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A Really Juicy Way to Better Health


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As most of you know, I have reviewed a gazillion products, but for the last couple years I have had the pleasure of reviewing mostly FOOD or COOKING related items. And of course you know I am about to graduate with a degree that puts me in the Food Service biz someday I was asked to review a BELLA NutriPro Juicer recently. Let me tell you, I had been wanting a juicer for a LONG time. I watched a documentary last year about a man who lived on only healthy juice and not only got fit but got healthy. I [...]

The Perfect Mother’s Day Gift – Photo Messenger Bag from Personal Creations


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When I was asked to stay on with the Red Envelope store review teams for April I was delighted! I have been enjoying shopping in each of their stores. I finally got to shop at the Personal Creations store with a gift code that was provided to me. This time I went completely personal. I wanted something that would be mine, also something I would have wanted as a Mother’s Day gift. I ordered a custom photo messenger bag and matching coin purse! The bag was so pretty I gasped when I opened it. The picture of my kids that [...]

Celebrating Moments for Mother’s Day – Teavana Teapot and Tea Giveaway


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Every once in a while I am introduced to food and drink products that I have never tried before. When Teavana asked if they could send me some tea to try I said sure. At first I was hesitant because I don’t usually drink exotic tea and in general I don’t really drink hot tea. When I got the tea and a tea pot, I grew excited. When I tasted my first taste of Strawberry Champagne Rose I was hooked instantly. I had never thought about any tea brewed with real dried fruits and flowers. This one had roses in [...]

My Perfect Cup – Tully’s Hawaiian Blend from Green Mountain Roasters #yourperfectcup


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I have been a Green Mountain K-Cup Ambassador for almost 2 years. I have tried so many coffees that I sincerely love. Over the course of trying different strengths, I never found the one that just right, not too strong but not too weak. That is until I was sent this lovely package from Green Mountain… Tully’s Hawaiian Blend! For the record I DID try on that grass skirt there and the lovely cups are a new favorite. But what I loved the most about this flavor was that it wasn’t too strong for me (like Italian roast tends to [...]

Peaches and Cream Tartlets with Grandma Hoerner’s Natural Pie Filling


Peaches and Cream Tartlets with Grandma Hoerner’s Natural Pie Filling

When an old blogging buddy asks me if she can send some delicious all natural pie filling for me to try and talk to my readers about, I of course will say yes. Not because it is pie filling but because this great person has been a blogging friend of mine for a long time and knows that not only am I an aspiring chef but also that I much prefer organic and real food. Grandma Hoerner’s is a company that applies home cooking logic to providing delicious goods to the consumers. They cook things like jelly’s, pie fillings and [...]

Healthy Homemade Snacks with Ronco Dehydrator


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Spring is upon us, (knock on wood, we had SNOW this past week) and that means berry season is coming soon. Ronco sent me an awesome dehydrator this winter to try out, drying fruits and things to make healthy snacks. As someone who has a love for food and a little bit healthier lifestyle I was happy to try it and tell them what I thought, and of course tell you all what I thought. The main thing that I dry in it is strawberries and bananas. The biggest problem I have is that the dried pieces disappear as soon [...]

Birthday Sweetness with Shari’s Berries


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This article focuses on alternative gifts for occasions, instead of flowers and cards, how about some gourmet berries? I’ve been working with the Red Envelope team trying each of their web stores and in March they sent me a code to shop for some goodies to try. I had been having a blast in January and February trying the site, and letting them and you readers know about how the site works. For March, a big month for us with birthdays, I had decided to get something for my daughter who was about to turn ten, and I chose to [...]

Zoom Zoom! 2013 Mazda3 Review


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Yes, this car is very sporty looking and in reality, it is sporty. It is also fast, “smart”, and the best feature in my opinion, most definitely amazingly good gas mileage. Let me tell you a little about my current vehicle before I talk about what it was like to drive the 2013 Mazda3 iGrand Touring for a week. We drive a big gas hog, a 1994 Chevy Astro with AWD meaning that thing just bleeds money in the form of horrible gas mileage. It costs me about 25 bucks a day to travel to college and then home. Looking [...]

Stylish Women’s Chef Coats from Chef Uniforms – GIVEAWAY


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  My longtime readers know that I started a new journey about 2 years ago. I have put in so many endless hours trying to hone my professional cooking skills in school and at home. One byproduct of trying to become a chef is that companies that work with chefs professionally started asking me to try their wares in hopes of me sharing my thoughts with my readers and also fellow culinary students. I will never forget the time I made my chef try some exotic yuzu juice from a company online. We all had funny faces that time. I [...]

Out Of The Ordinary Valentines Gift – Proflowers.com


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Do you know how hard it is to choose a Valentine’s Day gift for yourself? I had the opportunity to visit ProFlowers.com and got to choose a gift to review. I knew I didn’t want flowers, I am not a fan of them since they die and I can’t eat junk food anymore so I did something way out of the box and I chose a Gardenia Bonsai Tree! This Bonsai tree has gardenia buds on it, is winter hearty and will smell delicious when it is time for those blooms to open in March!! I made my order and [...]

A Tuesday Surgery #Troop8X #HTC8


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The surgery was planned way before I got my new Windows 8X phone to test out, but this phone came in very handy on Tuesday, January 29th as we took our 4 year old son to the hospital for outpatient dental surgery under general anesthesia. I got photos of his journey, and was able to update Facebook so his prayer warriors knew he was okay. I was grateful to not only have a phone with a great camera but also an amazing battery life. I only have to charge it every 2 days. That means that on this day, for [...]

Gift Basket Goodness from Shari’s Berries


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I normally don’t “do” Valentine’s Day observation. In 17 years of marriage, neither myself nor my husband have ever done anything, or given anything to each other for the holiday. I think the reason is my birthday is 12 days after Christmas and our anniversary is a week later. By Valentines, we are celebrated out. This year I happened to be asked to take a look at a wonderful site, Shari’s Berries. The site offers not only delicious gourmet dipped strawberries but lots of other baked yummies like cookies and cake pops. Me? I decided to be different and actually [...]