Sharing A to Z

Our trip to Italy: Siena

Stephanie | May 30, 2018

To read about the first part of our trip in Florence, click HERE.

Day 4 of our trip to Italy, included a tasting at Ruffino’s Gretole Estate in the Chianti Classico region followed by lunch.

We also stopped at the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial.

checked into Hotel Castel Bigozzi in the province of Siena.

We visited the small town of San Gimignano.

Dinner was at La Casalta Restaurant.

Day 5 was a free morning. We opted for a massage at the hotel and a walk around town.

In the afternoon, we explored the city of Siena and joined the city’s contrade, or neighborhoods, to prepare for the next day’s Palio events.

We had a contrada dinner in Siena.

Day 6 was a free morning, too. In the afternoon, we returned to Siena to experience the Palio di Siena horse race from a balcony right on the Piazzo del Campo. The picture below is of the opening ceremony.

Below is a picture of the horses at the start line. They didn’t have very many rules, so it took a while to start the race.

Once the race started, it was fairly quick. This year didn’t have anything too crazy (the prior year a jockey punched another jockey and fell off the horse!)

We had a late dinner back at the hotel.

To read about our trip to Rome, click HERE. For recommendations on what to pack, click HERE.

Please share any of your travel tips below.

Enjoy,

Stephanie

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World Environment Day is June 5th!

Stephanie | May 29, 2018

Every year on June 5th, the United Nation’s celebrates World Environment Day! It is a day to encourage action and awareness for the protection of our environment. The theme for 2018 is “Beat Plastic Pollution.”

Can you think of some ways you can reduce the plastic use in your household? Some of the ways we have reduced the use of plastic in our homes are:

by using shopping bags
by using metal straws
choosing metal or glass containers instead of plastic
using concentrated nontoxic cleaners, so less bottles are used

Here are some more tips to go green.

Hopefully, this inspired you to go green! Do you know of any local events that are helping with the environment or would you like to host one? Please share the wonderful events with us! Additional, if you would like to host your own, registration online platform allows anyone the opportunity to register their event for free to garner more community support if the organizer can’t reach out to people individually. It’s a great resource to help you make a larger impact.

One company I love helps make the earth a better place in many ways, here is one. They have an amazing environmental heritage, too! What companies do you love that are environmentally friendly? Please share below.

Let’s make the earth a better place,

Stephanie

Our trip to Italy: Rome

Stephanie | May 29, 2018

We decided to extend our trip to Italy and go to Rome. My husband had never been and we were just too close not to stop and visit. We took the train to Rome and it was about a 2 hour trip? Then, we took a taxi to our hotel. We decided to use my husband’s Marriott points and stay at the Rome Marriott Park Hotel. It was a very nice Marriott hotel however, it was a hotel like you would find in the states. It was about 30 minutes from downtown Rome, but they had inexpensive shuttles. It was close to the airport, so the taxi to and from the airport was inexpensive.

Because we were in Rome for such a short time, we decided to make the most of it.

Day 6 was the Trenitalia (train) to Rome, check in and then we rode the hotel bus to downtown. We were able to find the Steelers bar my husband was obsessing over (don’t ask how I agreed to go to a Steelers bar in Rome). We also stopped at Pizzeria Da Baffetto, our second favorite pizza place (for our first click HERE). They have two locations, but the place we visited was Via del Governo Vecchio, 114.

We used “What a Life Tours” and scheduled the Rome at Night tour. We got to see lots of beautiful things like the Pantheon.

Rome

We concluded the evening with delicious gelato.

Day 7 was an early taxi to the Vatican. We didn’t want to chance it with the shuttle. We had a Vatican tour from “What a Life Tours”.

Rome

After that tour, we took a taxi to the Vittorio Emmanuele monument, which was our meeting point.

Rome

Then we were off to our tour of the Colosseum on the Ancient City “What a Life” tour. We learned about this amazing place and its history, which was more deep than just gladiator fights.

Rome

We went to a nice dinner at Fortunato a Pantheon, which had the most AMAZING mozzarella. I don’t think it was even on the menu, but some of our foodie friends told us we had to get it, so somehow, even with our communication barrier, we got it!

We took the hotel shuttle back to the hotel.

Day 8 was an early flight home!

To read about our trip to Florence, click HERE. For Siena click HERE. For recommendations on what to pack, click HERE.

Have you been to Rome? If so, do you have any travel tips?

Ciao,
Estefania

Our trip to Italy: Florence

Stephanie | May 22, 2018

Florence, Italy is full of so much history and beauty. My husband won a trip to Italy and it was such an amazing experience. We were flown first class on Delta and served a four course meal along with breakfast, snacks and drinks! We also had unlimited movies, TV, music and seats that reclined into beds. If you ever have the opportunity to fly first class overseas, I highly recommend it.

We stayed at the Lungarno Hotel, which is right on the banks of Florence’s Arno River. It is a very quaint hotel (not a chain hotel) with a breathtaking view of the famous Ponte Vecchio.

For dinner we went to Borgo Antica, a local restaurant with a patio view where the locals congregate at night. The meals were amazing (I tried some of everyone in our group). We finished the meal with grappa, which is an Italian shot made from grape skins. It is supposed to settle your stomach.

Day 2 included a walking, guided tour of Florence. We learned about the history of Florence and tasted some of the best gelato. We were told to get gelato from a tin container, not the gelato that was mounded up in a big circle (that was for the tourists). We also went to see Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia Gallery.

We had dinner at Piazza del Vino.

Day 3 was a free day, where we slept in and then hiked up a hill to the Piazzale Michelangelo. It was there we saw the breathtaking view of Florence pictured below.

We of course had more gelato and had lunch at our favorite pizza place, Gusta Pizza. If you are ever in Florence, this place is so delicious and I don’t even like pizza! I don’t remember the address, but it was in walking distance from our hotel.

Florence was my favorite city of our Italian vacation. It has a lot of things to do and see without being too overwhelming. That is a nice way to say I didn’t get lost, as much.

To read about the rest of our trip, click HERE for Siena and HERE for Rome. For recommendations on what to pack, click HERE.

Please share any of your travel tips below.

Ciao,
Estefania

Ashli’s ham soup

Stephanie | October 12, 2017

My friend Ashli made a delicious ham soup. When I attempted to make it, I made a few modifications and here it is. Enjoy!

2 small onions, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3 stalks of celery, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced

15 oz. navy beans

15 oz. white kidney beans

32 oz. vegetable broth

Salt

Pepper

Rosemary

Basil

Oregano

Fennel

1 bay leaf

Parsley

Ham, chopped

Kale, chopped

Sauté onions and garlic in coconut oil and ghee. Then, add celery, carrots and sweet potato. After they have softened a little, add the broth along with the spices.

In the last 10 minutes of cooking, add the ham and kale.

Enjoy!

What’s your favorite soup?

DIY gnat trap

Stephanie | September 25, 2017

Having fresh fruits out sometimes leads to gnats or fruit flies! I’ve tried a few gnat traps and this DIY gnat trap is quick, easy, inexpensive and works!

This is a small, shallow bowl with apple cider vinegar and dish soap. Then, add plastic wrap to cover it and poke in some small holes. Place it near your fruit.

After a few days the gnats are gone! What is your favorite DIY tip? Please share it below!

Kids cooking

Stephanie | July 28, 2017

My son loves to cook. He especially likes being a chef when we have guests.

For example, he made this menu for our most recent guest. It's all things he loves to make. He did forget our favorite smoothie, which is his own recipe!
He started helping me make smoothies when he was about four years old. Then he moved on to eggs, oatmeal and yogurt.
Do you kids like to cook? How did they get started?

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Beach vacation

Stephanie | June 15, 2017

On our last day of vacation, I got up early to watch the sunrise over the ocean.

I came out onto the balcony so excited and was greeted with cold, windy and cloudy conditions. There was no sunrise to be seen this morning. My younger self would have probably been upset and frustrated. While I was a little bummed, as it was the last day of vacation, so I couldn’t try again tomorrow, I used the early morning, quiet time to listen to the calming ocean sounds and did some yoga.

Looking out onto the ocean, the clouds made the ocean look smaller, as if it had an end, when an ocean is normally so vast. I read somewhere that people like coming to the ocean because it is a great way to reconnect with nature and remind you how small your problems and you really are.

Before I knew it an hour had past and I got to have a peaceful, quiet morning all to myself, which is almost as special as a sunrise over the ocean.

Earth Day

Stephanie | April 22, 2017

Happy Earth Earth day! How are you going to celebrate today? One way is to examine some of the products you use, especially your cleaners.

Earth Day is celebrated each year on April 22, and it’s the perfect opportunity to share the importance of going “green”. Shaklee has been leading the way in doing the right thing for the planet; and our safe, powerful, green and smart products. This is my Shaklee story.

It’s been nearly 60 years since Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee founded a company based on Living in Harmony with Nature® that is committed to developing products to improve the health of people and the planet. Since Shaklee’s inception, they have introduced some groundbreaking environmental initiatives. In the 1960s, Shaklee introduced Basic-H® Concentrated Organic Cleaner, one of the first nontoxic biodegradable cleaners. They became the first Climate Neutral™ certified company in the U.S. They also lead in environmental achievements, embracing climate change initiatives, and eco-alliances. Plus, they offer everyone the chance to make a healthier income while making the planet healthier.

For the Shaklee Family, every day is Earth Day. But this is a great time of year to tell Shaklee’s environmental story, and to tell how easy – and economical – it can be to make a difference for yourself, for your family, and for the planet.

One easy way to go green in your home is by switching from using toxic cleaners to nontoxic cleaners!

You can replace your current household cleaners for natural, cost effective, non-toxic ones that work! I have been using Shaklee’s Get Clean Line for over three years now and love it. Here are a few pictures that show how well they work!

I also recommend Scour Off, which works great for stove tops and sinks and Basic G for all your germs.

Here are some additional Earth Day Reading Topics

Tips to go green (part 1)

Go green (part 2)

Go green (part 3)

Go green (part 4)

Shaklee’s environmental heritage

Non-toxic cleaners

For more information, please contact me at sharingAtoZ@gmail.com with the subject line SHAKLEE or click HERE to get started as a member.

Do you have 5 minutes for your personal health assessment? Click here for your free personalized plan.

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*Photos courtesy of BonnieDonahue.com.

Cherry Almond Vanilla Smoothie

Stephanie | April 20, 2017

Cherry Almond Vanilla Smoothie

Makes 1 serving

2 scoops Vanilla Life Shake Protein

1 cup Liquid (almond, coconut or soy milk)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup frozen cherries

1 Tbsp. natural almond butter or 1 tsp almond extract

397 calories, 42 g carbs, 24 g protein, 16 g fat, 12 g fiber, 0 mg chol, 483 mg sodium

Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth. Enjoy!

Do you have 5 minutes for your personal health assessment? Click here for your free personalized plan.

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