Hey everyone! I’m thrilled to announce that I’m a blog ambassador for the Florida Festival of Flavor & Fire being held Jun 11, 2016 – Jun 12, 2016 in Lakeland, Florida!
***Update!*** The winners have been chosen. Two tickets have been given to Lisa E. and two to Tabitha W.!!!I’m so excited and can’t wait to see everyone there this weekend!!!
Because of this I’ve been given some tickets for myself, but I’ve also been given a few to give away! With that said, you can enter to win simply by doing one of three things.
Option A – Leave a comment below telling me your favorite recipe that calls for hot sauce
Option B – Tweet this “I like it hot and I want @AshleyisFamous to give me a ticket to the Florida Festival of Flavor & Fire! June 11-12 in Lakeland”
Option C -Tag Famous Ashley Grant on Facebook with a post about why you want to attend the Florida Festival of Flavor & Fire.
Want three entries? Do all of the above!
I have FOUR tickets to give away and you could win one of them! Enter between now and June 8 at noon, EST. Winners will be announced that evening on my Facebook page, on twitter and HERE on this post!
Want to know more about the festival? Read on to learn what to expect:
The Florida Festival of Flavor and Fire is billed as “A Gourmet Food and Craft Event” and will feature hundreds of artisanal producers of hot sauce, salsa, marinades, rubs, dips and other flavorful sauces.
Festival Hours
June 11 – 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
June 12 – 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Attendees will be able to not only sample, but also purchase, a wide variety of award-winning sauces, salsas, barbecue rubs, cheese snacks, pickles, olives, jams and jellies while at the festival. The event will also provide the opportunity to speak directly to the producers of each product, pick up recipes and cooking tips, and learn more about how the sauces are made.
Vendors at Florida Festival of Flavor & Fire are expected to come from across the United States and will showcase their products that will range from spicy sweet to XXX hot.
Today, for the first time, I took an aqua fit class. I joined a gym this week with the full intention of getting healthier and taking better care of my body. After three attempts at Zumba in one week, however, it hit me that I might have been trying to over do things. So, I decided to try what I was told would be an intense workout that wouldn’t hurt my joints as much – Aqua Fit.
The idea of the class seemed simple enough. Get into a pool, workout for 50 minutes, have less impact, but get a full body workout and never be able to feel whether or not I was sweating.
I arrived about 15 minutes early and there were already people in the pool. One of the gals in the pool, Diane, is an avid fan of Aqua Fit, but she was there early to complete her workout before the class would begin because she had to be somewhere. Still, Diane took a few minutes to school me in what to expect from the class. She ran me through the exercises that the instructor would be calling out. Thank goodness she did because it helped me know how to do each of the moves in advance without looking so much like a bumbling newbie. Don’t get me wrong, it was still VERY clear I was a newbie, but it wasn’t “as clear” as it would have been.
The class began just a few minutes after 9 a.m. The instructor got everyone’s attention and we began. Simple movements at first for about 20 minutes. We ran through jumping jacks, scissor kicks, frog leaps, etc… Then, the part that got my attention – water weights. Now, out of water these things barely weigh a pound together, but under water they felt like 5-10 pound dumbbells, and the faster we moved them, the heavier they felt. Nonetheless, I was bound and determined to get through the entire 50 minute class.
The thing that shocked me the most is how warm I was getting in the frigid water. I was moving my body more than I anticipated and doing my best to keep up with these Aqua Fit Class regulars. Ultimately, I made it the entire 50 minutes, but when as I stepped out of the water I was shocked out how heavy I felt. I’ve been in pools before, but somehow working out in one made me feel more weightless than just swimming and splashing around. Stepping out made me fully aware of my body’s mass.
I walked into the locker room, changed into my clothes for the day and headed home with the full intention of getting some serious writing work done. My adrenaline was pumping. I felt high energy. I grabbed breakfast for my husband and me and then drove the 10 minutes home to eat and start my day. Suddenly after eating though, the exhaustion came over me. This was another result I hadn’t expected. How hard I had worked without even realizing it in the pool hit me hard. Before I knew it I could feel it was nap time. I barely made it to the bed and promptly passed the hell out.
Planning to only sleep two hours and then get to work proved troublesome. Amazingly, when my alarm went off I simply did NOT want to move. Yep, my whole body could feel all the work I had put it through. I managed to get out of bed and fix lunch and now I’m sitting at my computer writing this. My arms and legs are sore. I’m still pretty tired. But, I feel good. I am happy knowing that I made it through the 50 minutes and honestly can’t wait to try this workout again.
Perhaps after a few more of these classes I can start doing Zumba again. But, for now I can at least rest assured that in the water, though I’m not hurting my joints that have been in pain, I’m getting a thorough and intense workout.
It’s no secret that come Memorial Day weekend, we all want to enjoy four things – Food, friends, relaxing and DRINKING! Well, there’s one drink that is super refreshing, and is just perfect for your Memorial Day weekend festivities – Watermelon Martinis. These drinks are so incredibly delicious. You’ve gotta try one like RIGHT NOW!
Here’s how to make them:
Ingredients:
– 2-4 oz. citrus vodka (depending on how strong you like your martinis)
– 1 oz. Watermelon Pucker (if you add too much like I did, it will be too red like the one pictured above LOL! But, hey, it tastes really yummy with all that watermelon in it!)
– ½ oz. Cointreau or triple sec
– Splash of pink lemonade
– Splash of Sprite
Preparation:
Fill a martini shaker with all of the ingredients except for the Sprite and ice. Shake for 15-30 seconds and strain into a chilled martini glass. Top with a splash of 7-up and garnish as desired.
Serves 1
My friend Letty does her own spin on this drink by adding pureed watermelon to the mix. Instead of using Watermelon Pucker, she adds about a half cup of cold pureed watermelon. She’s even swapped the citrus vodka for Florida Cane’s Watermelon Vodka to give it more of a watermelon flavor!
Buckle up folks, because this might just be the longest post I’ve ever written on my personal blog, like EVER! LOL! But, it’s not my fault, that’s just how much was packed into my one weekend at the Food Wine Conference. Enjoy the read…
Although the ambassadorship did score me the awesome deal of a discounted ticket, this did not affect this recap of the conference. All opinions below are my own!
Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the 2016 Food Wine Conference put on by Sunday Supper Movement hosted by the fearless leader known as Family Foodie aka Isabel Laessig. Not only did I simply attend, I got to attend as a brand ambassador for FeedBlitz which is a kick ASH ad-free email service perfect for Bloggers looking to grow their brand.
The weekend began innocently enough with my arrival at the stunning Rosen Shingle Creek hotel. If you have never stayed there, I highly recommend it for Disney and Universal Studio visits. It’s gorgeous. Ya know, if you can afford it! Luckily, we had a group rate 🙂
After checking in, my roommate and I quickly set up shop. We created an instacooler in one of our sinks and I had brought along a minibar in a bag filled with snacks to avoid any ill-advised overpriced purchases. Here’s the cooler and below is what was in my minibar bag:
Once our room was all set up, it was conference time! First up, registration and mingling with CK Mondavi wines. Here’s me with the biggest wine glass I’ve ever seen in my life:
Once we’d wined a little it was off to the Florida Milk Spa! I rather enjoyed this! They allowed us to make Greek Yogurt masks, gave us a bottle of lavender scented milk bath and there was even a milk bar. I didn’t drink the milk, but everyone said it was really yummy!
At the conclusion of the spa time, I headed back to my room to drop of my swag bag. Although I had it in a cart instead of carrying it on my shoulder this year, my roommate wanted to drop them at the room before heading out to other festivities, so I complied. We hurried to the room and then hurried back to the end of the Strawberry Reception hosted by Florida Strawberry Grower’s Association. Luckily, even though the reception was all but over, they still had some of those delicious milkshakes which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Once I sucked it down, it was off to the Taste of Rosen Shingle Creek to try some miscellaneous food items. As a blogger I’m embarrassed to report I didn’t get any decent images at this event. For my next conference I’m bringing a better camera and/or an external flash! This was the end of “day 1”, but there was still much fun to be had!
Onto day two…
Day two was filled with classes and information. I did get a cool pic with Food Network Star Donatella Arpai
A photo posted by Ashley Grant (@famousashleygrant) on
and I met some awesome people! I even got a yummy “around the world” lunch by the folks at Idaho Potatoes complete with my own personal Spuddy Buddy, but, the highlight of my day was….
A photo posted by Ashley Grant (@famousashleygrant) on
Oh my goodness! A mac and cheese bar. Why was THIS my highlight of the day? Because mac and cheese PLUS bacon equals heaven. If you can’t understand that, you can’t sit with us! (us being me and my many personalities! hahaha)
Moving on…the end of the day brought the wine to the food wine conference and CK Mondavi did not disappoint! Overall the dinner was a fabulously fun experience and I loved the folks I got to sit with.
The after party was a VIP experience poolside, but I confess I didn’t partake in it very much. So, I’ll wrap with day two by saying this – It was a day of fun, food, wine and truths, and I am grateful for the experiences I had and the lessons that came from them!
Day 3, The Final Day
Day 3 was spent mostly at the Rosen College of Hospitality. There was a fun brunch by the golf course prior to that, but it was a little too sunny for my taste. I was melting! The bacon and waffles were delicious though!
Onto the College of Hospitality – The morning started with a cheese lesson from Cabot cheese. Man oh man! The pairings they created with the cheeses were out of this world! I was so amazed by all the things I never thought to do with cheese, and can’t wait to play with my food now that they have schooled me. They even gave us a copy of their cookbook and I’m looking forward to exploring it.
Anywho- during the tasting my bloggy friend Tracy and I had a crazy urge for a soda take over so we slipped out to the vending machines. Both her and I won steaks during our expedition! Yep, the awesome people from Certified Angus Beef had been hiding these little cows all throughout the conference and if you found one that said “you win steaks” you won! I found a cow, and then Tracy found a cow in one innocent trip to get our carbonation fix! Amazing! Oh, and I scored an extra soda when two popped out of the machine instead of one. I was on a roll!!!
After the cheese it was time to go to class. I enjoyed the Podcast class with Carole Sanek and Josh Elledge, but felt the class was too short. Can’t wait to learn more from them now that the conference is over. Once class was over, this happened:
A photo posted by Ashley Grant (@famousashleygrant) on
I have never pretended to be a chef or even a decent cook, but when you’re asked to be in a #hashed competition not once, but twice, you accept! My team was called Cake or Die and although we didn’t win, it was the most intense competition I think I’ve EVER been in! It was nuts, it was crazy, but above all – IT WAS FUN!!!!!!!!!!
The competition was perhaps the most fun I had all weekend and I sincerely hope that Isabel and the team behind the conference make the #hashed competition a staple of every conference going forward.
The rest of the day consisted of another class, lunch and then an amazing presentation by Denise Vivaldo and Kita Roberts on food styling and photography. Finally, the weekend was over and it was time to go home. I argued with myself all weekend as to whether I not I would attend in 2017, but after digesting everything that happened this year, I sincerely hope that I will be a part of next year’s Food Wine Conference event in some way! I have even inquired about potentially being on the planning committee, so we’ll see what happens next.
All in all, the conference was a rewarding experience. Although there are some things I would have done differently, I’m exceptionally grateful for the lessons I learned and the relationships I made and/or renewed. I’ll post some additional things on the conference later, but for now, I think that wraps up my wild and eventful weekend at the 2016 Food Wine Conference!
Now, I want to hear from you. Did you go to Food Wine Con? If so, leave me a comment with your favorite part of the conference! And, if you were there, follow me on my social channels of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and LinkedIn, and I PROMISE to follow you back 🙂
I am crazy excited to report that my blog Tampa Bay Freebies is almost back up and running. My team and I have been working on the page and getting it ready to re-launch and are slowly, but surely getting it back online. I’m so happy to be reporting this because the page was nearly dormant for almost two years. After a depressing hack that lead to me losing the site for a while I was just too upset to rebuild it. However, something about 2016 lit a fire under my ASH and made me want it back and to make it better than ever. I’ve hired a couple of people to help me with it and will be posting more news about it soon. Bottom line- Tampa Bay Freebies will be back and this time I’ll make damn certain it is here to stay!
If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you likely have already seen the posts that are offering $50 off Food Wine Conference Tickets with code FamousAshley. This is because for the second year in a row I’ve been one of the lucky bloggers chosen to be a brand ambassador for the exciting Food Wine Conference held annually at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando.
About the Conference: This conference is a gathering place for bloggers, people in the food and wine industries, small business owners, media and so much more. By bringing everyone together in one place we can all jam on food and wine and boost each others success by forming relationships to get more eyeballs on our blogs, more recognition on hot brands, and to get the word out about the latest foodie and wino news.
Why you should attend: If you are a blogger, working in the media or a public relations professional this is your chance to connect face-to-face with people related to the food and wine industry. If nothing else you will get to try some amazing foods, enjoy some delicious drinks and walk away with at least one or two new friends.
Why I’m going: The truth is I might not need some of the classes that are being taught at this event. After many years as a blogger, I’ve learned a lot, but the funny thing about going to live events like this is that even though I know so much, I always learn something new and make at least one or two fabulous connections. In fact, last year I made a friend that will be my roomie for this year’s conference and I couldn’t be more excited to have a couple of nights of adult slumber parties to just goof off.
The most important thing I’ve learned about attending live events like the Food Wine Conference is that each conference is what you make of it. If you go in expecting a crappy time, you’ll have a crappy time. If you go in with a plan, you’ll likely come out having accomplished something.
Moment of truth: It’s going to be one kickASH party and you should join us at the 2016 Food Wine Conference. And, don’t forget you can score $50 off w/ code FamousAshley at http://foodandwineconference.com!
I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching lately. A LOT! I’ve been trying to figure out what I want in life and then how to achieve it. The truth is I followed a path of things I thought I was “supposed to do” for a long time. A path I’m sure many of you have been on. It looks like this:
Go to school and get good grades to get into a decent college and possibly a scholarship
Get said scholarship and get into the college and get a degree
Get married and get a job
Work hard every day
Have a baby, keep working hard and then retire.
Well, as you may already know after item 3 I came to a cross roads. I quickly discovered about 8 years ago that I didn’t want to have a job. I wanted to work for myself. When I began deviating from the plan my whole life turned upside down. I got lots of work doing freelance writing and photography. Then it all stopped. I got a nine to five and then suddenly had a re-surge of freelance writing and photography gigs and was able to go to Thailand and quit the nine to five job again.
The trouble is when I went to Thailand it was fulfilling a lifelong dream to travel somewhere new outside of the United States and potentially kick off a decade of traveling around the world, working anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection. Unfortunately, when I got to Thailand I realized that what I thought would be a fun and thrilling experience actually wasn’t everything I expected. I felt lost and troubled because all I ever wanted to do was travel and now the opportunity was here and I still wasn’t happy.
When I got back home from Thailand I began to feel those feelings of depression I had when I had no freelance work and was struggling to make ends meet. Even though I had the chance to have many clients I suddenly found myself not wanting to work for anyone. Unsure of life, unsure of my new path. Unsure of everything.
In 2015 I found myself practically begging for work. I managed to get enough clients to get me through the year, but I spent most of the year frustrated and unhappy. Finally in March of this year all of this frustration and internal debating came to a head and I let go of one client with hopes for something amazing, promptly lost another and suddenly here I am again at a crossroads.
I know how much debt I have, I know how much money I need to make, but until now I didn’t care enough to do anything about anything because I’ve been so unhappy. Realizing that doing nothing will get me no where I opened an email that had the log in details for a program I bought last year that was supposed to save me. I went through some of the videos and didn’t really feel it so I let it sit. Then, last week I lost it and thought- what the hell? The course creator is giving away free 45 minute one on one sessions – maybe that will help.
Needless to say, Tuesday, March 29, 2016 I had my one on one and it lit me up for the first time in a while. By nightfall I found myself buying her premium program. So empowered, I also bought a workout program because if I’m going to change my mind and emotional state, might as well work on my physical state too, right? Which brings me to today…I’m trying something new. I’m trying the Kick Ass at Life Bootcamp and the Beachbody on Demand workout programs. I’m hopeful that I will finally get out of my own head and start Kicking Ass at Life.
I’ve already set the intention that I WILL do every video in the Bootcamp and that at least twice a week I’ll do a Beachbody on Demand video. I am not sure where this new path will take me, but I do know that I feel excited and I’m ready for some change. I plan to blog about this as time goes on. For now, I’m just putting it all there publicly. I’m not completely sharing it with the world mind you, you kind of have to be following this blog religiously to even know I’ve put this out into the ether, but at least I’m sharing it. So, whoever is out there seeing this, stay tuned, I’ll post more eventually…
A note on paying attention to the signs in your life regarding your online businesses. Are you paying attention to the signs from the Universe and what they are telling you?
Not to toot my own horn or anything, but when a potential client asked me for advice this morning I was pretty excited at how confident I was in offering my responses. The funny thing is my advice would be somewhat self-serving in that it would translate to a WHOLE bunch of work for me, but that wasn’t even in my thought process as I was uttering my thoughts to her.
I was just giving REAL advice that she could actually use to be successful and then it dawned on me just how much I LOVE helping people in my business. My goal in #ghostwriting for my clients has always been to make them look amazing to their audiences. I want them to sound so good delivering their messages and sell the crap out of their products and services. It’s been heavy on my heart lately about how much I just want all of my clients to have everything they ever dreamed of!!!! I get all warm and fuzzy every time they have a big win because I feel like I was part of it.
Towards the middle of last year I was honestly doubting whether or not I wanted to continue on the ghost writing path and was letting my vanity get the better of me that I should release more things under my byline. I even considered abandoning my business nearly completely to develop a course and focus 90% on building and selling things with my name, but since releasing that thought into the universe I’ve been amazed at how EVERY. SINGLE. SIGN has been pointing me right back to what I’m already doing.
I’m supposed to be ghostwriting for now. This is my current purpose and mission. I’m here to give my clients the voice they don’t even realize they already have. I have been sent more clients in the past six months than I ever thought possible and it just has become abundantly clear to me that before I try to push too much on releasing things with my name I’ve got a lot more to do for others. I’ve also to do a lot more growing, a lot more writing, a lot more learning.
I still want to release a course of my own some day, I want to write a bunch of books under my own name and do some fun stuff with Youtube, but for now I’m going to pay attention to the signs from the Universe. They have not steered me wrong yet, and when I really hone in on them I’m paid back in great success.
So, now that you have read all this I want you to seriously think about what signs are in your life. What is the Universe telling you about your business? Are you on the right path? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
Big love to all of you, my fellow webpreneurs. I hope that each of you have crazy, sexy, insane successes and more wins than you know what do with. Sending out all the feels and positive vibes to every single one of you. xoxo
Dear Universe,
I’m sorry I was letting my vanity getting the better of me and not paying attention to the signs you were sending me abouthow to be more successful. I’m listening now.
I’m ready to make more money and be happier than ever before.
I welcome abundance and success into my life. It’s my time and I’m ready for the next step. #BringIt!
I received an invitation from the Tampa Bay Bloggers and Hyde Park Village to skip Black Friday this year in favor of shopping small on Small Business Saturday on Saturday, November, 28, 2015. (Although they did offer me free mimosas and breakfast from Piquant, lunch at BarTaco and a gift card incentive for my promotional efforts, all the opinions in this post are my own.) Needless to say, the idea of getting up at the ASH crack of dawn to try and save money on, well, anything, doesn’t really appeal to me anymore- so, I jumped at the chance to come to skip the crowds and early morning doorbusters in favor of something local. Here’s a recap of how my shopping adventure went:
The day began innocently enough with yummy mimosas and bite-sized treats you see above at Piquant. For the record, their pumpkin French toast was amazing as it sounds like it would be. The mimosas were not just orange juice and champagne either. Oh no, Piquant is classier than that ya’ll! They had three options. Now, I’m going to screw it up but I’m pretty sure they were raspberry, mango and passion fruit. Whatever they were, they tasted great! Next, it was off to the stores. I had the pleasure of spending my day with the awesomeness that is Caitlyn Connolly of Live Sweat Sleep and Raffi Darrow of Runningbetty.com. These chicks, pictured below, are so kick ASH and I’m thrilled I got to hang with them for a day.
We went to soooooooooooo many stores, but my favorite stops were Don Me Now, Paper Source and lululemon. Don Me Now had the coolest notecards of ever:
lululemon made me want to up my 2016 fitness goals:
Paper Source had the cutest all the things:
We also listened to some sweet local musack while I sipped on my first ever Buddy Brew coffee. Let me tell ya’ll, I’m not big on coffee, but that there Buddy Brew sure was slurp worthy- soooo yummy.
Finally, after more perusing of shops, Caitlyn and I finished the day at Bar Taco where I stuffed my face with a margarita and three itty bitty tacos and guacamole with the biggest tortilla chips I’ve ever seen. (Sorry you missed this deliciousness Raffi!!!) I had the baja fish, the pork belly and the sesame ribeye tacos. Of the three, my fave was the pork belly. nomnomnom!!! So good!!
Overall, the day was a smashing success. We shopped, we chatted, we listened to great music, we had a blast! Best part? No crazy crowds and we were able to stay very chill the entire day. Screw shopping stress!!! At the end of the day I only had a couple of purchases to my name, but definitely had lots of ideas for gifts that I want to give. It truly is better to shop local. I had so much fun and I think the day definitely proved that Small Biz Saturday > Black Friday!!! Oh, and a few days later – Hyde Park Village gave me the cutest ornament EVER to hang on my tree:
It’s a camera! They know me so well. I’m a writer too and it just so happens they also gave me some nice pens and a 2016 calendar!!! Huge thanks to the village for one of the best shopping experiences I’ve ever had and thanks to Tampa Bay Bloggers for the invite as well. When the opportunity for Small Biz Saturday comes up once more next year, I’ll definitely choose it again over that pesky outdated Black Friday!
This morning instead of jumping out of my comfy bed at some ungodly hour I stayed in it knowing full well that I would miss out on all the Black Friday fuss. That’s just fine by me though because rather than do all of my Christmas shopping at large corporations this year, I’m going to visit local shops and give my money to small business owners in my community! Won’t you join me in Hyde Park Village? Just a few things you have to look forward to are live music, giveaways and exciting in-store events. So, I hope to see all of you for a special edition of Small Business Saturday tomorrow, 11/28/15 in Hyde Park because when we shop local, we all win!
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