what i should be doing...

today, there are many things that i should be doing.  i am behind on blog posts, i have a pile of laundry next to me, and i am pretty sure the dishes are not going to wash themselves. but all i want to do is snuggle on the sofa and stare at these little beauties!

Wynwood Walls

if you happen to find yourself in miami and happen to be an art  fan i highly suggest that you seek out the Wynwood Art District.  nestled between downtown miami and the deep inner city ghetto is a few blocks of art galleries, awesome artsy shops, and some seriously impressive street art.  the epicenter of the whole district is the Wynwood Walls.  this gigantic outdoor gallery devoted to some of the graffiti greats features huge murals by artists like Ron English, Shepard Fairy, and Peter Tunney.  here are a few of my favorite pictures from the walls and walking the alley ways. enjoy.

thankful thursday

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ok, here it is, i have skirted this issue for quiet some time now. for what reasons, i am not sure. it's no secret that i am not super religious, despite being raised in a traditional catholic family, you know church every sunday, sunday school on sunday and wednesday, and when i was staying with my grandmother....well she went to church everyday. needless to say, i spent a lot of my childhood trying to understand religion, not just understand all the rules and memorizing all the things that we had to memorize.... what i was trying to understand is why you 'had to be religious to be a good person'.

now i know that many of you at this point are wanting to stop reading, but let me reassure you that this is not a rant about religion being bad or good, or any of my personal beliefs. simply it is going to focus on one thing....gratitude.

in my recent research for my weekly "thankful thursday" i have found an overwhelming common denominator....God.  why is it that the majority of the quotes regarding gratitude have such a religious undertone?  while i have no problem and somewhat understand....you know the whole message of the bible thing, the problem that i have is the lack of non-religious material about giving thanks. where is the support from the other side? i'm feeling a bit out numbered here folks.

today's quote nailed it! "your beliefs don't make you a better person, your behavior does".  i really couldn't have put it better myself.  so many people look at my husband and i and assume that we must be bad people....you know all covered in tattoos, nose rings, and alternative appearances and lifestyles...but give us two minutes to actually get to know us and you will find that there is much more to us.  we are some of the most caring and gracious freaks out there! hehe.  our religious beliefs, or lack their of, do not determine how we treat people and the world around us.

as a society we need to get past 'giving thanks' being something that we only do at church (or on turkey day) but something that we live everyday, where ever we are. behave in a manor that others know you appreciate the things around you. and on the flip side of that....some of you bible thumpers need to take a good hard long look in the mirror and practice what you preach.

the moral of the story is this: be good to people, give thanks for what you have, share your gratitude with others. plain and simple, religion or not. living a gracious lifestyle will bring you to a better place.

hollis gardens

we visited hollis gardens in lakeland this past weekend.

had to share this stunning picture i snapped.

hope you are all having a beautiful day. 

inspiration lookbook

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10 things i couldn't live without this week

1. the easiest grocery shopping trip i have had since the day the boy was born. this kid has a new fascination with my iphone. he actually asked if he could sit in the cart and play the pbs kids app.  which is a far different tune then his recent wanting to walk on his own and raise a ruckus at the store. so i went with it. and he was an angle!
2. we met up with our new friends, tracy and sinjin, at their hotel pool for a swim date. it's been a while since we have been in a pool and i have to say....i have missed it so so so much! we may be trying to get to the lake lytal pool soon if the weather stays this warm!
3. the hubs has been completely over worked this week (trying to insure that he get to take his vacation... un-interrupted) but can you believe that man of mine has still found time in his crazy morning routine to make me coffee before i get out of bed....did i mention that he doesn't drink coffee....he's so good to me.
4. and while i am on the topic....i love it when the hubs has my back. he totally went off on this girl for making fun of my "cliche" mustache tattoo. he verbally ripped her a new one, and shut her up real quick by commenting on her coy fish tattoo...."so, speaking of cliche, are you asian?" i love that man.  he's always go my back.
5. do you guys watch up all night? it's quickly becoming our new favorite show. the hubs and i want to meet the writers - we are pretty sure that they might be getting some of their material from us. watching that show is like looking in the mirror. sometimes the roles are reversed, but for the most part the relationship that christina applegate and will arnett share is just like me and the hubs.....now if i only had their house and her waredrobe! hehe
6. it's been a long time since we've had an at home play date, but we invited sinjin and tracy over to play in the sprinklers and drink coffee.  the boy has forgotten how to share his toys with others, so we are going to have to do these dates more often, but it was so much fun playing the yard.  they also brought a serious goodie bag full of birthday treats for me. i mean just too sweet! it was full of mustache paraphernalia and some really beautiful goodies for the house! all wrapped up in the coolest re-usable shopping bag - which i will most definitely be sporting as a purse!
7. i made one of my favorites this week for dinner - raw veggie pizza. it is really hands down one of the easiest most delicious meals! and i had too many chopped up veggies so i made veggie burritos the next day for lunch.....but the kicker this time was some {to die for} sweet corn relish made by my friend kelly hogrebe.  i seriously can't stop thinking about how good it is. it's taking a lot of will power to not eat the entire jar in one sitting! she should seriously quit her day job and start selling this full time!
8. the hubs vacation started saturday! we kicked off the week of adventures by making the trip to my mother in laws house. the hubs sister was in town from atlanta. we had a blast hanging out with her and his brother.
9. we dodged rain drops and made it over to hollis gardens and barnett park. the boy had such an awesome time. and i snapped instagram pics like it was my job. barnett park looks like it popped off the pages of a dr. seuss book. it's one of the coolest parks i have ever seen. the colors and shapes are just crazy. the boy loved it. and hollis park was breath taking. beautiful plants and flowers lined perfectly manicured lawns, and you would not believe the size of some of the produce that is landscaped into the mix. just stunning.
10. today we are up bright and very very very early! when the hubs asked me what i wanted to do for his vacation i knew that i wanted to take a trip to webster antique and flea market. so her were are, 5:30am ready to go find some treasures! needless to say, i didn't sleep a wink last night. i am so excited.

Red Velvet Cheese{Cup}Cake

my friend Mary made the most delicious cup cakes and promised to share the recipe with me, so that i could share it with you.  i have to go ahead and say that these are hands down the best cup cakes i have ever had.  she had so great tips for a perfectly cooked cupcake, and the best part....no frosting. delicious!

ingredients:

filling:

2 packages (8oz each) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla

1 tsp lemon juice

24 hersey's kisses (set aside)

batter:

1 box duncan hines red velvet cake mix

1 1/4 cup water

1/3 veggie oil

3 large eggs

step 1:

preheat oven to 350ºF. 

place paper baking cups into 24 tin muffin cups.

(tip: this way you don't need to use a muffin pan. 

you can just stand them up on a cookie sheet. this helps with 

cooking time and not having to bake separate batches.)

step 2:

make the filling - place cream cheese, sugar, eggs, 

vanilla, and lemon juice in a medium bowl. 

beat with an electric mixer on medium speed, 

until smooth and creamy (approx 2 minutes). set aside.

step 3:

make batter - prepare cake mix as described on box

 using the water, oil and eggs. 

fill each muffing cup about 2/3 full with batter. 

step 4:

drop unwrapped kisses into each cupcake. 

then drop about 2 tbsps of cream cheese filling 

into the center of the batter, covering the chocolate.

step 5:

bake in center of oven 22 - 25 minutes 

or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 

cool 5 minutes, remove from pan. place on a wire rack, 

cool completely. store covered in refrigerator. 

garnish after refrigeration with powdered sugar if desired.

tip:

bake for the lowest time possible or until you start to smell the cupcakes. remove from oven but let cool on the pan, for atleast 10 minutes. the cupcakes will continue to cook in the tins.