Reader's Spotlight - THANK YOU!

Look, it is a dress! 

This week's Reader's Spotlight goes to ShanTay from Phoenix, AZ! She has been a faithful follower of my blog and a good friend.  If you guys have been following my blog and learning from my Secrets , do you see something special, other than she looks fabulous, about her skirt? Do you need help? Here's a hint...........................

It is a DRESS! 

I couldn't tell by just looking at this picture. ShanTay is wearing a dress that her mom bought for her as a gift two years ago, sleeveless, and she has been keeping it in the closet all of this time wondering how  to wear it modestly. After reading my Royal Blue Maxy Dress  post, she took her polka dot dress out of the closet, put a black shirt on, accessorized it with a gorgeous belt and TADAAAAA! 

A brand new outfit and no need to go shopping!  

Black T-Shirt: Down East Basics //Belt: Charming Charlie //Dress: Gift from mom, she thinks it is from Ross. 

Oh look at those shoes! This was a gift from her husband. WOW, he has really good taste!

Shoes: Babyphat (DSW) 

Isn't she wonderful! Thank you so much my friend for sharing this pictures with us. Specially for making my day! It means a lot to me to see good friends reading my blog and commenting and learning from it. I can't wait to see more pictures of you.  YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!

Now its time to   Rock That Dress!
For all of my amazing readers and friend around the world , don't be shy, email me pictures and let me know your story! I would love to heard from you, no matter what language you speak or where in the world you live, I love hearing from you!

Who would like to be my next week Reader's spotlight? YOU! 
Your Friend, 

THE JOY OF BEING A MOTHER!

I have to confess that I had a really busy week attending too many events for Logan and keeping up with my little flirt's social life. Do you mothers feel like your kids have a better social life than you? I have to raise my hand, and say I DO! It is amazing to see how motherhood changes your perspective of life and how through those changes your eyes are opened, and you start to appreciate your parents in so many different ways. Once you are in their shoes, you realize how hard they worked and how much they sacrificed their goals and personal dream only to guide and give you the best of them. My love and appreciation for them has increased and will continue to increase each day that passes by. 

Motherhood is not easy. Somedays you feel like holding your little angel, kissing him and not getting him off your site. Other days you can't wait for your hubby to come home so you can say, your son needs to spend quality time with you ,and I need to put myself on time out or else I will jump out the window!

I do have to say to all moms out there that YOU ARE DOING A GREAT JOB! Your efforts are not taken for granted!Each family and child is different and I know you do the best for your family. I silently observe many of you, learn from you, and sometimes you become an example of compassion, love, SELFLESS attitudes, dedication,  and more! Some of us new moms are in training and every stage seem to bring new challenges to over come, especially communication. I am so confused by so many books. At this point I feel like I don't know how to communicate! I find myself trying my hardest to avoid the word NO and talking in a very calm voice. Do you have a sentence that you find your self repeating over and over again? Here's mine, "Mommy can't understand when you are screaming, you need to calm down and use your words." And here is the best part of being a mommy. My husband and I hardly ever argue, but when we do, I surprise him by using a very calm voice. At the end we both kiss each other, laugh and he says, yes mom. And he is constantly reminding me that he is an adult, not a baby, oh joy! 

I love being a mom and I only hope to continue to develop my christlike attitude so I can be a good example for my children to  follow.

Here is my favorite quote about parenting:

The things you say, the tone of your voice, the anger or calm of your words - These things are noticed by your children and by others. They see and learn both the kind and unkind things we say and do. Nothing exposes our true selves more than how we treat one another in our home. - Josephe B Withlin, April 2005. 

I would love to know what challenges are you currently experiencing with your children? And what tricks or resources are you currently using to overcome them? Also please feel free to write some positive, uplifting comments about motherhood! Who knows, maybe your kind and loving words may reach the heart of someone who is in desperate need to hear those words! You can make a difference.  Lets support each other and learn from each other! 

With love and appreciation for everything you do, 

Your Friend, 

COOKING WITH KIMBERLY & PAOLA: WATERMELON SMOOTHIE TO DIE FOR

I Watermelon! 

Oh my mouth is watering as I'm writing this post! This smoothie is to DIE FOR! I cant seem to find the words to  describe the taste !!Of this concoction of flavors! It taste sweet and sour, healthy, addictive, soft, refreshing, it is one of those drinks that has a glorious taste to it, you don't know what it is but you don't want it to end! ITS SCRUMPTIOUS!

So how did I came up with this amazing smoothie?  When I was pregnant in the middle of summer with my son Logan, I used to eat 3 watermelons a week, I am not exaggerating friends, you can ask my husband. I became addictive to it! I had to have it with my breakfast, in my veggie and fruit salads, as an appetizer, with desert, a middle of the night snack. Oh my goodness I was out of control!!! Oh and needless to say I was addictive to Jamba Juice, I had at least 2 a day.

So one morning my hubby was not at home, I was huge and couldn't drive to buy my Jamba and I was desperate for that smoothie!!!!  So... I looked in the freezer found some ingredients, improvised and Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I think I died and went to heaven! OH WHAT WAS THIS THAT I WAS TASTING? Poor hubby, I had another addition to my watermelon diet! I started drinking this everyday and no more Jamba Juice for this sweet mama!

Here I am two years after having my son and still craving watermelon! So I had friends over for dinner on Friday night and decided to make this amazing drink! Are you guys ready? My day was so chaotic that I didn't have time to change from my gym clothes, oops! Well, at the end of the day we relax and have a good time!!!!


Drums rolling.......................................Here we go!

INGREDIENTS

Serving 10 glasses 

1 Watermelon - Make sure it is ripe and sweet 

1/2 of a small lime

1 bag of Frozen strawberries - I love the Kirkland brand from Costco

Agave

This beverage os packed with Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B1, Lycopene, Potassium, Folate, Fiber and antioxidants. 

PREPARATION

Before you start, make sure you pick the heaviest watermelon at the store. The heaviest the sweeter and juicier it will be. Cut your watermelon by removing the skin, seeds, if any, and cut in small cubes. Start putting little pieces and blending it at a high speed until you fill half of your blender glass with watermelon juice.

Hint: Do not add water or alcohol!

Now start adding your frozen strawberries and make sure you put on the lid on your blender.
Otherwise you will have watermelon all over your walls! 

Note: Sometimes my frozen strawberries are a little sour and not ripe. You can always add some Agave to the smoothie while blending it. Add agave to taste. I have found that the frozen strawberries at Costco are super sweet and I never have to add any sugar to my smoothy. The bag is huge and is very affordable compared to other supermarkets. 

Now squeeze and add your lime juice and keep on blending! 

YUM, YUM so easy!!!  Ready to taste this heavenly smoothie?

My friend Kimberly is not a huge fan of watermelon, but guess what?!?!

She loved this smoothie and actually asked to have another glass! Silly girl!

Don't you love the color of this drink? It literally smells like candy!

So dinner is ready and we are ready to have a feast! I made some yummy white rice with cilantro, onion and garlic. Some super sweet plantains with some melted cheese and guava paste on top, delicious. A chicken (Pollo sudado) with cassava or Yucca and a side salad! 

Everyone gave me a thumbs up and plates are almost clean!

Hey my little one looks happy and loves mommy's cooking!

Hint: Add a ripe peach if you have one available and it taste even better.


CHEERS TO WATERMELON! 
Your Friend,  

    Paola 



SUPER FUN AND COLORFUL STRIPED MAXI DRESS

 Say YES to this Dress!

Happy Monday Friends! I hope all of you had an amazing and relaxing weekend. It was a fun and busy for this gal. Just to give you a brief overview,  we had some friends over for dinner on Friday night, and yes I cooked and it was delicious! All the plates were clean, that's a good sign, right?  On Saturday my girls Kimberly, Aleesha, Morgan and I  did some hard core community service at our local Desert Mission Food Bank. And finally Sunday there is always church, which I love, and spending lots of quality time with my hubby and baby Logan, which by the way we re-named him Babezilla!  Wow  Logan has always been the perfect baby, happy, playful and calm, but as soon as he turned 19 months, it all went downhill, from sugar to you know what! HELP!

 Ok, ok, I know what you guys are thinking, what about that amazing dress? Back on track, no worries.  After our community service on Saturday,  my friend Kimberly dropped me off at home. I'm not kidding it was around 110 degrees outside and all I wanted to do was to go home, take a nice shower and drink a smoothie! It was brutal!

So all of you guys know me  well,  I have lots of mommy moments. Kimberly dropped me off and , OH NO, I don't have my house keys on me and my hubby was far away taking Logan to a play date. So my amazing friend Kimberly picked me up and we went shopping!

Next thing we are in the parking lot walking to the store when my husband calls, I'm on my way home. Bummer, I really wanted to look for some fun colorful clothes. So Kimberly and I rushed to the store, we had 10 minutes! Kimberly starts finding gorgeous outfits, and here I am not finding anything cute and saying, next, next, next! When we were getting ready to pay, I spotted this colorful something from far away, told Kimberly to stay in line and OOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH Heavens, I need to try this baby on! This is exactly what I've been looking for!!!!
 I tried this dress and fell in love with it right away. It's a little loose but who cares the price was right. Are you ready to hear how much I paid for my super fun and colorful stripes Maxi dress....................................................... $9.99! 

I am a mommy of a very active toddler and I find myself craving for something chic, comfortable, elegant and fun, this dress has it ALL!!!!  Oh goodness this was a really good find for me. Kimberly bought one too and it looks gorgeous on her too.  

Dress: Andrea Missy (Ross) // Belt: Calvin Klein (Anthem Outlets, PHX, AZ)

Earrings: Macy's  //  Necklace: I love beading and I made it myself!  I make one of a kind and either keep them or sell them. ( Black Onyx with cupid zirconia and crystals)  

Ring: Bogotá, Colombia ( White, pink and yellow gold) // Bracelet 1:  ( Celebration of women) Bailey Banks & Biddle // Bracelet 2: Brighton 

Watch: DKNY ( Macy's) Limited Edition

 

Ok I had to break the rules and be a little goofy for a minute. Cant stand that serious face!

This heat was getting to me! We were taking pictures at 2 pm and it was 107 degrees outside. But of course my photographer thought this will be a good shot. Thanks Kimberly!  It is exhausting the role of a wanna be a  model, lol! 

Shoes: De Blossom Collections (Xi Company)  This shoes are super light and comfortable. Most important, it supports your ankle. Great for a mommy who forgot how to walk in heels! I can wear them all day!

Glasses: Ray-Ban (Sunglass Hut) 

Oops, loosing my balance again, another mommy moment for me! Thank you 

One thing that I absolutely love about these dresses is that they are so comfortable and versatile. You can wear them at the park, beach, grocery shopping, family reunion, date night, there are so many possibilities. Just be sure to wear fun accessories and a belt! You know how I feel about belts!!!!!


Here are some pictures of us girls goofing around and enjoying serving our community together!

"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." 

Friends that do service together increase the love and trust they have for one another. There is something about this experience that helps me realize how important it is to extend a hand to those you love in times of need. I admire and respect these girls, they are an example to me, and I look forward finding different ways to serve together.

 So get your friends together, find what are the real needs of your community and find time to give a little love to those that less fortunate. Count your many blessings, increase your love for those in need, serve .............................. you might be answering someone prayers!

Mosiah 2:17 
And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn ^awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the ^bservice of your ^cfellowbeings ye are only in the service of your God.

Your Friend,  

    Paola 

ORGANIZING TIPS - OUT OF CONTROL BELTS!

I don't know about you, but I have days where I look in my closet and think, Oh my word this is a mess!!!!!!  In the past I used to spend hours, even days sorting though my mess trying to organize it, just for it to be messy a couple of days later. What a waste of time!  Well, I take that back, there's always a benefit from re-organizing your closet. There is a feeling of happiness and accomplishment when I  find clothes that I have not worn in months and I have found  all kinds of treasures that I completely forgot about!  I bet my hubby loves it too. Hey, I don't need to buy another pair of jeans after all and I'm not breaking his wallet! LOL I love how men think so different from women.

So how come I am so inspired to share this secret of mine? One reason, because it works for me! My system is very simple, is not time consuming and the best part is, you don't need to spend a lot of money!!!  It can't get better than that!

Today I'm going to teach you how to organize your belts. I am a gal who loves belts!! I have a belt for every outfit. Needless to say I have over 80 belts, yikes! I will take a belt over an accessory any day and rock it!

Ok so enough words, I'm sure you are so excited to know what this is all about.

All you need is:

A CONTAINER + HEAVY DUTY (QUART)  FREEZER ZIPLOC BAGS + BELTS

Drums rolling.........................................!

Before my last move I used to hang all of my belts in the closet, then I bought this belt hanger that broke(extremely expensive),  my last resource was to look at a YouTube video and try the DIY belt hanger by Jaaaack Beauty tip, it didn't work for me. Too many belts means, less space in the closet and belts falling on the floor. Right? Lets be honest, that's what makes your closet look sooooooooo messy. Then I tried putting them in a drawer, rolling them and putting a rubber band to keep them in place... not a good idea, now some belts have a permanent pressure mark from the band. Oh and don't forget trying to pull out 1 belt and having a million come out.  Sound familiar?

Once day while I was at Target I saw this container on sale for $7 and bought it in a heart bit. It comes with a lid. There is a huge advantage when using containers to store belts, accessories, shoes.........everything!

1. Great way to organize your home. Just stick a label on it, put it away and your house will be mess free.
2. There will always be a place for everything. I love to open my closet, see all of my cute containers with labels on them and know where to find a specific item. 
3. Keep everything DUST FREE. Oh this is a big one! I live in Arizona and my shoes just to get dusty all the time. I used to find myself having to wipe the dust before putting a show on. 
4. If you live in Florida or other place called paradise, you will thank me later! Here's a little story that gives me goose bumps 

Never, say never! My mom learned that my whole container system was silly until this happened to her.  She lives in Florida,  bug paradise, keep that in mind. One morning while rushing to get out of the house she grabbed her running shoes out of the closet, put them on and , OUCH, what was that? She thought there was a stick or something in it, no big deal! She decided to shake her shoe and looked inside.  Next thing she sees, A HUGE CUCARACHA (Cockroach). My stomach just turned! 

Not a bad idea to prevent scorpions from building their little love nest in your high heel if you live in the desert!

       5. Easy to store. You can put it under your bed! 

Another advantage of container is that your angels will not get to play dress up that often! Here is my little bambino playing with mommy's belts! Having them in your closet or just hanging them where they can see them means on thing, easy access and a fun new toy! 

Oh NO! Look what I found on the floor. One of the stones felt off, but lucky me I didn't loose it because I keep all my belts in Ziploc Bags!!!!! If you hang them in your closet the chances are that you will loose those gems for EVER! So here is my next trick. Not only buy a container to store them, but roll them and store them in Ziploc Bags. I like the HEAVY DUTY (QUART)  FREEZER ZIPLOC BAGS.  These are the advantages of using them: 

1. Prevents gem stones or anything that falls off from your belt from getting lost, FOREVER!
2. Keep them dust free. 
3. You can easily find the one you want to wear, pull it out of your container and you are done. No messes, no detangling and finally, avoid all your other belts jumping with excitement at you! No more messy closets.
4. Prevents all the materials and specially the metals brushing agains each other. NO SCRATCHES! They will last you longer. 
5. Can you think of one more? 

               
                      

               Make sure to take all the air out of the Ziploc bag before you close it.

Oh WOW! Look how organized my 80+ belts are and they are all color coded. Dark colors, browns, metals, and other colors. Yay, don't you feel much better? I know I do! Now you can go shopping and put more clothes in your closet! I bet your significant other will love that, especially when you take up half of their closet space! 

Time to put that lid on and store your container under your bed!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Yep, here I am rocking my black gym shirt and of course, I couldn't forget to wear a belt!

I hope you enjoyed reading my blog post. I will be posting more secrets every week. So friends, visit me often and lets have fun learning together. I love to read all of your comments!!

Tell me all about it: I  want you to share with me your cleaning and organizational tips. I'm a gal who loves learning from others and will actually try your tricks and let you know if they worked for me too!!

For now my friends, all I have to say is Arrivedeci! My bambino just woke up, the boss is calling!

With love and appreciation for everything you do!!

Many Besitos