MY Que Rica Vida - or Orange is the New Black

So, Marta, what were you doing in Miami, anyway?

I was visiting family and meeting blog-friends and working the Babalú booth at Cuba Nostalgia and of course, celebrating my birthday. (If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you would know exactly what I was up to moment by moment.) But the real reason I was able to go, was because of the generosity of General Mills.

I was invited, as part of a group of 34 Latina mami-bloggers and tons of newspaper and magazine folks (ie. real journalists) to celebrate the re-launch of  their Que Rica Vida site and this was a promotional junket.

Blogger

It was a press event like no other, (at least none that I've ever attended. Maybe they're all like this and I just don't know it, because this was my first big one, but that's not important right now) and General Mills along with Hispania Public Relations pulled out all the stops for this two-day party.

There was an amazing all-female mariachi band, Damas de Jalisco, which were delightful to listen to. (Female mariachis....who knew?)

They were just so impressive and had that gorgeously rich mariachi sound. 

They wined us and dined us and showered us with some SWEET gifts (Yeah, Flip Video Camera!)

Gifts
The Que Rica Vida people treated us to a fabulous dinner the first night at the Rusty Pelican on Key Biscayne (along with lots of mojitos).

C& me & mariachis

Two Cuban blogging girls + a dozen Mexican mariachi girls = A Really Good Time. ;-)

The next night was the Que Rica Vida launch party which was crazy and fun with guest appearances from some of Univision’s top personalities like Javier Romero, and of course, the gorgeous Karla Martinez and the impossibly cute Adamari López.

Qrv event 

The launch was classy and fun and interactive. I loved the cooking demonstration with all the Univision personalities (read "supermodels).

And I loved their logo. Everything was decorated in these gorgeous, glowing oranges and browns (I was tempted to steal this pillow, but that's not important right now, either.)

Qrv pillow 

We got to meet and greet some other familiar characters.

Helping hand 

And Amy Kikita (dressed here as Miami Barbie) got to poke the Pillsbury Dough Boy (if you're her Facebook friend, you know she takes her poking very seriously.)

Poking pillsbury

But the highlight, by far, of all of this crazy and interactive fun was meeting up with the other invited "Blogeras." (<--is that a word?)

We (Carrie and I) were interviewed by Manny Ruiz of Hispanic PR Blog and a Papi Blogger in his own right. We gave him lots of Tiki Tiki, of course. ;-)

C & me interview

I am proud and privileged to be counted as part of this amazing group of Latina Blogeras. (<--Seriously, is that a word? Because if it isn't, it really should be...) I am in the process of collecting their names and sites to add to my blog roll.

Que rica vida peeps 

So a great big Thank You to General Mills for inviting us to be a part of the Que Rica Vida event. 

I'm delighted I got to go. But honestly, I'm glad to be home.

And in the morning, I'm making waffles!

It just so turns out that Bisquick is a GM product.  Who knew?  ;-)

I've got some stuff to give away, too:

  1. An extra Que Rica Vida mug
  2. A cool tote bag and
  3. A Betty Crocker cookbook that YOU WANT.

Let's do a comment drawing!

Tell me about any General Mills products you regularly use. Like, Green Giant, Bisquick, Cheerios, or maybe Haagen Dasz ice cream? (I'm partial to the Dulce de Leche one...) Leave your comment on this post only.

I'll choose a winner on Friday morning, June 4th, 2010 at 10:00 am.

Talk to me! Tell me about YOUR Que Rica Vida.