NEW JERSEY BLOGGER BRUNCH AT TALULA'S

Blogging is my shot at entrepreneurship.  It's my ideas, and my hard work that always go into what you see and read here.  It's the same thing for Talula's in downtown Asbury Park, New Jersey-- a fairly new restaurant that opened it's doors only five short months ago, and has been serving up great farm-to-table food ever since.

 Talula's entrepreneurs haven't been able to do too much advertising yet, but instead rely on word of mouth to promote the restaurant.  That is why I picked Talula's as the spot to host my first New Jersey Blogger Brunch.

 In attendance were Reesa from Mommalew- a website with tips for moms, recipes, travel ideas and more, Clarissa who is a Life Strategist and Personal Stylist from ClarissaNassar.com, and Sharon who blogs about petite fashion at The Tiny Heart.  These women are entrepreneurs who have successful blogs because of all their hard work, sweat and tears.  Having a networking event with these great women at Talula's just seemed like the perfect winning combination!

We got a chance to chat about what projects we are working on while enjoying such great dishes as the Avocado Toast with pickled vegetables, Scrambled eggs with Ricotta toast, Kale salad with roasted squash, a Hash bowl with eggs, a Margherita pizza, and some killer hot apple cider donuts! Talula's makes it's own breads and pizza dough, and uses locally sourced ingredients in all of its dishes- it's a great place to get a taste of Asbury Park while enjoying what this part of New Jersey has to offer.

Sira & Mara also sent me some pretty bracelets to give away as gifts at the event.  Sandy is the entrepreneur behind Sira & Mara who started her business after moving to the U.S. from Spain without speaking English and with only $800 to her name.  I absolutely love Sira & Mara's jewelry and accessory line, and to have Sandy's business be a part of this day also made perfect sense!

All of these beautiful pictures here were taken by Michelle Scelfo from Yellow Yellow Yellow.  Michelle is a super talented photographer and entrepreneur who has an amazing eye for capturing great moments and is local to the Asbury Park area.

FASHION FRIDAY: HERE WE SNOW AGAIN!

It's the first day of Spring today and Old Man Winter is preferring to stick around!  That's right...more snow today!!!  When will it end?  We snapped these pictures a couple of weeks ago and I didn't know if I would ever post them because the weather was warming up and it seems Spring was coming, but with this forecast...I thought why not?  At least it's supposed to warm up tomorrow!  These are also the first pictures I've posted on the blog with my new bangs.  I wanted to do something different and thought I'd give them a shot.  I'm not too sure how long I'll keep them though because I have curly hair and they are very high maintenance!  (they also look a bit messy here as I was wearing a hat) Anyway, hope you all have a great weekend and see some sun wherever you are!

Top: BB Dakota via Lord & Taylor
Leggings: Forever 21
Coat: Zara (old)
Hat: Purchased in Iceland
Boots: Rachel Zoe
Necklace: Stella & Dot
Bracelet: Sira & Mara
Sunnies: Italia Independent

LAKOTA WOLF PRESERVE

(Photo Credit: TripAdvisor.com)

Imagine getting up close to wolves, foxes and bobcats to see how they live in the wild?  Maybe it's because the PBS show Wild Kratts has been such a hit in our house, but I think it sounds pretty cool, and it's something we've been wanting to do with the boys for awhile now.  The Lakota Wolf Preserve in Columbia, New Jersey is the only wildlife preserve of its kind in the state.  The preserve is owned and run by two people who have raised and cared for the animals themselves.  At the preserve you get to go on an educational tour and stand on an observation deck where you are surrounded by four different packs of wolves.  You will get to watch the wolves play, interact and maybe even get to hear them howl!  Wolf watch tours are offered twice a day, everyday except Monday at either 10:30am or 4:00pm.  Each wolf watch tour is 90 minutes ($15 for adults, and $7 or kids up to 11 years old- cash only!).  Unfortunately, due to the recent ice storms and bad winter we've had the Lakota Wolf Preserve is temporarily closed, but hopefully now that spring is 10 days away it will be reopening soon.  Once it does we will be going and I can't wait to share with you how it is!

LAKOTA WOLF PRESERVE
89 MT. PLEASANT ROAD
COLUMBIA, N.J. 08732
(877) 733-9653

A GETAWAY TO CRYSTAL SPRINGS

Last week we packed up the car and headed away as a family to Crystal Springs Resort in Vernon, New Jersey.  We wanted to take Richie skiing for his 4th birthday, and we picked Crystal Springs Resort because it's not too far away, and the mountain and resorts are very close to each other with a shuttle bus that takes you to and fro.

Mountain Creek is where you ski, and then there are a couple of resorts to chose from nearby- Minerals Resort and Spa and Grand Cascades Lodge.  We stayed at Grand Cascades Lodge.  Minerals Resort and Spa is what they consider more of a "family friendly" resort because it has indoor basketball courts, tennis courts, a very nice pool and an arcade room (we checked it out while we were there and we were happy with where we chose to stay instead).  I think it may have been okay if our kids were older and would have been able to use those facilities.

Grand Cascades Lodge is a bit fancier (no basketball, tennis or arcade room), and it has more dining options and a biosphere pool with a slide which is one of the coolest pools I have ever seen!

The cost to stay at Grand Cascades Lodge is more, and we had originally considered going Friday thru Sunday.  But that wouldn't be the "JetSetSmart" way to travel and save, right?  Well, if you go Sunday thru Thursday, you can either buy one night and get the second night half off, or buy two nights and get the third night free.  We went Sunday thru Tuesday, and the price was half of what it would have cost us if we went Friday thru Sunday.  The other plus was that the hotel had less people, so they upgraded us to a room with a fireplace, terrace and full kitchen, and the restaurant and pool was pretty empty so we felt like we had the place to ourselves at times!  

As for the skiing, Richie got to do a two hour drop-off ski camp (which starts at age 4) where after a few falls ;-) he basically got the knack of the sport by the end.  He seemed to really enjoy it!

We had a great little getaway, and look forward to more ski trips next winter!

FASHION FRIDAY: KRAZY FOR KIMONOS

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...I am "Krazy" for Kimonos!!!  They are lightweight, great for travel, perfect to wear with a shirt and pants or over a bathing suit.  I got this kimono recently from one of my favorite boutiques at the Jersey Shore, Foolish Ginger- located in Asbury Park, New Jersey.  I love the colors and the pattern, and I know this will be on heavy rotation heading into spring and summer.  On another quick note before I go, I wanted to say that I am looking forward to this weekend, as I will be meeting other New Jersey bloggers at a brunch on Sunday!  I'll have more details about it next week.  Happy Friday!!!

Kimono: Foolish Ginger

Top: Marshalls (love this)

Leggings: LOFT

Booties: Rachel Zoe

Clutch: Deux Lux

Sunnies: Dolce & Gabbana

Necklace: Sira & Mara

Bracelet: Sira & Mara

ROZMARYN RESTAURANT- TRENTON, N.J.

A couple of weeks ago, I was reminded of the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover," when we went to check out Rozmaryn (pronounced rose-MAH-rin) Restaurant in Trenton, New Jersey for dinner!  If I would have based my review from how it looks on the outside, I may not have enjoyed the amazing food that is served inside.  We decided to check out this Polish restaurant (open since 2009) in Trenton after my sister-in-law got us tickets for us and our four kids (two are hers) to see Disney On Ice: Princes and Princesses at the Sun Center in Trenton.  This place gets great ratings on Yelp, and we love Polish food, so we figured it was a worth a shot.  Besides, I always love going to a place (be it a restaurant, a store, or a town) that makes me feel as if I've jet setted to the actual location.  And once inside Rozmaryn Restaurant, you truly feel as though you have traveled to Poland and are eating in a family's home there!

 We ordered cheese and potato pierogies, potato pancakes, kielbasa, and a Polish beef stew.  Everything was better than delicious, but the one thing that was out of this world was the potato pancakes!!!  Mouth watering, light and crispy...just perfect!

Some other things to note: Rozmaryn is BYOB and accepts most credit cards.  

Bottom line, if you can get to this small, 24 seat restaurant in Trenton, you will be so happy you did, and you will be planning how fast you can get back!

Rozmaryn Restaurant

925 North Olden Avenue

Trenton, NJ

(609) 656-1600