Category Archives: Blogging

Wordless Wednesday: Dole’s 2012 Rose Parade Float plus The Queen and Her Court

I have lived in California my entire life, that is 36 years if you are counting folks. I have never gone to the Rose Parade, nor have I participated in float building, and seeing any of the actual floats. I always watch it from my comfy couch in my jammies in the warmth of my home. But I got an opportunity a week ago to view some of the Rose Parade Floats, and even prep some seeds, etc. for Dole’s 2012 Rose Parade Float “Preserving Paradise”.

Upon arrival to the event at Fiesta Parade Floats headquarters, I was met by this VERY large elephant. This elephant was at the front of Dole’s 2012 Rose Parade Float.

Dole 2012 Rose Parade FloatDo you want to see what the rest of the float will look like? Here a graphic design of it. Isn’t it beautiful? I love all of the colors, and cannot wait to see it on TV!

Dole 2012 Rose Parade Float "Preserving Paradise"Here are some more views of the float. I couldn’t capture the entire float because there were people everywhere, and I’m a bit OCD about my photos. Plus, I had my 50mm lens on, which has limitations.

Dole's 2012 Rose Parade Float
Dole's 2012 Rose Parade Float
Dole's 2012 Rose Parade Float
Dole's 2012 Rose Parade FloatWe got to participate in some preliminary float decorating. The early decorating is done with seeds. The flowers are done at the very last to preserve freshness.
Rose Parade Float DecoratingAngry Kid joined in on the fun, and got some face painting, and well, arm painting. He never turns down face painting.

Angry Kid with his airbrushed present tattoo
And of course, we got  a group picture of all the bloggers with the Rose Queen and her Court.

DOLEFamilyDay

Welcome to “Angry Julie Monday’s Wordless Wednesday Linky”!

If this your first time here, HELLO! I do a link-up every Wednesday! Post a picture(s) and link back to it here. Wordless Wednesday is a great day to post an awesome picture that “speaks” for itself, no words needed.

Be sure to check out Wordless Wednesday Link-Ups at these other sites also:

Project AliciaBetter in BulkBy Word of Mouth MusingsDear CrissyFive Minutes For MomLive and Love…Out Loud, Parenting By DummiesSeven Clown CircusSupermomThe Divine Miss Mommy

Also, Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy does “What I Wore Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up.

And, I can’t forget Krystina from Lollipops whom does “What I Love Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up.




Disclosure: I was invited by Dole to this special event. I was not compensated in any way. All opinions are mine.

Hello Monday {Post Holidays}

We survived the past week, but I’m not quite sure how. It is Monday and the beginning of a brand new week. Angry Kid and I are chillin’ today, but we have some fun plans the rest of the week. Here’s a recap of the past few days.

His game on the iPad is very important. He chose to sit in the itty bitty cart.Hello to last minute stops to the craft store and tiny shopping carts.

Christmas Eve at The Angry House: Husband's 38th Birthday, 7 men, 2 kids, 2 dogs, me....beer, pizza, chips, cake and Biloxi Blues.Hello to my husband’s 38th Birthday on Christmas Eve.

Hello to chips, pizza, and beer and watching old movies.

Lights on, TV on, Lego minefield, kid out cold in his bed.Hello to sleeping kid.

Hello to Lego minefield.

Hello to a fun night.

Santa left some packages for Angry Kid. I guess the next year will be filled with bike riding, Nerf shooting, book reading fun!Hello Santa.

Hello BMX Bike, Nerf, Star Wars, and Sharks.

Hello to kid getting sick at 2am, doing laundry, and cleaning carpeting.

Lasagna: Christmas Dinner Deliciousness. Recipe via @thepioneerwoman of course. Our family tradition for the past three years.Hello to Pioneer Woman’s Lasagna.

Hello to unwrapping presents.

Hello to husband getting the flu, sigh.

My son hiding in the corner. He's been playing @SkylandersGame on his new XBox all day. I heard about this game @BlogHer. I told my husband about it. He is totally impressed by the concept.Hello to Nana and Papa’s Christmas gift of an XBox with a Kinect.

Hello to The Skylander’s Game.

Hello to hours of entertainment for the kid.

********************

Hello To Monday.

Hello to another week of vacation for the kid, and a few days off for me.

Hello to decluttering, cleaning, and even a little relaxing.

Hello to fun events planned this week.

I’m linking up with Lisa Leonard today and her Hello Monday Link-Up!

My First Twilight Premiere

In late October, I received an invitation. It was from Erin, who is somewhat spazzy like me. We are a good fit. But she is quite obsessed with something that I’ve never really gotten into, Twilight. Erin was having a premiere party for the new Twilight Saga movie, Breaking Dawn. Erin goes all out for her parties. Of course, I was going to attend. But I had to do some research first. In order to attend this premiere, movie, etc. I finally had to break down and read the books, yes books, like all of them.

Project 365 305/365: Starting from the beginning...because of an upcoming wedding! Do you see this @bringingupburns?

So I might have read all four of the books in a week.  I then had to watch all of the previous movies.  All of my research was done prior to Erin’s party. I still wasn’t sure if I was into all of this Twilight hype. I did make the decision that I was Team Jacob. Because Taylor Lautner is hot. So what if he was born when I was a junior in high school, does that make me a cougar?

The week before the party, Erin was running around trying to finish her last minute projects. Actually, Erin had been working on her crafts/ideas/projects for quite some time. She likes to really carry out her theme.  I wanted to help somehow.  So I offered to make a treat for the party. My contribution was Vampire Kibble.  I had to package it right away because it was so tempting in my house.

Making Werewolf Kibble.  cc: @bringingupburns #BreakingDawn
Werewolf Kibble and Vampire Bites-Treats for Breaking Dawn Party
I arrived at Erin’s house a little early that night to take some pictures of her decor. I wanted to get pictures before everyone had attacked the food and snacks.

Of course, not only did she have food and drinks but she also had trivia games. She had a “Name That Vampire” game with photographs of various vampires from different movies, and also a “Twilight Trivia Powerpoint” via her outdoor movie screen also known as “The Tree Screen” since they have it hanging from a tree in their front yard.

Name That Vampire Game
Name That Vampire
Breaking Dawn Trivia on Tree Screen And now the food and the rest of the decor. She totally went with the Twilight theme.

Breaking Dawn-Bella Quote

Bella Swan and Edward Cullen-Breaking Dawn Wedding Invitation
Breaking Dawn Premiere Party Food
Breaking Dawn-Twilight-Party Food
Breaking Dawn Premiere Party Candle Decoration
Volturi Wine
Breaking Dawn-Twilight-Water Bottle Labels
Syringe Blood Shots-Twilight Party
Erin and I also have a bit of a tradition anytime we have cupcake pictures. We call this this Twilight cupcake pose. The cupcakes were port wine and chocolate cherry flavored. Deliciousness!

Twilight-Breaking Dawn Cupcake

And then there was swag, YES, she even made Swag bags.…it was like a celebrity movie premiere, without having to buy a really expensive dress.

From Erin’s blog:

The bags were black canvas that I labeled with “Keep Calm and Break Dawn” on the outside. Inside, guests found a 35mm film strip bookmark (I just cut the film into 10 frame pieces and laminated,) gummy fangs, a fang ring, a bag of candy blood (type V for Vegetarian prescribed by Dr. Carlisle Cullen, of course) feathers, a CD I made with songs from all 4 movie soundtracks (printed the CD sleeves on red card stock and then sewed up the sides with black thread. LOVED how they turned out!) Apple mittens, and a handwritten card thanking everyone for indulging me in my crazy!

Breaking Dawn Premiere Party Swag Bag

Before we left to go to the movie theater, I got a group picture of everyone wearing their mittens that Erin had placed in her swag bag. And believe me, we wore them while waiting outside the movie theater, it was cold.

Twilight Apple Gloves

After another very large Dr. Pepper, I arrived at the theater. I had been up since 5am that morning. It was an extremely long day but so worth it. I had seen all of the Twilight movies, but I had never gone to the midnight premiere.

Breaking Dawn at Big Newport
I was very happy that I had read all of the books, before I saw the movie. It would have been very confusing to me. This movie and even the book had a ton of major events happen. It is hard to keep track of everything. The computer graphics aka CGI were insane. I think they have gotten so much better since the first movie. Snaps to them for the awesome quality.

I won’t go into all of the details of the movie, but I got to see Jacob aka Taylor Lautner without his shirt a few times, which is always a good thing. I’m not sure if I’m a diehard TwiHard but I did enjoy the books and movie. I’m not obsessed with them like some people, cough cough Erin….but they were all good.

I also got to meet Denise while I was at the party too. She had flown out for Erin’s party and of course, the movie premiere. She is a big fan.

You are probably wondering what Erin’s NEXT big huge MOVIE PREMIERE party is, right? Well I think I’m going to coordinate with Erin for The Hunger Games!!! We are both super excited. I already have a Pinterest board started with ideas. We are both a little obsessed. I had to get a photo of the movie advertisement. Coincidently, this photo was taken before Breaking Dawn started. Amazing, that I didn’t look dead tired.

A bit excited about The Hunger Games.
Please see Erin’s post “Keep Calm and Break Dawn” which is her recap post. She goes into more detail about the decor, food, beverages, games, etc. for her party. I was just the photographer, and of course, guest.