Have you ever made any baby gifts?