Category Archives: friends

Dole Floats in the 2013 Rose Parade

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Dole Floats in the 2013 Rose Parade

By Erin

Earlier this month, my friend Jamie from Minnesota Girl In LA invited me out with her to go check out the Dole Floats that were in the making for the 2013 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. The Rose Parade has always been something I have looked forward to watching every January 1st, so of course I had to jump at this amazing opportunity. The theme of this years parade is “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” Being a Dr. Seuss fan, I LOVE the theme they have going on for this year!! Here was the schedule of events for the day:

The floats are located at Fiesta Floats in Irwindale and while there we also were able to meet the designer Raul Rodriguez, have some delicious food, and just relax and enjoy the festive environment while trying out some Dole products. The theme of this years float is “Dreaming of Paradise.”  That sure is a place I’d love to go! 😉

As the two-time reigning Sweepstakes award winner, DOLE is vying to become the only company to win the Sweepstakes award every year they have entered.  They are striving for a three-peat! I have every faith that they will be able to accomplish this. The float is breath-taking to say the least!

The Queen and her Royal court were also present, and of course, us SoCal Lady Bloggers had to get a picture together! (Jen from Toddler Trails, Jill from Sandy Toes and Popsicles, Myself, Jamie from Minnesota Girl In LA and Mary from Lets Play OC!)

We also just had to get a picture with the designer:

Jamie, Raul, and Myself

Here’s a little more information about Dole’s float for the parade! The float will feature a 26-foot massive volcano which will erupt with smoke, steam and fire shooting 20 feet into the sky over a vibrant and lush tropical rain forest of Latin America teaming with prowling tigers, fluttering butterflies, chimpanzees, parrots, and dragonflies. Incredible parrots are going to be fashioned in floral feathers of blue iris, red poinsettia, carnations and Pee Wee anthuriums accented with Kermit button mums. Lava of 8,000 vivid fluorescent orange roses majestically will flow over the volcano surface decorated in black lichen moss. Three waterfalls feature over 1,000 gallons of cascading recycled water as well as a misting system  to add to the tropical mood. Throughout the float are fresh and healthy fruits, including bananas, pineapples, mangoes, papayas, peaches, strawberries and blueberries that were grown by DOLE just for this use on the float. Traditional Costa Rican folk music will be played with performers dancing on the street on both sides of the float. I don’t know about you, but this sounds like a marvelous tropical paradise!

 The playful chimpanzees have fur fashioned in dehydrated cranberry foliage with highlights of pampas and pharmitas grass.

Just look at the amazing detail of the butterflies on this float! Orange marigold and yellow strawflower petals are detailed with black onion seed and white sweet rice.

Let me show you some of the oh so delectable treats that DOLE has available now. We had a little taste of paradise with these yummy (and healthy) treats!  The new frozen DOLE Smoothie Shaker is a paradise for your taste buds (I tried the Peach-Mango flavor).  No blender required!!  You can create a perfect frozen smoothie with real yogurt and fruit just by shaking the DOLE Peach Mango Smoothie Shaker with juice for 30 seconds and enjoy! Made with all natural fruit and real yogurt, DOLE Shakers are a good source of calcium and are nutritionally fortified with an extra boost of protein, each 11 oz serving is under 200 calories.

Another treat that you and especially those with kids will think is a little bit of snacking paradise is the new Squish‘ems!  A squeezable fruit snack that kids will love to squish!  Squish’ems! is real fruit sauce in a great squeezable pouch with a fun resealable cap. No need for a spoon, just pop the cap, squeeze and enjoy!  Each Squish’ems! pouch contains 1 full serving of fruit that is made locally in the US with all natural fruit, has only 70 calories and contains 100% daily value of vitamin C.

We also sampled Trio Granola Bars filled with tasty and nutritious fruits and nuts.  My absolute favorite though, was the Dole Dippers!!  Small bites of frozen bananas covered in dark chocolate, a true taste of paradise for your senses. At only 100 calories a serving, that truly is paradise! I was enjoying these snacks so much, they were demolished before I was able to get a picture of them! Oppps!! 😉

I just had to include  a couple of pictures of the yummy food that we graciously were able to indulge in for lunch! They had a food truck that featured Central American Inspired Tapas called VCHOS. It tasted just as good as it looks! I will definitely be coming back for more. The fried plantains and tacos were a piece of heaven, very fresh and flavorful.

Of course you can never go wrong with In-N-Out!! I just had to have a burger as well, even though I was stuffed from the VCHOS truck and the DOLE samples!

Decorating of the Dole float has resumed this weekend and will be adorned with fresh roses for us to enjoy.  I cannot wait until Tuesday morning to see the finished product, and will be looking forward to heading up to Pasadena after the parade to view the floats (another New Year’s tradition that I have enjoyed ever since I was a little girl). Enjoy and Happy New Year 2013!!!

A California Fall

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A California Fall–Guest Post!!

You MAY have noticed (Or NOT) that I have been a bit MIA as of late. Well that is in large part due to trying to find work again now that school is back in session, but it is mostly due to my grandpa landing in the hospital suddenly (he is 92) with a brain bleed and needing an emergency surgery to get all the blood drained out. Pics to follow in another post of the end result of that (nothing gross I promise!!)  I am happy to say he is out now, but things won’t be the same as he shouldn’t be driving anymore, so there are still many details to figure out regarding his and my grandmas care from here on out as they are used to doing E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G for themselves. When I had asked the lovely ladies from the  SoCal Lady Bloggers group if anyone would be interested in guest posting for me in my absence, Maribel was the first one to jump at the chance to help me out. 🙂 So a heartfelt THANK YOU goes out to her!! I truly hope I will be able to start catching up on everything I would like to post about sooner rather than later. 🙂 For now though, enjoy this great post by Maribel, from Stroller Adventures, about a season that those in other states most likely would say doesn’t exist in California; BUT if you look carefully, there are many subtle hints that Fall has indeed arrived to sunny California (just don’t try looking in my backyard for clues of it being fall… all of my roses and the jasmine seem to think it must be in the middle of spring as they are blooming like crazy right now! Must post pictures of that! 😉

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I love reading all about Erin and what she does in Los Angeles, so when she mentioned she was looking for guest bloggers I jumped at the opportunity. My name is Maribel and I blog at Stroller Adventures about my adventures in parenting two very inquisitive kids, I also love cooking and experimenting with food and different flavors. Fall is my favorite season of the year.

The calendar says it is Fall…

 

Yet here in California we all know Fall is not officially here, we know we still have a couple of weeks of heat and we can still wear flip-flops along with some shorts.

Fall is different though in many, many ways.

Have you noticed how the sun’s light has changed in the last couple of days?

Have you noticed there is a bit of a temperature change to a cooler, breezier night?

Leaves on trees are turning into different hues of orange, red and brown. Some of them are already falling onto the ground.

We are seeing more and more pumpkin patches pop up and get ready for a new season, a new year of activities where families will visit and search for that perfectly plump pumpkin that will be turned into a ghoulish jack-o lantern come Halloween.

A new season brings new options of foods and comfort meals. Our family has a favorite fall fruit: Pomegranate.

Fall festivals are also fun, all throughout California you can find them. Our favorite one in San Diego is the Julian Apple Days Festival this festival is all things apple! it is the perfect setting for it too. In the mountains of San Diego County you will find Julian a little countryside town that is popular for its apple pies. This celebration takes place on October 6th and 7th at Menghini Winery it features apple displays, music and dancing. There are children’s activities too and apple pies!

 

You can enjoy this wonderful festival from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Admission is $5.00 per adult and children 12 and under are FREE.

There are many more festivals all throughout California, which one is your favorite?

Keeping it Crafty at CRAFTED!

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What better way to celebrate the handmade goodness of all things Etsy, than by throwing a party? Especially if you are a SoCal Lady Blogger? 😉  The other week I was invited out to CRAFTED in San Pedro, CA, for their first ever ETSY party.  Friday, August 24th was National Etsy Day, and Etsy formed meetups across the US for artist’s to come and craft together. And boy, did the crafters come out in droves for this fine occasion!! There were well over 1,000 in attendance for this milestone event.

In case you are wondering, what exactly IS CRAFTED?? CRAFTED is Southern California’s largest permanent craft marketplace, so it was the perfect venue for an event of this kind. Crafted has a 35 year lease for this space so they are not going anywhere anytime soon and are in this for the long haul. Every few months they plan on expanding in phases to become the largest permanent CRAFT venue in the United States.

So how EXACTLY can you become a vendor for this crafting extravaganza? In order to be a vendor for  CRAFTED, your goods must be substantially made by hand in the Los Angeles area. Crafters/Artists are welcome to share a space with other artists, BUT they must be there 75%  of the time. The price artist’s pay for a 10 x 10 space for one month is what they would pay for one weekend at a Renegade Art Fair festival or Unique LA?? That’s a GREAT deal!!

They have EVERY kind of craft you can possibly imagine and it’s impossible to list all of these amazing artists in one post. Ranging from paintings, wood crafts, metal crafts, plant crafts, to jewelry, clothes, coffee, cookies, pies, jams & jellies, scrapbooking and other paper crafts, the list goes on and on of all the wonderful finds you will see at Crafted!! You are guaranteed to walk away with something unique that no one else will have.

One of our favorite booths we found is called It’s Me Mary. We got some really beautiful bracelets from her in our gifts bags. Of course our Mary had to get a pic with the other Mary!!! 😉 We also had a lot of fun over at Hydrangea Hippo, who does a lot of paper crafts and scrapbooking. Mary and I made a super cute mask craft.

Other events of the night that one could partake in included craft stations throughout CRAFTED in which you could make either for free or for a small fee. You could decorate a jar to put messages or ideas in, do your nails at the nail bar, make masks, pop-up cards, wood-crafts, and much more!  Can you tell what one of the 1st things us SoCal Lady Bloggers decided on doing by the picture below? YEP! We all did our nails in bright, sparkly, vibrant colors. Of course we also had to leave our mark that the SoCal Lady Bloggers had been there. 😉 Celebrity Crafter Mark Montano from “The Big ASS book of Crafts” was also in attendance.

FINAL THOUGHTS OF THE NIGHT: Crafted is a GREAT place to shop and to support local Los Angeles Artisans. It’s a great hang out spot to craft and meet other like-minded crafters. They have fun food trucks and drinks outside (they also had live music this night) that you can grab a tasty treat from. It truly was a fun way to spend a Friday evening.

WHEN can YOU go to CRAFTED??

CRAFTED is open every weekend of the year

DAYS/HOURS OF OPERATION:

*Fridays: 12pm to 8pm

*Saturdays and Sundays: 10am to 7pm.

LOCATION:

110 & 112 E. 22nd St.
San Pedro CA 90731

Disclosure: I was invited out to the Etsy party by the CRAFTED Etsy Team. I was given a whole lot of swag and we had a  marvolous night out of crafting fun. All opinions stated above are my own and  I will be back again in the near future.