An American Girl in New York City- Part 1

Buenos dias, good morning, Bonjour, to my lovely blogland friends!

Yesterday, Hayley, my mom (Luz), my cousin (Katarina), and I went to have lunch at the

American Girl Place in NYC (Manhattan, The Big Apple). This was part of Hayley's birthday present. If you have a little girl in your life, it's definitely worth visiting. I love seeing all the girls walking around with their dolls in their arms, the excitement on their faces as they spot an outfit for their dolls. I love it when girls act their age, there's a sense of innocence to them, that only childhood provides.The AGP Cafe is beautifully decorated, there are painted flowers on the walls, dramatic black and white stripes, scalloped mirrors, lots of different shades of pink all over, everything screams out "GIRLY". The food is delicious, and the service is superb!. I love all the little details!

This is the sign at the entrance to the cafe:

And inside (actually we were in one of their private rooms, the main dining area is decorated differently, unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it)

On the table:

The girls get to keep the napkin ring ( a pony tail holder, CLEVER!)

The polka dot box has conversation prompts inside, CUTE!!

And a Warm Welcome: ( Cinnamon Buns, DELICIOSO) Oops, didn't take a picture of those!.

This was followed by the First Course: Pretzel bread with honey mustard, fresh fruit, cheese triangles, vegetable crudites and chicken salad boats, YUMMY!!

Our Entree Selections:

Hayley: Tic-Tac-Toe Pizza (she didn't like it),

So our waiter brought her instead, Bitty Bites:

I'll continue this post next time. But I thought that some of you may be wondering what I look like, here I am....

Oh well, close enough, lol!

I'll post a picture of what I really look like, next time!!

Have a great Monday.

Hugs, Rosa

To Be Continued...

Hanging Up Springtime Swap

I've been wanting to post pictures of the swap items I received for Sarah's Hanging Up Springtime Swap. She did a wonderful job putting all the items on a clothesline for all the participants. Aren't those tiny clothespins the cutest?!. I love everything!!

Here are the items I received:

Bird, from Priscilla:

Gloves are from Jessi:

The dress is from Linda:

The bloomers are from Vivian (http://vivs-whimsy.blogspot.com/)

The butterfly is from Nancy:

And last but not least, the hat is from Patricia (http://theunfinishedflower.blogspot.com/)

Here they are, hanging in my living room:

Aren't they adorable?

I hope you like them too!

Have a great day.

Hugs,

Rosa

Happy Birthday Hayley and Jeremy

Today my daughter, Hayley, is turning 11; and my son, Jeremy, is turning 8. Yes, they were born on the same day, three years apart. It's hard to believe these two munchkins are growing up too fast.

This is Hayley at two days old:

Here she is at 11 years old:

And here is Mr. Jeremy at two days old:

And 8 years later...

I want to wish them both many happy and healthy birthdays!

I'll be back later to post about the Hanging Up Springtime Swap!

Hugs,

Rosa

It's All In The Details!

Detail... when I think about it, it's the reason why I do the things I do; it's what makes me buy magazines, hold on to catalogs, read blogs, even buy some movies on DVD. I'm always looking for that "special" little touch.

Recently, I picked up the recent issue of Home & Heart magazine

If you haven't seen it yet, go ahead and check it out. It's loaded with beautiful details to make any party, one that your guests are sure to remember. It has ideas for a Fairy Party, a tea party, an adorable diaper cake and so on.

I also love it when, I open up a package, and the presentation takes my breath away. It could something as simple as a pretty ribbon wrapped around the item. It can also be a handwritten thank you. To me these little details say " I put a great deal of care doing this", or " I value you as a customer". I buy many things online, these are some of the details that I've received with the items:

From One Hundred Wishes

Andrea sends her items beautifully packaged, and inside she places the heart shaped lollipop, and a handwritten postcard, no matter how many times I've ordered from her.

I also buy from Peacoats and Party Hats, Candice Carpenter's new website. I love this plastic balloon bouquet she sent!

Isn't this cute?

That's me, always weak at the knees when it comes to details!

That's all for now. Tomorrow I'll show you the beautiful swap items I received today for Sarah's

Hanging Up Springtime Swap.

Hugs, Rosa

A Little Bit of This...And A Little Bit of That

Bit #1

I'm going to post a few tidbits along with their respective photos for your enjoyment. On Good Friday, my hubby and I, went to IKEA to buy a sofa bed for my craft room. We need it in case we have any guest sleep over. Since it is in the craft room, it'll be up to them if they want to sleep or craft/scrapbook all night(lol)!.

Anybody wants to come visit?. So here it is:

Bit#2

On Saturday, my In-Laws came over to go out to eat an early Easter dinner. We do this every year in order to avoid waiting too long to be seated to eat. After dinner we returned to our house, the kids received their Easter bags and birthday gifts from them, and we also had an ice cream cake to sing an early Happy Birthday to them. I am blessed with the greatest in-laws you can ever wish for!. I love them!!.We have this cute little sign in the bathroom, and my mother-in law is the only person that takes it seriously( she even gives more than what it says):

Bit#3

Ever since the start of the school year, I've been making banners about different holidays and such for my son Jeremy's Second Grade teacher ( he's the kind of teacher I would've love to have had!). If you want to check the other banners I've made for him, they are in my Flickr. I'm running behind schedule with the banners, on Monday this is the one I sent him:

Bit#4

I e-mailed Jessi, to ask her if she was interested in a tag for her TAG GATE, she's so energetic and fun and it comes through in her blog. So go visit her if you haven't done so already. Yesterday, I received a few tags from her. Thank you Jessi, you are sweet!. I mailed her tags today, I won't show them now, so I don't spoil her surprise!!. These are the ones she sent me:

Bit#5

Thank you for stopping by, and for your lovely comments. I treasure each very much!

For those who don't like to leave comments, don't be shy, and say hello!. I'd like to get to know you too.

I'll be back tomorrow with a post about DETAILS.

Have a Terrific Tuesday,

Hugs,

Rosa

Happy Easter!

We are having one gorgeous Easter Sunday. It's sunny and not too cold... just perfect!. I took the kids outside to snap a picture, and you know how it is when there's more than one child involved, so and so look at the camera, then to the other one: "stop making funny faces!", well here they are

They were a bit upset earlier, the Easter Bunny didn't leave eggs outside this year. But once inside, their Easter baskets were on the table awaiting the lucky recipients

They were happy to find different goodies in their baskets

So, from our family to yours: "Have a very Happy Easter with the ones you love".

Hugs,

Rosa

Le Printemps

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING...the thought of it makes me want to learn to speak French, hence the title!. I love Spring, I can put away the heavy coat!!. Soon, the birds will start chirping, the tulips will bloom...warmer weather is on its way... I took a picture of some crocuses (or croci) by our fence. To me, they officially say: "Spring is here".







It also means, I have some major Spring cleaning and organizing to do. I finally organized "a closet" in our spare bedroom. This is now my craft/scraproom. I'll just show you this area for now. The rest of the room looks like a ' before' scene from TLC's "Clean Sweep", so I'm not going to show that today, but soon, I promise!. Last weekend, we went to Lowe's to pick up the wire shelves, brackets and paint ( I used Laura Ashley's Jade Bath).







No wonder I feel so tired today!!!

Take care, I'll be back soon.

Hugs, Rosa

Edit: The boxes on the second shelf from the top were bought at The Rag Shop(unfortunately, they went out of business). Everything else, except for the pink organizer at the end of the fourth shelf from the top, was bought at Target.

Getting Ready for Easter

Since Easter is around the corner, I thought i'd better start decorating. Sometimes I feel a certain lack of " wall real estate" to display the items, don't you feel that way?. Here's a sampling of Easter items in our home:








Oh well, time to get my kids' Easter baskets ready!

Be well and happy until next time.

Hugs,

Rosa

TARGET finds #1

First off, happy Monday!. Hi, my name is Rosa...and I am a Target shop-a-holic. I remember the first time I went to one of these stores ( about 13 years ago ), I thought, what's the big deal?. I didn't care too much about it, I wasn't impressed at all. It all started when we moved to our house, about 10 years now. We needed some things for our new place, so there I was back at Target. It was like instant love!!. To make my story short, I shop at Target at least once a week. Do you think I need help?

My husband definetly thinks so!. From now on, I'll post pictures of my finds in case anybody sees something...and wants to go and buy it. So these are my latest acquisitions:

On top, are storage bins. I'll use these to store my scrapbook kits. On the bottom, a shower curtain, and bath rug.

Top picture, some cute pails I found on the Easter aisle. In these, I'll store paper clips, rubber bands, push pins... you get the picture. The bottom picture, a beautiful Scrapbook kit( georgeous

pattern paper included), a binder, address book, and tissue paper.

So if you've seen anything you like, go get it before it's gone!

Hugs, Rosa