The Mystery Behind, Beyond, and Beneath the Sea, weaves a Poem of Awe.

Every Wave, Ripple, Ebb and Flow seems to confirm, “I. Am. Alive.”

When dreams come true, this is how exhilarating you feel.

I started my journey with Dreamz Forever in 2007. It’s been 11 long years of amazing growth, struggles, learning, highs and lows.

What’s stayed is the little girl inside me.

She feels amazingly alive today.

When I was in 9th grade in high school, I was bullied ever since I moved to the new school by a girl that I’d will never forget her name. I was bullied physically, socially, and cyber-bullying. However, I know I am not the first one to experience such violent behaviors, but believe it or not, bullying leaves a huge scar. I had to change schools, and I was aiming for a better education. I never thought that there is such cruelty and anger in the world until I experienced it. When I first entered the school, I made a lot of friends and they used to call me ‘speedy’ because I was really good in playing Basketball. One day, after applying for the Basketball try-outs, we had a huge game against another school. After the game, the coach wanted me on the defense spot where a…

December is the season of eggnog. I am NOT a fan of eggnog at all but I love the cinnamon and nutmeg flavor combination.  I think the combination of flavors works perfectly in these waffles. Not too much nutmeg but enough cinnamon to bring out the flavor of eggnog.

Verdict:

My daughter had a friend spend the night and the next morning they wanted waffles. Both of them ate two huge waffles each! That is huge for her friend who is a self admitted picky eater. Though she did admit she is trying to stretch the foods she will eat.

Eat dessert first. Not a concept that I follow but sometimes I love to mix things up with the kids. So, we had dessert for dinner. Funfetti waffles were super easy and the kids thought they were fun.

Verdict:

This recipe makes about six waffles so if you are making them for a teen sleepover or breakfast definitely double the recipe.  I think all six waffles were gone just as soon as they came out of the warming oven. I had mine with butter and maple syrup but I let the kids put whipped cream and sprinkles over theirs. These would also be good with berries, ice cream and ice cream toppings too.

Serve with a side of fruit salad if it makes you feel better about dessert for dinner. 🙂

This is a great dessert that is so easy and light for Spring and Summer. The sunsets lately have been so beautiful. You can feel the weather changing so quickly.  I know we are looking forward to fresh fruits and vegetables.  The great thing about this is you can use whatever berries that are in season and change to the pudding mix to make so many different combinations. It looks particularly lovely in a trifle dish. I need to get a new one because since we moved I have been unable to find mine. They are great things to have not only for this cake but fruit salads and regular salads too!

Normally a trifle has cake pieces soaked in wine or sherry but I was serving this to my family. A little bit of red wine drizzled over the cake sections would have added great flavor to this. If…

I love the Rivers of Life Show. This was an overcast day and it was questionable if we were going to be able to see the show as it rained off and on most of the day. We got the tickets for the special seating at our breakfast in Tusker House that morning. I like the special seating and the cast members confirmed my preference when I accidentally went in the Fastpass entrance and they told me no these were for the better seating area and walked us over to the entrance. Yeah!

This is the view from the ticketed side. We probably could have gotten in without the special tickets to the stand-by seating but I really don’t like taking the chance on this as it is my favorite show right now. I hate using a Fastpass for it because then it hold open one fastpass until park closing…

A big thank you to Norm at “Norm 2.0” for hosting his weekly feature called, “Thursday Doors.” Norm invites us to post a photo of an interesting door we happen to stumble upon.

The photo I’m posting today is that of the “United Methodist Museum of Social Justice” located in Los Angeles, California. The Methodist Church has long been a supporter of social justice for the less fortunate.  I didn’t have the opportunity to have a peek inside, but next time I’m in Los Angeles I plan to do just that.

These doors take on an entirely different meaning to me when I think about the work these wonderful people do to assist those that truly need it the most.

I’d say these doors lead to empathy and compassion.  Special doors indeed.

The lovely Norm from Norm 2.0 has a fun weekly feature called, “Thursday Doors”.  He invites fellow bloggers to share interesting and unique doors that we happen to see during our travels.  The photo above is of an elevator door at the beautiful Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California.  Since Norm 2.0 hasn’t restricted our ‘door search’ to that of doors leading to rooms or buildings, I thought this elevator door would do quite nicely.

Given that this spectacular hotel opened during the “Roaring Twenties” (1923, to be precise), it should come as no surprise that its opulence and grand interior would include elevator doors as well.

A wee bit of wear and tear doesn’t detract from its beauty though.

Now who’s up for polishing all of that brass inlay on every single elevator door at the Biltmore?  I didn’t count the number of similar doors, but I can tell you…

The lovely Norm from Norm 2.0 has a fun weekly feature called, “Thursday Doors”.  He invites fellow bloggers to share interesting and unique doors that we happen to see during our travels.

The photo above is of a magnificent door I recently saw at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California.  Despite the simplicity of the actual ‘door’, the grandeur of its surroundings is stunning.  This hotel is like none I have ever seen.  With varied architecture styles (mixture of  Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical and Moorish) you might think it would be too eclectic; however, they work really well together.

I felt as if I had literally stepped back in time when I opened this door.  I felt like I had entered a time machine to one of the most opulent eras in American history.

The Biltmore opened its (many) beautiful doors in 1923, and was home to the first Academy…

The delightful Norm (and a fellow Canadian!) over at Norm 2.0 has a great weekly feature he calls, “Thursday Doors”.  Norm invites fellow bloggers to post a photo of an interesting door (and there sure are a lot of them).

I haven’t participated in a long while.  However, today I have a lovely ‘door’ to share.  I took this photo last Fall when I was walking past a beautiful church here in Chicago. The church is, “St. Josaphat Catholic Church” and was constructed in 1902.  Its architectural style is known as, “Romanesque”.

I wish I had opened the door to see if it was unlocked, as I’ve heard it is stunning inside.

Thanks to Norm for hosting his weekly door post challenge.