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It’s March. That seems surreal to me in some ways. I mean, how can it be MARCH 2010 already?! Wasn’t it just Christmas? Woah. I feel like this year is speeding by  pretty quickly, but I’m actually very happy that March is here. March means that our coldest month, February, is done. March means Spring is on the way. In 19 short days, Spring will be here officially. I hope Spring ushers itself in with warmth and staying power. LOL! It’s been a pretty cold winter by Georgia standards and I’m ready for some nice warm days. I want to feel the sun on my face. I’m ready to look around and see the world in bloom. Dare I say that I’m even looking forward to everything here turning that funky yellow-green once it’s all coated with pollen?! Bring it on. I’m ready for Spring. I continue to be in denial that it’s winter, so in 19 days I can break free of my denial and celebrate SPRING at long last!!

I am so excited!! This evening, I am going to a Couponing 101 Workshop put on by Jenny who runs the wonderful Southern Savers blog!!

I have been wanting to get our grocery budget down and this is a great way to get that accomplished. I have never been one to really keep up with coupons. I will start clipping and using them, then get frustrated with my lack of a good organizational system. I still shop the good sales, mostly at Publix, but it will be nice to learn how to use coupons much more effectively.

I will report back tomorrow. I’m sure the workshop is going to be GREAT!

Mickey surprised me at Christmas by planning a trip to New York City for us in February. I have wanted to see a show on Broadway for the longest of times, so he got tickets for us to see Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre in NYC!! He did his research and found a great hotel for us that was very nice and also incredibly convenient. What a WONDERFUL surprise!

Our trip was this past weekend! It was the first time either of us have ever been to New York City. It was a lot of fun! We arrived on a Friday and traffic was a nightmare, but we got the whole NYC cab experience that way, I guess. We got to our hotel and found out that our room would be ready in an hour, so we took that opportunity to go out for lunch. We asked the concierge for a recommendation and he suggested Thalia, so we went there. It was fantastic! We really enjoyed it! After lunch, we got settled into our hotel room and then decided to go walk around and explore. Here are some photos from our first exploration around the Times Square area:

Radio City Music Hall

Mickey in Manhattan

The skating rink at Rockefeller Center

We took MANY self portraits on this trip. Here is one of Mickey and me at Rockefeller:

We visited Top of the Rock which is the top observation deck at Rockefeller. Here are some shots from there:

Another self portrait

In this photo you can see the Met Life building

The Empire State building is shown in these photos:

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral

That evening, had dinner at Rosie O’Grady’s and then we went back out to the Times Square area. Here is a couple of shots of Times Square (not the best quality – sorry):

Yet another self portrait:

Times Square is really cool. SOOOO much going on at all times. It was fun to hang out in the area on Friday and just take in the sights. We didn’t stay out long because we were pretty tired from traveling, etc. So, we went back to the hotel and chilled while watching the Olympics. Okay, so it wasn’t the most “happening” way to spend a Friday evening in NYC, but we enjoyed just having some nice down time.

Saturday morning, we had breakfast at Route 66 Cafe which was recommended by the concierge on duty at the hotel. It was SO good!! I had the Challah French Toast and it was delicious! We really enjoyed Route 66!

After breakfast, we decided to take a bus tour. Since we only had Saturday to tour, we decided to just take the downtown loop tour.

Here is our first tour bus:

And, here we are on the bus – yes, another of our self portraits:

The tour was really fun! A friend had given me the tip about taking the tour as a good way to really see some sights and she was right. It was great! Our first tour guide was really witty and knowledgeable. We really enjoyed his tour narrative. I wanted to go shopping at Century 21, so we got off the bus at a stop near that store. Century 21 is crazy! It is HUGE and just full of clothes, shoes, etc. at discounted prices. Mickey was truly a good sport about me shopping there. I have to give him all the credit in the world because he is NOT a shopper at all. The store was a little bit overwhelming, but it was fun! I walked out of there with some great stuff at even better prices. Yes!!

After C21, we walked by Ground Zero and saw the construction sight there. It’s still surreal, even more than eight years later, to see where the Twin Towers once stood.

We got onto another tour bus to complete our downtown tour and this time we had a guide that was politically motivated and cynical. We didn’t enjoy his tour guiding as much. We saw some cool NYC sites, but could have done without his rants. We had considered getting off at Central Park, but by that point in the tour we were starving and ready for lunch, so we decided to finish the tour out back around Times Square and get lunch in that vicinity so we could get back to hotel and relax. We went to Ray’s Pizza and it was VERY good. I had a cheese calzone and Mickey got pizza by the slice. YUM! That really hit the spot!! As we were walking back to the hotel, we decided we wanted something sweet. We were heading towards Europa Cafe which we had been into the day before when I got a nice cafe au lait, but on the way there we saw Crumbs, so we stopped in for cupcakes. Their selection of cupcakes is amazing! We wound up getting a four pack – brownie, Oreo, chocolate chip cookie and Reese’s. We split the brownie cupcake back at the hotel and it was delicious! We brought the other three home with us. What a fun and yummy treat!!

We relaxed in our room for awhile on Saturday late afternoon. I actually took a nap which was NICE!! That evening, we went to Azalea for dinner before going to our first ever Broadway show. Azalea was also recommended by the hotel concierge. (See a pattern here? Always talk to the concierge.) Our food there was very good! I had the Pollo con Carciofi which is a chicken breast with artichokes and tomatoes in a white wine sauce. My dish was very simple and very tasty. I really enjoyed it. Mickey had a great steak there as well. It was a nice meal to have prior to a show and very convenient to the Gershwin Theatre where we saw Wicked.

Wicked was absolutely amazing!! We had seen it when a touring production came to the Fox Theatre in Atlanta in October 2008. Seeing it on Broadway was definitely a hit for us! It was beautifully done. And, now that we have had a taste of seeing a show on Broadway, we definitely want to see more in the future!

On Sunday, we got up bright and early. Our concierge had suggested leaving the hotel via cab by 7:30 in order to get to the airport and through security in plenty of time for our 10am flight back home. So, we got up with the chickens – except that there obviously aren’t any chickens in NYC. We went to Junior’s for breakfast. We were the first ones to arrive. Our waitress was super sweet. Being a good Southern girl, I had to ask her how their grits are because I was surprised to see grits on a menu in New York City! She said that for New Yorkers, the grits are good, but a Southern girl like me (I told her I am from Georgia) wouldn’t like them. I had to laugh. So, I ordered their griddle cakes and turkey sausage while Mickey got an omelet. Our breakfast portions were really big and the food was delicious! It was definitely the right place to go for a nice filling breakfast before leaving the city. We also got a cheesecake to bring home because we had been given the advice that their cheesecakes are amazing.

Here we are in front of Junior’s:

We left our hotel right around 7:30 on Sunday morning. Traffic was really easy and we got to the airport and through security by just after 8am! When we got to the gate, another flight was finishing boarding for Atlanta. Mickey asked if they had room on that flight for us and, sure enough, they did. A really nice man changed seats so that we could sit together and we were on our way home earlier than anticipated. (Better than sitting in the airport for two hours any day!)

This was the view from my airplane window when we were on the runway:

A few aerial shots of the city from the plane:

We had a very easy flight home. My ears hate flying, so they were popping and achy, but the flight itself could not have been more smooth. Here are some shots I took from the window.

A partially frozen river – I have NO clue where this is actually located:

Our Creator is such a beautiful artist! I am awed by how different and yet beautiful things look from the air. Check out these mountains:

We arrived home and were greeted at the airport by Mickey’s parents and our girls. It was a VERY happy reunion after a wonderful weekend! We all had lunch together and then we came home while Mickey’s parents stayed at the airport to await their flight home.

NYC is definitely a world unto itself. I really enjoyed our visit there and I had a lot of fun. I’m enough of a country girl at heart to know I couldn’t even begin to think of living there. However, I’d love to visit again. I’d like to see more of the sites, take in some more shows and show our girls around the city. I’m so thankful to have had this travel opportunity and thankful that Mickey put together such a fantastic surprise for me!

It’s Lenten season and that, of course, means a sacrifice of some sort. For the second year, I have given up Facebook and other “social” internet sites. I decided not to give up email or blogs. Trust me, Facebook alone is a sacrifice. I even went so far as to delete the Facebook and TweetDeck (Twitter) apps from my iPhone during Lent. I am known to mindlessly grab my phone and sign onto those sites which is embarrassing to admit, but true nonetheless. So, it will be very good for me to have this break from those things that are known to distract me in my daily life. Hopefully I’ll get around to blogging more often as well.

Kelly

I thought I’d try to start a new blog tradition on Fridays. I’d like to highlight  blogs I follow. This could work out pretty well for awhile until I run out of blogs. Until then, I’ll stick with it.

Anne and May – This is the blog of two Christian fiction authors, Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt. Their blog is always well written. I often find myself nodding along, smiling or even all out laughing. These ladies are REAL. They are honest, edgy at times and always great to read.

Kelly’s Korner – I can’t remember how I found Kelly’s blog, but I am glad I did. Kelly has a beautiful daughter named Harper who is the subject of most of her blog posts. She also posts about faith, fashion, family, friends and food – some of my favorite things!! I enjoy reading Kelly’s blog because she is so down to earth and just so genuine.

Make and Takes – This is a FUN blog. It is chock full of so many ideas including crafts, recipes, games and more. Definitely bookmark this one if you have children. It’s a winner!!

Wife and Mommy – Great reading from a metro-DC mom. She is another one that is refreshing to read because of her honesty and her willingness to blog about sometimes tough to talk about topics.

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Hope you’ll enjoy reading these blogs as much as I do. Stay tuned for me. And, please feel free to post more blogs for me to check out as well.

Blessings,
Kelly

Have any of y’all taken a Zumba class? I have heard about it for awhile and finally got up my nerve to take a class at the Y last fall. I loved it! It’s an intense workout, but it’s so much fun!! I haven’t been in a couple of months, but I’m planning to go back this morning. It’s a rainy day here today, so I wish I could say that I’m excited and ready to go to Zumba, but I’d really like to just curl up in bed with a book. However, I know I need this workout, so I’ll dig up the motivation and go to Zumba. I think.

If you haven’t heard of Zumba, it’s a workout that blends aerobics and dance, basically. It’s mostly Latin dance inspired. Constant motion is the key. I was hesitant to try it initially. I love to dance, but I’m not exactly the most coordinated person in the world. (My most embarrassing workout story is from the 90s. I was taking step aerobics and could NOT get coordinated enough to step, swing my arms, etc. all in the right timing. The step instructor literally got ON my step with me and I still couldn’t quite get it quickly. Yikes!) Several friends encouraged me to just TRY Zumba and assured me I’d like it. The key, I was told, is to just keep moving. Even if you’re not doing what the rest of the class is doing at the time, just MOVE. So, I did it. I’m not going to say I got all the moves right, but I did it. And, I really enjoyed it! Zumba really gets the blood pumping and is a great calorie burner. What’s not to like about that? I enjoy the Thursday morning class at the Y, so I really need to get in gear and get going this morning so I can get there and get my dance on!

Happy Thursday!

I made oven “fried” chicken tonight for dinner and it was so tasty!! The recipe calls for chicken parts, but I don’t mess with whole chickens, so I used chicken breast strips. (The thought of cutting up a chicken squidges me out!) This was so easy to make, tasted delicious and is healthy too! So, I’m sharing for others to enjoy.

Oven “Fried” Chicken
Makes 4 servings

1/2 cup fat-free buttermilk
1/2 cup cornflakes, crushed
3T all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2lb chicken parts, skinned
4 teaspoons canola oil

Preheat oven to 400; spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Pour the buttermilk into a large shallow bowl. On a sheet of wax paper, combine the cornflake crumbs, flour, salt and pepper. Dip the chicken into the buttermilk, then dredge in the cornflake mixture, coating completely. Place the chicken on the baking sheet; drizzle with the oil. Bake 30 minutes, then turn the chicken over. Bake until cooked through, about 15-20 minutes longer.

229 cal, 10g fat, 2g sat fat, 0 trans fat, 64mg chol, 295mg sodium, 11g carb, 23g protein, 49mg cal

I have been such a blog slacker again. No excuses. Yes, life is busy. Yes, the whole holiday season (Thanksgiving through New Years) was super busy. Yes, I’m on the GO a lot. Still, I would like to be better about attending to my blog. I need to find a way to make it a daily priority. Any suggestions?

As usual, things are frequently clicking at a fast pace around here, but we are all doing well in our family. Here’s a mini update:

Macey is really enjoying first grade. She is doing so well and absolutely loves school. She’s having a great time taking tap/jazz once a week at a local dance school as well. And, just recently she started taking gymnastics at the Y and that’s a great thrill for her. She turned six and a half on New Year’s Day and is very proud of that “and a half”, thank you very much.

Mariana continues to think that preschool is the best thing EVER. She goes three mornings per week and always looks forward to school. She had been taking dance at the same studio as Macey, but we recently decided to let her stay after preschool one day per week to take dance there. She stays another day for a princess party. Both of her extended day activities are BIG deals to Miss Mariana. She is having a blast!

Mickey is working for himself full time now and his business is really doing well. We are so thankful for the opportunity for him to finally work from home. God has really shown us that this is the right move and the business is truly blessed. He gets “Husband of the Year” because he planned an awesome surprise for me as part of my Christmas. He is taking me to NYC for a weekend in February. I am SO excited! Giddy, actually! We are going to see “Wicked” on Broadway while we are there and I just cannot wait. Yay!!

I am doing exceptionally well these days. I had been slacking on more than just blogging and had not been in a regular work-out routine over the holidays. Well, that is no more. I’m going back to the Y to work-out a few times a week and I love it! I’m still busy with various things, but couldn’t be happier.

Hope everyone has a blessed Tuesday!!

Petit Elefant is at it again. Another great giveaway opportunity is in the works. This time it’s really cool kids’ kitchen stuff!! This stuff is seriously cool and I really want to win. I have to admit that I’m posting partly to get an additional entry for the giveaway, but I also wanted to pass the word around. This is too cute and fun not to go for, right? So GO enter! And, then wish ME luck. LOL! Just kiddin’. Sorta…

The Duggar family has welcomed their 19th child into the world a few months early. According to several reports, baby girl Josie was born on Thursday, December 10th, and is in NICU. Please join me in praying for the Duggars and their baby girl.

More information can be found by clicking here.