Spicy Link Party #10

It's Party Time again! 

Thank you, Thank you to everyone who has been linking up! 

Please spread the word so that we can get each of you more viewers! I've been loving all your posts and could spend days on blogger to check each of your wonderful blogs out!

Here's your favorites from last week!

French Country Dream Home Tour from Le Chateau des Fleurs

The Secret Life of Samara shares some wedding fun!

Wear by Love on a Budget

Disney Nesting Dolls from Repeat Crafter Me

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Party Rules are few: 

1. You must be a follower through GFC or Linky followers!

2. Link up whatever you want! --as many different posts as you want! It can even be something on your heart.

3. Please link back to my page at the bottom of your post! You can use a button from the button page or just add a link!

4. Visit others and leave some love in their comments section! Maybe they will visit you back! Tweet & FB about the Linky party if you can! Let's spread the word!

Trip to Savannah, GA in Photos

My birthday weekend (June 9), Noland and I traveled to Savannah, GA for the beautiful wedding of Mr. & Mrs Hotard. Pictures are not ready yet or I would post one of the beautiful couple.

However, throughout our time in Savannah, I attended a bridesmaid luncheon on Friday morning. Afterwards, 2 friends and I decided to take a stroll around Savannah and found the cutest kitchen store.. Kitchens on the Square

They even have a website.. with the cutest kitchen gadgets! We spent like an hour in this store.. and I didn't buy anything but it was very tempting!

Here are some adorable aprons!

Funny Magnets

I didn't want anyone to think I was weird for taking pictures in the store but here is one of the shelves.. 

They had mustache clips, lots of things for theme parties, artwork for the kitchen, funny magnets, salt and pepper shakers of every kind and so much more! If you are ever in Savannah, I recommend stoppin by this little jewel of a store.

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Here are a few other pictures from the weekend

We found this little painting in a different store.. and this is a pic of me and my friend Gloria after the wedding in our sunglasses.

Here is a blurry picture of Noland and I getting ready for the Rehearsal dinner. I am in my first maternity dress and he is brushing his teeth.. nice.

Here's Gloria's hair that I did... thanks to myyellowsandboxblog.com.

It turned out soo cute! I've got to start trying some of these cute ideas with my hair! Anyways.

And here we are after the wedding as the bride and groom are getting their pictures on! Love my smiley guy!

That's all for today! Thanks for stoppin by, 

xoxo Jen.

Movie Monday: Madagascar 3

A few days ago, the hubs and I went to see Madagascar 3!

I must say, we LOVED it. 

Brief Synopsis from imdb: Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman are still fighting to get home to their beloved Big Apple. Their journey takes them through Europe where they find the perfect cover: a traveling circus, which they reinvent - Madagascar style.

Our Review: Noland thought this was the best of the three movies and I must say that I agree. It kept us captivated by the story-line and possibly on the edge of our seats with excitement. I loved the Circus part of the whole thing although parts were a little trippy for a kiddo movie. I think it adds to the credit of the movie that I simply love these characters! We will be purchasing this one!

In case you haven't seen it yet, here is the preview:

That's all for this Movie Monday! Be sure to check this movie out!!! Especially if you have kids!

Thanks for stoppin by,

xoxo Jen.

Royal Gorge - Canon City, CO

It's been a while since I have posted. My wonderful husband has been keeping up the reviews/questions and so much more on this little zoo blog! So thanks Noland.. you are the best!

In other news, today I am reviewing the Royal Gorge in Canon City, Colorado!

The cool thing about the Royal Gorge is that they have animals but the animals are not the main attraction. You'll see as you read on. I visited back in Summer of 2008 when we flew out to visit my grandpa.

Date of Visit: Summer 2008

Website: http://www.royalgorgebridge.com/

Rates: $26 Adult, $20 Kids (4-11) [change throughout the season]

Park Map: or you can see it bigger here

Info about the Royal Gorge from the website:

One of the most massive gorges in the world.

The gorge was created some three million years ago when a trickle of water first began to slowly carve a canyon out of the solid granite bedrock. Today that trickle is the raging Arkansas, one of America's longest rivers. And the masterpiece it continues to carve at a rate of one foot every 2,500 years is the Royal Gorge.

The Royal Gorge is considered a world wonder often referred to as the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas River. Yet it's unlike any other canyon. The width at the canyon bottom is no more than 40 to 50 feet, while the top measures only a few hundred feet.

As a part of the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park, there is a petting zoo, a wildlife park and trails to explore. There is so much to do at this park that you will surely be busy for a half of a day at least.

Here are some pictures: 

Here is the rather large visitor center where you can shop for souvenirs! 

 Royal Gorge History

 Beautiful huh? and huge!

 White Buffalo

 Getting grub.

Ponies.

 And here is the gorge... see the Arkansas River. What a beautiful view, even more so when you are there.

 I'm pretty sure I took this one through the cracks in the wood planks in the bridge.

It was a shaky bridge.. but I saw a car drive over it and it lived so that'll do.

 The prettiest picture I have of the gorge.

This next picture is not from the park...

After visiting the park, we drove a little further west and up a mountain so that we could get a view of the Continental Divide... This is the best picture I have but it was pretty beautiful! Colorado is a great place to visit. I really had a great time out there.

Rating:

3 out of 5 Elephants!

Only because this is not primarily a zoo. If you are really wanting to see animals, this is not your spot but it is a great tourist destination for Colorado. 

Signing off ♥jen

How to Change Your Headlight

Good morning. This is Jenna's husband, Noland here. Later today or early tomorrow, Jenna will let you know who won her bday blog giveaway. For now I am going to tell you how to change your headlight if you have a Honda CRV. It is a huge $$$ saver and I had no problem at all finding the information. You can find a quick tutorial for pretty much any car.

This is the second time I have changed a headlight in my CRV. The first time was about a year ago when my headlights kept going out and I had to pay $50 each time to change them. I then found out that you can get the part for like $7 @ Autozone and do it yourself. That is a savings of $43. I taught myself to change the headlight by watching a video on youtube. The video is below.

Changing the battery is the same in this video as it is for an '06 CRV. This video actually showed how to change it in an '03 version though. Step by step instructions are here.

My Tips
On newer CRV's there are actually 4 bulbs. The two larger bulbs that are on the outside are the lowbeam lights. The two light that are inside and smaller are the highbeam lights. Make sure you change the correct bulb.

Do not touch the light part of the light. Only touch it by the metal base. If you touch the actual light it decreases the lifespan of the light. They do this a lot at Firestone (NEVER GO TO FIRESTONE FOR CAR REPAIRS) and get the lamp all greasy decreasing its lifespan.

Doing this will save you $40 every time you need to change a headlight. It is a very simple thing to do and takes less than 10 min. So far Jenna and I have saved $86 by me doing this. For a Catholic School Teacher that is expecting a baby, those $86 really count. This is me driving our CRV on our wedding day. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

-Noland

Mug Brownie

So I've been slacking on posts. So sorry.
I'm at 25 weeks and my body is feeling so tired... so forgive my absence.
...
A few nights, I was desperately searching through the freezer for ice cream. No luck.

So I started looking in the cabinets for something, anything 

sweet.

It must be the pregnancy cravings.

And I came across this jewel. 

The Mug Brownie.

I'm not the best at food pictures...but it was good and fudgey.

It's easy. You probably have all the ingredients in your pantry. & it comes in single serving size.

from instructables.com

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons Flour

4 tablespoons Sugar

2 tablespoons Cocoa Powder (not Cocoa mix)

2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil (avoid strong flavors e.g. olive, sesame)

2 tablespoons Water

Dash of Salt

Mug

Microwave

Directions: 

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a mug. 

I used Nestle Cocoa. Yummy.

2. When it looks like this... mixed all together, place in the microwave.

My microwave is 900 watts and I heated it for 1 minute and 30 seconds.. and it was done!

3. Grab a fork or spoon... and dig in. Just what I needed when I had nothing sweet in the house.

That's all for today. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

Thanks for stoppin' by: 

xoxo Jen.

Linking Up: 

Amy's Finer Things, My Simple Home Life, While He was Napping, Chic on a Shoestring, Lovely Crafty Home, It's a Hodgepodge Life, The Shabby Nest, Nap time Crafters

SPICY Link Party #9

Hey Y'all! I'm posting this a little early! 

Have you entered my Birthday Bash Giveaway? 

Click here to enter!

Alright! It's party time!

If you are linking up, make sure to visit a few others who have linked up and leave a comment! 

Don't link and run.

Here's your favorites from last week:

Favicon Tutorial from Two Sasters

Gooey Bars from Couponing & Cooking

Those look soo yummy.

Baked Mac n Cheese from Learning to be a Mom!

Vanishing Choc Chip Cookies from Don't Waste the Crumbs

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Party Rules are few: 

1. You must be a follower through GFC or Linky followers!

2. Link up whatever you want! --as many different posts as you want! It can even be something on your heart.

3. Please link back to my page at the bottom of your post! You can use a button from the button page or just add a link!

4. Visit others and leave some love in their comments section! Tweet & FB about the Linky party if you can! Let's spread the word!

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Dear Baby

Dear little one,

To write to you, I don't know where to start.

I wish I wrote you more regularly.

 Your daddy & I have been planning for your arrival 

and are excited that it's less than 4 months away! 

We can't wait to finally see your 

sweet face & little hands. 

We hope when you enter into this crazy world 

and begin to grow  

& learn  new things,

we can  surround you with love.

we can not wait to make you 

laugh & giggle.

to hold you, 

 and give you thousands of 

hugs & kisses.

we are ready to 

play

dinosaurs

superheroes

sports

cars

 trucks 

and so much more.

Only  3.5  months left.

Until then, 

I'll  await your every move,

sweet kicks

that let me know you're there.

Praying for you.

Loving you,

Your Mommy

Linking Up:

 

My Birthday Bash Giveaway!

Hey Everyone! Today's my birthday and I'm in a wedding in Savannah, GA... which is really exciting!

I've got a birthday treat for you! 

The blog has been growing like crazy and I'm just beyond thankful so I decided to throw a 

Birthday Bash Giveaway

in order to thank all my new friends/followers/soon-to-be followers! 

So check out all these amazing blogs, shops and so much more and scroll to the bottom...

ENTER TO WIN! 

ONE winner takes ALL!

I blog here at ITS JUST CALLED SPICY!

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Birthday PROMO for all:

 Check out Insanity Rules' Etsy Shop. If you see something you want, get 10% off 

by using coupon code BDAY10

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Edit: Giveaway open to US & Canada

Zoo Questions #1

Before we get to our next zoo review, we wanted to answer some questions that we have heard about our blog and some questions I think some people might ask. We also invite our followers, whether they have signed up as followers or not, to ask questions of us that they want us to answer. This questions post will try to be replicated once a month, with different questions of course.

What will your next review be on?
Jenna will be posting a review of her visit to a place in Kansas next week. She is trying to find her pictures from her Kansas trip. This trip happened in the summer of 2009 and Jenna is excited to share her experience.

Are you going to review Sea World like you said?
We are trying to wait on doing a Sea World Orlando review until we visit the theme park again. We are going to try to go at some point this summer and if we go, we can post something shortly thereafter. On this blog we strive to get the most up to date reviews possible.

What is the best zoo you have been to?
We have said it numerous times that our top zoo thus far is the Atlanta Zoo. You can read our review here. The baby komodo below is from that zoo. They had a feeding there that was awesome.

What is the worst zoo you have been to?
Well it isn't a zoo technically, but the Mote Marine Laboratory is an aquarium. We were not to fond of this place. Read the review here.

Where can I see a great white shark in captivity?
Unfortunately, you cannot see a great white anywhere in captivity. Occasionally the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California will get them, but it is only for a short time when they do get them. This is one place we really want to go if we ever get out to California. Anyways, the longest a great white has lived in captivity is 6 months.

Are you going to post any reviews outside of Florida?
Florida is a big state and living in Tampa we mostly go to animal attractions in our home state, but we do post reviews from other states. So far we have reviews from zoos in 7 other states and the district. Jenna is about to post a review on a zoo in Kansas and we will have another zoo from the DC metro area when we visit in a few weeks. You can expect a few zoos throughout the Southeast from us in the near future. If we make it out west we will certainly post on those zoos as well. We also occasionally have guest posts which may come from different states.

If you have other questions just ask.

-Noland