Jamberry Nails Black Friday Deals through Cyber Monday!

As your favorite Jamberry Consultant I’m happy to announce this year’s Black Friday deals!

Jamberry is bringing back 12 Sister’s Style Exclusives from the last year and they will be available Black Friday through Cyber Monday! You heard me right, your favorite styles that you thought were gone forever, are back for a limited time starting Friday, November 28 at 12:01 a.m. through Monday, December 1 at 11:59 p.m. MDT

And YES! These wraps are eligible for the Buy 3 Get 1 Free offer!

Black Friday 2014

There is also a Special Black Friday wrap when you spend $50 or more!

NEW Black Friday to Cyber Monday

 

Remember to get your orders in by December 10th for US and December 1st for Canada to ensure Christmas delivery!

 

Most importantly, a portion of the proceeds from each of the 12 Sister’s Style Exclusives will be donated to the Salvation Army to help provide holiday gifts for children. Proceeds for U.S. buyers will go to the Salvation Army in the U.S and Canadian buyers’ proceeds will go to the Salvation Army in Canada. 

 

Get them quick while there is still time!!

 

Which Sister Style Exclusive is your favorite??

Children’s Hospital of Richmond — A Chance to Give

A few months ago, B had pneumonia. We followed all of the necessary procedures, antibiotics and rest. Ok, that last part not so much — try and keep a 15-month old still; not easy. So when he got a fever after being on the antibiotics for a few days, we took him straight to the Emergency Room.

I have to give the doctors and nurses a huge shout out. Through all my panic and worry, they were very calm and supportive. They kept me informed that he would need a chest X-Ray. Have you ever taken a 15-month old to have an X-ray? It’s heartbreaking. Not only was he uncomfortable, but he wasn’t allowed to move as they took the pictures, and the machine is scary even for me. I can’t imagine what he was going through.

I’m so thankful that it turned out his pneumonia was gone, and at our follow up it turned out to just be an ear infection. If it was anything worse I’m not sure what I would do, but I had a good feeling the supportive medical staff at our hospital would have been there with me every step of the way.

I’m honored to inform you about the Children’s Hospital Foundation, one of which is right here in Richmond.

childrens

The Children’s Hospital Foundation is a non-profit organization. They have dedicated funding and advocating for pediatric initiatives that improve the status of health care and the quality of life for children in our region. They are the support for the programs and initiative that the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU and the children there. They also help with other pediatric health programs around Richmond.

Since they are the only full-service children’s hospital in the region, they see over 50,000 children and their families a year from all over the country.

Monetary gifts are used for the general operations of Children’s Hospital of Richmond, including maintaining a staff of pediatric specialists in a facility designed just for children, operating 24 hours a day. 

By donating today, you’re helping the day-to-day operations of the hospital and help fund the wonderful and loving staff and specialists.

For a little taste of the wonderful staff and volunteers, check out this lip-dub to “Roar” by Katy Perry featuring the nurses and even a couple of VCU Basketball players!

If you wish to donate (and I do hope you will!) you can do so through the Fundly here. Any and all donations will benefit the organization.

As part of a class project I am raising funds for the Children’s Hospital Foundation with a group of classmates. Any size donation is welcome. By clicking through to the Fundly link, you can donate directly to the organization. ALL proceeds go to the Children’s Hospital Foundation.

 

Lunch Ideas for Beck’s Chicken Allergy

Chicken Allergytoddler lunch

Beck’s chicken allergy has been a tough one because we ate A LOT of chicken pre-diagnosis and we had to quickly change our eating habits. It’s been particularly tough with daycare because chicken is always on the menu at some point during the week. So we are always looking for easy substitutes.

  • Lunch meat is an obvious and Beck loves his turkey and ham (we just tried Hillshire Farm Naturals – no preservatives or artificial flavors = win!).
  • Beck loves plain tuna. It’s an easy lunch alternative to chicken salad.
  • Veggie burgers (we love black bean burgers!) are great for days they serve chicken patties or chicken nuggets which let’s be honest is quite often.

Same goes for dinner. We keep these staples on hand for days we eat our chicken dinners. Easy peasy substitutey.

hillshire farm

And thanks to Hillshire Farm for sending us some sample of their new Naturals line. The only thing missing is the stuff that you don’t want your kids eating! Love the flavors – especially the ham. Check them out!

Living with Toddler Allergies: the Blowout

A few months ago I was alerted by my son’s daycare teachers that he had a massive blowout. When I picked him up, I found him in an outfit that wsn’t exactly expected. Pink. Ruffles. Bright colored tucan animal on the front. B looked like a girl.

Don’t worry, I shortly restocked his clothing awaiting the next blowout — I didn’t expect it would be that week though. This went on for about a month. Three weeks after the blowout episodes started, he broke out in hives all over. The odd thing was he hadn’t eaten anything new or come into contact with anything new. After speaking to the pediatrician we were referred to an allergist and B was tested using the scratch test.

My toddler had some odd allergies. Chicken. Egg. Milk. Oats. This made everything fall into place. He had been allergic to milk and eggs since he was a wee little baby, but we thought he outgrew it. He had chicken nuggets right before the hives. Oats? Yeah. No idea there.

I used to fly by the seat of my pants for meals, now I’m a planner and a connoisseur (woah. just kidding) on allergen substitutes when it comes to the daycare’s menu.

The first step: Stop serving milk and switch to soy-product dairy substitutes like this here Silk Yogurt.

BeckYogurt

 

The day I decided to train for a half-marathon

I haven’t been myself lately. I think back to the times that I was happy and felt fulfilled; I exercised daily, ate relatively well, and spent a lot of quality time with my friends. These days, I wake up at 6:30  in the morning with a baby, and go to bed at 8:00 at night with a baby and not much in between that does’t deal with baby.

It’s probably not much of a surprise to you, if you have kids, that it’s hard to do something for yourself on a daily basis. I was juggling two jobs, school, and baby as well as day-to-day “what-will-we-eat-tonight-and-have-I-brushed-my-teeth” stresses. I don’t workout anymore, and the only reason I weigh less than I did before I was pregnant is stress. Straight up stress.

I needed something for me. Something healthy, an attainable goal, and something fun! I have always wanted to run a marathon, or 10K. Ok. let’s be real. a 5K was really going to be the goal there. My friends were runners and I was…well let’s say I walked most of the mile in high school. This might not surprise you either, but I love Disney, and I love Disney Princesses. When I learned about their Disney Princess Half Marathon, I literally went on a high of running or pretending I was a runner (after a mental freak out.) I never committed.

The other night, I decided I’m committing to training to run the Disney Princess Half Marathon. My goal date is in 2015 (that’s the attainable and reasonable goal part.)

PrincessMarathon2

Following this post here will be a sequence of New Year, New You posts. I don’t feel like me, and I have a feeling 2013 may have put you in the dumps as well. Let’s get out of it! I have a feeling 2014 will be “our year,” our comeback year.

I’m not saying run the half-marathon with me, but I’d love to see you at the finish line!

What are some of your New Years resolutions for 2014?

photo courtesy of  Disney Sports media site.

Thor: The Dark World New poster and Trailer release #ThorDarkWorld

I feel like the Avengers left me wanting more, in a good way. Some of my favorite go-to action movies include some of the Avengers themselves in their own roles, especially Thor.

Thor_Payoff_1-Sht_v2_lg

November is my favorite movie month. Holidays mean blockbusters. Guess what folks, Thor: The Dark World comes out on November 8.

Also, I missed Jane.

 thor

 

Like THOR on Facebook: Facebook.com/Thor

Follow THOR on Twitter: Twitter.com/ThorMovies

 

{Toddler Fashion} Back to school with Jake

It’s that time of the year again! Before you send off your little guys to school, you may be doing some “back-to-school” shopping.
When it comes to picking out your toddler’s clothes, it may be hard to lend them all control.
Here’s an idea that’s sure to get them dressed in more than their pajamas. Just tell them it’s what Jake himself wears. Plus, how awesome will they look with their matching Jake and the Neverland Pirates backpack? They’ll certainly  have their friends shouting “Yo Ho Ho!”

 jake neverland pirates inspired fashion toddler boy

A day in the life: 7 months

Someone must have hit fast forward. Another month has gone by! My baby is now 7 months old. Not much has changed in the past month in terms of routine, although he sleeps in a little longer. Now I only have to get up at 7 instead of 6!

He has made many attempts to crawl, but one his toosh gets off of the floor and he has to put his knee down, he either face plants or backs off. This is how he has managed to scoot all the way across the floor, meaning the child proofing actually has to begin. He has already managed to turn the Xbox on and off several times.

Another new thing he can do is pull up using your hands: meaning if you just hold his hands and don’t pull him up, he will pull up to his feet. It’s his favorite thing to do. He asks to do it a lot.

Because of his new found mobility he is getting into all kinds of mischief, putting shoes and cords in his mouth, grabbing at the dog and cat, and even trying to get in the dog crate. See, time to baby proof.

Since B has started daycare (since day 1) his nose has run like a river. He has a bad cough, and has gotten an ear infection, which we had to switch antibiotics because amoxicillin didn’t fix  it completely. Despite being sick he still is happy as can be and sleeps all night.

7 months

Bebe Stats:

Age: 7 months

Weight: 16.6 pounds

Length:  27 inches

Sleep: all night with the exception of our sick nights 🙁

Feeding: B has made the switch to formula. He gets 6 0z. when he wakes up, 3 bottles while he is at daycare, and then 2 more before bedtime. He gets 3 snacks throughout the day. We have started meats, and he seems to like them! Lately we have been having a difficult time getting him to eat dinner. B is also allowed to get a couple of ounces of juice with water each day to help with his drainage from the ear infection. No success getting him to drink it yet.

Favorites: His table top toy that is propped on only 2 legs. He also really likes Thomas the Tank Engine (I guess he takes after his Uncle D.) He  LOVES the water and going swimming, but only if Mom is holding him or his feet can touch the bottom. That’s my safety cautious boy!

Firsts: B can scoot on his bum and and will pull up when holding your hands. He went to his first cookout on July 4th. He had his first taste of juice on July 5th.

Medical: B has an ear infection in both ears. What started out as one, never ffully recovered with the ffirst antibiotic. Now he is on a stronger one or both ears. Luckily for me, when he doesn’t feel well, he just wants to sit on my lap and watch a movie.

Development: B is starting to crawl! He tries so hard, but sometimes he face plants. That’s OK, though, because Mom is right there to pick him up and kiss him and tell him it is OK. When you hold his hands he can pull himself up and stand! He even tries to walk. He loves going to daycare, where they do crafts (I’ll be sure to post them when I get them back) and he plays with the kids. B also holds his own bottle! We are working on using a sippy cup now.

Spend your Memorial Day weekend at the Alamo — Barbecue!

A while back my sister took us to this great place in downtown Richmond, Alamo BBQ. Right there, nestled in by 22nd street, in a place where I don’t really know, is the best darn barbecue place I have ever been.

“Alamo,” as we call it, has outdoor seating. You walk up, place your order and receive your buzzer. Then, go get your yummy food and enjoy the view. Ok, it’s not much of a view, but it is up hill and you can kind of see the city.

Now, about the food…

My name is Maggie. And I am a cornbread lover.

There’s something about this cornbread with honey-butter.

cornbread RVAFOOD.jpg

Maybe it’s just pretty?

I ordered the Pulled Pork with Slaw sandwich, which is about $5.

 

photo 4

Simple, juicy and delicious!

I love Alamo, and I will be going back plenty this summer since I’ll be downtown for school. The food isn’t super expensive so it is college student friendly if you can get there. Maybe we will take a trip up there for Memorial Day!

What are your Memorial Day plans? I hope barbecue is involved!