Last week I had the opportunity to have lunch at the FireLake Grill House & Cocktail Bar at the Radisson Blu Mall of America compliments of Verizon Wireless. It wasn't a just because lunch, it was a “Tech Bites Lunch” showcasing the latest and greatest tech gear for the Holidays. As you know, I'm not a tech blogger but trust me, you'll want to know about these gifts (for the entire family!). First on the lunch menu for me was Gathered Greens, a salad with Amblu cheese, apples, cranberries, candied walnuts, and a sherry viniagrette. Yum! On the tech menu were speakers, wireless speakers to be exact. The Ultimate Ears collection, JBL Pulse 2, and the Bose Soundlink were the highlights for the starter course. I personally own a Bose Soundlink speaker that I received as a gift and can vouch for the sound quilty. My husband is a speaker snob and even he was impressed with this little portable speaker. Everyone at lunch was impressed with the JBL Pulse 2. It's programmable LED … [Read more...]
Everyday Purse Essentials #BeHealthyForEveryPartOfLife #ad
Everyday purse essentials has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BeHealthyForEveryPartofLife #CollectiveBias I'm going to show you the contents of my purse. It's not to scare you, but rather to give you a little insight into my life. You see, I'm a nurse and people always joke that nurses are walking pharmacies. I'll let you be the judge... I'll start with the obvious in my purse ...my wallet. I won't open up the contents of that but know that it has the usual credit cards, limited cash, a note pad and a pen... It also holds my RN license card, my BLS (Basic Life Support) and PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) certification cards. Next comes my phone. It's my life line and I don't know what I'd do without it. You can kinda say I'm addicted to the technology. Along with my phone comes my external phone charger. I got it for Christmas last year and it too has been a life saver for me and a bunch of my friends and … [Read more...]
Family Game Night Wednesdays #RealCheeseRealLife #ad
This post is sponsored by Jack’s Pizza through a campaign with The Motherhood. All opinions expressed are 100% my own. A few weeks ago I told you about Pizza Thursdays, our family tradition since Hubby and I were first married. Today I'm going to tell you about Family Game Night Wednesdays, a tradition we started last winter. Hubby worked long hours last summer. Between working during the day and paperwork at night (he owns his own business) the girls complained that he wasn't spending a lot of time with them. The girls were also complaining that I was on the computer too much in the evenings. One Wednesday evening last fall Hubby started a fire in the fireplace and asked the girls if they wanted to play a board game as a family. After an enthusiastic "yes!" Family Game Night Wednesdays was born. Every Wednesday, starting the first Wednesday after school starts and going to the last Wednesday of school, we do something together as a family. Almost always it's playing … [Read more...]
We Day Minnesota 2015
Two years ago I attended We Day for the first time. I was motivated but completely overwhelmed at the end of the day. I had no clue what We Day entailed and no clue how it would change my life and the lives of friends. We Day is a day long celebration of kids doing good in the world. Inspirational speakers such as Chelsea Clinton, Marlee Matlin, and Henry Winkler and concert acts such as Ciara, Nico & Vinz, and Natalie La Rose make We Day a star studded event full of energy and dedication to change. You can’t buy a ticket, you have to earn it through service and making a commitment to take action on at least one local and one global initiative. WE is We Day, Free The Children and Me to We. Together, our three brands make up a family of organizations that work to empower each of us to make the world a better place. We are all connected. Together WE change the world. There are many different ways to get involved in the WE movement. One is through We Schools. The We … [Read more...]
Bentley’s Story Part 1 #PedigreeGives #ad
Bentley's Story Part 1 has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and PEDIGREE®. All opinions are my own. Please note, this post is the first in an ongoing series. Unless otherwise noted, this is the only post that is compensated. #PedigreeGives #CollectiveBias If you're a regular reader of Toys In The Dryer, you know that my family adopted a Boxer named Bentley about 10 months ago. I first introduced you to him in a post titled Introducing Bentley. I was so excited about him joining our family that I wrote that post less than 24 hours after he joined us and used crappy cell phone photos. I really knew nothing about him either! Now that he's been with us for a while, I can finally tell you his (or rather, our) story... Bentley's "mug" shot as I call it. This is him in the shelter. Bentley is the 4th Boxer that Hubby and I have owned. Our first three were retired, champion show dogs from the same breeder/handler. Hubby and I had always considered rescue but had a good … [Read more...]
Pizza Thursdays a Family Tradition #RealCheeseRealLife #ad
This post is sponsored by Jack's Pizza through a campaign with The Motherhood. All opinions expressed are 100% my own. Growing up my family had a tradition to eat spaghetti every Wednesday night. It was an easy meal for my mom to make before church activities in the evening. All my friends knew that Wednesday was spaghetti night and they would frequently invite themselves over for dinner (which of course also became a regular thing). To this day, my childhood friends and I STILL talk about Spaghetti Wednesdays. Now that I have a family of my own, we too have a meal tradition. It's not Spaghetti Wednesdays, it's Pizza Thursdays! I never intended to make Thursdays pizza day in my house. It just kinda happened. Hubby and I joined a pool league shortly after we got married. Every Thursday during the winter months we shot pool. Pizza was a quick and easy meal to make in the short amount of time we had between work and the start of pool. Fifteen years and two kids later, … [Read more...]
