AMAZING FEATURES week #43 & #44

Amaze me August

TOP 10 FEATURES

<a border="0" href="http://bellabeforeandafter.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad234/bellabeforeandafter/bbafeaturedbuttonblue.png" /></a>


We have a lot of features this week, since I didn't do any features last week, again, sorry about that. So take a few moments to see my TOP 10 for the past two weeks. As usual I love seeing new people join the party, you know who you are :) Thank you so much, and I also want to thank everyone who is kind enough to add my button, or link back to my blog. Almost every single blog I visited, did this, so I just want you to know I APPRECIATE it so much. 
P.S. Sorry about the photobucket notices all over my blog today, first thing this morning I noticed it and immediately payed my dues, BUT it seems they still are updating, erghh. I wish they cold send an email or something before just cutting you off, that sucks!!
Thanks again to everyone who helps make this party awesome. Don't forget about my new party. Even if you link up here, you can always go there to link up as well. Especially if it's party related, I actually PREFER you join the party there first. I need all your help in spreading the word about this party, and soon I just know it will be an awesome resource for us all. PARTY PLANNING TUESDAYS
Now check out these amazing features!!

Connie @ SALVAGE SAVVY created a really awesome organizational center. She made a bulletin board and chalkboard, all custom, and so pretty!
Marissa @ RAE GUN RAMBLINGS made me so happy with her pillows, they are just fantastic. I love the fabric, the colors, the simplicity and of course her wonderful tutorial. So awesome!!

Michelle @ DREAM HOME DIY turned a ugly brass lamp, into a hot pink beauty, and then did a switcheroo and repainted it navy, so now even the hubs is happy, he he. What a difference either way, way better than before.

Pattie @ ON HOLLYHOCK FARM made me drool like crazy over her mini moss garden. It is so adorable, and so pretty. If you have a little princess, how magical it would be to make this a fairy garden, oh my so sweet!!

Ami @ ALILILLY created another awesome paint chip banner. I mean seriously this is so awesome, and oh my gosh, how awesome that it's FREE, can't beat that!!

Erin @ HECK FRIDAYS made an awesome bird feeder, using up recycled items from her home. I LOVE this, so easy, so practical, and so GREEN!

Coley @ COLEYS CORNER redid her regular flip flops, to something really awesome, and as if adding a pretty ribbon and flower wasn't enough, she made everything interchangeable. How brilliant is that, so now she can switch the style everyday!!

Jaclyn @ J DESIGNS made her brother the most AWESOME cake ever, a Michael Jackson cake, oh my gosh, I love Michael, LOVE HIM, and this cake just made me super happy!!

Laina @ VIBRANT SERENITY made the most awesome sounding, and looking burgers ever. THE ZUCCHINI CHICKEN burger, YummY!!! I simply can't wait to try this out, I can only imagine how moist and delicious it will be.

Kristina @ KRISTINA J did an amazing Anthropology Bold Boutonniere Dress knock off, she is an amazing designer, and so darn pretty too. I lover her pictures, as much as her designs.

Melody @ CRAFTY BUTT made her own DIY potting bench, umm YES please, I need one of those. How awesome, I love when girls, make their own stuff, with tools and all, he he.

Jennifer @ LIFE CRAFTS AND WHATEVER made an really pretty necklace frame organizer. I love the way it looks like art, and that hot pink is just awesome. She used the new Krylon Dual Paint, me likey!!

Khadija @ CREATIVE MIND showed us some of her beautiful Henna, or Mehndi designs. I love mehndi, and it's so fun to do with the girls. My designs never look as pretty though, she's really good!!

Michelle @ DREAM HOME DIYis getting featured TWICE because well, this HIS and HERS key holder, is just awesome. I LOVE the king and queen crowns, how awesome, way to go Michelle.

Jamie @ WAYWARD GIRLS CRAFTS had the adorable Alissa from WILL RUN FOR STAMPS guest post on how to COLOR. Yes, with crayons, or in this case colored pencils. I highly recommend you check out this tutorial, it's really awesome, and it brings back happy memories, or simpler times when I was a kid. I want to go color now, YAY!!

Carmen @ ROCA and COMAPNY showed us how to create a pretty lemony zebra shirt. I LOVE her tutorial, it is SO simple, who knew. Plus her blog is FULL of posts on how to refashion clothes. Total jackpot for the diy sewer wannabe like me!

Crystal @ A PUMPKIN AND A PRINCESS showed us how to make the cutest little STAR pie bites. Yummy, they look so cute, and totally tasty I can only imagine.

Ami @ ALILILLY had he lovely Rachel with LOVELY CRAFTY HOME stop by to guest post and show us how to make a really cute beach tote. Love it!!

Ami @ ALILILLY showed off her amazing skills on how to macrame. Her hemp necklaces are awesome. She is super talented, love her!!

Ami @ ALILILLY had another fabulous guest blogger, Greta from JUST ANOTHER THOUGH ONLINE stop by and show us how to make our own BATH BOMBS, and I can't wait to try this out, sounds soooo awesome.


PARTY PLANNING TUESDAYS

Read More

Amaze me August #45 ~ Summer with the KIDS~

Welcome to the 45th edition of

Did you know that next month it's August, and around here, that's pretty special. It marks my blogs ONE YEAR anniversary, and it will obviously be the ONE YEAR mark for my weekly party. I simply can't believe it's already been a year. The time has flown by. I've made so many friends, and have enjoyed blogging so very much. I'm still trying to decide how I will be celebrating, I will let you all know when I've figured it out, lol. 


How's your summer been going so far? Mine has been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. I wanted to share a few things we've been up to, and some pics of what my life is like, living with these kiddos of mine, MAINLY 2 crazy boys. My princess is an angel, lol. The boys, well. the pictures will speak for themselves. Needless to say there is NEVER a dull moment around here. 

My two oldest have been studying TAE KWON DO for three years now, and will be testing for BLACK BELT in January. TODAY however was the first day for DINO D and I. Never did I think that at 32 I would start studying martial arts, but I am so excited. My kids were awesome, they never once laughed at me, even though I was dying within the first 5 minutes. Seriously, how did I pick today for my first day, they were like doing boot camp over there. I could barely do 10 situps lol, and we had to do 30. We lost a race, so my whole team had to do 20 pushups, I was so struggling. By the end of the class, I think I had lost 5 pounds, just from sweating so hard. I am so happy though, I just know that this will get my booty in shape like crazy, and I can't wait to start getting strong. GO MOM!!! 

Very typical of my boys. This is what they look like half the time, and without the photo booth. Doesn't matter what I tell them, they always seem to have this look on their face, like HUGH, what did you say mom? WHAT planet do I live on????

Yeah, not really that funny, I promise. I almost think he did it on purpose, thinking he would get out of doing dishes again, but he learned the hard way, NEVER to fill the dispenser with dish soap, DUH!! It's not like this was his first time loading the dishwasher, still can't figure it out. He thought it was pretty funny though!!

Just a couple days after the dishwasher overflowing, the kids managed to clog up the toilet. After someone did number 2 in there. Once again BIG B, was sent to clean it up, since it was probably he who did it to begin with. Am I just blessed with boys who clog up toilets with their enormous poop, or do any of you have this problem too. Gosh, again, he was laughing, for about 10 seconds, at which point he promised NEVER EVER EVER to clog up the toilet again, lol. 

Menace number 2.

My little DINO D, is cute as can be, but if there is trouble, he will find it. 

Unless he is sleeping, of course, which is sooooo cute when he does. This is at a swim meet, where he just passed out. Those competitions are long, and it is hot, so he usually clonks out. 

This is usually the kind of stuff he is up to though. Thinking he is a big boy, he tried serving himself some mango lassi. He looks so sad, but knows that he can't be in so much trouble if I've brought out the camera, lol. 

Trying to figure out what went wrong. He was so looking forward to having some of that, lol. 

He got stripped down, and told to go eat his breakfast. He was so shy that I made him stay in his undies, but gosh he looked so cute trying to hide from me. 

My princess. Swimming ruled our lives all summer. We had practice everyday, at 8am, until 10:30am. Competition every Thursday night, from 4pm till 11pm. It was a lot, and finally it is over, YAY!!

BIG B, used to swim year round, and wanted to take a break for a couple years, but now they are both asking to start again. So soon we will start training year round again, along with Tae Kwon Do, Kumon,  Music, Theatre, and school, we will be running around like CRAZY!!!

My princess recently had to have a small surgery on her toe. 

Have any of you ever had a planters wart before. I have, my oldest has, and now princess had one too. I tried all the ways I knew to get rid of it, so she wouldn't have to go get this procedure done. It kind of sucks, I know, because I had the same thing done to remove mine last year. I just couldn't get rid of it, and when I saw that it getting bigger and start spreading, I took her in. 

She was sooooo brave. Cried for about 10 seconds, when she was getting her shots to numb her toe. Especially the last shot, hurt so bad, but the rest, was a piece of cake. 

Sorry, but just had to show you what it looked like after, lol. Literally the doc, burned the whole wart out, it was gross, but she feels so much better now. Amazingly this completely heals over within a couple weeks. So people, take care of your feet, and ALWAYS wear flip flops, trust me, you don't want to get a planters wart, they suck!!!

That's about all for now. So now that you know what I've been up too, show me what you've been up to. I can't wait to see it all. Link up and tell your friends. 

I can't wait to see what you've been up to this week. Show me what you got, and please don't forget to link up to my new party. 

Party Planning Tuesdays

You can link up ALL your party planning ideas. 

All party related decorations, themes. 

All your most incredible party food recipes.

All money saving party throwing tips, and tricks.

And of course, all those fabulous party CAKES!!!

This party is ALL ABOUT PARTIES, so help spread the word will ya. It's new, and I need your help to make it awesome :)

Read More

Florida Vacation part THREE ~ Universal Save money and time TIPS

Universal Islands of Adventure

To read how I saved HUNDREDS of dollars at Universal, and how to get on rides super fast, without a fast pass, read the bottom of the post for all my suggestions, and tips.

As you all know we went down to Florida a couple weeks ago. We got to spend seven days in a wonderful resort. You can read all about the resort, and PART ONE of our vacation HERE. We spent a lot of time at the pool, and relaxed a bunch. On one of the days we went swimming with the MANATEES, which you can read all about HERE, that was an awesome experience. We were all burnt out from going to Seaworld last year. We had season passes, so every time we went to Florida, that's all we did, lol. 

This time the kids were begging to go to Universal, but ohhhh the ticket prices, OUCH. We kind of had 6 people, so I really wasn't looking forward to that. BUT the kids won, and we gave in, the last day we were there, we decided to go. Instead of leaving on Saturday, we went to Islands of Adventure, and got a room at another hotel, for one more night. We were all tired, and exhausted the next day, which was perfect for me, they were mostly quite on the way home, but I was tired too, which wasn't so good, lol. Anyway we made it home and everyone was happy. I'm glad we went!!!

This is the kids and acting all goofy, while waiting in line to go on the Pteranadon Ride. It was the one ride my older one couldn't go on, so it was kind of funny. It was also the LONGEST time we spent in line for a single ride, erghhh. The weather was cloudy, and it started to sprinkle just as we got on the ride. For a 10 second ride, (it seemed even shorter, lol) Dino loved it, but I will never wait for it again. 

We went on all the rides, several times actually. Go to the bottom of the post, and I will tell you how we did it, FOR free, no special passes needed. I am so glad we were able to enjoy all the rides, considering we were only there for one day. We choose Islands of Adventure, simply because the kids wanted to go on more roller coaster type rides. Which I had a blast on as well, YAY...

The new Harry Potter place was awesome. I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, but I've seen a couple movies, so I kind of knew what everything was, but it was just so impressive. Everything looked so realistic, and I have to say my absolute favorite ride was the Harry Potter one. It was AMAZING, you totally felt like you were in the movie, flying up in the air, it literally was the coolest ride I've ever been on. I highly recommend it to everyone. I didn't have any butterbeer, lol. It just didn't sound to yummy to me, but people were crazy waiting in line for it everywhere. Also the line for the stores to get wands, was out of this world long. I bet they were waiting for well over an hour, just to buy something, WOW. 
We obviously spent a lot of time at Jurassic Park, where Dino D, was in heaven. When I say A LOT OF TIME, I mean it. Maybe several hours, between waiting in line, and getting stuck in line because of thunder, then spending a bunch of time in bathrooms trying to change out of wet clothes, dealing with the cheapest ponchos, and buying new sandals for the girly, because she got SOAKED, we really spent a lot of time there. Since we had nothing better to do, we also shopped at the store there too. Dino got some new dinosaurs, SHOCKER, and the kids all got a gun. my husband was thrilled he could sneak those guns past me, before I had a say. I hate guns, and don't like the kids pretending like they are killing each other, but even I had fun playing with these, darn. 
So that was our day, and the end of our vacation. Before I say goodbye, would you like to know some of the things I did to save some money while at Universal? I'll also give you a quick tip on getting on those rides faster, and not having to wait so long, ok. 
HOW TO SAVE MONEY AT UNIVERSAL
1. Bring snacks. You are allowed to bring snacks, drinks, even sandwiches, or something similar.I brought beef jerky, nuts, bagels with cream cheese, string cheese, lunch meat rolled, baked cookies, baked brownies, grapes, and TONS of water.
2. Make sure to bring sunblock, hats, comfy shoes, an extra pair of sandals, a charged camera, and a RAIN PONCHO. We got ours from walmart the night before for 99cents each. Yes they were really cheap, and looked it too, but they served their purpose, and with summers in Florida, you need to be prepared. This easily saved me $60. Not having to buy them there.
3. Have a budget as far as spending goes. If you give yourself $100, don't go over it, NO MATTER what. It is way to easy to start buying, and not stop. My kids know they don't get stuff from every shop, or even from every place we go. I take tons of pictures, and that is how we remember our time there, not by an expensive something from a shop, that will probably be forgotten about soon. HOW TO GET ON RIDES FAST AT UNIVERSAL
1. My number one saving grace on all the rides was having a little one, so we could all go to the child swap area, and wait in a cool room, with a TV and hang out until everyone was off the ride, then we could swap. The way you are supposed to do it is, your party is supposed to wait in line then, when they get off they swap with you. The kids loved it, because they always got to go on the ride twice, once alone, then with me again. This was a real time saver, especially when wanting to ride again a second time.
2. However, you technically still had to wait in line one time, which meant hours and hours of waiting. SO if you've ever been there, you may have noticed a SINGLE rider line. We took this every time, and only waited at the most 15 minutes, even on the longest lines, it was AWESOME. So going in this line, we ended up riding alone, but who cares. I'd rather ride alone, than to wait 2 hours in line, you know what I mean. 
So utilizing the two above shortcuts, we were able to go on all the ride, multiple times, and we didn't spend an extra dime. Just for the record, to get FAST PASSES on the day we went, it would have cost us $80.00 per person, YES, PER PERSON. So we only saved $400.00, and to be honest, I'd say in many cases we got on the rides even faster than those with fast passes. So there you go, my little advice. If you ever go, and don't mind going on the ride alone, then by all means do what we did, and take the single rider route ALL THE WAY, and if you happen to have a little one with you, double score!!

Read More

Amaze me August #44 & Party Planning Tuesdays #4

Hello everyone, welcome to the the 43rd edition of

How did you all enjoy your 4th of July holiday. I bet there was a lot of grilling and good times going on. I hope everyone had a great time, regardless of what they did. 

Ooops I did it again, I forget to get the party up last night,,, whats up with that? I didn't even get to go anywhere to watch fireworks, it decided to thunderstorm, so we were scared we'd be caught in rain, and with three kiddos, and parking, and thunder, we decided to play it safe and stay home. Usually if we stay home, we usually have some fireworks, but since I wasn't planning on being home, I didn't get anything, and all we did was watch movies, and eat all afternoon. My oldest was not impressed, and must have told me 500 times how bored he was, lol. I admit I was a bit sad that we didn't do anything yesterday, but oh well. 

Two years ago however we spent practically the whole summer back in California, and it was awesome. I got to see my family, and friends, and we visited Yosemite, the Redwoods, and spent a lot of time at the beach. We had a blast, and I just wanted to share a couple pics from that 4th of July party.  

Here's a picture of me and the princess 2 years ago, when we went to California for the summer. I got to spend the 4th of July with some old friends from high school, and we had a great time. I miss my friends a lot, and it was so nice to hang out with them again. This was also the last time I colored my hair, it had some highlights, and it looked perfect for a trip back home to California, lol. 

Look at my little Dino D, he was so small, totally had the baby face still, and looked so different with that shaved head. That's what he gets for cutting his own hair, lol. I had no choice but to shave it. Oh and the pants pulled up to his neck, that's something I LOVE to do to my kids when they are little. More so the boys, I have so many pics, and memories, of me pulling their pants ALL the way up, and bless their little hearts they didn't know any better so they kept it like that, lol. Don't ask me why, I just LOVE the way it looks, he he. 

 My darling, princess. I don't know if I could ever ask for a better daughter. She is so precious to me.

 Big B, strutting his stuff, trying to impress the girls, lol. It works every time. I'm so lucky these kids are mine, he he.

 Us girls, having some fun. It was a greta party!!

My friend and I. Thanks girl for inviting us to join you. I miss you, and wish I could see you guys again soon. Hugs to you and your beautiful family mama!!

I can't wait to see what you've been up to this week. Show me what you got, and please don't forget to link up to my new party. 

Party Planning Tuesdays

You can link up ALL your party planning ideas. 

All party related decorations, themes. 

All your most incredible party food recipes.

All money saving party throwing tips, and tricks.

And of course, all those fabulous party CAKES!!!

This party is ALL ABOUT PARTIES, so help spread the word will ya. It's new, and I need your help to make it awesome :)

Read More

Lemon Onion Brick Chicken ~ & I am guest posting at HOH,,, hehe~

Is it just me, or does summer make you crave bbq like nothing else. I just love grilling, and I am the one handling the grill at my house. I am kind of a control freak, and the kitchen, cooking, is totally my territory, and unless you are there to clean up, please stay out, lol. 

A couple weeks ago, we had ourselves a delicious bbq, man it was good. I've posted about my BRICK CHICKEN before, but this time I went a step further, and added onions, and lemons to the chicken, along with some spices. You can use whatever you like, as far as spices are concerned. You know in this house, everything has a kick to it, we just love spicy food.

This is how I spiced up my chicken. I will just say sprinkle the bird with all the following spices. Adding more, or less, of anything you choose. Thats my regular rule of thumb when seasoning anything, sprinkle the surface evenly, adding another layer if you choose to. Does anyone else season like this. I hate using measuring spoons, everything is done by feel, hand, and eye. 

LEMON ONION BRICK CHICKEN

*salt

*pepper

*garlic

*garam masala

*cumin

*red chili

*dry mustard

*lemon pepper

*olive oil

*lemons

*onions

You can even make a paste with the above ingredients, and then spread it on the chicken. Or just sprinkle it all over like I did. Make sure to get in all the crevices, and under the skin, even poke some holes in the thinker parts of the chicken, and rub the seasoning in there really good. 

Then with a burning hot grill ready for you, place your bird cavity side down, lay all the lemons and onions on top, and place your brick on it. Cook, then flip, repeating the process until the meat literally falls of the bones, and my friends, if you can resist to wait until it's placed on the table good for you. For the rest of us, burn your fingers every 5 seconds trying to pry little pieces off, hehe. Oh and don't forget about the kiddos, and the hubby who are all swarming around waiting for mama bird to drop a little piece in their mouth too, lol. 

I love grilled vegetables, and this particular day, I choose to grill some zucchini. This is so easy, all you do is slice the zucchini length wise, and sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Thats it!!

So there you have it folks, I paired this with some rice, rajma (indian spiced beans), and a tomato and onion salad. Boy oh boy was it good eats. Sorry, clearly nobody was thinking about taking pictures of the plate, we were all digging in immediately after these pics were taken, lol. 

Hey guess what, TODAY, ME, yes ME, I Bella am guest posting at HOH. 

While Allison is doing a month long road trip, she has been turning over her blog to some amazing guest bloggers, and I just happen to be one of them, EEKKKK. 

House of Hepworths

I was so super excited, and I hope you go say hello to me over there, and give me some love!!

Read More

Florida Vacation part TWO ~ manatees ~

Swimming with the manatees

While we were there, I booked us in so we could swim with the manatees. It was quite the experience. these beautiful creatures are so peaceful, and are found in Crystal River Florida, as the spring waters stay at a warmth of 74 degress pretty much all year. So they love it there, especially in the winter months.

I booked our tour with Native Vacations, and was very pleased with the tour. We spent a good 3 hours in the water, with the manatees. Here we are all suited up before we headed out. Everyone looked so darn cute in their wetsuits, he he.

We took a short boat ride to the actual streams where the manatees are often found. We learned how to spot them, but we didn't have much luck on our own. Thank goodness captain Tracy was a real pro, she found them, she knew just what to do, she taught us how to snorkel, and it was totally awesome.

After my entire family had their encounters, and I was still holding on to Dino D, and didn't even catch a glimpse of one, I finally got fed up and told him to stay on the boat, lol. I finally got to see the manatees, touch them, swim with them, and I was the only one who got any pics too, AWESOME!!! I even took Dino D out there at the end so he could see one too. We had a great time, and by noon, the kids had completely PASSED out on the way back to the resort. Which was almost a 2 hour drive, so it was a long day, but totally worth it. 

That's part two of our vacation. We really didn't do much else. We hung out at the resort a lot, the pools, and decided very last minute to give in, and take the kids to Universal. So come back to see some pics from there too, maybe even a video again, he he. 

I am so grateful to be able to go on vacations, and will be planning one more towards the end of July, this time to the beach in South Carolina. Oh I can't wait!!

Read More