Report: Former Denver Nuggets player J.R. Smith dating Rhianna

Posted by admin | Posted in dating | Posted on 30-05-2012-05-2008

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Rhianna performs; J.R. Smith when he played for the Denver Nuggets

NEW YORK — Reports in New York Wednesday say pop music star Rhianna has “found Love” with former Denver Nuggets player J.R. Smith.

Smith now plays for the New York Knicks.

The New York Daily News reports the two have been quietly keeping time together for weeks now.

A source tells the Daily News the pair were “definitely hanging out” in Miami during the weekend after Smith had a run-in with the law there Thursday.

He was picked up in South Beach on a bench warrant for driving without a license. he bonded out of jail Friday.

Jill Zarin Claims RHONY Ended Friendship with Bethenny Frankel

Posted by admin | Posted in jill zarin | Posted on 28-05-2012-05-2008

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Jill Zarin and Bethenny Frankel were best friends on the first few seasons of the Real Housewives of new York. But something went wrong when the women weren’t filming, which created some tension between the women. Jill claimed that Bethenny didn’t pay enough attention to her during a tough time, while Bethenny was trying to balance career, a new love and her friends. Jill often made a scene because she wasn’t the top pick when Bethenny went on vacations and went to events.

However, it seems that Jill doesn’t think it is her fault that the two women aren’t friends anymore. Jill has been addressing their friendship, since she had a brief cameo on a summary episode of Bethenny Ever after. “Our friendship made me smile until the show tore us apart like tearing up other cities,” Jill Zarin explained of her friendship with Bethenny Frankel. well, several fans don’t think that it was the show that tore them apart and it sounds Jill has a hard time admitting she was wrong. Even her own husband told Jill on the show she made a mistake with Bethenny!

“You’re blaming the show now?” a fan questioned Jill after reading her tweet. “YOU tore apart you and Bethenny!” it sounds like everyone who watches the show knows the truth about what happened between the two women. Bethenny is refusing the reply to Jill on Twitter and fans are hoping she doesn’t to avoid the drama.

Are you supporting Bethenny’s decision to stay away from Jill or do you think Jill is right about the show tearing them apart?

Romancing the Weekends: The Wedding by Julie Garwood

Posted by admin | Posted in wedding | Posted on 26-05-2012-05-2008

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PJV QUICKIE: A classic, sigh-worthy story no Romance reader should miss.

Title: The Wedding (Laird’s Fiancees #2)Author: Julie Garwood

Lady Brenna is travelling from her home in England to marry the laird McNair.  Her father arranged this marriage, and although she’s never met this laird, she won’t disobey her father.  As she travels through the highlands, her party is overcome by Scottish savages, who quickly subdue her soldiers and steal her.   Brenna doesn’t realize she’s already met one of the savages…when she was a child she asked him to marry her.

Connor MacAlister is laird of his clan and has spent his life trying to find proof that his bitter enemy laird McNair killed Connor’s father.  Stealing McNair’s bride is Connor’s last insult before their feuding comes to an end as decreed by the ranking laird.  Connor is pleased the young girl covered in mud and hiding a pig has grown into such a beautiful woman, as he plans to keep her, even though he made a pledge to his dying father to never fall in love.

I needed a “comfort read” and decided to re-read The Wedding for the umpteenth time. something about Ms. Garwood’s writing immediately pulls me from my day-to-day worries and into the highlands of 12th century Scotland.  I’ve only been reading romance for a few years, but The Wedding is what I imagine ‘old school’ romance novels are like.

This second book in the Laird’s Fiancees series is such a great story!  (Sadly, there are only two books at this point.)  I love Connor – smart, loyal, stubborn (and grumpy), a fierce warrior yet tender towards Brenna.  And Brenna – what a firecracker!  She’s innocent but brave, earnest, full of life and tries (and manages) to make everyone around her happy.

The romance between Brenna and Connor flows through the story as he falls in love with Brenna and fights it all the way.  Brenna charms not only Connor but his soldiers as well.  Of course, any good romance story needs conflict, and part of that comes in the form of Connor’s step-mother, Euphemia – what a horrible woman!

Julie Garwood writes characters you care about right from the start, and your heart feels their joys and fears as you read their story.  A sweet romance, funny dialogue, and a hero and heroine who both manage to make you want to laugh and groan at the same time, The Wedding has a firm place on my ‘keeper shelf’.

My only complaint is that the story ends with the perfect set-up for a story featuring Brenna’s sister, Faith, and one of Connor’s men, Quinlan.  Please, Ms. Garwood, write their story!!!

Recommendations:

Fans of historical romance or Highlander romance.  If you haven’t tried historical romance, The Wedding (or the previous book, The Bride) is the perfect book to start with.

Like This, like That:

Claiming the Highlander by Kinley MacGregor (Sherrilyn Kenyon)

In Bed With a Highlander by Maya Banks

Suge Knight Thinks Tupac Is Still Alive

Posted by admin | Posted in suge knight | Posted on 08-05-2012-05-2008

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Maybe Marion “Suge” Knight is enjoying 420 day a little too much, or maybe he mistook the Tupac hologram for the real thing, but whatever the case, the once-CEO of Death Row Records thinks the return-to-trend-status rapper is still alive. Knight also poses some interesting theories on the subject.

TMZ (who else?) snagged a recording of a radio interview Knight gave to 93.5 KDay in Los Angeles. during the interview, the suggestion that Shakur faked his death, saying no one has “seen Tupac dead.” the audio is embedded below:

It’s clear the hologram-that-wasn’t-a-hologram performance of Tupac at Coachella has put the rapper on the front burner again, which brings up the fun conspiracy theories as well.

Many would cite the autopsy photo (NSFW) as evidence, but there are those who think that’s fake, too. As an aside, whatever your position on Tupac’s mortality, I would recommend reading that thread. It’s life-affirming. an example:

…As you can see, the Autopsy Photo, has originally came from the video of california love at 06:42, where 2pac wakes up from his dream. which explains why half the other side of pacs face and body is missing. because there isn’t alot of colour or light in that part of the video. So the author used to lack of colour and light to add in the cut in the skull and the open bloody chest.

Which is followed by:

you are phuckin genius

Now, whether that is in jest or not is up to you. whatever the case, thanks to the KDay interview, we now know what side of the fence Suge Knight stands on. are you going to tell him he’s wrong? And just because it’s that kind of day, here’s perhaps the most overlooked Tupac song ever:

Celebrities Wearing Summer 2012 Trends

Posted by admin | Posted in celebrities | Posted on 05-05-2012-05-2008

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Obviously, we here at Teen.com love celebs’ red carpet fashions. so we’ve been making mental notes the past few months about what styles we can’t wait to rock this summer. We can’t all be lucky enough to live in warm weather year-round, so now it’s time to really take advantage! See the trends we can’t wait to try…

Cutesy Florals

OK, so you can totes rock florals during winter. But something about it just doesn’t seem right. The patterns don’t always have to be as fancy as Chloe Moretz’s dress here (cute print, right?), but they’ve been showing up EVERYWHERE. Jeans, crops tops, basically any piece of clothing you can imagine. Grab a pair of those floral jeans and wear them ‘til they fall apart. They might be totally out in a season or two, but we sure hope not.

Sheer Necklines

Sometimes you just don’t want to pull up a strapless dress all night, ya know? Lucky for us, sheer necklines are really in right now. They show some mayj skin while making you feel a little more covered up. Cierra Ramirez wears an adorbs version in a pattern that creates even more visual interest.

Peekaboo Middles

Kinda the same idea as sheer necklines, this is a super nice alternative to crop tops. here, Emma Roberts shows how a lacy overlay at the middle, hemline and sleeve cuffs can really tie in a look. BTW, can we get this dress for summer, please?

Cut-out Shoulders 

Sure, celebs having been wearing open-neck sweatshirts showing off their toned shoulders for as long as they’ve been going on coffee runs in shades. But there have been lots of shoulder cutouts in tops and dresses lately. It’s a little 80s. It’s a little prissy. We love it! Krysten Ritter shows how it can be interesting to bare your shoulders and cover up your arms. Proportions, people. Proportions!

Super-Bright Neons

This is the only time when it’s a compliment for someone to say your outfit is blinding. We already covered the neon trend, but quite frankly we can’t really imagine wearing neons next to our mistaken-for-a-vamp winter skin. a little bit of (faux) summer glow goes a long way in wearing neons without looking like a complete clown. Kourtney Kardashian totes owns this trend by wearing a standout yellow necklace that you can see from a mile down the red carpet.

Are you excited to wear these warm-weather trends too? did we miss out on any biggies that you’re looking forward to wearing?

Check Out the Style Lessons You can Learn from The Hunger Games!

Wedding woes: First comes marriage?

Posted by admin | Posted in wedding | Posted on 04-05-2012-05-2008

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Here’s another wedding woe sent in by a reader:

I hope that this does not sound random just to pour my heart out and ask for advice, however your blog has inspired me to do so… 

I am stuck in a pickle; I have been with my BF for 2 years now we get along great and very much in love (blah blah) and went travelling round Europe together and all that. so things are going well. we both have enough money together to put down a deposit on a house. we have talked about this a lot and my BF and I would really like to go ahead with this. He and I talk a lot about being together and setting up a future.

However we haven’t talked much about marriage. I know he doesn’t want to at the moment, as we both come from divorced families so makes weddings hard but I am not sure if going into a financial commitment with someone who doesn’t want a marriage commitment first. Financially I have worked very hard for this deposit (and its more of a bigger deal to me then marriage) and I trust him implicitly, but I am not sure if it is a good idea. I want a marriage not to be something you have to do down the line just because you a house and been together for years.

So I’m stuck – what do I do? do I jump into this financially with the hope of a marriage commitment or get the ring to make sure that he is with me always, as this is my life savings… 

I hope this all makes sense! we both are 26 just by the way :)

Thank you for listening I know you must get a lot of emails and if I do get a response it would be much appreciated.

As a child of divorce, I can completely empathise with the way in which a marriage separation in the family shapes the way you view marriage for yourself.

I don’t, however, believe that is a negative thing and I do not believe we should steer clear of marriage altogether just because we know the very real consequences when it doesn’t work out.

If anything, I believe it’s made me examine my relationships more; be more wary of potential areas of concern or breakdown, examine all angles of issues, try harder and love deeper.

And it sounds like the both of you are doing that: thinking, examining, treading carefully.

Now I don’t know where you live, or if you live together, however if you do, I assume you’re aware of de-facto laws which may or do affect your relationship.

To me, a financial commitment together is, in a sense, marriage.

Sure, it’s not the *wedding*, but it is a commitment – and one which for all intents and purposes is seen as marriage in the eyes of many laws.

The main issue, I guess, is that you believe that a ring will mean “he’s with you always”. I hate to trot out divorce stats – which you’d be well aware of – but to me, a commitment involving finances is just as binding, if not more, than a ring on your finger.

Let’s get one thing straight: a wedding is symbolic. That’s it. and it sounds like it’s that symbolism that you’re missing, the token, the gesture and the mushy (and it is lovely) feeling behind it. 

And that, I’m afraid, is a different issue. Then it’s not about the house, or the money or any of that, but more about the feeling behind it. “Does he want to be with me forever?” and then eventually, maybe “Are we only getting married because that’s the ‘step’ we missed in this process together?”.

I don’t think there’s a right answer here. if you would like that symbolic commitment before you sign up to a mortgage together, you’re ALLOWED to ask for that, or at least discuss it.

But if you don’t talk about it, I fear the outcome may not fall in your favour later down the track.

Also keep in mind there’s no ‘correct’ process to follow here. Just because you might buy a house first, it doesn’t mean the marriage won’t come – but similarly, it doesn’t mean it will either. the main thing here is to talk about both your views on marriage – because if it’s something you definitely want, and something he definitely doesn’t, then that’s where the real problems arise.

What advice do you have for this reader? should marriage come before financial committment? 

Follow Greer on Twitter or Weddings on Facebook. 

You can also email Greer here and share your wedding woes, feedback or questions.

Cooking with Nigella « inmateART

Posted by admin | Posted in cooking | Posted on 27-04-2012-05-2008

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Tabby and I are learning to cook! well okay, we are moms so of course we already know how to cook. I’m not talking about hamburgers and hotdogs here. I’m talking about real food, gourmet food, things that don’t come out of a box. Nope, what we are going to do is learn to cook with Nigella. Nigella has everything from books to an online website that can teach you to cook and help you make some really scrumptious dinners, breakfasts, and lunches.

Tabby wants to learn how to make some awesome desserts. She has a totally sinful harlequin toffee brownies recipe that is mouthwatering. We made them last Thursday night before our weekly episode of Vampire Diaries came on. everyone knows that Vampire Diaries and Damon Salvatore is something we do not ever miss.

I want to learn some different chicken breast recipes to try on the boys. they love chicken but are really getting tired of the same old dinners week after week. I have a strong aversion to dark meat in chicken that would be the thighs and legs. Something about all of that stringy dark meat turns my stomach so I stick to chicken breast dishes, unless it’s chicken and rice. Nigella has some awesome chicken breast meals on her website and I intend to try every one of them, just as Tabby intends to try every one of the desserts that are on the website as well. The boys really want me to try the ritzy chicken nuggets recipe that she has listed. they love chicken nuggets but need them to be a little healthier. Yep, mom does cook healthy at times you know. It’s not all hamburgers and French fries.

Now since Tabby and I have decided we need to shed a few pounds, because of our newly single status, we want to try some of the chicken salad recipes. I want to try the Mexican chicken or turkey salad and Tabby wants to try the Vietnamese chicken and mint salad (Yeah, she is not all about sweets, but mostly so.)

Either way, as we head out on this venture with Nigella we will be sure to keep you posted on the recipes we succeed at as well as the ones we bomb. The point is to have fun with it and Tabby and I are great at having fun lately! till next time…

Episode 1: Who Looks the Most Ridiculous at Don’s Surprise Birthday Party? – Mad Men! – Racked National

Posted by admin | Posted in birthday party | Posted on 12-04-2012-05-2008

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After a day presumably spent at the Statue of Liberty, Don drops Sally, Gene, and new Bobby (he’s been replaced by another actor—again) off at Betty’s. what the hell kind of castle are Betty and Henry living in? have we relocated from the ‘burbs to Transylvania? that thing is straight out of the Addams Family. as the kids hop out of the car, Don tells them: “Give Morticia and Lurch my love.

Next up: Pete, who apparently lives in Connecticut now. it seems like there might be trouble in suburban paradise, because he’s walking around with either dandruff or spit up on his shoulder, or both, and he starts shit talking Trudy to someone else on the train. “There was a time when she wouldn’t leave the house in a robe,” he says. This is coming from the man covered in spit up.

Speaking of babies, we see our second butt of the episode when Joan’s son is introduced. as a reminder, this is Joan’s son with Roger, not Greg, but nobody knows that just yet. It’s unclear whether motherhood annoys Joan, or whether her own mother is just annoying the hell out of her, because she seems discontent. the scene ends with her taking a nap.

And now, back to the office. In true Sterling Cooper Draper Price fashion, everyone is late to the status meeting. except for Bert Cooper. For reasons unknown, all of the secretaries now sit about 30 feet away from the person they work for. When Don and Megan arrive—yes, they arrive together—they go into his office. Megan is sporting a less-prissy hairdo and a polka dot blouse, which Don orders her to open. she does, and we’ve now officially seen every cleavage and crack that Megan owns.

In case it slipped your mind, Megan is a copywriter now—arguably one of the best perks of marrying the boss. Peggy kind of visibly hates working with her, but that doesn’t stop Megan from inviting her to a surprise birthday party she’s throwing for Don. Megan says the party’s gonna be a real rager, or in her words, “Everyone’s gonna go home from this and they’re gonna have sex.” Well, it’s 1966, so a key party’s probably not out of the question, if that’s what she means.

Peggy, Ken, and Stan head into the Heinz meeting, where Peggy pitches an idea revolving around a “bean ballet.” most of the Heinz people look tremendously confused. Stan hums a waltz tune the entire time as Peggy describes the delicate movement of these beans. her smugness has increased a millionfold, but it’s probably a defense mechanism to deal with Megan. Confronting the question we’re all begging to know, one of the Heinz guys asks, “How do they get the beans to do that? They can’t just get lucky.” Peggy goes into the technical photography skills required to make beans look like graceful ballerines, and the Heinz guy asks: “You ever see beans up close? They’re slimy.” Even Don can’t save this one.

Elsewhere in the office, Pete trips over absolutely nothing and gets a bloody nose. He’s pissed because while Roger was stealing a glance at his secretary’s cleavage, he also stole a glance at Pete’s calendar. Roger uses that intel to crash Pete’s Mohawk Airlines meeting. (They’re courting them again, because American Airlines is still not happening—yet.) He’s still bummed about this when he gets home, and Trudy calls him out for being so late. she reminds him that he has “an acre of land, a wife, and a child.”

And now, we’re at DON’S BIRTHDAY PARTY. Spoiler alert: It’s not a key party. that whole thing about “people going home and having sex” was about the French song and dance that Megan does for Don. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. before the party even starts, Roger and Jane totally blow the surprise by bickering outside of the Draper’s door. It’s worth noting that in Season 5, Roger appears to hate Jane. inside, we see that Abe is still around, and that Harry has gotten noticeably svelte. he presents Don with a walking stick, to which Roger adds: “Oh look, he got you a cane.

Peggy is wearing a cute yellow dress, although it would have been in her favor to spend less time on getting dressed and more time learning some better dance moves. she makes a passive-aggressive comment to Don about having to work on the Heinz campaign over the weekend, which Megan later bites her in the ass for. Pete is wearing a plaid blazer, presumably to camouflage the spit up. And hell’s bells Trudy, what are you wearing?

Cut to Megan’s song and dance. she announces to the entire party that she’s going to give Don a present, which is her rendition of “Zou Bisou Bisou” in what looks like a blouse that she’s passing off as a dress. Matthew Weiner is doing a good job at programming us to dislike her. Harry looks simultaneously repulsed and aroused, but that’s all undermined by the fact that he’s wearing Megan’s friend’s fuzzy boa. During her dance, Megan comes uncomfortably close to grabbing her own vagina.

Turns out, even with all that leg-throwing and vagina-grabbing, Don was not pleased with the surprise party. Get out? Dick Whitman, we mean, Don Draper, doesn’t like surprises? Don tells her she shouldn’t have wasted money on “things like that.” she says it was her money, and he says that she shouldn’t have used it to embarrass him. she sulks on the balcony for a while, and the two walk into the office on Monday barely speaking.

Pete calls a meeting of the partners, which is really just a meeting where he forces everyone to squeeze on his couch. the point of the meeting is to ask Roger for his office, since Pete’s is, according to Harry, a “shithole with a support beam.” (The same beam Pete recently fell into and caused the bloody nose.) Pete suggests they put it to a vote, and Roger suggests they take it outside. neither happens, and ultimately, Roger bribes Harry with $1,100 to do an office tradesies with Pete. another thing Harry does: goes on and on about how he wants to have sex with Megan while she’s standing right behind him. he spends the rest of the episode feverishly avoiding her at all costs.

Joan thinks her job is at risk, since there was an ambiguous ad in the Times for SCDP. she heads into the office, wearing a hot pink dress she definitely chose for the occasion and totes her baby around in a massive stroller. Everybody holds it except for Peggy, who is eventually forced to. Megan tries to beeline it when she spots Joan, but ends up having to talk to her, since the alternative was talking to Harry (who is still avoiding her). Did anyone else know that Megan hates Joan? This, apparently, is a pretty big subplot this season. Roger walks up to the group and goes, “So there’s my baby,” which everyone takes “baby” to mean “Joan” but it’s actually quite literal. that is, after all, his baby.

Joan heads into Lane’s office to see if she still has a job, and Lane tells her that “the books have practically been held together with spit” in her absence. she starts crying on the couch, and they become dangerously close to doing what every other man and woman do in an office while left alone on this show. To cheer her up, Lane reenacts Megan’s dance almost better than Megan did it. (You can watch that here.) he explains to Joan that he while she was dancing, he saw Don’s soul “leave his body.”

Earlier in the episode, Lane finds a wallet left behind in a cab, and insists to the driver that he keep it and see to its return. This leads to a sexy phone conversation with the owner’s “girl,” which for once in this entire series does not mean secretary. it means mistress. the owner picks up the wallet from SCDP, slips Lane a twenty or something for his troubles, and then leaves. However, Lane has stolen the photo of the “girl,” a woman named Delores. After it’s all over with, we have no idea why any of this even happened.

In the room where all the creatives hang out, Megan scolds Peggy for the passive-aggressive remark she made to Don at the party about having to work over the weekend on her botched Heinz pitch. Megan is also annoyed that no one smiles at Sterling Cooper Draper Price. really, she’s mad that Don didn’t want a surprise party. nobody else is shedding tears for her because, well, she’s married to Don. she leaves work early, and when Don hears of her departure, he takes off too.

Naturally, this leads to the first ridiculous sex scene of the season. Megan is cleaning up the apartment, clothed, when Don arrives, but then she immediately rips off her robe and proceeds to tidy up in her bra and underwear. she yells that he isn’t allowed to look at her, though she’s bending over with her butt in the air. she says she doesn’t want an old person. This, we guess, is all it takes to rev Don’s engine, and then they do it. Afterwards, she suggests that maybe it’s a bad idea that they work together. Don says that he doesn’t care about work, and that he wants her at work because he wants her, which she doesn’t see as the insult that it sort of is. However, the next day they show up at work together like normal.

When they arrive, there are a bunch of “negroes”—as Roger puts it—in the lobby. They’re there in response to the ad that billed SCDP as “an equal opportunity employer,” which was meant as a joke about the Y&R water bombing incident. Lane informs them that they’re only looking for secretaries, so half of the group leaves. And—that’s it. the episode ends, and we saw no Betty Francis, though the previews for next week included a glimpse of Henry scolding her, so, there’s that to look forward to.

· Here’s what You Need to know before Mad Men’s Season Premiere [Racked]· All Mad Men Coverage [Racked]

Marlins suspend Ozzie Guillen over Castro comments but they should have fired him

Posted by admin | Posted in fidel castro | Posted on 11-04-2012-05-2008

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Ozzie Guillen

Ozzie is being Ozzie.

No matter how much Ozzie Guillen apologizes for his misplaced respect and love of Fidel Castro, he will never be forgiven by the Cuban community in Miami.

“I feel like I betrayed the Latino community,” Guillen said in Spanish at a press conference that was broadcast on ESPN Tuesday morning.

This is true. But his remarks are offensive to all people who believe in democracy.

The people in Cuba are not free. They are not free to travel. They are not free to vote for the leader of their choice. They are not even free to use the Internet.

I know this because I have friends who fled Cuba or still live in Cuba, and they have shared their stories with me.

One friend was so hungry that some days all he had to eat or drink was a glass of water with sugar.

I have another friend who was not able to legally live with his wife in Cuba. She was from another province and the government wouldn’t give them a permit to live together because the square footage in his house was too small.

She was afraid walking around Havana of being stopped by the police and sent back to her province several hours away.

Average Cubans are not allowed to step foot in hotels that are reserved for tourists.

And of course there have been many political prisoners of Castro.

Ask any Cuban-American and they can tell you a story of struggle or suffering in Cuba.

To find out more about life in Cuba you should read an amazing writer and blogger Yoani Sanchez, who writes the Generation Y blog. She risks persecution and worse for her brave work.

The former Chicago White Sox manager deserves to be suspended by the Miami Marlins.

They have built a new stadium investing millions in the little Havana section of Miami. They brought in the Venezuelan coach to help reach out to a Latino audience.

They made a big mistake. Marlins management should have known that Guillen has a big mouth.

In the press conference Tuesday morning, Guillen said that his comments were taken out of context by Time magazine and that they were a result of some mistranslation.

“I was thinking in Spanish but I said it wrong in English,” he said.

But he still took responsibility for what he said.

“I hurt a lot of people and I’m aware of that,” he said.

Guillen is a hypocrite.

Remember how Guillen chastised actor Sean Penn for praising iron-fisted Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez?

Well, Ozzie knows Chavez and Castro are best buddies.

Guillen deserves the suspension by the Marlins and more.

But no amount of suspension or apologies will undo the political damage he has caused and the economic impact it will have on the team.

The best thing Marlins management could do to repair the damage is to tell Ozzie, “Adios.”

ava’s first birthday party

Posted by admin | Posted in birthday party | Posted on 05-04-2012-05-2008

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After months and months of planning for Ava’s first birthday party, the big day finally arrived. Our house was filled to the brim last Saturday with an outpouring of birthday love for our sweet girl. the whole day was kind of surreal, and I still can’t believe our baby is a year old. I wanted to make this a special birthday for her (even if she won’t remember it) and am so happy with how everything turned out.

I am especially grateful to my friend Heather whose photos make up this blog post. See, I had a lot of regret following my baby shower last year that I had not asked someone to take photographs. I thought I could do it myself and ended up with only a handful of images. Lesson learned! — Heather captured some priceless moments for us, and I cannot thank her enough! My mind was in that crazy hosting-coordinating-wrangling mode and it all went by too fast for me to be certain I was even there. but best I can recall it was a perfect and lovely first birthday. Now I have the pictures to prove it :)

The idea for the invitation was the whole foundation of the party. It was the first thing we created and set the tone and colors for the rest of the details. Invitations were designed/printed by me and the pennants were cut and hand-threaded by my mom. This super cute first-birthday hat was made by Dainty Couture and purchased on Etsy. My mom, Pinterest and Etsy. It’s a recurring theme for this party :)

Seeing this table scape come to life made me so happy. the colors, the layout, the cake, the teeny tiny details… it was all exactly how I had hoped it would be. the best part is that everything on this table (excluding the cake and birthday hat) was made by my mom or me. serious business.

Ava’s birthday cake was inspired by this cake on Banana Fudge Swirl. I met with Dreamcakes Bakery in Homewood a few weeks ago and showed them what I wanted. but I was floored when I first saw what they had done. It was even more beautiful than I could have imagined. and oh dear heavens y’all — you should TASTE this cake. DELISH.

Heather was so sweet to take a few photos of the three of us together before the party started. It has been five months since we had family pictures made, and Ava has changed so much. of course I love that whole series the very most.

The tent from our family session last fall made a reappearance at the party. I get such a giggle out of Allen sitting in the tent with Ava during present opening time. she was perfectly happy sitting with Daddy and looking at all of her gifts.

We had an “incident” during cake time where Ava reached toward the flame on the candle. I blew it out just before she grabbed the wick, but she had a nasty ol’ cry over it. When I was flipping through the images, this one caught my attention. I was inside the house scrambling for who knows what and totally missed the foreshadowing unlit candle grab.

And yep, this is about 0.5 second after she burned her finger. Poor baby. We took her out of the chair and comforted her and then rallied for one last try at the cake. We were able to get a few pictures snapped before she she realized what we had done and started the waterworks again. the good news is there was lots of cake left for me to finish off. the bad news is there was lots of cake left for me to finish off. I won’t tell you if I actually did polish off the very last bite…

When Heather suggested we gather all the babies for a photo, I chuckled. Yeah right. there were nine babies ranging in age from six to 19 months and three others under the age of five. but then we did it anyways, and I love it. It was kind of a given that it would be chaotic, but this is the kind of photo that will be so fun to look back on in a few years. It is these kids and their parents (and of course our other friends and family!) who made Ava’s first birthday party so very special. I am forever thankful to have them all bottled up together in a photo like this.

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