Edna Valley Vineyard Chardonnay Review

Disclosure - free sample provided.

What's in my wine glass?

I just love when I find great wines that are reasonably priced.  I have been a fan of Edna Valley's wines for some time now.  They offer wines that are great quality, but they are very affordable.  Edna Valley Vineyard's is located in the coast of California.  They are located just 5 miles from the Pacific Ocean.  Have you tried any of Edna Valley Vineyard's wines?  What is your favorite?

I want to introduce you to Edna Valley's 2012 Central Coast Chardonnay.  This is a great crisp white wine.  It is made with Chardonnay grapes.  This is a perfect choice if you like a dry wine, but don't want something super dry.  The 2012 Chardonnay is dry, but it also has notes of fruitness to it.  The wine is easy to drink and pairs well with a variety of dishes.  I typically would pair a wine like this with a light meal - something like chicken or pork.  What would you pair it with?  This wine retails for about $15 a bottle.  

You can learn more about this excellent wine and all of the wines from Edna Valley Vineyard by visiting their website. 

Disclosure - I received a free sample to facilitate my review.  No monetary compensation was provided.  All opinions are completely my own.  My participation is voluntary.   I am disclosing in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255.  

Holiday Books from Disney

Disclosure - free sample provided.

I can't believe that the holiday season will be quickly approaching.  My kids love to read holiday themed books during the Winter, and they get so excited about the holidays from these.  Holiday books are are a great present for any child.  I love to give gifts that are not always toys.  Disney offers a great selection of holiday themed books to get your child ready for the holiday season.

Coc McStuffins - A Very MStuffins Christmas is an adorable picture book.  The cover of the book is really pretty and glittery.  The book also contains over 50 sparkly stickers.  This book is a great holiday read about the McStuffins and Santa's Elves.  Santa's Elves are not ready for Christmas yet!  The book is perfect for any Doc McStuffins fan.  The book retails for $5.99.  Minnie's Winter Bow Show is another great Disney Junior picture book.  This book is illustrated with colorful pictures.  It contains over 70 fun and sparkly stickers too!  The book is about a great Bow Show event.  It really is a fun holiday read.  I fell in love with the Disney Christmas Storybook Collection.  This is a really nice hardbound book to add to your holiday reading collection.  This book is a collection of short stories that feature many great Disney characters.  This is a great book for reading before bedtime too!  The book features simple text that even early readers can read.  The book also has great illustrations throughout.  Do you have a princess fan in your house?  Disney offers the Perfect Princess Christmas picture book.  This is a book that includes a number of Christmas themed stories that feature all the favorite princesses.  The book even includes a mobile app for your iPhone or iPad.  The book retails for $12.99.

My daughter and I love to cook together in the kitchen.  We were very excited when we received a copy of Disney's A Merry Christmas Cookbook.  This is a beautifully illustrated cookbook that is fun for both children and adults.  The book includes Disney holiday themed recipes.  The book includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, sides and drinks, and dessert recipes.  This book is a fun way to teach your kids about cooking in the kitchen.  This book retails for $10.99.

These are just some of the great books that Disney has to offer.  You can learn more about all of their great reads by visiting their website.  Do you and your children have a favorite Disney holiday book?

Disclosure - I received a free sample to facilitate my review.  No monetary compensation was provided.  All opinions are completely my own.  My participation is voluntary.   I am disclosing in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255. 

Original Gourmet Lollipops Review

Disclosure - free sample provided.

I remember being a kid, and getting so excited to see these neat displays of lollipops in the stores.  It was even better when my mom let us get them!  You might be familiar with the great lollipops I am talking about.  Original Gourmet Lollipops are the lollipops that are the large ball shaped lollipops that you see in so many fun flavors and colors.  Have you tried these?  I absolutely love them!

I received a sampler of lollipops from Original Gourmet Lollipops.  I was extremely excited, but so were my 7 and 9 year old.  They couldn't wait to pick out a flavor and try one!  These lollipops come in a huge selection of tasty flavors.  They offer traditional flavors, but they also offer a great selection of unique flavors too.  They offer flavors like cotton candy, watermelon, orange splash, pomegranate raspberry, and more.  What flavor would you want to try?  These gourmet lollipops would make an amazing treat for Halloween too!

You can learn more about Original Gourmet Lollipops by visiting their website.  You can even order their tasty lollipops directly from their website.  They also have a product locator, so you can easily find these at a store near you!  You can also connect with them on Facebook and Twitter.

Disclosure - I received a free sample to facilitate my review.  No monetary compensation was provided.  All opinions are completely my own.  My participation is voluntary.   I am disclosing in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255. 

Pinky Paradise Halloween Contact Lenses Review

Disclosure - free sample provided.

I have worn contact lenses for over 20 years.  I want to introduce you to Pinky Paradise.  They offer a huge selection of contact lenses.  They offer basic lenses, but they also offer a selection of lenses that will dramatically change the look of your eyes.  They even offer a number of great lenses that are perfect for Halloween.  These lenses are the perfect way to enhance any costume.  

I chose a pair of fun lenses from Pinky Paradise for Halloween.  Their Princess Pinky Cosplay lenses are outrageous.  You will have so many people asking you about your eyes with these in!  The lenses are available with a prescription too.  I love this because I cannot see without prescription lenses.  The lenses retail for $25 a pair.  They come with a really cute animal case too.  The lenses are comfortable.  I cannot wait to wear them to some fun Halloween events.  

You can learn more about all the amazing contact lenses that Pinky Paradise offers by visiting their website.  They offer so many fun looks.  What look is your favorite?

You can also connect with Pinky Paradise on Facebook and Twitter.

Disclosure - I received a free sample to facilitate my review.  No monetary compensation was provided.  All opinions are completely my own.  My participation is voluntary.   I am disclosing in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255. 

Insta Natural Argan Hair Mask and Age Defying Moisturizer Review

Disclosure - free sample provided.

Insta Natural is a company that offers a great selection of beauty, hair care, and skin care products.  I have really been impressed with all of the products that I have tried from them.  My hair has really been dry since we swam quite a bit over the Summer.  I was recently given the opportunity to try Insta Natural's Argan Oil Hair Mask.  I was so excited to try this product out because I knew my hair really needed some help.  This is a product that provides your hair with the extra moisture it needs.  This is a deep conditioning treatment.  The product is designed to treat dry and damaged hair.  It is easy to use and it really left my hair feeling really soft and shiny.  However, it did not weigh down my hair, and leave it looking oily.  The Argan Oil Hair Mask is made with Argan Oil, Amino Acid Complex, Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, and Vitamin B5.  

I also received Insta Natural's Youth Express Age Defying Moisturizer.  I am always looking for a really great facial moisturizer that leaves my skin looking great.  This moisturizer feels great on.  It leaves my skin feeling soft, and looking smooth.  The moisturizer is said to help with the signs of aging.  I really like that this moisturizer is versatile.  It can be used for men or women.  It can also be used during the day, but also as a night cream.  The moisturizer also doubles as a body moisturizer!  

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Encouraging Your Child to Read - Scholastic Books Review

Disclosure - free sample provided.

I am always encouraging my children to read at least 20 minutes a night.  We are big readers in our house.  My children love Scholastic Books.  Scholastic offers a huge selection of books for all ages.  They offer books for the very early reader, but they also offer a great selection of titles for the more advanced reader too!  Maybe you aren't sure what level books you should get for your child.  I love that Scholastic puts the reading level on many of their books.  You can find this on the bottom left of the back cover.  They also put the grade level that it would appeal to.  I have found this to be very helpful.   Scholastic really helps make reading fun for my kids.  

Chapter Books

Scholastic offers a great selection of chapter books.  This is great for the child that can read independently, but is not yet ready to read a novel.  They offer chapter books in a variety of different levels.  They offer very simple chapter books, but also more advanced.  

My daughter really loves the Princess Pink books.  These books are written to appeal to 1st and 2nd graders.  The books are written at a 2nd grade level.  I found that the Princess Pink books are a great way to transition your child from a picture book or leveled reader to a chapter style book.  These are from their Branches category.  Princess Pink and the Land of Fake- Believe - Little Red Quaking Hood is a great early chapter book.  The story really is fun and my daughter and I love how silly Princess Pink is.  The book features colorful pages and drawings.  This really makes the transition to reading a chapter book easy.  

The Puppy Place series is another great chapter book series.  These are written by Ellen Miles.  The theme of this series is, "Where every puppy finds a home."  This is a great series if your child is a dog lover.  The Puppy Place - Zippy is an adorable story is about a girl named Lizzie and she finds a puppy named Zipper.  The Puppy Place - Cooper is another great puppy read.  This book is about Charles meeting Cooper (who is an adorable corgi puppy).  The Puppy Place books are written to appeal to 2nd and 3rd graders.  They are written at a 3rd grade level.  We found these to be the perfect reading level for my 2nd grader.  

The Shelter Pet Squad is another great chapter book for those pet loving kids out there.  This book is written by Cynthia Lord.  The story is really great too!  The book is about Suzannah.  She is a big animal lover, but she is not allowed to have a pet.  She helps out at a local animal shelter though because she loves animals so much!  My daughter really liked that this book had some illustrations throughout it.  

This really makes reading more fun too!  My son has been a huge Captain Underpants fan for years now.  He honestly really started to get into ready from the moment he picked up his first Captain Underpants book.  He now doesn't want to put books down.  I think it is so important to find a type of book that appeals to your child, and turns them on to reading.  The newest Captain Underpants book was released in August.  My son is always waiting for the newest book to come out.  Captain Underpants and the Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo Toilet 2000 is the Eleventh book in the series.  Dav Pilkey does an amazing job engaging young readers with the silly humor in this book.  The book features simple text,comic style writing, and fun illustrations.  You might have a child that wants to read this series, but it is a little too advanced for them.  My daughter really wanted to read these last year, but we actually started with Dav Pilkey's Might Robot series first.  This is written by the same author as Captain Underpants, but it seems a little less challenging to me.  

101 Hidden Animals is another great book from Scholastic.  This is a picture style book that is loaded with fun photos of really neat animals.  The book features page after page of animals hidden within their environment.  Each page also explains about the animal and how or why it hides.  This is a very interesting read.  It is perfect for children that are intrigued by animals.  This book was written to appeal to 2nd through 5th graders.  The book is written at a 5th grade reading level.  I have a 2nd and a 4th grader, and both of them really enjoyed reading this book.

These are just some of the wonderful reads that Scholastic Books has to offer.  They offer so many great books to help your child fall in love with reading.  

Disclosure - I received a free sample to facilitate my review.  No monetary compensation was provided.  All opinions are completely my own.  My participation is voluntary.   I am disclosing in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255. 

Disney Books - Review

Disclosure - free sample provided.

My kids love Disney books.  They get so excited when we get a package of books from Disney to review.  Disney offers books for children of all ages.  They offer books for really little ones, but also for the more advanced reader.  Their books are a great way to get your child excited about reading.  They offer books that feature so many of their characters.  Does your child have a favorite Disney book that they enjoy reading?

Hiro and Tadashi

I personally fell in love with this book myself.  Big Hero 6 will be on the big screen in November.  This book features the great characters from the movie.  This book is about two brothers that are really good with technology.  They even guild robots.  The book even features a fire breathing dragon robot.  The book is loaded with beautifully illustrated pages.  This is a picture book, but it also features comic style bubbles with text throughout.  

Sofia the First

Do you have a pre school aged child that loves Sofia?  Disney offers so many great Sofia the First books.  Disney's Sofia the First Reading Adventures is a great set for the young reader.  This is a boxed set of pre readers.  The set comes with 10 books, 86 stickers, and more.  The Curse of Princess Ivy is a Sofia the First Picture book.  This is beautifully illustrated too!  The book also includes a free eBook download.  This book has so much princess fun throughout it!  

Palace Pets

Palace Pets Teacup the Pup for Belle is an adorable board book.  This is also a touch and feel book.  The book is about Belle's palace pet.  The book is colorful and has great pictures that will engage your child.  This book will retail for about $9.99.  Palace Pets Summer the Kitten for Rapunzel is another fun touch and feel board book.  I love how these both have great carrying handles attached to them.  I know so many little girls that would fall in love with this book and want to carry it around with them everywhere.  This book features Rapunzels pet kitten.  This book will also retail for about $9.99.

Doc McStuffins

Blame is on the Rain is a level 1 reader.  This is a great book for any Doc McStuffins fan.  It is written with simple text that is perfect for pre-k level and up.  The book is about a cow that Doc McStuffins is looking for a cure for.  The book will retail for $3.99.

Gravity Falls

Do you have a child that loves Gravity Falls?  Did you know that they offer a great selection of books featuring Gravity Falls characters?  Once Upon a Swine is a book about traveling back in time.  The book is a simple chapter book that has some fun illustrations throughout.  The book will retail for $4.99.  Dipper's & Mabel's Guide to Mystery and Nonstop Fun is really a neat book.  I love the way in which this book was written.  The book also includes a secret code poster.  The book is similar to a chapter book, but the pages also include colorful illustrations.  This makes reading even more fun.  This book will retail for $12.99.

These are just some of the books that Disney offers. You can visit their website to learn more about all of their great books.

Disclosure - I received a free sample to facilitate my review.  No monetary compensation was provided.  All opinions are completely my own.  My participation is voluntary.   I am disclosing in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255.