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Chocolate Has Never Been Hotter

TL — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:10:09 +0000

You know how on those cold winter days, when nothing sounds better than a hot mug of Cocoa. You would have to heat up the water or milk over a stove or in a microwave. And if you were making multiple cups for others, you would be at the microwave for what seemed like hours, heating and stirring and heating and stirring. After all that work of stirring, it was never good enough, there were clumps and it never tasted like the Hot Cocoa you would get in a cafe. Even though it wasn’t quite the best, we did it any way, those were our options for Hot Chocolate made at home. But now, lucky for us Hot Chocolate lovers, they have finally invented the Dream Machine and it’s called the Bialletti Hot Chocolate Pot and it’s exclusively from Williams-Sonoma.

Bialetti Hot Chocolate Pot

You will absolutely love this Hot Chocolate Pot. It is so easy to use and makes the best tasting hot chocolate. All you do is add your milk, shaved chocolate or favorite cocoa, and then sit back and watch as the pot creates a perfect blended mixture. The best part is that it creates a rich foam and creamy froth. So this winter and holiday season you can sit back and enjoy in your own home, great tasting hot chocolate. What more could you want?

Right now the Bialetti Hot Chocolate Pot is on sale, was $99.95 and now $79.99. So it is a little pricey, but well worth it. For those frugal shoppers I did find three similar items. They all got great reviews.

The first one is found at Target. Called The Bodum Hot Chocolate Frother for $39.99

Bodum Hot Chocolate

The second one is found at Bed Bath & Beyond. Called The Back To Basics Cocoa Latte for $29.99

Back To Basics Cocoa Latte

And the third one is found at Walmart. Called The Mr. Coffee Cocomotion for $23.84

Mr. Coffe Cocomotion

They all accomplish the same thing which is, automatically heating and mixing hot chocolate into a frothy, creamy, tasty drink. So which ever one you choose from, the Bialetti Hot Chocolate Pot or the ones I found at the other retailers, you will be pleasantly happy with your purchase. Chocolate has never been Hotter!

Image Sources: William-Sonoma, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart, and flickr.com

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Jewelry

TO — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:03:34 +0000

Jewelry for your ears, neck, fingers, and wrists and a super cute stand to hang them on when they’re not on you!Little Birch Jewelry Stand $32.00

Animal Print Earrings $19.00

Crystal and Glass Pearl Filigree Pendant $37.40

Clear Rock Ring $12.00

Journey Bracelet $19.00

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Black Suede Ankle Boots

TO — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:57:56 +0000

Black ankle boots are a perfect way to stay stylish and yet cover up those tootsies during these cold winter months. But look around before you splurge on the first designer brand that catches your eye. You could save yourself plenty of Christmas shopping money!

Christian Louboutin available at Neiman Marcus

$795.00

*OR*

I was at the mall and bought these at Charlotte Russe

for just $24.99

CR has a “2nd Pair for $10″ deal, so I threw these in too for a $40 TOTAL.

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Toys For Tots

TL — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:53:44 +0000

* See Image Source Below

Every year my family and I do as much as we can to give during the holidays. There are many different ways we choose to give back to the community and others. One of my favorites is Toys For Tots. I love the idea of it all, that every kid should be able to open a brand new toy on Christmas. I love that during the holiday season I see all the Marines helping assist in making this happen. It is a joy to witness all the boxes filling up with toys over the few months of October through December, knowing how many kids will be touched by the gift of others. I just love it.

Toys For Tots began in 1947. It was the idea of of the wife of Colonel William L. Hendricks, Diane. She had made a Raggedy Ann doll and asked her husband Bill to deliver it to an organization in Los Angeles, that would give it to needy children during the Christmas Season. When Bill discovered that no organization like that existed, Diane encouraged her husband to create one. And so Toys For Tots was created. In 1948 the Marine Corps adopted the idea. From there it grew into a nationwide organization. Over the last 59 years, Toys For Tots has distributed more than 370 million toys to more than 173 million needy children. It is an very inspiring story from how it was created to what it has become over the years. To read more about Toys For Tots story click here.

So this was the first year that my boys really got into it. They are both 4 years old. They picked out the toys that they would love to give, and even though we had to explain it a few times they seemed to understand and enjoy it. It was so sweet to see them hand over the toys to the Marines and shake their hands. When we were walking away, I told them how proud I was of them. Both of my boys looked up and said, “Mom, when can we do it again?” It made me so happy that they enjoyed it so much, I told them we can do it again real soon.

I look forward to doing Toys For Tots every year with my boys, among other things that involve giving and sharing. I love this holiday season so much. I really do believe when you give, you can’t help, but feel you received something greater than the gifts you give. Especially seeing the examples we are showing our children. Teaching them the gift of giving.

For more information and Toy Drop-Off Locations for Toys For Tots, visit them at ToysForTots.org.

* Image Source: Bridgestone Americas

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The Perfect Pair: Chocolate and You

TO — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 08:38:45 +0000

Chocolate is sometimes considered sinful. We are encouraged to stay away from it-resist it and the calories it gives you. Women especially are tempted by it’s sweetness and what it does for the soul, even though it’s not always great for our bodies. Well thanks to Compartes Chocolatier out of Los Angeles, you can be your own advocate and cancel out the sin by doing good when you treat yourself (or others-although personally I have a very difficult time sharing my chocolate) to their yummy chocolate goodness. Purchase their limited edition Chocolates For A Cause and your money will go towards funding the only women’s center in Darfur through Relief International. Compartes has teamed up with Relief Beads to provide this opportunity through chocolate bracelets. So now you can team up with chocolate and indulge in your cravings or satisfy that person on your Christmas list without guilt by doing GOOD!

Images: Officedog.co.uk and Compartes.com

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Black Friday Lessons Learned

WO — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 06:23:40 +0000

I was at the store a few days before Thanksgiving and the man tells me that the item I wanted would be half off on black Friday. I look at him and ask what Black Friday was. He informed me it was the day after Thanksgiving (I knew that was a big shopping day, but had never heard it called Black Friday). I tell him thank you and I would come back then to buy the item. I had never before waken up early to go shopping on that day, I HATE crowds, but this year was gonna be different. So as busy as Thanksgiving was and as tired as I was, somehow I set my alarm for 5:30am. I wake up my sister and begged her to come with me. So off to Walgreens we go (who goes to Walgreens?-us, we didn’t have a good plan). I notice we are the only car in the parking lot and figure it must be due to the bad economy. After waiting for 15 minutes, my sister and I decide to go to the door and insure we get first dibs on the items (still no cars in the parking lot). As we sit at the doors with our hands opening and shutting, we chant “OPEN, OPEN”. At about 6 am we realize the store must not open till 7 am. Lesson learned: check when stores open and make a game plan prior to heading out.

So we decide to head to Target. We never checked any ads so had no idea what we would be shopping for. As we pull in to the parking lot we notice tons of cars. We quickly park and proceed to RUN! Unsure what we are running for, we felt adrenalin, we made it into the busy store. We see a line of people, and think there must be something good if we wait in that line. So we stand for 20 minutes, unsure what we are waiting for. Meanwhile, while in line we wanted to ask the lady behind us if we could see her ad, but she was marking it up like scriptures. She found joy in the fact she could be in a line, talk on her phone, plan her technique and shop for movies at the same time. I over heard her tell a lady on her phone to find her two DVD players and bring them to her (I keep that in my head). Still in line, I see a man with a rip stick. I think, OH that would be a good present for my husband, so I go get one. On my way back I notice the DVD players and grab two for that lady behind us in line. When I ask her if she wanted these DVD players, she tells her friend on the phone, “A lady just brought me DVD players, AMAZING, this is UNBELIEVABLE that some one would do that on a crazy day like today!” I could tell I made her day and it was fun to see someone find so much joy in finding good deals. Eventually we got to the front of the line, and I was able to ask the guy what we were waiting for. He said the Xbox 360, it was a hot buy. I didn’t need that, so I ask about the other stuff. He informed me those items were all normal price. I decide to buy one, since we had waited for so long (I needed it for Christmas). Lesson Learned: Don’t to stand in a line unless you know what it is for, and read ads before you go out shopping and mark those ads up (like tha lady behind me).

Next we head to Bath and Body Works. Deals were not great, but I had a coupon so got a few things, not too thrilled about that. We saw someone I knew and when we got back in the car realized she was showered and we were still in our pajamas, no make-up, hair tied up above our heads with stragglers hanging down. Lesson learned: Shower before you go out in public, or people will think you have a disease (My sister looked like she had a disease, me I actually looked pretty good- j/k).

As we drive aimlessly, we see Lowes and remember my brother telling us they were gonna have some good deals, so we go. First thing we see are storage bins on sale, We always need those so we grab 6 and throw them on the cart. My sister pushing the cart can’t see a thing because the bins are too high. It made for a good laugh as I dragged her through the store looking for some sort of deals. I guess they were hard to find since none of it was things I really liked. Lesson learned: Always make your sister push the cart so she looks like the fool and shop at stores with items I might like to buy, not husband stores.

Next we realized we had not eaten and felt like we were gonna pass out so we headed to Jack in the Box which informed us their smoothie machine was not yet opened because it was too early. Lesson learned: Don’t go out that early in the morning, stay home and SLEEP!

Unsure if we should head home I hear an add for a furniture/electronics store and think I hear something like iPod. I think hmmm, maybe a Christmas present so I drag my sister along with me to it. Once there, we notice the parking lot full. So we once again, we RAN! We were the only ones running, and sure enough it was for nothing. The ipods were the same price as usual. And neither of us needed furniture so why were we there? Lesson learned: Don’t just think you hear something on the radio, check an ad.

At this point we were close to Toys R Us and decide, what the heck. There we found deals that we could take advantage of and bought tons of Christmas presents. Other than the fact that the line went to the back of the store and then curved and went on, it was a successful trip. Once we got to the car we realized we were in a truck. Now, hmmm, how were we gonna fit all our stuff in a truck? Lesson learned: Don’t take a truck shopping, you end up have to throw all your things from the truck bed to the front seat and back again and again each time you go to another store.

Now we were on a role and decided to go to the mall. Mind you we have forgot how yukky we looked. There we decide to hook our nephew up with a new wardrobe. We had a ton of fun picking him out clothes and when we brought them home to him, he was stoked! Lesson learned: If you are gonna shop, do something nice for someone else.

At one store there was a deal for 30% off till 1 pm. It was 12:30pm so we had to take advantage of that. The line was long and slow….after 5 minutes and feeling the pressure to shop, I asked my sister to hold all the bags and all the items we wished to purchase, while I hit up a few other stores. She agreed and off I went. As I looked back I could barely see her face with the pile of stuff she had. She even had to kick bags at her feet just to move forward. Bad mistake, the line took forever. When I returned a few teenage be bopper girls stood behind us and asked my sister if she was the girl from BIG BROTHER (the t.v. show). Before my sister could respond I say, “I know doesn’t she look like her? She (my sister) even looks better when she does her make up” Who says that? My sister was not the girl, so why would the be boppers care what she looks like with make up? Lesson learned: SHUT UP SELF!!

Now, after just 8 hours of shopping, my sister was tired and wanted to go home, but I was just getting into the shopping mode, and with kids finding the time away from the kid is hard. As we pulled into Nordstrom Rack she threatens me to take her home. I just laugh and get out of the car. She then follows. Each isle we go down I see her glare at me and I just turn my head to the clothes and shoes and pretend I am in la la land. After a bit I started to feel bad for the poor girl (my sister), she can’t shop like me, so I took her home. When we pulled up and had our husbands come help us get the bags out of the car. My husband wanted to disown me. “But honey, it was a DEAL”, I replied. He does not understand what a DEAL is???? I look at it as I just got Christmas shopping done! He looks at it as MY WIFE IS NUTS! And when I showed him the rip stick I got him, my brother-in-law interjected how lame that was and how a grown man should not ride that. So when my husband heard that, he said, “yeah honey, I would not ride that.” Now I get to return it. That reminds me of one Christmas when I bought my cool hip husband a metal detector. I thought he would have so much fun at the beach and the park searching for gold. He looked at me like I was NUTS (a familiar look nowadays). Lesson learned: Don’t try to come up with clever ideas for presents for your husband, just ask them what they want.

After a long eventful day, us proud, tired, nasty, sweaty, hungry, gotta return half of it, crazy, blonde, happy sisters learned a few important lessons! Thanks sis for the fun day!

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My Favorite Healthy Yummy Treat!

WO — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:09:02 +0000

Call me pregnant (which I am not), but I crave this treat like no other! You see my mom had been staying with me at my house for a few weeks with a broken foot. Therefore, I have been making her her favorite salad and since I am doing it for her, it started to look sooooo yummy so I began making it for me too. I get some lettuce, tons of chopped green onions, sliced up bell peppers, some chopped celery, and sliced cherry tomatoes. I then poor a good amount of extra virgin olive oil (cold pressed is the best- my mom says) all over the top. Then I take 1 to 1 1/2 limes and squeeze the yummy juice all over that salad. Since it is the limes that I crave the most I even take the pulp (or whatever it is called inside the lime) and put that on top of my treat! I love it! I love it so much that I even find my self drinking up all the juice after the salad is done! Sick, yet delightful! And it is guilt FREE! You can’t ask for more than that! Can’t wait for the kids to go to bed so I can sneak myself some more!!!!

Ingredients:

Lettuce

Chopped Green Onions

Sliced up Bell Peppers

Chopped Celery

Sliced Cherry Tomatoes

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (cold pressed)

1 to 1 1/2 Limes Juiced

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Straight Hair

TO — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 11:20:49 +0000

A few weeks ago Oprah did a beauty special with Dr. Oz. They also had beauty test expert, Paula Begoun share her recommendations of best beauty products. Paula has been testing and researching beauty products for 25 years, so there is reason to trust her suggestions. She lists specific categories for skin and hair products and gives several options ranging in prices from really cheap to somewhat expensive. You can view the list here on Oprah’s website. I want to try a bunch of the products and plan too, but I did go to Walmart a few days ago and purchased one of the hair straighteners she recommends. I was skeptical as I have spent close to a couple hundred dollars at this point over the years on “cheap” straighteners because I was too stubborn to pay a lot for expensive ones like Chi. I have several straighteners in my drawer, all under $50 that I have tried and none work well. I’ve been disappointed repeatedly by going cheap, but figured I would let Paula’s pick be my last try before I finally give in and buy an expensive brand.

The straightener from her list I bought is the Wet 2 Straight by Remington, and I am happy to say it works great! I was pleasantly surprised. After getting out of the shower, I towel dried my hair and went to straightening. When the straightener hits your hair, it does give a hissing sound which freaked me out. I did read the instructions and they acknowledge the sound and states that it is normal. But it worked so well and dried and straightened my hair all at once! I have to let you know, I do have pretty straight hair naturally, so I don’t know how it will perform for curly hair. But it has 30 different heat settings and they tell you what number to set it to for your hair type. It heats up to 374 degrees, so this baby gets hot! The Remington straightener retails at $32.99! Much cheaper than a lot of popular brands. You can get yourself one on the Remington site or at Walmart like me, as well as several other retailers listed on the site.

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15 Favorite Holiday Music Selections

TL — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:10:53 +0000

Christmas is almost here and most of us are already preparing. Setting up the decorations, shopping, planning parties, and just getting in the Spirit of the Holidays. I love this time of the year so much that I start planning for Christmas the day after Halloween. I know, I’m one of those holiday freaks. If I could have my house like The Griswold’s, from The Christmas Vacation, I would. But I made a promise to my neighbors I would never take it that far.

In order for me to get in the spirit of the Holidays and start all the preparations, I start listening to Holiday Music, literally the day after Halloween. I can’t get enough of it. So I wanted to share with you my 15 favorite Holiday Soundtracks. I would’ve added like 50 more but I had to cut it off at some point. There are so many choices out there that it’s hard to pick my absolute favorites, but I did my best. This list includes some of my favorites from the past and some new ones just released this year. I hope that you’ll check some of these out and that they will become some of your favorites as well. You can get these at Amazon, iTunes, or your local Walmart or Target.

New Releases This Year:

1. What A Night! A Christmas Album by Harry Connick Jr.

Image Source: Amazon.com

2. A Swingin’ Christmas by Tony Bennett

Image Source: Amazon.com

3. A Lovely Way To Spend Christmas by Kristin Chenoweth

Image Source: Amazon.com

4. Elvis Presley Christmas Duets by Elvis Presley

Image Source: Amazon.com

5. Joy To The World by Faith Hill

Image Source: Amazon.com

Old Time Classics:

6. White Christmas by Bing Crosby

Image Source: Amazon.com

7. Christmas With Johnny Cash by Johnny Cash

Image Source: Amazon.com

8. Frank Sinatra Christmas Collection by Frank Sinatra

Image Source: Amazon.com

9. The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole

Image Source: Amazon.com

All Around Great Ones In Categories Pop/Rock, Country, and R&B Soul:

10. Noel by Josh Groban

Image Source: Amazon.com

11. Let It Be Christmas by Alan Jackson

Image Source: Amazon.com

12. A Christmas Celebration by Gladys Knight

Image Source: Amazon.com

13. The Christmas Collection by Il Divo

Image Source: Amazon.com

14. Wintersong by Sarah McLachlan

Image Source: Amazon.com

15. Mary, Did You Know by Various Artists

Image Source: Amazon.com

Hope You Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Source of Images: Amazon.com

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