Hannukah in August

Or some other title that explains why I was rummaging around our storage room in search of our dreidel collection when it was 75 degrees outside:)

You see, Lamps Plus and Hometalk partnered together to create a blogger holiday challenge. they offered bloggers a Lamps Plus fillable glass gourd lamp, like this:

and asked us how we would fill it for the "holidays".

Being Jewish, I immediately thought of the High Holidays which are right around the corner in September, but filling a lamp with apples and honey seemed really messy. Anyhow, they meant December holidays, of course. So I jumped on board with my desire to ring in Hannukah early this year, at least in terms of decoration. They will chose 3 winners to be featured in their holiday catalogue and potentially win a $500 gift card, so yay!

Note the metallic garland, sparkle dreidel garland, and collection of dreidels inside.

It tried my very best to keep our Curious George dreidel out, but that's what you get with a 4 year old helper:)

The process was so easy I'm thinking about doing this seasonally (oh, the big dreams I have when all the kids are asleep). Seriously, you just unscrew a nut from the bottom, slide the bottom stand off and fill. Re-screw and you are done.



Ignore all carpet stains, we do:)



When the 6 year old saw it she was super excited, although requests for a singing Hannukah stuffed animal that I only let out for the 8 nights, were quickly put down. There will be I Have a Little Dreidel stuck in my head for 4 months, no siree...

A beautiful lamp full of dreidels, good thing I didn't use chocolate gelt:)

Jessica

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Giveaway! Back to School Labels and More from Stuck on You

Did you realize that it's the end of July and school is starting in just 1 short month?

I know, slightly taken aback as well, so when Stuck on You contacted me and offered me any products in their line to try, i jumped at that chance. That was, until I realized that my daughter (entering 1st grade) didn't actually need any school supplies labeled and her clothes don't need them either:( I've been waiting and waiting for the chance to iron in all the labels, like my mom used ot do when I went to summer camp, or put little tiny labels on each and every pencil, but her school has shared supplies, so no school labels for her.

Thankfully, we are lucky enough to have a few friends who could use some awesome personalized things, who knew that Stuck on You also made placemats and water bottles and all sorts of awesome stuff?

I picked up this adorable placemat for a friend's new baby,

then this water bottle for a fairy-loving-5-year-old, who is entering kindergarten this year.

Both totally amazing, and make up for the fact that I don't get to go all OCD-label-loving on my daughter:)

But, here's your chance, *you* can go label-crazy, since Stuck on You is offering two (TWO!) of my readers a $25 credit for anything on their site. Just fill in the rafflecopter below, and I'll pick a winner next week when I'm back from Haven. So you have plenty of time to enter and get your other back-to-school friends to enter too!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please visit www.stuckonyou.com to view our full range, our top products are:

Personalized Labels - http://www.stuckonyou.com/usa/name-labels-kids-school.html

Personalized Artsmocks - http://www.stuckonyou.com/usa/art-smocks.html

Personalized Lunchboxes - http://www.stuckonyou.com/usa/lunchboxes.html

Personalized Drink Bottles - http://www.stuckonyou.com/usa/drink-bottles.html

Personalized Silicone Placemats - http://www.stuckonyou.com/usa/silicone-placemat.html

This was a sponsored post, which means I got free products, but the ideas, words, and photos are all mine.

Jessica

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Giveaway!!!- Updated: The NIVEA Indulgence Challenge #NIVEAindulgence #spon

I just heard from NIVEA and they want me to offer a giveaway to my readers, um yes, I will happily offer all of you a chance to win 2 NIVEA products, a bathrobe, scented candle, and get this, a $50 giftcard to Bed Bath and Beyond! So I'm reposting my review of their super silky body wash, and you just need to enter with rafflecopter below. Good luck, I'll pick a winner by the 11th. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

With three kids under 6, I'm more likely to skip a shower all together than to actually take the time to enjoy one, so when I was approached by NIVEA about spending 10 days committing to make a little extra time for myself I jumped at the chance.

"Sorry, mommy can't read Amelia Bedelia (again), I'm working."

Even if the only beach action my feet see is in our sandbox, I still want them to feel more "silky smooth" than could-be-mistaken-for-the-sand!

Let's not talk about how blogging does not equate to working in the eyes of my kids, who have very limited computer exposure. Not sure what they think I'm doing on here, but a generic "working" will usually suffice.

So, when my "work" involved me locking my bathroom door, taking a shower longer than 4 minutes, and actually doing something after, you know, like applying lotion, I think their little minds were completely blown away.

As a refresher, here's my "office" for the purposes of this project.

Not too shabby, right? I really should spend more time in there:)

Soooo, after a week it felt less like a guilty pleasure, and more like spending time on myself so I could spend better time with my kids. And by the end of two weeks my skin is all smooth and soft, and I'm taking bigger, deeper breaths, and even my husband can tell the difference in my skin. I'm a devoted sunscreen addict, so my usual scent is eau de Coppertone, but now I'm layering in something a little more feminine and nourishing before my protective coating:)


How do you indulge yourself? Chocolate, a favorite perfume, silky soft skin?

Jessica

Now for all the legal stuff:

The content and opinions on this blog are purely those of the author and do not 
reflect the views of Beiersdorf Inc., or any of its affiliates. The author has been 
compensated with free products as part of the author’s participation in this 
promotion. Even though the author of this blog receives compensation for the 
posts or advertisements, the author will always provide his or her honest 
opinion, finding, belief, or experience on those products. Any product claim, 
statistic, quote or other representation about a product should be verified with 
the manufacturer, provider or party in question. In addition, the author is 
professionally and/or personally acquainted with the manufacturer of the 
products being reviewed. Any results described by the author may not be typical 
of what consumers should generally expect. Lastly, the author of the blog is not 
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Using Groovebook to take my photos off the iphone

Like most of us, I take a ton of photos on my iPhone and then just leave them there to rot. Or be deleted by an overly tech-savvy 18 month old:)

Not anymore! I downloaded the Groovebook app (free), and now I order a little photo book each month with up to 100 picture sin it, all right from my phone!

Wait, now I sound like an infomercial, but I wanted to share how I get the photos *out*, so i can add them to our photo albums or give them out to others. The photos are perforated, so you can easily tear them out, and they even say when and where you took the photo, score!

It's $2.99 a month for a book for 100, which is a great deal, since 30 cents a photo including shipping totally rocks, and it's easy, with no annoying transferring of photos.


If you want to download the Groovebook app, put in my promo code GROOVEISTA and you'll get your first book free!

You can get the app from the apple app store, by going to groovebook.com. Plus you can check out this video for a quick demo.

Let me know what you think, it's my favorite thing, and if for some inexplicable reason I don't take 100 photos one month, then I plan on making cute little books for family members!

Jessica

If you enter my code, I'll get a small amount back, but you'll be getting a free book of photos, so I think it's a win-win! Plus, I won't ever endorse something I don't already use (and love)!

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Personalized Jessica iphone4 cover

Because I am always losing my cell phone in the depths of my purse, and the baby likes to drop things on purpose, I decided to order a special cover from an adorable vendor on Etsy, CreateItYourWay.

Because I was slightly sleep-deprived from 3 sick children, I ordered a cover for the wrong type of phone!

Thankfully, I got a discount on the new (correct) order when I sent a bashful email to the seller explaining my mistake. My new cover is on the left, the too small one on the right.

So.... now I have a "Jessica" cover for an iphone4. The first person who wants it, can have it. I'm happy to mail it anywhere in the U.S. As is, it's just mocking me on my kitchen counter:)

Jessica

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An Organizing Habit- Success and a Giveaway

I do not have the organizing habit. I might have the organizing gene, which means I do like to organize, but I'm leanring that there are a few key "hot spots" where I'm just not cutting it day-to-day. Enter the kitchen counter.

It's not as bad as it was when I was organizing our pantry, when everything under the sun was on it, but the pile has gotten bigger and bigger.

When I was approached by Chloe Wilson of GetSetOrganize.com to review her new book The Staying Organized Survival Guide: Organize Your Home and Get Rid of Clutter, I knew it was just right for me.

I'm not going to give everything away, but it does have something to do with this:

and actually taking action. Here I am at 4 minutes in...





How did all of this random debris accumulate here? And is that a charger, no 2 chargers, for a computer that doesn't even turn on? Oy vey!




At 13 seconds left,




I was here. A million times better.

I can tell you that reading this book made me actually *do* something about this counter situation, and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to carve out time to make organizing a habit by the time I'm done reading it (which should be later today, if all kids stay healthy and in school).

3 Lucky readers will win their own digital copies of the book, which is available on Amazon for your Kindle, iPad, or you can just read it on your computer. Believe me, getting the copy is the least of it (it's super simple), actually standing up, off the chair, off the couch! That's the hard part.

All you need to do to enter is leave me a comment telling me which hot spot you would tackle first. Your kitchen counter? Bathroom drawer, junk drawer, kid's landing area?

Random.org will pick winners in a few days.

***This Giveaway is now over. The winners are commenters 4, 22 and 21. I'm emailing them now***

This is a part of my 31 Days of Free Fun series, click on the image below to get to the entire list of free activities!

Jessica

Thanks for stopping by! I love to keep in touch. 

    

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My Little Picasso Giveaway

I can't tell you how excited I was when Alana contacted me about this product.

My Little Picasso will take your child's artwork, from the past year, month, (or even week!) and get rid of the household clutter by creating a beautifully bound book for your coffee table or bookshelf.  The books are made from the best quality paper and materials to highlight the work of your little artist.  You can even decide what goes on the cover! All books are custom made to each child, and in addition to artwork, we can include photos, report cards, letters from camp, etc. - anything you want to save forever but don't have the space for! We will also take care of everything, we can send you a box to send us the artwork, or pick it up personally. Then, it will be returned to you with the newest addition to your bookshelf.  It makes great birthday gifts for Parents and Grandparents.

The opportunities to create something beautiful are endless, whether it is just to make your home a little neater, or give a unique and customized gift to someone you love.

And I get to give a 20 page softcover book away to one of you. That's a $75 dollar value, huge! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway Pin It

Fave Five of April - and My First Giveaway!

I am so excited to announce my first giveaway!

Fashion to Figure is offering a $30 gift card. They not only have amazing clothing, but accessories as well. Certainly when I'm pregnant or after I have a baby,  I would fit into their clothes, but right now I'm craving this necklace. The nautical look is very spring appropriate, and how can you not love an anchor?

Or this top. As you can see from my master bedroom (keep scrolling down!), I'm really enjoying a pop of yellow!

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