Pinata Party

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday, my kids have never spent these special days with their grandparents til now. They are beyond excited, we went to Publix last night and got a cake mix, frosting and decorations.

As we strolled thru the store, my eight year old daughter saw the Pinata's hanging from the ceiling. She thought it would be a fantastic idea to get one for Grandma, all I could imagine was my 68 year old mother blindfolded, chasing a pinata around with a stick.....she thought it would be fun if Grandpa played too. Picture it with me, my 78 year old father, who has recently broken his arm and had a pacemaker installed....yea, honey let's blindfold the old man and watch him fall down...oh imagine. Her little heart was in the right place, but you know how sometimes something just hits you as funny and you can't stop laughing...well that was me....we settled on a plant and a balloon. We will save the Pinata for another time.

Style

One of my best friend's is a hair artist, she is terrific, earning the title "artist" and I never really gave my hair a second thought until I moved away from her.

So here I am in a small town trying to figure out what to do with my 3 months of roots and two kids who are desperate for a trim. So I asked around without much success and decided to try The Avenue Salon on Pine St. Being the suspicious type I figured I would let my kids be guinea pigs and made them an appointment for a cut....I was given to Chris Campbell, who first spent a good 20 minutes combing tangles out of my WHINING, CRYING, 8 year old daughters hair. She gave her some good advice about conditioner and gave them both a great cut.

This morning I went and got cut and highlighted, a terrific job at a very reasonable price, Chris has a great personality and is fun to sit in a chair with for 2 hours!

The Avenue Salon also offers pedicures, manicures, waxing and a full line of hair care products. I could not find a website but will inquire and pass it on if I do....

Book Swap

I just got a book I have been dying to read from Bookins. It works like this, you sign up for free and list all your books that you want to swap, when someone wants your book, you get an email, you print the postage off your computer (no charge to you) stick it in your mailbox and away it goes. You get points in your account. When you have a book YOU want, add it to your "wish list", when it becomes available the owner prints the postage, points are deducted from your account, you pay the $4.49 shipping and the book is sent to you. Check it out if you love to read!

NSB Parks & Rec

In my old life in NC I was part of a large youth sports organization, it is a ton of work for a small number of volunteers and is governed by County Parks & Rec.

When we moved here my son wanted to sign up for soccer with New Smyrna Beach Parks & Rec and I did not have high hopes, I have never loved soccer, he has always played football, but I figured it would be a great way for him to make some friends in a new area.

What a great experience it has been so far, our team did not have a coach the first week of practice, and one of the parents stepped up not only to coach but to sponsor the team. Angel Garcia of Divine Homes Realty of New Smyrna Beach has been terrific with the kids.

These kids are 9 and 10 years old, they are exhibiting excellent sportsmanship, playing and a team and having a great time! Thanks to Angel and Parks & Rec for their great program!

Coronado Hardware and Beach Bikes & Kayaks

I spent some time this past week working on the chaos that is still my house after the move. One of my little trips out for supplies involved a visit to Coronado Hardware on 3rd Ave.

What a fun store, they have everything from pool floats to cast nets. Ladders to yard flags. It is a typical old time hardware store, the staff greets you as you walk in, ask if they can help and personally takes you to what you need. I spent about 15 minutes chatting with the man(who may have been the owner)about our windy weather. Great place.

From there I went across the street to Beach Bikes and Kayaks, where last week I ordered a bicycle. This was also a great experience, they helped me get the perfect size and style bike, ordered it for me and called me when it was ready. I rode several of their bikes around the parking lot before I made a choice...as I was riding off on it they told me to be sure and ride it for a month and bring it back in for adjustments. Great guys!