In an earlier post about vegetarian recipes, I mentioned I am vegetarian for Lent. The update about this is that I really love it. I found a new sense of passion and even freedom in cooking purely vegetarian meals.  This is something I really enjoy and I imagine most of my meals after Lent will be meat-free. I love how I have opened up my taste buds to an array of foods never experienced and recipes I find both delicious and fun to make!

Here’s a very simple dish I adapted to make vegetarian (took out the pepperoni) and I think you might like it too! It’s easy for the whole family to make and if you want, just add chicken or pepperoni or whatever if you prefer.

And enjoy!

When people think of Carnival, they think of the fun celebration in Brazil that takes place before Lent each year, just like Mardi Gras is celebrated in Lousiana.

However, I attended “Carnaval” instead. This took place in Limón, Costa Rica. What a blast it was! A mix between Costa Rican Latino culture and a Caribbean-Jamaican reggae one, it was definitely eclectic and enjoyable.

Please read about my adventure here

and view pics here!

Do you celebrate Carnival/Carnaval/Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday, etc? How?

I took some photos of the fresh flowers I placed in my bedroom, to post on here. Then realized the “stuff” around the vases might be of interest to others to “catch a glimpse” at someone else’s life! So I’ll post the photos, and under each, explain what is there.

My style may not be your style, but I like it and it makes me happy

Fresh flowers: Bought a boquet on clearance at Wal-mart and was able to divide it into three vases

Jewelry stand on left: Bought at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Has the necklaces and bracelets I wear most on it. It’s a turquoise dress with metal arms on the top.

Little boxes behind vase: Contain little things like safety pins, allergy pills, etc.

Candles: Those change at least weekly. Depending on my mood.

Two clear and white boxes w/drawers: Contain my makeup, nail stuff, girly stuff.

The purple bandana has the YWU logo on it (post about YWU here) with a sparkly butterfly broch (sp?) clipped on, that I got for Christmas.

Pink bottle of perfume that is an imitation of DKNY something, and smells really nice. The brown box under it has neat carvings on it, I found it at a thrift store and restained it.

Now my favorite part: the Ecosphere! I bought this from Brookstone with my $50 gift card I got for redeeming my Delta airline miles. I love it. See, I don’t really want to take care of a pet. But this ecosphere has little shrimps in it and a living plant and little algae and some kind of rocks and little shells for the shrimps to live in. It was developed by NASA and I never ever have to feed them or clean their water or anything. It’s like a mini globe! (I will be doing a review one day, which I’ll share when I do.) The only thing it needs is indirect sunlight daily. Pretty easy!

My sons sings ABC’s to his shrimpies, and named two of them “Ghose” and “T”. I think together, they are “Ghost”.  They are very small, like little tadpoles or small fish.

These fresh flowers also came from that boquet at Wal-mart. They are real. The “vase” is from a bottle I bought at Trader Joe’s that once contained lemon sparkling water for $1 something. I love Trader Joe’s!!!

The counting jar there is electronic and counts my change. I bought this at Bed, Bath and Beyond, too.

The framed pic in back is my angel picture. The framed pic in front is me in a New York frame I bought when I was there. The photo is of me, on graduation day, all happy to be enjoying NY! I like this pic because it represents a really good memory (memories) for me and reminds me of so many things, like to be myself, be strong, accomplish my dreams, etc.

The little heart container that’s blue and green is from Mexico. This was bought at a Mercado in Guadalajara, where I studied abroad. It contains thumbtacks.

The blue shawl underneath… I’ve had that for years. Can’t remember where I got it.

That’s it! Hope you enjoyed!

Do you Swagbuck? If so, please consider donating some, if not all your SB to the Haiti fund. Thank you.

http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-checkout&id=19311

And check out their blog on how you can help Haiti without even having to donate SB or $. Just a vote on facebook:

http://blog.swagbucks.com/2010/01/friends-help-friendship-circle.html

Here’s a clip of a baby (my son, when he was a baby) giggling. Enjoy!
click here <—-

I love deals and I’m pretty good at finding good ones. I shop all year for Christmas and save them all until Christmas rolls around. I love the after Christmas sales because you can find great stuff for 75% off. It’s now the time for 50% off sales.
Here’s a few sales I found that I thought I’d share with you. (fyi: these might just be at my local Kmart in NM)

50% nearly all clothing at Kmart (Fall and Winter clothing)
50% nearly all clothing at Family Dollar
50% off all toys over $10 at Family Dollar

enjoy!!

Here in NM we have our own traditions for the holidays, all of which I love and cherish. If you and your kids want to get in touch with the New Mexican cultural spirit this Christmas, follow these tips to making your own minature Southwestern Christmas tree. It will be truly unique and full of history!

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1103377/southwest_style_christmas_tree_decorating.html?cat=30

Got a bunch of people on your Holidays list this year? Feed it Forward is a great way to give to many and its free to you. Send up to 30 free gifts a day. What is the gift? A free $10 restaurant.com gift certificate. You can send to their email or facebook page. Great, free gift!
http://feeditforward.restaurant.com/

I stumbled across another Kindle sweepstakes. However, this one gives you the choice between a Kindle and a Sony ereader. I saw the Sony’s at Wal-Mart the other day and wanted to play with it to compare it to my Kindle but they said they would have to find the key and it would take awhile so I said to not worry about it, I wasn’t interested in buying anyhow, lol!
Here you go, good luck!
http://www.writerspace.com/contests/kindle_sonyreader_contest.html