Acure review

Having healthy, moisturized skin is just as important to me as having healthy, vibrant hair. Your skin protects you from the outside elements. In these summer months, I've let my face go a bit. And it's beginning to show. Florida is hot and very humid. Though there is moisture in the air, it dries out your skin. It's important to always stay hydrated and well moisturized. However, using just any lotions, cleansers, primers or products can be damaging to your skin rather than good. I recently received products to try for a review from Acure. They claim to have "ACURE for your skin * ACURE for the planet". They sent me a variety of things to try. Of course, the day or two before I get them, I get sunburned from a trip to the pool without sunscreen...

First thing I tried of course was the Oil Control Facial Moisturizer (which my face desperately needed after the burn). It didn't take a lot to douse my face with and the moisturized feeling stayed all day while at work. Normally my forehead would begin to oil up within 3 or so hours. Not with this stuff. I don't sport that shiny glow too when I use this. And even while walking about outside in the heat and humidity, it's still not drying out or oiling up. Its lilac scent is my favorite. It hydrates and prevents oil-causing sheen breakouts.
The next thing I used was the Facial Cleansing Crème in the Argan oil and mint scent. I love the fresh scent while I'm washing my face! I felt refreshed and clean. I’ve also noticed a good difference in my pores.

*After cleansing my face, before going to work*
I hate having to wash and then condition my hair. I know they are both cleansing and such, but it takes too long. I’m a home schooling mother of three who works part time, is now volunteering as an instructor for Sea Cadets and then I write this blog. Plus there are all the other daily needs I have to attend to. Showers are quick and practical. Conditioning is optional. I usually just want to use a 2 in 1. But I got to try an alternative that I really enjoyed. The Leave-In Conditioner is quick and easy to use. It comes in spray form so there is no worry of having oily, greasy, conditioned fingers afterward as some brands can leave you feeling. Just a couple quick squirts and I can be on my way. I also like that it has detangling abilities. My hair is getting longer and it's thick, coarseness makes it prone to knots. The scent I received is minty with a hint of the Argan oil.

*After being at work all afternoon/evening*

Lastly, I also had the seriously hydrating Facial Toner. It also comes in spray form. You simply mist your face with this and it begins hydrating throughout the day. Its scent is that of Argan oil with mint I believe. When you use this with the cleanser, they make a great pair. Clean and hydrated face that lasts all day!

Overall, I’m beginning to like the minty smell. I’ve gotten things with the Argan oil and thought, no way will I use that! But these were different. Its subtle and blended so well that you won’t notice it. Lilac is strong, but something I’ve always loved. Using it in the moisturizer is great. My favorite of these four would have to be the moisturizer followed closely by the leave-in conditioner.

These products are vegan, sulfate free, cruelty free, synthetic fragrance free, paraben free, petroleum free, phthalate free, silicone free, gluten free, won't clog your pores, 100% biodegradable, and made right here in the United States.

Check them out and don’t forget to leave me a comment about what you think. Acure provides products for your face, body, lips, and hair. I like the fact their website organizes the products by your skin type as well. If you want to find an online retailer, they have several listed or you can purchase directly from their website. You can also check them out on Twitter and Facebook.

Turketarians Unite Butterball party via House Party

Tonight was a huge success! Why? I hosted my very first House Party. It was from Butterball and all about Turketarians Uniting!

They sent a huge party pack filled with reusable bags, coupons,

magnet sets,

footballs, a recipe book, a turkey hat,

an apron, cards about the new app Butterball has, a timer that is magnetic so I can hang it on the refrigerator, a Frisbee, plates, cups, and even napkins.

And then of course there was the $40 gift card to buy Butterball products to prepare for my guests.

We planned everything out to maximize the fun and food experiences.

I used the reusable bags as goodie bags to put all the things for my guests in. My husband wore the apron and hat while cooking,

until the kids came and wanted to wear the hat (Mr. Gobbles). There are some amazing recipes both in the book and the app. I downloaded the app, which if you haven't checked it out - you should! You can pick recipes, save them, then it will create a shopping list for you so you know what to get next time you go to the store. I LOVE it!

The night before the party, we set up everything. We bought a blue table cloth and some yellow and blue streamers.

I printed out some of the Butterball logos and the Turketarians Unite logo to hang and post around as well.

The day of the party, we cooked everything we had made a menu for: spaghetti with turkey

(my meatballs came out poorly since I can't make meatballs to save my life), turkey bacon covered nachos

 turkey tacos

(one of the favorites), and cheesy turkey and rice casserole

(tied for first place with the tacos in the favorites).

Snacks for those waiting were crackers stacked with either deep fried deli turkey slices or garlic and herb chicken slices and cheese.

We had two families come with kids everywhere.

Everyone ate to their fullness and had a wonderful time.

We discussed recipes, tastes and surprise at some of the products they didn't know existed from Butterball.

When everyone was ready to head home (well after the planned 2 hours),

I handed out goodie bags to the adults and the footballs to the kids.

The food was great. The bacon looks strange but tastes pretty good still. The turkey breast cooks juicier than the chicken and tastes so good. Ground turkey is nothing new here. We actually prefer using it since it isn't as greasy as beef.

Don't forget to leave me a comment on what you think as I love to hear from you! Thanks for reading.

Pleygo via US Family Guide review

I recently spoke about a promotion that US Family Guide was hosting with its bloggers concerning Pleygo. It's a Netflix-like service but for Legos!

We signed up for our account and received our first set, the Friends City Park Cafe.

It's a wonderful Friends set that is incredibly detailed. We sat down as a family to put it together. It came with everything (even the spare parts) and the stickers.

Inside the box, there were instructions on how to play safely, how to use the set, and how to send it back.

We had to upgrade to the SuperFan plan since the regular Fan plan does not include the Duplo Lego sets. They hope to make it more affordable so that even those with the Fan plan can rent some Duplo sets for the younger builders. In the meantime, they were holding a promotion that allowed those with Fan plans to upgrade to SuperFan without adding a charge. Likewise, if you have the SuperFan, you can get a free upgrade to MegaFan but still pay the same price as Super.
My boys had an amazing time building this set!

Granted, their tiny fingers had a little trouble with some of the delicate maneuvers - but I didn't mind helping out.

Once completed, we could all sit back and admire it.

My husband and I have built our own Lego city that we would post updates about on YouTube. And we have decided that this is a set we would like to add to our own collection later on, but would modify to fit our City needs. It gave us the ability to test it out and decide whether or not it was something we liked. Plus, you pay a flat monthly fee and can build several sets whereas, were you to buy them... You'd be paying hundreds of dollars and may not want them afterwards. This way you can play for a time, save money and don't worry about having those dropped pieces underfoot later. Ever step on a loose Lego in the middle of the night? You also don't have to worry about having the extra space for the multiple sets. We currently have our office space overrun with the Lego collection we built up over the past few years. We had to stop since our place now is getting too small. And the Lego itch has taken its toll...

Our boys also have a Rubbermaid bin full of Duplo Legos that we have gotten them in the past couple years. They build their own cities, complete with trains, Disney Cars and all the little details a kid could want.
Pleygo is also having a cool contest. Winner gets a year of MegaFan subscription! That gives you access some to heavy Lego building fun. Also, you can give them your sets to add to their rentals and they will give you credit towards renting from them. So if you have sets laying around collecting dust but want to try out the service... maybe a trade?

Hi I'm Skinny sticks review and giveaway!

I don't tend to follow the "suggested" serving size that bags have. I'm not the type who counts and when I have counted out chips in particular... My eyes tell my stomach that is surely not enough! The average serving size is about 14 chips. Hi I'm Skinny are so much healthier, you could eat double that amount to match the calories! There are six delicious flavors to choose from. These are also multi-grain snacks, which are becoming a favorite for me especially since they are high in fiber. I'll go through each one and let you know what my family thought.

The multi-grain Cheddar sticks are light and crispy. My 1 year old daughter went to town with a double-fisted snack attack. Definitely a noticeable cheesy-ness but not with the yellowed fingertips most cheese snacks bring. This bag didn’t stand a chance against my family or my mom and siblings who had some on a visit.

The Sweet Potato sticks are indeed sweet. I'm not a fan of sweet potatoes though and my kids didn't get past the second one before they were also done. My mother and siblings enjoyed the sweetness. My mom thought they had an almost cinnamon taste to them.

The multi-grain Sweet Onion ones were among my favorites. Like my mom put it, "The onion ones tasted just like Funyuns . Very good and onioney." (See where I get my made up words from?)

(Can you tell what my husband was snacking on when we opened this bag?)

Next we have the Veggie Tortilla Sticks. They are made of spinach, carrots, and tomato flavors, but aren't very strong on the taste buds. They still made a great grab and go snack. I think they might be better with ranch dip…

On top of the list for favorites - the multi-grain Tangy BBQ were amazing! So full of flavor and ooohh soo good! They are indeed tangy. Reminds me a bit of a hickory flavoring. All of my children dug in too. I was sad to see this bag vanish so quickly and can’t wait to get more.

The last flavor was the multi-grain Sea Salt. Definitely able to taste the grains. Not so much the salt. So if you can't or don't like the salty flavor on your chips, these are perfect. I’m more of a flavor seeker, so I’d prefer these with a dip as well.

For the Veggie and Sea Salt flavors, my PR contact at Hi I'm Skinny offered up a suggestion for the dips that she liked most with these: "With the Veggie Tortilla and the Sea Salt, my favorite dips to pair with are Hummus, Jalapeño Greek Yogurt Dip and a good Pico de Gallo! The Jalapeño Greek Yogurt dip that I love is at Costco." Just a suggestion!

Over all they are all natural, vegan, and non-GMO. They are made with whole grains, have no trans-fat and no cholesterol. You can eat more of these than regular chips with the same nutrition facts percentages. I love the "stick" texture and shape better than chips because they are easier to eat with less mess. I think they are more on the kid-friendly side as well. You can find out which local stores are carrying them in your area here. Like them on Facebook so you can keep up with any new flavors or news they might have. They are also on Twitter and Pinterest. Leave me comment about what your thoughts are and if you have tried them too!

Now its time for some fun! Hi I'm Skinny has been gracious enough to offer up two sampler boxes to 2 winners! Each box will contain 6 full sized bags of the various flavors they have. It is open to all 50 States and US territories, as well as to Canada. So be sure and enter and let me know what you think. I look forward to sharing something so tasty with you!

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Kashi Sea Salt and Olive Oil Hummus Crisps review

Being a BzzAgent, I recently received a bag of Kashi's new Hummus Crisps. They were Sea Salt and Olive Oil. The taste was great. Though they are a little better with hummus or dip. Light in texture and weight, they are a great snack to take on the go or share with family and friends.

The olive oil taste was surprisingly good, though light. And they aren't very salty. I brought them to work and shared with a coworker who's immediate joy was evident. Try some, or their other flavors and let me know what you think! Kashi does stand for wholesome and tasty.

noblo review

I finally made a trip to the beach after receiving my noblo for review.

It's essentially a sack that you fill with sand.

Then you use the attached leash to Velcro around the top of your umbrella near the spokes. You put this bag of sand in the direction of the wind to hold your umbrella in place.

We followed the steps (except my husband attached the strap too far down). I only had one issue with this product - when I went to move the leash down and pulled on the Velcro, it detached from the material it was sewn to. It still works to do what it's meant to though. After alerting the owner to this, she informed me that they have a quality control unit, but sometimes, as with anything manufactured, the defects aren't always caught. She offered to ship me another one. We love having the umbrella shade since our family is mostly made up of fair-skinned children. Burning under the Florida sun is easy when you are fooled by the cool breezes.
We had some light breezy gusts on our trial day. The noblo kept the umbrella in place. No chasing after it for us! This was great since the babies were sitting under it with my husband. Hard to run after an umbrella with a toddler in hand. You can get your own noblo on their website for $16.50 each. Shipping was prompt and it came within a week for me. I love the blue, but there are some other nice colors to choose from as well. Each one is made of sturdy nylon with a Velcro closure. My final reason for liking this company? Made right here in the States, New Jersey to be precise. Started by moms ;-) So check them out and leave a comment telling me what you think about them!

BuildASign.com business cards review

I just received 250 business cards as a review promotion from BuildASign.com.

I created a personalized design using the easy to understand tools they provide. I didn't have to download anything. It took less than 10 minutes to create the cards for my husbands Lego business. They have designs you can use as well with imagery and preset boxes where you add your own texts. The cards are on durable card stock. They look so professional. My husband is thrilled.
As a blogger looking to expand my audience and my husband who is looking to take his Lego selling from a hobby to an actual home based business, business cards are a welcome way of advertising. Especially since they are far more portable and less pricey than other ways. BuildASign.com has other advertising options as well such as banners, various magnets, signs, bumper stickers, license plates, decals, stakes and frames, and more! Some of these are even shipped free. I did the math for the business cards. 250 cards for $13.99 = .05 each! Not bad when you consider the return you'd get for your business being promoted.
I great recommend you checking them out. I even have a nifty button on the side of my blog so if you want to get to them quick and don't want to search for this post, just check the right side there! Let me know what you think about them. I love hearing from my readers.