Joe and I set the alarm to get up early this morning, so we could head over to Mazzaro's Italian Market, in St. Petersburg. It's about 55 miles away, and we have to go across the Howard Frankland Bridge (picture above, found on Google), which crosses Old Tampa Bay, from Tampa to St. Petersburg, on I-275. If you have been following my posts, you know how much we love going over there for Italian goodies. We came home with wine, cheese, tomato sauce (imported from Italy) and quite a few goodies from the bakery. Yum.
We are relaxing a bit before we go to Mass, at 4:00, and then we will have our dinner at our church's Mardi Gras Carnival, which is going on this weekend. Our church has a pre-K through grade 8 school, and this is an annual fund raiser for the school. There will be lots of food choices and strawberry shortcake for dessert! Yum again!! The weather is beautiful this weekend!! So good for the success of the carnival. There are lots of rides for the kids, and games to play. Of course, having Mardi Gras reminds us of the Holy Season of Lent that starts this week, on Ash Wednesday, leading up to Easter.
I'm so excited that Joe and I were able to buy tickets for Southeastern University's Leadership Forum again this year. My longer-time friends here will remember that we went last year, and the main speaker was Sarah Palin. We had our picture taken with her!! (She was in 5-inch heals and must be a size 0...I make two of her!) She is such a good speaker and brought us a great message.
This year's main speaker is Dr. Ben Carson. I am so excited to hear him talk!! AmyK will be back, too. The Forum is on Friday of this coming week (March 7th). Click the Southeastern link above, to see the six speakers and learn about the Forum. Southeastern U. is a conservative, Christian university, here in Lakeland.
No plans for tomorrow, other than some cleaning and laundry. My usual Sunday. I hope you are having a great Saturday! I appreciate that you stopped by and love your comments! Peace, love & hugs!!
You've had a fun and productive day!
ReplyDeleteI love that you heard Sarah Palin. Ben Carson will be good too. I read his book not too long ago and am very impressed by him.
We love both ppl! Ah..I so remember that bridge (what a view!!)..I do miss Fl..but..just a little. What a great day you had. Blessings
ReplyDeleteMy sister from Ohio and family are in Tampa now. My brother-in-law has had to put his shorts on. Too bad the festival here is being greeted by rain. Maybe tomorrow will be better. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to believe it is March already and we will be saying that in October too! Glad you found the things you wanted at the Italian market. You have much to look forward to with Lent coming and the leadership forum. hugs
ReplyDeleteI stop calling it a new year on Jan. 2nd but I'm not much into holidays. *lol*
ReplyDeleteLucky you! It would be interesting to meet Sarah Palin. She has such fine, upstanding principals. I'll bet she's a terrific Mom & Grandmother. And I would be thrilled to meet Dr. Ben Carson. He's another true American with good morals. Dr. Carson called O'Blamer exactly what he is on Fox News recently. I would love to shake his hand and say THANK YOU! ~:)
Sounds like you had a nice day. Pretty view from bridge. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
ReplyDeleteHow fun to make that little trek over to the Italian market. Sounds like fun. Sounds like your supper provides a good fundraiser for the school. Enjoy the leadership forum. Glad you were able to get tickets. We need more true patriots who will dare tell the truth. It seems to be a rare commodity in today's mainstream media.
ReplyDeleteYour speakers - - WOW!!! I love Sarah Palin and greatly, greatly admire Dr. Carson. I have read his biography about three times. He has got such common sense and a phenomenal work ethic. He put God first and God honored that.
ReplyDeletePerfect Saturday. Glad you had a well spent day!
ReplyDeleteYikes....thanks for kick-starting my brain and March calendar. I need to go to the Ash Wednesday service. I also need to do some thinking about how to honour the Lenten season. It has changed since I was a child. We used to give up candy and donate the pennies to the alms box. Then we gave up anything that separated us from God/Jesus as teens and young adults. Now the emphasis seems to be on making a 40 day vow to do something positive for the world or your local community. I know I need to give up bread and starches but that is a vanity thing to get rid of my muffin middle. That would be good for me but for the world????? I need to do some prayer about this. Are you giving up anything or have you switched to helping at a soup kitchen or something for Lent? It is confusing. I like rules but I like the freedom to think outside of the rigid religious boxes too. God is Greater than we can think or imagine.
ReplyDeleteHey, you! Looks like fun in St. Pete!
ReplyDeleteI have had the craziest week on earth. Will email later.
That forum sounds good, and I will check the link.
Love you,
Sheila
I am getting to your blog late..but boy does it sound like you had a great day planned. What kind of wine and cheese did you buy? I love the picture you posted! Views like this must make a 55 mile drive not so bad!! Hope your Sunday is going good! I can't believe that Lent starts next week..gosh time is flying!
ReplyDeleteHow cool to have a photo with Sarah! It will be spring when I take down my Christmas decorations. LOL I may do that next...
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