The Girl Next Door and Her Furry Foster Pets.

Let's make it clear: I am not a dog person. I love cats. 
Let say this again. I LOVE cats. 
Unfortunately, my lovely husband, Jay, is allergic to cats. 
The weirdest thing about this is the fact he used to have one ' Gucci ' when he was young and living with his mom.

Jay always loved to talk about Gucci and how he used to sneeze around her.
When we moved to south Florida, we agreed that maybe we needed a cat
and maybe he could deal with the allergy problems.
He did manage them back in the days, so why not now, right?

Well, one weekend we were in Deerfield Beach. We were visiting our friend, Anthony, who owns a nice black cat named Dante. Dante is a good looking cat who's sweet and friendly too. We spent 2 nights over Anthony’s house only to realize that a cat was not a good idea. Every time Jay attempted to play with Dante, his allergies would get bad. He would sneeze and his eyes got so watery. I could tell that he was feeling miserable. 

So no, the cat was not an option. 

I was sad because I really wanted a pet, and we were not dog people. 
Besides the need to have a cat, I had to make friends as well.

One day, I was outside my small apartment for some reason.
I remember it being a hot day of July and I saw this girl outside with 2 small, cute dogs. I remember saying hi to her and the dogs. She seemed nice and always looked like she was in rush. I could tell she was a busy girl. I would only see her in the morning or on the weekend.

She was the foster parents of these two little pups. She explained to me that she was caring for these two dogs until she found a forever home for them. It was the first time I heard about fostering pets and I thought it was so interesting.

What a smart girl I thought!  She works, takes care of animals, and dresses wonderfully. She looks very mature for her age, and was easy to talk to.

She said her name is Nicole and I thought “she is definitely Fancy.”
I also noticed that one of Nicole's furry foster pets was super cute.
He was small, brown, and begging for attention.
When I saw him, my heart melted.
I just liked him so much.I believe Nicole also noticed how much I liked him, so she asked me if I wanted to foster him for few weeks. It helped her out, since the 2 dogs together were giving her a hard time. I did not waste any time. I called my Hubby at work asking if we could foster this little fella ' Hooch'.

We wound up keeping Hooch after fostering him for a couple of weeks.
We realized that we were dog people after all.
We could not let him go with someone else.
My husband was the one who made the final decision to keep him, and I was happy about it.
Later, I found out that the girl next door is indeed Fancy(lol).
She invited me over to her place and I loved every single thing she owned.
We both like the same things(I steal ALL of her design ideas.)

We have a lot in common, which I guess makes me Fancy too. 

Nicole with Atlas. She adopted him in January. 

the holidays are gone.( Old post- January 02 2014)

january 02 2014.


I love Christmas. Back in Italy I would celebrate the holidays with mom and dad.
Mom will make homemade pizza and we will eat around the table all together.
I miss those days and Especially Mom.
Around the holidays I think  a lot about the old days.
When you are a child you think that every single christmas of your life is going to be  just like that.
I will pictures in my mind the same routing we had .With my  mom making homemade pizza and
wating  for Dad to come back from work. Some holidays Dad will needed to go to work since there will be no one to cover him up for that day.
He will come back around 10: 00 o clock with a plastic bag with some goodies on it.
Salame , olive, cream cheese named Philadelphia and my favorite treat Nutella chocolate spread.
I still remember the  funny look of my father' face  while looking at me and my small brother  going toward him excited to see what kind of goodies he had brought home.


Today I talk to my dad on skype, Our Holidays are hours apart from each other and the lady next to him is not my mother.
Sure I was naive.As a child I did not know back then that life would  take different turn
But one thing I know now. I get to replay the holidays i my mind all over again what a good comfort.





Our tree is down.
Me and hubby put our first real tree down January 1
In Italy people will put the tree down only after January 6th in this day Italians will celebrate ( Lepifania) and
this last one close the holidays season.

New Year is here.

My hubby and I spent thanksgiving with our friend Anna and Christmas day with Brandy

Simply moments.

Take time to enjoy the little moments and the little things in life.

The beach. I just love it.

Take time to look at the birds. They are so beautiful. 

It's just a hat. I like summer hats. 

Me. LOL

Who does not like to take their shoes off and let their feet get some air ? 

Take time  for yourself to sit down with a drink and a great book :)  

A walk on the beach or to the park will make you feel better.

Enjoy some Yummy things. 

Arangini siciliani. ( Italian rice balls )

We were in Italy last March for 10 days.
We had our small wedding with family and friends.
My husband Jamel loved the Italian food.
For the first time, he had a chance to taste all the goodies that Sicily had to offer.

Besides the yummy pizza and ricotta cheese pastries, he really loved the
arangini.
So once in a while, Jay will ask me to make those for him.
I admit: making them is a lot of work, but it is really worth it!

Here is my recipe.
First, you will need:

white rice
ground beef or ground veal. you could also mix them together.
1 can of peeled plum-shaped tomatoes(I only use 2 tomatoes not the whole can.)
1 can of pure tomatoes
Bread crumbs.
2 eggs
mozzarella cheese
sweet peas
Sazon goya... it will make your rice yellow.

onions or scallions,
1 carrot,
celery,
sweet peas,
olive oil,
salt and pepper
















add the meat.
When its almost done,
add the 2 plum-shaped tomatoes.























Wait a few minutes then add the tomato puree.
























Make sure you taste it, and
add salt and black paper if you need to.















After 1 and a half hours of cooking,
it should look like this.
Make sure it is not watery.
The tomato sauce needs to be thick,
so cook it on low heat.
If it needs more than 1 hour, it's fine.

The rice
Cook the rice for long time.
When cooking the rice, it will need to be overcooked with no water left in the pot. The rice needs to be sticky.
It will be easy to work with when you form the balls.

The rice looks yellow because after it is cooked, I added Sazon. Also, add the Parmesan cheese to the rice, it will make it tastier!





This will make your rice yellow.

You will need the bread crumbs
to roll your rice ball in.

First, you need to beat the eggs. Next, you will soak the rice ball in the eggs. Then, dip the balls into the bread crumbs. Finally, I fried them in hot vegetable oil.

The yummy result!!!

                                               

Here are the links of the preparation.

Note: the tomato sauce is a recipe my aunt gave me, so it wont be in this video.

Here, the instructions are in Italian.

Here, the instructions are in English.

women and shoes.

Women love shoes.

I am not one of those women.
High heels? I can not stand them.
Do I wear them? Rarely.

I remember for my wedding day, I was looking for a comfy pair of high heels shoes.
I checked every single store in town. I even got a pair on line that I had to return
because were not good for my long, flat feet.

Most of my girlfriends love to wear high heels. 
Everywhere I go, I see high heels. I used to think that there was something wrong with me.
Everybody loves shoes, but I do not. I love comfy flat ones.

I used to stress about it.
Now, I have learned to love who I am.

Women love shoes...that's a statement I hear all the time.
I am the exception.

Books I am reading.

I am reading 2 great books right now.
Please check them out.


 1.Kisses from Katie by Kate Davis
  2. God has a wonderful plan for your life by Ray Comfort.

Are you a good person?

I grew up in a Christian family.
My parents would take me to church every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
I used to go to church just to make my parents happy.
 I learned about the bible and the beautiful story that comes with it at Sunday school.
I had a hard time making friends at church, because I was pretty shy. But I did love Sunday
school cause I got to learn about Noah and the Ark, how Moses helped slaves escape from Egypt and the story of Sarah, who got pregnant at 91 years old.

Growing up I hung out with people who did not know God at all.
I would call them  'GOOD PEOPLE'.
The truth was they were not that good. Who is really Good?

I was not Good. I was lost for a couple of years. I was not really following God or looking for him.
I thought I was doing the right things. I thought I was Good.

 Now, I know the difference between following him and being without him.
 I knew it was time to go back to church.
After I moved to New York, I had the desire to reach to God.
I am glad that my parents raised me inside the church,
even though I understood much later how God was important to me.
I am glad I reached a point in my life where I recognized that I am not good, and that I am wrong
and that I need him.

I decided to give my life to him and I am still working on doing this everyday.

I want to share this video with you. Open your heart and give your life to Jesus today.

It's beginning to look alot like christmas.

Afternoon with my girlfriend Brandy and her kids.
we went shopping and you can see Christmas decorations everywhere.


  

At the pet store.... :)

Before she left to go back home, she decided to do  a few jumps from my couch. How cuteee :)