Adopt A Creature For The Holidays

This holiday season, think outside the box with Oceana's Adopt a Creature program. This unique program offers ten different adoption options which support Oceana's work toward protecting our precious creatures and their habitats. Animals that you can "adopt" include a dophin, shark, polar bear, penguin, octopus, sea turtle and more. For a special gift, you can adopt one of these creatures in someone else's name. Your gift recipient will receive an adoption certificate, creature facts and a sugar cookie recipe with cookie cutters or a plush animal. View all the adoption options here.

Twelve year old sea turtle advocate Casey Sokolovic was a finalist for the Ocean Heroes contest this year and has an inspiring story about volunteering for a local sea turtle rescue center in her home state of North Carolina . As part of her efforts, she baked thousands of sea turtle cookies and held bake sales that raised over $3,000 for the protection of these beloved creatures. A special sea turtle adoption package was created in her honor. You can read more about Casey here.

I think any of these adoption packages would be a wonderful unique holiday gift this year. I especially love the cookie cutters, especially the polar bear and the penguin. They make a great reminder of what's important and you can make yummy cookies with them! Can't beat that.

Thursday Thoughts

Sometimes a random thought will pop into my head and remain there for a number of days. These thoughts are always simple - it can be an observation, a useful tip, a feeling, an idea, a memory, or a quote I've just discovered. I usually don't do anything with these thoughts, but I don't want to forget them so I decided to create a place where I could share them. If you'd like to share your own thoughts, leave them in the comments, or email me and I may feature your thought in a future post.
Today's Thought:

Um, so I need a good pillow suggestion...every pillow I buy I end up not liking. I want something fluffy, yet not so soft that it just sinks and loses its shape within a week. Any suggestions?

Wordless Wednesday - At The Air and Space Museum

My son decided to park himself in front of this massive spaceship that people were trying to take pictures of. He proceeded to make himself comfy and snack on his goldfish at the same time.

Party With Beau-Coup (Giveaway)

When I go to parties, it's always such a nice treat to get a favor at the end. It's kind of like being a kid again and going to your friend's birthday parties...I would anticipate receiving the loot bag at the end of the party with excitement. It was almost better than the party itself. With lots of parties and celebrating coming up this season, you can get your favor fix at Beau-Coup.

Beau-Coup specializes in fine favors to celebrate just about any occasion. They have a large selection of unique items, many of which you can personalize. Here's a small sampling of what you can get:


How cute is this Mini Classic Gumball Machine? Fun for kids and adults, I think this would be a hit at any party.


These Ice Cream Towel favors look good enough to eat!


And because it's that time of year, these Fall Leaf Soap favors look gorgeous and I bet they smell heavenly too.

A nice party favor can really add nice touch and with Beau-Coup I don't think you can go wrong. Happy partying!

WANT TO WIN? One winner will receive a $75 gift certificate to Beau-Coup's online store. To enter, visit the website and tell me which favor is your favorite. Deadline to enter is Tuesday, November 24th at Midnight. Contest open to participants worldwide.

Best Baby Products

When I first had my son, I relied heavily on formula in addition to breast milk in order to feed him and keep him happy. For me, it was an essential item. The only downside was the high cost of buying every month. According to the 10th edition Consumer Reports Best Baby Products, store-brand infant formula is as nutritious for babies as nationally advertised brands. Moms can save as up to 50% by buying store brand infant formula versus nationally advertised brands! Follow this link to receive a free formula discount coupon.

WANT TO WIN? One winner will receive a copy of Consumer Reports Best Baby Products. To enter, leave a topic related comment on this post prior to Monday, November 23rd at Midnight. Please include your email address with your comment. Winner must provide a US mailing address.

Thank you to Team Mom for this giveaway opportunity.

Veggie Tales Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get really excited for Christmas. I think my two year son is too...he loves all the twinkling lights, colorful wrapping paper and the holiday music we've been playing. Although he's a little young to understand the true meaning of Christmas, he does understand a good DVD when he sees one.

With each Veggie Tales DVD I watch, I become more and more impressed with the show's family friendly quality and the characters are beginning to grow on me. The music also gets stuck in my head, and that's not a bad thing. The latest Veggie Tales offering is Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving. This is Veggie Tales' first new holiday DVD in seven years, and it introduces an all new character, Nicky the Pepper. As usual, the show has it all - humor, charm, great tunes, and even a little sadness, as Nick sets out on his journey for happiness. Along the way, he makes a discovery in Bethlehem that changes his life forever.

I enjoyed the simple message that true happiness comes from giving to others, not only at Christmas but throughout the year as well. My son enjoyed watching it too, and he especially liked the songs. This Christmas, discover the true meaning of joyful giving with Veggie Tales!

Thank you to Family Review Network for this review opportunity.

Thursday Thoughts

Sometimes a random thought will pop into my head and remain there for a number of days. These thoughts are always simple - it can be an observation, a useful tip, a feeling, an idea, a memory, or a quote I've just discovered. I usually don't do anything with these thoughts, but I don't want to forget them so I decided to create a place where I could share them. If you'd like to share your own thoughts, leave them in the comments, or email me and I may feature your thought in a future post.
Today's Thought:

Sometimes, a good laugh with friends is all you need to feel better.

Wordless Wednesday - Going for a Bike Ride

Start the holidays with Tiny Prints

Every year, my husband and I set a goal to address and send out Christmas cards the day after Thanksgiving. It, uh hasn't ever happened on that day - yet. The problem usually lies in the fact that we never actually have the cards by that date. I'll think that I have an unopened box or two stashed away somewhere, when in reality it's more like an opened box with two cards in it. Therefore, we find ourselves braving the holiday crowds to pay top dollar for boxes of cards that are not even that cute to begin with. We've talked about doing one of those fancy schmancy photo cards but of course we haven't gotten around to doing that yet either.

Whatever your preference, photo card or regular card, Tiny Prints has got you covered this holiday season. There are hundreds of styles for you to choose from so there's bound to be one that you like. In fact, your problem will probably be narrowing it down to just one. Plus, you won't have to schlep out to the store and pay big bucks - their cards are reasonably priced and pretty darn cute, too. My sister actually had some birth announcements done at Tiny Prints and I have to say I was impressed with the quality of the service. This year I'm going to get it right and do the holidays with Tiny Prints!

Relish!

One of hardest things in life for me to do is menu planning because it involves so much, well, planning. First, I scour the grocery store ads to see what's on sale. Then I try to come up with meal ideas from there. The grocery list comes next, then the actual schlepping to the store with a hyper toddler, and then I have to come home and actually cook the food. Not to mention that my son hardly ever naps anymore so making a meal with him tired and cranky is a challenge in itself...if I even get that far. Sometimes the whole process is way too exhausting and we end up going out for fast food. You know what I need? Something to help me with the initial planning and meal ideas so that all I have to do is worry about the cooking. I need Relish!

Relish! is a genius meal planning system. Seven dollars a month will get you access to weekly menus where you can pick and choose which meals you want to make. Once you've chosen five meals, an organized grocery store list is automatically prepared for you - just print it out and off you go to the store. For me, this is truly the amazing part of the service. Between various chores and a toddler constantly tugging at me, I can spend hours working on a grocery list only to discover that I've forgotten a key ingredient upon arriving home from the store.

In addition, the meals actually sound appetizing. I've gone to other recipe sites before where they tell you something to the effect of "Quesadilla - put shredded cheese in a tortilla, fold in half and microwave." Sure, it's quick and easy but not exactly the well rounded meal I was hoping for. With Relish!, I'm looking forward to making meals like Spaghetti with Roasted Squash or Cumin Pork Chops with Avocado Salsa. These take less than an hour to prepare and easy to understand directions are provided. There's also a section for freezer meals - recipes are provided once a month and are a great way to save time. Every recipe on the website is archived as well, so if you make one that you really like you'll still have access to it later on. There's so much going on here to simplify the process of menu planning. Relish makes it easy to focus on cooking and enjoying eating a great meal... which is exactly how it should be - go Relish!

WANT TO WIN? One winner will receive a one year subscription to Relish! To enter, leave a comment on this post prior to Monday, November 16th at Midnight and tell me either how you go about meal planning, or your favorite easy dish to make. Please include your email address with your comment. Contest open to residents of the US and Canada.