Dave's Review - V-Moda Vibe II

Hello All! Dave here! Since Erin is still taking time out for her I wanted to take this time to share something one of my reviews!

This past Father's day I received an awesome gift thanks to 'The Mom' Erin and Kat at Formula PR, the V-Moda II Vibe Earbud Headset with Microphone!

From V-Moda:

Vibe II Earbud Headset is Forged of premium stainless steel alloy and fabric cables, Vibe II with Microphone, noise-isolating headphone/headset features V-MODA’s world-renowned hi-definition sound, ergonomic detachable sport earhooks, a discrete microphone, and convenient call/music control functions for use with the iPhone/iPod and other music enabled phones featuring a 3.5 mm jack, including the Blackberry® Bold, Curve, and Storm.

V-MODA’s Vibe II with Microphone is a distinct sensory experience of design and acoustic excellence. The pinnacle in quality construction, the revolutionary stainless steel alloy headphones/headset feature compatibility with the iPhone and iPod. One of the first in consumer electronics to use its unique metal manufacturing process, Vibe II with Microphone has a solid and substantial tactual sensation comparable to fine jewelry. The jewelry-like design incorporates a discrete microphone that blends seamlessly with a Kevlar reinforced woven fabric cable and a convenient call/music control feature that allows you to effortlessly switch between carrying on phone conversations and enjoying your music library. The newly fabricated plug features a 45-degree flexible design to allow an optimal range of motion while maintaining a sleek, sturdy metallic core and 24-carat gold-plated plug.

Featuring V-MODA’s world renowned organic signature sound, Vibe II with Microphone houses an all new V-MASQUE dynamic driver which boasts an unparalleled high-definition, 3D soundstage, invoking the sense of a live music experience through its vibrant bass, vivid mid-range, and vivacious highs.

Ergonomically designed for the most active lifestyle, the Vibe II with Microphone is accompanied by four sizes of medical-grade silicone fittings that enable the BLISS noise-isolating technology, and detachable sport earhooks featuring ACTIVE FLEX technology for a comfortable and secure fit

These are the best earbuds I've ever used. Hands Down! From the moment I first held the packaging of the Vibe II, I was impressed!

The inner packaging is so nice I didn't even want to open it!

The Vibe II with microphone headphones/headset came with great accessories! Detachable sport earhooks, eight pairs (XS,S,M,L) of silicone ear fittings in clear and black, and a designer carrying case.

Normally I cannot wear earbuds. I actually had given up even trying. They are all too big and odd shaped for my ears. So I have to admit I was skeptical trying these. I started off with the medium silicone fittings and thought they were just as uncomfortable as every other one I've ever tried. I figured there was no way my big ears needed smaller. It just had to be I wasn't compatible. But Erin urged me to try the small size anyway. WOW! That was the problem! My ear canals are just too small for normal earbuds, but I put this in and it was almost like it was made for my ear!

Each earbud is marked for which ear is which, but I had trouble seeing it at first. I didn't think it would matter, but it turns out it does.

Once I got the small silicone fittings on each one and situated them properly in my ears I could not believe the sound quality. I have owned expensive headphones and these are amazing. Try your white ipod earbuds, then try these. The difference is amazing! I watch movies on my ipod in bed at night and they are clear enough I can hear them without being so loud they wake Erin. I also found they work really well while mowing the lawn. It takes me about 4 hours on our riding mower to do our entire yard and every other pair of headphones I tried I would have to turn all the way up to hear over the mower and would have to turn them off half way through because my ears would be ringing. Not with these! I was able to listen to them the entire time, could hear them fine over the mower, and didn't even have to have them all the way up, or turn them off!

Pros: Too many to list

Cons: None so far

I give the Vibe II Earbuds a 9 out of 10 because they are by far the most comfortable earbuds I've tried, have amazing clarity, and awesome style!

To find out more or buy your own pair visit: http://www.v-moda.com

OR

Enter to win your own pair right now!

To Enter:

• Visit V-Moda. Come back here and leave a comment with another place you can buy the Vibe II.

For Extra Entries:

• Follow us on twitter @MomLovesToday and tweet about this giveaway, leaving one extra comment with your twitter name and the url of the tweet. (you do can this once a day)
• Follow Erin on twitter @ErinJeany, and Ashley @linkismyhero, leaving one extra comment with your twitter name.
• Leave a comment telling us your favorite song in your i-tunes or playlist.
• Follow this blog through google friend connect on the right sidebar. Leave us a comment with your google name.
• Subscribe to this blog through RSS or Email, leave a comment telling us how you did it.
• Blog about this giveaway linking here and to http://www.v-moda.com, come back here and leave 3 separate comments with the url of the post.

This giveaway is open to US residents only, 18+. Only one main entry per household. You must do the first entry for any additional to count and follow all rules to be eligible.

This contest will run until Monday, September 7th at midnight.

Winner to be announced Tuesday, September 8th by Noon.

Good Luck and Thanks for Entering!
NOTE: This contest is now closed. Comments have been disabled and hidden to protect entrants information.

Wordless Wednesday 8/19/09 - Elijah & Robby

My two favorite little boys!
Hard to photograph smiling together, but the cutest ever no matter!

---Taken at my sister Amber's last Sunday, In honor of Robby's 2nd Birthday! :)

_____

Find more wordless Wednesday submissions and share yours at: Wordless Wednesday, 5 minutes for Mom, The Not-So-Blog Blog, Ordinary and Awesome, Wordful Wednesday, Go Graham Go, Mom of 3 Girls, What’s that Smell?, My Sippy Cup Runneth Over, A Daily Dose of Toni, and Moomette’s Magnificents

Web, Made Simple: Part 1- Web browser breakdown, plus InformEnter, what is it and why you need it

Due to popular demand, I am starting a new series very similar to my Tutorial series, Web, Made Simple. Anything and anything you want to learn about the web, things to make it easier and more enjoyable, anything at all, leave me a message and I'll make it happen! For now, enjoy part 1 - Web browser breakdown, plus InformEnter, what is it and why you need it.

For many of us commenting other blogs is just as important as posting in our own. It is the interaction we crave! The interaction that brings us more traffic, inspires us, teaches us, forms friendships. Many of us also enter giveaways that require us to leave comments. Often asking the same repetitive questions.

I leave a standard 'signature' at the bottom of my messages, I fill out the same information over and over entering giveaways, logging into different accounts on the web, filling out paid surveys, etc. It feels like all I do is type the same stuff over and over. And after a discussion with Carrisa Rogers tonight, I realized I am not the only one.

A little over a year ago I went in search of a program, add-on, ANYTHING really, that could do what I wanted:

1. Fill in forms
2. Fill in my signature
3. Simplify entering giveaways
4. Simplify filling out surveys
   
5. Save my log ins and passwords
   
6. Remember my information!!!

I started my search by looking at what the other blogger are using. I tried every single one of the recommendations I received in my search! The always glamorous Danelle of Homemaker Barbi uses and recommends Roboform. It was a great program, but I wanted something even easier and quicker.

A few different Mac users recommended Safari's built in form filler. Which was WAY easy to set up! Safari uses information from your Address Book card, and will automatically fill in any relevant information into webpage fields. To enable AutoFill, choose Preferences from the Safari menu, click the AutoFill button, and select the "Using info from my Address Book card" checkbox. To make sure that your card is up to date, click the Edit button to open Address Book. Easy right, but not quite as exciting as I was looking for. Plus I wanted to find something that was cross-platform for you PC users as well.

I must have tried 300 different things, but just wasn't happy, that is until I found the InformEnter add-on.

Now the first thing you need to have to use this program is Mozilla's Firefox web browser. So let's talk about internet browsers for a second.

• Internet Explorer: While still standard on most PCs, I find even the new IE8 to be outdated and restricted. Even the newer versions just don't seem to 'do it' for me. I have to admit when I hear people use IE as their default browser I actually cringe.
  
• Google Chrome: Such a small, fast, wonderful browser. I actually use it on the PC I built exclusively for watching hulu.com and television shows on the web because it's such a small program, it keeps the computer running smooth without taxing the CPU at all! No stuttering video for me!
• Opera: With it's own built-in RSS reader & tools, mail, and the first ever bittorrent client built into a browser, Opera is a fast, reliable, lesser known choice, but has great potential. They also have browsers for phone and smartphones worth checking out!
• Safari: The standard browser for Mac, now available for PC as well, and my second favorite browser of all time. Tabbed browsing and the new 'cover flow' history and bookmark views make this browser not just functional but visually appealing. smooth designs and fast speeds, built-in RSS and developer tools are just a few of the over 150 features Safari 4 offers.
  

Now that you know a bit more about the other choices, let me tell you why Firefox is my number one recommended browser, and why its needed.

One word... well two words and a hyphen actually but...

ADD-ONS!!!

Out of all the browsers there is still one thing that Firefox has over them all. Add-ons. No matter what browser you are currently running, I recommend at least giving Firefox a chance and playing with the add-ons. I'm sure you are familiar with iPhone's commercials by now, 'Yeah, there's an app for that.' That's basically when Firefox's add-on's remind me of. Now obviously you don't want to install TOO many end up slowing your browser down, but there are so many helpful ones that I can't live without! StumbleUpon toolbar, Twitterfox, and InformEnter are probably my favorite three. I also love that I can use the Wishpot button to easily update my families wish lists, Swagbucks search (see this post), and FoxyTunes to control my itunes and other music players from inside my browser. You can search for add-ons from mozilla's site or from within your Firefox browser by clicking Tools>Add-ons. There are tons more I love and tons of other reasons why I love Firefox, but lets get back to InformEnter before this post is so long you're tired of reading.

What, Why and How

InformEnter adds a small, clickable icon next to every input field in a web form, from where you can select the item to be inserted - no typing required. You can configure it to display your frequently used information such as name, email, address, blog signature, url, whatever you are tired of typing 300 million times a day. Basically, put it in once and with a single mouse click you can fill in lines or even paragraphs of information.

So first things first, if you are not using Firefox browser please download and install the latest version at Mozilla.com. Using Firefox, please now visit this page to download the InformEnter add-on. Hit Add to Firefox, then Install from the window that pops up, the next window that comes up will install and then say please restart firefox to complete your changes.

TIP: Bookmarking in Firefox is simple. Either click the bookmarks heading on the navigation bar, drag the URL down to the bookmark bar or click the star at the end of the URL. Either way it is a good idea to bookmark this page until we are done. Firefox DOES have a option to save your tabs that are open too, but better be safe than have to do an extra step again!

Once you restart an add-on window should pop up. If not please click Tools>Add-ons. Now under InformEnter click options.

The first thing we will do is click the other options tab. Make sure Inform is enabled and then the rest is all personal preference. You may find you want to change these settings as you use the add-on more.

When you're done with that go back to the Profile Management tab. It will be preset with 'Default profile' but we are going to create New profiles. Depending on what you plan to use this for and how much info you will have in each section will determine how many different profiles you create. The nice thing about this is with a click of the mouse you can change the profile you're using at any time. No worrying about logging in or out. Here are a few of the ideas of profiles I set up for myself:

• Personal - Personal contains the information such as my mailing name, address, phone number, personal email, etc.
• Surveys - Surveys contains the information I give out on paid surveys my name, age, address, survey email address, or any information I find is being asked over and over on paid surveys.
• Giveaway - Giveaway contains the information I compose over and over when entering bloggers giveaways. I will come back to that.
  
• Blogger - Blogger contains the information I compose over and over when leaving other bloggers comments, my signature with my profile link and my blog contact email.
• Freebies - Freebies contains the information I use to request freebies and free samples in the mail including my special freebie email address.

TIP: You may have noticed I mentioned quite a few email addressed in there. I have 8 total. Creating separate email accounts for each of your online activities can be an amazing tool! It will cut down on cutter, be easily sorted, and can cut your inbox time in half. Though you probably don't need 8 (my number included my graphic design business emails & family emails) it is a good idea to use a separate email account for newsletters, free stuff, and entering contests. You can never be too careful where your email address will end up and it's an easy way too keep your main addresses spam free!

Create all your profiles first. Don't worry if you're not sure, you can go back and add or delete as many as you want. Once you have them created I will show you the easiest way to start filling out your information within the profiles so you know it's formatted right.

Go ahead and close the options window for Inform Enter and go to anywhere that you have a blank form box. I used a comment box on my own blog or in my email, but you can use anything where you see that little blue arrow show up. For the example I will use my comment box.

Hover over that little blue arrow. (If there is a max number of characters, or certain length it will allow you to type it will show.) Now if you right-click the arrow with your mouse you will see a box come up that basically looks like this:
If you left-click you will see this: (only with the different profile names you created. If you are not using default you can delete it by the way)
So now the easiest way to switch profiles is to left-click and then just select the one you want. Then if you right click again on the arrow, the list stuff you add will be one-click to select!

Select the first category on your list, for tutorial examples I am going to use the default as an example. If it's just one line words you want to enter then by all means just open up your options and type one word/sentence per line. Like this:
As far as I know you can enter line by line until the cows come home. Do that for each of your profiles that you have just single line entries.

So now say you want to save something that looks like this:
Not necessarily the message itself, but the spaces and then signature, so all you have to do is throw your message in there. Or maybe you're tired of entering the same giveaway information over and over like these:
The easiest way to save this info is to

1. make sure when you left-click the profile you want to add to is selected.
2. go to your comment box and type out your signature, giveaway info, etc EXACTLY the way you want it to always appear.
3. Don't hit submit! Instead right-click on the blue arrow and hit 'add text to profile'

and it will save it just as perfect as you typed it! (note if you look at it in the options menu it will have '@' symbols where there are spaces.)

You can keep adding them until you got everything you want or just add them as you type them in during your form filling. Ta-Da!

All you have to do to fill the forms and boxes in, is left-click the blue arrow and select the one you want:
There you go! No more typing the same stuff over and over and over! I even have personalized ones for certain blogs giveaways! Saves me SO much time!

TIP: Copy and paste each one of your profiles into a text document and save on your computer and back up disks for easy recovery in case firefox upsets or resets or in case you want to use it on another computer, just email it to yourself if you don't have a pen drive!

Happy Autofilling! :)

Do you have any questions? What do you fill out over and over you are excited to use this on?

_________________

This post was happily submitted to http://www.wearethatfamily.com/ for Works for Me Wednesday! Visit today to read more helpful posts or link your own!

Guest Post: Mama Loves Cooking - Homemade Chinese Take-out: Spicy Peanut Noodles

I enjoy Asian food VERY MUCH. I could eat Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Indian, Filipino, etc. all day everyday. I love Chinese take-out any chance I get. One of the appetizers I get from my local take-out place is called Cold Spicy Peanut Noodles. Fast, cheap, and easy to make, this dish is spicy, peanuty, and sweet at the same time.

Spicy Peanut Noodles

• 1 half box of Linguine
• 1 can of peas or half of a bag of frozen peas (Can be snow peas, but they are almost $3 a bag.)
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 3 to 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• 1 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of Soy sauce
• Sriracha sauce (A spicy, smooth (no seeds or flakes) red chili sauce. It has a green squirt nozzle.)
• Maple Syrup (Yes, maple syrup. I used maple pancake syrup. It worked just as well.)

This recipe serves two since well, most kids don't like spicy, unless you were me growing up, heh. You can double the recipe to serve 4 to 6 if you would like.

1. Boil the noodles and about 2 to 3 minutes before the pasta is done, add the peas to cook the peas instead of wasting another dish/pan. (You can break the noodles in half if you don't want really long noodles.)

2. Drain the peas and pasta and let set in the colander. (Remember, to keep the noodles from sticking, you can use a little bit of oil and toss the pasta with it.

3. Heat the oil in a sauce pan using medium-high heat. Once it's hot, add the garlic.
Sauteé the garlic. Make sure it doesn't burn.

4. Add the peanut butter. The peanut butter will melt down. You'll want to watch the heat with this also. Turn it down some if it starts to bubble too much.

5. Add the water and stir well. Bring to a slow boil. This will allow the peanut butter and the water to come together.

6. This is where you can experiment. I highly recommend adding all of last three ingredients, but to your liking. I used about a tablespoon of Sriracha, a tablespoon and a few dashes of soy sauce, and almost 2 tablespoons of maple syrup. You can make it sweeter, saltier, spicier, or all balanced out. Have fun with it!!!

7. Add the pasta and peas mixture and the peanut sauce together. Mix well. To add a little more to the dish, (I thought about it afterwards.) you can add shredded carrot and sesame seeds to the mix.

8. Serve warm or you can chill the noodles for 1 hour.

Enjoy!!!

Unhealthily overweight: Chapter 1: The history

It's not secret I've gained weight since I had Elijah. Where as I understand it's perfectly natural to have trouble loosing the baby weight, and even gain a bit of weight after wards that's not the case here. Elijah is almost a year already and I am unhealthily overweight.

I am short. 5 foot 1/8th an inch kind of short. So what may seem like not much weight to you, is a lot to me. Take my body mass index into account and you will understand. A body mass index is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to both adult men and women. If you have a BMI of 18.5 or less you are underweight, 18.5-24.9 is normal, 25.29.9 is overweight, and 30 and up is considered obesity. According to a BMI calculator, at my current weight, 172lbs I have a bmi of 33.6. I am considered obese.

Now don't get me wrong. I am not REALLY that upset over it. So I don't need sympathy comments telling me, 'Oh honey, you are not fat.' I am fat. You have not seen me naked. But honestly I wouldn't even care if it wasn't for these 3 reasons:

1. MY BODY HURTS! wow! My back, my legs, any part that jiggles when I try to chase Elijah around the house. And my health in general.
2. Did all my clothes shrink? When even the maternity clothes are too small, I think it may be time to consider I am a bit overweight.
3. Dave. I know he loves me for who I am, but I think after seeing me give birth the least I can do is work out from time to time. And wouldn't it be nice to surprise him one day with a thin, toned, body instead of the floppy bag of potatoes, wearing a Freddy Kruger mask, I am carrying around now?

I wasn't always overweight, just about 8 years now. It all seemed to start too when my gynecologist put me onto Depo-Provera shot to control a period problem. Let me give you a break down of my weigh battle to make it easier to understand.

As a child there were times I wouldn't eat. I would eat less and less. My family would gently remind me and sometimes force me to eat something. I was never technically diagnosed with an eating disorder, but I have what I like to call the 'forget to eat' disorder. I don't not eat on purpose. I just sort of don't remember to do it. There are times my stomach will shrink and I will eat something small and get full so quick. Then there are times I seem like a bottomless pit. My weight in years:

• In College 2002 - 120lbs (started the Depo)
• Started Dating Dave 2004 - 135lbs
• The longer I was on the depo, the bigger I got, exercising, eating well, nothing helped. Stopped the Depo. 2005 - 152lbs
• Realized I needed a change. Started Exercising more and more, eating even healthier, and reducing portions, eating smaller meals more times a day. 167lbs -2006
• Finally after 2 years of work reached goal weight of 125lbs... December of 2007

Yup. that's right. I worked 2 years to get my weight to my goal and got pregnant 2 months later. It was good because of health problems I knew prior if I was ever able to conceive I would be bed ridden. So the healthier I was, the better. Of course I wasn't planning on conceiving... but everything happens for a reason.

During my pregnancy I started out the first trimester by loosing even more weight. Not on purpose though considering for the first time in my whole life I wasn't forgetting to eat. I was eating 4+ meals a day. But I had the 24hr morning sickness. I would sit in bed with cold ginger ale and ginger snap cookies all day and let people bring me the regular food. It was nice, but only lasted so long. (We moved!)

During my second trimester I was sick but steadily gaining weight. I first felt Elijah kick at about 14 weeks and soon learned his 'hungry' kick. He also had a kick for foods he liked and foods he didn't. Or maybe it was just my imagination.

__
Stay tuned for tomorrow night's Chapter 2 of Unhealthily Overweight.
Thanks for reading!

Boom Boom Ba ~ I knew I sugared a gnu, eh?

I loved the show Dead Like Me. If you have watched it you will recall this song, Boom Boom Ba by Metisse through out the series. If not you might at least have a good laugh. I was browsing videos on youtube the other day and found this misheard lyrics video of the song. I laughed and so did Dave so I thought I would share:



If you are curious you can view the real song lyrics here (http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/thenextbestthing/boomboomba.htm), but I think it's funnier to think these are correct. hehe

Do I really have to wait until Oct 13th?

It's not a secret! I love video games! My favorite genre is survival horror. So it's only natural that I've been obsessed in love with the Silent Hill series since the first one released for the Sony Playstation in 1999. I have played them all completely though at least 10 times each, beat them all with every ending possible, gotten every item/weapon/costume possible. Am pretty sure I know every secret/easter egg/fact. Even went as far as to get write my own extremely detailed walk-throughs.

When Dave and I moved in together in 2004 it was only a matter of time before he was hooked as well. One by one I beat the games while he watched and sat at the edge of his seat. It is like watching a movie for him. He would really get into it too! Pre-Elijah days we would sit in our bedroom at the old apartment and play all night, days even! These days we ONLY get to play for an hour at most while Elijah is napping or asleep, but it's an hour we treasure. Even though he never picks up the controller, Dave remembers tips and hints I forget and is great at the player morale! We're an awesome team when it comes to beating the crap out of one of the nurses (dead & zombie-like btw) with a lead pipe or taking down of one of the main bosses, Pyramid Head with his own 'Great Knife'! When the movie was announced I checked the internet for YEARS, awaiting its arrival. Amazingly I was one of the lucky ones to see the prescreen when it finally debuted in 2006!

There are six amazing games in the series so far, and the only one we didn't 100% like was the 4th one. It was okay, but terrible compared to the three previous ones. About two months ago we pre-ordered the seventh game in the series, first one for the wii platform, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Though it does not come out until October 13th, it was a huge priority to pre-order to assure we have it the second it comes out! We can't wait to play! :::giddy schoolgirl-like scream::: Seriously, we are counting down the days!

From IGN.com -

About This Game

Harry Mason and his daughter Cheryl are heading to a small midwestern resort town. Suddenly, Harry sees a dark figure in the street and swerves to avoid it, causing a serious accident. After coming to, Harry realizes that he has smashed the car and Cheryl is missing. You must guide Harry through the strange town of Silent Hill town while he searches for his daughter Will Harry be able to save his daughter and escape the town in Silent Hill?

Designed to make full use of the Wii's unique controllers, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories uses the Wii Remote as a torch and cell phone as Mason looks for clues. The torch is vital for scouring the darkened, abandoned buildings of Silent Hill, while the phone acts as a secondary user interface, allowing the player to access maps via its GPS capabilities and take pictures of interesting elements. Likewise, the Wii Remote also can be used to pick up, examine and manipulate items to solve puzzles along the journey. Such technology was not available when the original Silent Hill was released in 1999, and its inclusion showcases Konami's determination to enhance the playing experience with new, available technology.

More on IGN: http://wii.ign.com/objects/143/14325477.html
Konami's Official Silent Hill: Shattered Memories site: http://www.konami.com/games/shsm/

I'm just sad I still have to wait

note: this post is not paid, sponsored, and endorsed by Konami or IGN. I am seriously just an obsessed fan. Also please note this game is rated M, for Mature. I do not recommend this game for children due to the graphic nature of the content.

Guest Post: Mama Loves Cooking - Pizza Bagels

Who doesn't love bagels? They are universal from putting the usual cream cheese, jelly, and butter on them to spreading Nutella or peanut butter on them for an afternoon snack.
Here is a recipe for a quick breakfast or snack.

Pizza Bagels

Any 1 flavored bagel (except the strawberry or cinnamon raisin)
Regular cream cheese
Pizza sauce
Shredded cheese (I used the pizza blend.)
Pepperoni, ground beef, garlic, or any of your favorite pizza toppings (Remember, this is just a small pizza. Don't go too crazy.)

1. Preheat over at 375°.

2. Slice open bagel and set in the pan you will bake it. (My pan is old, but I love it. No sense in wasting dishes!)

3. Spread desired amount of cream cheese on your bagel. Both sliced of course!

4. Spread pizza sauce carefully around your bagel.

5. Sprinkle desired amount of cheese and toppings you would like onto your bagel.

6. Bake for 10 minutes. Broil for about a minute if you'd like until the top is nice and brown.

7. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday 8/12/09 - Pirates??? In Baltimore???

This Wordless Wednesday is brought to you by JEN!
Why you ask?
Well... because I'm sure you're getting tired of camera phone pictures...
and hers were just better anyway. LOL...

so without further ado, Happy Wordless Wednesday!
(which is incidentally FULL of words this week... oopps.)

_____

It all started with this...

The shot glass that is, not Jen's toe.

That is Jen... and that is ME! Being the very caring sister in law she is realized how desperate I needed a night out. SO lucky lucky me was invited to join her on Baltimore's very own pirate ship, Fearless, to celebrate her friend Shana's birthday! This was my VERY FIRST night out since... well since basically before I was pregnant! So OVER a year! Woo hoo!

yeah... we know we're hot. but thanks for noticing! ;)

Here is a view of the ship, docked off of Thames Street in Fells Point!

Before you board you check in and get your awesome shot glass necklace like I was wearing the first picture! Oh did I mention its B.Y.O.G? Bring your own GROG! How awesome?!?! right?

Once you get on you get some pirate garb, a vest and belty/shashy thingie (i can't think of what they're called. lol), a pirate name and a pirate tattoo! We were re-named Evil Erin and Jumpship Jen.

My tattoo says Urban Pirate Princess and is all sexy with a pink pirate. Yeah, you know you want one.

The ship then makes it's way around the harbor on an hour cruise! There we are right infront of the Baltimore Aquarium! You can see the Hard Rock Cafe towards the left!

During the cruise there is other fun things to do besides see the sights, act like an pirate and drink! You also get to talk like a pirate, play fun games like a pirate dance contest and limbo.

Note: I only went under the limbo once... any lower than that and I would have risked spilling my beer. That would have been not very Aaargh-wesome.

You even may encounter some enemy pirates! But don't worry, you can fend them off with the ship's cannons!

Thanks SO MUCH Jen for a great evening out! Was so much fun! And thanks to the crew of Urban Pirate's for such an awesome pirate adventure right here in Baltimore!

I highly recommend this to anyone who lives around or is coming to visit Baltimore! For more information on going on your own adult or child cruise visit Urban Pirate's website: http://urbanpirates.usHappy Wordless Aaarrrrgghhh Day!

To see more pictures from the pirate cruise send me a friend request on facebook!

_____
Find more wordless Wednesday submissions and share yours at: Wordless Wednesday, 5 minutes for Mom, The Not-So-Blog Blog, Ordinary and Awesome, Wordful Wednesday, Go Graham Go, Mom of 3 Girls, Newlyweds!, What’s that Smell?, Super Jenn, My Sippy Cup Runneth Over, A Daily Dose of Toni, and Moomette’s Magnificents

Note: This post was not paid, endorsed or sponsored by Urban Pirates, I was just a normal every day guest on this adventure!

Guest Post: Mama Loves Cooking - French Toast Soufflé

Out of everything I can make, magically, I can't make good regular French Toast. I wanted to figure out a way to make French Toast without making it too eggy. Then I thought about soufflé. What is a soufflé you ask? I picked up Wikipedia's (one of my favorite resources) definition to help define what a soufflé really is:

A soufflé is a light, fluffy, baked cake made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a savory main dish or sweetened as a dessert. The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb souffler which means "to blow up" or more loosely "puff up" — an apt description of what happens to this combination of custard and egg whites.

It's funny to me how hand in hand this soufflé goes with the French Toast. French Toast, when cooked properly, is light and fluffy, yet moist and spongy, like a cake. I was really pleased with how this turned out. I really want to share this with you all this week because I know you will like it FOR SURE!!! ^_^

French Toast Soufflé

• 1 8oz. pack of cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons of butter, softened
• 1 cup of pancake syrup (can be maple, butter, whatever flavor you would like)
• 10-12 slices of bread (You can use Texas toast if you want, but I used Nature's Own Butterbread for softness and it was WONDERFUL!)
• 1 dozen eggs (yeah, that many)
• 2 cup of half & half
• 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
• Cinnamon (preferably the container with the multiple sprinkle holes)

Optional toppings:

• Strawberries, blueberries, bananas, any kind of fruit you want!
• Powdered sugar
• Syrup

1. Take one piece of bread at a time and cut into 1 1/2 pieces. Leave the crust on.

TIP: Use a pizza roller to cut the bread instead of a knife since it's made to cut fast!

2. Grease (I used shortening) and flour the bottom of your pan. I did not do this and well, luckily I had a good metal spatula to get my French Toast out of the dish. So yes, learn from my mistake: grease and flour the pan.

3. Place the pieces of bread on the bottom of the pan/dish in one even layer.
Now, depending on the size of your casserole dish/baking pan (I used a 9x13.) will determine how many pieces of bread you use. I wound up using roughly 12 pieces of bread.

4. Cover the bread by sprinkling cinnamon on. Don't be afraid to cover it, but don't go crazy either.

5. Line up some more bread pieces on top of the first layer, creating another layer of bread pieces. Cover this layer with cinnamon as well.

6. Take cream cheese and butter and microwave in a safe dish for about 15 seconds. You may need more time depending on the wattage of your microwave. Make sure the butter does not melt.

7. Combine cream cheese, butter, and syrup together using a hand mixer until you get a smooth spread. Mine was a tiny bit lumpy, but that didn't bother me.

8. Spread mixture over the cinnamon bread pieces.

9. Mix eggs, half & half, and vanilla together until the egg mixture is frothy.

10. SLOWLY pour the egg mixture over the bread. Make sure to evenly cover the bread so the mixture can soak in really well.

11. Bake for one hour at 350°. It will be nice a bubbly when it comes out. I let mine cool for about 10 minutes. It also deflated, but before the picture, it was nice a puffy. This is normal for a soufflé.

12. Serve warm with syrup and any other topping you'd like! This was TRULY delicious!!!

ENJOY!