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Thursday evening in NYC – BlogHer10

Posted on August 12, 2010 4:53 pm by TheAngelForever

One week ago, we packed up the boys to go to Nana and Papa, met Christina and were on our way to BlogHer10. We drove into NYC in style via our Chevy Tahoe Hybrid courtesy of Chevrolet for the ChevyBlogHer carpool. TechyDad wrote about our adventure and included a video of the pictures from the road. By the time we arrived and had finally left our car to the valet, our nerves were a bit frazzled.

After circling the block several times, seeing a few too many yellow cabs nearly crash into us, and being told the parking lot of the Hilton was full – we were ready to get inside and relax. Luckily, the valet found our rather large SUV a spot to sleep in for the weekened and we were able to head into the hotel to get our rooms. TechyDad and I went to drop off our things in our room on the 31st floor.

We quickly called the boys, left our things and went back downstairs to see when we could officially register for BlogHer. It was still too early, so we went back to our room and I tried to get in touch with Debra, Cathi, and Kailani about the event we were all going to. While I waited, I got ready to head out for a night in NYC. Just as we were about to go down, I heard back from the ladies that they would meet me at the Hilton. They figured they could register and then we would get a taxi to the Toy Industry Association’s Girl’s Night Out.. Christina met us down stairs and we posed for a quick photo all dressed up and ready to go.

Soon it was time to head out with Debra and Cathi, Kailani would be meeting us later on at the dinner. So the three of us went to get a taxi. Thank goodness Debra and Cathi knew what they were doing. We quickly got one and were off to the Dashing Diva Salon for the start of our Girls’ Night Out hosted by the Toy Industry Association. Let me preface this with a HUGE thank you to Adrienne, Stacy, Reyne, Kristen and Joan who made an amazing event for all of us in attendance.

When we walked into this pink palace, there were drinks on the table and gorgeous specialty cupcakes. We signed in and then set off to select a polish color to start with a pedicure. It was during this time that I was able to chat some more with Debra. We had met at DisneySMMoms in February, but never had a lot of time to talk. Here are some photos from the time here.

During our time here, I also met other bloggers. While sitting with my fingers and toes drying, I got chatting with Selfish Mom. As we were talking, she mentioned that she had lived in our area while working at the New York State Theater Institute. When I asked which productions, she was able to list them off and I had actually seen at least two of them. It truly is a small world!

Eventually, it was time to head from the Dashing Diva Salon to Cafeteria for dinner. Once again, we needed to get a cab from one side of town to the other. Here are Reyne and Debra getting us a cab to go.

Once we arrived at Cafeteria, we were whisked away to a private room in the basement. Here there were cocktails and an array of amazing foods served. Check out the bacon popcorn, their infamous macaroni and cheese, and amazing goodies at the end. (I goofed and was too busy chatting and enjoying the other food to take photos.)

Of course, the night was also about finally meeting friends that I have been talking with online for years now. Here are the four of us with our Twitter names above. We represented Hawaii, California, Texas and New York proudly at this dinner.

We also had wonderful conversations with Reyne and Helen from Working Mother Magazine. The evening flew by so fast as we talked about our life experiences, blogs, travel, and love for toys.

When it was time to go, we thanked everyone from the Toy Industry Association, gave lots of hugs and went back in a taxi toward the hotel. TechyDad met up with me to walk back to the Hilton where we went to bed to get ready for a day filled with non-stop sessions, connections and fun. Thank you again to Adrienne, Stacy, Reyne, Kristen and Joan for a magical start to the BlogHer10 weekend. I look forward to working with all of you in the future.

Categories:
Blogging Conference bloggy friends BlogHer food glorious food friends fun photos TechyDad yummy

Wandering NYC and better NY State license plates

Posted on August 9, 2010 4:41 pm by TheAngelForever

On Friday, I wrote about the ugly new license plates in New York State. If you missed that post, you need to check out how far we came over my lifetime, only to go back 10-15 steps. Ugh!

While in NYC for BlogHer, TechyDad and I opted to walk around the streets by the Hilton for a little while. Please note, we were so close to everything it was amazing. We walked a block over to Broadway. First, we saw this:

We opted not to have pizza there and continued to walk down. . .

I drooled and wished that we had tickets to see this:

Sad to say, we did not get to see that or the following:

We kept walking down and saw marque after marque of plays we would not get to see along with other interesting signs. Then we went into the Hershey Store for a few minutes.

There was a lot to see, but it was nothing like their home store in Hershey, PA.

Across the street was another chocolatey retail wonder. Here is the sign as it changed outside:

We had to go inside to wander around the three stories to compare it to the Las Vegas store. Not quite as much, but my oh my a lot of M&M packed into one NYC store!

While there, we saw the solution to the UGLY new New York State license plates. Here they are:

After this, we went back toward the Hilton and stopped by Ray’s Pizza for some slices to go. We wandered back around the corner to the Hilton and went back to the 31st floor to inhale, and relax before day 2 of BlogHer.

A whine about wine

Posted on August 1, 2010 10:21 am by TheAngelForever

Confession time: Yesterday, I bought my first bottle of wine to consume at home for us and not a celebration like Passover (where I always drink grape juice with the kids).

Some people may be shocked with this considering I am 30-something. It’s not that I will not drink beverages with alcohol, it’s more or less that I have never found anything that I like enough. A lot are too strong, too sweet, too dry or something else. There is also the money factor. As a foodie, I would much rather spend my moolah on something food related than empty calories that I drink. You see, the boys do not like carbonated beverges. Thanks to this, we pretty much only have water and some vegetable juice options in the house.

The other night, I mentioned that I wished I had something in the house to drink. I wanted something to help me relax, but had nada. My friend Danny is the wine guru. She suggested that I try a peach wine. Hmmm…..I LOVE peach everything. This really intrigued me since I have fond memories of trips to Canada where I ordered Peach & Tea drinks (ice tea with peach schnapps – YUM!).

I shocked TechyDad yesterday and told him I was heading into a local wine store to look for a peach wine. I asked them for the one my friend mentioned, but they did not have it (it was called Sweet Vines and from California). They took me to an area that had New York wines, including a peach variety. This is what they had:

It is a peach wine from Glenora in the Finger Lakes region of New York (always nice to support the home state). I figured I would give it a shot and bought it. After I paid for it and was putting it under the stroller, I stood up and lost my balance. As I did this, I crashed my nose into the hard pastic on the stroller – ugh!

Last night, when the kids went to bed, TechyDad and I had our peach wine in classy clear plastic cups. (The wine was not kosher – GRRRR.) We sat on the couch drinking it while watching Hot in Cleveland. All I can say is that it was delicious. It was not too sweet, had a great peach flavor and did not sting when it went down like wines often do to me. We will definitely buy this again and may try some of the other varieties.

If you have any other wine suggestions, I would love to know. It’s not like I am going to drink often, but variety would be nice.

Thank you to my friend Danny for the suggestion – you rock!

P.S. Be sure to enter my two current giveaway for Breyer’s Smooth & Dreamy (4 winners) and for the book Potty Animals (5 winners). Oh and TechyDad is also having a $25 gift certificate giveaway for ABC Neckties!

Categories:
jl looking back me moments photos shopping TechyDad weekend yummy

Breyers Smooth & Dreamy (Review/Giveaway)

Posted on July 26, 2010 11:58 am by TheAngelForever

Summer time and ice cream just go together. Of course, the calories and fat associated with most ice cream treats means that a lot of us do not splurge very often. When I was asked by Mom Central to participate in a Review/Giveaway for the new Breyers Smooth & Dreamy products, I jumped at the chance. I had seen these in a magazine and the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Sandwiches really caught my eye.

There are six varieties of the Breyers Smooth & Dreamy available. They include Chocolate Caramel Brownie, Vanilla Caramel Chip, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Chocolate Covered Strawberry, Vanilla Fudge Brownie, and Triple Chocolate Chip. As seen above, three of the varieties are bars and three are ice cream sandwiches. They contain no artificial flavors or colors, have 160 calories or less and 4-6g of fat per serving.

Since we only had room for one book in our freezer, we picked up the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough variety. I am a big critic for all things related to ice cream with cookie dough. Here is a closer look of what we found inside:

Yes, those are good sized chunks of cookie dough in these ice cream sandwich treats. Of course, the boys had to join in the taste testing. As you will see, they were very much involved in the process and did not want to be interrupted.

Overall, we really enjoyed the box of Breyers Smooth & Dreamy ice cream treats that we tried. TechyDad has already requested which type to try next (he was scoping them out at the grocery store on several occasions). I really liked the cookie dough flavor throughout the ice cream sandwich. There were nice chunks of cookie dough throughout the sandwich, so it was there from the first bite to the last. The boys and I also really enjoyed the cookie part of the sandwich since it was not too crispy (we like more soft cookies). To say that we would purchase more of these and try others would be an understatement. As I said, the boys already have the next box planned out!

Giveaway:

Thanks to Mom Central and Breyers, FOUR lucky readers will win a coupon for a box of Smooth & Dreamy treats of your own.

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Answer the following question: Which of the Breyers Smooth & Dreamy would you purchase with your coupon and why?

The following Bonus Entries may also be done. Please be sure to leave separate comments for each that you complete below to make sure you get the right number of entries.

1 Bonus Entry – What is your favorite type of ice cream? If you can not pick just one, tell me your top few flavors of all time.
1 Bonus Entry – Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TheAngelForever and Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Giveaway in the Tweet. Please leave a direct link to your Tweet in a separate comment for each daily entry. Example Tweet (feel free to use): Stop by for your chance to #win some ice cream. Breyers Smooth & Dreamy #giveaway from @TheAngelForever http://bit.ly/dA60P5
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of June/July. Be sure to leave a comment here to let me know which one. This Bonus entry may be done only twice per person.
3 Bonus Entries – Add my blog button to your website and leave a link with the location. Be sure to give yourself 3 comments for credit.
5 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the giveaway. Be sure to leave 5 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries.

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today July 26 and ends at 10:59 EST on August 9, 2010. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclosure: This review and giveaway was made possible while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Breyers. They provided me with the coupons to purchase the product to facilitate my candid review. The opinions of this review are 100% mine and I will be purchasing more of these products with my own money for my family to enjoy. Mom Central will be sending me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Categories:
food glorious food giveaway jsl nhl photos Product review summer yummy

Breakfast fun with Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas

Posted on July 22, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I will admit it, breakfast in our house can be a bit crazy, especially when my oldest is at school. TechyDad is busy getting ready for work, NHL is eating breakfast before school and JSL is usually refusing to anything/everything we ask him to eat. Some mornings, it is cereal, breakfast bars, waffles or even yogurt. It really depends on what we have and how much time is left before running out the door.

When I was asked by Mom Central to try the new Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas, I jumped at the opportunity. Both of my kids love pizza, they like Eggo products and it was a chance to get them to eat a little fruit.

More about Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas:

A new morning delivery from Kellogg is warming up the frozen food aisle. As breakfast products such as cereal, snack and energy cars, fruit and yogurt are gaining popularity, this unique and flavorful introduction is giving breakfast enthusiasts a tasty breakfast option. New Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas combine all your great-tasting favorite breakfast items into one delicious offering

Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas are an all-in-one combination of fruit and warm toasted granola on an oven-baked cinnamon and maple-flavored crust. Available in Strawberry Granola and Mixed Berry Granola varieties, Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas join other Eggo favorites like Homestyle, Buttermilk and Blueberry Eggo waffles – all part of a great-tasting family of products that consumers have loved for years

Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas after just one minute in the microwave. The Strawberry Granola has 400 calories and the Mixed Berry Granola 390 – both made with real fruit. They are now available in the freezer section of the grocery stores. One item I noted in particular, they also contain 4 grams of fiber in each pizza.

What we thought:

Both of the boys were very excited about having Eggo Pizza for dinner one night. We often do breakfast for dinner, so why not let them try this one night?! NHL kept watching us as we prepared the pizza. He wanted to see them before and after they went into the microwave. This is what he saw:

When we put them onto the table to split for the boys, NHL ran over and took his place. Then it was time to get the three year old who often refuses to each anything/everything we make. He looked at the table and saw this:

The large amounts of fruit that NHL, TechyDad and I saw as a fabulous perk sent him screaming from the table. He chanted "Me no eat pizza!" *sigh* That left us with NHL having it for dinner and the two adults snacking on some with him. Here are some photos of NHL as he was devouring the fruit pizzas. Please excuse the goofy shots, he was trying to make me laugh as I was taking the photos and it worked nicely.

NHL thoroughly enjoyed his Eggo Real Fruit Pizza halves. I was lucky I snapped pictures quickly because they disappeared before I blinked. When asked which was his favorite, he said strawberry since they are his favorite fruit. I asked if he would like them again and he immediately wanted to know if we had more in the freezer.

Since JSL was not eating his, TechyDad and I both were able to sample his part of the Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas. I really liked the taste of the fruit, granola and "sauce" (not sure if it was yogurt or a strawberry cream cheese). With the strawberry variety you really could taste all of the different flavors coming together to make this unique breakfast option. Although I liked the Mixed Berry Pizza, I thought that the tart raspberry presence was a bit overwhelming.

Verdict: We would definitely buy these again. I like that they are easy to make and have real fruit and four grams of fiber in them. Next time I am at the store and see them, I will grab a few for NHL with the hopes that JSL actually tries them next time.

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Eggo Real Fruit Pizza and received samples to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central will also be sending me a $20 Amazon gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.