Mexican food.... yum.  Who doesn't love a good margarita, guacamole & chips and a taco?  Downtown Orlando has several options for those moments of salty cravings we all get... and now there is a new one to add to that list.  Chico's opened where the old "Crooked Bayou" used to be... and I must say its quite fun.  Food is great, interior decor is great (love the tree!) and the location can't be beat.  Definitely recommend that you check it out.

The past year I've gotten more and more involved in the Orlando PANCAN affiliate.  Unfortunately, most involvement in these organizations is fueled by the passion of finding a cure and ensuring other families never feel the pain and loss that you have experienced.  My involvement is no different.  We lost our PawPaw a year ago to pancreatic cancer, and as I've gotten involved with this particular group my heart aches each time a new volunteer attends a meeting after their loved one has been diagnosed.  Some have parents who have been battling for 6+ months.  Some were just diagnosed three weeks ago.  Some said goodbye year back and are finally at the point of being able to get involved.  Some are survivors.  Some are warriors still in the fight. Each story is different, but each are connected by this deadly disease: pancreatic cancer.  Saturday's volunteer meeting was a great success with a ton of new volunteers and lots of great ideas.  We're focusing on our November event, the big annual PurpleStride walk that takes place out at UCF.  Wonderful brainstorming session.  Overall a great meeting.  I really enjoy this group and their energy and passion.  So you can imagine my delight when I was asked to become Co-Chair for the affiliate after the meeting.  Our current Affiliate Coordinator has been in the role for five years and she'd like to slowly transition out and bring in "new blood" - which makes sense for any organization.  I was humbled that she thought of me for such an honor.  Wow.  Without doubt I accepted, as its actually something I've been thinking about for some time now.  So... my weekend started off with a first-class ticket for a new journey.  I'm looking forward to that adventures to unfold.  If you aren't familiar with the organization, check them out: www.pancan.org 

I LOVED grilled cheese sandwiches when I was a kid.  Growing up in the south, grilled cheese was eaten all year long, by itself, as a snack, lunch, dinner - you name it.  But as I grew up, I learned most people eat this delicious item accompanied by tomato soup.  Hmmm... interesting.  Well, how I made it to my thirties without trying tomato soup is beyond me... but I have.  This past week I came across a "clean" version of this northern winter staple so I decided to venture out and give it a try.  What do you know... super quick and easy... and added bonus - it's quite yummy!  So on this week's menu: Tomato Soup!  And you know I'll have to throw in a grilled cheese sandwich or two while I'm at it. :)

Eating "clean" means 5-6 small meals a day... which can be hard when your days are fairly unpredictable.  Protein bars can be a life saver to the clean eating diet... easy to make and always on hand.  I found this new recipe this weekend and I must say they are my new favorite.  Very light, these bars aren't nearly the heavy meal as past attempts at protein bars... many which tasted like hay or cardboard.  The peanut butter adds something new to the bar.  Definitely score in my book!

I LOVE guacamole... and thankfully my friend's mom taught me an easy foolproof  way to make it that takes seconds and can be made using just salt, salsa and avocado.  But I still love a freshly made guac from a night high end Mexican restaurant.  I'd never given it much thought before, but then I ran across a recipe to make this yummy treat in a clean eating magazine.  Last night I tried it out for the Swap Party... and YUM!  It was seriously just a good as any restaurant guac I've had.  If you want the recipe, lemme know.  It's delicious... and clean!

It's not only eco-friendly it's also a great excuse to clean out your closet and get a bunch of girlfriends together for a fun Girl's Night In!  The HRBs started doing Swap Parties over a decade ago, but as our lives have taken different paths with the introduction of children, marriage, divorce and geographical moves... the Swap Party has become far and few between.  So I decided to introduce the concept with some local girlfriends this past February (see past post).  It was a hit!  Most had never experienced the concept but all left asking when the next one was scheduled.  Last night we held the 2nd Swap Party of 2011... and again - huge hit!  Most in attendance were Swap Party virgins... but again left raving about the new goodies tucked under their arms.  I can see this becoming a bi-annual event... and I love that its such a fun interactive event where new friends are made, fashion is swapped and our environmental impact is reduced through recycling products.

A lil tequila never hurt anyone... right!?

We'll find out!

I adore my cousins... and love we live so close to one another!

The glamazon of the evening... Kendra ended up with the hooka shoes!

"hooka" shoes

Who knew!?  Orlando has it's very own professional soccer team!  This is one more example of why I love  social media.  I read something on Facebook about Orlando welcoming this new pro-sports team to the city and thought "How fun!" Jordan and I took a little mid-week break last Wednesday evening to go cheer on the Orlando City Soccer Club.  If you haven't been to one of their games yet, I highly encourage it.  Very family friendly.  We had the added bonus of running into two dear friends of mine, so the fun factor doubled without our planning it.  There are several "fan clubs" that hang out in the endzone that up the ante with personalized chants and cheers, streamers thrown onto the field, smoke bombs, flags, drummers and so much more.  Watching those guys jump around yelling was almost as fun as watching the talent on the field.  Afterwards, the team comes out for a meet and greet which I think is just fantastic.  It made Jordan's night getting to take his photo with all of the players and just run around on the field.  I definitely recommend checking them out before the season ends.  Here is the team's website: http://www.orlandocitysoccer.com

Two of the fan clubs - such high energy.  Reminded me of a college football game.

Other than a short stint at St. Anselm's (in Madisonville) working alongside my mom, sisters and best friend Emily... I've never really gotten involved with a church.  I've attended classes or participated in studies.  I'm now leading a small group (which is also a first for me this year).... but actually volunteering or getting involved at the church has never been something I've put much thought into.  This past Easter there was a call to action for attendees to consider helping during Easter weekend.  The crowds were expected to be large and at capacity for all campuses, and the need for additional volunteers was massive.  So I raised my hand.  Why not?  I volunteered to be a greeter for that weekend for one of the services - their choice, wherever they needed me the most.  After a very short training, I was assigned to the Saturday evening service (along with a new friend, Ramona, and Jeff - who had no chance of getting out of volunteering since I roped him in with me!).  It was actually a lot of fun.  Getting to meet everyone as they came into the service... wishing them each a Happy Easter... commenting on the beautiful spring dresses the little girls came in wearing proudly while the boys fidgeted discontentedly with their Easter ties and suits.  Overall it was a very enjoyable experience and really didn't take much of my time.  So why not.  I offered to volunteer once a month for a service at the main campus.  It'll be good for me to start to meet new people at my church.  That's right, I said it.  My church. :)

"Think Small Dream Big" is the brainchild of our Central Campus Pastor Adam Demetrician.  A life lived in community is much more supported than just an individual who attends a church service once a week.  Getting involved with my church is definitely a new experience for me, one that is aligned with my "word" for the year.  Supporting this great event was a lot of fun for me, even though the support lent was minimal.    I'm really proud of the team who put this event on... everyone included.  There was about 75 small group leaders who came out on a Monday night to mingle, share best practices and just spend an evening  together.  It really was a wonderful time.

The latest broadway play to hit Orlando brought a familiar green ogre and his beautiful princess with it.  Shrek the Musical opened this past Tuesday and sadly it was greeted with less than stellar reviews from the local critics.  Fortunately, I have to disagree with them.  I really enjoyed the play.  I brought along a good friend of mine, who had actually never seen any of the Shrek movies... he agreed it was wonderful.  Donkey has always been one of my favorite characters and he didn't disappoint on stage.  I definitely recommend seeing this play if it comes to a town near you!

It’s science fair time for many schools across the country. If you’re a parent of a middle school child, you have mostly likely spent hours helping brainstorm creative ideas for a science fair project, and then even more hours helping (and in many cases doing most of the work) complete the project. Participating in the school science fair is a fantastic opportunity to uncover the power of the scientific method... in addition to building self esteem and self confidence. Jordan switched from private to public school this past year and so prior to leaving 5th grade he was initiated into the world of the science fair.  What memories that brings back for me.  I loved participating in the science fair.  Looking back I have to credit my mom for that... she was amazing when it came to creative projects.  We'd brainstorm new ideas that hadn't been done before (remember this is before the internet), spend weeks conducting the actual experiment and then pour over all of the details to ensure the actual board was perfect.  It's one of my favorite memories of my mom.  I didn't have the opportunity to help Jordan do his science fair project but I was honored to attend the fair and have him explain his board to me.  He is such a smart kid... and I'm really proud of him.  He did a great job on his first science fair project.  I hope he looks back years from now and remembers it fondly like I do.

I love to read.  Always have.  When I was little I would soak in the tub with a great book... and find myself distracted from my trace-like state by the frigid cold waters I found myself in.  That's how long I'd soak.  My sisters and parents weren't huge fans of this little habit I had.  As I've grown, my love of reading has simply learned to multi-task, where I now find myself reading 5-6 books at any given time (give or take a few).  I just love to read.  So joining a book club would make natural sense, right?  Well, that depends.  My experience thus far with book clubs hasn't been that positive... books selected based one person's literary tastes (which are often vastly different than my own), bland dialogue scripted from some "book club" question list found on the internet, and various personalities that oftentimes make for a hit-or-miss time.  All rolled up together, it more often than not turned out to be a bad experience.

To my great surprise, this last book club I joined was different.  Yes... the fact I hosted the group at my condo might have made all the difference from me... but overall we had a great group of women and the discussion was free-spirited and very colorful and engaging.  We actually all got back together last night to go see the movie that just came out based on the very same book: Water for Elephants.  Overall a great experience, wonderful book and terrific movie.

Our church, Discovery Church, has partnered with a local community known as Holden Heights to help revitalize the area and help build up not only the physical homes but the heart and soul of the locals.  The Volunteer Vixens chose the Holden Heights Revitalization Project for one of our April causes, and what a fun time we had!  It turned out that the majority of us selected the "lunch" shift, so alas... we became the Vixen Lunch Ladies!  Friday night we spent three hours preparing a cold chicken artichoke salad (enough for 80 people!) along with 60 turkey sandwiches.  Saturday we headed out to deliver the lunches to all of the hard working volunteers at two of the Holden Heights' homes.  What a fun time we had together just giving back in such a small way.  Our small group is scheduled to get involved in this same project next month... maybe I'll brave picking up a hammer and actually working on a home that time!

Well... this blog IS about trying new experiences while traveling along this journey called my life... and well... this is one of those experiences that I have always chosen NOT to have.  I've paid people before... or fluttered my eyelashes and asked really nicely of a dear friend... or even just waited until my significant other at the time broke down and did it himself.  But I have never attempted to clean out my refrigerator from top to bottom for no reason other than it needed to be cleaned (the caveat is I did clean it once a couple years back after discovering it had dethawed itself while I was away on vacation - talk about vomiting in your mouth!).  So... I decided to play the role of a grown up this past weekend and cleaned out the fridge.  What a freaking job that is!  No wonder I've avoided it in the past.  It was a workout in and of itself (that I promptly rewarded with a nice glass of pinot grigio afterwards) and took a good two hours to complete.  But I must say... I love how clean my fridge is now.. and yes, I feel a sense of accomplishment that I in fact did that all by myself. :)

The underlying theory behind reflexology is that there are "reflex" areas on the body, such as the feet and hands,  that correspond to specific organs, glands and other parts of the body.  The belief is that these areas are "linked" together and by applying pressure to certain areas you can promote health.  

I've never had a complete reflexology treatment before, so when I saw a deal come through one of the now mainstream "coupon" sites several months ago, I decided to splurge and treat myself.  Well, that was the plan.  I ended up forgetting all about my exotic gift certificate as life happened and it sat wearily in my kitchen drawer.  This past week I came across it while clearing out some clutter and to my amazement it hadn't expired (but would so very soon). So off I went last Friday to get a special treatment, and say goodbye to stress and tension along with a long week.  

The entire treatment took one hour and I must say it was very relaxing... maybe even more so than a full body massage.  Who knew that applying pressure to certain areas could produce the same relaxed feeling as 45 minutes of intense massage?!  As she was wrapping up, I noticed a slight headache but thought nothing of it.  The week had been a tense one... I assumed it was just a slight hanger-on from that.

Several hours later, while working with my volunteer group, I became extremely overheated and the headache got really intense.  Needless to say, I just did not feel well.  By the time I got into bed, my head was throbbing... and the sandman had trouble finding me that night.  The next morning was greeted in similar fashion, but due to an volunteer obligation I pulled myself from my bed and went about my business.  Later in the day I became to feel more normal.

So what happened?  A couple of friends had the theory that the reflexology treatment had detoxed my body and the antibiotics I had been on for the two weeks prior (for a sinus infection) were leaving my system... making me feel funny.  I've looked it up and asked around and apparently that's the consensus. Reflexology will loosen toxins in your system and its recommended that you drink a lot of water afterwards to help with the flushing of your body.  Interesting.  Didn't realize that... but I guess it was much needed after having all those meds inside lingering around.  So would I recommend it?  Definitely. Now that I know what to expect... I'd plan the evening after just a little better and focus more on consuming water than attempting a glass of vino first thing.