Friday, August 31

Summer Movie in Park @ Vista - This week  is The Lorax  at the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum this movies is rated PG.  The movie will begin at 8 p.m., as always the movie is free.

Summer Movies in the Park @ Ocean Beach – This week  is We Bought a Zoo at Bob Kenny Joint Use Field/Ocean Beach Elementary
this movies is rated PG.  The movie will begin at 8 p.m., as always the movie is free.

Saturday, September 1

Summer Movies in the Park @ Poway– This week  is Rango at Poway Community Park this movies is rated PG.  The movie will begin at 8 p.m., as always the movie is free.

If you have been waiting to try Ignite Bistro & Wine Spot now you can enjoy it for half off!  Ignite is open for lunch and dinner everyday and brunch on Sunday’s, the voucher may be used for the amazing brunch. There is live music Saturday nights, and a Prime Rib dinner available on Friday and Saturday nights.

The deal is $30 and you will receive $60 to spend on food and drinks at Ignite Bistro and Wine Spot in Carlsbad.  Even better is you may purchase up to two vouchers per person.

Fine Print:  Promotional period ends November 30, 2012, cannot be combined with any offer, promotion or discount (including Happy Hour), not valid toward tax or gratuity, which should be based on full value of meal, must be used entirely in one visit; no cash value or cash back, limit one voucher per table, per day, dine-in only.

Do you have tons of summer vacation photos, and haven’t figured out what to do with the pictures?  Lucky for you there is a new offer from Shutterfly to make a fun summer photo book.  Shutterfly is offering a FREE 20 page 8 x 8 hard cover photo book, just pay shipping!  Offer is valid until September 24, 2012, just visit Shutterfly on Facebook and ‘Like’ to redeem offer.  Enter your e-mail address and the redemption code will appear, you may e-mail it to yourself or print it.  Enjoy!

FINE PRINT:  Offer valid for one–time redemption per billing address. Any additional pages will incur a per–page fee. Storytelling™ styles and elements will incur additional fees. Offer not valid on licensed premium photo books, premium photo books, layflat pages, leather, padded, cloth, crocodile, faux lizard and soft cover photo books. Taxes, shipping and handling will apply. This offer is not redeemable for cash and cannot be sold, transferred or combined with other offers, discounts, promotions or credits. 

This October KIDS ARE FREE thanks to the San Diego Museum Council and this year it’s better than ever!  Throughout the month of October, 36 museums will be admitting children under 12 in for free when attending with a paid adult.  Children ages 12 and under receive free entry at all participating museums with the paid admission of at least one accompanying adult. Valid for two children per paid adult.

**Download a coupon available at http://www.sandiegomuseumcouncil.org**

For the full list of the participating museums see below:

Barona Cultural Center & Museum, Birch Aquarium at Scripps, California Surf Museum, Coronado Museum of History & Art, Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum, Gaslamp Museum at William H. Davis House, Heritage of the Americas Museum, Japanese Friendship Garden, La Jolla Historical Society, Living Coast Discovery Center, Lux Art Institute, Marston House Museum & Gardens, Mingei International Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Museum of Making Music, Museum of Photographic Arts, Oceanside Museum of Art, Reuben H. Fleet Science Center (gallery only), San Diego Air & Space Museum, San Diego Archaeological Center, San Diego Automotive Museum, San Diego Botanic Garden, San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum, San Diego History Center, San Diego Model Railroad Museum, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Man, The NAT (San Diego Natural History Museum), The New Children’s Museum, Tijuana Estuary Visitor Center, Timken Museum of Art, USS Midway Museum, Veterans Museum & Memorial Center, Visions Art Museum, Water Conservation Garden, Women’s Museum of California.

Summer Movie in Park @ Lemon Grove - This week  is Dolphin Tale at the Lemon Grove Recreation Center this movies is rated PG.  The movie will begin at 8 p.m., as always the movie is free.

Summer Movies in the Park @ Rancho San Diego – This week  is The Lorax s  at Hilton Head Park
this movies is rated PG.  The movie will begin at 8 p.m., as always the movie is free.

***WEATHER ALERT***Rain is possible this weekend, as a result, this weekend’s events may be postponed or moved indoors. Please visit our Facebook page for hourly updates or contact the park office where the movie is happening after 3:00pm to check the status before heading down to the event. We will make every effort to show the movies outdoors as scheduled. Please bring rain gear and dress warm.

Tomorrow is opening night for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.  We are so excited to be apart of the mommy media event tomorrow with an exclusive behind the scenes look at the big cats!  The circus will only be in town for a few days so if you haven’t already go here to purchase your tickets.   Opening night tickets are available for only $10!!!!

Last week we told you about a great family 4-pack of tickets we would be giving away and we have a winner….

The winner is Bryan Davis, congratulations Bryan!  Please send us an e-mail so we can mail you the tickets.  The tickets are valid for any of the 8 Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey shows for Dragons in San Diego.

The DRAGONS show will be from August 23 to August 26, 2012, show times are as follows:

Thursday, August 23        7:00 p.m.

Friday, August 24              11:00 a.m., & 7:oo p.m.

Saturday, August 25          11:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m. & 7:oo p.m.

Sunday, August 26            1:30 p.m., & the last performance at 5:30 p.m.

All performances are at the Valley View Casino Center (formerly called the San Diego Sports Arena) located at 3500 Sports Arena Boulevard, San Diego, CA  92110.

Don’t forget to arrive early as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey host an animal open house free to any ticket holders.  Opening 90 minutes before the show begins you may see all the animals and meet some of the stars of the show.  There is also an all access pre-show which begins an hour before show time, which allows you to participate in fun interactive experiences.  Want to learn how to  juggle?  Or find out how do they balance on top of the tightrope.  You may even see the Ringling Bros.majestic Asian elephant’s paint a one-of-a-kind masterpiece and meet the Ringling Bros. Clowns, who are guaranteed to keep audiences roaring with laughter!

Today is the end of the Kirkorian Kids Series!  The movie today is The Adventures of Tin Tin at 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.  We took my son to go see this (5-year-old) and he loved it, I also really enjoyed it.  Not feeling a movie?  Check out free bowling at AMF for kids, they receive two free games each per day.

Don’t forget Free Museum Tuesday!  Almost every museum in San Diego is free at least once during the month.  Another amazing thing about living here is we are able to take advantage of these great museums without having to spend any money!  The third Tuesday of the month the following museums are free:

• San Diego Art Institute
• Mingei International Museum
• San Diego Museum of Art
• San Diego Museum of Man
• Japanese Friendship Garden

Mark your calendar for Friday October 26th for the SD Mom’s Night Out 1 Year Anniversary Party!  The party will be held at Kin Spa located at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego.  The tickets will be $50 at the door, $40 for pre-sale or $35 if you are one of the first 35 to buy a ticket!  The 1 year anniversary party will be the best SD Mom’s Night Out event yet, you do not want to miss it!   There will be free-flowing wine throughout the evening, a light appetizer fare, complimentary indoor/outdoor spa services from Kin Spa, complimentary parking, swag bags and much more.

SD Mom’s Night Out anniversary party will benefit the Foundation for Women.  The Foundation for Women helps women around the globe, she may be in Liberia or San Diego, an immigrant, refugee or survivor of domestic abuse.  This  incredible non-profit has helped more than 1 million women and families in India, Zambia, Niger, Liberia, and the U.S.  A portion of each ticket will go directly to Amanda Taylor, a local single mom and member of the Foundation for Women.  Another way to help is to purchase coffee (Foundation for Women’s Micro Loan Blend) made from Women Entrepreneurs.  All coffee proceeds will support Amanda Taylor.  *Coffee will be distributed at the event and can be purchased online.

Take a night off for you and your girlfriends, you know you deserve it.  I promise you will have a great time as SD Mom’s Night Out thinks of everything for you.  Make it a mini vacation and stay at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, discounted room rates are available.  Be sure to arrive early as the first 50 guests receive special swag bags, and the first 200 receive a special Kin Spa swag bag.  To purchase your ticket go here, and I look forward to seeing you there!

Exclusive event offer from Sears portrait studio valid through August 31, 2012.  There is no sitting fee and the value is over $120, totally free to you!  Fine Print:  One free offer per family per session.  Cannot combine with portrait package.  Excludes online orders and reorders.  Single image only.  Portrait offer includes one enhancement.  

You should be a party planner…if I had a dollar for every time I heard that I would be rich.  Well maybe not rich but you get what I’m saying…

This past few weeks I’ve been so busy planning a wedding shower that my blog was severely neglected, and I am sorry about that!  I do believe however when you see the pictures you will understand why it took so much of my time.  The theme was black & white with purple accents as the brides favorite color is purple.  Black and white give everything a touch of elegance, we also used fleur-de-lis as the focus of the party, you will see it continued on everything throughout the party.

Below is the transformation of my back yard which took about 10-15 hours to pull together with my co-party planner Katie.  We are in the middle of an entire back yard remodel and there for our yard is in the worse shape ever.  I didn’t even want to host the party at first because of my back yard, but then Katie said “I have a big white tent you can use” and Nicatie Party Planning was born.  The tent really was the most amazing because there were so many different ways to decorate with it.

This is a picture of my back yard before…

With just the tent it made a difference, see below.  The tent was $150 which Katie already owned so we did not spend any money on it.

Then we added the fabric to form walls.  The walls (curtains) were from Ikea $8 each.

Next was to put up all the tables and chairs, with the striped table-cloth.  The tables we had but had to rent the black chairs to stay with the theme.

Next we added the table settings, the place mats were made on Katie’s Cricket.  We used striped bags with polka dot napkins, the utensils were purple and all pulled together with a purple ribbon and fleur-de-lis sticker.  For the waters we used purple duct tape and a fleur-de-lis sticker.

We also tied tulle around all of the chairs and added a hanging purple fleur-de-lis from the back.

A little project that took a lot of time was the hanging pictures in the tent.  I printed out all of the couple’s engagement pictures in black and white then glued them on to different color frames Katie made with the help of her cricket.  We also stamped the back of all of the frames with a fleur-de-lis so both sides of the frame had something on it.

This is the tent before we finished.

There was much more to the party besides the tent (although I think the tent was the best part) we had an inside area for food and drinks as well.  Every wine glass had a charm on it where you could write your name.  The bride’s wine glass in front had a special charm with her initial on it again using Katie’s cricket.

Rainbow Fruit Skewers

Avocado Wraps

Orzo Salad

Veggies with Ranch in Mason Jars

Candy Table

The candy jars were wrapped in a purple ribbon and we added a description of the candy on the front.

A great way to ensure the bride has a picture with every guest is to make it fun.

We asked all the guests to wear black and white so the bride could stand out in her favorite color purple.  With over 20 women attending we thought at least one would forget but no one did and the group photo turned out great!

The guest all left with a personalized fleur-de-lis cookies.