A NIGHT OF INDULGING!

Talk about a night of fun!!!  Well that's what this mama got to enjoy a couple of weeks ago for an event called "Indulge" at The Mills at Jersey Gardens in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

 I got a fabulous invitation by the stylish and adorable Corine from Complicated Mama to join her and Sheila from Pieces of a Mom to a "Moms Night Out" filled with shopping, drinks and food.  I was in heaven!!!

The Mills at Jersey Gardens was recently taken over by Simon (who happens to own beautiful malls all over the country) and got a face lift that is worth checking out!  The Mills at Jersey Gardens is New Jersey's largest outlet mall with more than 200 stores, including some of my favorites like Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, Neiman Marcus Last Call and Century 21 to name a few!

This was my first time meeting Corine and Sheila, and the three of us hit it off and became instant shopping buddies, running all over The Mills at Jersey Gardens to see what great stores were there.  We were all wowed by the incredible deals, and endless supply of gorgeous stuff, and we were in and out of dressing rooms all night.  It was so much fun trying on sunglasses, shoes and handbags (and getting to do it without the kiddos in tow was even better)!!!

I left with some great pieces like this Rebecca Minkoff tote, Chloe sunglasses, Steve Madden sneakers for me and Penguin sneakers for my hubby...all for way under what you would pay in retail stores!  

The Mills at Jersey Gardens is an absolute shopper's paradise!  Remember you only pay 3.5% sales tax...so what are you waiting for?  Check out The Mills at Jersey Gardens today...chances are, I'll probably run into you there!! ;-)

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.