Sunday, May 30, 2010

What Really Matters

Do you ever have moments in life when you realize just how unimportant most of the things you worry about are? I'm having a few right now. No, they aren't happening to me personally, but I am amazed by the two strong women I know who are going through them.

One is a friend from elementary school. We grew up and were friends all the way through, but somewhere along the line, some time high school I guess, we lost touch. I recently found her again on Facebook. Only to find out she is battling stage 3 breast cancer, she is only 33. She has two sweet little ones, how can this be happening?

The other one is an especially close blogging friend, for whom my heart is breaking for over and over, everytime I read her updates.

It puts a lot of things back into their proper perspective for me.

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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Music Review: Sex and the City 2 Soundtrack

Looking forward to catching up with Carrie and the girls in the latest installment of the Sex and the City? When I got the chance to review the movie's soundtrack I was really excited, especially when I head that a brand-new duet "Love is Your Color" by Grammy and Academy Award® winner Jennifer Hudson, along with global superstar, multi-platinum recording artist and three-time Grammy Award nominee Leona Lewis would be included on it. I thought the CD started off strong with 12-time Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys, performing her own extraordinary new version of the Blondie classic “Rapture”. This was followed by an artist who is already one of my personal favorites Dido, with an exclusive new track that like Key's is very danceable and joyful. I would say those two songs along with Key's other track and Cindy Lauper's perennial favorite "True Colors" were the highlights.

The other songs are a bit of hit and miss for my musical tastes. The Sex in the City's Men's Choir were certainly good performers, with strong voices but are not something I would normally put on. I was excited to hear Grammy, Emmy, Golden Globe, Tony and Academy Award® winner Liza Minnelli covering Beyonce’s chart-topper “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It). Let's just say it was interesting. The Hudson Lewis duet I really really wanted to like, but it never clicked for me.

The stars of Sex and the City 2, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, bust out Helen Reddy classic “I Am Woman", with a lot of enthusiasm and I think it'll inspire girlfriends everywhere to request it during Girl's Night Out. That song embodied the heart of Sex in the City for me, girlfriends having a good time together.The tracks on the Sex and the City 2 Soundtrack are:

1. Alicia Keys “Rapture”
2. Dido “Everything to Lose”
3. Cee Lo “Language of Love”
4. Erykah Badu “Window Seat”
5. Natacha Atlas “Kidda”
6. Michael McGregor “Euphrates Dream”
7. Liza Minnelli “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”
8. Ricki-Lee "Can't Touch It"
9. Alicia Keys "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down"
10. Jennifer Hudson and Leona Lewis "Love Is Your Color"
11. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon “I Am Woman”
12. Sex and the City Men’s Choir “If Ever I Would Leave You”
13. Sex and the City Men’s Choir “Sunrise, Sunset”
14. Sex and the City Men’s Choir “Till There Was You”
15. Shayna Steele, Jordan Ballard, Kamilah Marshall “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”
16. Liza Minnelli with Billy Stritch “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye”
17. Cyndi Lauper “True Colors”
18. Aaron Zigman “Divas and Dunes”

Bottom line, this soundtrack is best suited for the Sex in the City fanatic.

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Disclaimer: Thank you to One2One Network for facilitating this review, this post relates my own personal and unbiased opinion and yours may differ.

Friday, May 28, 2010

12X12 Vistaprint Photobook Giveaway!

I wanted to thank everyone for their really nice compliments on the scrapbook I made to commemorate my daughter's first year of preschool and recently posted. Many of you shared that you'd love to have something like that, but are overwhelmed by the idea having to create something yourself.

As a dedicated memory keeper, I believe that everyone has a story to tell and memories worth preserving. A picture is worth a thousands words but not if it's left in a drawer, a memory card, or on the computer! Today I have a wonderful way for anyone to take their photos and create a beautiful home for them, that can be displayed and cherished. Vistaprint has given me an opportunity for one of my readers to win a personalized 12X12 photobook! The winner can choose from hard cover, leather cover or linen cover. It includes 26 pages and a variety of layout and design options and free 14-day shipping. The value of the giveaway is over $50.

Think of how many photos you'll be able to use in a 12X12 photobook and you'll truly be able to enjoy them with such a large format book. This is sure to be a coffee table book, only better because you and your family will star in it.

Here are some of my favorite ways to use photobooks:
  • A Year in Review
  • Baby's First Year
  • Christmases (or another special holiday) Through the Years, this is a nice option because you can see how everyone changed over time with a few flips of a page.
  • A Special Vacation, are those honeymoon pictures still sitting on your hardrive? Relive it!
  • To Commemorate a Big Birthday: like 16, 30, or 70 - which my Dad turns this year!
  • A Season, for example, put all your fall activities and celebrations in one place
  • An Anniversary, Brad and I will be married 10 years this August and a photobook with highlights from the first decade of our marriage would be a really special keepsake
  • Everyday Life, yes everyday moments are the BIG moments! Remember them!

Besides these custom photobooks, Vistaprint also offers such great products as Birthday Invitations, Custom T-shirts, and Personalized Mugs. They have a lot to offer and many ways to turn your photos into special keepsakes. Enter:

Tell me what memories you'll capture in a 12X12 photobook from Vistaprint, if you win!

Extra Entries: {leave an extra comment for each one you choose to do}

Giveaway open now through June 11th at midnight EST to US residents. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email or a new one will be chosen. Please make sure you leave a way to contact you, if you win!

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Disclaimer: Thank you to Vistaprint for providing this giveaway and to Team Mom for facilitiating this opportunity.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

C is for Caterpillar

A caterpillar with grass growing on it, in fact! Aren't these fun? They're made by stuffing potting soil and grass seed into half of an old pair of panty hose. Then water frequently and place in the sunshine until it sprouts. I'd seen this idea before in a teaching book, but never tried it. It was fun to see how great the ones the 4 year old class did at ER's preschool. I think we may have to try it too, we have some extra grass seed on hand.

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mooo.com.au giveaway at ABC & 123!

Today I posted a giveaway for mooo.com.au over at ABC & 123. It's for a $50 voucher and they specialize in cute personalized stuff. They've got great choices for boys and girls, plus unlike many giveaways, it's open worldwide. Check it out. Look at the cute backpack ER got from them. (Her first name is on the blank circle on the backpack above, I digitally edited it out for privacy) We also got a sweet personalized name canvas that includes both her name and the year she was born.

Plus I'll let you have a super secret extra entry on that giveaway. All you have to say is that you heard about it through me at my personal blog☺

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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Last Day of Preschool

ER's last day of 3 year old preschool was yesterday, at the end of class each of the kids got a little certificate. I can't believe how fast the year has gone, it seems like the first day of preschool was yesterday!

Shared at the following Wordless Wednesday: Five Minutes for Mom, Jolly Mom, Go Graham Go, Two of a Kind Working on a Full House and Wordful Wednesday at Seven Clown Circus.

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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Costco Giveaway! Sunny Day Snacks‏ & Gift Card

This giveaway is now closed, thank you to everyone who entered! This certainly was a popular giveaway! Congratulations to sweetpea08, comment #75 who said,"I follow you on Google Friend Connect."

You might remember that I LOVE Costco and that we used to have "date" night there. The next time I'm there, I'll be getting several stock up sizes of nutritious snacks. They're great for throwing in my bag to nibble on while running errands. Now that the weather is warmer I'll be relying on them even more as I pack up ER and head outside for some for our weekly play group at the park and for on the trail at our local Metroparks.

Now available at Club Stores, Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Bars and Simply Fruit Roll-Ups deliver great value and are perfect to have on hand for last minute day trips and even an afternoon in the backyard. Not only nutritious, but convenient too, the club sized snacks are individually wrapped and ideal for throwing in your purse or travel bag, just in case your little one´s tummy starts to rumble. Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Bars are a delightful, 100% natural, combination of tastes and textures you´ll love. Now, you can get 25% more of the whole almonds, peanuts, raisins and cranberries in every bar! With no artificial flavors or colors and only 140 calories, Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Granola Bars also contain 8g of whole grain per serving. I love granola bars and these happen to be one of my favorite varieties. Simply Fruit Roll-Ups are a better-for-you treat that kids love! Simply Fruit Roll-Ups are an excellent source of Vitamin C and are available in a convenient variety pack of Strawberry and Wildberry flavors. Every delicious roll is made with 90% real fruit and fruit juice and packs a full serving of fruit. Even more exciting? They´re gluten-free and contain only 50 calories per roll.

Check out your local Club Store today for stock up packages of these delicious snacks and more!

Giveaway!
I have a "Costco Sunny Day Snacks" prize pack for one of my readers! It includes:
  • Stock-up sized package of Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Bars (48 ct.)
  • Stock-up sized package of Simply Fruit Roll-Ups (42 ct.), and a
  • $25 gift card that you can use at Costco.

Enter:

Tell me what kind of healthy snack you'll stock up on the next time you're at Costco or what your family's favorite healthy snack is.

Extra Entries:

  • Publically follow my blog via Google Friends Connect.
  • Subscribe to my blog via EMAIL, must be verified.
  • Add my blog's Facebook page to your "Likes"
  • Post my link button
  • Follow me on Twitter, tweet this giveaway and include @KTnestingspot in it.

Giveaway open to US residents through June 8th at Midnight EST. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email. Make sure I have a way to contact you, should you win. Good luck!

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Disclosure: The product, information, and gift cards were all given to me from General Mills through MyBlogSpark. They've also provided the prize package.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Preschool Memory Book

I'm done! I feel like such a weight is off my shoulders. I hope now I'll have more time to devote to other crafty pursuits. My style is to create what I'm most inspired by, working on deadline is not something I like to do. I made the majority of 11 memory books, one for each child in ER's preschool class. Everyone else's were passed out at the Mother's Day tea. Except for ER's, I didn't have my own child's done, typical isn't it? I felt kinda bad as everyone else looked at their books and she was empty handed. So I promised her it'd be done by the last day. I had to, otherwise I'd still be working on it when she graduates from high school! I usually have a million projects going at the same time, none of them finished all a work in progress. By finishing yesterday, I made -barely- the unofficial deadline. I can't believe the year is over TOMORROW! I have a large pile of extra scrapbook papers, mostly from paper pads, that I used along with construction paper for most of the kid's books. Not totally acid free, but my budget was nonexistent so I had to work with what I had. Otherwise it would've cost a fortune, having the actual 8X8 scrapbooks donated helped a lot.ER's book was different. I went all out on hers, using only acid free supplies and premium supplies like cute 3D embellished titles and glittery paper. Hey, if I was going to spend all this time working on it, and I spent A LOT of time working on it, it had to be done right.
To make assembly of the other ten books go faster I designed a page for each topic and then worked on them assembly style. ER's took longer because I designed each page individually, the other books actually look quite different. I am very happy with how it came out and ER loves having it read to her. This is a photo heavy post, but after so much work I wanted to show it off☺ The paper for this page is shimmery and flocked, very cool in person!
We were in Walt Disney World for Valentine's Day but each of the kids still gave her a little Valentine. Since they are her first from classmates, I wanted to save them and this pocket page was my solution. I'm on the hunt for a little embellishment, I think the top looks a little plain.
V.I.P. night, a night time event that each child brought one special person to. Ours had a sports theme. I fit a lot of pictures on it by cropping down each photo and arranging on the pages. I filled in with paper and ribbon.The picture of me and ER from the Mother's Day Tea, that big flower is from the Happy Mail I got from my sweet friend Noelle. It matches the school themed paper I bought perfectly.There were fifteen spaces in our class but we never reached total. We started with three more kids but they moved sessions as other spot opened up. We ended with these eleven kids. Names are give below the picture.
ER and her first teacher, who provided a great first school experience. She was very kind and loving with the kids, sweet and nuturing. ER really loves her.
I love this idea, it's inspired by organizer Peter Walsh. He was on Oprah once and suggested people make photobooks out of their kid's artwork to reduce clutter. I streamlined it even more and fit my favorite projects on one double page layout.
My solution for several random pictures from thoughout the year. Turned out great because it shows several different aspects of preschool.
The books all end with another little pocket page for stashing all the little bits and pieces I want to hang on to from the year. The postcard ER's teacher sent her before school started and an example of how she wrote her name at 3 are in there.

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Shared At: DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land, The Girl CreativeSumo Sweet StuffMakingThe DIY Show Off

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Sprinkler Fun

Yesterday we got our first play sprinkler, it was an impulse buy on a humid day while grocery shopping. ER saw this Dora themed one that spins around and just had to have her.
Naturally, we had to try it out right away. No matter that it was five o'clock and most people were heading inside for dinner.
Looks like ER is pretty satisfied with her choice. I told Brad that maybe our grass will stay green longer this year, we'll just have to rotate where we place Dora each time.

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504 Main
Part of Holly's Tickled Pink linky at 504 Main, even though I know it doesn't have to be something actually pink, I do think ER is pretty cute in her new ballerina swim suit. But mainly, it's linked up because hearing squeals of happiness tickles me pink and who doesn't remember the sheer joy of being young and and running through the sprinkler on a hot day☺
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