reviews

you are loved

Melissa

This past month has been big for my Ellie. She turned 9. Then she got her own room. We’ve had so much fun picking out things for her room.
My favorite piece is this plaque:

It says:
Loved by God,
just as I am.
Made in His image
and part of His plan.”

I love it. Ellie was thrilled. She placed it right on her dresser and next to her mirror. (How appropriate – I need this next to my mirror!)

I want her to know this. I want her to remember this as she heads into her tween years – those awkward years when you’re stuck in the ugly duckling stage, trying to figure out who you are. I want her to remember that she is loved beyond what she can imagine by so many people, but most especially by God. I want her to remember God’s sovereignty over every area of her life.

I also received two of these gorgeous mugs.

They say “She didn’t have to be perfect because she was… Perfectly Loved {1 John 4:8}” I immediately wrapped one up for a friend. A friend I just adore and deeply admire. I know that she – like me – struggles with feeling overwhelmed with life and all her responsibilities. As wives and moms, we have so much on our plates and the world constantly screams at us that we are not enough. We’re not pretty enough, we’re not rich enough, we’re not skinny enough, we’re not doing enough for our kids or our husbands, our house isn’t clean enough… do I even need to go on? I need to drink my morning coffee out of this mug – and remember every day that I am loved and His grace is sufficient.

All of these products are available on Inspired deals! And will make terrific Mother’s Day and Graduation gifts!!
disclosure: i received these products to facilitate this review. all opinions are, as always, my own.

mirror mirror sneak peek *giveaway*

Melissa 38 Comments

One of the most beloved stories of all time is coming to life in the motion picture event, Mirror Mirror.  A fresh and funny retelling of the Snow White legend, Mirror Mirror features breakout star Lily Collins (The Blind Side) as Snow White, a princess in exile, and Oscar®-winner Julia Roberts as the evil Queen who ruthlessly rules her captured kingdom. Seven courageous rebel dwarfs join forces with Snow White as she fights to reclaim her birthright and win her Prince in this magical adventure comedy filled with jealousy, romance and betrayal that will capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences the world over.  The film also stars Armie Hammer (The Social Network) as the Prince and Nathan Lane (The Birdcage) as the hapless and bungling servant to the Queen.

I ADORE Julia Roberts!! I’m so excited to see this – the previews look amazing!

How would you like to go with me to see Mirror Mirror before anyone else? Well, here’s your chance!

WIN IT!

I have FIVE family 4-packs to an special advance screening of the film next Thursday, March 22 at 7:00PM at the UA King of Prussia!!*

To enter, tell me your favorite Julia Roberts movie!!

Additional entries:
(please leave an additional comment for each entry completed)

2. Follow Mirror Mirror on Twitter.

3. Follow Girlymama on Twitter.

4. Subscribe to Girlymama daily updates either through your favorite RSS Reader or via email.

One winner will be selected at random using Random.org and will be notified by email. These are reserved seats and you will be on the guest list. But you MUST arrive before 6:45 or your seats may be forfeited. For other contest rules, see my giveaway policies page.

 

longwood gardens

Melissa

On Saturday it was sunny. Then it suddenly started to snow. Then it stopped. Then the sun came out again.
Weird.
But we decided to live life on the edge and head to Longwood Gardens anyway! (Who says the wild and crazy life ends when you have kids?)

Longwood Gardens is one of our favorite places in Philly. We’ve gone here on dates for lots of romantic strolling among flowers and we’ve brought the kids for some fun in the gardens. Its a quick drive from the Main Line out to Kennett Square. We were excited to visit in February, as we’ve never been to Longwood in the winter. We’ve gone in summer, of course, and to see the famous Spring Blooms where you can walk through an ocean of tulips (so so amazing) but never in the cold weather.

Saturday ended up being quite chilly, so we stuck to the lovely and warm indoor Conservatory for our visit. We brought along my in-laws – Longwood Gardens is a great place to bring out-of-towners, who may not be up for a trip into the city. My mother-in-law used to always bring her mom here. None of us had been in over a year, so we were looking forward to seeing what was new. The conservatory was just as breathtaking as I remembered. Flowers everywhere, the air smells amazing… its like walking into Eden.

image via longwoodgardens.org

The kids had a great time taking pictures. Longwood Gardens is an amazing place for budding photographers!

Colin was fascinated by the banana trees – he took so many pictures of the bananas!

The orchid exhibit was incredible.



The kids were inspired – they were talking about what flowers we should plant this year and what veggie plants we should try to grow. And they even got to get their hands dirty, leaning how to pot plants and each bringing home their own little spider plant.

Meet Spider-Girl, Grace’s plant.

We had a wonderful afternoon at Longwood Gardens. Our kids made us promise to go back on a warm day so we can explore all of the gardens!!

disclosure: we received a complimentary admission from visitphilly.com. all opinions are our own.

 

 

Gevalia Kaffe *GIVEAWAY*

Melissa 22 Comments

Its no secret that I love my coffee!! Pretty much any and all coffees are welcome in my house! So trying Gevalia Kaffe sounded fun! Gevalia Kaffe is from Sweden – it is an exquisitely rich smooth coffee experience that is never bitter.

In Sweden, where the citizens drink more coffee than almost anywhere else in the world, Gevalia is their preferred brand. In fact, Gevalia enjoys the honor of being an official coffee of the Swedish Royal Court. It used to be only available online, but its now available in their 10 most popular varieties at Safeway and other grocery stores!

The House Blend was my favorite – its a medium/dark roast that has a great rich flavor that is not bitter at all. (And it smelled amazing.) Perfect for breakfast! The French Roast is fabulous as well – a more intense, dark roast. This would be perfect compliment to a rich chocolate dessert!! I highly recommend both – especially if you don’t like bitter coffees. I was amazed how smooth these both were!

WIN IT!

Girlymama is giving away a Gevalia Kaffe prize pack, that includes

  • (1) sample of the House Blend from Gevalia Kaffe
  • (1) sample of the French Roast Blend from Gevalia Kaffe
  • A Gevalia Kaffe branded coffee mug

    • ;

To enter, tell me how you drink your coffee – black? With cream and sugar? With flavored creamer?

Additional entries:
(please leave an additional comment for each entry completed)

2. Follow Gevalia Kaffe on Twitter.

3. Follow Girlymama on Twitter.

4. Subscribe to Girlymama daily updates either through your favorite RSS Reader or via email.

One winner will be selected at random using Random.org and will be notified by email. Please have a U.S. Mailing address. For other contest rules, see my giveaway policies page.

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disclosure: Kraft Foods has provided sample product to me and is providing the prizes for this program at no cost to me. This program is not administered or sponsored by Kraft Foods or its affiliates, but solely by Girlymama.<\em>

cool sculpting: busy mom’s answer to problem areas

Melissa

I’ve been working out since the new year. I’m so proud that its February and I’m still with it! I’m seeing great results… except for my stomach. I swear, this post-three-baby belly is just not movin’, no matter how many crunches or laps around the track I do. Sigh. So frustrating. So I’m intrigued by CoolSculpting:

CoolSculpting® is the safe, effective and non-invasive way to reduce fat in common trouble areas that tend to be diet- and exercise-resistant.  Its a revolutionary new body contouring treatment that precisely targets the stubborn fat you want to lose – naturally, safely and without surgery or downtime. CoolSculpting® is FDA–clear and totally safe.

It is a medical fact that fat is uniquely susceptible to extreme cold. CoolSculpting turns the tables on fat by harnessing the power of cold to naturally trigger fat reduction. Targeted fat cells crystallize, break down and then are eliminated through the body’s natural processes. Basically the CoolSculpting system uses cold to target fat cells and trigger their natural death, with no damage to nerves or other tissue. The body naturally absorbs the dead fat cells as they die over a few week period, leaving you with a significantly reduced waistline!

CoolSculpting takes about one hour per treated area and most patients are able to rest, check email or read while undergoing treatment. There is minimal discomfort with the treatment, no downtime and most patients can resume regular activity immediately after treatment.

Personally, I would totally try it! The risks of surgery make me nervous, not to mention the downtime it would take to recover. For a busy mom, is it really possible to take time out for cosmetic surgery?  Cool Sculpting is an amazing safe alternative – and cheaper to boot!

WIN IT!

Cool Sculpting is giving away a treatment, valued at $1,500!

Be sure to follow Cool Sculpting on Facebook and Twitter for updates!

disclosure: we were compensated for our time in writing this post and promoting the giveaway.

happy birthday, elmo!

Melissa 4 Comments

On Friday my little man and I took the train up to New York. He was very very very very excited about the train. The commuters in our car were all giggling at his excitement. He waved to people on the platform at every station – and you would be amazed how many people waved back!

Then we were in NYC! We got there a little early, so we decided to head a few blocks north to Times Square before catching a cab up to the event.

After a cab ride that was much too short for Colin’s taste, we arrived to find Cookie Monster waiting to greet us!! We went upstairs to a kid’s paradise! I love Sesame Street: its like every one who works there has channeled their preschool self and knows exactly what preschoolers love! Colin hardly knew where to look first – Balloon animals? Decorate cookies? Color? See Abby? Play with stickers?  Personally, I loved the balloon animals. I’ve never seen  balloon animals like this. Check out how realistic: Cookie must have felt like he was looking in a mirror.

After a yummy lunch, we headed over to watch the “Birthdays” episode of Elmo’s World. The kids were all giggling and singing along – and then… then… ELMO WAS THERE!

I almost died. It was really the REAL Elmo. Colin was literally shaking with excitement. He had a birthday cake (with 3½ candles) and then – we sang. Colin and I sang with Elmo. An old song that I grew up singing along with on Sesame Street – I am now singing along with my son . It was incredible. I love that a huge part of my childhood is now a part of his.

Then, we met Elmo. I was starstruck to meet Kevin Clash. Such a talented man! Colin was chatting with Elmo, Elmo gave him hugs and kisses… I was practically in tears. What a moment. We will never forget it.

We came home with a copy of Elmo’s new DVD, Elmo’s World: Elmo’s Favorite Things. It has eight episodes of Elmo’s World – including the birthday episode we saw at the event and Colin’s favorite episode ever, dinosaurs!!  We’ve already watched it – and by ‘we’ I include my older kids as well. You know, despite being “too big for Sesame Street,” I know that my girls still love it. They sat and enjoyed the DVD, laughing right along with their little brother. And I can tell you that at Busch Gardens this summer, those ‘big girls’ were the ones running to get their picture taken with Big Bird. 😉 I think Sesame Street is one of those things that we never outgrow!!

By the way, check out SesameStreet.org – it is an amazing resource for parents! We recently viewed the section about  helping kids deal with grief, who are dealing with the first death of a family member in their memory. I’m so thankful for organizations like Sesame Street who are helping us talk to our kids about subjects that are so hard to explain.

disclosure: we received a gift bag for attending this event, including an elmo’s world dvd.

trop50 – *GIVEAWAY

Melissa 18 Comments

If you’re anything like me, January means making your annual resolution to eat healthier. Once again, I’m back on the wagon, trying to shape up and eat better.  I also gave up artificial sweeteners over the summer, so diet drinks are usually out for me.

So, I was excited to try Trop50, orange juice with 50% less sugar and calories and no artificial sweeteners. Trop50 is made with Stevia, which is actually a plant (whereas you don’t see aspartame plants 😉 I started using Stevia in my coffee in place of other sweeteners and was excited to see it is the sweetener used in Trop50.

Side-by-side with regular orange juice, you can taste a difference, of course. But Trop50 doesn’t taste watered down or overly sweet like some ‘diet’ drinks. I felt like it just wasn’t quite as think as regular OJ – it really tasted ‘lighter’. With only 50 calories in a 8 oz glass, that makes sense!  Now I want to try some of the other versions available including pineapple mango and raspberry lemonade! YUM!

Trop50 True Resolutions celebrates the real reasons behind New Year’s resolutions. Share your secret motivation on the Trop50 facebook page and you’ll earn a coupon for $1 off Trop50 for yourself and 50¢ off coupons for up to 50 of your friends! And you submit a resolution or not, you can also enter a sweepstakes to win a $1,000 gift card. Hurry, ends 1/31/12!

WIN IT!

Girlymama is giving away a $50 Spa Week gift card courtesy of Trop50! To enter, share your beauty resolution!

Additional entries:
(please leave an additional comment for each entry completed)

2. Follow Trop50 on Twitter.

3. Follow Girlymama on Twitter.

4. Subscribe to Girlymama daily updates either through your favorite RSS Reader or via email.

One winner will be selected at random using Random.org and will be notified by email. Please have a U.S. Mailing address. For other contest rules, see my giveaway policies page.

disclosure: i received trop50 to facilitate this post. i was not compensated financially and all opinions are my own.

beauty and the beast in 3D

Melissa 3 Comments

Last Saturday we got to go see a sneak peek of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.. in 3D! I love Beauty and the Beast – I still remember seeing it in the theater when it was first released in 1991! My girls are huge princess fans, but have never seen their favorite movies on the big screen. So we have loved how Disney is re-releasing classics in the cinema so a whole new generation can experience these movies as they were meant to be seen! We saw The Lion King this fall and we were super excited to see Belle!!

The verdict? All 3 girls (and mama) LOVED IT! Watch our review and see:

Seeing it in 3D really was amazing. The ending (SPOILER ALERT: Do I need to do a spoiler alert for that? Well, if you’ve been living on Mars and not see it, don’t keep reading.) when the Beast turns back into a man – the 3D effect was really incredible. All three girls mentioned how cool it was – they were actually holding out their hands during the movie trying to catch the fireworks. So sweet.

Make sure you check it out – Beauty and the Beast in 3D will be in theaters on January 13 for a limited time.

try this: hangtime hot sauce

Melissa 2 Comments

My husband and I are big fans of spicy food. Bring on the spiciness. (Of course, he was born in India, so if he tells you try his food and says its “a little spicy” beware: it will probably cause smoke to come out of your ears.) My aunt told me about Hangtime Hot Sauce – a new company that is heating up the food industry!

We tried the Honey Habañero first.  It starts out a bit sweet then, BAM! Good amount of heat – not so much that you can’t taste anything anymore, but a pleasant spiciness. This was the hotter of the two we tried… my husband preferred this one, what with his iron taste buds and all. I preferred the original Hangtime hot sauce. Its a classic  hot sauce, but has a little more.
I don’t like hot sauce that is just plain hot. Why would I just want to make my food hot? It needs to have some flavor to it! Hangtime delivers. You can taste the layers of flavor it adds to your food without overpowering it.

Hangtime hot sauces are all under $5, so they’d make a great stocking stuffer! You can also check out great recipes on their website and on Facebook.

DUB Garage Toys *GIVEAWAY*

Melissa 88 Comments

*giveaway is now closed*
Toy State has teamed up with DUB Magazine  to roll out an exciting new line designed for the next generation of car enthusiasts. Like my son:

at the races...

He loved everything cars, so of course he loves remote control cars!!  We received a few DUB cars to try out and they are SUPER FUN! (And, um, not just for little boys. Turns out that grown up boys are quite fond of them as well.) We received the Control Freakz R/C, D-Jayz, and a Custom Ridez toy. Colin’s favorite was the  Control Freakz R/C, by FAR! He certainly likes the D-Jayz, and a Custom Ridez toys, but they cannot compete. The  Control Freakz R/C is amazing. Maybe it was the fact that it looks like a super cool race car! You can push buttons on the top of the car for lights and sound motorized action, or use your remote controller to trigger traditional full-function R/C driving. And the turbo feature is so awesome – you can boost your speed and light-up the rear wheels and hood scoop!

My son is almost four and he picked up driving these cars in seconds. The controls were easy to use for basic driving, but my husband was having a blast trying to do tricks and stuff. These will definitely be our go-to birthday gift for boys this year!

Do you have a little (or grown up) boy who would love some awesome toys!? Well, do I have a gift for you!!

WIN IT!

One lucky winner will receive not one, not two, but EIGHT  DUB prizes!!

(3) RIM ROCKERZ (Suggested Retail Price: $4.99): Popular licensed vehicle styles with signature DUB style and classic lights and sound play features!
(2) CUSTOM RIDEZ (Suggested Retail Price: $9.99): Motorized driving and pulsating beats have these licensed rides rollin’ in style!
(1) DUB GARAGE D-JAYZ (Suggested Retail Price: $14.99):  Freewheeling DUB Edition custom styles feature dual mixing decks that let you be the DJ!  Hip-hop music, DJ mixing sounds, and exciting light effects give each D-Jayz ride its own unique personality!
(1) DUB GARAGE BLAZERZ (Suggested Retail Price: $24.99): Lights, lights and more lights!  Hit the music and watch Blazerz glow!  Signature DUB Edition styles are fit with motorized driving action, custom music, and lights & sound fun to make Blazerz stand out from the crowd.
(1) DUB GARAGE CONTROL FREAKZ (Suggested Retail Price: $49.99):  DUB custom designs on popular Ford Mustang and Chevy Camaro styles feature full-function R/C action with realistic vehicle sounds, cool tunes and an exciting light-up turbo drive mode!

Here’s how to enter…
Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment telling me who you want to win DUB cars for!!

Extra Entry #1: Leave a SEPARATE comment telling me you subscribed to Girlymama’s feed by email or in a reader.
Extra Entry #2: Leave another comment telling me that you Girlymama on Twitter!
Extra Entry #3: Leave another comment telling me that you ToyState on Twitter!
Leave another comment telling me in what way you promoted this contest (i.e., posting about it on your blog or Facebook, or  Tweeting about it.

Don’t forget to follow ToyState on facebook as well to get the latest updates on their cool toys!

Contest ends Friday, December 16th at noon. Entries such as “Enter me” or “I want to win” will NOT be counted. Winners will be selected by Random.org, announced back here on this post, and notified via email with further instructions. If I don’t hear from the winner in 48 hours, I will be choosing a new winner.

disclosure: we received products to facilitate a review. we were not compensated for this post and, as always, all opinions are our own.