She Likes Purple

Sponsored Post: Radisson Two-Night Stay Giveaway (Updated with Winner)

I love to travel--you likely know this about me--and I also really love encouraging travel. Whether it be traveling far or just heading down the road for a quick escape close to home. Actually, those kinds of escapes can be some of my favorites. They don't break the bank, they allow you a little downtime, and you can justify sleeping until noon because you're away.

When Mike and I traveled to DC last year, I laid in our hotel bed one night at 7:30pm, reading a book and drinking a glass of wine and exhaled, saying, "This is my favorite thing to do." Mike tried to point out that I could easily read and drink a glass of wine in bed at home, and I shushed him immediately. It's never the same at home as it is in a hotel. At home there is a laundry pile and a sink full of dishes and floors to sweep and, also, Molly is pretty terrible at bringing me room service meals. Hotel relaxing just trumps home relaxing for me. 

Anyway, nearly two years ago, I hosted a Radisson giveaway, and it remains one of my favorite giveaways to date. I was pretty thrilled when I was recently contacted again about hosting another giveaway for Radisson, for a two-night stay at any Radisson property in North America. In exchange for hosting this giveaway, I'm also getting a two-night stay in any North American Radisson, which is why I'm now plotting how the family can escape to Mexico City or Vancouver or right to this pool.

Radisson is trying to spread the word of their very cool contest offering a lucky winner free Radisson hotel stays for life (you can learn more and enter that contest here). Free stays for life! I'd basically just move right into a hotel each and every weekend if I won.

To enter my two-night stay giveaway, just comment below (perhaps say in your comment what Radisson location you'd like to stay at and you can see that full list here), and I'll randomly pick and announce a winner by August 15th. 

Good luck and happy travels! 

***

Updated: The randomly selected winner is bessie.viola, #65. Emailing you shortly! Hope you get to enjoy Chicago.

Sponsored Post: Mondavi Wines and Summer Meals

I know there are Strong Internet Feelings about sponsored posts, and I understand them, truly, but I have a few strong feelings of my own and most of them involve wine. (And, alright, CW shows.) So when I was recently given the opportunity to try out a few bottles of Mondavi wine in return for a post about my favorite summer recipes (and how Mondavi wine pairs well with those summer dishes), it sounded like a fun project right up my alley. And, hey, I live in Texas. I usually only manage through a Texas summer with the help of a lot of wine and ignoring our oven almost entirely for dinners on the grill instead.  

(The grill that I should have probably cleaned before taking pictures of it.)

Anyway, we have so many dinners that we outsource to our grill during summertime, and a few of those favorites include veggie fajitas (we have no official recipe, other than throwing all the vegetables we've got onto the grill, though peppers and mushrooms are almost always a staple) and burgers (my particular summer favorite is a turkey burger with Swiss cheese, on a sourdough English muffin).

(Veggie fajitas!)

But, as I tasted the Mondavi wines, I realized that each of them--the Chardonnay, Scarlet Five, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Blonde Five--would all compliment my absolute favorite summer meal. Kebabs. The great thing about kebabs is that you can use almost any protein and almost any veggie and it becomes an easy, delicious, perfect-for-summer meal, made on the grill. And we always seem to make a ton of food when we opt for this dinner, so it's perfect when we have friends over. 

We usually use the same marinade for our kebabs, regardless of what we're actually grilling.

Kebab Marinade

• 1/2 cup worcestershire sauce
• 1/8 cup soy sauce
• a few dashes of liquid smoke
• 2 T of olive oil
• cracked black pepper
• a little Old Bay seasoning 

We marinate our protein--usually shrimp, chicken, beef, or salmon, cut into bite-sized pieces--and our veggies--mushrooms, peppers, potatoes, asparagus, onions, whatever else is on hand--in a bag for a few hours in the fridge and then place all the protein on their own kebab sticks and all the vegetables on their own. The protein (especially shrimp, of course) takes a lot less time than the veggies, so time accordingly! 

I serve with a salad or garlic bread or on top of rice. Whatever is easy and on hand. The thing about summer dining is that you're already suffering through insane heat (at least I am), so why not make dinner as easy as possible. Also, Mike prefers to manage the grill, so by "easy" I mean that I get to sit on the porch drinking wine and then I get to continue sitting on the porch when dinner is served. Easy indeed.

Depending on your meat, you can pair these kebabs with any of the Mondavi wines I tried--chicken with the Blonde Five; beef with the Cabernet Sauvignon--and it just makes all that work and lawn care and SUMMER HEAT more bearable. And, honestly, I have to give a special shout-out to the Mondavi Chardonnay because I don't particularly care for that kind of wine, so I put off trying it when my samples came, but when I did, I was SO pleasantly surprised. I'd seriously buy it for myself in a heartbeat, and it's a totally reasonable price point ($7/bottle). Seriously, I was in no way asked to say this specific thing about this specific bottle, but I genuinely wanted to. (And the bottle has since been fully consumed, ahem, so I need to go out and re-purchase.)

I'd love to hear what you're grilling this summer, so I can try out some new dishes. I've even got wine left over, if you want to meet me on my porch.

Oh, a couple things of notes about Mondavi: Mondavi wine is sold nationwide in every US state, and a percentage of each bottle sold between May - August is donated to Intrepid Fallen Heroes (up to $50,000).

***

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

On Goals (+ A Hotel Room Winner)

My year to-do list is sad, guys, and I've known this to be true for some time. I don't know if I just had an unexpectedly busy year or if taking off the entire month of February to watch Sons of Anarchy put a bigger wrench in my productivity than I first thought it would, but I will have left a lot undone at the end of 2012.

I think I'm more-or-less okay with this. 

Life is sometimes one task completion after another and sometimes it's just...the absolute opposite of that. I think I'm okay that my 2012 to-do list is basically the latter.

I still plan to write a list for next year and maybe reasses my priorities while doing so and also try to be more realistic about my home improvement time allotment. I just had a lot of ambitions to paint and re-decorate and hang photos and, wow, self, do you know the couch is in the same room as the wall you want to hang photos on? COUCH ALWAYS WINS.

I'm still doing daily goals via Twitter and I like it a lot. I'm also embracing the hell out of my reminders app (Alarmed). Basically everything I ever need to remember goes into that app and my phone beeps nine million times a day. It works for me, though!

A few things I'm considering adding to my to-do list in 2013:

A 60-Day Yoga Challenge (yoga 5x/week for 60 days)
Read all of the books on PW's best of 2012 list
Re-boot my book club
Start a cookbook club
Start Couch 2 5K and Couch 2 10K, so I can get back into the running groove of things

What are you already thinking about doing in 2013?

***

Oh, and we have a Radisson stay giveaway winner!

Congrats to #57, Leigh. I'll be in touch soon! 

Radisson Hotel: A Free Night Giveaway

Oh boy, is this a fun giveaway.

You know I love to travel, right? In fact, I love to travel so much, I packed my family in the car this summer to spend a night at a lakeside hotel in Oklahoma. In August. When it was 113 degrees outside. The lake's water level was so low, there was no water under the fishing dock so Kyle had to fish in the hotel bathtub. (This actually happened. That poor kid.)

So, when Radisson contacted me about giving away one night's stay at any North American Radisson in honor of the hotel's 50th anniversary, I jumped at the chance. I don't think I've ever responded to an email faster. I love travel, very much, but I equally enjoy spreading the travel love.

Let's talk about where you should go, with a free hotel stay in your back pocket:

1. Chicago. Mike and I went to Chicago in 2011 and loved it, but I'm antsy to go back when it's not 39 degrees outside. I could enjoy quite a few cocktails on this terrace if the weather was warmer, couldn't you?

2. Aruba. I almost want to force you to choose Aruba. First of all, it's Aruba. Second of all, look:

I know! We should all go there right away and never leave.

 3. Your own backyard. Not literally, of course, but your own town. How often do you want to just steal away for the night, away from the laundry or the dishes or the laundry AND the dishes but splurging on a hotel room feels too indulgent and irresponsible? Often, I'd bet, but not when you have that hotel room covered. Here's a list of all the places there's a Radisson. There's likely to be one near you.

So, how do you win this free night away? Details...

• How to enter: Comment with what city you'd like to visit. (Radisson won't hold you to your answer, although I might. Kidding!) 
• Who can enter?: Anyone 18+, who currently lives in the U.S. or Canada.
• Voucher details: Valid for one free night, standard room, double occupancy at any North American Radisson Blu or Radisson hotel of the winner’s choice. The voucher expires one year after issue date.
• Giveaway is open until: 11/9 at 11:59 EST. 
• Other details: One comment per person, winner will be chosen through random.org, and winner will be announced no later than 11/15. 
• Bonus!: Other blogs are participating in this awesome campaign, and you can enter to win through ALL of them. Check here each day for the newest participating blog, then comment like crazy.

Good luck and happy travels!

***

Radisson offered me a free stay at any North American hotel in exchange for hosting this giveaway. Thanks to Radisson for that! Obviously my thoughts on travel are all my own, though, as Mike can attest. It was really hot that day in Oklahoma, and he would never have gone up there if it hadn't been for me.

Sponsored Post: LeapFrog Touch Rockin' Guitar

 

***

I know! Another sponsored post. What is UP with that? I've apparently run out of non-sponsored thoughts. Kidding, kidding! (You know I could easily fill another week's worth of posts on what I miss most about Veronica Mars. LIKE TODAY I COULD DO THAT.) Anyyyyway, as you may remember, I jumped at the chance to review toys for Kyle through Clever Girls Collective beacuse I suck at picking out toys for him, and LeapFrog requested the reviews be broken into two posts.

Anyway, the other toy we got was a LeapFrog Touch Rockin' Guitar.

(Photo from leapfrog.com)

This is one of those toys that's a big hit with every kid that's ever liked making a lot of music-y noise and that would definitely my kid. It's less of a hit with, say, anyone who has to pay their own taxes.

(Funny side note: Whenever Kyle asks to do something he absolutely cannot do--like drive a car or stay home by himself--my default has been to say, "When you can pay taxes, I'll think about it." It usually confuses him enough so his attention turns elsewhere. Feel free to use that trick yourself!)

I don't actually mind noisy toys, I should say. If a toy keeps Kyle happy, I've always been inclined to Fully Support It. If it's noisy, keeps him happy, AND is educational (like the Touch Magic Learning Bus), I am not going to discourage playing with it, oh nooooo. The Rockin' Guitar definitely checked the first two boxes, which rates it just below the Learning Bus, but it's something Kyle really loved and enjoyed (and I bet your three year old or the three year old you most shop for would love and enjoy it, too). Which is good! I don't need to play with ALL his toys once he's gone to sleep, and it was pretty adorable watching him try to rock out on this.

One of these days I'll share photos online withour my disaster of a house in the background. One day far, far in the future when I clean my house.

You touch a variety of images on the guitar, and different music/percussion plays and that kind of blows your kid's mind. They also look like little rockstars, which allows you to fantasize that they'll BECOME rockstars one day and take very good care of you. (Although, admittedly, I'd rather Kyle become the next Olympic star and take care of me that way. Mostly so I can get featured in a sobs-inducing "thanks mom" commercial.)

So, if you're looking for something fun, awesome (according to kids), and also kind of adorable, I'd suggest this! You can't go wrong with toys that make your kids look adorable, I think that's written in stone somewhere.

***

Oh! You might have noticed at the top of this post a mention of a contest LeapFrog is currently hosting. If you get the Rockin' Guitar and take a video of your kid rocking out on it (and why WOULDN'T you take video of your kid rocking out on it?), then share that video, you might possibly win $500. That's fun, right? More info here!

***

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and was given free product by LeapFrog.  The content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Sponsored Post: LeapFrog Touch Magic Alphabet Bus Review

 

 

***

Here's a secret: I'm really bad at picking out toys for Kyle and always have been. I've been leaning on the advice of friends and family and straight-up hand-me-downs since he was born. Whenever someone asks for a gift idea for a kid Kyle's age or younger, I look at them like, Uh, maybe a gift card? Cash? Oh, books! Those are always welcome, right?

The toys that do top his Awesome List are usually ones he got from someone else. Thank goodness the kid has other people in his life. Although, he does have an impressive book collection courtesy of his mom, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

All that said, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that when I got the chance to review the LeapFrog Magic Alphabet Bus through Clever Girls Collective, I was game. (Although, shhh, this time I could pretend I picked it out myself to earn back some toy-picking-out credibility with my three-year-old.)

This is a pretty great toy for the three-year-old set--well, at least my three-year-old--because he's at the age where he's all about letters and spelling words and "what does COW start with, Mommy?" There are a few options on the toy--learning letters through sounds, music, or games--and they all got big laughs out of Kyle, which is a win in my book. (Although for the letter option, whenever you tap a letter, it responds with the letter and the corresponding picture--"a as in apple"--and that made it a little confusing to spell out original words Kyle was narrating to me. Small thing I'd change!)

The toy itself is super lightweight and takes up almost no room, which is good since we have about five total feet for toys in our 1300-square-foot house.

There's also a pretty cool keyboard that Mike and I made up songs on once Kyle went to sleep, in case you're looking for a toy that you can also act like a fool with once the kids are tucked in bed. (If this weren't a sponsored post, I might add something about having a few glasses of wine before playing original songs on your kid's Touch Magic toy to maximize awesomeness, but I am far more professional than that OBVIOUSLY.) 

It IS a great toy, though, and I'm actually planning to buy it for an upcoming birthday present because it's the best gift idea I've come up with (sort of on my own?) in months.

***

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and was given free product by LeapFrog. The content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Sponsored Post: Girl's Night (In) In Vegas

Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There's no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! www.duncanhines.com.

***

So, Clever Girls Collective -- the group I write a lot of these sponsored posts for -- sent out this particular topic and I wondered who wouldn't want to write about dessert, drinks, and friends. That describes every best weekend I've ever had (and a few (dozen) weeknights, too), and it was actually fairly good timing since I just got back from Vegas where each thing was well-represented.

Have you ever gone to Vegas and enjoyed dessert, drinks, and friends? I'd guess so, but have you ever had dessert, drinks, and time with friends in Vegas ... in your hotel room at 8pm? Well, maybe not, but I did, and I'm here to say you should try it next time you're able to.

See, I was in Vegas -- as so many of you know, especially anyone who read the previous post -- to run a half-marathon and after that feat, my friends and I were pretty exhausted the next day. We wanted to paint the town whatever color one paints the town these days, but we also wanted to relaaaaaaaax, so we compromised. Here's how:

{I wonder if Clever Girls Collective is tired of me filling these sponsored posts with words on and photos of champagne?}

We went to the drugstore and bought a cheap bottle of champagne. Then we went downstairs and got a couple cupcakes and ice cream cones from our hotel's food court (reason #1494 why I love Vegas: their hotels have food courts). Then we ordered Friends with Benefits from our in-room movie options. And, finally, we talked all about the things we could talk about among best friends: life, marriage, sex, carbs, cute shoes, and how annoyingly perfect Justin Timberlake is. (Seriously, even when we he stars in kind of a cheesy, crappy movie, you still fall a little in love with him; what is THAT about?)

I know it wasn't my wildest time in Sin City, but it might have been my happiest. That's just what friends, chocolate, and champagne do for me: they make me happy, at home, away, in my house, in a hotel room.

When you need those three things -- dessert, drinks, and friends -- grab hold of them. No matter where you may be.

***

Remember to check out Duncan Hines' website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.

Sponsored Post: My Holiday Comforts

This post is sponsored by Tempur-Pedic, the brand millions of owners trust to deliver their best night’s sleep every night. Enjoy our Buy 2, get 1 free pillow offer now and give the gift of custom comfort to someone you love.

***

Clever Girls Collective (and Tempur-Pedic) asked me to write about holiday comforts this week, and I have to admit the temptation was strong to just paste a photo of a champagne bottle into this post and call it a day because YES. THAT. VERY COMFORTING. I quickly assumed that wouldn't be that helpful  to anyone with eyes or a distaste for sparkling beverages, and there's actually a lot I find comforting about the holidays, turns out, so let's get to it.

Let's also keep it real by circling back to:

1. Champagne. I love my family, I love my in-laws, but there comes a point in every holiday season where you look at the ones you love and sweetly think, "I need a glass of something stronger than water to get through this week without dropkicking you." The holidays encourage you to indulge in that something, and my relationships thank the holidays for that.

2. Traditions. The holidays can be stressful, no-brainer statement right there, but I've recently realized I don't need to participate in every holiday activity ever created in order to enjoy the season. Quite the opposite, actually. I should embrace the traditions that are important to my family and totally ignore or disregard everything else. Here's a link to my Christmas plan, which includes some of the traditions I love, but my favorites: looking at lights as a family, a big breakfast-for-dinner meal on Christmas Eve, and an activity advent calendar with things like snuggle on the couch and watch a holiday movie. (Some things I don't mind skipping: ANYTHING AT THE MALL.)

3. Staying home. There is almost nothing better than looking at the busy holiday weeks on my calendar and not seeing the word FLIGHT NUMBER anywhere. I have family all over the country (and beyond), and I'd love to spend the holiday together each year, but I know the high travel cost and the high travel stress isn't what I need. I give myself a break most years to just stay home and I try to visit family at other times of the year instead, when the flights are reasonable and the other travelers aren't (as) crazy.

4. Christmas pjs. This sort of falls under traditions but every year I pick out a pair of pjs for myself and a pair for Kyle. (Mike's holiday comforts include not having to wear pjs picked out by his nutty wife, and I give him that luxury because I am awesome.) Every year I look forward to Christmas morning, in my comfy pjs, sitting on the couch with coffee and cinnamon rolls and being lazy and warm.

5. A real tree. This isn't as easy to embrace as a fake tree, but it's one of my absolute favorite holiday comforts. A fresh, piney-smelling tree displayed all season long (and into January, if I'm being straight with you) makes me ridiculously happy.

6. A clean house. Forget spring cleaning, I'm hoping Christmas Cleaning catches on. (It's got a better ring to it anyway.) There's nearly nothing more wonderful than spending the month of December, buzzing with the business of the holidays, in a clean house. So, deep clean the beginning of the month and maintain the rest. And enjoy!

What about you? What are your holiday comforts?

***

Comfort is the perfect gift for everyone on your holiday gift list, so be sure to take advantage of Tempur-Pedic's Buy 2, get 1 free pillow offer! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.

Sponsored post: Healthy Lifestyle Tips

Thanks to Tervis for sponsoring my writing. Visit their website http://www.tervis.com to learn more about the world’s first smart cup.

***

Sponsored posts can be eye-roll inducing, don't I know, which is why I only agree to write one if it's a topic I'd write about anyway. For instance, when Clever Girls and Tervis asked if I'd write about smart and healthy lifestyle tips, I jumped at the chance because this is something I've wanted to write about for a while.

I have a few tips, you see, that I've gathered after finally incorporating work-outs into my ridiculously busy schedule (and we all have busy schedules, am I right?). It can be done. You can work out and focus on healthy habits while also commuting and parenting and squeezing in date nights and paying bills and doing laundry and maintaining a social life.

• Find a work-out partner or organize a work-out group. This might be my top fitness tip of all time, actually, because it's been the one thing to completely change my attitude about exercising. When you have someone waiting for you at 6am at the gym across town, you just back out a lot less often, and you enjoy the work-outs a lot more. 
• Embrace early work-outs. Okay, this sounds a little awful, I know, but after a few months of frequent early morning work-outs, I can genuinely say I've never regretted a single one. It's the work-outs I skip that I regret. You feel fantastic afterward, you've started your day on a healthy foot, and you come home after work without any guilt about collapsing onto the couch.

{Early morning trail run}

• Accessorize. This sounds like a strange tip, but if you have the right music, the right shoes, the right-fitting and most-comfortable clothes, and a few other right things, you can focus on the exercise and very little else. 
• Schedule, schedule, schedule. I usually plan all of my weekly work-outs on Sunday evening. I mark them on my Google Calendar and also on a Google doc I keep. This is invaluable to me. When I don't have every last work-out planned, I spiral into an "I'll just think about it tomorrow!" train of thought. Sure, I sometimes bail and things come up, but this schedule keeps me honest more than ever before. 

So, tell me, what are your healthy living tips for the busiest among us?

***

I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. To learn more about Tervis, visit their website http://www.tervis.com.