“Let our New Year’s resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word”. – Goran Persson
I just wanted to take a moment to say Thank You for helping make 2016 a wonderful year for The Jupiter Local. I so appreciate all the comments, interviews, events and referrals that have come from this year of blogging.
This has been a great year, with many of you trusting your home purchase experience with me! I feel very honored and appreciate the opportunities.
Looking ahead to the new year, there are many wonderful things already in the works for 2017, so stay tuned!
Wishing you all a prosperous and genuinely happy 2017.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
I just wanted to take a moment to say Thank You for helping make 2015 a wonderful year for The Jupiter Local. I so appreciate all the comments, interviews, events and referrals that have come from this year of blogging. I feel like I’ve made some great friends and l have really loved meeting all of you! I’m signing off for the rest of the year but already have a ton of wonderful things planned for 2016.
I hope you all have a Festive and Merry Christmas and the most wonderful New Year.
With Sincere Appreciation,
Nicole Underwood Gonzalez
Hi friends! October is a super fun month around my house. My husband, two step children and myself ALL celebrate our birthdays! We just go ahead and leave the decorations up all month long! This Saturday, the 10th, is my actual birthday. I won’t get into how many previous birthdays I’ve had, but this year YOU could win a present for my birthday! Sound good? Read on!!
Oceana Coffee is my favorite local coffee spot. Not only do they have a beautiful coffee lounge, and many tasty roasted coffee flavor choices, they also do a LOT of stuff for and with the community. If you know me, you know “local” is my thing, so of course they are one of my favorites! Plus, they are the ONLY coffee house I’ve found that has almond milk. Being dairy free I always have to drink my coffee black at other places 😪
So, because it’s fun to get presents on birthdays, I’d like YOU to win this awesome Oceana Coffee Prize Pack!
Leave a blog comment on what your favorite type of coffee drink is (mandatory to be entered in the giveaway).
For extra entries, do the other voluntary options on the rafflecopter.
That’s it! Thanks for being such lovely blog readers. I really appreciate all of your support. Hope you have a terrific weekend and Good Luck!! ❤️ Nicole
*** Special Thanks to Amy Duell, General Manager at Oceana Coffee, for helping me put this little bag of goodies together as well as making me a super delicious iced coffee with almond milk!
So, there I was, opening up my work emails on a Monday morning. You know how Mondays are right? But then! What’s this? A lovely email from Andi at andimans.com, telling me I had won their giveaway!! See, I follow Andi on instagram (because she posts gorgeous photos) and entered her Onli Beverages Giveaway the other day. I won! I won!! Not a bad start to my Monday morning at all!!
I’ve only tried one flavor of Onli’s tasty beverages before, so I was super pumped to get this amazing package in the mail!
Don’t you just LOVE pretty mail?
Inside were so many goodies!!
Onli Beverages are not only lovely to look at ( I’m such a sucker for pretty packaging), they taste great too! Plus you can feel good about drinking them, they’re made without any artificial ingredients.
From their site: “Free from artificial ingredients and made with the intent to be savored rather than served as a “functional” beverage, recipes for onli™ Beverages embody a variety of complimentary flavors that stimulate the senses and enliven your spirit. Each of our beverages are lightly carbonated, because at the end of the day, life is meant to sparkle!“
Doesn’t that box full of pretty make you want to throw a party? Right now?? I’m so excited to try all the lovely flavors. I’d love to hear if you have a favorite flavor. Bonus… they included drink recipes in the box! Who wants to come over for some cocktails?
Thanks so much to Andi & Onli, this really made my day!! xoxox Nicole
I have been glued to the news about the two missing boys from Jupiter, Florida. With each update I hope upon hope to hear good news. Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen, both 14, disappeared off the coast of Jupiter on Friday and haven’t been seen since. Their boat was found yesterday, capsized off from the Ponce de Leon Inlet.
Growing up in Jupiter, I know it’s not a crazy thing for two 14 year olds to head out to the ocean, unsupervised. My little brother growing up was always on the water, with friends. Boating, diving, spear fishing…going to the Bahamas! It’s just how it is in a small beach town. Many kids I grew up with had boats of their own at young ages. And just like Austin & Perry, were very capable of handling themselves on the water.
Sometimes, though, things happen. The ocean is a very beautiful and amazing thing. It can also be very unforgiving. Seasoned Boat Captains can be overtaken by the ocean just the same as anyone else.
Today’s news suggests the boys may have made a floatation device out of their cooler and their life jackets. I’m so relieved that there is still hope. My heart has been slowly breaking, thinking of their families and what they are going through. It’s been phenomenal to watch the community around them come together. I will continue to hope for a good outcome. I hope you will too.
Around my house, dinner is very important. We’ve got three busy teenagers and us two adults are even busier. So by the end of the day we are all starving! When it comes to summer foods, I have a really hard time mustering up the energy to even think about cooking dinner, let alone actually cooking it! It’s too hot!! But alas, we cannot eat out every night. Luckily for me, my Mister is an amazing cook and is always willing and able to whip something tasty up for the rest of us!
Recently he’s outdone himself on a couple of meals. So I thought I’d share those with you!
Chipotle Spiced Chicken Tacos: Tacos are the perfect food for summer. We always use bright, fresh ingredients and they are fast & easy to make!
1. Fresh cilantro, organic tomatoes, and fresh jalapenos. 2. The most delicious, Florida Made Salsa. If you haven’t tried it, go to Publix right now & get some! 3. Heating up the tortillas in the cast iron skillet makes them taste so good! 4. Just look at that tasty stack!
Gaze upon this taco of beauty! Fresh Cilantro, goat cheese, sauteed mushrooms, tomatoes, fresh jalapenos and chipotle spiced chicken. YUM! What’s your favorite way to make tacos?
I have a thing about pretty food. If it looks pretty and colorful, I probably want to eat it. So, I was flipping through a recent copy of Bon Appetite Magazine, when I stumbled across this recipe. We needed something for dinner that night, so I suggested we get the grill out and make some tasty chicken!
Spicy Grilled Chicken With Lemon & Parsley: Grilling is perfect for summer. All the heat stays outside and the grill makes the food taste amazing!
We even toasted some mountain bread on the grill. The entire meal was really delicious!
So, what are your go to meals in the heat of summer? Leave me a comment and let me know. I’m ALWAYS in need of dinner inspiration! – Nicole
Happy Saturday to all you beautiful blog readers! I hope your week was splendid! I’ve been straight up, crazy busy…and I loved EVERY second of it! Real Estate is really busy this time of year, and when I’m busy I’m happy. This post kind of sums up my week, in iPhone photos. Hope you like it!
Can we all just pause for a minute to appreciate my Dad’s green thumb. Wow!
I really loved this past week’s interview with Bianca, from Bianca’s Brazilian Bites.. If you missed it, you can catch up here: Meet Bianca.
Found a Mermaid at an open house.
Only had one taker on the cookies at my Open House. But we did get an contract! SCORE!!
This is what happens when my husband gets creative in the kitchen! So good!!
I showed property in a monsoon this week. It was not my favorite!!
Saw this at a property I viewed this week and really wanted to take it home!!
Watching my 15 year old daughter with my 4 month old niece melts my heart. Every time!
I’d love to hear how your week was. Leave me a comment with all the juicy details!
Looking for something to do this weekend? Check out this great local event. Saturday, July 18th: Live Music at Harbourside Place. A family friendly, free event!
Have an event you’d like me to share? Email me the info and I just may include it in the next Weekly Wrap Up Post!
As always, thanks for reading. I hope you all have a lovely weekend! – Nicole
This post was originally posted HERE on June 12, 2015
So, the family and I are planning a little escape at the end of this month. One week in Marco Island. I am SO looking forward to some time off with the hubby and the kiddos. My first trip over there was last year and it was the first time in my life I literally relaxed for 7 days. It was amazing! So this year I’m super excited. We do want to relax but we also want to get in some fun summer activities…boating, paddleboard, etc.
I’ve slowly been accumulating little things I want to bring. New suit, new sun hat, new beach umbrella, etc. Not to be left out a book for my summer reading. This year I chose Fat Girl Walking, by Brittany Gibbons. I’ve followed her blog for quite some time and I love her! She’s a feisty redhead I can really relate to and she’s written this book. I’m super excited to start it! I will do a review after vacation and let y’all know what I thought.
What are you reading this summer? Please share with us in the comments. I’m always looking for new books to read.Until next time, thanks for reading, lovies.
-Nicole
So, for those of you that don’t know me that well, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I’m a South Florida Native, born in Palm Beach Gardens Hospital (a few years back) and moved to Jupiter, Florida when I was 3 months old. I went to all three Jupiter schools and graduated from Jupiter High School. I love Jupiter! Seriously, it’s like the best town ever!
But I digress. Some other things about me are: I was a single Mom to a pretty amazing kid for 14 years. Almost 5 years ago I met a super cool dude named Avel, and this past January we got married!! It’s been a really fun adventure with LOTS of changes and I still can’t believe this is all really happening. <3
As happy as I am (and I really am), the last year has been 100 miles an hour and full of change. I got engaged, I left my job of 15 years to focus all my attention on real estate, I got married, I moved in with my husband, my daughter changed schools, and I gained 2 awesome step kids! All of this change has brought out a side of me that’s been rather dormant these last few years. I tend to be a “bit” of a worry wart. And when I say “bit” I mean FULL ON WORRY MONSTER! So big changes usually have a way of stressing me out. Now, I know, most people get kinda weird about big changes. It’s totally normal. What’s not normal is how I seem to deal with the kind of stress. For some reason I don’t realize how stressed out I am until my body literally tells me. Seriously, it’s so strange!
I first had a physical reaction to stress about 8 years ago, when I was having problems catching my breath. I couldn’t fully understand what was happening, so I went to Urgent Care to get it checked out. When I got there, the Doctor informed me I was having a panic attack and hyperventilating. I was like, “Say what!?”. She asked me if I had been under any stress lately, asked me to try and de-stress and told me if it didn’t get better, I may need to see someone or possibly even consider anti anxiety meds!
Because of that experience I learned to talk myself down, if I felt like I was starting up again. I seemed to be able to calm myself down and get over it before things turned into hyperventilating. So yay for that! Other things that happened to me due to stress, I have a leak in my retina and most recently, I got shingles!
From these experiences it is painfully obvious to me that I need to take better care of myself. The excuse of being too busy to exercise or eat well is just not going to cut it anymore. That’s where yoga comes in.
Last fall I discovered Kula Yoga Shala, right here in Jupiter. I did the beginning yoga class they offer several times, and really enjoyed it. But then life got crazy and i didn’t go back. Last week I went back! Instead of taking the beginner class, I opted for the Organic Vinyasa. It was SO hard, but really really good! I went back twice, with two different instructors and it totally kicked my butt! I was so sore!! Hahaha! The best part about yoga is that it’s totally personal. You do what feels good to your body, that is amazing! I was in a class with very skilled people, unlike myself, but I was still able to get a vigorous workout. Physically and mentally. I’m going to try and do two to three classes a week, eat better and get more sleep. Life’s too short to not take my health seriously! Do you do yoga? Where do you go? What is your favorite type of class? Let me know, maybe I’ll join you for a class or two! Thanks for reading, lovies. – Nicole
