Minted Holiday Cards

If you are a reader of my blog, then you know that I am a huge fan of Minted. If you haven't read my blog before, then you should definitely check out my post about Minted's Mommy Cards. :)

So, since I already knew months ago that I would be ordering my Christmas cards from Minted, I have been checking out their designs since September. Fine. August.

Anyhoo, my problem every year is that there are just too many choices, and I love them all! So instead of driving my husband crazy with weeks of back and forth, when I found a card that I really really loved, I bit the bullet and ordered them. In October. We have already had a foot of snow! Don't be judging! ;)

So, here is a little sneak peek at what might be showing up in some of your mailboxes.




I know that there is a light spot on P's cheek but he is just so darn sweet in that picture that I decided to use it anyway.

I went with the pearlescent paper this year and I am crazy about it! It just adds a little shimmer and makes the paper look even richer. Minted always has the highest quality paper around, but this just gives it a little something special. :)

If you are like me and have trouble choosing a card, you can use Minted's Find It Fast feature. It will take your photo and automatically insert it into all of your favorite cards. This was a huge time saver for me. I honestly tried our pictures in about 60 cards. Seriously.

The other thing I adore about Minted is their customer service. If you have a question and you email them, you will hear back almost immediately. Even their packaging shows that they care about their products and their customers. Look how my cards came wrapped.




Hi Toni! Thanks for sending me these beautiful cards! :)

Even if you don't have your holiday pictures ready to go, you can purchase your cards and send Minted your pictures later. I say do it now before the craziness of the holidays gets even worse! If your order your cards between now and November 14th, you can use the code "SNOW25SHIP" to take $25 off of your order and get free shipping! Now that my friends, is a sweet deal!

Happy shopping and I hope I see some of your Minted cards in my mailbox! ;)

25% Off Melissa & Doug!

I LOVE Melissa & Doug toys and so do my kids.  Their products are so unique and the quality is unmatched, but by far, my favorite thing about Melissa and Doug toys is how my kids imaginations shine when they are playing with them. 

One of my son's favorite things to do is to play with his Trunki.  This super cute trunk acts as a suitcase, a ride on toy, an animal, and a seat for your little one.  It has helped us move through the airport quickly and easily on more than one occasion.  P sits on his trunk full of carry ons, and we pull him through the crowds.  Win-win.  :)  When we are home, he loves to fill it with his special toys and pretend that he is taking them all to Disney.  You can even purchase adorable little accessories for your trunki, like these stickers to bring your trunki to life!

The picture quality isn't the best, but you can see P's excitement

when he received his trunki last year :)

We have so many great toys from M&D, and Bean is totally getting into the puzzles now, which I think is fantastic!  Because she is just learning to say a few words, I am going to be stocking up on the talking puzzles this holiday season, starting with this one, since I am totally a math nerd :).



Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North "Poll!" You'll Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!  I can't wait to see which toy you all love the best!  It may just have to find a way to be under my tree this year ;).





Happy voting!  I will be sharing the winning toy with you soon!  (I'd tell you what I voted for, but that would take all the fun out of sharing it with you later, when the toy I picked wins! ;) )

Getting in the Spirit

Since we have already had our first snow storm, the mall is already playing Christmas music, and my holiday cards have been ordered, I decided it was time to get everyone in the holiday spirit.

On November 3rd, more than a month and a half from Christmas, I took the kids to see
Santa.





Yup, he was already there. Sitting in the center court of the mall. And today, he had a line forming! And there were über cheery people dancing and singing with Rudolph!

So as you can tell from our pic, P was really digging Santa. Bean, on the other hand, did NOT want to be near him! Regardless, I was able to get this picture, with both kids, looking at the camera. That works for me.

I've probably mentioned that I love to stock presents away for the holidays during the year. If I see something cool or a really good deal, I'll grab it and put it away. It really helps me to manage the cost of the holidays. As of a week or two ago, I was already done with my shopping for the kids. Everything that P had been begging for over the past three or four months I was able to get without going over my budget and I was sooooo excited about it!

So, when P started to tell Santa what he wanted, I was all ready to pat myself on the back and give myself some "mom of the year" points. ;). P asked Santa for 3 things. Of those three things, I bought 0.

Ughhhh. P was walking around telling anyone who would listen that Santa said he would bring them these things. (Thanks, Santa. You better hope I don't find out where you live! ;))

What did this major sucker do, you ask? I bought the stuff he asked for. With the exception of the web shooting toy that I told Aunt Christine about. Thank goodness for my bestie!!! She will be saving the day again!

Meanwhile, I'm just grateful that bean can't talk, and I'm thinking I better revise my strategy for next year. :/



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Blogpress for the iPhone

I use my cell phone for EVERYTHING. I keep my to-do lists on it, I check my email, my Facebook page, my Twitter account, my bank account, and my calendar. I shop from my phone - a lot - (shhh, don't tell my husband...he might take my phone away!). I think that the thing I use my phone for least, is making phone calls.

Lately I feel like I never get a chance to get on my laptop, and therefore I don't get to write here as often as I'd like. Plus, all of my pictures that I want to share are usually on my phone anyway.

I decided that it was time to figure out what app I could use to publish my blog on the go, and Blogpress is the way I went. As a matter of fact, I'm using it now!

I am only just learning how to use the app, although it is pretty straight forward. Here are my initial reactions...

It is super frustrating that there doesn't appear to be a spell check, and we all know the iPhone's auto-correct can NOT be trusted. (Don't believe me?? Check out www.damnyouautocorrect.com. Hilarious!)

You can insert pictures super easily. Just one tap and you are in your photo album. Just like this...




Here's P at the local aquarium over the weekend. (Right as we left the aquarium the wonderful blizzard that hit New England this weekend began. That was fun.)

Back to Blogpress.

You can edit with HTML. Great for people who know how to do that. And easy enough for people like me who wouldn't normally try.

Easy to change fonts.

Easy to manage your blog. You can save and delete posts. You can preview your posts before you publish them, and you can even save your drafts locally or online.

So far I'm thinking this app was worth every penny of the $2.99 it cost. (It is on sale right now...normally it is $4.99.).

Hopefully this app will help me to keep updating regularly!

Do you use an app to publish your blog? Does it work with Blogger? Let me know! I'd love to try them out. :)








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pinterest Inspired "Art"

I hesitate to call what I am about to show you "art" because I am by no means an artist.  However, I do like arts and crafts. ;)

Pinterest has had me trying all kinds of fun things that I wouldn't have tried before, so last night, I made a late night Walmart run, and after purchasing a $14 frame, "borrowing" about 60 paint swatches from the home improvement department, and resurrecting one glue stick from my teacher days, here's what I came up with.

(Please excuse my the shadow of me taking the photo with my phone, lol.)

So, it's not perfect, but I thought it was a kind of fun little thing to hang up in the kids playroom or  in Bean's room.  (I wish I had taken the time to cut everything a little bit straighter and perhaps glue it down a little bit better, but maybe next time ;) )

Here's how I did it.  (Again, late night cell phone pics...sorry!)

Cheap wood frame from Wally World...complete with Mat!

Trace the outline of the mat so that you know the boundaries when you are placing your swatches.  It also helps to figure out how many swatches you can fit up and across.

Lay your swatches out how you want to glue them.  Cut.  Glue.  Repeat!

In hindsight, I wish I had grabbed the swatches that have four or five on them, instead of these larger ones.  I thought I would appreciate having more to work with, but looking back, it would have been a lot easier to have equal sized portions already made for me. 

Either way, it was fun, quick, & cheap!  After I decide which one of these blues to paint the living room, I may have to try this again...with a bigger frame, all blues and creams, and a paper cutter!

What has Pinterest inspired you to try?  Here's a quick look at another one of my other Pinterest projects... melted crayon pumpkins. 

All you need is a pack of crayons.  And a lighter.  And a room where your kids can't see you and start screaming "You're ruining all my crayons!".  Ha!

Happy Pinning!





Are you Pinterested?

I am ADDICTED to Pinterest.  I check the Pinterest app on my phone more often that I check my voicemail, or text messages, or email.  I'm obsessed.  Lately I have become extremely fond of pinning recipes that make my mouth water.  Here are a few that I think I need to make this weekend.  (That is - if my house is ever clean, and if I ever make it to the grocery store.  Ugh.)

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Pull Apart Pumpkin Bread

100 Calorie Smores Cups

And to top it all off...

Honey Crisp Apple Sangria

I think I need this one now.  Or maybe like an hour ago...

Is your mouth watering yet??

What I Learned from 10 Minute Trainer

The baby weight from Bean is being extremely persistent.  It just doesn't want to leave despite how hard I try to make it.  (Well, I try really hard in 2 week spurts...then I give up and eat a cupcake.)

Anyhoo - I have decided to try the 10 Minute Trainer.  There is really no excuse for not finding 10 minutes in my day to get healthy.  I'm now on day 2, and here is what I've learned.

1.  I am really out of shape.

2.  When attempting the warrior position with toddlers running around, be prepared for someone to think you are making a bridge for them to crawl under.

3.  When attempting a downward dog, be prepared for a toddler to jump on your back and want a ride up. 

4.  When attempting any sort of ab workout a toddler, or puppy, may attempt to use your abs as a resting place.  This does not make ab work impossible.  Just more difficult.

5.  10 minutes of cardio is doable.  10 minutes of abs is not. 

6.  Having a really cute workout partner is essential.  Here's mine.



I'm attempting to become consistent with this program.  It's quick & painful...exactly what I need.  Has anyone else out there tried this?  How did it go?  I could use some inspiration.