A Bright Summer With Pier 1 - Gift Card Winner

From the day we set up our new patio furniture from Pier 1, I swear we have been out there enjoying it Every. Single. Day. We find any excuse to get ourselves out to go sit on the comfy cushions and watch the world go by. 

I feel ridiculously proud of this. I thought we spent a lot of time out on our porch, but now it's become A Thing.

The other morning, I made cinnamon rolls. (Every now and then the urge hits, what can I say?) Eric was working outside digging and fixing up our new planters. 

"Can we just eat out here?"  (I have a feeling this is going to be happening a lot this summer.)

Which is how the Darbys of Mission Viejo ended up sitting outside decadently eating cinnamon rolls for breakfast on their new, beautifully re-designed porch. Look at me, living the lifestyle magazine life. This is the stuff my dreams are made of.

Every morning I can find Eric out there doing his morning reading. It makes me happy to see him so content.

All this to say that I'm super grateful to Pier 1 Imports for the awesome inspiration for our new outdoor living space. It's made a huge impact already on our day-to-day living. Also, the weather has cooperated beautifully. We're seriously on the cusp of summer and my plan is to spend as much time here as possible, thankyouverymuch.

I want to thank you all for entering the giveaway. If you want to be inspired, go through the comments on the last post: Hello, Summer - A Pier 1 Giveaway and see what everyone would choose for their outdoor space. You guys are kind of fantastic. 

Oh, yes! A winner. I chose one, of course.

I took the number of entries (not counting the doubles - you know who you are or maybe the website glitched on a couple, but that's not important right now) and entered them into the True Random Number Generator on Random.org which chose a number (randomly, of course). 

The winner of the $50 Pier 1 Gift Card is:

Congratulations, Laura!

Please send me an email that says, HEY, MARTA! I WON STUFF ON YOUR BLOG! in the subject line (so I won't accidentally delete it). Include your home address so I can get this gift card out to you ASAP. 

Thanks again to all of you for participating! A very special thanks to Pier 1 and Latina Bloggers Connect for sponsoring this really fun summer giveaway. The opinions are all my own.

It Can Wait.

{Disclosure: This post is part of a compensated campaign in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and AT&T. The opinions are my own.}

As you know, if you've been reading my blog for a while, I have four (now) grown children. Lucy and Jonathan are both still at home and Jonathan, will be eighteen in December. He won't get his drivers license until then. (I know. Meanest-mom-in-the-whole-wide-world.)

Jonathan, Lucy, Adam, & Amy. My four.

Most of the time, I communicate with all four of them via text. In fact, I prefer it. If they're out in the world (which is pretty much all the time now) they will check in with me daily via text. Of course, I know that's the way they "talk" to their friends and each other. Texting is here to stay. At least in our family.

I stress to them that even if we're in the middle of a text "conversation," which we often are, they absolutely, positively must not text and drive. I've lived long enough to know that not just teenagers, but most people think that they're the invinicible ones. The statistics tell a completely different story.

Texting while driving is involved in 100,000+ vehicle crashes each year, often causing injuries and deaths. Sobering, no? It is for this mami.

I've decided to participate in AT&T's ItCanWait® campaign because I don't think any text is worth dying for. Seriously, anything you have to text, can wait. Anything. AT&T's goal is to save lives. I'm on board with that.

I love my people. (Do you see those faces?) But I promise, no one's feelings will be hurt and nothing catastrophic will happen if they don't respond immediately to that last text message. And truly, I dread that someday there could be a "last text message."

I'll be honest, if I'm driving and I receive a text, I am always tempted to answer immediately. I think it's that Cuban "good manners" thing. It just seems polite to answer when someone speaks to you. But I swear, texting  while driving does not fit into the "polite thing to do" category.

Please, don't text and drive. No text is worth dying for.

I'll be posting more about the ItCanWait® campaign in the coming weeks. In the meantime, this is what you can do to get involved:

• Go to www.itcanwait.com.
• Take the no-texting-and-driving pledge.
• Share your promise with others via Twitter (#itcanwait) and Facebook at www.facebook.com/ItCanWaitNoTextingWhileDriving

I want to keep having these kinds of conversations with my kids. For a very, very long time.

How to Grill an Avocado - A Simple Recipe

{Disclosure: This post is part of a compensated campaign in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and Avocados from Mexico. The recipe is my own.}

Now that it's summer and we are eating outdoors practically every evening (on my beautiful farmhouse table, people), I'm all about grilling. Which technically means that I do most of the meal prep and toss the salad and let Eric do the heavy lifting (but that's not important right now).

He's the Master of the Grill around here. And I'm happy to let him have the honors. I still do the shopping and decide the menu, but he stands over the grill with his tongs, Master of All Things BBQ.

When we're cooking pretty much anything on the grill (and again, when I say we, I mean Eric), we keep it pretty simple. A basic Cuban garlic marinade. A quick rub. You get the idea.

But now here comes the magical part? Did you know you can grill avocados? (I'll wait just a moment while that bit of awesome sinks in.)

That's right. Avocados on the grill. And I'm going to show you how. (And you will love me.)

How to Grill an Avocado - A Simple Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe avocados
• olive oil
• sea salt
• fresh limes

1) Split the avocado, remove the pit, and brush generously with olive oil.

2) Place on a medium hot BBQ grill, cut side down for about 2 or 3 minutes. The dark skin will start to look oily and the avocado flesh will look a little charred and bumpy.

3) Squeeze some fresh lime on them and sprinkle with sea salt. Now that they're grilled, they will also keep beautifully in the refrigerator overnight. (Who knew?)

They can be filled with pretty much anything you like, but I prefer mine plain with lime, salt, and a little of my Old School Cuban Salad Dressing.

Old School Cuban Salad Dressing Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. dry mustard
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp. oregano

1) Whisk together all the ingredients until well blended. Serve at room temperature. (Note: The ratio of olive oil to vinegar is roughly 3 to 1.)

I love avocados, don't you? If you have a favorite avocado recipe, please submit your creation to the Avocados from Mexico page here.

De aqui p'al cielo!