Second Chances Girl - a Miami family and lifestyle blog!: December 2013

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2013 Recap in Pictures!

Here's picture recap of our lives in 2013! It was such an amazing year and I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store for us!



























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One year, so many memories!! Bring it on 2014! We are ready!!

Wishing you and yours a safe and Happy New Year!!!






Monday, December 30, 2013

Bring it 2014!

2013 was a wonderful year. I know I became a better person. I started on my blogging adventure, which I love. I have loved deeper than I have ever loved before. Even though it was a good year, I am looking forward to 2014! I know it's going to be another great year. I'm not big on New Year's resolutions, I never keep them. I just mention some things that I would like to accomplish and hopefully they get done. My big thing is to become a better person each year. I did take some time this weekend to come up with some goals for 2014 so I could share with you today. Here we go:

1. Eat healthier! This is a biggie. Not full fledged vegan or anything like that. Just incorporate more fruits and veggies. Brown rice instead of white, sometimes quinoa. Try juicing. Little by little!

2. Exercise for health! Not go crazy and lose 50 pounds exercise but exercise for health. Go for walks, play at the park with my son, yoga.

3. Be more active with blogging! Blogging is my creative outlet and a fun way to earn a little extra income so why not work harder at it. I did really well mid-year and then slacked off a little. Well not in 2014. I might even go self-hosted!!!

4. Make time for friends! I re-connected with a lot of lost people in 2013 but have not made time to actually have friendships. I will make time in 2014. It can't all be about my kids.

I'm sure I can come up with some more but not right now. There is alot planned for 2014: moving to a new home, saving to actually buy a home one day, family vacation, etc. One big thing is to take it day by day. No need to stress it. If it doesn't get done today, it will get done tomorrow!!!

I want to wish you and your loved ones a very Happy New Year! Be safe out there!

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

Friday, December 27, 2013

Christmas 2013!

Now that I am fully recovered, I can post about Christmas 2013. We were so busy. I swear as the kids get older, I have no life. They have so much to do. There were holiday shows, Christmas gifts to buy, holiday party to get ready for, SO MANY gifts to wrap on Christmas eve (I'm a slacker) and then SO MUCH organizing to fit in all the new toys! I was wiped out!

I took these pics prior to Christmas since Amberly & Gian would be at their mom's this year on Christmas morning and I wanted pictures in pajamas!




At 6:15am Adrian came running into the room "SANTA CAME!!!" It's super cute and all but when you go to bed at 2am exhausted form cooking and wrapping gifts, it isn't super cute. So here he is.....

He received so many presents. He must have been very good this year (he wasn't but I won't ruin it for him).

Opening the "BIG GIFT", the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lair. This playset is massive!


 After all the unwrapping, they decided it was time for WiiU!


I host a day-long Christmas day luncheon/dinner at my house every year. My whole family, family friends and personal friends stop by. There is tons of food and presents for all. There are also lots of people to play with all the new toys!

Here is our Christmas day family picture:



 Here is my family Christmas picture (from left to right: my nephew Mikey, ME!, my niece Amanda, my sister Elizabeth, ADRIAN!, my mom, my sister Elba and my brother Hector)


I had an amazing Christmas surrounded by family and friends. I am very grateful for holidays and I always take a moment to step back, look around and enjoy! I hope you had a blessed day with your families and friends!

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

This Christmas........

Hello everyone! As Christmas draws closer, I wanted to take this time to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas. May you enjoy your time with families and cherish every smile and every hug!

I am currently going a little crazy because I am super behind. I work half-day, then have to go home and start prepping tomorrow's Christmas feast, along with wrapping gifts (I have about 20% wrapped), decorating cookies for Santa, going to JC's mom's house for dinner, swinging by Adrian's grandparents house and finally making it back home to wrap all the presents from Santa while a certain little one hopefully waits quietly in bed for Santa to arrive. I'm already exhausted.

On Sunday afternoon, while shopping, we saw Santa at the mall. Adrian was so excited "Mommy, it's him, it's really him!" was all he kept saying!



Making sure Santa doesn't forget a thing.............


Childhood innocence really makes Christmas for me! I can't wait to see his face Christmas morning when he sees all the presents that Santa left for him!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Blue Nile Branch Necklace Giveaway


Disclosure: I was provided two necklaces, one for review and one to giveaway. I was not compensated in any other way for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

'Tis the season for giving and I have a beautiful gift to share with you thanks to Blue Nile!


I received these lovely blue boxes from Blue Nile, one for me, one for you and inside was this necklace:


This Branch necklace is gorgeous. It's the perfect size necklace to wear daily or on a special occasion. I have worn mine everyday, with collared shirts and with t-shirts. It goes with every outfit. I have received so many compliments on this sterling-silver necklace. It is one of my favorites!

Want one? Well I am giving one away in a super simple giveaway. All you have to do is enter below by commenting on this post. If you were provided two necklaces, one to keep, one to share, who would you gift the necklace to?

If you would like to do a little shopping at Blue Nile, they are offering a 10% discount through January 1st by using code: BNHH10.


a Rafflecopter giveaway




Please comment: If you were provided two necklaces, one to keep, one to share, who would you gift the necklace to?

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

WW: Snow, Miami Style!

This is how we in Miami do snow!! These pics were at this past weekend's Snow Mountain.







Monday, December 16, 2013

One-Stop Holiday Shopping at Radio Shack #MC

Disclosure: I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for RadioShack. I received a gift card to facilitate a shopping trip and promotional item as a thank you for participating.


I have alot of children and tech-hungry teenagers on my gifting list this year. I hate running store to store so I was so pleased to find my One-Stop Holiday Shopping spot, RadioShack! RadioShack has recently updated most of their stores. Holiday shoppers will be the first to check out the new updated interiors, signage and great inventory selection. By the end of 2013, Radio Shack will have made improvements to more than 4,300 stores across the nation. 


As soon as I arrived, I was greeted by the staff and asked if I needed help. I told them that I was just looking around and they left me alone to wander. Seriously, no hounding! It was calm and serene shopping. Since Adrian was with me, of course we gravitated toward the toys.


I loved the toy selection at Radio Shack. It had cool DIY model toys and R/C cars and helicopters. RadioShack also carries the new R/C Quadro Bot that is on my brother's and JC's Christmas Wish Lists this year!


Adrian got so excited when he saw these walkie-talkies. He has been asking for walkie-talkies for a while and as soon as he saw these, all I heard was "SANTA HAS TO BRING ME THIS! TAKE A PICTURE SO HE KNOWS WHICH ONES!" Oh childhood innocence. Let's just say, I went back to Radio Shack and someone will be getting a surprise Christmas morning. 

Got tech-hungry teenagers on your list? This is not the Radio Shack from the past. The newly updated Radio Shack carries the newest tablets, cell phones, headphones, accessories, all the fun techy gadgets your kid wants and at great prices too.

Check out their new Speaker Wall! This wall is an interactive display in Radio Shack's new concept stores where customers can play music on a selected speaker to see how it sounds compared to other speakers. 

Source

Also, as a bonus for shopping at Radio Shack this holiday, they are offering HOLIDAY CASH! You get $10 Holiday Cash for every $50 you spend. Who doesn't like to get bonuses for gifts you are going to buy anyway?

Just in case you were wondering, I bought the walkie-talkies for Adrian, an R/C Camaro for a friend's son, a personal radio for my mom and SkullCandy headphones for my nieces and nephews. I was in and out in under an hour, got my Holiday cash and didn't have to deal with crowds! Now that's my kind of shopping!

Do you still have gifts to buy? Make sure to stop by your nearest RadioShack. You will be impressed by all they have to offer!


Monday, December 9, 2013

All Things Christmas

We spent this past weekend doing all things Christmas. We went to Home Depot (sorry, no cut your own tree here in Miami) and purchased a tree:
Shirts from P.S. by Aeropostale
 then set it up! We decided to do colored lights this year, I'm not usually a fan of colored lights, but the kids wanted them so colored lights it is.


Gian finally had his turn in putting up the star!



One day I know I will be able to have a fancy all white Christmas tree! One day!



Sunday was Santa's Parade of the Elves. This is a super cute parade held annually here in South Miami where Santa is welcomed to town. All kids (up to 6th grade) that come dressed as elves get to walk in the parade.



The kids were super excited! We got there early so we had to wait around for about 2 hours. We used this time for a mini photo shoot and meet-n-greets with local beauty pageant winners.







Ron Magill from Zoo Miami was the Parade Grand Marshall. This snake was massive!



Finally at 2pm it was parade time! Since we arrived early, our kids were able to be right in front. The elves lead the parade so you can imagine their excitement when they realized they were lead elves!


JC and I decided to let them walk it by themselves. We told them they had to hold hands and take care of each other. There is serious hand-holding going on there!



Once they reached the end of the parade route, we pulled them out and sat down so we could watch the rest of the parade. We saw local cheer squads, dance teams and marching bands perform. Local companies decorated theirs cars with garland, lights and inflatables and then of course, SANTA!!!



This parade was a first for us but we will definitely be participating as often as we can. There were some amazing elf costumes and I am totally inspired to make epic ones for the kids next year. We had a wonderful time.

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