Treasure Island, Florida!

Growing up near the ocean, I always took for granted the fact that it was so close.  It wasn't one of our frequent places to visit, and I really never thought I would miss it when we moved away.  But, after about ten years, I really started feeling the pull to be near it again.  I missed the smells, the sounds, and the feelings it evoked.

So now, whenever Mr. Mister tells me that he has an upcoming business trip somewhere near the ocean, I jump at the chance to tag along with him!

He goes for work, and I go to play!  LOL!

This was the second time we visited Tampa, Florida, and we stayed on Treasure Island both times.  Why?  Well, one of the reasons is that we really like having a kitchen in our room. That way, we can go to the grocery store and pick up a few things to munch on.  It makes things easier, because I tend to be a "room rat" while the Mister is attending meetings, or at the conference. I kick back, read, surf the internet, take a nap, and basically live the life of leisure!

It's really hard being ME!!  (Just sayin'!)

But, the main reason we stay at this particular hotel, is because it's right on the water!!

And, we have views like this from our room!

We can't resist getting up early in morning, and going for a walk on the beach!

Or, watching the setting sun as it dips closer to the water!

There is just something about being near the water, that makes me feel at home.  I would LOVE to move to a place, where I could wake up to this every day!

OH!  I did find the perfect house!  We actually saw it last year, and it was still on the market this year.

Isn't she GORGEOUS!  Instant LOVE!  And, she's only $1,499,900.00!

  

POCKET CHANGE!!!  Right?  Babe??

Guess that means she's still on the market!   LOL!

Even though Mr. Mister was there for work, we did find time to enjoy some of the touristy things you just "have to do" when you are in Tampa.  One of those things being, eating at the Taco Bus!!  

Mr. Mister saw it mentioned by Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives, and said he wanted to eat there.  So, we did!

My opinion?  (In case you're asking!  LOL!)  The food was OK.  I've had much better Mexican food!  But, the novelty of it was cool!

Of course, you have to go to John's Pass - Village & Boardwalk!  You can't go to the ocean, and not shop, or eat at the boardwalk!

Where else will you see a pirate ship sail by as you chow down on fish & chips?

And, this is where we signed up for the best thing we did while we were there!  

PARASAILING!!!!!  

Yep!  We went parasailing!  Gators Parasail offered an early bird special to anyone who signed up for their earliest excursion, so we went for it!  

It was AWESOME!  

Now, we know how the seagulls, and other birds feel, as they're soaring high above the water!  It was so quiet, and peaceful.  And, the view was even better than the one from our hotel room!!  

Our only complaint, was that it ended WAY TOO SOON!   

Unfortunately, we had to head back to shore, and Mr. Mister had to go to work!  But, I think for my very first time out on the ocean, it couldn't have gotten any better than this!

(All pictures were taken with our cell phones, except the parasailing pictures.  They were taken by the guys on the boat!  Thanks Captain Dave & Eric!)

Marshmallow Popcorn!!!

OK!  Stop what you're doing!

Grab your car keys, RUN out the door, and drive like a crazy person to the nearest grocery store!

You need to pick up some microwave popcorn, marshmallows, brown sugar, and butter!

Go ahead!  I'll wait right here for you!

But, hurry back!  Because THIS is what awaits you when you return!

This delectable treat is called Marshmallow Popcorn!

It is to DIE for!  

It's an OOEY, GOOEY, finger lickin', addiction in a bowl!  I promise that you will NOT be able to stop eating it!  But, PLEASE get your own bowl!  No finger lickin' and grabbing another hand full!  That's like double dipping!  EWWW!

I found this recipe on Pinterest!  (Where else??  LOL!)  Leigh Anne, from the blog called Your Homebased Mom, shared the recipe, and raved about it.

As soon as I saw it, I started pulling the ingredients out of the pantry.  YES!  I actually had everything I needed on hand!  SEE!  It was fate!

This recipe makes a lot of popcorn, so you may want to halve the recipe if you don't have someone around to help you eat it.  Of course, you could always eat the entire batch yourself, and believe me, you will be tempted to do just that, but I wouldn't recommend it! You may HATE me if that happens!  Or, you may really, REALLY love me!

Hmmmm!  I say "Let Them Eat Popcorn!"  LOL!

I whipped it up in no time!  Poured it into a HUGE bowl, and took it to a get together at the neighbors house.

They cursed me, and then they devoured it!

Even the one who claimed not to like popcorn, had his hand in the bowl, over, and over again!  I turned him into a popcorn addicted convert!  ROFL!

So, are YOU ready to try it?

Marshmallow Popcorn

3  Bags Microwave Popcorn - Popped - Remove Unpopped Kernels
2  Sticks Butter
16 Oz.  Bag Mini Marshmallows
1 Cup  Brown Sugar

Microwave butter, marshmallows, and brown sugar for 2 1/2 minutes.  Take out and stir.  Microwave again for 1 minute. Repeat until all is melted.

When done, pour mixture over popcorn, and mix well.  ENJOY!

Oprah's Lifeclass Tour & Taping

On February 22nd, I received an email saying that Oprah was coming to St. Louis on March 26th to tape two of her lifeclasses.  The tickets were being offered through a ticket lottery system, which meant that every ticket request submitted had the same chance of being selected.

You had to choose which guest teacher you wanted to see.  The choices were Bishop T. D. Jakes, for the afternoon taping, and Iyanla Vanzant, for the evening taping.  I hadn't really seen anything that either of the guest teachers had done before, but I knew that Mr. Mister liked Bishop T.D. Jakes, so I quickly filled out my request, choosing the afternoon class with him.

I hit the submit button, and went along my happy little way!

I woke up four days later, hopped on my computer to check my email, and there "IT" was!!!!  The email telling me that "MY" name was chosen to receive two tickets!  Talk about doing a happy dance!  You probably heard me singing "I'm going to see Oprah, I'm going to see Oprah!" all the way at your house!

You did!  Didn't you??

Mr. Mister was a sweetie, and drove me to St. Louis the weekend before the class, to pick up the tickets, at the Peabody Opera House.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that we had pretty good seats!!  Hey!  We just might be able to "see" Oprah on stage!

After a little bit of clothes shopping, (we were told to wear bright, bold colors, because they showed up better on TV) my friend Ann, and I, were all set for class.

Do you think we were colorful enough??  (Ann is in green, I am in pink)  Everyone was dressed in different shades of vivid colors!  We looked like a huge bag of skittles walking around!  LOL!  (OH!  BTW!  Please ignore my hair!  I was "trying" to let it grow out!  I've since come to my senses and cut it off!)

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to bring "real" cameras to the taping.  But, we could use our cell phones to take pictures.  Not the best pictures, but at least we had something to remember the day by!

As you can see, we were able to see Oprah from our seats!  We also had a REALLY good view of the back of the girl's head in front of us!  Lovely huh?

I have to say that I was really impressed by Bishop T. D. Jakes.

The topic of the class, which was "living your life with purpose" is something I've personally been trying to work on in my own life.  So, a lot of the things he said, really hit home for me.

He had a few little quotes/words of wisdom that he threw out to the audience that really made me think.

One of them being "Don't let other people put a period, where God has placed a comma."

WOW!  How often do I do that??  I let what other people think about me, or what they think I should be doing with "my" life, limit me.  Why do I have to be, or do, only ONE thing??  Why can't I have a pot on all four burners at the same time if I want to?  Why can't I use ALL of the talents that I have been given?  Instead of having to focus on only ONE of them.

Let's just say, it was an eye opener for me!!

I will definitely be paying more attention to what Bishop T. D. Jakes has to say, and I've also already told Mr. Mister that I want his new CD series called Live On Purpose.

It was an AWESOME experience to be able to see Oprah, and Bishop T. D. Jakes.

It's nice to be inspired by other people!  People who are truly trying to make the world we are living in a better place.

Who inspires you?

St. Louis Zoo

The other day, my friend Ann, and I, took a trip to the zoo!

We wanted to play with our cameras a little bit, and the zoo is always a fun place to do that. (Of course, I've forgotten pretty much everything that we learned last year in our photography class, so, my camera pretty much stayed on the evil green box the whole time! GASP! SHUDDER!)

HEY! Don't judge me! At least I used manual focus! Which is why some of my pictures are blurry. LOL!

But, that counts for something! Right?

Right?

**Crickets chirping**

Anyway, moving on!

My absolute FAVORITE animals at the zoo, are the "big kitties."

I LOVE them! I want to hop into the cage, and cuddle with them.

I want to scratch behind their ears. (See! This one needs a little scratch!)

I want run my fingers through their manes.

And, give them raspberries on their tummies!

Even though, they would probably like to eat me for lunch, and are totally bored by my presence!

I cannot help it! I'm infatuated!

This guy stole my heart! And, I wanted to give him a big ole' nose rub!!

I would have spent the whole time in this area, but the cats had full bellies, and the sun was heating up, so they all found cool, shady spots, and decided it was nap time!

So, we wandered off to see what else we could snap pictures of.

I switched to shooting the trees, and flowers, because they were so pretty.

And, then we ended up in my second favorite place! The butterfly house!

WARNING! Picture overload! Proceed with awe, and amazement!

But, PLEASE don't touch the butterflies!

It's such a shame, that something so beautiful, only lives such a short time.

But, don't worry! They are definitely enjoying that time! And, obviously, there will be more butterflies to see the next time we visit!

Move along kids!

Move along!

There's nothing here to see!!!