Month: October 2014

October 8, 2014

Get Ready for the #FallMarketplace Demos at #Walmart #shop

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

Fall is here and with it brings my two favourite holidays of the year – Thanksgiving and Halloween (I may be biased since my birthday does fall on Thanksgiving every year!).

In honour of the holidays, Walmart is hosting #FallMarketplace demos in stores on October 10th and 11th from 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm to help introduce shoppers to new and familiar brands and products to make the holiday season easier for you as a family. The holidays can be stressful enough as it is so why not take advantage of all Walmart has to offer!

Walmart will be hosting four different cart demos:

Cart One: Fall meals with vendors Maple Leaf and Reckitt. Features Maple Leaf Prime Frozen chicken breasts and Reckitt French’s Honey Mustard.
Cart Two: Thanksgiving entertaining and leftovers featuring Our Finest & Your Fresh Market and Hamburger helper.
Cart Three: Fall snacking featuring Mondelez Wheat Thins Popped and Walmart Fresh baby carrots.
Cart Four: Fall cleaning featuring SC Johnson products including Scrubbing Bubbles T-Gels Citrus, T-Gels Fresh Mountain Morning and T-Gels Glade Rainshower.

We are heading in this Friday to check out the carts as part of #CollectiveBias and will be sharing with you all the fun details (so watch that #FallMarketplace hash tag on Friday and for my post that will be up on the 14th!). If you want to head in make sure to check the complete list of stores here. All demo offerings will be until supplies last.

Don’t forget!

Yours truly is co-hosting the #FallMarketplace twitter party coming up tomorrow night at 8:00 pm EST. You can find all the important info (don’t forget to RSVP!) on my twitter party post here. Can’t wait to chat with you tomorrow!

October 7, 2014

The Food & Drink Boutique – Featuring Soup #DKCanada

A warm bowl of soup is one of the best meals to have especially during the cooler fall months that lead into the cold winter. Soups have this way of bringing comfort and satisfaction all within one bowl! The best part about preparing soups? The ability to turn leftovers and an abundance of vegetables into a hearty meal that your family will love. The problem I have is where do you start?

You can now find the book, Soup, in the Food and Drink Boutique over at DK Canada. The recipe book comes with 250 soup recipes!! I could not believe how many recipes you could find! They are organized by ingredients and fall into categories according to season. I almost did not know where to start.

Due to the abundance of tomatoes we had in our garden I started off by making a simple tomato soup which ended up turning out divine (if I do say so myself!). I loved the simpleness of the recipe and ingredients – you can’t get any more healthier than simple good for you ingredients!

The instructions were easy to follow and the majority of the ingredients you will easily find in your fridge and pantry. The simplicity of the recipes sold me. I love to be able to cook healthy meals quickly and efficiently. I was able to make a big pot of soup and then freeze it for later during the week making it the perfect weekend recipe book!

The best part of the book had to be the variety of recipes that it contained. It did not limit you at all with certain vegetables to help avoid the same food rut many of us fall into. Instead they tried out different combinations of vegetables and beans. Each vegetable was given several pages to itself but had a great variety of choices that you could make based on personal preference.

For a limited time you can take advantage of DK Canada’s 30% off discount at the Food & Drink Boutique!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

October 7, 2014

#TargetTrickorTweet in Toronto #WW w/linky

Everyone that knows me knows how much I LOVE Halloween. The last week of September I slowly start to bring out my Halloween decorations and by the end of the first week I am full blown decorating everywhere (as I write this I just finished decorating my work’s receptions area). Halloween is the my favourite holiday and this year I was able to attend Target’s #TargetTrickorTweet event in Toronto to view all the upcoming Halloween trends, sample treats, face painting and shopping all the awesome deals.

Here are some of my favourite shots from the weekend:

They made him out of complete LEGOs! How incredible is that? Just behind this was a table set up for kids to make their own Dracula LEGO figure.

The decorations and set up was incredible! If I could have picked it all up and taken it home with me I would have.

My boys chose these out as their faves:

My little love and I taking a picture – he was so nervous with dog!

I can honestly say I now want to host my own children’s Halloween party this year (now to convince the hubby!) as I fell in love with Target’s spooky candy bar.

Make sure to link up below so I can come visit you! Have a lovely day.

October 6, 2014

Update Outdoor Decor for Fall

Remember that super easy front decor I posted about a couple of months ago? If not no worries – check it out here. Now that Fall has arrived I had to change it up and wanted to share it with you because I loved how it turned out!

You will need:

fall themed branches, pumpkins on branches (I picked ours up from the dollar store for $1.25/each)
metal bucket
foam that fits the bottom of the bucket
bag of potpourri

Directions

Fill the bottom of the bucket with the foam and cover with the potpourri.

Take each branch and insert directly into the foam. I wanted a shorter arrangement so I bent some of the sticks at the bottom before inserting.

You may have to bend and move around some of the branches to ensure you have the right look you were going for. Keep adjusting until you love the look!

And voila!

We still have the same lantern that we bought previously so it looks great beside the bucket. Now to purchase some pumpkins to complete the look!

How do you update your outdoor decor for the seasons? Do you look for products that are easy to change up when the seasons change?

October 4, 2014

Rhythmical Rhymes of Biblical Times by Kelly Pulley #review

About Rhythmical Rhymes of Biblical Times

This treasury of Bible stories has been designed for children aged 4-8. The book features favourite and loved Bible stories using rhymes and beautiful, bright illustrations.

The stories use lighthearted moments to help teach spiritual truths. The book is perfect to read out loud allowing families to use this book to read together every night to help make memories while learning about their faith.

My Thoughts

Many of my favourite Biblical stories were included in this lovely book for children! The illustrations were wonderful and complimented each story perfectly. I loved how the stories rhymed which made reading out loud that much simpler (nothing worse then trying to read out loud and you are stumbling on the flow of words!). Teaching children about Bible stories can be hard but this book makes it easy. The stories are written in a way to relate easily with children with the language used while still teaching valuable lessons. It is an incredibly helpful tool to get the conversation going with our children about faith and the Bible while still keeping the right maturity level necessary for this age group.

You can find more reviews on the Litfuse blog tour page. If you are interested in purchasing your own copy you can do so here.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author – Kelly Pulley

Kelly Pulley works from his Tennessee home writing and illustrating children’s picture books. Some of his more recent work includes Ten Unusual Features of Lulu McDunn and The Cycling Wangdoos. He is best known for illustrating dozens of books in the Beginner’s Bible series, including The Beginner’s Bible (over 1.25 million copies sold).

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.