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How to Protect Your Phone // iPhone 5 GIVEAWAY

0 · Mar 25, 2013 ·

iPhone 5 GIVEAWAY // When I was a girl, one of my favorite books was a book about what people did for work. I wish I could remember what it was called or who it was by, but I don't. I loved this book! It talked about all kinds of people doctors, teachers, engineers, but my favorite section was about the lady who worked at the telephone company. They showed her working on the lines and then where all the lines went. Several lines went to homes and businesses and then they showed a little girl talking on the phone in the car. That just blew my mind!!! Now keep in mind… this was the late 70's early 80's (yes, I know I'm dating myself…) Cell phones weren't even around as far as my young mind knew but, the idea of talking on the phone while in the car was aaaaamazing!! I thought that would be the coolest thing EVER!!!

By the time I was in my early 20's I had my very first CELL PHONE! I had one way before any of my friends and family, because I wanted to be just like that little girl and be able to talk on the phone ANYWHERE! So, yes… My phone means a lot to me. It was one of my 1st dreams that actually came true.

Over the years, phones have become smarter and as sad as it is to say… my phone is my 2nd brain at times. I don't even know my husband's new cell number… Because my phone, "Hazel" knows it for me. Hazel keeps track of all my appointments and assignments. Without her I would be even more of a mess than I already am. She is my lifeline to my kiddos, my connection to my sweetheart, she is the way I stay in contact with family who live hundreds of miles away from me. She is like life blood in the middle of an emergency, when I am scared or panicked, I know I have Hazel and she will help connect me to the person I NEED at the time. Even if that is just a reassuring word from a loved one or a game of Angry Birds to calm my nerves and pass the time.

Where would we be without our phones? Hazel is like my 5th child. I feed her each day and make sure that she has all the power she needs. I clothe her in her protective case to hopefully preserve her life as long as possible. There is nothing worse than that feeling between dropping your phone and that long fall down, pleading with the universe… "Please don't let this time be the time my screen shatters!" My oldest daughter Hales a.k.a Lil'Whip, has an iPhone as well, and managed to drop it off a cliff a few years back. She was rappelling with the other youth from our church with her phone in her skinny jeans (I don't recommend this method of travel for poor phones.) With all of the climbing and wiggling, her phone shimmied out of her pocket and right at the worst time fell out and took the tumble of it's life. I can imagine how Hales felt as she watched her phone fall and hit rock after rock on it's way to the bottom of the cliff. Crazy as it sounds, after the fall… The phone still worked, it was just that the screen was in about a 1000 pieces. Hales never wanted to protect her phone with a case, because it wouldn't fit in her skinny jeans with the added bulk of the case. She learned her lesson that day!!

Now I know, that even if her phone had been wrapped in bubble wrap, it wouldn't have survived that fall. But, how many times a day do our phones come face to face with the concrete in the parking lot, the corner of the table, worse yet… a toddler! Some days, my only goal in life is to just keep my phone out of the toilet. So, why do we leave our phones unprotected? These are our babies, our lifelines to our loved ones. In most cases they represent a significant investment. Is it vanity? We look at the smooth sleek lines of the phone, the shiny surfaces and we don't want to cover up it's magnificence? Well, that's… dumb! They won't look as pretty with little nicks and scratches.

Our phone is our life, why are we not protecting it? PureGear’s DualTek® Extreme Shock Cases provides the best protection against bumps, smacks, and knocks.

For a chance to win a iPhone 5 equipped with a full line of compatible PureGear’sDualTekExtreme Shock Cases, click here and enter your email address!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of PureGear DualTek. The opinions and text are all mine.

Campbell’s Address your Heart // Making Heart Healthy Food Choices

0 · Feb 25, 2013 ·

Campbell's Address Your Heart // I have been blessed…

I have been blessed with a healthy family. As a child and young adult, I was blessed to have many happy, healthy years with my Grandparents and other older extended family members. My parents are still healthy and active as Grandparents for my children now. We've been blessed with healthy hearts, thank goodness. However, hundreds of thousands of families are tragically effected by heart disease every year. According to the CDC, 600,000 people die of heart disease every year. That's 1 out of every 4 Americans, who are dying from a very preventable disease.

Now, even though my family has been blessed with healthy hearts so far, I know it's because they have all worked hard to make sure they've stayed healthy and strong, so that their hearts have had a fighting chance. Many of us think that can be a rather daunting task in our fast food lifestyle these days. I have to admit, I am one of those who struggle at times. Life is just so busy.

This week alone, I will probably log more hours at my daughters school, than at home. I was at school all day Saturday for the NFL speech meet, Sunday we had several hours of church meetings, for the rest of this week Hales is performing in Grease at her High School here in Lincoln. That means that I am at the school every evening helping to feed the kiddos, parent meetings, ticket sales, and attending the show. It's a busy week. The sad thing, that's only 1 out of my 4 children. My little guy, Gage is turning three this weekend and of course I need to make sure he has a special day full magic and apparently blue cake (his request.) The list could go on and on… I KNOW I'm not the only one in this boat.

I also know, that regardless of whatever is going on in our lives… Nothing is more important than making sure we STOP and address our hearts. If I don't teach my children healthy habits, that lucky streak may suddenly disappear. Quite honestly that idea terrifies me. What if my children have to endure the tragedy of loosing a loved one because we couldn't take the time to make sure we took care of our hearts.

Luckily, companies out there like Campbell have worked hard to create a healthy line of tasty food that is quick and easy to prepare…

Look at all those heart healthy labels. They've made it so easy to find the products that help promote a healthy heart. The lovely folks at Campbell sent my family a variety of products that help maintain good cardiac health and it was a wonderful reminder how easy it is to find healthy food on the go.

My family love these types of meals anyway… how hard is it to prepare a can of Campbell's Soup, paired it with a slice of whole grain bread topped with some heart healthy avocado? It takes less time than running through the drive through. I promise you!!

What do you do to help your family's heart health? Follow the steps below and share how you care for your heart to participate in Campbell’s contest and you could win a $50,000 kitchen makeover. Contest Rules & Prize Page.

Step 1: Submit a photo below that shows how you care for your heart

Step 2: Fill out the information required including your name, email address and zip code.

Step 3: Write a short contest entry (up to 200 words) that corresponds with the photo and share how you care for your heart. Please be honest and sincere with all your thoughts and remember to tell us in 200 words or less.

Step 4: Confirm you’ve read the Official Rules.

Step 5: Log in through your Facebook account.

Step 6: Submit your contest entry.

You can share your contest entry on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and visit AddressYourHeart.com for recipes, tips, and downloadable coupons for heart-healthy products from Campbell.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of the Campbell Soup Company’s Address Your Heart initiative. The opinions, text, and images are all mine.

Italian Soda Valentine with International Delights

1 · Feb 13, 2013 · 7 Comments

Italian Soda Valentine with International Delights // Every year for Valentine's Day my family has a special tradition… We have a fun Valentine's Day dinner together with all the pink, red and heart fixin's. Some of the items on the menu heart shaped pizza, heart shaped jell-o and for a special drink we have Italian Sodas with some type of red or pink soda. With all the heart shaped fun, my kiddos favorite is the Italian soda. If you don't know what an Italian soda is, it's basically some type of flavored soda as the base and then you add a shot of cream to make it extra special. I thought I could take it a step further and create a fun little gift that we can give out as Valentine's to our friends and family this year. With the help of International Delight's handy little creamer cups it worked like a charm!

It is jus the cutest little Valentine and something original that everyone will just adore. Here is what you will need…

Supplies

Red or pink soda of your choice
International Delight creamer cups, in original or vanilla
A fun straw
Baker's twine
A standard hole punch
scissors & paper cutter
Printable bottle label
Double sided tape
Plain printer paper

Instructions

Print the label that I created for this project on plain printer paper.

Cut the labels out and secure to the bottle with double sided tape.

Carefully punch a hole in the tab of the creamer cup and set aside.

Cut baker's twine long enough to wrap around the bottle twice, roughly 24 inches. Wrap the bottle with the bakers twine twice and tie into a basic knot. Tie the straw on next and secure with a bow with long ends. Thread the creamer cup onto the ends of the baker's twine bow and secure with a knot. Voila, you have the cutest Valentine and your kiddos and friends will love it.

Now, you can create you Italian Soda two ways… Pour your chilled soda into a glass and add the creamer or, take a few drinks out of the bottle and then carefully add the creamer to the bottle of soda. Be careful with the second method because the soda will bubble up with the addition of the creamer. Stir or swirl the soda to mix and enjoy!

This Valentine’s Day, share the love with recipes and homemade gift ideas! Don’t miss the International Delight Valentine’s Day Twitter Giveaway. Enter by following International Delight on Twitter and by tweeting your favorite ID flavor with the hashtag #IDLove. Winners will be contacted on February 15th and will receive ID Valentine’s Day Sampler Packages!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.

5 Tips for Easy Holiday Entertaining

1 · Dec 13, 2012 ·

There is nothing better than hosting a fun and successful holiday party during this time of year. You have the joy of planning and then the thrill of witnessing the joy that the gathering brings to your guests.

WAIT!! You don't feel that way?

Does the idea of planning Holiday Entertaining send shivers down your spine? Don't worry, I have five tried and true ideas for hosting a successful holiday party!

desgin elements // rhonna designs

I've spent years hosting fun gatherings large and small and these are my go to tips for making the event fun for my guests while being easy on me…

This kind of goes with out saying… Having a good plan will ALWAYS make things run smoother. Take some time a month or so in advance and plan out your menu, the decor, the guest list, how to entertain your guest, even brain storm things that could possibly go wrong and come up with plans A,B and C.

Make a list of what things you can accomplish a month in advance, a week in advance, the day before and the day of. Try to plan for things that can be created in advance so that you don't have the added tasks on the day of the event. If it's something that needs to be done the day of, see if you can assign that item to one of your guests so that you keep your plate asfree as possible on the day of the party.

Invest is the proper tools for entertaining. You don't have to do that all at once, but for each gathering you have you can add to your party arsenal. Start with a good set of neutral serving plates and utensils. Keeping them in a neutral pallets means that you can use them for any occasion and then dress them up with items that go with your party theme. I have a good set of white platters that are perfect for entertaining.

You never seem to have enough oven space when entertaining so having a good counter top oven can help take care of the extra space needed. I am eying the Breville Smart Oven to add to my party planning treasure chest.

Make sure you have enough space in your refrigerator for all your party platters and such, if you know you need extra cooling options have a couple of coolers stocked with ice out of sight, ready for the overflow.

I'm one of those (possibly) odd people who like to read cook books from cover to cover. Sometimes you never know what gem you will find in those books. One of my favorite gems that I learned from a cookbook has nothing to do with a recipe or food at all. Ina Garten in herBarefoot Contessa Parties book, tells a story of a party that was turning into a dud. The gathering was lacking energy and she could tell everyone was counting down the minutes to when they could leave. She happened to have a connection with Paul Newman at the time and called in a big favor. She asked if he could run right over and stir the pot for her disaster of a party. Being a good friend, Paul ran right over in his racing uniform, walked right into the party. Without so much as a hello he walked up to a woman and kisses her right on her surprised lips!! He then turned, and walked right out of the house and went on his merry way. You can imagine the party was a dud no more!

Now, I know we don't have quick access to a hunk of a celebrity to break the ice, but we can put some thought and effort into ways to get everyone to mix and mingle. Play some silly games, make sure you have great music playing to add some energy to the room. Don't take on this task on your own. Enlist some help from a trusted friend to be the one in charge of breaking the ice. When I entertain, I am usually working on the food and little details, my husband is the one who gets out in the crowd to liven up the event and get everyone ready to mingle. We make a good pair.

Don't kill yourself trying to make the most amazing meal for your guests. Here is another tip I learned from Ina Garten. Have only one or two stars of the show with a good supporting cast. I have a few show stopping recipes that I like to save for special occasions like these, but I have a whole list of simple supporting cast members that help make a good party amazing!

Have a simple veggie platter, but make it interesting. For this gathering I used an eggplant as my dip bowl to have that added pop of color. Also, think out of the box or bowl for your serving accessories. I placed the crackers in a fun flower pot with a simple kitchen towel as an accent piece. Jars are all the rage now, use good ole' mason jars as a fun vessel for your olives or nuts.

Bottom line is… Keep it simple and you and your guest will have a fabulous time. In my book, simple (done well) is always stunning.

Ask for help, you will be surprised how much people really do what to be involved. Not only that, but people will be more invested into making your event a success.

Don't STRESS! Just roll with it and everyone will have a lovely time. The more stressed you are the more it shows and people will feed off of that negative energy. As long as you have prepared well, you've done all that you can do to make it a success, so sit back and enjoy the event!

Breville has released new, time saving products such as the Smart Oven, just in time for the holidays! Take the guess work our of holiday cooking with the Smart Oven, the oven that does the thinking for you. Check out their website for more information on this product and other great gift ideas.

And don't forget to reply below for two chances to win your choice of amazing Breville products either for yourself or as a gift to a loved one: YouBrew, Tea Maker and Smart Oven products ($250 ARV)

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Breville. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules

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