I’ve been looking online for some good work out shoes. I’m not big on tennis shoes–I think they make my feet look huge and chunky–so I steer mostly to sandals in the summer and dress boots in the winter—neither of which work great when it comes to walking on the treadmill or standing in one spot in my kitchen decorating my cakes! I found some really cute shoes at infinityshoes.com, these tsubo shoes are not only cute, but look a little streamlined–to maybe cutback in that ‘chunky’ look my feet get!

These cute tennis shoes are available with the pink and grey as well as the grey and white, and at a very reasonable price!

What’s great about Infinity Shoes is the fact that you can find just about any style you are looking for. From seychelles shoes to minnetonka boots. They even carry Dr. Martens and Birkenstock which are just cool shoes too! Even better, with purchases over $60.00 you get free shipping which is the very best thing to find when shopping online! It’s even cheaper than paying for the gas to get to the mall.

With all of the talk of Mother’s Day recently, I’ve forgotten to even mention the hugely popular American holiday of Cinquo De Mayo! Well, it’s big in the restaurant industry anyway! This weekend the Chef’s restaurant is offering a whole menu of Mexican fare. Homemade tamales are about the tastiest thing in my mind, but there is honestly an entire menu available. Who knew, really good Mexican food from a barbecue joint!!

May is the best month of the year for me! Truly…it’s Mother’s Day, my birthday and our anniversary! That spells big presents for Moi!!

The hard part is the fact that my mom lives 1500 miles away. I used to just send gift cards and homemade pictures from the kids, but last year I found a really pretty bouquet of flowers for her. I was excited because the picture online was really pretty, and I chose my two favorite flowers, Iris and Tulips. Not knowing what her favorite was, I was going for the “gift from my heart” approach. I was really excited to learn that these are her two favorite flowers as well! I used 1800flowers.com last year because they offered a mothers day gift delivery, but mostly because I had heard their commercial on the radio and found the best prices. I will stay with them this year as well for the simple fact that my mom not only received her flowers on time, and in one piece…but they bloomed for over 2 weeks after Mother’s Day. I can’t get the Tulips in my yard to bloom for two weeks straight! I was going to try to find something fun this year, like multi-colored wildflowers (which are beautiful) but once I saw the picture of the Iris and Tulip bouquet, I’m sold every time!

Since the Chef is at work making every other mother in the Chicagoland area’s Mother’s Day special…he has been known to order me flowers as well. I have hinted in the past about the Iris/Tulip route…and he’s never quite gotten the hint. This year I think I will print out the photo and the product code, and tape it to his steering wheel! That should do the trick!

Saturday night I attended a “Tastefully Simple” party with some family members. I left the boys home with the Chef, and took my 5 year old daughter with me. It was a fun party, I ordered some dip and some Orange Cream stuff. On the way home, I asked her where she would like to go for dinner. She of course chose “Dad’s work” even though dad wouldn’t be there. We love going to dinner there, we are royalty! All of the servers and hostesses stop by for a hello and a quick chat–the kitchen managers even come out. It’s cool!

So we are sitting there talking to the Restaurant Manager and I noticed the table card advertising their Mother’s Day Brunch. We’ve been to a few of the brunches at the restaurant, but with 4 kids and a packed house, we’ve started celebrating the holiday after the Chef gets home. This year will be no different! But what was interesting was the fact that the restaurant has done zero outside advertising, and they are nearly sold out on reservations! It’s just amazing!

When you come across a good deal, the very best thing to do is to share it! I hate it when you hear about a great sale after the fact! Today I had to sit down and order new checks for our new checking account. I have to say, the bank charges a BUNDLE for the simplest of checks. Then I remembered that I purchased our last set of checks from VistaPrint.com. You may notice their little button in my sidebar. They are a GEM! I’ve ordered business cards and sticky notes from them, completely customized for my cake business. The first 250 were free–and that included the awesome design that fit my business to a “T”! I didn’t just stop at the free business cards because they also offer free shipping for orders over $50.00!

So today I ordered cute customized checks as well as matching address labels. You really can’t beat their quality and their prices. I’ve looked around, and I keep coming back! I would also like to add that you can purchase from them with peace of mind. My first order of checks got lost in the mail. Hey…it happens! I called to see what I needed to do to get them replaced and was amazed to have them send me a duplicate order with express delivery free! My original order came a week or two later–nearly shredded by it’s post office ordeal! I called to let them know that I had received them and to see if they wanted them back-or for me to pay for the second order (since the first one came) and they didn’t! In fact, they apologized for the delay that was not even their fault! Honestly, I wouldn’t order from anywhere else! I’m sold on VistaPrint.com!

We had the opportunity last weekend to attend a Greek Easter party at the General Manager of the restaurants house. It was a chilly day, which is the best for me, but the kids had a ball. There was a lamb roasting on a spit, and I have to announce…I don’t like lamb! It was my first attempt at eating it. It tasted like dark turkey meat, which is usually my favorite, but there was this bizarre after taste that I didn’t care for! The Chef called it “gamey” to me, it just tasted dirty! There was a ton of Greek food, which was a nice treat. I brought a Pina Colada cake and Jake made a dump cake. There was a fire, and baseball, and a pinata–life was good!

I felt so bad! Wednesday was the first day of school and life was crazy having to transport the kids 45 miles home after school. Lunch this week was minuscule and my poor boys were ravenous by the time they got into my car that a pit stop at McD’s was in order. But it’s too late for lunch and too early for dinner–so it wasn’t great. We got home–too late to shop and to a kitchen that has been packed–All I had was a bag of salad, some cheese, some crispy noodles and some oriental dressing–so a quick Chinese Chicken Salad was born. The kids loved it–and I was relieved to find something to fill their tummies!

My husbands restaurant has had some interesting things going on lately. Due to the fact that different employees will purchase things for the company some of the managers decided to take out an account with a couple of the businesses they purchase from most often. But they didn’t tell anyone what they were doing, and they didn’t get approval from the owner of the restaurant.

Yes, the bills would have been paid as needed and on time, but it created a few heated hours when the owner (the man with the name they had used) accused them of identity theft and sat on the phone with his bank trying to get everything taken care of. In the end, they decided that they really did need the accounts but that they were taken out in the wrong way. How easy would it be to fill out a credit application with the name of your favorite business and pose as an employee with permission to use the credit? Dangerous game if you ask me!

This is where companies like life lock come in handy! They monitor your credit and back up their protection with a million dollar guarantee! For times like these, what an important investment for anyone, person or business. Did you know that identity theft tops the Federal Trade Commissions list of complaints? That is mind boggling to me. There really doesn’t seem to be a way to protect yourself without companies like this keeping their eyes open for you. Plus, it cuts down on your junk mail as well! All this for one low price!

Do you remember the post I did earlier about the Easter Brunch at the Chef’s restaurant? The one with the bunny and lamb cakes? His brunch was listed in the Top 10 Easter Brunches in the city! How cool is that? Mother’s Day isn’t that close, and they haven’t even advertised for it, and they have over 100 reservations already! Putting on a brunch is just what he’s good at…I’m glad others can see it too!

The owner of my husbands barbecue restaurant just spent a week in Texas trying out the various options for beef brisket. They had a ball. He said that the first restaurant they hit was the best brisket he’d ever had, but by the end of the week (17 restaurants later) he said that the first restaurant was the worst. I guess that explains why Texas is so well known for their brisket!

We are trying to secure our plans for our summer and after these stories, the Chef has decided that he would like to recreate the same experiment! Not that I mind, the only part of Texas I’ve been to is a night in Dallas after taking a bump on the way home! There seem to be a number of fun things to do in Texas, whether it’s visiting the River Walk in San Antonio, seeing the capitol city of Ausin, or even the Shangri La Gardens and Nature Center in Orange, Texas. You’ve got to see this place. It’s not only beautiful, but it’s also very environmentally minded. They’ve even been awarded Platinum Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. Very well deserved in deed!

I’m not quite sure where our summer will take us, but I’m pretty sure we can find brisket in Orange, Texas, and we’ll have the opportunity to see this beautiful garden for ourselves. If you would like to see this beautiful park for yourself, check out their website at www.shangrilagardens.org.