We've Moved!

We've Moved!

You can now find all your favorite Paw Prints in the Sink content over at PawPrintsintheSink.com!

How to Dye Easter Eggs Without Vinegar

 Decorating Easter eggs was an inherent and much looked forward to part of my childhood Easter celebrations… Except for the stinky smell. It bothered me then, and as I’ve gotten older I’ve become unable to stomach the smell of vinegar. While I was pregnant, it grew worse. And my inability to smell vinegar lingered even after the babes were born. Now even warm ketchup or a strong salad dressing send me scooting away from the offensive dish.

So how can I reconcile my love of decorating eggs with my disdain for vinegar? One option is shaving cream, but then you can’t eat the eggs. We try rather hard to not be wasteful, and so shaving cream wasn’t really an option for us.

But then I got to thinking…whipped cream is a similar consistency to shaving cream, yet food-safe. What if we combined whipped cream and food coloring to dye eggs?

How to dye Easter eggs with whipped cream

• Place two inches of Cool Whip (or off brand, if you’re like me) in a baking dish. We used one 8×8 pan for each kid.
• Place one to two drops food coloring per corner and swirl outward with a butter knife (don’t mix too much- the eggs will do this for you). You can do more colors if you want, but this creates a marbled effect.
• Roll hard boiled egg through as many or as few of your colors as you wish.
• 
• Don’t wipe the cool whip off yet! Place in a shallow bowl in the fridge for a couple of hours. 
• Remove from fridge and wipe cook whip off with a paper towel or dish cloth. Don’t rinse!
• Enjoy your pretty marbled eggs!

Why Rainy Days at Dollywood are My Favorite

 My latest Dollywood Insiders post is up! You can check it out here. In it, I talk about my love for rainy days at Dollywood, and include some Insider tips on how to have a fabulous time, regardless of the forecast.

Going Green in 2019

"GOING GREEN IN 2019"

Did you know I also write for the Knoxville Mom’s Blog? This month I shared some of my favorite tips, from little steps to big leaps, on how to live greener in 2019. You can check it out here!

What are your favorite tips for going green?

Why You Should Visit Dollywood's Festival of Nations 2019

Dollywood's Festival of Nations is out of this world this year! 

 Ha, excuse my terrible puns! It'll be worth enduring for the awesome coupon code for Dollywood tickets at the end of this post!

But really, it's fantastic. The food passport is phenomenal, the shows are incredible, and did I mention the food?

Beyond the general glory of the festival itself, visiting the park in spring is a great decision. It's not too hot, the chance of rain thins the crowds, and on sunny days it's warm enough for water rides. Plus...the food! I know, I'm a food nut. But a variety of international flavors and demonstrations that are in line with the superior quality of all Dollywood food? It's an unstoppable combination. It may be my favorite food festival of the year (well, until BBQ & Bluegrass).

The Food Passport

With nine countries and four continents, there is plenty of food to sample. Our favorites include the paella from Spain (the kids especially loved this one!) and the empanadas from Ecuador. We also sampled Canada's food, and you just can't go wrong with fried cheese! It made for a great snack, but we preferred Spain and Ecuador for more filling meals.

Grab a food passport- it's a great guide to where the food stalls are, what they're serving, and the kids love getting the stamps. Our goal is to fill ours up before the Festival of Nations ends April 14!

International Shows

Dollywood's shows are always astounding. These traveling troupes are no different. We've heard wonderful things about Drumstruck and it's interactive components, but our youngest family member is sensitive to loud noises so we didn't get to experience it firsthand this year. 

We got to attend one of the chef demonstrations. Considering our 6 year old wants to be a chef when he grows up, this was a dream come true for him. The chef, from Dollywood's Dreammore Resort & Spa, did a fantastic job of teaching us how to make paella. And our little one was even brave enough to speak up when the chef asked a question to the audience! They sampled out the empanadas they demonstrated making when the demonstration was complete.

We also visited Cuba Vibra and it was FANTASTIC!!! I cannot express how much we loved this show. From ages 3 to 34 in our group, everyone loved it. The kids were entranced by the different dancing, I drooled over all the costumes (Dear Dollywood, please sell these in the park! I'm dying for those dresses!!). The dancing, the singing, the drumming...it was all so fantastic. I could watch it again and again. It's a 45 minute show, so be prepared if you have younger kids to make a mad dash to the bathrooms or grab some popcorn to help entertain them if they lose interest (because not all little kids will enjoy every show, so having a backup plan is a great way to make sure the grownups enjoy the show!)

The Decorations

Dollywood is decked out with flags and globes. It's a great way to introduce little ones to new cultures in a familiar environment, where they're more willing to try new things. It's a great experience to mix the fun rides you typically go for with the fun decorations, food, and experiences.

Coupon Code

Are you ready to print your tickets and head to Festival of Nations? Would you like to save $10 per ticket? Print online using the following code and you'll save $10 per ticket! These tickets are upgradable to a season pass, and more fun festivals are just around the corner!

Festival of Nations only runs until April 14, so print those discounted tickets, load up, and head to Dollywood for your next adventure!

On The Come Up Book Review

Never fear- there are no spoilers here!

Last fall I had the pleasure of reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, and since then I've been eagerly awaiting her next release. Now, I've finally gotten my hands on it and it is just as phenomenal as her debut.

In On the Come Up, teenager Bri has big dreams to be a successful rapper and pull her family out of poverty. But big dreams demand big sacrifice- is Bri willing to go the hard route, or will she sacrifice who she is for temporary relief?

Thomas flawlessly crafts realistic characters. From protagonist Bri to her friends, family, and enemies, each character is carefully created. With a former addict for a mom and a high achieving but underemployed brother, Bri is struggling to live up to everyone's expectations of her while also living in her deceased dad's overpowering shadow. 

One of the things I love about Thomas's writing style is her ability to write teenagers as actual teenagers, and not just tiny adults. Bri is still working on controlling her emotions and she doesn't always make the right call. She has real struggles and she handles them like a teenager actually would- and sometimes that's the wrong way to handle it. She also speaks like a teenager speaks, which is refreshing. There is less of an emphasis on sex in this one, which is something the protagonist in The Hate U Give was considering, which made me hopeful more schools would pick it up. However, because these teenagers talk like teenagers, their (realistic) use of profanity may make some schools hesitant. 

The messaging is similar to that of The Hate U Give, without being repetitive. While the setting is the same, the plot is different. The setting of Garden Heights allows us to see the community a year after the events of The Hate U Give, and how those events have far reaching repercussions. With T.H.U.G., we learned we can't make assumptions about events we weren't present for. On The Come Up reinforces this, with Bri being targeted and interpreted as 'aggressive' when she exhibits the same behavior as her white classmates, though their consequences differ greatly.

Another important message in this book, especially for teen readers, is that famous people can be playing a role. So often, celebrities endorse products they don't actually use and neglect to mention their personal trainer/stylist/photoshop (watch any actress promoting an $8 box of hair dye and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about!). While adults may recognize this occurrence, it's less apparent to younger consumers. When Bri is asked to play a role, she has to choose if she's going to take that route or be true to who she is. With plenty of financial trouble at home, the choice is more complicated than any other teen's quest for fame. 

One of my favorite messages of this book (though I loved it, so there are many), is the power of words. Especially as a rapper, Bri has to come to grips with the fact that her words have power. There are several instances in the novel when she discovers this, and she has a hard time accepting it. When the world makes you feel powerless, learning your words have power can be intoxicating and dangerous.

Another message I love is one centered around people having to want help themselves. You can't control other people, nor can you change their desires. 

Much like T.H.U.G., this novel aims at teaching readers how to handle  difficult situations. Sometimes the right path isn't the most immediate or satisfying one. When people push your buttons, it's hard to control your temper. Add to that the pressure that at any moment, people could stereotype your entire race based on your conduct, and that pressure is too much for anyone, let alone a teen.

This book is absolutely worth the read. I hope teens and adults alike will pick it up, and learn a little something (or a lot of somethings) alongside Bri.

Have you read On the Come Up? What did you think?