Soooooo true. The post title and the picture above. I remember back in the day when I hated coffee and couldn’t understand why all those crazy adults lived on it all day long, it tasted like crap. Literally.

Then I entered grad school (yea, I made it all the way through college still hating coffee!) and probably would have died without coffee. I drank out of necessity. And then I fell in love and drank for fun. COFFEE, people. We’re still talking about coffee.….

I have my favorites. I still don’t drink black coffee (unless it’s an emergency). In the summer I like iced coffees, in the winter I like hot coffee. Even my 2-year-old knows exactly how to make a cup of coffee with our Keurig. For real.

I’ll admit that my coffee habit can get expensive. Once my husband totaled up my trips to a coffee shop one month and I gasped… how?!?! So I’m open to better (cheaper) alternatives.

Then.….. THIS happened. The NEW International Delight Iced Coffee:

I was skeptical. First, I’m a super picky person. Second, it’s cold out.… that means I like my coffee hot. I went for all 3 flavors… you have to finish a carton within 7 days of opening it and I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to… but, um, not a problem. All 3 were gone FAST.

Yes, that’d be two cups of this iced coffee in the car: one is mine, one is Steve’s.  We are both in love. First, it tastes amazing. Second, it’s a bargain and will save us lots of money on my coffee habit. Third, it’s soooo handy.

This stuff is ready to go right out of the carton, juts pour it over ice. And I thought my Keurig was fast When I’m in a hurry, but must have my coffee fix, this stuff is awesome to grab on the way out the door. But I drink it at home, too–in the morning with breakfast, as a yummy snack later in the day, or a pick-me-up at night. ((Don’t worry, I do limit my caffeine because I’m pregnant.))

Do I miss my hot coffee? Surprisingly, no. Once in awhile I’ll get a desire to have a cozy hot mug, but not as often as I thought.

TASTE: They’re all great. If I had to rank them, I’d say Original, Mocha, then Vanilla. But really, original and mocha are probably tied for first. The mocha is a bit sweeter and the original is just… perfect. I thought I’d hate the vanilla because I’m not a vanilla-flavor person, but there’s just a hint of it. You can taste it, but it’s not strong or overwhelming and is still very good–it’s my husband’s favorite.

Sooo, why is the “Mocha” flavor missing from the picture I took above? Because we opened that one first and seriously drank the whole thing before I thought to take a picture. Then we opened both of these (no longer worried about finishing them within 7 days, haha), and I got a picture just before we emptied them!

Pretty sure these will become a regular on our shopping list. You’ll be able to find them in the dairy section at Walmart on January 15th! CAN’T WAIT! <—can you tell I had some coffee today?

~This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions are my own. #CBias #IcedCoffee

**Are you ready for a guest post from my husband?! Don’t get me wrong, I love cars. And engines. But when it comes to taking care of them and doing maintenance at home? I don’t have a clue. So Steve is taking over on this one… show him some bloggy love!**

Engines are a critical part of our lives and most people use some type of engine every day. Whether it’s a car, lawnmower, snowmobile or other type of engine we’re very fortunate to have these machines doing some seriously hard work for us. It’s no secret that engines require maintenance to avoid the high expense of replacement. Paying professionals for routine, simple maintenance can be expensive when doing-it-yourself is not only cost-effective, but satisfying as well.

One of the fastest, easiest and most cost-effective ways to maintain engines between scheduled maintenance periods, to prepare engines for storage and to start engines that have been idle for long periods is to use fuel and oil additives. If you’ve been to the automotive section of any store, picking the right fluid can be pretty confusing as there are literally hundreds of different brands and products. One very effective product that can be used on many types of common engines for many purposes is STP Multipurpose Motor Treatment.

We decided to use this product to prep our snow blower for another mid-west winter. We like to prepare ahead of time to make sure we don’t get snowed-in with a snow blower that doesn’t start. The instructions are simple and are written on the side of every bottle. Add 3/4 ounce (1.5 tablespoons) per gallon of gas for the proper concentration in a snow blower engine. I grabbed my funnel, garage tablespoon and can of multipurpose treatment.

I measured and poured the appropriate amount. Note: the STP Multipurpose Motor Treatment assists in cold storing, preparing for storage, restores smooth idle, help cold start, etc, but does not eliminate the need to add the appropriate 2-stroke engine oil required for proper function. (The most effective way to add the multipurpose fluid would be to mix the appropriate amount in the gas can prior to adding to the gas tank, but we already had gasoline in our snow blower from last year.)

I decided to shake the snow blower a little and let it sit for about 15 minutes. In the meantime I added the product to my lawnmower and car crankcases (1.5 fluid ounces per quart of oil) and added the remainder of the bottle to the fuel tank in the lawnmower and ran the engines for about 15 minutes. Once I completed that I started my snow blower according to the manufacturer’s instruction. The lawnmower is now prepared for winter storage, the cars have stable oil and cleaner crankcases and the snow blower is ready for the winter workload all from one bottle of multipurpose motor treatment.

Right now, if you “like” STP’s facebook page, you can get a $1 off coupon for any STP product. You can find STP on twitter, too, and you can check out my shop experience at Walmart by reading my google+ story.

–This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions and pictures are my own. #CBias

Steve and I got each other cell phones for Christmas 3 years ago. They’re old, outdated and starting to not function very well.… we need new ones! We’re having a hard time decided what exactly to get–an upgraded version of our current phone? or something entirely new? It’s so easy to stick to what you know and what you’re used to, but I decided to do some research on other phones to see if there’s something better out there!

I have friends that LOVE their Droids, so I did some research on the Motorola Droid Bionic.

There are a few big pluses about this phone, in my opinion. First, speed. Our current phones are slowwww and sometimes it makes it too annoying to even use them. I love the 4G “lightning fast” speed of this one. Second, the camera. It’s 8 MP, has a flash and autofocus (and editing tools). If you have a newer phone, some of those things may be normal to you–but on our 3-year-old phones? That’s a huge (and exciting!) upgrade.

And finally, ZumoCast. I had to do some research on that..

ZumoCast is a free app that lets you stream your computer-based content right to your phone or another PC. LOVE! You can send docs, which is the first thing I thought of for all my list-making and to-do files (great for business!), but also music, videos, pictures, etc.

There are a ton of accessories that go with the phone. A few of my favorites that I’d want to get are the LapDock (to connect your phone to a laptop), the vehicle dock (great for navigation or hands-free use), and the travel adapter. The travel adapter lets you plug your phone into any HDTV or monitor for a large screen view of all your phone files–again, great for business! Or for showing videos, photos, etc.

I’m still researching other phones… can’t spend this much money without getting the perfect product, right?! But this one is definitely still on my list. And if we decide to get it? Walmart is currently offering a $100 gift card with qualifying smartphone purchases! AWESOME. And with 2 new phones? That’s $200 in gift cards

I did actually go to Walmart to check it out–I wanted to be able to hold the phone in my hand and make sure it’d be a nice fit. However, they didn’t have any! They said it has been a popular phone, especially with the $100 gift card promotion, so they didn’t have any on display at the moment. I’ll have to try again! Or just go to a Verizon store.

Do you know anything about this phone? Any suggestions for us?! Check out more of my research and photos on google+. And if you’re interested in this phone, be sure to use this link to get FREE 2-day shipping on it!

~This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions are my own! #MotoCalyp

MAM is an Austrian company that started in 1976 when they sold their first pacifier. Now they sell over 40 million baby products every year! Pacifiers, bottles, sippy cups, toothbrushes, and teethers… MAM products help with child development across many stages.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to receive a massive package from MAM to host my very own party! And when I say massive, I mean HUGE. I think the box was bigger than me, I was so excited to open it! It was filled with products for some very special guests of mine, a host package for me, some giveaway prizes and great ideas for games and decor.

When my guests arrived, I passed out the MAM info packets–on oral care, MAM, and breastfeeding or bottle feeding. We had cute little forms for the moms to attach a picture of their baby (or an ultrasound pic!) and fill it out with information about their little one.

Then we ate and played some games! A lot of the ladies I had over were pregnant so I had to make sure they were well fed I ordered pizzas and had homemade chocolate chip cookies.

MAM included a fun trivia game for us to play. The questions were mainly about oral care and I was surprised to learn a few things myself. Did you know that natural bristles on toothbrushes are hollow and retain moisture and bacteria? So it’s important to choose the right brush! And 25% of babies suffer from colic! Anti-colic bottles (like MAM’s) help 80% of the time.

We spent a lot of time discussing teeth-brushing habits of little ones. It was great to hear tips from others because it’s something we’ve definitely struggled with and others have been there, too!

I had the mamas fill out an evaluation form… and then.… free goodies!!!

training toothbrush + first toothbrush kit

pacifiers (glow in the dark!!!)

teethers (coolers)

anti-colic 5oz and 8oz baby bottles

oral care rabbits — for cleaning baby’s mouth

The mamas really enjoyed scoping out the products and picking what they wanted! Some had a little one at home, some were expecting baby #2 and a few were expecting baby #1, how exciting!!!

Thanks MAM for the wonderful party and great gifts! These new mamas were super excited and we had a great time learning about MAM products and oral care for our little ones! We definitely learned a lot and were able to share some great tips with each other. They asked me when we could do it again

You can find MAM on facebook, twitter, and sign up for their MAM Club for promotions, product tests and more!

some of our guests saying THANK YOU, MAM!

What are little boys made of? I’ve heard of snips and snails and puppy dog tails.… sure, that’s cute and everything, but I’m pretty sure little boys are made of bumps and scrapes and bruises.

It’s a good thing little kids are so resilient! Ryan is at the perfect age to just get into everything. He runs in circles around the house, jumps from the couch, climbs the tables… we have our own little monkey in here! And he’s just the right height to hit counters and tables, he’s just clumsy enough to still trip and scrape his knees and he’s curious enough to get into everything he shouldn’t.

All I can say is THANK GOODNESS we found Topricin. What do you do when your lil one gets cuts and scrapes and bumps and bug bites and everything else imaginable? Yea, there are different creams and lotions you can use, but–how safe are they? How often can they be used?

Topricin is all-natural pain relief cream and they have a Junior formula just for your little one. It’s safe, you don’t have to worry about over-using it and (best part), it’s effective.

Topricin Junior comes in a 1.5 oz bottle for $12.99 and now they also have this NEW “Boo boos happen” First Aid Kit for just $18.99! It includes the Topricin Junior bottle, Ouchies self adhesive bandages (that kids can decorate themselves with the markers included!) and a handy blue zippered bag. Enter BOO25 for 25% off!

Most of you know that I was partially sponsored by Topricin at the annual BlogHer conference this year in San Diego. I loved being able to represent them–a brand with products I actually use, believe in and love!

I’d have to say that the Topricin Foot Therapy Cream was the biggest hit at BlogHer. We were on our feet all day, walking forever in our cutest shoes. Needless to say, everyone’s feet were sore. Other bloggers were so excited to get some relief! I received random tweets and messages for days after the conference about people using their creams and how much they loved them.

So for all those bumps and scrapes and bruises (that I’m sure little GIRLS are made of too!), get your Topricin! Find them on twitter and facebook and make sure you sign up for their newsletter for announcements and special offers!

(Read more about how Topricin works HERE).

How could you put anything but something safe and natural on this lil cutie?! <3

I feel like I live at Babies R Us… I’m there way too often, haha. Recently, we’ve been visiting the Toys R Us side for Ryan, which is just so exciting! But today I went back over to the baby side to browse around.

Ryan needed a new toothbrush–he threw his in the trash can and as much as he whined about having it back, I said nuh-uh, no way. I picked up some more spoons for him, too.

Then I stopped at the Playtex feeding section for some baby supplies. Babies R Us has an entire wall of bottles, nipples, pacifiers, etc. and it’s easily organized by brand. I went with one bottle to start because some babies are picky about the bottles they take so I wouldn’t want to get stuff with a whole set! Has anyone ever tried the Playtex “drop-ins?”

I bought some nipples that match those drop-in bottles in medium flow because I think those get used the longest. Then I grabbed some Playtex pacifiers, which came in a 2-pack with a nice little pacifier case.

As I walked out of this front section of the store, I was greeted by a sales associate that asked if I was finding everyone okay. This time, yes. But when I was pregnant with Ryan and new to Babies R Us? OMG. The place was scary. There’s a million different kinds of everything, what do I need, which kind is best, what don’t I need?!?!

There’s a big desk right up front where you can get answers to all these questions. They help you find products, get registries, and even create your own registry. When Steve and I created ours, they walked around the store with us as much as we needed them to–so we could figure out and find what we needed and wanted! It was a huge, HUGE help.

We have the Babies R Us credit card and rewards card and I love getting those $$$ off cards in the mail It usually means Ryan gets some new cute pajamas. I’m a sucker for PJs!

How cute for Ryan?! But they didn’t have his size So I went to Target across the street and found a $5 “Best big brother ever” long-sleeve shirt I checked out the Babies R Us furniture and found a white crib and dresser set that had espresso edgings–so cute! I can’t wait to find out if this baby is a boy or a girl. There will be SO MUCH shopping to do if it’s a girl

Check out my intersect story of this shop if you’re interested!

*This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions, pictures and babies are my own

Did you know that the total amount of unused gift cards is $30 billion. That is an average of $300 per household! Instead of just letting your old gift cards sit around in your wallet, coat pocket or on the counter, why not try to turn that money into cash?

Plastic Jungle is an awesome way to sell, buy, exchange or donate gift cards on the Internet. The process is convenient and safe and is a great way to get something out of those unused gift cards that are just lying around. Plastic Jungle’s mission is to help consumers unlock the billions of dollars of gift cards that are never used. For this review I received two gift cards and created a video to review the process.

I chose to sell my gift cards in exchange for a cashier’s check. The other options included getting an amazon gift card, paypal payment or donate to charity.

The 2007 Robledo Lake County Sauvignon Blanc is courtesy of founder Reyndaldo Robledo, who is the first migrant worker in U.S. history to start his own vineyard and can be ordered from the California Wine Club Store. The wines are prepared with the same dreams, hard work and family pride that helped the Robledos achieve the American dream. The Robledo family vinyard encompasses over 300 acres and they have two separate tasting rooms in Lake County, CA.

The Sauvignon Blanc is a double gold medal winner. Here is the description: “This pale yellow wine is clear and bright, ready to wow you with zesty aromas of tropical fruits and green apple. Its fruit flavors are intense, highlighted by green tea and citrus notes. This mouth-coating wine ends with a crisp, but ripe finish.” We did a little research (aka “googled wine pairing sauvignon blanc”) and decided that the best food to pair this wine with would be some chicken and noodles, with lots of garlic and basil seasonings. Once the food was all cooked we were eager to try the wine!

When Steve and I tried the wine we decided to try to name some of the flavors we were tasting (before we actually read the wine profile). We were amazed that we actually came up with green apple, green tea and citrus flavors, because according to the wine profile that’s what we were actually supposed to be tasting, lol! Okay, Steve came up with the green tea… he’s better at this than I am, but hey — I also paired my wine with oreo ice cream YUM!

We have never been able to really taste the flavors that are written in fancy shmancy lettering on fancy shmancy looking bottles at the store, so we were amazed at the quality of the flavors in the 2007 Robledo Lake County Sauvignon Blanc. That’s why clubs like the California Wine Club are so helpful. It doesn’t cost anything to belong, you don’t have to try to pick through the HUGE selections of fancy looking bottles at the grocery or liquor store and it’s like having a wine expert friend who always has a great selection of wines in stock!

The wine came shipped very nicely in a protective styrofoam case and box and it also came with a newsletter–“Uncorked.” Who doesn’t love a little reading material while they sit down for a yummy glass of wine?! And it’s way better than a “newsletter”–it’s like a full-color magazine. It’s filled with information about the winery, a recipe that looks delicious, an “in our email bag” section, places to dine in Napa, fun facts, and an “ask the winemaker” section! The whole thing is such a nice package, it’d be a great gift or a really fun surprise to get yourself in the mail every month!

When I think of shopping for vitamins the first company that comes to mind is GNC, probably because they have been setting the standard in the nutritional supplement industry for a long time. GNC backs its commitment to promoting live-well by providing high quality nutritional supplements that are honestly labeled and backed by the latest in cutting edge nutritional research.

Ok, so we all pretty much know that GNC sells a lot of vitamins, but as the company has grown they’ve also expanded their product line to include quite a few other healthy promoting products. Steve has been looking into weight loss and I think the lean shake would be a great fit for him. GNC also has a pretty big selection of natural herbs, if vitamins aren’t for you. Sometimes my body water gets a little out of balance and GNC has supplements for that, too. These during exercise drinks look pretty interesting and I bet they’re delicious (I’d love to try the coconut water).

Steve and I have both been in the market for vitamins and supplements lately. With our extremely busy lifestyles we definitely do not get the suggested levels of a lot of vitamins and minerals. After lots of research into what we need to take we’ve gotten pretty frustrated. The people at our local health stores didn’t really seem like nutritional experts and instead are basically just trying to sell us their most expensive products.

We decided to take a look at the GNC Women’s Ultra Mega and the Men’s Mega Men multivitamins. The suggested serving size is 2 capsules per day, but Steve and I would probably each just take one, which would still be a pretty dramatic improvement over the lack of vitamins and minerals in our diets today. So, if we took 1 vitamin per day, each, it would cost us about $0.29/day to dramatically increase our vitamin intake. That seemed reasonable to us, but what exactly are in these multivitamins.

The women’s supplement is loaded with vitamins and minerals that are essential to promote bone health, including calcium, magnesium and vitamin d-3 which studies suggest help fight off osteoporosis. Both sets of supplements are loaded with antioxidants as well as selenium. Steve and I have both read that Selenium is a good supplement to reduce the risk of getting cancer and many multivitamins that we have looked at either don’t have any or don’t have enough (just enough to get legally listed on the bottle!). The combination of selenium, vitamin E and lycopene in the men’s supplement are designed to support prostate health, which is definitely a good thing.

Please visit GNC and comment on this post about what live-well product(s) you would love to try out. You can find @GNCLiveWell on twitter

and facebook

EcoSMART is a company that sells safe, organic pesticides which utilize natural plant oils to fight off annoying pests as an alternative to potentially dangerous chemicals. Fifteen years of research and a slew of patents have allowed EcoSMART to become the world’s leader in safe insect elimination and prevention. The desire to produce insecticides that are effective and 100% safe for adults, children and pets is what drives EcoSMART to continue producing natural, high quality products backed by strong scientific research.

There are a variety of products sold under the EcoSMART name that are sure to help you manage any pest problem that you might have from inside your house to your garden, your yard or even if you’re out on a picnic! A few of the products that would be most useful for us would be the organic insect repellent and the mosquito fogger for the many weekends that we’ll be spending at the lake this summer. I bet the garden insect killer would be great for Steve and his vegetable garden (he has tried other natural products and tried to make his own with no luck so far!). I would LOVE to have the spider blaster for when Steve is gone and there are creepy crawlers attacking me!

We have never had a problem with bed bugs, but I know in the last few years it has been a popular topic for the news crews trying to scare the crap out of people. But If you do need it, why not check out the EcoSMART eco-friendly variety of natural bed bug repellent to help control or eliminate your bed bug infestation.

One thing that I like about the EcoSMART store is that they sell packages or products at reduced prices. The picnic bundle was perfect for us and that is what we received for review. Our house is an old brick house with a live in porch (where we spend the majority of our time) and deck that were additions about 15 years ago. Because the porch was added on around the brick there are some definite gaps where insects can get in, especially boxelder bugs. Steve sprayed the corners of the porch to a wet, but not soaked condition every day for a week and we honestly haven’t seen a boxedler bug since!

You can visit EcoSMART if you would like and comment on this post about what product you would love to have. You can also find EcoSMART on facebook. Please check out the rest of my review posts.