Olivia's First Holy Communion

This past Saturday we celebrated Olivia's First Holy Communion! What an exciting day it was for all of us, and especially for our little lady, who was beaming with joy and spreading it around!

As much as I'd like to say that the planning of this event went on without a hiccup, that wasn't the case because so many things went wrong in the process that we are actually lucky the event was a success....

Where should I start... I bought Olivia's dress about two months ago; it took her weeks to pick it and it was the most perfect dress. A week before the communion I decided to try it on her (thank God I did!) and it didn't fit! I almost had a heart attack and so did she.  We had to run around and scramble to find a new dress at the last minute.  Something similar happened with her headpiece, which I had ordered from Etsy and at the last minute the seller told me she was so busy with wedding orders that she couldn't honor mine, so I had to run around to find another.

When the dress and headpiece situation were squared away, I get a phone call TWO days before the event to tell me that the restaurant where we had planned to have our party had closed down and my party had to be cancelled! I about flipped and cried for a whole day. I then picked up 150 roses that I had ordered for the event and put the boxes in my car.  With all the stress I had going, I forgot they were there and they were damaged by the time I took them out of the car (thank you, Florida heat!)

After clearing my mind and getting some rest, I figured this was God's way of telling me to focus on what really mattered, the fact that my daughter was receiving her First Holy Communion and no matter what went wrong with the party, she would still have an amazing and blessed experience. 

So I relaxed a bit and started to tackle every problem one at a time; I was able to find a new location for our party, saved most roses by ripping off some petals and leafs and Olivia was satisfied with her dress and headpiece all the same. 

The day of the communion was beautiful; weather was perfect, we were on time for the church and Olivia looked so pretty.  The mass was so heartfelt and the kids did a great job performing a song they had practiced for months.  I was filled with pride and Olivia was incredibly happy.  We couldn't even tell there had been so many "issues" in the planning process and we felt so blessed to experience this wonderful moment, which I will forever cherish. 

Here are some pictures...

Olivia and her good friend Alba before the ceremony...

The kids singing their song...

Olivia receiving her communion...

My beautiful little lady right after....

And of course a picture of the amazing cake made by my friend Jenny....

I have a lot more pictures but I still haven't gotten them back from the photographer. 

I want to thank all our family and friends who made this day that much more special and of course I thank God for all the blessings we received! 

Our trip to Europe

It has been two weeks since we came back from Europe and I don't want to neglect sharing this wonderful experience on my blog. 

So many of my friends and readers often ask me about how I plan my trips, where I buy my tickets, how much money I spend, etc... and this time I want to share a wonderful website I found (www.europeandestinations.com), which offers the best prices for Europe and gives the traveler the flexibility to create a unique package at a reasonable price. On this website, the traveler is able to select the cities he/she wishes to visit, the amount of nights to spend and whatever add on is needed for the perfect trip.  Our experience was incredible as the hotels were great with perfect locations, flights were meticulously coordinated and the flow of the trip was easy and well planned.  Prices are very good too so I strongly suggest this website to anyone considering a trip to Europe, I promise you won't be disappointed; the site is extremely reliable and I cannot say enough good things about it.

Now, on to our incredible trip and some pictures. 

Our first stop was Barcelona, Spain which is of course one of my favorite cities in Europe.  With its hippie style and unique vibe, Barcelona is sure to captivate the heart of any traveler. It is a colorful city, full of history and amazing architecture; incredibly diverse and very touristic.  There are so many things to see and do in this amazing place. 

We visited Parc Güell, which is a top spot in Barcelona and such an enjoyable sight. 

Here are the girls posing with Gaudi's famous Salamandra sculpture; for some reason I love this picture so much!

We spent some amazing time with my cousin Renato who has lived in Barcelona for the pat 5 years.  Seeing family is always the best part about traveling; the girls love him and he made our trip so much fun!

..and here's a picture of "Sagrada Familia", which is one of the most famous structures in Barcelona. This place holds a very special spot in my heart; not only did I meet some wonderful friends there a few years ago, but it also happens to be the place where I was at the time we found out we're having a baby boy! I hope I can take him back there one day....it will be so special! :)

After spending a few days in Barcelona we moved on to London, England and I will start off by saying WOW!!! What an amazing city; I don't think I've ever seen something so beautiful and picturesque as London. It is such a modern, chic and enthralling place and we are so lucky to have been able to visit such place.  In London, everywhere you look there's something fascinating; from the buildings to the streets, to the people and the attractions... it's all so wonderful.  I know so many people have a love-hate relationship with London and I can probably see why; it is such a busy place and the weather isn't always nice, but OMG what a captivating scene. Nothing I say will ever be enough to describe this place. We did so much in London and we were left wanting more so I see another trip to this place in our future... 

Here are some pictures...

Here's a family picture in front of "Big Ben" and the parliament buildings.. the pictures don't do justice to this amazing place...

View of the city from the "London Eye", which was one of the most fun attractions in London...

Here's us at Buckingham Palace; even though we didn't get to meet the queen, the experience was great.. LOL!

..and we also met up with family in London, Iggy's cousin Luis who has lived in London for the past 6 years... (yes we have family everywhere!  how cool is that!?!?).. 

..and here's us by the Tower Bridge which is a very iconic spot in the city....

Once we were done with London, we traveled to Lisbon, Portugal, which is a place I've always wanted to visit. Not only is Portugal home to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, but it is also a very mysterious place with a very diverse and interesting culture. Lisbon really fascinated me because it is so different from the rest of Europe; people seem to be more conservative and it is a very traditional place; we really enjoyed it...

Here are the girls at the Fatima Sanctuary, which is very famous for Catholic pilgrimages.  Our visit to this sanctuary was so special; as soon as we set foot on the premises we felt an overwhelming presence and incredible energy; it really was such a powerful experience for our family and we are so glad we got to visit, especially around Easter!  If you haven't heard the story of Our Lady of Fatima, I strongly recommend you Google it so you can understand the meaning of this place a little better!  It was so beautiful!

We also visited Nazare, which is a beautiful fishing town a little west of Lisbon.  I have never seen such beautiful nature and peculiar culture.. we really loved this little spot and the food was amazing!

...here we are at "Cabo Da Roca", the westernmost point of the European continent, located in Sintra, Portugal.  This was really nice and the scenery was so pretty...

...and here are a couple of picture from Lisbon.  The weather was perfect and I will never forget this amazing place... Strongly recommended....

So there it is..another one for the books. I will never cease to thank God for granting us these amazing opportunities and allowing us to create such wonderful memories. Traveling is such a big deal for us and we are so blessed to be able to do it so often. 

Happy Blogging! ;)

Product Review: "My Spiral Slicer" (giveaway included!)

A few weeks ago I was approached by the creator of a wonderful kitchen gadget, which I have successfully used (and I now love!) quite a few times.  She introduced me to her product, called "My Spiral Slicer" and I will admit I have fallen in love with this little kitchen item!

Healthy eating began as a "trend" and it has now become the lifestyle of many; the RIGHT lifestyle if I say so myself.  Sometimes it's difficult to come up with creative and fun ways to eat healthy and even more difficult to "spice up" our vegetable eating habits.  I believe "My Spiral Slicer" is one of the most amazing ways to slice fresh vegetables and it makes for the cutest salads. 

The gadget is incredibly easy to use and it is also very safe; it has a very comfortable grip and it is very compact for easy storage.  My 8 year old even used it and had a great time slicing zucchini and cucumbers but the best part was to see her eating all the stuff she had sliced up with such joy.

"My Spiral Slicer" is also very reasonably priced so everyone can be part of this amazing new way of eating vegetables.  It can be purchased through Amazon and very soon through Shopify; I invite everyone to try and spread the word about this amazing gadget. 

You can follow this link for amazing recipes and slicing ideas.  I am sure you will love this recipe book and will get hooked on spiral slicing your vegetables before you know it!

I will also give ONE slice to a lucky reader; the item will be mailed to the winner within 5 business days!  Just comment below to enter the giveaway!

Happy blogging! :)