Rubio’s® Restaurants has counted the ocean as a source of inspiration since its founding more than 30 years ago. Today, Rubio’s still remains committed to helping protect the ocean. 
On July 16, Rubio’s invites Southern California residents to its 5th annual Rubio’s CoastFest in Oceanside, Calif. One of the largest organized beach cleanups in San Diego, CoastFest includes a celebration of the ocean with live music, complimentary food and drinks, a beer garden, and dozens of activities for guests of all ages.
Here’s a clip from last year’s CoastFest:
Rubio’s CoastFest has continued to grow year after year, with a record turnout of nearly 3,000 attendees and over 1,000 pounds of trash removed from the coastline in 2015. 
The festivities at the Oceanside Pier will kick off at 10 a.m. with community members going the extra nautical mile at a beach cleanup hosted by I Love a Clean San Diego. To get in on the cleanup action, you can register at http://www.cleansd.org/v_cleanups.php. Participants should plan to bring a bucket, gloves, sun protection and a reusable water bottle. All volunteers must sign a waiver to participate regardless of age, and minors require an additional parent or guardian signature on their waiver form.
Following the beach cleanup, the CoastFest celebration continues with:
Complimentary food and drinks – Attendees will get to sample a Pan-Seared Shrimp Taco topped with fire-roasted corn, creamy chipotle sauce, cilantro, onion and cabbage, in addition to enjoying handmade guacamole and chips, freshly prepared salsa, beverages and more. 
Music festival – Guests are invited to visit the main stage throughout the celebration for free live music from a collection of local Southern California bands, as well as giveaways from 94.9 FM and KSON 97.3. Standout musical acts include The Mowgli’s, a Los Angeles-based group incorporating rock n’ roll, indie-folk and heartfelt ballads to create a quintessential California sound; and Broken Stems, a rock band that seamlessly blends classic rock with blues, soul and reggae. 
Beer Garden – Guests 21+ can enjoy a cold brew at the beer garden featuring local craft selections or sip from a selection of Rubio’s featured wines and Sangria. All proceeds from the beer garden will benefit I Love A Clean San Diego.
Kids’ Zone – To help ensure a love of the ocean is passed down to future generations, there will be several educational and experiential activities for children that teach kids about different aspects of the ocean. These include the San Diego County Office of Education’s Splash Van, a mobile science lab featuring several stations to learn about water quality, as well as performances by popular local children’s bands Hullabaloo and Clint Perry & the BooHoo Crew, and much more.
Activities and Games – Guests of all ages can enjoy free onsite surf lessons and stand up paddle boarding lessons from Surfin’ Fire as well as a sea of other activities.
This year’s major event partners include the Main Stage sponsor Dr Pepper, Kids’ Zone sponsor Mi Rancho, and I Love a Clean San Diego, as well as several generous on-site partners including Clif Bar & Company, Motts®, Regal Springs® Tilapia, Trident Seafoods, San Diego County Office of Education, Surfin’ Fire and more.
Rubio’s works to be a friend to the ocean year-round with a majority of its seafood being sourced from sustainable fisheries, recycling plastic and glass bottles in restaurants whenever possible, using eco-friendly plates and to-go containers, supporting ocean focused causes, and being a member of the Blue Business Council. For more information about the 2016 CoastFest, please visit http://www.RubiosCoastFest.com.
At this event, young artists have the opportunity to hand paint a custom ceramic tile that will be part of a larger mosaic to be displayed between the Downtown Disney® District and the Disneyland® Hotel. Family, friends and thousands of Disneyland® Resort guests will be able to view the complete mosaic for the following year. 
This fun-filled fundraiser is limited to only 191 tiles, so it is important to register early and reserve tiles as soon as possible. A $60 donation is required for each tile, and registrants must sign up for a specific 45-minute session. The first session begins at 9 a.m. with the last session beginning at 2 p.m. Adults accompanying children will be able to watch as children paint. The event is sponsored by the Downtown Disney® District, American Honda Motor Company, Karman’s Art Shoppes, and Color Me Mine, When each session is over, all the food, shopping and fun of Downtown Disney® awaits! 
The Paint Your Way to Miracle and Magic events officially kicks off the 2016 CHOC Walk in the Park fundraising season. The CHOC Walk in the Park is CHOC Children’s Hospital’s annual 5K walk through the Disneyland® Resort. Last year’s Walk raised more than $2.5 million for the hospital’s Kids’ Care Fund. This fund provides funding to the programs and services in the greatest need both at the hospital and in the community—from mental health services to an expanded neonatal intensive care unit to care for children and families who cannot afford to pay.
All proceeds benefit CHOC Children’s. For more information about the Paint Your Way to Miracles and Magic event or to register, visit 
I was invited to a media day at Knott’s a couple of weeks ago and I had the opportunity to experience all the fun! I actually can’t wait to go back again with my family! 
I think one of my most favorite parts about Ghost Town right now is the all-new interactive experience called Ghost Town Alive! Park guests get to step inside of this little Old West town and interact with the residents there. Whether it’s the Barbershop, The Sheriff’s Office, The Post Office, The Mayor’s Office at Calico Town Hall, or Goldie’s Place, you’ll be totally engaged with the people of Ghost Town. 
Whether you visit , you’ll feel like you’re “too modern” to even be there. (Ok not really, I’m just kidding). Seriously though, I could’ve spent the entire day in Ghost Town! Some of the Ghost Town Alive! experiences include:
Just inside of Ghost Town, stands the tallest, longest and fastest wooden rollercoaster on the West Coast…GhostRider! GhostRider is a Knott’s fan favorite! After undergoing a recent resoration, GhostRider is now open with a complete wooden re-tracking of the entire 4,533 ft. long track. So, of course, I braved a ride on it myself with 
It was amazing! I mean, it was beyond scary, and she kept her eyes shut the entire time but it’s supposed to be scary right? Let me just add that the new cars and track are so smooth! You’re going to love it!
With Father’s Day just around the corner, on Sunday, June 19, I headed over to The Shops at Mission Viejo to look around and grab something for all of the dads in my life! There was almost too much to choose from! Here are some of the great Father’s Day gift ideas I found. 
You can never go wrong with clothes! These are some of the looks I found at Express Men, Vans, The Gap, and Old Navy. 
For the sports loving men, you’ll find team hats and jerseys and lots of other merchandise at LIDS.
Men always love new sunglasses. Sunglass Hut has hundreds of styles to choose from. 
There’s a Starbucks located inside of the 
If you’re looking to do some last minute Father’s Day shopping of your own, why not check out the 
I’m also hosting a giveaway where one of my lucky readers can win one (1) $100 giftcard! Enter on the Rafflecopter below. Good luck and thanks for reading! Happy Shopping!
It seems kind of awkward to have these things sitting right in front of where people gather, The big countertop is intended to be the focal point of the room. It’s also the area where everyone’s things “land” when they come home, like keys, wallets, planners, etc. I’m going to share a picture of what my counter top looks like on any given day with you, so please don’t judge. 
I realized that I needed help staying more organized in that area. So I decided to make a decorative sink organizer using a Mason jar, that I could keep right up on the counter. 
It was so easy to do. Honestly, if you feel like it’s not looking cute, just wait until you admire it from afar. There are parts of mine that turned out asymmetrical but don’t show. I’m kind of obsessed with my design! (see below to learn how you can make your own decorated Mason Jar) 
New Palmolive® Fusion Clean™ dish liquid provides a Modern Twist on Cleaning™ It’s specially formulated for tough cleaning challenges and as you could see from my previous sink photo, my dishes sometimes pile up and don’t get washed right way. Luckily, the unique formula removes 24 hour stuck-on food. It’s available in Baking Soda & Lime (the green one) and Baking Soda & Grapefruit (the pink one).
I found mine at Ralph’s,on the household cleaners aisle, and couldn’t decide between the two, so I bought both! You can find New Palmolive® Fusion Clean™ dish liquid at Kroger and Kroger Banner Stores. (Ralph’s, Fred Meyer, and Food 4 Less). 
I’m extra excited about the Pet Adoption Days at Kaleidoscope in Mission Viejo, which are held on the second Saturday of every month. Presented by CARMA (Compassionate Animal Rescue for Medical Aid), the Pet Adoption Day is from 1 to 4 pm and allows the community to come visit with dogs who need loving homes. 
Cats are also available for adoption, but aren’t brought out to the Pet Adoption Day. The event will be held in the center courtyard. Please remember “Adopt, Don’t Shop!” Hope to see you there! 
I try to be creative with ways to save money on our weekly grocery bill. I watch the weekly ads, cut coupons whenever possible, and even get a rewards card at certain stores. 
Last week, I experienced a whole new way to save on groceries. I was invited to try out grocery shopping at new ALDI. I found one in my area and I LOVED it and am super excited to share about it with you! 
If you haven’t heard of ALDI yet, it’s an amazing store offering quality groceries at great prices. You’ll soon be seeing even more ALDI locations pop up in Southern California, too! 
I’m at the point in my life where I don’t place as much importance on fancy marketing as I do affordability. As I mentioned before, ALDI offers groceries at amazingly low prices to customers. Ninety percent of the groceries ALDI sells are under its own ALDI-exclusive brands, which are regularly tested to make sure they taste just as good, if not better, than the national brand. ALDI-exclusive brands include:
Take a look at my own personal grocery haul in the picture above! I was amazed at how far my money went at ALDI. There were so many great deals and I was wow-ed by the selection they offered. I found so many of my weekly necessities and the pricing of the produce. There were so many organic offerings, too. I was beyond impressed with the selection of cheeses. There was even a whole aisle of wine to choose from! 
Premium, natural, and organic food should come at prices affordable for all, putting quality staple grocery items within everyone’s reach, don’t you agree? 
One thing you should know about shopping at ALDI is that they don’t provide bags to shoppers to put their groceries in. This helps keep their overhead cost down, translating into lower prices for you, the consumer. Honestly, we should all be bringing reusable shopping bags with us wherever we go anyway. When you pay for your groceries, the cashier places your items back into the shopping cart, and you have the option of either bagging them yourself or putting them in your car without a bag. I suggest coming prepared. (For a nominal fee, ALDI does have both paper and plastic bags for purchase.) 
Another way they keep costs low for shoppers is by putting shoppers in charge of their own grocery carts. Before you walk into the store, you can obtain a grocery shopping cart by leaving a quarter deposit, which unlocks the cart for you. At the end of your shopping trip, when you return your cart, you get your quarter back. This is such a clever system. Honestly, it’s not hard to return your cart to the entrance of the store. (I always do this anyway!) 
I’ll be honest here, I’ve never really had an interest in subscription boxes, mainly because I once signed up for one (insert name of company here) and I received a box full of things that I couldn’t even pretend to use! The FabFitFun box is a completely different story though! It’s the subscription gift box with full-size fashion, beauty and fitness products. I can see why it’s been endorsed by celebrities like Ashley Tisdale, Kim Zolciak and Bethany Frankel. It’s literally a box filled with fabulous! I loved the little magazine-style guide that came in the box, explaining the story behind each product and brand.
Here are a couple of fun un-boxing “shorts” I made on my musical.ly account. If you want to see all of the contents of the box, just take a peek at these. (music credit: Ryan & Sharpay – “Fabulous” and Selena Gomez – “Who Says”)
At the time we were looking to adopt her, we were really only looking to adopt one cat but ended up with two! It seemed like like each time we’d visit another animal shelter or contact an animal rescue about an adoption, every volunteer we dealt with would tried to get us to consider adopting two cats together. It just wasn’t something we were interested in at the time. Well, I will totally admit now that they were all right! 
Once we learned our soon-to-be-cat had a litter of kittens somewhere (they were being fostered elsewhere), we were beyond determined to adopt both the momma AND her female kitten. 
After a lot of persistence, we finally succeeding in adopting her kitten too, Lilly Belle, about a week after we adopted Lucy. It was well worth the wait! 
Here are 4 great reasons why YOU should consider adopting TWO cats instead of just one:
They’ll keep each other company.
They’ll always have someone to play with.
You cannot be considered a “Crazy Cat Lady” with just one cat!
I’m joking about that last part, but you get what I”m saying! You should definitely consider adopting two (or more) cats! I can assure you that you won’t regret the decision! 