We just received a fun Mother’s Day delivery a few minutes ago. My husband nominated me for Saint Cupcake’s Top Mom…and they chose his entry! You can read my hubby’s sweet words on the Saint Cupcake blog. I snagged a good guy, eh?

Check out the sweet goodies they delivered:

A box of mini cupcakes (so beautiful and so delicious! Yes, we’ve already taste-tested a few…):

A box of gigantic, delectable pastries. The cinnamon buns…omg…amazing!!

A beautiful bouquet of flowers, coffee, tea, and granola.

What a lovely Mother’s Day delivery! Thanks so much to Saint Cupcake for such a generous, kind, and oh so very tasty Mom’s Day Treat! I love you guys!

Most of all, I thank my awesome family, who make every day Mother’s Day. Especially my two precious kidlets, who are my every breath, every tear, every thought, every love, everything.

Hope you all enjoy a lovely day, fellow mamas! You are ALL Top Moms in my eyes!
xoxo

Today’s sunshine nudged Portlanders outside to embrace the warmth and promise of a sunny Saturday.

Our garden is starting to bloom. We have strawberries, carrots, beans, garlic, tomatoes, mesclun, parsley, rosemary, chives.

Do you have a summer garden? What do you typically plant for summer crops?

Our kids played in the sprinklers and had watergun fights.

We dined on a typical summer feast of teriyaki wings, corn on the cob, berry trio.

These are all signs for my family that summer is around the corner. I love it & cannot wait for summer to start!

I’d love to know: what signifies summer for you?

Just in time to toast what seems to be a stretch of summer-like weather, which means lobster.

The 2011 Villa Maria Estate Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, aromatic wine that pairs well with seafood, vegetables, and other light spring and summer dishes. I think it complemented the lobster corn chowder I made nicely because this time I made it lighter than I normally do, but I could see it brighten up a truffle lobster risotto, scallop salad, or grilled asparagus even more. It was lovely.

If you love wines and want to meet join me and several other wine enthusiasts for Thirsty Girl‘s TGTaste Twitter chat on Wednesday, May 16 at 5 pm PST / 8 pm EST with Villa Maria Wines, Master of Wine – Alastair Maling and head Thirsty Girl, Leslie Sbrocco.

You can learn more about the Twitter party here: http://thirstygirl.com/blog/2012/04/25/tgtaste-villa-maria/

{RECIPE} LOBSTER & CORN CHOWDER

Note: I don’t measure for this recipe since I’ve been making different versions of it for years. Trust your gut, folks. Put more of what you love, and a little less of what you just like, and it will turn out to your liking. If you have any questions, just post them in the comments and I am happy to try to answer them!

2 lobster tails
about 4 cups corn
4 cups chicken stock, divided
3-4 Tablespoons butter
about 6 pieces of bacon
about 1 cup chopped onions
about 1/2 cup chopped carrots
about 1/4 cup chopped celery
2 teaspoons flour
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
about 1/2 cup whipping cream (or you can use half and half)

1. Boil lobster tails until cooked, about 6-8 minutes. Set aside to cool on a plate. I use kitchen shears to break open the shells and take out the meat. Cut into small pieces.
2. In a food processor, blend 2-1/2 cups corn with 1 cup chicken stock until well blended. Set aside.
3. Melt butter in a large stockpot. Add bacon until it’s nice and crispy, then set aside the bacon on paper towels over a plate to rest. Then crumble.
4. After removing the bacon, add the onions to the pot. Saute until the onions are soft, about 3-5 minutes.
5. Add the carrots, celery and remaining corn. Sprinkle the flour and cayenne pepper over the veggies and mix well. Saute veggies for another 3-5 minutes.
6. Add the remaining chicken stock and let simmer for about 5-7 minutes.
7. Add whipping cream, stir well until it’s fully blended.

Serve and sprinkle crumbled bacon and lobster on top.

I received no compensation for this post, but did receive the wines featured here compliments of Thirsty Girl and Villa Maria Estate. All opinions expressed are solely mine.

I am so very grateful to live in an area with awesome schools, a great community of active parents, and most of all, teachers who truly love showing up to work everyday and investing in our children’s future. Our teachers are the BEST, and I honestly cannot thank them enough!

So when this week rolls around, I am so grateful for the small opportunity to say “thank you” for all that they do for our kids.

If you are still looking for some ideas for Teacher Appreciation Week, here are two printables for you:

1. Teacher Appreciation Flashcards Printable PDF file- $6.95 per download in the Urban Bliss Boutique, for personal use only.

2. Smart Cookie Tags – Click here for this FREE printable PDF file download, available for free this week only, and then it goes back to the Urban Bliss Boutique for $4.95

Thank you to the hundreds of awesome parents, teachers, and school staff who have downloaded the Teacher Appreciation Flashcards! I have been overwhelmed with your kind words regarding this design, and love to see them out there in the world giving thanks to our amazing teachers!

The Smart Cookie Tags printables are brand new — as of this morning, in fact! — and I am using them for a couple of my own Teacher Appreciation Week gifts this week.

NOTE: You will need Adobe Reader to download and print these printable PDFs.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! THANK YOU, teachers, for all you are and all you do! You are changing the world and making such an incredible difference in our children’s lives each and every day!

Earlier this week, I had the good fortune of being invited to a media event for Cirque du Soleil’s OVO show. I brought my just-turned-5 year old daughter with me, and it was a night I think she and I will remember forever. If you live in the Portland-Vancouver area, you, too, could enter to win a pair of tickets to the May 12th 4pm OVO performance!

Read on for more…

If you’ve been to a Cirque du Soleil show before, you already know how amazing the experience is. Touted as the most family-friendly performance by Cirque, OVO is truly a delight for kids and adults alike. The acrobatics and gymnastic feats are truly spell-binding, and my daughter remained captivated the entire time. This performance centers around bugs: ants, flies, caterpillars, spiders, ladybugs, and then some frogs. The frogs at the end of the performance were my favorite part of the show…

…while my daughter was absolutely in love with the adorable lady bug.

The set design is brilliant, the costumes are colorful and eye-catching, and the storyline is just general and basic enough for even young kids to follow along. The show usually runs about 2 hours long, so the 8pm show we went to was very late for my daughter on a school night. However, I would absolutely go back and do it all again!

The best part: a special surprise treat at the end. I don’t want to spoil it for you or your kids, but just know that my daughter left with little keepsakes that will help her remember our OVO experience for years to come. It was such a wonderful end to a beautiful, fun performance.

We also had the opportunity to chat with Sebastian Sevard, who is a violinist and plays a cockroach in OVO. I’ve always been fascinated by parents who travel & tour as part of their professions, and it was great to hear how family-friendly touring with Cirque du Soleil truly is. In describing his daily schedule, it seemed to me as though he, his wife and 2 kids (ages 4 and 7) have more time together than the average non-touring family. There are apparently several children who travel with their performer parents, so the kids get to grow up with the incredible experience of traveling all over the world and forging close friendships with other kids going through the same Cirque du Soleil touring experience.

While you and I may not have the opportunity to run away with Cirque du Soleil anytime soon, you do have the opportunity to at least win tickets to see an upcoming show! Trust me: you do NOT want to miss this Cirque du Soleil show. If you have kids ages 5 and older, I am going to bet that they love it as much as my daughter did!

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL GIVEAWAY

Enter to win one pair of tickets to the May 12th 4:00pm performance of Cirque du Soleil OVO at the Portland Expo Center! Note: the show date has been updated and we apologize for the last minute schedule change!

DEADLINE TO ENTER: 12:00 noon PST Tuesday May 8th. Winner will be announced on this post; if the first winner does not respond via email within 24 hours, another winner will be chosen. Tickets are non-transferable, and are only for the May 12th 4pm show in Portland, Oregon.

HOW TO ENTER:

REQUIRED FOR ENTRY: Leave a comment below and let me know: if you won the Cirque du Soleil Ovo tickets, who would you take with you as your guest, and why?

FOR EXTRA ENTRIES:

1. Visit Plum District Portland (our affiliate) and leave a comment below letting me know which offer you have recently purchased, or which one currently featured on the Plum District Portland page you like best.

2. Like Urban Bliss Life on Facebook, then leave a comment below letting me know you’ve done so.

3. Follow @designmama on Twitter, then leave a comment below letting me know you’ve done so.

4. Share this post on Facebook (be sure to make your post public so we can verify) and comment here that you’ve done so.

5. Share this post on Twitter and comment here that you’ve done so, along with your Twitter handle.

Photos courtesy of Cirque du Soleil. I received no monetary compensation for this post but did receive two complimentary press tickets to the show. Affiliate links may be included in this post; any purchases you make through affiliate links help support this site. Thank you!

*****WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT*****

Congratulations to Kate, with comment #12! She is the winner of the OVO tickets! Kate, please email life@urbanblissdesign.com asap to claim your prize!

Thanks to all who entered! The show is in Portland through May 20th — I highly recommend seeing it if you haven’t already!

Yesterday I had some of the team over to my house for a fun lesson in eating for your body type and learning to eat by season,
presented by Jill Muhm from The Healthy Muhm.

              {Jill Muhm and Teri Hull working magic in my kitchen}

Then we were treated to a short cooking class by Teri Hull of The Good Plate, where she offered wonderful cooking tips while she prepared Sexy Spring Veggies and Chicken Over Quinoa. It was delicious!

For dessert we had dates with almond butter. Now, I am not normally a fan of dates, but I loved these tasty little treats. They were a terrific blend of slightly salty and sweet.

The biggest take-away for me (besides the wonderful reminder that eating healthy can truly be easy and delicious!) is introduction to different types of cleanses. Many of my friends do a cleanse of some sort, and while I have been tempted to try them, I am always intimidated because they seem too strict, too long, and, quite frankly, I have no willpower. In all honesty, I know I could not do a cleanse on my own. I just don’t care enough to do it and stick with it.

However, The Healthy Muhm 7-day cleanse sounds like just about the right amount of time, includes unlimited email support, a daily check-in (accountability!), shopping lists, recipes, and several other benefits that you wouldn’t get if you were to embark on a cleanse all by yourself. Plus, you can make the food on your own, or you can order from The Good Plate and have it delivered to your doorstep (Portland-Vancouver metro area delivery only). How easy is that?

So I’m considering it. Seriously considering it. Seven days. I can do that, right?

Have you done a cleanse? If so, which cleanse did you do, how long was it, and what were the results? I would love any piece of advice you have to a) help get me motivated to actually go through with it, and b) suggest any tips that helped you along the way.

Here’s to happy, healthy eating!

worked this morning…

went to a nearby farm where we got seeds & herbs for spring planting, the kids got to play with the chickens and goats (and barn cat), hubby & I enjoyed a tasting of Provincial Vineyards wine and took home a bottle of their lovely 2010 Single Vineyard Pinot Gris…

went to the nursery –packed with Portlanders excited to work in their gardens on a dry day– for more soil and vegetable starts…

had a late lunch/early dinner outside…

walked around a lake and discovered a nearby fountain for the kids to play in this summer…

went home where the kids had fun making iphone movies…

now settling in for a night of work & catching up on magazines…

a lovely, blissful Saturday indeed.

How about you? What was your bliss this Saturday?

I designed some iPhone cases.

Customers and friends have been asking me about my own personal custom case since I got it, and I’ve had emails asking for Urban Bliss designs turned into cases. I’ve spent the last several months researching different companies, printing processes, materials, and I think I’ve found the best, highest quality offerings for my super awesome amazing Urban Bliss customers.

Here it is: the first design is the new Kelly iPhone Case design which matches our Kelly Calling Cards.

What do you think?

These are made with exclusive 3D printing technology which embeds the design deep into the case. This helps prevent peeling, chipping, scratching, etc. Now, if your toddler throws your phone onto the ground, I can’t guarantee that the case will still be intact… but unlike other cases I have found to not hold up as well to everyday wear & tear of busy moms & dads, this stuff is AWESOME, and truly the best technology available.

More designs are in the works. I am also trying to find the best cases for Android, but unfortunately, I’ve come up short. I’ll press on, though, dear Android-carrying friends, until I find one that is of a quality that is worthy of my customers & friends!

Check out the new Phone Bliss section of my little boutique arm of Urban Bliss Media, and let me know what you think!

Easy peasy, right?

Then right before I was about to send out her invitations, she decided she wanted to invite the boys in her class (or, rather, she already verbally invited them at school), so we changed it to a Prince and Princess Party.

Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the party elements:

I designed the invitations (and also designed coordinating orange, pink & blue Prince invites for the boys) and matching thank you cards…

then I made favor tags and thank you stickers to coordinate…
the girls’ favor bags had Disney princess cards, a pencil, and Disney Princess rings…
the boys’ favor bags had a Prince Cape” (really, a superhero cape, but I made a coordinating wrap that said “Prince Cape” — hey, it works!), a pencil, and a bouncy ball…
each child also got to choose a crown to take home and a magic wand…

I also made coordinating cupcake flags (alternative to the typical round cupcake toppers)…
and baked my fave sugar cookies with royal icing, using cookie cutters in crown, heart, and flower shapes…

plus chocolate chiffon cupcakes…

the surprise hit of the party were these last minute, super fast & easy marshmallow pops (hellooo, sugar rush!)…

It was a fun, LOUD party with about 15 kids (ages 1 – 7) and 20 adults. We played just one game, because really, kids just mostly run around when they get together in large groups. It’s pretty fascinating.

My daughter had the best time, and I think she felt very special, which is what birthday girls (and boys) should always feel like. As much as I am not a Princess-loving kind of girl myself, my daughter is truly a princess in my eyes. A smart, confident, adventurous, strong, beautiful, sweet, and loving princess who is growing up so, so fast.

A nice rich, sultry red. Hearty enough to soak up the depth of a big ol’ slab o’ beef, and match the full flavor of a masterful homemade bolognese.

Recently, I had the opportunity to enjoy a bottle of Nipozzano Riserva Chianti Ruffina courtesy of the fine folks at Folio Wine. Originally, I was going to share it at a Moms Business Mixer I hosted…but shockingly we did not make it through 15 bottles of wine that night. So I enjoyed a glass of it on my own one night and was immediately delighted that I got to keep the wine all to myself (and eventually share the rest of it with my husband).

Recently chosen as Wine Enthusiast’s Wine of the Year, what I love about the Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi Nipozzano Riserva 2008 is that it is an approachable wine at a reasonable price. It is an easily accessible sip of luxury, usually found for around $20 at stores nationwide and online. With a bold fruity flavor (without being too sweet), the Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi Nipozzano Riserva 2008 was a fine complement to an evening snack and will definitely be on my list of go-to wines for future dinner parties.

With nine estates, the Marchesi de’ frescobaldi was founded in the 14th century just northeast of one of my favorite Italian cities, Florence. It remains one of Italy’s most significant and celebrated wine producers, and this is a fabulous everyday gem to enjoy.

Cheers!

IF YOU LOVE WINE…

Check out this great offer on Oregon Wine Country tours through the Twilite Limosine company on Plum District Portland. This offer ends soon, so grab this great discount on a fabulous wine country excursion today!

Disclosure: Samples may have been provided for review purposes. This post may also contain affiliate links, and by clicking on those links you help support this site. Thank you!