South Sea Siren Costume Supercenter Review!

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Jamie

I had the opportunity to review a costume from Costume SuperCenter!  They sent me to their online site where I got to choose from a variety of costumes.  I stuck to the women’s costumes section.   Right away, I went to look through the Pirate Costumes.  Want in on a little secret?  I have a pirate fascination so right away I had to browse through the pirate section.  That’s when I ran across the South Sea Sirens costume, and that was the one I had to have.

There is a pirate festival in Long Beach happening at the end of July.  This costume will be the perfect outfit for the days festivities.  It’ll be good practice for the annual festival that happens in September.

So when the costume arrived I had to try it on right away, and was happy with how well it fit.  It was an easy slip on and off dress.  The costume came with a headband to fit the pirate style.  Although I left my hair down I could easily add a wig or braids to add a bit more to the costume.  The sleeves could easily go up and down t he arms.

The only thing I had to adjust on the costume were the ribbons in the middle.  I could put them through the loops anyway that I could.  I wish the loop holes were a bit bigger as I laced up my ribbon, but other than that the costume was great.

That weekend my SO and I went out to do a photo shoot to catch me in my South Sea Sirens costume glory:

Photo Credit: David Smith

The thing I really loved about the Women’s Costumes at Costume Supercenter were how affordable they were.  The costume above only cost 24.99.  A lot of the costumes I looked through were less than 35 dollars which makes browsing for your costume even more fun.

The costumes make it super easy to accessorize with.  Add some gold necklaces around your neck for that piratey feel, and do what I did and add  your favorite pair of boots.  In the end you make your costume the way you want to.

So a big thanks goes out to Costume SuperCenter for this great opportunity to review a costume I could easily wear over and over again!  Aye Matey, I think we have ourselves a winner 😉

Disclosure: Costume SuperCenter provided me with a free costume to review.  All opinions are my own, and I’m quite pleased with the costume I have chosen. 

 


Categories: Fun Stuff, Life | Tags: , , , , , , | 17 Comments

California Strawberry Festival Part 2!

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Jamie

Remember a few weeks ago when I told you I was headed to the California Strawberry Festival? Well.  I did it.  I went, and I had a blast.

It started on Saturday morning, I woke up around 8am, gave myself a little internet time then got ready and hit the road.  I filled up the gas tank then drove for about a hour and a half to Camarillo where I parked my car at one of the shuttle locations, and took it to the California Strawberry Festival fairgrounds.

The shuttle ride into town was awesome because along the way you could see all the strawberry fields in the area.  It reminded me of all the farmlands back home, which I missed, and it was my first time seeing any sort of farming in California altogether.

It was pretty neat seeing fields upon fields of strawberries.  I use to work in a grocery store, and I stocked many cartons of strawberries in my life so to actually see this end of it was refreshing.

Once I got into the fairgrounds the first thing I saw were the booths upon booths of art and crafts.  A variety of vendors lined the sidewalk.  They had beautiful wall hangings, photographs, soaps, jewelry, hats, apparel, and other neat stuff to look at.  I am a huge fan of looking at other’s creations so I got lost in the booths for quite a long time.

One of the amazing craft vendors showcased there.  They made these adorable piggy banks of all different animal creations.  Gave a completely different spin on the piggy bank =)

I walked a bit further and soon found the food area.  I was fascinated just looking at what kind of food creations were being made with strawberries.  There was strawberry pizza, strawberry nachos, deep fried strawberries, chocolate covered strawberries, strawberry smoothies, strawberry crepes, strawberry shortcake.

I think I committed a cardinal sin by the first food item I purchased had nothing to do with strawberries, but when I laid my eyes on roasted corn I couldn’t resist, and it was ohsogood! 😉 But I recovered quickly and ran off to get myself a Strawberry Crepe with Chocolate Mousse.

Yum.  Looks good, doesn’t it?

I soon walked around the corner when I ran across this sign:

The time? 11am.  The verdict?  I couldn’t pass up champagne with a Strawberry in it.  So what did I end up doing?  I indulged.  I enjoyed it, and I lived to talk about it 😉 They also had Strawberry and Raspberry Beer available.

I soon wandered off to the next part of the festival where I ran across a few more food vendors, and a live music stage.  I listened to the music for a little bit when I ran across Stonefire Naan Flatbread, and omg, it was YUMMY!  They provided a cooking demonstration that I sat through in which they showed some easy recipes you could make with the naan flatbread.  You have to try this out!

I explored a bit more.  I ran into Strawberry Shortcake, a Strawberry Twirl Ride, and a man bungee jumping:

And then I found myself in the FoodShare tent.  Foodshare is an amazing nonprofit that helps to feed the hungry by the power of the people for the people.  And inside the tent I caught the remaining two contestants of the Berry Blast Off Recipe Contest that is held every year on behalf of the California Strawberry Festival.

People are asked to submit a favorite non-bake strawberry recipe of theirs.  There were over 100 entries into this contest, and then 5 finalists were chosen.  These 5 finalists take part in a mini competition before the festival where they are narrowed down to 2 contestants.  The final 2 contestants then compete at the California Strawberry Festival.  They were Olivia Smith from Oxnard, CA with her Strawberry Crepe recipe and Winona Krieger with her Strawberry Lasagna Recipe.

Above Winona (left) and Olivia (right) are making their recipes for the judges.  The judges were directly behind them watching the entire thing.  The ladies had one hour to make their creations and present them to the judges.  The judges then voted, and the winner was decided.  A big congratulations goes out to Winona Krieger.  She won a 4 night Carnival Cruise Vacation!

and the best part was? Everyone in the audience got to sample their creations after the competition.  Winona’s Strawberry Lasagna was delicious.  Unfortunately it was a mad house so I never got to try Olivia’s Crepes.  =)

One more stop to the food booths where I tried a few more items:

The amazing Strawberry Shortcake Creation I made.  The ladies in the booth told me exactly how to get the most out of my money.  I surrounded the bowl with all the pound cake that I could.  I put the strawberry purree on the bottom then filled my bowl up with strawberries and covered the creation with whipped cream.  As I walked out many people walked by me and said, “now that’s what I’m talking about.”  I felt I did the California Strawberry Festival right 😉

And after this I had to try one other Strawberry Item:

Strawberry Salsa! People were walking around saying how good it was so I had to try it for myself.  I was quite pleased.  It did have a little bit of a kick to it, and I was pleasantly surprised, and gobbled it right up.

I then headed back to the art and craft vendor booths and did one last walk around before heading back to my shuttle for my drive home.  In the end it was a great day, and this has officially become one of my favorite California Festivals!

Disclosure: I was provided free tickets to attend the festival.  All food items were purchased with my own money, and the day was my complete firsthand experience of this wonderful festival.

A toast to the California Strawberry Festival for a raving success!  I’ll definitely be attending next year =)

 

Being apart of the Biannual Blogathon Bash I learned about making photo collages so here you go:

 

 

 


Categories: Fun Stuff, Travel | 17 Comments

I’m an Introvert, is that such a BAD thing?

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Jamie

Look it me!  Do I look like a quiet person?  From this picture, I wouldn’t think so.

But the truth is, I am.  For the longest time I always thought something was wrong with me.  I wanted to be social, I wanted to have conversations with people, but I struggled with the words, and I struggled with the conversations.  I’d kick myself down.

But then, this past week, I read this amazing article, and for once, it all made sense to me.

Here is the article:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-misleading-assumptions-you-make-about-quiet-people/

I am an INTROVERT!  I always knew I was, but I guess, when it came down to it, I didn’t always know what it meant.  After reading the article above things began to make sense to me.

1)  It’s OKAY to not be talkative!

I’ve battled this one for years.  I’ve kicked myself down repeatedly for always being too quiet, for not knowing what to talk about, or just sitting back and observing.  I never thought for a second that hey, it’s okay to be quiet, you can be.  There is nothing in the world that says YOU have to talk.

The other part of why I’m so quiet sometimes is because I put thought into my words, and I don’t want to come off as some dumbass for something that just came out of my mouth.  Trust me, this doesn’t always work, words just kind of tumble out of my mouth from time to time too 😉

2) Am I socially awkward?

I have my moments.  I think we all do.  I don’t like small talk so I fumble around with it, and then I go blank… uhhh… uhhh.. uhhhh…. 😉

But then you get me on the right topic, and I won’t shut up.

The truth is, when I’m in a social situation, it is all about comfort level for me.  If I’m in a room of people, and I’m comfortable I’ll be witty, I’ll crack jokes, and I’ll be a-okay.

But get me in a room of people where I feel intimidated or not comfortable, and I clam up INSTANTLY!  I do have the social skills, but in certain situations it can be a lot harder for me to talk, to assert myself, and be confident in what I am saying.  That’s also the anxiety in me 😉

3) I am a social introvert! 

The truth is, even in my social anxiety set ways, I love being around people.  Yes, I have my moments when I want to be left alone, but more than likely, I want to be invited out to things, I want to go out to the dinner, and I want to do all the social activities that others do.

But I have my moments where, in the end, I am tired, and it does take a lot of energy to do these things.  If I wake up and it’s a low energy day it is so much harder for me to go to a social activity.  And I am also one of those introverts that doesn’t like being out past 11 😉 I know that sounds sad, but it’s the truth, and I’ve come to accept it.  I’ve always been this way.

And the other part is after a night of social activity I need my downtime, my time to unwind.  I need that “me” time.  And there’s no way I can go out every day of the week, there is just no way.  My energy levels just aren’t that high up.

4) I am HAVING a good time!

In the past people have walked away from me at a party or event thinking I wasn’t enjoying myself because I was being quiet, or I was sitting back.  The truth to everyone is the fact that I was indeed enjoying myself.   A good time to me is being out with the activity, being apart of the festivities, but I don’t need to be interacting the entire time.  I also don’t need a drink in my hand, or making a joke.  I’m okay with just sitting back and observing the conversation around me.

5) And the last kicker, I do struggle with the PHONE! 

I am a person of the latest generation.  It is much easier for me to write out what I am thinking or saying through the written word.  It is far easier for me to write out an articulate message through an email or online conversation versus an actual phone conversation.  Those conversations take more energy out of me, so it is much harder for me. Whereas an actual email or online conversation comes naturally for me.  It is who I am.  I can’t change it, but I also recognize that everyone isn’t like me in that way either, so I try to adapt, but it is really hard for me.  People often wonder why I don’t call, or we don’t talk on the phone often, and this is the reason.

The other part is my anxiety in that if I call someone I automatically think I’m interrupting something, or I am bothering them.  I know these are things I need to work on 😉 LOL

So yes, say it with me, “I AM AN INTROVERT AND ITS PERFECTLY OKAY.”

Photo Credit: David Smith

And I can be playful 😉

So, to all the introverts out there, what were  some of your biggest struggles growing up?  What have you overcome in life, etc?

And you all need to check out this Awesome Facebook group “Introverts Are Awesome.” 

 

This story was incredibly personal to me so I really wanted to include this for #PYHO (Pour Your Heart Out)  On Every Wednesday Shell from Things I can’t Say does a link up on “Pour Your Heart Out” where we can discuss something close to us, something personal, and we then link up with others.  This is my absolute favorite meme, and I couldn’t write something this personal about myself without linking it up to #PYHO


Categories: Life | Tags: , , , , | 46 Comments