You are what you eat...see!

To make yourself into an M&M click here!

Holidays for a working mom is like getting to play SAHM

I love and cherish holidays. I get to spend a whole day with Jonathan and just make the most of it.

Today it was raining so going to the park was not in the plans. Instead we started our day by catching up on Disney episodes that we haven't seen yet but had recorded. Then Jonathan worked on some crafty projects such as the "button" of himself he drew for me to wear today. I love it! It reminds me of Flat Stanley.

Once we picked up Dave from work at 2:30 we headed over to Metro Pointe in Costa Mesa and went to Colour Me Mine. It was so crowded when we walked in. There was a birthday party taking up most of the table space. By the way, what a great idea for a party! So we were told to come back in 30 minutes.

We headed over to Cozi. A fairly new restaurant in Metro Pointe. It's surprisingly affordable. I say that because it really doesn't have the atmosphere of a place that is so affordable. When you walk in the menu is on the wall and the concept is the same as a Pei Wei. The whole upscale fast food thing going on. So you figure out what you want then go to the register and order. They bring the food to you and they clear the tables. Dave had a meat pizza that is cooked in a wood fire stove. Jonathan and I split a smores for two. We already ate lunch at home. There was a couple sitting close to use that had some great looking sandwiches. One of which I think was the Chicken Tandori sandwich. It looked great! The smores were really a great idea for killing time with J. I knew what to expect too because a while ago I went to visit my sister in D.C. There was this place I think called X's and O's. They had the same smores treat on the menu. When it came to the table Jonathan's eyes lit up as big as the fire! He placed his marshmallow on the skewer and carefully toasted it. It was a little dangerous actually. The fire got pretty high and Jonathan kept lighting his mallow up! But it was fun. Dave's pizza looked good too. It had sausage, pepperoni and real bacon on it.

Once we finished at Cozi we headed back over to Colour Me Mine. We picked out what we wanted to paint and selected our colors.

Jonathan chose a megaphone. He's a HSM fanatic and even painted the letters HSM on it. (By the way...HSM 3 comes out tomorrow on DVD. Perhaps the added scenes will include the actual prom scene so we can figure out why the character Ryan is wearing a kilt in his "doll" form) I painted a mug.

I needed a pink mug and I was in a retro 50's mood for some reason. So I painted it pink with black dots and then wrote Mama Sharon Says... on it. Cool! Now I have an official mug to drink my coffee or tea out of while blogging. Dave didn't paint. He just played bubble breaker on his phone.

I had a great time and now we're home. Jonathan is still busy though. He's designing the gift bag for his friend Dylan's gift. We prefer this as opposed to buying a bag. It's more personal and less expensive too! Dylan's 7th birthday is tomorrow at Bears, Buddies and Toys in Huntington Beach. We are so happy to be going there because it looks so fun in the commercials. The kids get to dress up and play. They get to use their imagination and I love that!

Well time to figure out what to make for dinner. I don't know why I wait to the last minute to figure these things out. It's not like having to make dinner is ever a surprise! So off I go.

One last mention...the new ice cream cupcakes at Cold Stone Creamery are SO GOOD! We bought them this past week for my mom's birthday. YUM! Starting from the top...

Whipped Cream

Ice Cream

Cake

Fudge

Chocolate Cup

The chocolate cup it was all in was the only disappointing part. It was very chalky.

For more about amazing cupcakes check out one of my favorite blogs Cupcakes Take The Cake if you love cupcakes as much as I do!

Kodak makes it so easy...even for this busy mom!

Last night I had an amazing opportunity to attend a very special and exclusive gathering hosted by Kodak and ScanMyPhotos in Irvine, CA. I want to say that when I was first invited I had no idea what I was in for. The invitation sent by Jacqueline Mangione the WW PR Manager at Kodak, simply said to bring LOTS of photos and there will be light sandwiches and Mimosas. OK while I don’t really drink, I never turn down a free meal. LOL! I’m kidding of course; I once turned down a meal when I was little and in camp. Gross! Have you seen camp food?

OK so let me get back to last night. I walked in about 5 or 10 minutes early and was greeted by Mitch Goldstone, the President of ScanMyPhotos, International (pictured with the kiosk) and his wonderful staff. I was brought to a Kodak Kiosk and shown some of the features. Did you know you can download photos from your phone into one of these? Kodak really thought of EVERYTHING! I have to tell you that I was slightly intimidated at first as I think anyone would be when they have no idea what to do. But then I put my USB stick in the port and pressed the “START HERE” button on the screen. Everything is guided by the touch screen which is great. The first thing I created was a DVD with a ton of pictures. And yes, I said the first thing! Mitch and Kodak were quite generous and I was quite grateful. I still am! Anyway, the DVD I made took me all of about 3-5 minutes to make. I selected my photos for the disk. I chose photos from the Big Bear trip last year, The Wiggle years, Jonathans past birthdays and Christmas photos. Once the pics were selected I got to go through a bunch of music selections. I chose What I Like About You. Then selected the DONE button and that was that. They processed the DVD for me as I went on to another project. All and all I came home with a poster, a calendar, a DVD, a package of reprints, a couple of 8 ½ x 11 photo collages of my chocolates and browniepops and a photobook!

The Photobook took me about 5-10 minutes to make. I don’t know exactly how long because I was having so much fun I totally lost track of time but it really was pretty quick. I should have been looking at the receipts that printed out to let you know how much this stuff would cost on a normal day but I suspect it’s less than you may think. I did look at the receipt for the photobook I created in which I added the max amount of photos allowed. If you’re not sitting down you may want to. It was only about $30. I am so not kidding! I even asked if that was correct. Again, thank you Kodak!

I was also given a tour of the back room. It was like going behind the scenes and was so cool. You wouldn’t believe what goes on back there. They have several people that work all day long to be sure your photos, no matter where you are in the country, are taken care of in any way you order. They have scanned over 9 million photos and will service you even if you are out of the country! They can restore those old photos and you will be blown away by the results that it will cause tears. The happy kind of course.

Then it was back to the Kiosk. I scanned a photo of mine that was of my brother Mike and me when we were very little. The original photo as you can see is faded and well, old. The kiosk has a feature where you can press edit photo and then restore the color. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was like magic!

But if you don’t live near ScanMyPhotos then just go online to ScanMyPhotos.com and look for the information on sending your old photos to them and they will send them back with the new and improved versions. I’m not kidding! Hey dad...they will even be able to repair old damaged photos! You can trust them with your treasures. They really know what they’re doing. You can also search for a Kodak Kiosk near you by CLICKING HERE.

OK, so here is another crazy cool part of the evening. The Kodak staff was there filming footage so you may see me somewhere talking about this stuff. Who knows!

Remember the DVD I made? When it was finished they put it on the big screen in the store and as I watched it I got very emotional and for some reason the only word I could get out of my mouth was “WOW.” It really was so special.

I learned that I need to go back with Jonathan because he got a camera for Christmas. The kiosks are so easy to use that even my 7 year old can do it. Hey, do you have older kids? Make it a play date. Let them make a photobook. It’s less expensive than the place with the Rat and the games, right? And they won't come home with a junky toy that will break. Instead they will come back with a wonderful memory book.

I will be going back to ScanMyPhotos in the very near future. After all, I have 2 or 3 wedding VHS tapes I need to be put to DVD. But if you don’t live by then you can do everything online. Whether you pick it up or it gets mailed, they are a site to see. They have a blog too you should check out. Blog.Scanmyphotos.com.

Thank you Mitch and Jacqueline and all that put this on for us mom bloggers. I had a night of creating memories and learning new things that I will be putting to good use in the future. Also thank you for your very generous gifts. Thank you to Mom Bloggers Club too for putting out the word on requesting to be a part of this. I love being a mom blogger!

My dad sent me an email this morning, he lives in NY. He said he was going to look for a Kodak Kiosk place in his area. Again, If you want to look for a Kiosk in your area too CLICK HERE.

RENA...RENA...GUESS WHAT!!!!!

I want to bring everyone back to a post I made in November or December of last year. I had just discovered Starbucks energy double shot drinks. Since then I have had many and even started drinking the Monster coffee energy drink. I LOVE THEM!! Just once a day though. It really mainly because they sell the Monster brand in Sam's Club so it's affordable. Anyway, to my point and this is why I originally directed the title of this towards my very good friend Rena.

I just read that hitting the shelves is a Cinnamon Dolce Double Shot. AWESOME!

Yes folks, it's the little things. :)

Score a touchdown with this AMAZING Jalapeno Appetizer!

Bacon Wrapped Cream Cheese Jalapenos

10-12 Fresh jalapenos, cleaned out and split

1 package of cream cheese

1 package of bacon (not thick bacon)

Toothpicks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Once Jalapenos are cleaned out (leave some seeds if you want more heat) stuff them with cream cheese, wrap each with a slice of bacon and bind with 2 toothpicks. Place on a baking sheet and into the oven for about an hour or until the bacon is crispy. When you take out of the oven let them rest about 5 minutes.

So this was my big contribution to my Super Bowl day.

Enjoy!