Have you ever been a part of a traditional progressive dinner? I have done a few, many years ago. Basically with a progressive dinner you get a group of friends together and each household makes a different course of the meal. You travel to each home in order, enjoy that course and then head to the next home. The progressive dinners I attended included 4 courses appetizer, soup/salad, main course, and dessert. I had heard of people doing a progressive dinner restaurant style, visiting a different restaurant for each course, but had never tried it until recently.
We were tasked with visiting 4 different restaurants for appetizers, main course, dessert, and after dinner drinks. Since we don’t drink alcohol, we got creative for the after dinner drinks. We discussed where to go for each course based on some of our favorite foods. Normally when we go out to eat we don’t get anything except maybe a soda, salad, and main course. We only get appetizers or dessert if we have a coupon or it is a special occasion, so this qualifies as a special occasion! When looking for a perfect restaurant for a special occasion, you can have a peek at this Jimmy John Shark post for more info!
Our first stop was to the UTC Mall and the Cheesecake Factory. We love their Buffalo Chicken Blasts appetizer and it is definitely shareable. The two of us can’t finish the 8 large blasts so we took 2 of them home for lunch the next day. We roamed the mall a bit to let our appetizer settle before we headed to Texas Roadhouse for their 6 oz sirloin with 2 sides. I got mine with corn and loaded mashed potatoes while Ron got corn and green beans. We knew the smaller, early bird entree would be a good choice added to the rest of the food we would be consuming that night.

Since our travels between main course and dessert took us right past our house, we decided to stop at home and walk the dog and let our dinner settle before dessert. Once Mushu was walked we headed into town to Miller’s Dutch Kitch’n our local Amish restaurant that serves the best pies in town! I got the Peanut Butter Pie while Ron enjoyed the Dutch Apple. Once we finished dessert we wandered the little store at the front of the restaurant looking for interesting Christmas gifts. On the way home we stopped by Dunkin’ Donuts for some hot chocolate to enjoy at home while we watched a Christmas movie on TV.

We had a lot of fun, and ate a lot of food! I think this would be a fun way to spend an evening with some friends but you would have to have a fair way of deciding what restaurants to visit based on price point and cuisine. If you use your AARP Credit Card from Chase to pay for your progressive dinner, or any time you dine out, Chase will donate $0.10 to AARP Foundation’s Drive To End Hunger – up to a total of $1 million in 2017. With your AARP Credit Card from Chase you also get unlimited cash back rewards including 3% cash back rewards on purchases made at restaurants and gas stations and 1% on all other purchases. To learn more about AARP Foundation’s Drive to End Hunger just click the link.

I am participating in a VN campaign. This is a sponsored post by AARP® Credit Card from Chase. The content and opinions expressed below are my own. I am in no way affiliated with AARP Credit Card from Chase and do not earn a commission or percent of sales.

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This is a sponsored post by AARP® Credit Cards from Chase. The content and opinions expressed below are my own. I am in no way affiliated with AARP®  Credit Card from Chase and do not earn a commission or percent of sales.

Volunteering is in my DNA. My parents were active volunteers throughout their lives. They’ve done amblyopia clinics, pancake breakfasts, driven cancer patients to appointments, baked birthday cakes for college kids who are away from home, served as band boosters, PTA members and so much more. My dad was a volunteer fireman and a volunteer policeman too. With this kind of example ingrained in our family it is easy to see why my sister and I volunteer as well.

Teaching the Bible lesson to the Blue Team at VBS.

In the past I have volunteered with the March of Dimes, American Cancer Society, Manatee Food Bank, organized parades and air shows, a citywide pancake breakfast, mentored new homeschooling parents, the list goes on and on. Currently most of my volunteering centers around serving my church. I sing on the worship team, I am on the Kid’s Church leadership team, I teach Kid’s Church, I am the Wednesday Night Kid’s Club Director, I teach the 3-5th grade girls Stars Club and I am the VBS director. These weekly volunteer activities make my life full.

My purpose in life is to share the love of Christ to others and raise them up to be His disciples. I live out my purpose every day as I prepare, plan and minister to the children of RiverLife Church. As we raise up disciples we reach outside our four walls to the community around us. During this summer’s VBS we raised over $900 in cash offerings for the Heart of Florida Youth Ranch, and we held a non-perishable food drive for the Manatee Food Bank. Missions and helping those in need are at the heart of my purpose-to raise up disciples.

In March I receive the MVP (mission-vision-passion) award for my volunteer work at my church.

While you may not be on the front lines like I am there are still easy ways you can do your part to help those less fortunate than you. . Chase, through its AARP Credit Card from Chase, and the AARP Foundation are taking steps to feed those who are hungry now, while also developing long-term, sustainable solutions that proactively address the root causes of hunger among those 50 and older. This is a problem that we can solve. Use your AARP Credit Card from Chase at your favorite restaurants and Chase will donate $0.10 to the AARP foundation for every restaurant purchase made in support of AARP’s Foundation’s Drive To End Hunger-up to a total of $1.1 million. To learn more at Chase visit their website. To learn more about AARP Foundation’s Drive To End Hunger visit their website. Do your part to Drive To End Hunger.

I am participating in a VIN campaign. This is a sponsored post by AARP® Credit Card from Chase. The content and opinions expressed below are my own. I am in no way affiliated with AARP® Credit Card from Chase and do not earn a commission or percent of sales.

The post Volunteer to Make Your Community a Better Place appeared first on The Mom Maven.

We love good barbecue and you can find us at Sonny’s BBQ at least once a month. We go there for 4 good reasons: good food, good service, good prices and good friends. Almost every time we go to Sonny’s, we run into someone we know. On our last visit we ran into our friends Dan & Barb as well as my husband’s parents.

You never know who you will run into at Sonny’s but you do know you will get a delicious meal at a good price. Ron and I always order the Ribs for 2, sweet and smokey ribs with 3 side dishes. Jordan doesn’t like meat on the bone so he usually opts for whatever their specialty pulled meat sandwich is at the time. Do you have a favorite BBQ place? Why is it your favorite?

Did you know that if you use the AARP® Credit Card from Chase at your favorite restaurants you will get 3% Cash Back rewards? You get 3% back at gas stations too and 1% back on all other purchases. Who doesn’t want to get cash back on their purchases? I sure do.

Unfortunately, nearly 10 million Americans aged 50+ are affected by hunger. That’s my generation and my mom’s! I find that statistic staggering. Knowing how little money my own mother has to live off of since my dad passed away, I understand how this is possible and honestly, it makes me a bit angry. This is why I am happy to support brands that are doing something to help solve this problem. Chase, along with AARP are taking steps to feed those who are hungry now, while also developing long-term, sustainable solutions that proactively address the root causes of hunger among those 50 and older.

In 2016, Chase will donate $0.10 to the AARP Foundation for every restaurant purchase made with your AARP Credit Card from Chase—up to a total of $1.1 million. To learn more about AARP Foundation’s Drive To End Hunger visit: http://www.aarpcreditcard.com/drivetoendhunger. To learn more at Chase visit their website.  Please, do your part to Drive To End Hunger.

I am participating in a VIN campaign. This is a sponsored post by AARP® Credit Card from Chase. The content and opinions expressed below are my own. I am in no way affiliated with AARP® Credit Card from Chase and do not earn a commission or percent of sales.

The post You Can Help Drive To End Hunger appeared first on The Mom Maven.