Free Comic Book Day - Saturday May 3rd

Years ago my son and I accidentally walked into a comic store on Free Comic Book Day. We had been eating lunch at a restaurant across the street when my son spotted the store. I told him that after lunch we could head over and take a look. As it turned out they had a rack of comic books that they were giving away for free! The guy explained that it was a day that lots of stores participated in and that only certain comic books were free. If you'd like to read about it, you can click here. If you'd like to find a participating location near you, here is the store locator.

Free Listerine Mouth Wash from Walmart

Right not Walmart is offering free samples of Listerine mouth wash. Walmart is not my favorite store to shop in, however they do offer lots of free samples. They're freebies are always legitimate and I have always received every one that I've requested. Also, I don't receive any promotional email from them after ordering. If this is something you're interested in, click here to request your free sample. For any tablet users, I could not click on the free sample button from my iPad. I had to switch over to the laptop before it would work.

Dunhams Rewards through Quikly

Dunham's is having a contest right now through a site called quikly.com. How you get rewarded depends on how fast you respond when you're notified. In order to be notified, you'll have to sign up first. It fast, easy and free to sign up and the contest seems like a lot of fun! The biggest reward is a $500 Dunham's gift card! There are also $200, $100, $50 an $25 gift cards up for grabs too! In addition to the gift cards, a whole lot of people will also receive discounts, 25% and 20%. If this sounds like something you'd like to check out, click here.

The Workout That Changed my Life

OK, so I know that title sounds a little dramatic, but honestly it's true. I have never been into working out. I was always a fairly thin person, though after having my daughter at 30 taking the weight off was much harder than it was when I had my son at 20. I had finally lost most of the baby weight (my daughter was 3 though!) but I still wanted to tone up some. I came across this article in US Weekly (a subscription I get free BTW because of offers like the one I posted here a while back!)Tracy Anderson is the pro who trains celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Nicole Richie. They both have pretty amazing bodies so I figured she had the street cred to be reliable. The workout seemed easy enough, and she said in the article that the moves are basically working all the muscles in your arm from shoulders to fingers. The entire workout takes 12 minutes a day 4-6 times each week and you will need a set of 3lb weights. Tracy says that when you start working out your upper body, its easy to see results in your arms quickly so that motivates you to work on other areas of your body too. Since I've never stuck to a workout routine, I wasn't so sure she was right, but for 12 minutes a day I decided to give it a try. Boy oh boy was she right! Not only did I start to see results pretty quickly, but it did make me want to do more. I started doing squats and lunges after my arms work. I added some leg lifts I had learned in a cardio kickboxing class I used to take. Now that its getting warmer out I'm going for walks and I can actually jog for more than 10 seconds without being out of breath! I've lost another 10lbs which really got me close to my pre-baby weight! So here are pictures of the US Weekly pages, they were a game changer for me and I hope they'll help anyone else looking to tone up or drop a few of those pregnancy pounds!

Awesome Shave Cream!

I'm not usually a user of shave creams and gels. I generally just use my body wash to shave with too. I always thought it did a fine job. I mean all you really need is something to lubricate the blade so that it glides over your skin smoothly, right? Boy was I wrong. Recently, when I took my vacation I picked up a travel size bottle of this EOS Shave Cream. Mostly just because it looked cool and I wanted to conserve my body wash. I didn't want to be using it all for shaving and run out half way through the trip. All I can say is WOW what a difference! This shave cream made my legs feel so soft and smooth after using it! The travel tube was kind of hard to use, it was just too sturdy to make squeezing the product out easy. I tossed it in the trash while I was packing up to leave the ship after showering the morning we departed. However, when I got home I made sure to pick up a full size bottle! This one has a pump, so no issues there. I got the bottle at Target for around $3.50. I think that's a small price to pay for soft, smooth legs all summer long!

Sheer Cover Review

I never thought much of mineral makeup. It never really made sense to me how it could work better than foundation and regular powder. Of course, I had never tried it but I never intended to either. Then one week my mom was in town and she said that she had a hard time sleeping at her hotel. While flipping through the channels in the middle of the night she ended watching an infomercial for Sheer Cover Studios Makeup. She was so hyped up about it when she came over the next morning. It was really pretty funny. I was still skeptical, but went ahead and placed an order. One lesson I've learned over the years is that parents are usually right. OK, so maybe not about everything, but this time I figured taking her advice couldn't hurt. I ordered the full set and patiently waited for it to arrive. When it got here I gave it a try. The first day I wasn't too impressed, but I kept at it. It takes some getting used to, and once I got the hang of it? WOW! This makeup is awesome! I am totally obsessed with it! When I was on my cruise, for some reason my face was breaking out like crazy. I'm not sure if it was the stress of traveling with both my kids and my parents or just something about the water on the cruise, but the breakouts were bad. Thankfully I had my Sheer Cover. In all my vacation photos my skin looks flawless! I was so thrilled! I had them ship out my next set as soon as I got home. I cant imagine ever using a different kind of makeup in the future. It would take something seriously miraculous to top what Sheer Cover does for my face! Oh, and it seems to be good for my skin too because there have been a few nights since I got home that I've been so tired I've fallen into bed without washing my face and I'm still not breaking out! That's huge for me. I breakout at the drop of a hat and if I miss even one night I'm usually fighting the aftermath for weeks. The mascara makes your eyelashes look crazy long! The Bronzing minerals are the first natural looking bronzing product I've ever used. I've been using them as eye shadow too! I really love this makeup!

Kellogg's Special K Coffee House Protein Shakes : My New Obsession!

So I know that I've been singing praises of BzzAgent.com, but this time they really blew me away! I recently was invited to join a campaign for Kellogg's Special K Coffee House Protein Shakes. I received bother flavors to try, Chocolate Mocha & Vanilla Cappuccino. While I really liked both of them I have to say I'm absolutely in love with the Vanilla Cappuccino! I have bought out my local Target and I new have to look elsewhere until they manage to restock! See, totally obsessed! These shakes taste so good. I'm not a coffee drinker but I do need a caffeine jolt in the morning. Archer Farms recently discontinued my favorite energy drinks, so I've been looking for a substitute. Thanks to BzzAgent and Special K I've finally found it! Each shake has 180 calories, 10 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. I wasn't thrilled about the 18 grams of sugar, but really, I'd rather have sugar than some chemical sweetener so I'm really OK with it. The first time I drank one I had some running to do that day. I had the shake (and nothing else) around 9am. The grocery store was my last stop for the day and I didn't get there until almost 1pm. Amazingly enough I wasn't hungry yet. I am definitely guilty of making impulse buys at the grocery store when I shop hungry so this trip really stuck out in my mind since I hadn't eaten anything, I just had the shake. After that I was totally sold!

Kids Bowl Free

I'm not a bowler. I'm not good at bowling and I don't generally think of it when I'm looking for ideas of things to do with the kids. That being said, there are a whole lot of bowling allies around the US that are trying to change that kind of thinking in people like me. There's a program called Kids Bowl Free and there are lots of participating locations. Registration is free and every child registered can bowl 2 free games each day all summer long! There are also some low cost family packages that you can tie in if you wish, but there is no cost and no obligation of any kind for the kids program. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in checking out, click here to find a participating location near you.

Birchbox Promo Code

If you do decide that you're interested in trying out Birchbox, right now to celebrate Mother's Day there's a promo code that will earn you 50 extra Birchbox points. Promo Code: MOM50

April Birchbox

So my April Birchbox has arrived. I'm excited to try a few of the samples... others not so much. First I received a Fekkai Advanced Salon Technician Color Care shampoo but not the coordinating conditioner. I really feel like in order to see how well a shampoo works it's best if you can try the conditioner at the same time. Maybe it's just me, but that's really how I feel. Secondly, I received a KIND Snacks Healthy Grains Bar. I don't want food samples. I signed up for Birchbox to try out cool beauty products. The flavor is Maple Pumpkin Seeds with Sea Salt and maybe I'll end up loving it, but it's just no the kind of thing I would prefer to receive. Now, on to the products that I am excited to try! First, the Sumita Color Intense Pencil. I currently use E.L.F. gel eyeliner, and I like it well enough, but I'm always looking for something better! I've been thinking about switching up my eyeliner lately, so I'm pretty excited that this was in my box. Next, the Gilchrist & Soames Spa Therapy Body Wash is described as being "infused with marine extracts". That sounds like a lot of products that I've been hearing a lot of buzz about lately so I definitely want to try it. Lastly, there's the Harvey Prince, Hello which is a scent that is supposed to "mingle cheerful citrus with floral notes". I don't find a lot of fragrances that I like enough to wear regularly so I'm always happy to get to try a new one out. I haven't sprayed it on myself yet, but just sniffing the bottle it seems to smell pretty nice. My opinion of Birchbox is definitely getting to be more positive. I understand that not every product I get to sample will be a homerun and I have gotten a few that were. I think I can honestly say that it's worth the $10 a month I spend on each box. It's exciting, getting to open a new surprise each month! If this sounds like something you'd like to try out, click here to check it out! There's no minimum, and subscriptions can be canceled at any time. Also, you earn points with every dollar you spend which can be used towards free products!

Royal Caribbean Cruises, Liberty of the Seas

We just got home from our cruise on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas ship. The trip was absolutely fantastic! The staff on the boat were all amazing, they remembered my daughter everywhere we went. Our cabin steward made towel animals for her every night. The ship itself was huge and beautiful. It was very clean and I saw people touching up the smallest details to ensure that it stayed that way. Our staterooms were on deck 8. The view from the balcony was fantastic every day! My daughter and I were in 1 room, my brother and my son were next door to us, and our parents were a couple doors down. Because my room and my brother's were next to each other we were able to open the partition between our balconies to have one large balcony. It was pretty cool! There was truly something for everyone on this ship. My 3 year old had a blast, she even went to their child care service willingly! Her age group was called the Aquanauts. The employees even gave me a ship cell phone to carry with me while she was in their care so that if there was any issue I could be reached right away. My 13 year old had fun, the arcade and the pools took up most of his time. My brother is 25 so he had fun hitting the bars and nightclubs on board. I loved the shopping on the promenade, and my parents had a fantastic time just relaxing! We stopped in Labadee, Haiti and Falmouth, Jamaica. Labadee was absolutely beautiful. The beaches were nice white sand, and the water clear, blue and perfect. In Jamaica the guys went river rafting and had a blast. We girls booked an excursion to the Hilton for the day. Food and alcohol were included in the price, but honestly, I found the place to be over crowded and the beach area was not half as nice as the one in Haiti. I was surprised to find the Hilton's beach area to be dirty, there was lots of trash around. The islands themselves were beautiful and I would definitely want to go back to Haiti again. I would do Jamaica again too, though I would not go back to the Hilton. The staff there were all very nice, I just didn't feel like what they had to offer was worth the $139 we paid per person for about 4 hours on hotel grounds. My 3 year old was free though, so at least that was nice. Before I left, I had read mixed reviews on Cruise Critic, so I wasn't sure what to expect but I don't know what anyone was complaining about. Embarkation was easy they took our luggage right away and our rooms were ready when we boarded around noon. Considering they were cooking for 4,000 people every night, the food in the dining room was very good. The buffet in the Windjammer café was good, the fruit was fresh and the selection was vast. The staff all went out of their way to help and were all very friendly at al times. I never passed anyone who didn't greet us with a smile. Room service was free, we only took advantage of that one morning, but it was on time and I received a call about 5 minutes before delivery just to let me know it was on the way. The only complaint I would have would be my fellow cruisers. There were a lot of very rude people who seemed to have no idea how to act in public. It would have been nice to see Royal Caribbean enforce all of the rules and maybe point out some simple ideas of what polite behavior looks like. However I also understand that the employees don't want to offend anyone and I guess if these people haven't learned manners by now, 1 week on a cruise ship and admonishment by employees isn't going to change that. We chose to carry our own luggage off and disembarkation was a breeze. We went down to wait around 7am and were off the boat in less than 30 minutes! We had a 10:30 flight and we made it to the airport with hours to spare! On the way to Florida, we flew Southwest. The flights were a little rough and the planes not so nice. The fact that they don't assign seats is strange and if we hadn't paid the extra $12 per person for priority boarding I'm not sure we all would have gotten seats near each other. They did let us check bags for free though, so that was nice. On the way home we flew American Airlines and their planes were very nice. They seemed to be much more modern than the Southwest planes. The seats seemed larger and were definitely more comfortable. Given the choice, I would fly American over Southwest in the future for sure. While in Florida for a night, we stayed at the Courtyard Marriot. Our room had a view of the ocean that was breathtaking! However, our rooms weren't ready when we got there around 2pm. That was a little bothersome. The valets took our luggage though and stored it until the rooms were available. Their pool bar seemed to be open all the time, and they're connected to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, where we ate twice. The restaurant inside the hotel itself however had very limited hours. Breakfast was available there, but not dinner. I thought that was a little strange, and inconvenient. All in all it was a wonderful trip and I hope we'll get a chance to cruise with Royal Caribbean again soon. I'd love to do a longer trip, maybe one of their Mediterranean itineraries next time! I'm including some pics I took while on the trip, the last one is one of the towel animals our room attendant made for my daughter!

Good2Grow Juices

I recently received a package full of Good2Grow juices for free from BzzAgent. If you're not familiar with the brand name, I'm sure you've seen the bottles of juice that have the no spill cartoon character head SippaTops. Since it came from BzzAgent, I was supposed to try out the juice (or in this case get my daughter to try it) and come back to review the product. Our test started out well. She was excited to see the Mickey and Dora SippaTops. However, she HATES to try new things. I mean absolutely hates it. This child fights me every step of the way when it comes to trying new foods and drinks. Getting to pick her SippaTop helped her to get excited about the juice, and after a few minutes she finally settled on Mickey. I received a refill 6 pack, so we opened one and she helped me to screw on the SippaTop and took a sip. Then she uttered these 2 words: "Mmmm, Yummy!", OK I guess one isn't a word but it was still great to hear. After that, she was hooked. I bought a single bottle with an Ariel topper and another refill pack when I was grocery shopping today. I didn't mind getting her this juice because it's actually pretty healthy. There is no extra sugar added, no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. There's also 1 combined serving of vegetables and fruit in every bottle and 100% of the vitamin C kids need daily, plus some vitamins A & E. On top of all that goodness, the lids are spill proof. Kids can literally walk holding this bottle of juice upside down and not a drop comes out. It's really fantastic! So I have now found a juice my super picky munchkin will drink, it's actually pretty healthy and she can't spill it on my sofa. I can't really think of anything this Good2Grow Juice is lacking! My daughter is currently loving the Good2Grow V-Blend Strawberry Kiwi. I received that flavor and the apple juice in my sample package. I saw a fruit punch at the grocery store, but it must be popular because all of the girly SippaTops were sold out. I will definitely keep checking back on that one though! Right now there's a contest that Good2Grow is hosting & everyone who enters gets a BOGO coupon! Here's the info straight from BzzAgent: "If you’re struggling to come up with an idea for your child’s next party or just want to win some great juices your kids will love, good2grow™ is here to help! Enter the good2grow™ giveaway and you could throw a party full of good2grow™ juices, featuring SippaTop™ caps in the theme of your choice (Princesses, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Superheroes and more), plus $500 cash!" Click here to enter.