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YEY for comment #1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just when you think you are about to pull your hair out with whines of "I don't like this. I am not eating it. Make me a new meal", a purple box in the freezer always is an answer to your prayers. (Well at least mine anyway) Who ever made up the idea of the Uncrustables is a damn genius! I used to think it was ridiculous--I mean who doesn't have the time to make a peanutbutter & jelly sand which and cut of the crusts? Busy Moms that's who. Busy Moms that already tried three meals with a picky eater and is exhausted. So when you see me happily plate one of these bad boys to my kid my forehead should read:Smuckers saved a Mom.
I already had crazy love for Smuckers. I didn't need convincing on how great the brand is. So when I got an e-mail today offering up an amazing giveaway to local readers, and a fantastic opportunity for people that adore ice skating to get a little VIP treatment, I jumped at the chance.
The Smucker's Stars On Ice 25th Anniversary Tour is on the road again! Headlining this awesome event is the 2010 Olympic Gold Medalist Evan Lysacek! Smuckers is offering an exciting opportunity to "Be Evan's Guest". This includes a chance to be his VIP guest at the East Rutherford, NJ performance on April 2! Travel, accommodations, and VIP tickets to the performance is all included! AND IT GETS BETTER! You and a guest will also have dinner with Olympic star and receive a backstage tour! All you have to do is go to the Smuckers website and ENTER!
As for you local Connecticut or neighboring state, ice skating lovers, here is your chance to WIN a FAMILY 4-PK of tickets to the tours April 9, 7:30 event in Bridgeport, CT! All you have to do is leave a comment with either your favorite Smuckers product or your favorite ice skating star!!! The winner will be chosen at random on Thursday March 18th. Tweet or facebook this giveaway and get another entry! Entries close by noon on March 18th!
Good luck! And don't stress yourself out with your picky eaters tonight--grab a box of Uncrustables!
A review of the program will be featured on this blog as well in the near future!
Happy New Year to all of you! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and tried/received some new products that have excited you! (feel free to tell me what new things are making you psyched!) Here are a few things that were hits in our home!
Kids Hits:
*Santa recently got theCrayola® Erasable Activity Table and Chair Set for the kids this Christmas and it was clearly the bell of the ball! They use it for everything (from playing to eating)! We bought it at Bed Bath and Beyond who currently have it on CLEARANCE! If any of you fellows Moms out there don't have a sturdy set of kid tables and chairs this is a steal for $20! We also purchased two added chairs that are now also on clearance!
*Addison has been all about art! She recently discovered a Doodle Pro at her cousins house, and it became apparent she needed one! My sister decided to give her an added belated Christmas gift and sent her one! We have had to pry it out of her hands at times to move onto something new! It certainly was a perfect gift for a wee one her age!
*Grammy and Grampy also purchased a "hit gift" for BOTH his and her items!
Her:
The Red Retro Pottery Barn Kitchen has been given MAD love by both kids! It is very pricey! However it is made so well, and has so many cute features! We hope to add onto the collection for her birthday!
His:
Rylan has been asking for trucks like his friend Matthew owns. They are huge, detailed, and made well! The main one he wanted was a "round and round" truck (aka cement truck), but thanks to giving grandparents he got three Bruder trucks!
The kids were so blessed this Christmas that they have yet to open all that they have received. I will post more items they received that are hits in the future, as we move through the mountain of blessings.
Mom Hits:
*Zumba Wear! After a year and a half of falling in love with Zumba I decided to put Zumba gear on my Christmas list! It was pricey, but WOW is it made for dancing! I love love love it! If you are a Zumba lova like myself-treat yourself to these:
* Shakira's new album! While on the Zumba kick, I heard some of Shakira's new album Sale El Sol and was hooked! If you like to shake it-you must buy it!
*Clothes from Francesca's Collections! I was down in West Palm Beach last October when I ran into a boutique that I thought was unique and one of a kind. To my surprise, it was actually a chain, and we actually had one tucked in a corner at our local mall that I hadn't noticed before. I find their clothes to be trendy but not skanky, young but not to youthful. It is a perfect fit for the days I want to be out of my Mom sweat pants, but not in Ann Taylor. They also have the most FAB jewelry! While down in Florida, they hosted a "buy a necklace and get a pair of earrings for a penny"! Can't beat a deal like that!
*Eddie Bauer's Cotton/Cashmere sweaters ROCK! I was given one as a gift, and everytime I wear one I am constantly patted and told "OOOOOhhh you feel so nice". I recently went to the outlet and found then on CLEARANCE for $11.99!!! (previous $34.00). I bought another one, and a few for the family! If you get a chance to head to the outlets make sure to see if they have this beauty on the rack!
I was also incredibly blessed this holiday, and have yet to read all the books I was given and listen to all the cds. I am sure some of them will make it onto future review lists! I have a feeling Jay-Z's book Decoded will be a great one!
*Zac Brown Band Pete is loving them! Especially "Chicken Fried"!
And his other musical love...
Sugarland You should hear him sing "Stuck Like Glue"
He is totally digging country this year! Not sure what got into him since he also recieved Taylor Swifts new one!
What awesome things did you get these holidays that you think others would love?
Thanks for your input, and for your loyalty as readers since I don't often get to update this lil' ol' review blog! You all help me to pay the bills around here, and for that I am forever grateful!
Happy 2011! May it be great, and full of new things to rave about!
I have a lot of "Christmas Card" people. Some I actually speak with, some I haven't talked to in years, and a few I have never even met thanks to my husbands very large side of the family. I looked everywhere for a decent card to send at a decent price. I considered doing a Group A and a Group B --A being the "better" card, and B being just a plain ol' card. When discussing this with a friend she mentioned checking out Costco. I don't know why, but I expected cheaply made, and limited amounts of choice. I was so WRONG! Not only did I get a stylish, large photo card that I got to edit and design online, I also got lined envelopes, and the ability to pick up at the warehouse so there was no shipping charge. I bought 130 of them... and I paid...drum roll PLEASE..... $31 AND got 7 free photo calendars along with it! I am never ever checking out any other site again!
*Need A Gift--A Little Something--But Have NO Ideas?
Don't worry! HomeGoods has got it! With a large inventory of so many different things for so many different ages, there is so much to choose from! BlogHer & HomeGoods gave me a $25 gift card toward my holiday shopping this year! It became a contest within my own head of how many things I could get for $25 for how many people! This is what I purchased: A Rachel Ray knife, a bath toy, a note cube with pen (perfect for an added teacher gift!), beginners chop sticks, organic lollipops, and some chocolates! It took me hours to choose these things, as I kept adding and subtracting to my basket because of all of the amazing choices they had. I even contemplated being a giver this holiday season and donating some of it to the customer after me--but.... I got greedy...and I ended up going over my said $25 and spent .91 cents!
*Don't Be Fooled!
I was so excited by the prices I found in the Lakeside catalog. I put in a MIGHTY order, and had felt such relief that not only did I make a huge dent in my shopping before Thanksgiving, I also got it at a great price! Then I noticed that the website ordered one of my items the wrong character (I was buying Rylan Scooby Doo pants and they came up as a Sponge Bob). I emailed the company right away and got nothing but an automated, confusing response. I figured I would just return them and get the right ones when I received the order. When I got them I went to the UPS office to find out the shipping would be ON ME! $8.95 for $8.95 pants (literally). I called Lakeside to ask for reimbursement since a. it was THEIR mistake, b. I tried to contact them prior and got a crap e-mail more then once, and c. why would ANYONE return an item that they have to pay the same about in shipping. They said they don't do that and they can't help me. I have YET to get my money back, or new pants. As of today I am out $18! Needless to say I am still fighting this fight!
*Gifts in a Jar
Who doesn't love cookies? Or cocoa? Or a soup that all you have to do is add water? This is why I love to make gifts in a jar! It is so simple to assemble, and the receiver only has to dump the contents and add minimal things to it inorder to have newly baked cookies, or a hot cup of cocoa! If you are looking to make small gifts for people and need to do it on a budget--get your measuring cups out and your mason jars! I haven't done mine yet but here is what I am talking about:
I am sure you have seen them at the stores on sale for like $20!!!! Don't bother spending that
much when you can
easily make 4 for that price!
Need some help with ideas? NO WORRIES--there are awesome books out there like this one:
That literally take the guessing game out of it for you!!!!! Happy hand-craft gifting!
*Other ideas to keep in mind while out shopping:
My local Scholastic Book Warehouse is having a massive book sale this week. I am planning on purchasing all those extra little gifts that I need to supplement. I buy for what feels like a million kids, and lets face it, books is ALWAYS a perfect gift (says teacher). They also do awesome sales like fill a box for a certain amount of money, and offer $10 and $25 off coupons!
Target, Wal-mart, Starbucks, Dunken' are ALWAYS good choices for small giftcards for people you don't quite know well enough to buy a specialty store card for. For men there is always Best Buy and Home Depot! As for teachers--my sister (who has long been a 1st grade teacher since forever ago) says bookstores are the way to go! My two years of full time teaching gave me little to judgement since being in the inner city, and just grateful for chocolate! However I can see why chocolate gets a little uncreative on the teacher end. How much could one have from 30 students?
You might have seen this on my other blog--but ... While organizing gifts to wrap and to "hide", I have been putting them in designated trash bags with labels on them. Then the wrapping mountain doesn't seem so large, and I feel like I have control of it!
Music. Isn't the holidays all about music! My all time two favorites are:
AWESOME! One month isn't enough to this to this!
And...
Ok...I just bought this one..but seriously.....AMAZING!
Happy shopping, happy cooking/baking, happy wrapping, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Contest is now closed! Guess WHAT McDonald's rocks so much that you are ALLLLLLLLL WINNERS! That's right! Send me your address to aimeelovesnyc@yahoo.com in the next 24 hours and you won yourself (or for your kid) a pail and a coupon for the dippers!
You may recall my September post I had mentioned my love for McDonald's. I have mad crazy love for Mickey D's! Like wide open arms in the air hug, big red pumping heart love. I mean what Mom doesn't? It is the answer to our everyday, rush by the seat of our pants, "whats for lunch" question. And if your kid is anything like my four year old, it is one of the four things on this earth he will willingly consume. My love for McDonald's isn't only about their yummy, fast food. It is also for the charity work they continue to do. Right now they are asking us to donate our minutes with our families for charity! All you have to do is go to their website and donate family minutes in honor of the Ronald McDonald House, and whalah.... you did yourself a good deed without it costing a penny, just costing family time! Who doesn't need more family time in this crazy fast world we live in!
Since I voiced my Mc'love on my blogs many times, and even posted some silly pictures of myself wearing a bejeweled type McDonald's bad on my head, they asked if I would be interesting in receiving their Happy Meal Halloween Pails for both of my kids! They were last seen in 2001 and now back in full effect! They come with cute stickers to dress up the Mr. Potato Heads, and best of all they are in conjunction with another one of my fav brands: HASBRO! So they sent them to my kids and they clearly loved them: Rylan also loved the personal Halloween card from "THE McDonald's". To him it was like recieving a love note from Miley Cyrus. Addison is a wee to little to put the stickers on her bucket, but she sure loved carrying it around and putting things in an out of it. The best part is you can take off the handle and use it as a face mask!
Of course I wouldn't be telling you how much my kids LOVEEEEEEEEEE these pails to just rub in your face! McDonald's has offered to give you one too! Six readers will win not only a pail but coupons for FREE McDonalds Apple Dippers! All you have to do is one or all (increase your chances)of the following:
*tell me about your favorite family Halloween memory
*go to this Facebook website and follow promps to donate family time for charity
Six Winners will be randomly choosen by Thursday October 21 2010 8 pm est. US residents only! Winner must provide information to blogger ASAP after drawing to ensure a pail delivery by Halloween! Good luck and get commenting!
Contest is closed!!!! Thanks toRandom.org the winner is: #5 Congrats Rebecca. Send me your address ASAP!!!!! So that you can have some extra candy on hand for Halloween, or you can stash it underneath your sofa where your kids can't find it!
I was excited to get an e-mail offering a free trial and a Halloween giveaway for Butterfinger Snackerz. Just as I had mentioned before, they are the perfect little snack for a chocolate/peanutbutter lift up, one may need while trying to conquer the world (or the BlogHer'10 expo floor). I was already sold on the product, so when they came in the mail I gave it to the TRUE test taster. You know the four year old who eats next to nothing unless it is dunked in Ketchup! He liked it! He really really liked it! So much so I had to hide the bag and promise them as treats for good behavior. Meanwhile, I also hide them in my purse for when I need a little pick me up, and luckily since I am an adult, I can even snack on them when I am being BAD! And what does my bad behavior, and my love for Butterfinger get you: Just leave me a comment stating what Nestle treat is your MUST have. One that you would consider hiding from your kids (or your pet, or your greedy friends/roommates). You can win your very own bags of treats just in time for Halloween! Winner will be drawn randomly this Thursday night at 8pm est. Winner must provide address within 24 hours in order for Nestle to send out your gift in time for HALLOWEEN! Open to U.S. residents only! (sorry!)
I saved a bag to give out to my neighborhood on Halloween, as I know they will be a hit! I have given some to friends, and family, and not one person has frowned upon such a delightful item. If you sadly are not the winner of this drawing have no fear! This yummy product is in store now and is the MUST HAVE item in your Halloween bowl!
I know you have been wondering where I ran off too, or if I gave up on this thing. Heck no, I am here reviewing anything and everything anyone is willing to let me do, as long as it seems fitting for a Mom to do. This means the mountain, and I do mean mountain, of free stuff I came home with from BlogHer'10. I know it has been well over a month since the event, but the digging, and trying out new stuff takes time, and between you and me, I am not done!
So here I am starting off with some products I love, some people I met from different companies that floored me, and well... some other companies that left such a bad taste in my mouth, I might just skip over their brand this Christmas season. Pull up a chair, get a pen & paper, because this is going to be a long one folks!
In random order:
Eucerin:
Holy swag bag batman! Full size products that make a girl feel soft and beautiful--SOLD. My favorite is the Everyday Protection Face Lotion, it is light, and feels perfect on my not so perfect skin. They also gave us a full size of the Daily Skin Balance Skin-Fortifying Body Lotion which I am sure to love this Winter when my skin get all scale like and dry. I am also a huge avid lover of their Aquaphor line, and snagged a lip repair that I am sure will also make my Winter days a bit easier. What I haven't tried and hope to in the future is their Baby collection. I am guessing if this brand can make me feel soft and happy, it can do the same for my little one. Thank you Eucerin!
Udderly Smooth:
I had fantastically nice roommates at BlogHer'10. One being one of my very favorite friends of all times, who gave me loads of stuff out of her awesome Udderly Smooth swag basket that she won from a twitter giveaway. Can I just say that I absolutely love their Shea Butter Foot Cream! It felt so silky, and fabulous that I wished I could fill the bathtub with it and plop my entire being in it! (you think I am kidding!--I'm not). I have also used their Udder Cream before prior to BlogHer and never felt let down by its results.
Jimmy Dean:
Dear Jimmy Dean, love your sausage and my encounter with "the sun", but I am going to go out on a limb here and say: the alarm clocks you gave to all of us were a waste of money. By the looks of the freebee room, I am pretty sure nobody went home with one. A coupon for free sausages would have been a better giveaway!
Kmart:
Thank you for giving us bags of toys without a pitch, and including fantastic coupons. Love the free toys but man did they fall apart easy!
Fisher-Price:
We were the first people at your booth, bright eyed and bushy tailed. We listened to your pitch about your company for well over 20 minutes. It was fun to see your new toys, and creations. Forgive me for sounding totally ungrateful over here, but when I took a spin on your cute wheel and all you gave me was a newborn diaper sample (for your information I don't even have a newborn to put it on), I am not going to lie, I found it to be a major let down. If you are going to give me 1 diaper sample that I can't even use while Hasbro gave us potato heads in our hotel rooms, playdough bags in our welcome bag, and free stuff at their booth, the least can do is either a) quit the pitch and my time, or b) use those samples many of us couldn't use and donate them to a cause for women that could use them. I would have felt much better about my time and your company if you had put a little bit more of an effort into considering this, or the fact you gave my fellow friends gifts for their kids and I walked a way with ... 1 newborn diaper for my 1 and 4 year old. Dude--not even a coupon? Note to self: while making Christmas' lists this year make note of who makes what, and for me I am going with the brands that respected my time.
Proctor & Gamble
I got mad crazy love for P&G after walking through their house in the expo center and talking to some amazing people. It started out with this interview:
Which I loved doing! And then I learned about how they are making a difference in their clean water, hence my participation in their Blogivation project this past August. This included a demo of their PUR packet which was designed to purify 10 liters of water from one little packet. It was amazing to see. Some of my favorite products I got from the P&G Home Away From Home that I plan to repurchase is as follows:
I was also given a PUR water filter system that sadly doesn't fit on our faucet. However, I have used them before and love them. We are planning to get a new faucet in the near future and make great use of this!
Swiffer Duster Huge crazy fan of this and the Swiffer wetjet (I did not get one of those too).
There were so many products that they provided for us. I haven't used them all, but if I do in the future and love them I will certainly post about it!
Arm & Hammer
Spinbrush Sonic AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME. It came to us with a free tube of Advance White Brillinat Sparkle toothpaste. Never loved electric toothbrush before this, and now it is all I use.
Playskool/Hasbro
When We got our welcome bags we got excited over the little things we received (a free pack of gum, and a granola bar!), since it was our first BlogHer and had NO IDEA the amount of free stuff that was to come. However, that big "bang" gift out of welcome bag wasn't just a wee little sample of play-doh it was an entire bag/kit of it! I knew that if I went home with this, at the very least, my son would be happy! Playskool/Hasbro didn't stop there! As we also found Mr. and Mrs. Potato head laying on our hotel beds! (sadly they only put two to a room of three of us, but thankfully we found another one in the recycle room so that all of our kids would enjoy this freebie!). Now, you are probably thinking the giving stops there right? wrong. Hasbro was smart enough to realize they were catering to Mommy Bloggers who were away from their kids! So they set up a station to color postcards, write cute notes, and sent them to our kids! (how cute is that!) They also showed us their new products, AND gave out our fair share of free Weebles! Not to mention they were kind, considerate of our time, and I didn't waste my time spinning some wheel for a diaper! And of course there was this:
Eggland's Best
Seriously this is now the only brand of eggs I buy! We got to take a spin on this slot machine an win a prize! I picked the obvious FREE dozen eggs! Along with that I walked away with some great coupons, and they left with a new costumer. Since I have tried their eggs, I haven't swayed!
Nick Jr. & Sprout
I lumped these two together because they are both two of my kids favorite networks! Sprout gave out some handy little things (a coloring book, puzzles, DVD's and a chance to win a birthday party with Barney!). Nick Jr. is a bit fuzzy but I know I got this:
Either way, my family continues to be a fan of both networks, and I love (especially Sprout) how they intertwine learning with entertainment.
JVC
I have been running for about year with my good ol' ipod headphones and growing frustrated with the fact they kept falling out. I was also frustrated with the fact that if they were not completely in, the sound was muffled, or weak. Luckily at the Mouthy Housewives Party I received these headphones in our gift bag! I just tried them this week, and let me tell you, an entirely different running experience happened! I particularly love running to Jay-Z, and I felt as if I was at his concert. The sound was crystal clear, and the headphones stayed in place no matter how hard I was pounding the pavement.
LG
Another AWESOME AMAZING parting gift from the Mouthy Housewives cocktail event, was the best vacuum I have ever owned. I am not just saying this since I got a FREE $400 vacuum delivered at my doorstep. I am saying this because my carpets have never looked better. Ok so warning, it is NOT light, but that's ok because it is AWESOME. The attachments are all connected, and it lowers on 3 levels to get closer to the ground for amazing pick up. The only bummer was no cord retrieval, but for clean floors--I'll take it! Tell everyone you know who is looking for a vacuum that this IS the ONE. Thank you LG!
Nestle Butterfinger
I love peanut butter, it brings me weak at the knees. For all the little samples being handed out, I could not pass up this one, because who doesn't love a butterfinger? They held my appetite in between meals while at BlogHer. I also got word that I will be receiving a special Halloween giveaway for my Blog! Keep tuned it for a chance to win!
Pillsbury
So yes, I poked the doughboy:
He was quite doughy! He didn't do his famous laugh for me though!
So Pillsbury--HOLY MOLY. The Sweet Moments Brownies! I think we are getting married! They gave out a free coupon to purchase a bag, and I also got a free coupon to purchase one of their Simply breads which were also full of yum! We also toppled over the dessert both they set up which was filled of yummy things to snack on! What have I ever had from Pillsbury that made me frown--nothing!
Assets By Sara Blakely
It's not often you get excited about something that is going to suck all your fat in and make you look a size smaller, but I nearly jumped for joy! I got two of these bad boys, and from the moment I wore my first pair I was declaring my love for them. Ok --so the down for is the after lines of sticking the sausage into the casing. And... alright I nearly hyperventalited while in the car driving what felt like an elastic band slowly sucking the life out of me, BUT (and a big BUT)---girls I LOOKED GOOOOOODDDD. Can't fit in a dress that is a size smaller then what you actually are? Assets has your back. (and all of that other unwanted areas that might be sticking out). A girls got to do what a girls got to do inorder to look good!
Crabtree & Evelyn
I got this item in a packed back I won through a twitter giveaway. It was tiny and I thought, "gosh who needs more samples". I was about to give it away to friends, and then I tried it. Believe me if I didn't think this product was OUTSTANDING I wouldn't be writing about it. My feet never felt better! Their 60 second fix for feet is the absolute best, and smells great! It is already on my Christmas list!
Diapers.com/Soap.com
Diapers/Soap.com have a huge following of loyal customers. I knew when I got a free $20 coupon with free shipping, it was a golden ticket. Instead of going with the "norm" and getting diapers in the mail, I actually bought something Addison needed: new shoes. That's right people I got FREE Robeez (on sale at the time for $19.99) all thanks to s Diapers.com!!!! I had a new pair of shoes for little girl with in days! Tell me that's not awesome! Diapers.com gives out awesome deals like this often, and for first time shoppers, their is always a discount!
Seriously I was a giddy school girl meeting her! I also got to get shaved by models:
Enjoy Cocktails:
And some lovely singing by Gavin Degraw:(which I wondered why Jewel wasn't singing--isn't that the entire theme song to their razors?)
And had an Amazing time with my friends:
Not to mention a gift bag which held my all time favorite razor that I loved even before this awesome party!
MCDONALD'S
What I loved about the McDonald's both was that they had a place you could donate "family time" toward raising funds for the Ronald McDonald house. I always love to see something that is giving back, and helping others. They also featured an entire board about healthy meals, and how fast food doesn't always have to mean mega calories! The best part of McDonald's being involved in BlogHer'10 was the infamous Cheeseburger Party! Who doesn't look fab with a golden arch bag on their head:
They even tossed in some free coupons for their new Angus Beef Wraps! If you want one, be the first two to comment with a, "I want one", and send me your info to my e-mail address posted on my other blog or in my bio!
There was so many other items I took home, have yet to use, or used and was like "eh" ok. There are also some I can't even remember, gave away, or donated to the recycle room. Regardless BlogHer'10 was a hit in the swag department! I can't imagine what it will be like if I get to go to next years in Cali, and trying to send all it home! I thank all of the companies for allowing me to try out their products, and hopefully I will be able to continue to feature some of their "best" in upcoming review posts!
ps. no August or September favorites thanks to spending that past two months trying out all of these things! We will be back in business this October! And don't forget first two comments that say "I want it" get a free Angus Wrap!
