Month: December 2014

Tis the Time To #EatDrinkBeMerry with UDI’s #GlutenFree

Tis the holiday season! Time to enjoy good company and even better food (and the wine!). For individuals with food allergies and sensitivities it can also be very difficult to attend parties or host them. Udi’s gluten free foods has a fantastic variety of products to cover you during the holiday party season.

My favourite holiday dishes include:

Bruschetta style bread loafs

Chocolate dipped Snicker Doodles

And a delicious apple crisp!

Udi’s is celebrating the holidays with their #EatDrinkBeMerry contest. Udi’s is giving away holiday prize packs and 500 free product coupons! And all you have to do is share your favourite holiday dishes, drinks and celebrations here.

Are you in need of some gluten free inspiration? Check out Udi’s holiday boards on Pinterest Eat, Drink, Be Merry boards.

To all my gluten free readers, I am giving you the chance to win 5 Free Product Coupons for Udi’s (total value of $34.95). Enter via the Rafflecopter form below – good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Disclosure: I received free products in exchange for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

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Little Things Long Remembered by Susan Newman #review #giveaway

Little Things Long Remembered is a fantastic guide to help us re-connect with our children in this digital age. Susan gives us helpful tips and ideas on how to speak and play with our children.

About Little Things Long Remembered

As our digital devices take over the family life in subtle ways, what will happen to child development and family bonding when children spend more time with screens than they do at school or with their parents?

Life is constantly moving at a hectic pace. This reality places a high premium on finding family time. Little Things Long Remembered: Making Your Children Feel Special Every Day is updated for today’s digitally drive and time strapped families. It offers hundreds of easy ways to create memories and rituals that your children will remember fondly.

Consider this book as a personal think tank for being a standout parent and a starting point to spark ideas for family time. When a parent feels out of touch with their child, Little Things Long Remembered is the go to resource full of ways to bring families closer while making use of limited time. It is possibly to stay involved no matter how busy you are.

Childhood is an adventure and a journey to be joined by parents whenever possible. Small parcels of time well used assure stellar memories and ultimately these memories and traditions are the backbone of family unity. They are the glue that holds family together. In these short intervals you give a child a clear sense of security and attachment to yourself, the family unit and the larger family. 

The book hinges on the ten cardinal rules designed to help parents let go of work or social obligations and commit to spending time with their children. These rules include:

  • At home focus as much as possible on your children.
  • Put away electronic devices so you can really ‘be’ with them
  • Choose activities you like, children can tell when you are  not having fun and are faking it.

Little Things Long Remembered is designed to help maximize parents and children’s time, slow down to grab pockets of time – even if it is just a few minutes here and there.

Readers are encouraged to pick and choose to match their needs and the needs of their children’s ages and personalities. The time you spend with your children and what readers choose to embrace from within these pages will become as memorable and meaningful to parents as they will be to their child.


My Thoughts
We all want to be the best parent for our children. We want them to know we love them, we are proud of them and believe in them. Many of us have read countless books in preparation for our child’s birth and continue to read books to help us through the various stages of childhood. I am constantly trying to learn new techniques on parenting to help guide me with my own children.

What I loved the most about Little Things Long Remembered was how Susan offers quick and simple activities to do with your children. It is easy to quickly glance through to find the activities you would like to do with your child without finding the guide boring or too intimidating to want to read. The ideas and examples that Susan offers are relevant and easy to accomplish while suiting all parenting styles. The book is also the perfect size, smaller then your regular novel but slightly bigger then a pocket sized guide.

We have already used so many of her suggestions and activities which our kids love (boys and special kisses and signs – they love it!). This is definitely a parenting book you will cherish for a long time.

About the Author
Susan Newman, a social psychologist, specializes in child development and family dynamics. She has been named one of the 100 Top Psychologists to Follow on Twitter, as well as one of 25 Parenting Educators to follow. She has been blogging for Psychology Today magazine about parenting and issues related to raising children for over six years: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/singletons.
She has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, MSN BC, and her work has been feature on NPR and major leading newspapers and magazines.

Rating: 5/5 ++

The giveaway! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make sure to connect with Susan on Twitter and Facebook!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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The Metabolism Solution: Spotlight Tour #giveaway

Ready to lose weight and get healthy? Get ready for The Metabolism Solution from Lisa Lynn!

About The Metabolism Solution

Have you tried many weight loss plans? Or perhaps you have tried to eat right but keep giving up because of lack of results? The Metabolism Solution will help you with your weight loss goals by making it easier and quicker.

What makes The Metabolism Solution different? It will teach you how to safely harness the power of your metabolism to lose weight and help fight the stomach bulge. You will learn the right way to work out to boost your metabolism (yes there is a right way to work out!) and you should be able to see results the first few days after your first 30 minute work out!. You will learn how to address your weight loss and fitness issues from the inside out thus allowing you to focus on what created the weight gain in the beginning and how to correct those issues. Do you love delicious food? You will adore Lisa Lynn’s hundred irresistibly delicious fat blasting recipes. The Metabolism Solution is the perfect road map for not only transforming your body but changing your whole life.

About Lisa Lynn

Celebrity fitness and nutrition expert, Lisa Lynn, has devoted nearly three decades of her career to personal training, specialising in metabolic weight loss and performance nutrition. Couple with her experience in the field of fitness and nutrition she has earned four educational certificates from the International Sports and Sciences Association’s Professional Division including: Certified Fitness Trainer, Specialist in Performance Nutrition, Fitness Therapy and Elite Trainer.

Lynn’s years of research in metabolic boosting and performance nutrition resulted in the development of her Leaner Lifestyle DVD series, specifically designed to promote healthy fat loss by boosting the most sluggish and stubborn metabolisms. She is best known for her thirteen years as Martha Stewart’s personal trainer who has said, “Lisa is the only trainer that made a difference”. Lynn is also a regular go to nutrition and fitness expert on the Dr. Oz Show, appearing in two of his highest rated episodes. Major media outlets frequently call upon her for her expertise in fitness and nutrition. Lynn maintains a diverse portfolio of clientele including professional bodybuilder, models, actors, CEOs and people throughout the country.

Lisa just released her award winning book The Metabolism Solution that has helped thousands of people lose weight and reach their fitness goals. The Metabolism Solution is available at: www.lynfit.com.

In support of the spotlight tour, one US reader will win the LynFit trio along with a copy of The Metabolism Solution. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the trailer for The Metabolism Solution below.


Disclosure: I will be receiving a free copy of The Metabolism Solution in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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The 2014 Christmas Wish List Giveaway!

22 amazing bloggers from 2 countries have gotten together to offer 22 prize packages for this year’s Christmas Wish List Giveaway! Each blogger has gathered some of their favourite items from their own wish list and put together a gift for you!
Visit each blog to see what items are included in their prize.  Every blogger has a separate giveaway that you must enter on their own site, to win their prize package.  You might win more than one!

Giveaways open to Canada will have a little Canadian flag in the top corner of their image (above).  If there is also an American flag that means that giveaway is open to both countries. Most of the giveaways are open to the U.S. only (no flag on image).
Blog Hop
1. Raising Memories // 2. Ginger Snap Crafts // 3. Rustic Refined // 4. Kleinworth & Co.// 5. 7 Alive // 6. A Momless Mom // 7. Dukes & Duchesses // 8. Happy Hour Projects // 9. It Happens in a Blink // 10. Create. Craft. Love. // 11. The Kim Six Fix  // 12. Crafting in the Rain // 13. create it. go! // 14. Bubbly Nature Creations // 15. Working Mommy Journal // 16. Fern Avenue // 17. B is 4 // 18. inkhappi // 19. Kathe with an E // 20. The Mommy Mix // 21. Play. Party. Pin. // 22. Frenchie

On My Wish List

My favourite time of the year is here! I have put together a special giveaway just for you my Canadian readers! A $50 Gift Card to my favourite store – Shoppers Drug Mart with Lindor Chocolates! I love how Shoppers Drug Mart is literally a one stop shop plus with the bonus of rewards points – it can’t be beat!

Canadian residents can enter via the Rafflecopter form below – good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Make Lasting Impressions with PhotoInpress #giveaway

I love capturing special moments on film. It allows me to relive the most important memories in our life with my family over and over again.

PhotoInpress was launched in Montreal in 2006 and is proud of it’s 100% Canadian product (yeah!!). Anne and Stephane developed PhotoInpress after a trip to Europe. They wanted to capture and seal these memories for their children to carry for a lifetime. What better way to do so than in a photo book!

The steps are simple and easy to follow. All you have to do is:

  • Download and install Book Designer. This is a free software to create your photo book  and took under five minutes to download on our home computer.
  • The fun part: select and arrange your pictures,edit text and create easy layouts.
  •  Click on the order button, review your order and finalize payment. 
  • Your book is shipped to you at home!

The simplicity of creating the photo book was the best part for me. The hardest part was choosing the photos I wanted to use and put them in a folder to upload to the Book Designer! The book I created was a family album to give to my Dad for Christmas. In the photo book are photos of my kids, my siblings, cousins, aunts and my Grandfather. We lost out Grandfather this year to prostate cancer and I wanted to create something meaningful and an album my Dad can cherish.

Designing the layout of your photo book is quite simple and is based solely on how many photos you would like per a page and what direction you would like them (vertical or horizontal). Then click and drag your photos from the bottom bar. The bottom bar has at least fourteen photos displayed at any given time and you can click back and forth on the bottom bar to choose more photos. One of the best features (and one I haven’t seen before) is that as soon as you use a photo a check mark appears on it letting you know that it has been used. This helps to prevent duplicates and if you want to use the photo again you can do so no problem!

PhotoInpress is giving one of my Canadian readers the chance to win a $40 credit to PhotoInpress! Canadian residents, 18 years of age and older can enter via the Rafflecopter below – good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

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