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Taste Test Tuesday — Ben & Jerry’s Faceoff

By KariV on May 7, 2013 in Favorite Things, Taste Test Tuesday

When we go on vacation to the beach it’s tradition to get each of us our very own container of ice cream. And we are very traditional. So this trip was no different. We love to pick out our own ice cream and eat it over the course of the vacation stay.

So of course we decided to turn it into a FACEOFF…and use it as our Taste Test Tuesday. So I must warn you in advance, that this taste test Tuesday is informal and unofficial. We had only my husband & I as the judges and we didn’t attempt to increase the panel (I think we were so into this taste test and we wanted to keep it to ourselves!)

The contestants: “Everything but the…” VERSUS “Half Baked”

Everything but the = A collision of chocolate and vanilla ice creams mixed with peanut butter cups, Heath Bar chunks, white chocolatey chunks and fudge covered almonds.

Half Baked = Chocolate and vanilla ice creams mixed with gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough & fudge brownies.

Wow. Those both sound delicious! Which one would you choose if you had to pick one to enjoy while on vacation?
If you know me at all, it is probably very obvious which flavor was mine. And, while both these flavors were very, very good…there was a clear winner that we agreed upon completely. (And it was MY flavor!)

The WINNER IS:

Have you even TRIED this flavor?! Yum. I was delighted to finish of the entire carton over the course of a few days. 🙂 Sigh. And now we are on an ice cream break. No more until the next vacation.

What is YOUR favorite flavor? I’m saving up ideas for my next carton choice!

OH, and before you go..if you haven’t seen it yet, check out how Ben & Jerry’s placed in our Vanilla Ice Cream Taste Test here:

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Dose of Sunshine Monday — Make Your Life Happy

By KariV on May 6, 2013 in Inspiration

Hello, Monday! I’ve been thinking a lot about happiness and contentment this week. To make our life happy is something we have control over because it has a lot to do with our mindset. I had a business coach who would continually tell me to MAKE it a good day. Or MAKE it a great week. He would tell me that I could do this by making a goal to concentrate on being happy. I love to write about happiness and this week I will share more ideas for being happy. But until then, I will share with you this thought from my coach:

Make it a happy life! How are you doing with this?

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fiesta-tag-printable-small-withlogo-FLAT

Cinco de Mayo free printable

By KariV on May 4, 2013 in Freebies, Holidays

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, which for us means homemade Mexican Food! I have been out of town so I haven’t had much time to prepare or plan this year. But that is not going to stop me from still having a delicious menu and bright colors to decorate with!

If you are prepping last minute like me and need some colorful printables, I have one for you (actual size 2″):

All you have to do is download, print and cut.

Use this on your table (I’m using it on my plates to add a little flair!), as a fun sign for food (think guacamole) or as a cupcake topper. My favorite idea is to tape 2 of these back to back on a long shish-kabob skewer and put it in a vase with flowers. I’d love to see this in a bouquet of sunflowers!

Our menu plan is: Carne Asada tacos with all the fixings, homemade garden salsa, chili con carne, and corn chips. For dessert: Fruit Salsa and cinnamon pita chips. I found some beautiful mangoes, apples, pears, blackberries and kiwi for our fruit salsa. Ole!

And because my husband insisted we may also be having TAPIOCA PUDDING! (Does that even qualify as an approved dessert on Cindo de Mayo?!) Either way, it is delicious!

Here are the free printables for you: (be sure to like my page first here:

Then download the printables with the link below this picture:

fiesta tags full page (personal use only. I’d love for you to share these, but point back to my site for credit. Please do not alter, sell, or claim as your own. Thanks!)

I’d love to hear about your plans for Cinco de Mayo.

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The Flower Fields

By KariV on May 3, 2013 in Favorite Things, Inspiration

We just got back from a glorious vacation to Southern California and oh, how I loved the weather over there! But my absolute favorite part of our trip was the visit to the Flower Fields in Carlsbad, California. The Flower Fields are only in bloom in April (thru Mother’s Day) and the flowers grow in beautiful stripes of color on the side of the hill!

I probably took well over 100 pictures while we were there because I was so delighted at every angle of these fields of flowers. The ranunculas are certainly the star of the show and they cover about 55 acres of land.

These pictures don’t even do the beautiful scene justice, but I hope it gives you some of the inspiration we felt while we were there. You are not allowed to walk into the fields of flowers (don’t try it because there are guards in little golf carts watching you!), however there are some green carpets laid down so you can walk into each color stripe of flowers about 5 feet in. That is how we got to take some really fun pictures that look like we are in the middle of the field of flowers:

The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing and it was a perfect 72 degrees that day. Haven’t you always wanted to frolic in flowers?! Opa didn’t want to kneel in the flowers, so he stood there holding a yellow ranuncula…he doesn’t have the same look of wonder on his face, but believe me, he loved these flowers fields like the rest of us did!

The workers at the Flower Fields are busy picking the most beautiful ranunculas to bundle up in a set of 10 flowers. They bundle 12,000 up in a day to be delivered asap to the shops and stores that have already ordered them. 12,000 a DAY!! That’s a lot of flower bundles. And I must admit, I wanted to take a bundle home with me!

They did have other flowers there besides ranunculas. Like this Planter of Petunias. And a trellis garden filled with amazing-ness:

There was also a greenhouse filled with Orchids, a greenhouse filled with Poinsettias, and a maze made out of sweet peas. And of course a complete Nursery of flowers available for sale as you leave. And don’t forget the ROSE garden!

The flowers that grow in Southern California are just amazing! My husband and I have always loved flowers and gardens, and it is such a treat for us to notice all the color and beauty growing in California.

If you get an opportunity, go see the Flower Fields at Carlsbad…it may be the perfect Mother’s Day gift to take your mother (or grandmother)! I hope you enjoyed this tour of the Flower Fields!

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Dose of Sunshine Monday — Choose to Be Happy

By KariV on April 29, 2013 in Inspiration

Happy Monday! Today, I will leave you with one simple idea: If you have a choice, choose to be happy.

I am working on this at times there are things that bother me, but I remind myself that I do have a choice! And I can choose to continue to worry, or I can choose to be happy. It’s much more fun to be happy! Have you mastered this?