Looking for a quick, easy addition to your holiday cookie tray? Check out these salted caramel bites. The hardest part is removing wrappers! To make these you'll need: Caramels Meltable chocolate (such as milk chocolate chips) Sea salt tooth picks microwavable bowl plastic wrap plate or platter 1) Start by unwrapping all of the caramels then set them aside. This takes the longest time and is the hardest part of the entire recipe. 2) Melt the chocolate in the microwave making sure not to burn it. For best results, microwave for short intervals and stir in between. We used fancier, more expensive, brand name chocolate chips to make our salted caramel bites taste better. 3) Lightly push a toothpick into a caramel and use it to dip the caramel into the melted chocolate. Cover the caramel completely. Hint: Do not push the toothpick too deeply into the caramel or you won't be able to get it out. 4) Use another toothpick to help remove the first … [Read more...]
Holiday Gifts from Verizon Wireless
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...]
Advertising Killed The Sponsored Post (& Brand-Blogger Relationship)
This isn't a topic I normally write about but I feel inclined to say something. I've been a blogger for over 10 years. I started blogging before sponsored posts were even a thing - when putting ads up on your blog was considered "selling out". I've watched the brand-blogger relationship grow and develop into something great, and now I'm watching it fall. Back in the day, brands contacted bloggers because they were good story tellers. Blogs were full of personal anecdotes, tutorials, coupons, recipes and other rich content. Bloggers could take a brand's product and organically weave it into an everyday post. Readers saw bloggers casually talk up certain products but didn't notice an actual advertisement. What readers saw was how products A, B or C fit into every day life. Bloggers created a personal connection with products. As the brand-blogger relationship grew, brands began to see bloggers as influencers. Stories of using products in every day life were leading to increased … [Read more...]
Floating M&M Experiment
Lately the girls have been very excited to come home from school and show me the science experiments they've been doing in school. The DIY Lava Lamp was one Nutty did and today's Floating M&M Experiment is one Tottie did. For this experiment all you need is a glass of cold water and M&M candies. Drop one or more M&Ms into the cold water and wait... ...and wait...you'll see that the candy loses it's color and begins to turn white. Continue waiting (about 10 minutes or so). Do not disturb the water. You might see tiny bubbles beginning to form on the candy and you'll see some chocolate starting to peak through. Suddenly you'll see bits of shell start to break lose and the "M" will rise off of the candy! It's kinda cool! This Floating M&M Experiment works because of water solubility. The hard candy coating that contains the printed "M" is not water soluble. While the rest of the shell (the part that contains the color) dissolves … [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...]
